I was honored to be asked to write an article for our favorite Chicago-family-focused website (and Astek client) Families in the Loop. Find out my top tech picks for parents in 2012:

Viva La Tech! Revolutionary Gadgets for the New Year
by Katie Hawkey, Geek Whisperer, Astek Web

Bob Dylan was righter than he knew when he warbled that the times, they are a-changin’ — and this was before the iPad. Nothing changes faster than technology, and as this new year dawns I can’t tell you how excited I am to see what the world comes up with next. Every year seems to bring… [read more]

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Katie Hawkey Categories: Fun, Gadget, Technology

Dear Astek readers, clients and awesome individuals. I am very excited to announce that I have trekked across sidewalks, airport terminals, taxi cab lines, and up four flights of stairs (with three over-the-weight-limit bags in tow) to set up shop in New York City! That’s right Astek has officially taken Manhattan. I personally have traveled to New York City very regular since I was 17, and have wanted to move there since that time. So now I can finally say that I have done just that!

Don’t worry, I shall be coming to Chicago quite frequently. I adore the Windy City, and will never fully leave. I however am very excited for the challenge ahead and to see how Astek grows out here on the East Coast!

Until then, I give you my view from my taxi cab. Cheers!

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Rachel Yeomans Categories: Fun

Or, at least all of the electrons that form the cat videos and pornography zipping around it?

Impossible to calculate exactly but, like most bizarre science facts (the planet Saturn could float on water since it’s only 2/3 as dense, the national debt as a stack of pennies would stretch out of the solar system, etc.) this is entertaining because of the scales involved.

The guys who put this together are called VSauce and their YouTube channel has a lot of other interesting time-waster material.

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Tom Hickey Categories: Fun, General, Technology, Web

This month we are sharing things that inspire us. Personally, crafting is my passion and is a huge influence on my personal aesthetic. My work on various crafts has informed the way I look at form, function, materials and, yep, even web design.

And in the spirit of the season, I thought I’d share a simple craft project that is an olfactory delight – cloving oranges!

Over the weekend, we sat down to decorated some oranges with cloves for the Astek conference table. Now the whole office smells like Christmas! If you want to decorate your own oranges it is very easy. Here’s how we did it:

Simply take some oranges…

And a bowl of whole cloves (available with the spices in any grocery store)

Press the pointy end of the clove into the orange. Make patterns or images.

We couldn’t resist turning a green spot on one of the oranges into the Astek logo.

If you want to get really fancy you can take a zester or a tool like this v-shaped pumpkin carving tool and peel away just the top layer of skin for additional patterns and decor options.

Place in a pretty bowl and display where ever fragrant holiday cheer is appreciated. The best smells come for the first 48 hours, but display can be left for a week or more, though oranges may shrivel a bit after a few days. Enjoy!

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Katie Hawkey Categories: Fun, General, Green, How To

One of my favorite moments during a work conference was when I met up with a colleague for a meeting, and we both talked not about social media or technology – but books and BBC America. It was so rejuvenating after being inundated with the new ideas, opinions, and the latest and greatest. In fact, walking back to my hotel from that conversation, I had one of the best campaign ideas I had that entire month.

My takeaway: Don’t be afraid to let your outside inspiration influence your work.

This seems like common sense, but I have found myself feeling guilty when I just need a break from work and put it aside to read a novel or watch a movie. Yet I’m the one in meetings saying things like, “You know that scene in XYZ movie? That would be a perfect tie-in for this campaign for your product!”. My personal hobbies influence my work ideas constantly – and I feel the more that I let myself enjoy my hobbies, the stronger my work performance is.

My father had a similar suggestion when I was younger. I’d be doing homework and feeling overwhelmed with a certain subject matter. Dad would tell me to put it aside and do homework on another subject to let the other parts of my brain do some work for a bit. And it worked!

It’s a simple concept, but this little bit of acceptance of not “living and breathing” work, but rather just living and breathing and seeing how positively that affects your work is literally, quite an epiphany.

So with that being said, here is a  list of some of the things that inspire me to get outside of my social media box.

1. Fashion (runway shows, fashion magazines, fashion events, blogs and of course – shopping)
2. Anything BBC (from Dr. Who to Downton Abbey and all other Masterpiece Classic shows just make me happy)
3. Reading novels
4. Going to the movies (prefer foreign or independent films – anything in French is a given)
5. Going to my family’s lake house and doing nothing
6. Long walks
7. Listening to music

Now your turn! What are yours?

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Rachel Yeomans Categories: Fun, General

A few weeks ago I was standing on the sidelines to cheer on a couple of friends running the Chicago Marathon. They both did very well!

While I was waiting for them to pass, I snapped this photo on my iPhone 4 of a guy wearing a tutu, which just seemed comical in the context of the race.

I uploaded it shortly thereafter from my iPhone to Facebook. Within minutes, a friend of mine spotted my Facebook post and commented, “I know him! That’s awesome!!!”

She tagged him in the photo, which notified him instantly. He responded, “I would have stopped to pose if you asked. What mile were you at? Thanks again for getting it. It’s fantastic.”

We had a bit of conversation and are now friends. This breaks my rule of Facebook friendship, which requires that I have spoken to you in person for at least 60 minutes, but I felt like making an exception.

I have to say as long as I’ve been on Facebook, this is one of the crazier small world moments I’ve had. With more than 45,000 people running, I took four photos and got one of someone two degrees of separation from me. And with Facebook, in a matter of hours I was connected with him.

Maybe oddballs just run in similar circles and another oddball caught my attention.

As we enter an age of facial recognition technology, things like this will become more commonplace. In this case, however, I’m not sure what tech could have recognized the tutu guy.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Fun, Mobile, Social Media, Technology

We’re going green at Astek! Now…define green…

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Rachel Yeomans Categories: Fun, Green

We have a double feature for you lucky viewers this Friday! Here we have TWO staff meeting videos for you to enjoy. The first, we were able to do a successful update on the third quarter figures and activity. Unfortunately, we had a bit of an issue with mixing our metaphors.

Then the changes to Facebook happened. Let’s just say we had one staff member who didn’t take it very well.

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Rachel Yeomans Categories: Fun

I have never been able to get into Digg or any of the other sharable interest-tracking type tools. This weekend I heard Pinterest mentioned to me at least 8 times so I figured I finally needed to check it out. What a FANTASTIC tool!

Pinterest is a service that allows you to create online “Pinboards” for things you are interested in. Looking for new curtains for your living room? Create a “Living Room Curtains” pinboard and each time you find one you like, “Pin it” from an easy button you can drag and drop into your browser tool bar. Afterwards you can go back to your board to view everything you pinned, make your final choice and follow the photo back to the original page.

When you create an account you can easily find your Facebook and/or Twitter friends and identify categories of stuff you are interested in (DIY/Crafts, Home Decor, Photography, etc.) and you will see the pins from prominent pinners in these categories.

This is a very easy site to use. I suggest you request an invite today! You will be glad you did!

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Katie Hawkey Categories: Fun, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Web

They’re called The Tea Party, and have nothing to do with the recent movement in American politics.  Having been around for over 20 years, they are a little dismayed at the constant confusion their name now causes.  However, there is one bright spot for the now unfortunately named band.  They own the domain name teaparty.com.

And they are considering selling that domain, especially since it is valued at around 1 million US dollars.  It’s hard to let that kind of money go, even if your politics don’t jive with who’s giving you the money.  As is apparently the case with The Tea Party.  They say that the option to sell it to the highest bidder is definitely on the table, but that they’re holding off until after their upcoming world tour.  If they pull in enough money there, the band says they would accept less than $1 million, from someone like John Stewart or Stephen Colbert.

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Andrew Crowe Categories: Fun, Web