Agloves Reviewed by Gear & Gadgets (Greg Elliott)

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Jean Spencer

Greg Elliott Reviews Agloves

We love this video. After all the times we’ve tried to explain our own technology, in different media, pamphlets, paragraphs, tutorials, etc…..finally someone has nailed it. This video is succinct, accurate, engaging and technologically sound. A big shout out to Greg Elliott for going the extra mile to actually learn about a product and how it functions before talking about it. It is this kind of journalism that really makes a reporter stand out.

Hip hip hooray!

Follow Agloves @TheAgloves on twitter for more good videos and updates.

Easy Tips for Corporate Gift Buying – Ideas, Etiquette, Prices

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Jean Spencer

Guest Post by Marlena Rich

Holiday Stress for Presents?

Holiday giving should be fun, and represent your thoughtful nature. But sometimes the holiday season creates “present stress,” especially when you are doing gift buying for your company or corporation. You may be asking yourself some of the following questions when pondering corporate gifts:

I want to send a gift to my customer, with my logo on it, but I don’t want it to look cheap or tacky. What do I do?
I need to send a gift to someone I work with, whom I don’t know well. How do I select a gift that they’ll like without running the risk of offending them?
My boss has a huge list of customers he wants to send gifts to – but he’s set a budget that will only let me spend a about $20 for each person. What do I do?
When should I send a holiday gift to my customers, vendors, and business partners?

Corporate Gifting Tips and Suggestions from a Gal Who’s Been There

It’s true that there’s a different etiquette for corporate gift giving than for personal gift giving; it all boils down to common sense. You’ve spent a lot of time (and money) building your business reputation, and you don’t want to ruin it with the incorrect gift. Liquor may offend some recipients, and clothing may be considered too personal.

Don’t forget that some companies prohibit employees from accepting gifts. A good rule of thumb is to keep the gift under $25. This keeps your recipient out of hot water – and avoids the embarrassment of having the gift returned.

Good taste is the standard for any item with your logo on it; I advise a small, tasteful logo. An inexpensive gift with a big logo on it may be perfect as a trade show hand-out but inappropriate as a holiday gift.

If possible, deliver your gift yourself, with your sincere thanks and good wishes. If your recipient is outside the U.S., do a little cultural research on careful gift giving to avoid offense. The fact is that while gifts are optional in the U.S. and U.K., they are anything but optional in some countries, and you can ruin a relationship with a gift that’s improperly given, given at the wrong time, or other unknowns.

Give a Unique, Afforable, Unisex Gift

This season the cutting edge, clever executive gifts in the $20 range include the top rated touchscreen gloves, Agloves, knitted with REAL SILVER, making them full gesture functional. –No more missing calls, losing gloves or/and freezing your fingers when the smart phone rings!!! A gift like this is imaginative and is one of those gifts you give yourself too – the best kind of gift! Agloves give a warm, “valuable” (made with silver), “touching” handshake message to the recipient, representative of a considerate, clever giver. Logos can be discretely placed at the cuff for orders of 96 or more, and at a price lower than retail! Agloves.com

Sending a hearty “Happy Holidays!” message is the perfect end to the year, and a great way to start off 2013, too. So get those Aglove gift lists ready, and start sending some holiday cheer to the people who made a difference in your life in 2012.

Questions? Or want to order Agloves for your corporate gift? Contact Marlena at Marlena@Agloves.com.

Agloves VP Attends New York Tech Meetup #nytm

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Jean Spencer

A Glimpse Into the Tech of the Big Apple

What a small world the tech communities bring to those involved with them. Recently — August 2 — I attended the New York Tech Meetup to schmooze and shake hands with the innovators of the Big Apple and their trusty investors. Much to my surprise the event was welcoming, inviting and felt like a small local community despite the 18.9 million people swarming the island of Manhattan.

The meetup ran from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m, with roughly 800 tech or tech-related professionals in attendance. Not unlike the Boulder/Denver New Tech Meetup that I am familiar with, the #NYTM was cordial. Folks sipped (over-priced) beer and wine, smiled and shook hands all around.

Also similar to #BDNT, New York encouraged 5-minute presentations by founders of new technology companies. A list a presenters can be found at the end of this post, and included: Dibsie, Zaarly and others, as well as data analyst sites, geo-event sites, etc. There was even a guy who was developing a community art app called 110Stories which focused on rebuilding the New York landscape with the World Trade Center towers in the picture. Cool stuff, indeed.

After presenting, the audience could ask any question but — interestingly — you were NOT allowed to ask what the developing idea’s business model was. That was taboo. Which gave the innovators and thinkers a seemingly unfettered canvas to develop ideas.

I found the “no business model” model to be an elastic, supportive and growth bolstering model for new ideas and technologies. Anyway, the big hitters: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, CraigsList and now Google+ didn’t initially (or still don’t) have a revenue-based model. They survive because people need them to survive, and network effects — or the idea that the more people involved in a thing make that thing stronger by virtue or size.

Building Community

Certainly the cherry atop the already sweet-filled night, was the proximity of friends. Sitting just in front of me was a married couple who — when I gave them a pair of Agloves and crowed about our story said, “Hey, I’ve already seen you. I already know about Agloves!”

The couple used to live in Boulder. They’ve now moved to the center of the universe –coughNYCcough — to develope a real-life-esque video game, similar to Zenga’s work. They remember seeing Jennifer and myself at Boulder Open Coffee Club (#bocc) the day we first announced touchscreen-ready Agloves to the tech community. Just some more cool stuff.

Here was the lineup of events and presenters:

Brom.ly – @Bromly – Helps you decide what to do tonight by providing personalized event recommendations based on your interests and social profiles. Presenter: Chad Gallagher.

Voyurl – @voyurl – The first truly ‘feedback-free’ discovery engine that recycles your data exhaust to make it powerful–via personalized content recommendation–and insightful–via vibrant personal analytics. Presenter: Adam Leibsohn

StockTouch – @stocktouch – A visual high performance iPad app for looking at stocks and companies combining a game engine platform, multi-touch interface, and custom high-speed data protocol to let users easily spot trends, relationships, movement, and outliers in the markets. Presenters: Jennifer Johnson, Steve de Brun.

Dibsie – @dibsie – an interactive shopping site designed to help you find amazing deals that appeal to your interests and budget with self-serve deal uploading for businesses. Presenters: Garren Givens, Dylan Fareed and Scott Poniewaz

want! – @WANTapp – A new mobile app that allows you to playfully express yourself by capturing, sharing and remembering things that you want. Presenter: Gene DeRose

KnowAboutIt – @knwbt – The best way to find relevant and engaging content lost in your social streams. Presenters: Kevin Marshall and Will Cole

Zaarly – @zaarly @ZaarlyNYC-Buy and sell anything with people nearby. Presenter: Bo Fishback.

Idea Flight – @ideaflight – A productivity app that allows a user to share presentations across a room of other devices, and control the experience easily from their iPad. Presenters: Juliana Stock, Melanie Rivera, Dan Wells

110 Stories – @brianaugust @110stories – An augmented reality Twin Towers iphone app that enables you to orient your phone towards the former location of the towers, augment in the image of the towers, comment and share your story with the world. Presenter: Brian August.

Inventors Month Recognizes Thinking, Inventing, New Thought

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Jennifer

Recently, I participated in a blog that asked, “What should we teach college students about being entrepreneurs?” I believe that the primary skill to teach is THINKING. By this I mean a mental process that includes resourcefulness, imagination, problem solving and resilience. I suppose that I could have also have used the term, INVENTIVENESS.

Small businesses must invent ways to compete in the marketplace. High growth entrepreneurs invent products with mass appeal. And as they commercialize their service or product, they provide jobs for the rest of us.

Jennifer invented the idea for Agloves. Touchscreen gloves or iPhone gloves did not exist five years ago. To commercialize the idea, our company employs a small number of dedicated people. But there is a ripple effect to this new product category. Our business creates jobs for web designers, fulfillment houses, bloggers, warehouse managers, videographers, mill workers, accountants, patent attorneys, shippers and graphic designers.

According to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, small firms represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms and employ half of all private sector employees.

Jean and Jennifer thrive on the ongoing intellectual challenge required to stay ahead of the game. They are proud to run a 100% woman-owned business, to create meaningful employment, and to provide a solution for individuals wanting to use their smart phone in the cold weather.

I guess you could say that Jean and Jennifer are Inventors.

Questions or Comments: Email Jennifer@Agloves.com

Agloves Tops PCMag’s Best Winter Gadget List

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Agloves

Yes indeed, Agloves have come in again at the top of a gadget list.

Today, Agloves crowned PCMag’s Best Tech for Winter list.

Among those mentioned include:

Agloves
Panasonic’s Lumix
Virgin Mobile’s MiFi Handwarmer
Boblbee’s hardcase, executive backpack
Ear warmer headphones
Swackett’s weather application
IOSafe rugged portable hard drive
Panasonic’s Toughbook
Backup mobile batteries
Antifog agents for lenses.

Uniting Runners with Touch Screen Gloves: Agloves

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Agloves

Staying fit through winter

By Jean Spencer

It’s tough to stay fit during winter.

It’s cold and dark outside. The holidays are full of sweet snacks that make put you into a food coma. Getting to the gym regularly can definitely feel like a chore, let alone trying to run outside. But gadgets and technology have improved the runner’s experience outside.

Take MapMyRun.com for example. MapMyRun is an internet Web site and mobile app that allows runners to track workouts and keep information such as mileage, GPS location, speed and pace. You can also log your workouts to keep track of long-term progress.

But accessing MapMyRun when its cold on can be tricky, if you wear running gloves. That’s because normal gloves don’t work to access touch screen devices.

It’s a part of the reason, Boulder’s Jennifer Spencer invented Agloves.

Jennifer Spencer runs on a trail in Boulder

“I carry my iPhone and my iPod,” Jennifer told me today. ” I use my iPhone to MapMyRun and when I am trying to increase my miles and find new routes, in Boulder… I love it and use it all the time.”

And runners are finally finding Agloves put their touch screen woes to behind.

Coffee, Sunshine, Boulder & MapMyRun

Today Agloves met with MapMyRun. Well really — I, Jean Spencer, of Agloves met with Todd Straka, of MapMyRun.com. We met over coffee in Boulder at The Cup, and the meeting represents a milestone between Agloves and the running community.

Todd Straka is the founder of boulderrunning.com is “the running resource for the Front Range” including articles about upcoming races, running form and different running events along the Northern Colorado Front Range communities: Boulder, Fort Collins, Greeley, Denver and more.

Straka found Agloves through Brad Feld’s Amazing Deals, a special the Agloves team ran for 72 hours only, offering Agloves at the bargain rate of $9. (The sale only lasted actually one-and-a-half days before Agloves ran out, 500 pairs in one day…the deal was hot ) He requested to meet the makers of Agloves, which we (well, I) happily did.

It turns out we had a lot in common. As an avid trail runner and running enthusiast, Straka mentioned how touch screen gloves that are compatible with iPhones, Droids and Blackberry phones with touch screens are especially useful for people who use the MapMyRun phone application.

He said he’s tried other gloves in the past, and cutting the tops of his own gloves, but still hasn’t found exactly what he’s looking for.

A friend recommended Agloves to Straka and I gave him a pair of Agloves to try out.

We can’t wait to see his thoughts and opinons.

Want more from Straka? Follow him on Twitter @boulderrunner