Plasma TVs Are A Girl's Best Friend

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

MrsSpringsteen

Blue Crack Addict
Joined
Nov 30, 2002
Messages
29,276
Location
Edge's beanie closet
I like diamonds and I woud certainly live to have one/some, but I would much rather have a new and fantastic digital camera. If I had to choose I'd take the TV or the camera. Definitely over shoes (I like comfortable shoes, nothing fancy at all), but I don't know about the vacation. It would have to be a great trip :wink: but maybe the tech item wins because it lasts so much longer than the vacation.

I guess if any "tech gap" ever existed, it is rapidly disappearing. Some of the most talented people I know with gadgets and computers are women.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Diamonds are no longer a girl's best friend, according to a new U.S. study that found three of four women would prefer a new plasma TV to a diamond necklace.

The survey, commissioned by U.S. cable television's Oxygen Network that is owned and operated by women, found the technology gender gap has virtually closed with the majority of women snapping up new technology and using it easily.

Women were found on average to own 6.6 technology devices while men own 6.9, and four out of every five women felt comfortable using technology with 46 percent doing their own computer trouble-shooting.

"People make the assumption that women are not as advanced as men when it comes to technology and I was surprised at the parity men and women now have in terms of technology," Geraldine Laybourne, chairman and chief executive of Oxygen Network, told Reuters.

The Girls Gone Wired survey of 1,400 women and 700 men aged 15 to 49, which was conducted by market researcher TRU, found that given the choice, women would opt for tech items rather than luxury items like jewelry or vacations.

The study found 77 percent of women surveyed would prefer a new plasma television to a diamond solitaire necklace and 56 percent would opt for a new plasma TV over a weekend vacation in Florida.

Even shoes lost out. The study found 86 percent would prefer a new digital video camera to a pair of designer shoes.

The study found over the next five years women see themselves increasing their activities in six tech areas: digital cameras, cell phones, e-mail, camera phones, text messaging and instant messaging.

Laybourne said this increasing use of technology among women was expected to continue -- with advertisers needing to ensure they addressed women's increased usage and knowledge.

"Women don't feel like they have been given credit for what they know and they are condescended to," Laybourne said.
 
I have an LCD HDTV and I wouldn't part with it at the threat of death! And I have my laptop with me anywhere I go pretty much.

I wouldn't turn diamonds down or anything, but new toys are much more fun.
 
I heard this on the radio today!!

Well... an LCD HTV sounds like fun, but diamonds..? Oh my :combust: Gotta love them diamonds... :cute:
 
The only jewelry I wear is my engagement ring (sapphire, hate diamonds) and a toe ring. Give me the plasma TV :drool: Or better yet, a Canon digital SLR with lots of fun components.
 
I would easily pass on jewelry for that kind of stuff. :drool: Besides, I would be a lot more likely to lose a diamond necklace than I would a plasma TV. :giggle:
 
these results really surprise me.

i mean, in fifteen years those TVs will have long since died, but a diamond will still have just as much value.

isn't that important anymore? things that last?
 
I simply couldn't live without a camera (or two :) !) but otherwise I get by quite happily gadget and diamond free! Heck, I don't even own a mobile/cell phone!!!! :huh:

Give me a vacation, anytime :hyper: :hyper: Is it possible to have a never-ending one?!?!?
 
bonosgirl84 said:
these results really surprise me.

i mean, in fifteen years those TVs will have long since died, but a diamond will still have just as much value.

isn't that important anymore? things that last?

I just don't have much use for diamonds. I have a pair of diamond earrings. I certainly don't need a $3000 dollar pair of diamond earrings.

If I get a diamond engagement ring someday that'd be great but I wouldn't buy one for my self.
 
bonosgirl84 said:
these results really surprise me.

i mean, in fifteen years those TVs will have long since died, but a diamond will still have just as much value.

isn't that important anymore? things that last?

I guess it depends on how you define what lasts and how you define which objects have value. Honestly, I've no use for a plasma TV, game systems, sound equipment - that sort of technology. Never had it, don't miss it.

However, I treat my camera as if it were my child. No, my camera will not physically last, but the ability to shoot high resolution photos AND videos on a moment's notice? To me, those things will last, my videos and even more importantly, my photos. Photographs have always been very important to me and my family. I treat them as though they were family heirlooms like expensive jewelry (possibly because our family has never possessed and jewelry worth passing on). I never realized how special the photos and videos were until my dear grandma lost the ability to go out of the house. Now, we have an even closer bond because I'm literally her "eyes and ears", taking photos and videos of everything so she's not excluded, and making sure her photos are preserved and passed on.

For me, technology - digital photography especially - has closed the gap between me and family members who are far away or aren't always able to join in regular family activities. Yes, I would trade all the diamonds in the world any day for these opportunities.

Also, I've always disliked diamonds specifically because they are extremely over-valued. I've never understood the diamond market and how it continues to thrive. Diamond is actually used in a lot of technology components.
 
I don't have that much use for diamonds, either. I'd rather spend the money on a trip to Turkey. Not now, though, it's too damn hot there, and most of their buildings don't have air conditioning. Yuck.
 
Last edited:
I don't need Diamonds. Like Verte said I rather take another Vacation. I want to go to Ireland again. In fact I want to retire there. I love that country so much.
 
Of course all of this stuff is material, no one preference is different from any other in that regard or really in any regard-but each can have emotional or psychological value. I certainly have nothing against diamonds, I still dream of this sapphire and diamond ring I saw in a jewelry store window in Nantucket- it was the most beautiful ring I've ever seen. And an antique style one I saw in a local jewelry store window. I love jewelry. TV's really aren't that important to me, I have one that's an old big and clunky one- I have no idea how big the screen even is. I think in general it's usually men who have a thing about the size of their, uh..tv's :wink: I would just want the camera above all else because photography is my favorite hobby and way to relax.

I have some antique diamonds I inherited from my grandmother, they mean so much to me because they were hers and I would never wear them for fear of losing them. That is a big fear with diamonds. I would like to be able to afford to buy myself a beautiful diamond, I would do that if I could afford it.

I think in general women are more comfortable with gadgets now and they are finally acknowledged for being adept with them, that hasn't always been the case. I am a bit of a technophobe but that's really from lack of confidence - most of what I know about computers I taught myself and I sort of get instinctively, usually to my surprise. I still know very little compared to so many women I know.

I still don't have an iPod and I really have no big desire for one. I feel like a dinosaur when I go walking w/ my portable CD player.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:


I still don't have an iPod and I really have no big desire for one. I feel like a dinosaur when I go walking w/ my portable CD player.

Yay! Join the club! iPod-less (discman) and cell phone-less here :wave:

I agree, photography is very relaxing and a great hobby now that point-and-shoots can be really great quality. Even people like me who suck can afford to at least try!
 
I do have a cell phone, I don't use it much at all. I'm not a big phone person and I find them annoying so many times. It's mostly for safety/emergency purposes.

Maybe we could have diamond studded digital cameras :wink:
 
Besides traveling I wan't a new Digital Camera, a professional one at that. I want the Canon Digital Rebel or Nikon D70.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:


Maybe we could have diamond studded digital cameras :wink:

There's nothing sexier than gray plastic and chrome :drool: Who needs sparkles when you've got the glow of an LCD? :wink:
 
bonosgirl84 said:
these results really surprise me.

i mean, in fifteen years those TVs will have long since died, but a diamond will still have just as much value.

isn't that important anymore? things that last?

I lost one of my diamond earrings, which I didn't care about to begin with except for the sentimental value they held for the person who gave them to me. I'd take a tech item over diamonds, or any kind of jewelry, anyday. :yes: Plus, I find diamonds to be a bit tacky while the tech items are fun and useful, even if there's always a bigger and better one (or in some cases, smaller & better) around the corner.
 
From another article..

(USA Today) The findings suggest advertisers need to address a broad audience and not talk down to women. Advertisers are best served communicating lifestyle benefits of tech products by showing what's useful about them, rather than focusing on specifications, Oxygen says.

"There have been some missed opportunities to market consumer electronics to women," says Steve Koenig, senior manager of industry analysis for the Consumer Electronics Association, whose research reveals only subtle differences between the sexes in their attitudes toward technology.

In the Oxygen survey, 59% of women agreed with the statement "Women are much more tech savvy than they give themselves credit for." Among the men, just 38% agreed. (hmm, interesting :eyebrow: )

"Men and women are equally competent in the technology arena," says Oxygen CEO Geraldine Laybourne.

Katie Richardson, 25, a project manager for an elevator company in Chicago, says family members come to her for help setting up iTunes or fixing a digital camera. "I love figuring out all the different functions," she says.

Still, just 35% of women agreed that "most of the time people rely on me for technology help," vs. 54% of men.

However tech-savvy they are, women are typically the decision makers when it comes to buying.

"From every piece of data we've seen, by and large, household budgets are controlled by women," says Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a prominent venture-capital investment firm. But they are "far more oriented toward solutions rather than tools."

Kristen McDonnell, CEO of LimeLife, a producer of mobile content for women 15 to 35, agrees. "Women are power users of the Internet now in terms of MySpace pages, e-commerce and photo sharing."

New York City College of Technology radiology student Shavonn Tatum, 26, is passionate about gadgets. "I love technology and can't wait to graduate so I can buy things I really want," she says.
 
I'm not very interested in gadgets.... I don't have a cellphone and I won't buy an Ipod either. I only have my digital camera and my graphic tablet (because of my job). I don't use jewelry.... I would be happy with more art supplies and a studio... I'm saving money to buy my own apartment and keep working there :).
 
You know If I won the lottery, and it was the mega one were it's like 200 million dollars or something like that. I would keep 10 million for myself, Donate 50 million to help people in poor countries and ask (U2 to throw a charity concert in which your all invited) 30 million in scholarships for the poor in my country get an education at a top university. The rest would be to help my family in Guatemala and help the poor in Guatemala open up stores so they can provide for there families.
 
Back
Top Bottom