DailyCandy seeks your favorite geek hotties

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Mark Zuckerberg. Sergey Brin. Bill Gates. Hot or not?

DailyCandy certainly thinks they are. The e-mail newsletter that’s famous for promoting clothes, shops and restaurants is holding a contest called Get with the Programmer. Readers can nominate their favorite heartthrob ‘tech dude.’ Finalists will be announced Feb. 4, and fans can vote online.

If your nominee wins the title of ‘Hottest Programmer’ when it’s announced Feb. 13, you each win an HP Mini 1000 XP edition series netbook computer with an upgraded 60-gigabyte hard drive. Not a bad prize for spilling your guts about your secret nerd crush.

We took a little time out to do an instant-message chat with Dannielle Kyrillos, editor-at-large at DailyCandy. Here’s her take on the photos people have submitted (one programmer was naked, with a laptop covering his ‘mainframe’), plans for future dork fanfare and why picking a winner is going to be ‘harder than curing a blue screen of death.’

Lori: Hey, Dannielle. You there?

Dannielle: hi!

Dannielle: i’m here!

Lori: Awesome.

Lori: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today.

Dannielle: what a fun way to do an interview

Dannielle: i love it

Lori: Yes! I think it is super techie.

Dannielle: perfect for the subject!

Lori: So, just in time for Valentine’s Day, you launched this contest ‘Get with the Programmer.’ Where did the idea come from?

Dannielle: A few weeks ago, we were sitting around the big table in our conference room

Dannielle: Discussing some DailyCandy discoveries whether they’d make good items

Dannielle: that sort of thing happens here all the time

Dannielle: well, the conference room is connected via a glass door to the room where our tech guys sit

Lori: ah ha!

Lori: (we call it a cave sometimes)

Dannielle: since we’re all girls we like to tease them and flirt with them

Dannielle: bet they love that...

Dannielle: and suddenly it struck us clear as day --

Dannielle: there are boys sitting in dark rooms around the country who are the absolute heart and soul (and more technically, guts) of their companies

Dannielle: and we thought it’s high time they were celebrated

Dannielle: enough funny flirting like we do through the glass door

Dannielle: how about some public recognition on a national stage!

Lori: nice!

Read more of the interview after the jump.

Dannielle: and based on our subscribers’ reaction

Dannielle: and overwhelming response

Dannielle: this is an idea whose time had come!

Lori: Love it.

Dannielle: we’ve been floored by how many submissions we’ve received

Lori: How many so far?

Dannielle: more than 800!!!!

Lori: whoa.

Dannielle: from all over the place

Lori: that’s a lot of tech love.

Dannielle: and they are sooooo cute

Lori: AW!

Dannielle: it was like this was simmering in offices everywhere

Lori: wow.

Dannielle: people were waiting to show their tech love to the world!

Dannielle: if you think about it, tech boys are the unsung heroes of everything we do

Lori: So, what is it that DailyCandy finds alluring about tech guys? Anything in particular? From the responses you have received, is there something that keeps being mentioned?

Dannielle: other than their smolderingly sexiness?

Lori: LOL.

Dannielle: well, tech boys tend to be singlemindedly focused on their mission and their missions are usually really complicated

Lori: true that.

Dannielle: we’re sort of in awe of the great features they build us and how they take the time to explain it to us without making us feel dumb

Lori: That’s great. Do you plan on holding other contests like this?

Dannielle: i think that’s a common sentiment in the entries

Dannielle: our subscribers are very vocal, and they love to share with us their discoveries

Lori: Any plans to reach out to other hidden hotties in the tech landscape?

Dannielle: in terms of other hidden hotties it’s our job to uncover good things that are hidden

Lori: Right. Yes, of course.

Dannielle: so it would only make sense for us to extend this

Lori: Any groups in particular you are going to reach out to?

Dannielle: what about the finance department?

Lori: Yes! The money guys.

Dannielle: exactly

Dannielle: that could be more gender neutral but could be fertile ground for hidden hotties

Dannielle: one idea that’s not as tech-related but is very DailyCandy would be the hottest chefs from across the country

Dannielle: every local town has their favorites

Lori: That’s a very hot topic right now!

Dannielle: it sure is

Dannielle: since we discover new restaurants it could be another fun and funny way to involve our dear subscribers

Dannielle: can i tell you -- some editors are reviewing submissions a few desks over and it looks and sounds like the most fun anyone has ever had

Lori: That’s so cool. Will it be difficult to choose a winner? How will you determine who’s the hottest geek of them all out of 800+?

Dannielle: Choosing a winner is going to be harder than curing a blue screen of death

Lori: Ha!

Dannielle: there are so, so, so many gigabyte gigolos

Dannielle: But, we are editors, after all so we’ll narrow the field

Dannielle: read the submissions carefully

Dannielle: (those who nominated guys had to tell us WHY)

Dannielle: But choosing just one will force us to be as careful as when we have to ask our tech guy, Justin, for help with the printer

Dannielle: he can get a little grumpy!

Lori: Ha! What are you looking for in a winner?

Dannielle: We’re looking for the total package

Dannielle: that elusive combination that is the tech boy badge of honor---

Dannielle: Understated glamour

Dannielle: Dry sense of humor

Dannielle: Kind, patient eyes

Lori: Of course. Is there anyone in the tech world that you find particularly hot?

Dannielle: Sergey Brinn! (sp?) [Note: Brin, pictured at right, co-founded Google]

Lori: Stuck on a desert island....Bill Gates or Brad Pitt?

Dannielle: hmmm... Bill Gates is saving the world, so he’d instantly find a way off the island

Dannielle: with Brad Pitt, you’d be stuck longer

Dannielle: which could be a plus

Lori: LOL!

Dannielle: Really a tough, tough call!

Lori: It is...

Dannielle: I will distract you from making me answer definitively by telling you something surprising we’ve noticed

Lori: yes?

Dannielle: A lot more bow ties in the tech world than you’d expect! And, before you ask, Yes. We have received one naked picture, with a laptop covering the...mainframe

Lori: OMG!

Dannielle: I wish I were making it up

Lori: It is too good!

Dannielle: I also wish I hadn’t looked! It’s burnt into my memory

Lori: LOL. Well, I wish you great luck reading all those submissions! I am sure that will be a Valentine treat in and of itself.

Dannielle: It’s the greatest Valentine a gang of girl editors could ever want! And giving these dudes their due makes us the happiest

Lori: That’s real love!

Dannielle: For sure! We will keep you posted

Dannielle: this is the best way EVER to do an interview!

Lori: IT IS! We rock. Thanks for chatting with me.

Dannielle: Thank YOU! have a great rest of the day, and we’ll chat again soon!

-- Lori Kozlowski

Photo, top: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Credit: Paul Sakuma / Associated Press

Photo, bottom: Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Credit: Erin Lubin / Bloomberg News