It's cold outside and that means new and creative ways for you to wear your headphones over your hat…or you can try out the Aerial7 Sound Disk Beanie and save yourself a lot of hassle of tugging and pulling. The Sound Disk Beanie features a built-in mic for your iPhone, 35mm driver diameter, and input jack to plug in just about any MP3 player.  The beanie incorporates a built-in speaker system so there is no need

For those of you that have been following Chip Chick lately, you probably know that I spent an amazing week in Finland profiling Nordic startups and Finnish culture with a group of BADASS bloggers from around the world. So I was clearly excited when I saw that Finland was in the headlines today! The Finnish government announced that it would be the first country to provide broadband Internet to the entire nation by law: all 5.5 million of them.  According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the law states that by July 2010, each person in Finland will have the right to a one-megabyte broadband connection, and by 2015 it will be more like a 100MB broadband connection. So basically, by 2015, Internet access will be available throughout the country to all its inhabitants. Although the broadband will not be for free, it will be available if you choose to cash in.

Helsinki, Finland’s RunToShop Ltd. is a company changing the way consumers  purchase online. Buying is about trust. Is what you’re selling me really as good as you say it is? Obviously a shopper would trust an expert or friend more than a product page or sales person. Based on the concept of trust to enhance online shopping, RunToShop is an online tool that integrates with any e-commerce store and lets customers recommend, compare and ask questions about different products through social networks.  This active sharing is designed to enhance trust and increasing online sales. So here’s how it works: companies can purchase the RunToShop widget and integrate it into their e-commerce store. When customers are looking at a particular product in the store, they can easily pull up information about what other customers are saying about the product including reviews or recommendations.  If they want to leave a review or recommendation, the customer

When filmmakers in Tampere, Finland decided they wanted to make a movie in their friend’s basement, little did they know that it would become worldwide phenomena available in 30 languages, with Hollywood quality special effects, that Universal would eventually buy the rights to. Fat chance. Well, it happened. A movie with no real actors, no real budget, that took seven years to film became an online sensation thanks to the passion of its creators and their somewhat different distribution plan. Most movie makers hope to make it big in Hollywood

Demola works with Finnish companies (like mobile mega company Nokia) to think up the most amazing new project ideas in the digital service industry. Once these Finnish companies have thought up their most next gen idea yet, instead of passing them off to experienced developers, they let Demola’s task force of rock star students from Tampere, Finland give them a try. Devoting three to eight months of their time, students embark on these projects to create real-life innovations for companies around Finland. Out of the 30 projects that were completed in the first year, 95% of them were then licensed by the companies involved. Can you imagine if Nokia thought that your project was so good, they licensed it? Way better than an A for effort!

Probably THE coolest development in video games EVER, Ball-IT will revolutionize gaming. Based out of Finland, Ball-IT requires no hand held controller. You don’t even need a specific gaming system. All you need is the fun, bouncy ball the size of a golf ball. Using wireless sensor technology, the ball senses your movement and controls your avatar within the games. The ball syncs with your mobile phone or PC using Bluetooth so you can use it as a game controller, 3D model controller, pedometer & calorie counter, as well as a remote control for your PC. It is the first

From the outside of this average looking office building, no one would suspect that it's the site of Nokia's most secretive research and development lab. Guarded by a frosted glass door labeled "no entry" hides Nokia's inner sanctum of new product development, cutting edge ideas, possible failures, and future technology. This place is where the next big ideas are researched, developed, and tested. When Chip Chick was granted access into Nokia's inner sanctum located in Helsinki, Finland, I didn't see elves or robots testing the newest products, but instead the clean, simple designs that we have come to expect from the Scandinavians. This international team of rock star visionaries that work at Nokia are combining trends with the newest in mobile phone technology. For example, there was a huge

As you can see between yesterday and today we have been posting items about Finland. Why you may ask has Chip Chick gone Finnish? Well when media agency Finnfacts approached Chip Chick with the opportunity to visit Finland to meet with the movers and shakers of the Finnish tech world, we obviously jumped at the opportunity. Finnfacts, an agency that has been inviting foreign journalists to Finland for 30 years, hosted the first ever blogger tour (woot woot!) with bloggers from TechCrunch, The NextWeb, HenrietteWeber, ReadWriteWeb, StartupMeme, and TechPulse360. Focused on social media and Web 2.0, we got an inside look at how Finnish start-ups are trailblazing in the world of tech.

Golla of Finland's motto is that technology is moving fast and fashion even faster. That is why all of their cases and bags dress your gadgets in the latest trends. New for 2007, they are expanding their lineup to Laptop messenger bags, Digital camera and Mp3 player cases.