Georgia and Ashley Esqueda talk Android Xoom 2, geek dating dos and don'ts, how to rock (and not rock) your BlackBerry, advice for celebrity sexters, iHelicopters and Whale Trail for iPhone and iPad, and the next creepy step towards robot apocalypse. This is Girls Gone Gadgets! [NSFW-L]
Spotlight
Girl eyes for the gadget guys
- Smartphone dating dos and don'ts
We've got mail!
- "What are some killer tips for how to wear your BlackBerry? Hip holster hot or not? Playbook on a gold chain? Come on girls, we guys need all the help we can get!" - Kevin from Winnipeg
Techs and Apps
Grab bag
- Scarlett Johansson on Those Nude Photos She Sent to Ryan Reynolds: “I Know My Best Angles”
- Makers of infamous BigDog robot unveil human version - PETMAN (w/ video)
<
h2>Feedback
Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don't just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!
- Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
- Twitter: @mobilenations
- Web: www.mobilenations.com
Hosts
- Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb) of ZENandTECH
- Ashley Esqueda (@ashleyesqueda) of Techfoolery
Credits
Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.
Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!
Reader comments
Girls Gone Gadgets 01: Premiere [NSFW-L]
Awesome issues here. I'm very satisfied to see your post. Thanks a lot and I am having a look ahead to touch you. Will you please drop me a mail?
Just wish to say your article is as surprising. The clarity for your submit is simply cool and that i could suppose you're knowledgeable in this subject. Fine together with your permission let me to grab your RSS feed to keep up to date with approaching post. Thank you 1,000,000 and please carry on the gratifying work.
I am about 3 mins into the podcast. Ashley, do you really need to use swear words in a public podcast? Is it because you want to appear less feminine?
Just a quick note that the image for the audio feed may be broken/missing, The video feeds image shows up. Just plugged the urls into drPodder on my Pre- (sigh) and no image for the audio feed (double sigh)...
cute intro... still listening...
The impression I've always felt is that profanity is used when the speaker can't come up with anything else to say. So this makes the speaker appear unintelligent.
Great show. You're real. You guys sound just like the female Slot Machine Techs I work with: style, topic, and choice of expletives. Looking forward to the next podcast.
Rene, I am disappointed in Tipb.... Why would you guys delete someones opinion on how they did or didn't like the show? I understand flagging the inappropriate comments but to blatantly delete all the negative is just plain Wrong! I and the hundreds of colleges that loved this site are no longer going to support you....This is censorship at its best.....
This was pretty cool. It needs some more structure to it, but not too much otherwise that would kill the fun.
The robot segment was disappointing. Not only did you overlook the tech of the robot, but you didn't even mention the uncanny valley. I kind of wondered how much research was done into mentioning this robot in the first place. :(
Nothing else was said other than PETMAN is scary/creepy. This could have easily lead to a short discussion about the uncanny valley, with regards to walking gaits. You don't need to have a technical background in robotics to be able to discuss this, and it would have been more fun and showed that you can go in depth to the topic.
Of course, this isn't a show about robots, but hopefully for next time you will go into more tech about the robots, or discuss it more. I definitely vouch for having robots in every episode :)
I like the idea of this show. It will be interesting to see how it evolves over time, and I have high hopes that episode 2 will be vastly improved from this.
I watched the show to be entertained and entertained I was. With 'Nations and 100s of other tech shows, this one is a break from the serious while still providing tech and insight.
I look forward to the next show.
No wonder Ashley's husband checks Twitter while they are at dinner - he doesn't respect her; and why should he - she doesn't even believe in a guy paying for his dates dinner!
Ashley's husband got a bargain!
Lol Georgia really won't swear haha. This show is awesome. I almost never watch the Mobile Nations shows but this makes me want more haha. So funny.
~~ Two of the Smartest Ladies in Tech ... great show Ladies ... enjoyed your the First Show ... Looking forward to another! ... [s]
OMG that was awesome can't wait till the next one i've always wanted tipb to do a fun/techy show like this and to anybody who says that it was really bad and unprofessional needs to learn how to have to fun or desrves not to have an internet connection cos the interne is full of crap!
Thanks for your response, Rene. I definitely applaud Mobile Nations expanding the range of shows that it is offering and I like much of what Georgia and Ashley (and indeed you all) do. However, and it may well be that I had the wrong expectations, but I truly thought this show would target a female audience, which in the end I felt it didn't. There is definitely a need for strong female voices, perspectives and topics in this generally male-dominated arena and I had hoped this show would go some way to addressing that need.
Sam, if you are a male, then how are you to accurately judge whether or not it was targeted toward a female audience? You may imagine yourself with a virtual vagina and attempt to put yourself in women's shoes for a moment, but we're still guys and we're still seeing things from a guys perspective. Wouldn't it be more logical to get feedback from actual women (with real bewbs!) and see what they have to say and whether or not they liked it? I think that for a female targeted podcast, women are going to have a better idea on whether they felt it was targeted toward them or not. Not men.
You make a very fair point, Brad, and I admit entirely that my critique involves a lot of hand waving and calling for a 'female perspective', which of course I cannot define (not having bewbs an' all). I would definitely welcome the perspective of female viewers, especially if the intention is to reach out to new/minority audiences with this kind of content.
Horrible
Not a fan of Georgia (states the obvious too much, offers no insight and is generally a bit boring) and the other lady was a bit meh too
maybe if you give constructive criticism your post will have some value, instead looks like you just want to stir things up.
I approached Girls Gone Gadgets hoping to be impressed by two strong, informed voices in the tech world. I had also rather hoped the show would be aimed at a female audience, touching on topics and a relationship with technology and gadgets that would appeal to them, or offer insight from them. Georgia and Ashley almost did this in their opening piece about Droid advertising (which is clearly aimed at men), but they didn't follow-through with any analysis or discussion of how technology can be made to appeal to women beyond saying that they wanted to know the price of the phones and didn't like fighting robots.
Sadly this lack of depth characterized the show for me. Neither host offered any topic or information that hadn't already been provided and discussed on the Mobile Nations network (the worst offender was yet another slapstick demonstration of Georgia's helicopter toy) - a problem that they each compounded by also failing to offer expert insight or analysis, or even a valuable and different perspective. Moreover, the choice and order of topics came across as rambling and ill-thought out. As such, I'm left with the feeling that GGG is just a cynical attempt to attract traffic because the hosts are pretty and edgy (read foul-mouthed).
For example, the show brought up the topic of Boston Dynamic's new robotic humanoid, but the full extent of the insight offered was that "it's terrifying". Neither host could comment or inform us about the electronics/software that go into it and control it, or the mechanics that went into recreating human movement (i.e. neither host did any research). No analysis of where it stands among other modern robotic attempts was given and no effort was made to interview anyone involved. In fact, nothing beyond showing the video (which many of the Mobile Nations audience have seen) and then having an opinion about how it's just like Terminator.
At least, however, this was actually a technology/gadgets topic, unlike the rest of the show which mainly limited itself to topics about celebrities, dating (hint: Georgia expects you to pay for her meal and Ashely laughs at her husband regularly because he wears a belt holster) and sexting, with a bizarre 'app' review thrown in that concluded that in order to enjoy the game discussed we should all do drugs.
In addition, Ashley - and to a lesser extent, Georgia - stereotyped their audience from the get-go as 'sex-obsessed males' with Ashley's opening gambit a 'joke' about being nervous on camera (even Georgia seemed embarrassed about that one) and the numerous silly double entendres, dating tips and lack of expert analysis offered. I found this particularly disappointing as I had hoped - as mentioned above - that they might be trying to reach out to (what I assume) is the Mobile Nations' female minority, or at least to inform the male majority of a female perspective beyond being cute and funny.
Off the top of my head, topics I had hoped/thought they might cover from a serious female perspective:
If they wanted to focus on topics not directly focused on women (but then, really, what is the point of GGG as opposed to Mobile Nations' other group shows), then they could have at least offered some expert insight and comment that we haven't had from other shows/articles, or even just some expert insight period.
In the end, this viewer was left hugely disappointed on all fronts. The hosts played to all the stereotypes I had thought they would avoid and they did no service at all to the expertise of female gadget experts. Unfortunately, they came across as two gossips shooting the breeze for a half hour trying to titillate a male-dominated chat room. I'm left wondering what the point of the Girls Gone Gadgets show is, because it doesn't seem to be intended to display the professionalism and expertise of its hosts, nor to explore the topics and viewpoints that interest women in the tech world.
Not a promising start.
~~ Get a Life ... Square Glasses Nerd A/W ... Enough Said! [s]
Not entirely sure I understand your comment Lee. Ashley and Georgia went to the effort of producing the video and I felt very strongly that there was room for improvement. Rather than posting a childish one-liner along the lines of TychoQuad, I took the time to write up my thoughts (though reading them back, I made some unnecessary jibes that I regret). I feel strongly that GGG can have a very serious place in the output of Mobile Nations and I would like to persuade Ashley and Georgia to step it up just a notch or two.
Anyway, no one is obliged to read or take note of my thoughts - though both Rene and Ashley have been gracious enough to respond. Why don't you just leave the adults to their discussion if you don't have anything constructive to add?
Since this is actually constructive criticism, I'm happy to respond to it in kind.
I'm sorry you were disappointed by the show's contents, Sam. It's extremely difficult to go "in-depth" in a 30-minute podcast, and there was definitely some longer conversations that happened during the live cast that were cut down due to time.
Personally, I find podcasts aimed at "women" to generally be icky. I don't want to talk about how tech relates to me "as a female," I want to talk about how it relates to me, period. I don't consider myself a "geek girl," I consider myself a geek who happens to also be a chick. Honestly, I don't care about how Meg Whitman might do as CEO of HP because she's a lady. I care about how she does as CEO, period. Her gender has nothing to do with it for me, just like most of the rest of technology.
I was the person who brought the DARPA robot to the grab bag, and generally speaking, the article did not go into detail as most tech articles do. Usually when it's a government funded project, they tend to keep the details sparse, in our defense... however, I think that you may have expected something a little bit much out of a "grab bag" segment, which is intended to be fun and lighthearted.
As for my personality, that's never heightened or scripted. I'm just who I am. I made that joke because I WAS nervous. I'm also a part time stand-up comedian who's got improv experience, and it's the first thing that popped into my head. I don't censor, and I know that's tough for some people to understand or enjoy. But at the end of the day, I don't feel personally responsible for "curbing it back" just so that I seem like a lady or whatever. I've always been one of the guys when it comes to technology, and this podcast isn't going to change that. I make sex jokes all the time, whether it's in my house with my husband or on camera. It's not an act, it's who I am.
This show was absolutely intended to be a light show. It only happened because I told Kevin I was dying to do a show with Georgia, and they were kind (or crazy) enough to allow it to happen.
At the end of the day, though, I can't help but both understand and simultaneously disagree on your point of view. I see where you're coming from, but this is a half hour podcast, not the 1-2 hour megacasts you get from all the other Mobile Nations podcasts, and certainly done out of my adoration of Georgia and in the spirit of fun. But we'll try harder to strike a balance that makes everyone happy.
I won't stop the goofy jokes, though. You'll have to make do on that one.
Hi Ashley,
Thanks so much for the response. I concede that I have misjudged the show and your intentions for it and that my expectations were clearly different than what was intended. However, I do stand by my main critique that you and Georgia have so much to offer that a show featuring both of you, even a light-hearted one, could hit a little harder (in terms of analysis and topics). Perhaps that's a contradiction in terms, but I hope you know what I mean.
I take your point about not wanting to talk about how tech relates to you "as a female", but I do think that women have a whole range of alternative insight to offer in a male-dominated arena, and as the new Mobile Nations flagship 'female' podcast, as I said below, I felt more could be done in that direction. If other 'aimed-at-women' podcasts feel icky to you, then I think you're well-positioned and have the experience to do one the right way, rather than playing to the male gallery by discussing dating and celebs.
Anyway, I hope you continue with GGG and I will approach episode 2 in a lighter frame of mind. I should have twigged that the 'Girls Gone Wild' homage of the title would indicate this was a 'for fun' show.
Thanks,
Sam
That all sounds fair and reasonable to me. :)
Those chicks give me a chubby.
Lol tryin to make people think this is rene is harsh but i still rofled when i saw this!
Like OMG. What a terrible show!
Like OMG. What a terrible show!
Loved it
I sure hope you guys don't get sued by "German Goo Girls"!!!
What does the L stand for?
Language, I'd assume.
I like having the podcast edited to cut out some of the dead air you get in the other podcasts.
Aww Rene, I was going to Like your comment!
Watching them both at the same time gave me a chubby.
Ashley has a dirty mouth.
Yes, kind of unprofessional and not hip.
If you feel that way, definitely don't listen to any other podcasts I do. Your delicate sensibilities will be whacked in the throat with a shovel!
And speaking completely candidly, I've never claimed to be hip OR professional. That's what Georgia's for.
Really, Ashley? No one here has stated that they didn't like the podcast, that they were offended by it's content or that you claimed to be one thing or another. I understand that their comments were harsh. Your feelings may have been bruised, but there's no reason for you to come back swinging blindly.
I don't see "swinging blindly" anywhere in my response. I simply stated in my own colorful way that if he was not a fan of the swearing that listening to my other podcast was probably not recommended. I didn't attack him, nor did I say that HE should be whacked in the throat with a shovel, only that my podcast's contents would not appeal to his sensibilities.
My feelings weren't bruised at all. It was just a silly warning not to listen to my other show. I think you may have misread it as a personal attack on him.
I think she's fine and I actually like the way she talks and represents herself on the vid. I talk like that pretty often too lol See no problem with that.