Need to Update

What Women Want

By Christina X. Wood / 2009

 

 

I have been invited to speak to a group of graduate female students majoring in information technology at Carnegie Mellon University this month and I’ve been combing through my book remembering the conversations I had with the amazing women I spoke to while researching it. Very early on while researching the book I spoke with the inspiring Genevieve Bell, a cultural anthropologist at Intel.

I am trying to bring a lot of audio visual aids along for my talk, since public speaking is not my favorite thing. So I went looking for a video of one of her presentations. I found this interview with her on what women want from tech gadgets. I thought you would enjoy it.

You may also like

6 thoughts on “What Women Want”

  1. My wife Alice has given me specific permission to speak for her in this post, so do not be upset with me for being of the wrong gender — at least the gender you obviously are expecting.

    What I want to pass along, is the new Apple iPod Touch we both have now. It does everything you want. And a lots more. And a lot more than even that. You have to talk with a dedicated user like us to begin to understand.

    Of course if you get an iPhone it has all these advantages, and you can connect to the cell phone network and internet without a WiFi hotspot connection. But we are just in the process of getting a AutoNet Mobile WiFi device which brings WiFi access to our car, and therefore everywhere we go.

    The reason we got the Touch and not the iPhone was we didn’t like the excessive charges AT&T makes every month. The Touch doesn’t have any monthly charges, and with the Mobile WiFi we can use our Touch to make and receive phone calls anytime we are within 150 feet of our car — which is almost always. And since we park within range of our car at home, we also don’t need a internet connection there either, with a nice net savings over what we pay today.

  2. I’d love to share more with you. Let me gather up a few details and I’ll send it your way. Or, if I can set up a phone call that would be great too.

    Next time I see Genevieve, I’ll be sure to share your hello. She’s taking a bit of a (very well deserved) vacation right now, but I think she’s back soon. And actually, speaking of, I might have something fun to share w/ you around her work. I’ll send you an email.

  3. Hey Becky! Welcome. I just checked out your blog over at Intel. Tell more about Intel being the “largest purchaser of green power in the U.S.” I love knowing stuff like that — might be able to cover that somewhere. Do you run into Genevieve in the cube farm? Tell her that her Geek Girlfriends say “hey!”

  4. This is the first time I’ve seen this interview with Genevieve and I’m thrilled you posted it. I can’t agree more about the usability of a device. For me, as a working mother, that is absolutely key. I also have to admit that something small and light and perhaps designed with more flair will attract my interest.

    Love your site!

  5. Have you seen Essential PIM? Nice. Has a free version. You can find it here: http://www.essentialpim.com/. There is also a decent calendar in Vista. Are you using that? Either will pull a Google Calendar in so you can “feed” your calendar to both your desktop and netbook. I keep meaning to a post on keeping calendars synced. Soon!

    I’m not sure if either of these will help with the medicine though. Let me think about that one….

    Enjoy that Netbook! Nice daughter!

  6. This is an excellent interview and she sums up what women want quite nicely. I am happy to see that lately the gadgets have been taking women into consideration more- everything doesn’t look so “manly” and some things are actually marketed towards women. By far the best thing I have bought lately (and I didn’t buy it, it was a Valentine’s Day gift from my daughter) is my netbook. It is purse-sized and it fits my lifestyle so well..More than a fancy cell phone but less than a full sized computer, I can now carry my “essentials” in my purse, on my netbook! Now what I need to do is to find programs that will do what I have relied on my PDA to do- a good calendar and organizer, etc. without it costing an arm and a leg. I am very impressed by Office 2007 but not the price tag. Open Office doesn’t quite fit the bill for me. So my search continues.. Like most women, I organize home life, work life, extra-curricular activities, medical appointments, and also need to keep track of my grandson’s medicine (he is a type 1 Diabetic).

    I am thankful for women like you who are taking the time to point us to the truly useful, works-out-of-the-box technology that we women want and can use. (I have got to remember to buy your book!)

Comments are closed.