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Padestal: A Hands-On Review

Matthew Kaufman

In a recent article, I wrote about a sturdy little tablet/smartphone stand called the Padestal. Padestal was kind enough to send us a few test products so that we could let you know just how good it really is.

Just to give you a brief description, the Padestal was created by Kerry Cromack with the help of some of his associates, and he is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter. The Padestal is built of a solid polycarbonate material that makes it durable and lightweight. It was built to hold not only your tablet, but also your smartphone, phablet, or other mobile devices.

Chad Willis (Admin of Tech Urchin) and I wanted to focus on five key tests of the Padestal to give you a fair and informative score. The five tests are Construction Quality (durability), Ease of Use, Portability, Stability, and Innovation. Stick with me through the five key testing areas and I will provide a final score out of 100.

Find out Padestal's score at http://techurchin.com/padestal-review/

[techurchin]

Women in the Tech World

Nikki Salinas

When you think about the people behind the latest technology, computers, apps, etc., do you picture men or women?

Most people picture men. And this assumption is sadly correct, but it’s not because women do not have a natural inclination toward technology and programming, as most assume.

Let’s look at history, because the computer science world was not always dominated by men. In fact, it was dominated by women in the beginning!

Brenda D. Frink with Gender News reported, “As late as the 1960s many people perceived computer programming as a natural career choice for savvy young women.”

"Even the trend-spotters at Cosmopolitan Magazine urged their fashionable female readership to consider careers in programming. In an article titled “The Computer Girls,” the magazine described the field as offering better job opportunities for women than many other professional careers. As computer scientist Dr. Grace Hopper told a reporter, programming was “just like planning a dinner. You have to plan ahead and schedule everything so that it’s ready when you need it…. Women are ‘naturals’ at computer programming.” James Adams, the director of education for the Association for Computing Machinery, agreed: “I don’t know of any other field, outside of teaching, where there’s as much opportunity for a woman.”

Read more at http://techurchin.com/women-tech-world/

[techurchin]

Rovio Reduces Staff by 16%

Matthew Kaufman

Tech innovators know that the key to staying on top is constantly finding a new niche that rings true to the consumer. The developers find an idea that people love, they exploit it and hang on to it as long as it’s loved. All the while, developers are working behind the scene on “the next big thing.”

The same mindset goes for game creators, but Rovio hung on to Angry Birds for too long and now it seems that it could be costing them.

Read more at http://techurchin.com/rovio/