For Geek Girls

Consumer Electronics Show Tiffany stiffany litany

By Wil Harris in Las Vegas: Friday 07 January 2005, 16:35
WOMEN have their own technology award here at CES this year, with a new category of 'Honoree': The 'Technolog Is A Girl's Best Friend Product Showcase'.

With women now estimated to be into gadgets to the tune of $55 billion a year, the awards have been chosen by a number of women from technology publications, or as we call them pubs, in the US.

The Rio Forge [rioaudio.com] takes the prize as the best audio device on show, with panelists saying that it was easy to use with an appropriately feminine form factor. In the INQ's experience, women are utterly bonkers about iPods, but since Apple aren't exhibiting here, we suspect they don't get to win.

Other prizes appear fairly sensible, if a little stereotype-promoting. The GE GlamCam [jascoproducts.com] is a mobile phone with a digital camera and a built in mirror for checking your lipstick and foundation. Bizarrely, the new Plantronics Halo 2 [plantronics.com] voice comms head set is also awarded for its comfortable design.

Women are becoming an increasingly important part of the overall tech sales market, and the industry as a whole seems to be adopting a fairly healthy 'equal but different' ethic when it comes to design. Sociologists, however, will point to the growing confusion that men are said to feel over their role in society and the increasing confidence of a new generation of women as general trends that are being reflected here in the tech industry and are leading to this increase in marketing to women. It's never been cooler to be a geek girl.