See-Through Gowns & Other Wedding Disasters to Avoid

Even when everything goes (mostly) great, almost every bride can point to little things that she wishes she’d done differently. We asked real women to share the lessons they learned to help you avoid wedding day disasters.

"My dress was a perfect fit when I tried it on standing up. I never sat in it, but when a girl from work asked me if I lifted my arms in it to make sure it didn't slide off, I had it adjusted. And then I sat down at the wedding to have the first toast and it was putting pressure on my ribs and stomach — so I ended up wearing it half unzipped the whole night! –Margot

"I didn't get a photo of just me and my brothers. And no photo of my bridal bouquet. Can you believe it? On the day that I, the event planner, married a photographer, we didn't have a shot list." –Sarah

"Wish I had spent more money on my wedding band! Seemed like a lot of money then, but it is one of the things that lasts." –Morgan

“I’m pretty good at doing my own hair, but I let a pushy wedding planner harass me into using her recommended hairstylist. $400 later and a half hour before my walk down the aisle, I was the owner of a head of crunchy ringlets from circa 1989. Fortunately, my friends were able to brush through the scrunch spray and help me style it to look passable. I still can’t flip through the photos, though, without wishing I’d just done it myself from the start.” –Katherine

"I should have tried my dress on outdoors, in sunlight, before wearing it to my sunshiny outdoor wedding. Turns out that what seemed like such a heavy silk was a tad sheer. Luckily: small wedding, good friends, great photographer who worked a little Photoshop magic." –Amanda

“My dad was in poor health when I got married, and while he was able to walk me down the aisle and give a toast, he wasn’t physically up for the traditional father-daughter by the time the toasts (finally!) ended and the dancing started. In retrospect, I realize there’s no reason why we couldn’t have done that dance immediately after his toast. It was my wedding, and I could have done things in whatever order I wanted to!” –Erika

“I should have honeymooned earlier rather than waiting a whole month. You gotta get on vacay stat." –Margot

“Dance lessons would've been nice — we looked really awkward during our obligatory first dance." –Karen

“Sadly, our photographer had a family emergency and wasn’t able to shoot our wedding. We had never met with the photographer who worked our wedding and didn’t get many of the family pictures we wanted. It sounds extravagant but having a two-person team is well worth the investment.” –Dina

"I wished that we hadn't left for our honeymoon on Sunday morning after getting married Saturday night. A nice, relaxed brunch and more time to spend with out of town guests would've been lovely. –Karen

Now let's hear from you: Do you have any nagging regrets from your wedding day? Let us know in the comments!

Alesandra Dubin is a Los Angeles-based writer and the founder of home and travel blog Homebody in Motion. Follow her on Twitter: @alicedubin.

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See These Sisters Boogie Their Butts Off in a Choreographed Wedding Dance

Our iVillage social-media manager and her sister hit the floor for a perfectly choreographed wedding dance

By Amanda Hawkins - August 16, 2013

We’re 99 percent sure we’ve found the best sister-sister wedding dance ever -- but that could be because it stars our very own iVillage social-media manager, Liz! Look at those flawless moves and the perfectly timed choreography (wow!). Congrats, Liz -- we can’t wait to see you bust a move at the next office party. (And girl, your reception dress is to die for!)

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Software AG acquires JackBe for mashup tooling, real-time analytics

IDG News Service - Software AG is adding mashup and real-time analytic capabilities to its lineup with the acquisition of JackBe. Terms of the deal, which was announced Thursday, were not disclosed.

JackBe is best known for its Presto mashup software, which allows users to bring together and visualize data from multiple sources. It has also offered a real-time analytics product that incorporates Software AG's Terracotta BigMemory in-memory data grid technology.

The latter product as well as Presto will continue to be offered in stand-alone form.

Software AG is also planning to release a new suite called webMethods Intelligent Business Operations Platform, scheduled for early-access availability in the fourth quarter, it said in a statement.

The suite will include four main components, including an integration layer based on a webMethods product for pulling in data from "systems, processes and sensors," a Software AG representative said via email.

JackBe technology along with a number of webMethods products, including Performance Process Manager, will provide an analytics and mashup layer for filtering and organizing the data.

Finally, Presto will serve as the visualization layer, and Software AG also plans to include templates for common industry processes, such as order-to-cash, to get customers up and running quickly.

The JackBe deal is the latest in a string of smaller acquisitions by Software AG in recent years as it broadens its focus beyond core middleware and process integration.

In June, Software AG announced it would buy IT portfolio management vendor alfabet AG.

Adding JackBe to the mix gives Software AG a way to serve business users who want analytics, according to Forrester Research analyst Boris Evelson.

"Most organizations still have enterprise data warehouses and departmental data marts," he said via email. "These require batch processes to integrate the data, aggregate it and denormalize it (flatten it out to optimize for reporting and analytics). This takes time."

While "you won't get complete comprehensive analytics (like time series) by analyzing data directly from operational / transactional data sources, in certain use cases low latency trumps comprehensiveness," he added. "That's JackBe's sweet spot: reporting and analyzing data directly from data sources, bypassing DWs, and doing this in a 'mashup' fashion where business users can get most of the work done on their own, with minimal support from IT."

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris' email address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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Sinofsky captivated by Andreessen Horowitz, becomes board partner

IDG News Service - Steven Sinofsky, who abruptly left Microsoft weeks after his Windows 8 brainchild shipped, has found a new gig at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Sinofsky has joined as a board partner, a role in which he will represent Andreessen Horowitz on the board of the companies it invests in. The position, he wrote Thursday on his personal blog, isn't a full-time job.

Sinofsky first made contact with Andreessen Horowitz late last year and was captivated by what he viewed as the firm's commitment to "fostering innovation, product creation and working with product-focused entrepreneurs."

In his blog post, he profusely professed great admiration for the firm, its employees and leaders and for "the values clearly articulated and lived day to day by everyone at the firm."

In turn, Sinofsky said he hopes to contribute with his skills and extensive experience with product development at Microsoft, which culminated with his leadership of the development of the controversial Windows 8 OS.

A product of historical importance to Microsoft, Windows 8 has been a lightning rod for criticism. Formally launched in October of last year, Windows 8 has been blasted for its radically redesigned "Modern" interface, which is based on tile icons optimized for touch screens and meant to help the OS gain traction in the tablet market.

Still, Apple's iOS and Android continue to dominate the tablet OS market, with Windows 8 a minor player.

Microsoft is busy working on a major revision of the OS called Windows 8.1 that attempts to address many of the objections from consumers and enterprise customers, including the removal of the Start button and the bumpy interplay between the Modern interface and the more traditional Windows 7-like desktop, included to run legacy Windows applications.

In short, the harshest critics maintain that Microsoft tried to make an OS that works well on both desktops and tablets, and ended up with a product that works well in neither. By contrast, Apple has iOS for its iPads and iPhones, and MacOS for its desktop and laptop computers.

Sinofsky, the public face of the Windows 8 project, left Microsoft in mid-November, about three weeks after the launch of the OS, shocking many in the industry and leading to widespread speculation for the causes and motives behind his departure.

Officially, he and Microsoft said at the time that the decision to part was mutual and cordial, but analysts said there may have been tension between Sinofsky and others in the Microsoft executive team, and that the problems could have been exacerbated by the criticism leveled at Windows 8 since the first builds became publicly available.

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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Self-driving carmakers will have to pry steering wheel from some cold, dead hands

Computerworld - As development self-driving car technology moves ahead, a growing faction in the blogosphere say they will refuse let their driving independence be usurped by a computer.

In one game site discussion, comments ranged from, "They'll take the steering wheel out of my cold, dead hands..." to "I'm not trusting a robot to drive a car for me in a long time."

A recent ZDNet article on self-driving cars garnered more than two dozen responses, which ranged from "leave me out" to "can't wait for [a] year that [the] government would be piloting for me."

While many in the blogosphere say they support the develoment of self-driving technology, the opponents appear to have the early edge according to recent survey data.

For example, a survey of British drivers last year commissioned by Bosch, a Germany-based supplier of automotive components, found that most would not buy a self-driving car. Only 29% of respondents said thay would consider buying a driverless car and only 21% said they would feel safe as a passenger in a self-driving car.

The results were vastly different depending on whether the respondents were men, women, younger or older.

It found that 36% of men wouldd consider buying a self-driving car, but only 20% of women felt the same way. And 52% of 18 to 34-year-old respondents would consider an autonomous vehicle.

Bosch, which has invested heavily in driver assistance tech, also said 34% of respondents believe driverless cars would reduce accidents.

Automakers such as GM and Volvo, and even tech companies such as Google, are developing autonomous vehicle technology that will one day let cars and trucks automatically navigate roadways.

Google, in fact, believes that self-driving or autonomous cars will be a reality in short order.

Google co-founder and special projects director Sergey Brin said last year that self-driving cars will be a reality for "ordinary people" in less than five years. Among automakers , General Motors has said it plans to introduce a semi-automated driving system in the Cadillac line in 2015.

Proponents of the technology say it will allow commuters or long-haul truckers to make better use of their time on boring trips.

A lane departure warning system from Bosch. Small and midsize businesses are moving to the cloud to host their communications capabilities. Learn how enterprise-quality phone benefits, online management, conferencing, auto attendant, and ease of use are built into a system that is half the cost of a PBX.

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Think Private Parts Dye Is Ridiculous? It's Sold Out

My New Pink Button, a temporary tint for your labia, might sound funny, but it's the product's Amazon reviews that are hilarious

By Lesley Kennedy - September 18, 2013

As we grow older, many of us turn to hair dyes, skin creams, Botox shots, eye treatments and other beauty rituals to help slow the signs of aging. But do we really have to worry about giving our private parts a youthful glow? At least one product on the market says yes.

The UK’s Daily Mail reports My New Pink Button (it’s OK to cringe at the name – we did) is a temporary dye that, according to the company website will “restore the youthful pink color back to your labia.”

Before you laugh awkwardly at the thought of someone attempting to dye her labia, note that the product, available for $36.95 in four colors – Marilyn, Ginger, Bettie and Audrey, is currently out of stock on the company website and on Amazon.

Marilyn, FYI, is the lightest color (“good for beginners”), while Ginger brings out “a real rosy tone”, Bettie elicits “that sexy hot pink, I am fired up, look” and Audrey is for the daring woman who wants a “bold burgundy pink color.”

According to the My New Pink Button website, the “patent pending formula was designed by a female certified Paramedical Esthetician after she discovered her own genital color loss. While looking online for a solution she discovered thousands of other women asking the same questions regarding their color loss. After countless searches revealing no solution available and a discussion with her own gynecologist she decided to create her own. Now there is a solution!”

And, in case you were curious, the product is PETA friendly: “Our products are never tested on animals, but it will bring out the animal in you!” the site asserts. Good to know.

But the best part about this product’s availability? The hilarious “reviews” posted on Amazon. Some faves:

“Just think ... if it weren't for your product, many women might not even consider the color of their labia to be a problem at all. Can you imagine? Women walking around with gray, discolored vaginas in their pants and feeling totally OKAY about it? Gross!”“Struggling for gift ideas. Why settle for plain old chocolate, flowers or books. This could be the ideal solution. It comes in Pink so is suitable for women of all ages. Just watch Nan's face light up at Christmas time!”“It's a little known fact that as Emily Wilding Davison threw herself under the King's horse during the 1913 Derby her last words were, 'I hope that sometime in the next 100 years, someone introduces a product that makes a woman's labia pinker.'"

We’re not sure who’s been buying up My New Pink Button, but here’s hoping the sales demand “dyes” out quickly.

Lesley Kennedy writes for ShopAtHome.com. Follow ShopAtHome on Twitter @shopathome and Lesley on Google+.

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Think You Can't Afford to Wear These Earrings? You're Wrong

All the sparkle, none of the commitment: Check out our guide to renting and borrowing jewelry online

By Alesandra Dubin - August 21, 2013

You'd love to wear a blingy diamond necklace for a special event, or just try out a few trend pieces without committing to buying new ones as soon as the fad fades. We've got you covered (in fabulous baubles): Check out our guide to where to rent jewelry online.

RocksBox
We're loving the concept behind the new RocksBox, which bills itself as your personal online jewelry stylist. Here's how it works: For membership prices beginning at $15 per month, you get a box in the mail filled with jewelry valued at more than $200 from designers like Gorjana and CC Skye. Wear the pieces for as long as 60 days, and then return them all if you like — or chose to buy any of the pieces at 20 percent off retail. You can return the boxes as often as you like for new jewels. Plus, you can help educate RocksBox by filling out your style preferences (and updating as they change — for instance, if you get a new job), so you're always getting stuff you could potentially love. Fun, right? 

Bag Borrow or Steal
You'd be forgiven, of course, if you assumed Bag Borrow or Steal was the place to rent luxe handbags only. In fact, it also has a great selection of jewelry for rental, including Chanel logo studs that can be yours for $75 a month — plenty of time to interview for (and score!) that top-level new job. 

Haute Vault
Haute Vault's jewelry runs to the highest-end imaginable. (Think a $100,000 diamond necklace you can rent for $2,500). But it also has great costume jewelry for daily wear, like this really cool pair of Stephen Webster yellow gold chandelier earrings you can rent for just $35.

Adorn
As we've told you before, Adorn is an incredible place to rent bridal jewelry. But it works just as well for any other special occasion too. For a dramatic look for a major milestone birthday or anniversary, for instance, how much would you love to rock this gorgeous four-strand diamond bracelet? It rents for a splurgy $360, but it retails for a not-going-to-happen $15,500.

Borrowed Bling
Borrowed Bling works on a monthly membership program, with the cost to join and borrow jewels starting at a modest $29.95. That membership fee allows you to check out two to three items at a time, depending on your membership level. (Alterntively, you can choose to skip th membership and just buy the pieces you like.)

Alesandra Dubin is a Los Angeles-based writer and the founder of home and travel blog Homebody in Motion. Follow her on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

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