Wired summarizes the study, found in the December Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Lead author and research Sapna Cheryan had an interesting question - if people can base their perceptions of another person on the items found in their bedroom, would the same type of reasoning apply in a classroom setting? Cheryan and her team quickly set up an experiment:

Cheryan and colleagues tested this idea by alternately decorating a computer science classroom with objects that earlier surveys pegged as stereotypically geeky-Star Trek posters, videogames and comic books - or with objects that the surveys found to be neutral- coffee mugs, plants and art posters. Thirty-nine college students spent a few minutes in the room, then filled out a questionnaire on their attitudes toward computer science.

Women who spent time in the geeky room reported less interest in computer science than women who saw the neutral room. For male students, however, the room's décor made no difference.

In follow-up tests, a total of 215 students were asked to imagine they were joining either a geekily decorated or a neutrally decorated company after graduation. For every possible scenario, women preferred the non-geeky space.

"It's a consistent effect," Cheryan says. "The environment can communicate a sense of belonging, but it also communicates a sense of exclusion, or a sense that this is not a place where I would fit in."

Cheryan and co-researchers believe that by creating more neutral appearing spaces will help combat stereotypes and improve diversity in the computer science field.

Cheryan is correct in thinking perception matters in how people place themselves in different roles. But as a geeky girl gamer, I think that focusing on the internal motivations for why women avoid stereotypical or gendered areas (i.e., "I just don't think I belong") obscures the nature of societal norms to influence women away from engaging in the maths and sciences, especially as they are considered male dominated spaces.

Some of the most fascinating explorations of this dynamic are found in Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming. The collection of research findings and games theory, published in 2008, reveal a lot more than barriers to entry for women who want to play games or work in the industry - it reveals how gender norms often influence how "permitted" women are to access certain spaces, and how those limitations function to maintain the low numbers of women entering fields like computer science or game design.

Some of the research upholds Cheryan's ideas. In "Becoming a Player," T.L. Taylor uses the marketing strategies and environments of gaming stores to illustrate the belonging dynamic:

Part of the work of any leisure activity is coming to understand - practically and symbolically - that this is something you can do, that it is not at odds with your sense of self or your social world. The game industry (and, I would argue, the larger game community) knows this at some level and is constantly working to give players information about new games, where to get them, why they are fun, and how to play them. Just as powerfully, it is always mirroring back to boys and men that "this is your and your friends' play space" and "you belong here. Rarely are women gamers given this kind of attention. (p. 55)

Two other studies explain how the idea that some people "belong" and some do not take shape and manifest themselves in physical space. "Getting Girls into the Game," a joint study by Tracy Fullerton, Janine Fron, Celia Pearce, and Jacki Morie, explored a variety of reasons why more women don't pursue careers in gaming. After concluding that early experiences with video games impact how girls perceive the space, they note:

These early experiences pave the way to an interest in game development, but male-dominated environments can limit girls' involvement. In fact, computer labs in schools or clubhouses are often dominated by boys, who tend to elbow out the girls and take control of the equipment. (p. 168)

In "Gender Identity, Play Style, and the Design of Games for Classroom Learning," researchers Carrie Heeter and Brian Winn also talk about some of the gendered norms that come into play when there are limitations on availability of equipment:

When boys play games (or use computers), when there are fewer machines than people, girls step aside. It is difficult to determine whether it is the girls' "stepping aside" from their opportunity… or the boys "crowding out" the girls…. Nonetheless, this chemistry seems to exist between males and females pervasively when it comes to using gaming machines. (p.282)

The most comprehensive (and damning) research comes from Holin Lin, who invested countless hours into her research in Taiwan. Seeking answers to women's exclusion from the larger gaming world, Lin decides to look into home life, societal messaging, school and peer groups in her groundbreaking study "Body, Space, and Gendered Gaming Experiences: A Cultural Geography of Homes, Cybercafés and Dormitories." I devoted a substantial portion of my review of Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat to Lin's research, because the connections drawn are mindblowing:

Deftly weaving connections between the threat of violence, gendered socialization, and the internalized expectations of the women themselves, Lin paints a scenario familiar to any woman who moves into a heavily gendered space. Taiwanese youth frequent cybercafés to increase their skills, use upgraded machines, and hang out with their friends. However, women gamers looking to participate in the fun have to contend with real-world harassment:

The layouts of some cybercafés serve as gender barriers: girls must pass through a room full of pool tables to access the back spaces that are reserved for computers. Most girls are not willing to subject themselves to the scrutiny of and comments made by the pool players, and therefore only enter when accompanied by male friends.

This parallels one of Lin's observations of cybercafés in Taiwan… most girls are unwilling to enter a cybercafé unless accompanied by a male friend. Together, these stories imply that physical and social barriers to entry for women become misinterpreted as a lack of desire to play video games.

Despite the limits of online, virtual communities, however, they are often more appealing to female gamers than actual, physical cybercafés, as Lin points out:

Women's fear and perceptions of risk are deeply rooted in their bodies, and avoiding dangerous places is a common practice for managing the fear of male violence. In contrast, no threat of physical harm exists for players wearing either female or male avatar bodies.

Outside of the dynamics of the cybercafe scene, Lin also looks at women at home, from growing up with their parents to their play dynamics in college dormitories. Lin notes that college-aged male gamers tend to see gaming as a way to bond, while female gamers are often ostracized and made into a minority. In addition, family pressures tend to place pressure on girls to do more help with household tasks, as well as to work on social relationships. Males, however, were often left to their own devices when it came to interacting with technology. This functions to increase discomfort with technologies as women are socialized to spend less time understanding and getting familiar with these types of systems. Over time, this casual discouragement on so many fronts presents girls with a disincentive to continue working with or playing with game systems - and this dynamic is also evident with most other technologies, including computers.

Lin concludes that "[c]ultural constructions of gender are ubiquitous and therefore hard to remove from any analytical interpretation of gender issues in computer gaming." And indeed, while Cheryan has the right idea with looking at how spaces can be perceived as hospitable and inhospitable, solving the issue of gender gaps in technology will require looking at encouragement to get into the maths and sciences plays strongly into societal idea of what girls are "supposed" to do and where they "belong." And I'm afraid it will be a bit more complex than redesigning classrooms.

Star Trek Stops Women From Becoming Computer Scientists [Wired]
Beyond Barbie® and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming (Hardcover) [Amazon]

Related: Gamer Girls Rising [Women's Review of Books]

Currently, the market for cell phones is exploding as the technology proves to be both accessible and useful:

Entrepreneurs and development organizations are eagerly seizing the opportunity presented by such growth. They are creating mobile phone applications for profitable and nonprofit ventures across the continent. Millions of Africans, for example, now use their mobile phones to transfer money, turn on water wells, learn soccer game scores and buy and sell goods.

The penetration of the mobile phone is far greater than that of the Internet in Africa, especially in rural areas, making it the most accessible communication tool, said Jon Gossier, founder and president of Appfrica, a technology company with headquarters in Uganda.

The recent completion of the first of several planned undersea cables connecting East Africa to broadband Internet has raised hopes that high-speed Web access will increase here. But Mr. Gossier said he expected mobile-phone messaging applications would be needed for several more years. The development of useful, local Web content will lag after falling Internet prices, which will quite likely take longer than a year, he said.

"I don't think the development being done now for mobile phones is going to stop," Mr. Gossier said, "but I think we'll see a whole new generation of applications coming out of Africa, including mobile applications that utilize the Web."

The innovations in technology have been able to provide women with various ways to make a living. Last week's Economist held a special report on mobile phones. In the section on Mobile marvels, they report:

BOUNCING a great-grandchild on her knee in her house in Bukaweka, a village in eastern Uganda, Mary Wokhwale gestures at her surroundings. "My mobile phone has been my livelihood," she says. In 2003 Ms Wokhwale was one of the first 15 women in Uganda to become "village phone" operators. Thanks to a microfinance loan, she was able to buy a basic handset and a roof-mounted antenna to ensure a reliable signal. She went into business selling phone calls to other villagers, making a small profit on each call. This enabled her to pay back her loan and buy a second phone. The income from selling phone calls subsequently enabled her to set up a business selling beer, open a music and video shop and help members of her family pay their children's school fees. Business has dropped off somewhat in the past couple of years as mobile phones have fallen in price and many people in her village can afford their own. But Ms Wokhwale's life has been transformed.

In 2008, the New York Times Magazine had a large feature, asking "Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?" The story followed "human behavior researcher" Jan Chipchase in his Nokia-sponsored quests to understand how people use their cellphones in a variety of environments. The article makes some interesting points about how a cell phone is the most effective tool to effectively stimulate both official and unofficial economies:

Jan Chipchase and his user-research colleagues at Nokia can rattle off example upon example of the cellphone's ability to increase people's productivity and well-being, mostly because of the simple fact that they can be reached. There's the live-in housekeeper in China who was more or less an indentured servant until she got a cellphone so that new customers could call and book her services. Or the porter who spent his days hanging around outside of department stores and construction sites hoping to be hired to carry other people's loads but now, with a cellphone, can go only where the jobs are. Having a call-back number, Chipchase likes to say, is having a fixed identity point, which, inside of populations that are constantly on the move - displaced by war, floods, drought or faltering economies - can be immensely valuable both as a means of keeping in touch with home communities and as a business tool. Over several years, his research team has spoken to rickshaw drivers, prostitutes, shopkeepers, day laborers and farmers, and all of them say more or less the same thing: their income gets a big boost when they have access to a cellphone. [...]

Some of the mobile phone's biggest boosters are those who believe that pumping international aid money into poor countries is less effective than encouraging economic growth through commerce, also called "inclusive capitalism." A cellphone in the hands of an Indian fisherman who uses it to grow his business - which presumably gives him more resources to feed, clothe, educate and safeguard his family - represents a textbook case of bottom-up economic development, a way of empowering individuals by encouraging entrepreneurship as opposed to more traditional top-down approaches in which aid money must filter through a bureaucratic chain before reaching its beneficiaries, who by virtue of the process are rendered passive recipients.

For this reason, the cellphone has become a darling of the microfinance movement. After Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel-winning founder of Grameen Bank, began making microloans to women in poor countries so that they could buy revenue-producing assets like cows and goats, he was approached by a Bangladeshi expat living in the U.S. named Iqbal Quadir. Quadir posed a simple question to Yunus - If a woman can invest in a cow, why can't she invest in a phone? - that led to the 1996 creation of Grameen Phone Ltd. and has since started the careers of more than 250,000 "phone ladies" in Bangladesh, which is considered one of the world's poorest countries. Women use microcredit to buy specially designed cellphone kits costing about $150, each equipped with a long-lasting battery. They then set up shop as their village phone operator, charging a small commission for people to make and receive calls.

In addition to the entrepreneurial aspects of mobile technology, the phones can be used to provide financial stability through more concrete ways like saving. In areas where the currency is destabilized or banks are unreliable, mobile money allows for people to store their savings somewhere they trust - in their devices:

M-PESA (a mobile money system) is also used as a form of savings account, even though it does not pay interest. Having even a small cushion of savings to fall back on allows people to deal with the unexpected, such as suddenly having to pay for medical treatment. "An awful lot of people climb out of poverty every year, but a lot drop back in because they have no savings, no buffer, so when something bad happens they have to sell assets and lose a lot of ground," says Mr Christen. Poor people tend to save by buying livestock, which can get sick or die, or buying gold, which can be stolen, or investing in community-based schemes that may be fraudulent, says Timothy Lyman of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). Mobile banking offers a more reliable alternative, he says, and could have economic benefits comparable to those of mobile phones.

I am both excited and cautious about embracing innovations in mobile technology as the solution to poverty. Many of the causes are structural in nature and cannot be solved simply by providing people with electronics. But I must admit that the possibilities opened by mobile companies and researchers are truly exciting, and have made impoverished areas the forerunners in new, people oriented solutions. And that's worth celebrating.

In Rural Africa, A Fertile Market For Mobile Phones [NY Times]
Can The Cellphone Help End Global Poverty? [NY Times]
Mobile Marvels [The Economist]
Beyond Voice [The Economist]

When Della launched earlier this week to promote the computer manufacturer's line of Inspirion Mini 10 netbooks, the site included a video on shopping for vintage clothing and "Tech Tips" explaining how ladies could use this strange device, as of course, we don't know how to use real laptops.

Joanna Stern summarized on LAPTOP magazine's website:

The Tech Tips page, with its patronizing "Seven Unexpected Ways a Netbook Can Change Your Life," is full of stereotypes of how women's lives can be changed with a mini-notebook... "Track your exercise and food intake at free online sites like Fitday," is Tip Number One, like any self-respecting women's magazine would recommend. Number two: Find recipes online (just because we have laptops doesn't mean we don't still belong in the kitchen). Dell, is this all you think us women do with our laptops? Or do you think women are that slow at the technology uptake that we don't know that a netbook is capable of these activities?

In response to the huge amount of criticism the site received online, yesterday, Dell revised the site, adding the message, "Some of you have read this article over the last several days & will notice a few modifications. You spoke, we listened. Thank you for your ongoing feedback." The "5 Ways to Use a Netbook" section now boasts that the product can help women get organized, read eBooks, track workouts, and is easy to take along when traveling. The page on "featured artist" Robyn Moreno and her video on vintage shopping are still up.

"Some brands go too far with the girlie stuff, and that's when they start getting into trouble," said Andrea Learned, author of Don't Think Pink - What Really Makes Women Buy in the New York Times. Learned said Della emphasizing netbook colors and computer accessories, but burying price information and specifications, seemed condescending to women. "Della's marketing strategy sounds like it's advertising a purse," Ms. Learned said. "There's a level of consumer sophistication they're missing."

"There was certainly no intent to offend anyone and if we did, we apologize," said Dell spokesman Bob Kaufman, according to MSNBC, adding, "Many people do see their laptops and netbooks as a style statement, and we want to be part of those conversations." Style is an important consideration, especially since you'll hopefully be staring at the computer for several years, but it isn't the most important factor in purchasing a computer, nor is it something only women care about. As several of our commenters pointed out earlier, Apple and many PC manufacturers have used style as a selling point to both male and female consumers, but don't assume in their commercials that people don't care about the product's performance as well.

Though Dell revising the more egregiously annoying aspects of the site is a step in the right direction, it still takes a few clicks to find any specifications on Della. The section about Mini 10 Netbooks on Dell's main page seems to include a comparison of the three netbooks' prices, processor speeds, and display sizes. We're not sure what all those crazy numbers mean, but we still don't want a Dell netbook, even if it does come in pink.

Dear Della, Sexism Doesn't Sell Laptops [LAPTOP]
5 Ways To Use A Netbook [Della]
What Do Women Want In A Laptop? [The New York TImes]
Let's Market PCs Like It's 1959 [MSNBC]
Mini Notebooks - Products [Della]

Earlier: Marketing Madness

1.) Electric Toothbrush The first time I ever turned on my electric toothbrush I had an almost Pavlovian response to that familiar buzzing sound, and my vagina began to drool, but I'd never bothered to try it out... until the other day. I removed the bristle head, and placed the vibrating metal stem onto my outer lips (I was too scared to put it right on my clit, since it looked like it could be a little sharp). The problem with this is that without the head on the toothbrush, the stem is way too thin to really do anything substantial. Of course, some sex toy shops sell attachments designed specifically for such an occasion, but not all of us have the foresight to do something like that. Necessity is the mother of invention, so I grabbed some toilet paper and rapped it around the stem to form sufficient padding, and that did the trick. Sure it didn't hold a candle to my Magic Wand, but it lit me up anyway.

2.) Cell Phone Okay, so I've actually tried using my phone on vibrate to get off many a (drunken) time before, but it was always an exercise in futility. However, for those of you who have an iPhone, you may have heard about iBrate, an application you can download that can actually turn your iPhone into a vibrator. It's still sort of a lame substitute, since the vibe is a little to soft and steady for my liking (i can haz pulsing, pleeeze?), but at least it can get you to a certain level of excitement and then your hands and arms can come in and finish you off.

3.) Neutrogena Wave When I first saw the commercial for the Neutrogena Wave — a "power cleanser" for your face — I was like, "That's a straight-up vibrator." Unfortunately, I didn't have one of these bad boys while on vacation, but I obtained one since, and have been testing it out today, and dude, it's a straight-up vibrator. It's just as good as any silver bullet vibe, but it's quieter. Also, on the box, it says "penetrates deeper." Heh heh.

4.) Bath Tub Faucet Everyone is always going on about detatchable shower heads, and they're great and all, but they're the sort of luxury item for people who frequent Brookstone or Restoration Hardware. I'm all about the bathtub faucet, because it has a powerful gush of water, and the crappier your apartment, the more unsteady (thus exciting!), the flow can be. I actually picked this up at a really young age because I heard it being talked about on Married With Children.

5.) Washing Machine It's a little clichéd, but honestly, an unbalanced washing machine on the spin cycle is just about the best ride you can take on a hunk of metal that doesn't have wheels. If you really want it to be fun, throw some sneakers in there, or place a large load of heavy towels or maybe some pillows in, but only on one side.

We started with the chocolate vagina kit, since it seemed a lot less complicated, seeing as how I didn't need to be aroused or anything. We had to mix this powder with lukewarm water, then pour it into this scoop thingy, and then press it up against my crotch, all in a span of two minutes, otherwise the stuff would've hardened and been useless.

I pressed it up against me and all of a sudden the excess mixture started pouring out the sides, running down my legs and getting all over the floor. It was all thick and creamy and it seriously looked like I had some kind of VD, or someone had just shot a lump load all over me.

Sorry for sharing that. Anyways, I started screaming because that shit was getting all over my floor (which I just mopped), so my boner donor ran and got a towel. And then we just started laughing maniacally. There I was, standing in my robe, a bra, and slippers with one hand on a dripping crotch and the other holding a glass of wine. I totally looked like Nelson Muntz's mom.

I had to hold the shovel up to my crotch for four minutes. After enough time had elapsed, I pulled it off (luckily, it didn't stick to my hair), and did not like what I saw. I don't mean to get all precious about my pussy or whatever, but this is not an accurate impression of it.

I guess there was a giant air pocket, so we peeled a dry piece of mixture up off the floor and stuffed it in there. We put the vagina mold in the freezer, per the directions, and then got to work on the chocolate dick kit.

Okay, I'm here's the thing about that: If you want a sexy, fun time, don't do this. It's really weird and mechanical and there's sooooooo much start and stop. For instance, first we had to cut the provided dick tube down to the size of his erection, so I had to blow him for a little bit so that we could figure out how long to make the tube, and then left him hanging there as I was hacking the tube down with scissors.

Then I had to combine the molding powder with water, using a thermometer to make sure it was 98º. I had two minutes to mix the stuff, pour it in the tube, get him hard again, and then shove his peen in there, all before the mixture hardened. It was really stressful, and also, impossible. We couldn't do it on our first try. First of all, my dog began humping my donor's leg, and she just wouldn't let go. And by the time I mixed the stuff and blew him, the mixture had hardened in the tube and he couldn't get his dick in there. So we had to start all over again.

This time, we were practically pros — a well-oiled machine of genital casters. He mixed the stuff and poured it in the tube, while I blew him until he was at full mast. Then he stuck it in the tube, and we waited for two minutes until it had set. (When we pulled it off his dick, it totally queefed!) We placed it in the fridge and then went to work on the dick candle kit.

At this point, we felt like we were sweatshop workers in a sex toy factory. We did the mixture/blow job routine again, and he jammed his dick in the tube. Except this time, we had issues of a different kind. His dick is curved, so it was hitting the side of the tube, so we turned it, as per the directions, so that all sides would be covered, but then a bunch of the stuff poured out, and there wasn't enough left in the tube to give him full coverage.

I was like, "Oh, well we can still do it, it'll just be a shorter candle."

"No way!" he said. "Tracie, I ain't goin' out like that." He insisted we start over, since he wanted it to be longest candle it could possibly be. At this point, with all the thermometers, measuring cups, bowls, powder and whatevs, my bedroom was starting to look like a meth lab.

We decided to take a break. All the stopping and starting of making out and oral sex and fingering that had been going on had proven to be really frustrating but also kind of an exciting form of foreplay, since we were repeatedly forced to put the breaks on. By the time we sat down on the bed together, we just started going at it, and after a few minutes, I was like, "Why don't we forget about the candle for now and you just fuck me." So he did. Twice.

In the morning, I melted the chocolate to put in the molds. They were expired or something and were all white. They look like Junior Mints but they're not.

I poured the melted chocolate into the molds and let them set for 5 minutes. My vulva came out looking like a diseased turd.

I'd like to take the time to reiterate that it DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THAT IN REAL LIFE. Got it?

And here's the cocklate:

I told you he was curved!

We've seen the perils of tech-obsession firsthand: Earlier this month a reader emailed to complain about a business dinner she attended, where "there was music, champagne, the food was amazing, the setting lavish. But did the men at my table pay any attention? No. They were all playing with their iPhones." And she's not the only one to forfeit male attention to Steve Jobs. Our very own guest columnist, Heather declared herself an iPhone widow last year. "Wherein we used to actually interact with one another during cab rides or walks or, you know, dinner," Heather lamented, "Now I sit there and watch him make love to that damn phone, his unblinking eyes glazed over with rapt-geek puppy love."

But guys aren't the only ones with geek love to go around. My own boyfriend tried to ban laptops after work hours in our household. The first day he made me go cold turkey and I was relegated to answering emails on my BlackBerry in the bathroom. Since then I've maybe gone one night without perusing the internet for at least ten minutes. But I'm not addicted at all! Though if someone destroyed my wireless network I would cut them in a hot second.

"Technology Overload" Can Ruin Relationships: Expert [Reuters]

Earlier: The iPhone is Cool and All, But Can You Stick Your Dick in It?

While we sort of like the idea of dispelling stereotypes — such as the assumption that techies are all ugly trolls — we're also annoyed that even girls who clearly have it going on upstairs are made to feel like they don't measure up if they don't have it going on in every other physical aspect. Particularly because real tech girls (some of whom are actually on the site, like Megan McCarthy, party correspondent for our brother site Valleywag) work in jobs that don't put them in the public eye, offering up their imperfections for scrutiny. Also, anyone can nominate a girl for this site without her approval. But if you really wanna barf, check out the brother site Dig a Tech Guy, where the same emphasis of good looks is not at play.

Dig a Tech Girl
We Don't Dig "Dig A Tech Girl" [Boinkology]

According to Apple:

Configure-to-order, personalized or other customized products may not be returned for refund or exchange under any circumstances unless such product is Dead on Arrival.

I began fantasizing about ways that I could still get my $400 worth:

• I could shove the damn thing up his ass.
• 
  
• I could release all of my frustration on it by smashing it into a million little pieces, but preserving the engraved part, place it all in a box, wrap it nicely with a bow, and send it to him.
• 
  
• I could film myself blowing some other guy, put the video on the iPod, wrap it nicely with a bow, and send it to him.

But this story has a happy ending. I received an email—not from the dude telling me he wanted to get back together, but from Apple—alerting me to the fact that the iPod touch was on backorder for a few days, so it hadn't yet been shipped to me! After days of agonizing about this, I was able to simply cancel the order.

So basically the moral of the story is I'm crazy lucky ('cause I'm Irish?). But also, relationships are temporary, but your customized purchases from Apple are forever.

Related: You Can't Seduce With An Ipod Unless... [Gizmodo]

• Every few minutes, Lauren Nelson pops up to spout off random trivia that you can find on Snapple bottle caps, like "Did you know there are twice as many kangaroos in Australia than people?"
• Literacy advocate Nelson keeps kids from reading by doing it for them: She reads their emails out loud.
• She can be programmed by parents to remind kids to do chores and homework.
• Of the bajillions of sites on the internet, the browser only permits children to view 10,318 of them, all pre-approved by the Miss America Organization. We have a feeling we didn't make the cut. (We'll be checking it out tomorrow.)
• If kids try to access a site that's not on the list, Miss America tells them to go ask Mom or Dad first.
• A feature enables parents to lock the computer and block the use of any other browser.
• As soon as the browser is opened, "Here she is, Miss America" starts playing.
• Every once in while, Miss America reminds kids to not forget to email their parents, just to be nice.

Miss America Launches Own Browser [MSNBC]

We've been thinking about what we want in a cellphone and we agree with the money/ID compartment. Carrying less is more! Maybe we're crazy, but we'd actually like a way for our phone to be waterproof and embedded under our skin. Maybe in our hand? Or wrist? It might sound like some scary futuristic nightmare, but just think — it would never get lost, left in a taxi or dropped in a hot, bubbly pedicure bath — fates that proved deadly for our previous cell phones.

Fantasy 'ShePhone' for Women Misses the Mark [Wired]

The problem is that we're all still nerds. If anyone's going to bid on us, we'll need some spicing up. And who better to help with that than sorority girls who like nothing better than a makeover?

We'll choose a handful of brave nerds to take one for the team. The girls get to have their way with them and we'll document each makeover. We'll make a snazzy video and show it over dinner. After the dinner, we'll auction off the now studly nerds.

'Nerd Auction' Seeks Publicity, Dates [CBS News]
Nerds to Auction Themselves to Women [BreitBart]

But for some women, gaming isn't new. This writer had a childhood shaped in part by Ms. Pacman and Intellivision's Burgertime. Later, Yoshi's Island, then Tomb Raider and Resident Evil were major obsessions. These days, according to Mack, "You're seeing women playing games like 'Dance Dance Revolution' and 'Guitar Hero'—women under 35 who want to do something fun and social."

Except gaming is not always social. There are women who like to hole up and escape inside of a game just like the guys do. (One of them happens to be my mom, who's addicted to the game Bubbles inside her Motorola Q.)

But this is about marketing dollars. And the budget doesn't go toward advertising to women, says Mack. "The money is where the hardcore gamers are. They're the ones who are really passionate about it and the ones who are going to go out and buy the beta version in order to be part of the next 'Halo' game," she explains. "But more and more, as these consumers groups open up, [marketers] will focus on these growing segments." Fine with us — as long as they don't feel they have to make the console pink.

Survey Finds Women Own More Game Consoles Than Men [Online Media Daily]
Earlier: The Do's And Don'ts Of Chick Gadgets, According To 'Wired'

And they all magically caught up to the boys' scores!

When the volunteers were tested again after five months, both the improvement and the lack of difference between the sexes remained. Though it is too early to be sure, it looks likely that the change in spatial acuity—and the abolition of any sex difference in that acuity—induced by playing "Medal of Honour" is permanent.

Nurture Strikes Back [Economist]

More often than not, tech stores assume females are uninformed and oblivious to technology, Blow says. The result? Women buy less tech. The survey says "daunted" women spend 35 percent less.

What Do Women Want? Less Pink, More Tech [Wired]
Women 'Put Off' By Gadget Shops [BBC News]

I sound dramatic, sure, but that image at top? Yeah, that's him. Taken while I was writing this very item, actually. See? IT NEVER ENDS. And as I'm wont to self-pity, I thought I had it bad. But it turns out, the love affair between men and their iPhones is getting a whole lot worse:

Thomas Martel, 28, of Bonnie Brae is a big guy. So he has a hard time using the features on ever-shrinking user interfaces on devices like his new iPhone. At least, he did, until he had his thumbs surgically altered in a revolutionary new surgical technique known as "whittling."

"From my old Treo, to my Blackberry, to this new iPhone, I had a hard time hitting the right buttons, and I always lost those little styluses," explains Martel. "Sure, the procedure was expensive, but when I think of all the time I save by being able to use modern handhelds so much faster, I really think the surgery will pay for itself in ten to fifteen years. And what it's saving me in frustration - that's priceless."

Surgically Alters Thumbs to Better Use iPhone [North Denver News]

[Credit Suisse analyst Richard Semple] cited a "precedent" or trend in the market where consumers continue to show a willingness to "trade up" to premium products, such as the Apple iPod, Under Armour, Coach handbags and Tiffany jewelry.

Sheila Driving Shoe Makes High-Heel And Toeing A Reality [Autoblog]
Related: New Weapon In War On Breast Cancer: Pink Trimmed Mustangs! [Jalopnik]