Tuesday, October 22, 2013

This is Myspace.

Myspace is a social network that died long ago... now it's reincarnated! As a self-labeled social media butterfly, I’ve got a serious declaration: I’ve never retained a Myspace account (used occasionally, or remember about it). It has been hectic to manage the time from writing up killer truths and confronting for my friends or better yet anyone else in my way on Facebook and when that got me in trouble (and depressed), I turned to Twitterfor some full on war. The idea of signing up always nagged at me, even though I still or porbably have an account from decades back, but I never bothered. Until recently a friend made me think twice. I did (well with my Twitter)



The new Myspace is pretty loud. The interface is mind blowing, it’s laden with better-quality, cleaner visuals that give the site a more contemporary feel. They call it "UX". They paid attention to how users were utilizing the site (to discover/listen to new bands) and pivoted to give it a music/artist focus.  They kept the design simple and image-focused.  They added a radio.  These are all good changes. A revamp, and now that Myspace is officially back, and currently with an iOS app (no iPad version yet!!!). It’s time to take yet another look at what the new Myspace is bringing to the social-media-meets-music table.

 I've got a question: Does the new Myspace have a chance?


Saturday, October 19, 2013

I'm annoyed & Angry

I hate being angry. It's the worst emotional feeling possible. I'm so full of rage. Killing anyone or anything is a given. I'm not really concerned. I've let the anger control me, it was not meant to be like this. Sometimes you wish people could just be simple. Why do people make empty promises. I do not do that so why should anyone. If you cant do something simply state it, make it known so I can make other plans. By keeping the truth to yourself even though it affects me and others nothing is achieved other than a terrible counter measure.

I'm annoyed and angry, I feel like punching someone or better yet being punched, just any physical release not this emotional pain which hurts deeply. Knowing nothing can be done, it just has to be endured but I don't know how. I'm feeling angry because I have been let down by someone. That someone keeps on making empty promises. I'm angry with myself for believing in them. The only person you can truly trust is yourself. You can let yourself down but at least you would have expected it and know exactly what went down. I wish people could just be straightforward and simple.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Come Walk With Me

 It’s not easy being an M.I.A. fan, but those of us who kept allegiance & faith through MAYA, Trufflegate, and serious label issues have been rewarded with a return to gloriously electric form.It’s been almost a year and a half in the making, but the slow-jam-turned-dance-track seems worth the wait. This is M.I.A coming back with power, Matangi will surely be worth it.


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Educational Advancement through Tecgnology

Many industries such as music, newspapers, film & publishing have been caught napping by the advancement of technology, as a direct result hey have been forced to revise their business models. Higher/tertiary education is still in resistance mode to these changes. Even though with the stiff resistance the upcoming students are slowly pushing the change. In class students will have laptops, tablets, smartphones (phablets) in order to further their studies.

A gradual and fundamental shift in the practice of academics is taking place. Every aspect of scholarly practice is seeing changes effected by the adoption and possibilities of new technologies




Read it Later



Renamed fromRead It Later to Pocket. It tool that lets you save webpages and syncs across all of your devices, with tool. You can pocket lengthy articles or videos away and queue them up for reading and watching later, no matter where you are. I tend to use the app on campus save pages then read them back home after class. Whenever I come across a video on my phone, then realize I'd rather watch it on my iPad or Mac. 

One of Pocket's biggest features is the ability to filter by content type; you can sort by image, video, and traditional text. Filtering by video reveals a grid of thumbnails of videos you've saved across Vimeo, YouTube, and other services. Most videos saved from the web will automatically get categorised appropriately, but only YouTube and Vimeo videos will display a pop-up player in the app. In practice, we found there are still some sorting issues to work out — I added several Tales of Mere Existence videos to Pocket from the web, and it didn't properly sort into video. 

When accessing your Pocket list, it's easy to sort by content type (text, video, or image) and to edit items in bulk. Also, the search bar makes it easy to find items by tag, title, or even URL. So, even with hundreds of items saved to your Pocket, it's fairly easy to go back and find anything you're looking for. Plus, after you check items off, they are automatically moved to an archive, where you can re-access them later. One thing you can't do with Pocket, though, is reorder the items in your list. This isn't a huge deal since the search function works so well, but it would've been a nice function to have. 



Evolutionized Notetaking

I live in Evernote now. Its in the cloud! Cloud computing is making big news and appears to be where I'm headed. All you need is internet access and everything, all of it will be there! Recently I discovered Evernote, it is a game changer. Now imagine your notes in the cloud. Being able to access them from anywhere in the world where there is an internet connection. Evernote is cloud synced constantly so you have that piece of mind that your notes are everywhere. 

According to Evernote: "Evernote is an easy-to-use, free tool that helps you remember everything across all of the devices you use.stay organized, save your ideas, and improve productivity..."

Evernote is one of those tools you struggle to understand its functionality but upon utilizing it you get it. Basically Evernote is a text editor, photo upload tool, voice recording device, website read-it-later and these are just the few things I have discovered. An Evernote power-user would truly unlock the potential of the application. Evernote makes use of the cloud to save whatever you have created to the cloud. Once its uploaded to the cloud your data is available on any Evernote compatible device; which are smartphones, tablets, desktops both OS X & Windows, synchronized apps or on the web. There is quite a bunch of apps to use in collaboration with Evernote.


In terms of competition I have really set out to find a challenger, Evernote fulfills my note taking. However prior to discovering Evernote I was using Microsoft's One Note, which for me was not that inviting. One Note had its advantage of being built into Windows, but once I migrated to OS X it became a burden. Even in usability Evernote is way better than One Note, I wish I had discovered it earlier.

I used to use a traditional notebook to jot down ideas, notes or even just minutes. It was convenient at the time, but the nightmare came when you lost that notebook. All was hopeless. Now every time I attend a meeting for a school assignment and someone walks in with a paper notebook I sort of realize they aren't that serious. For example if there some to dos you would want the,pm added to your calendar. If you are serious about a project I think utilizing a digital notebook makes more sense, unless you then type it in afterwards. With Evernote you can add images, recordings, links and many more items. Can you do that with a paper notebook?

I'm slightly biased towards Evernote after an infuriating experience with One Note. Obviously pen and paper is the most limited method to get things done. Evernote is just one tool out thousands that can be utilized. I prefer it.



Monday, October 7, 2013

Flagship Dual-Boot Coming Soon


With smartphone innovation seriously not being revolutionary anymore, with a new device it's just an upgrade on the hardware(improved processor, better camera, etc.). There are very few software upgrades that are game changers, with the exception of the recently launched iOS7. The reality with innovation is you cannot have it both ways. I like OS X, but it's far from perfect. Windows, Linux, Android, iOS and others are similarly strong in some areas, but not so good in others.



Reports that recently surfaced suggest that Microsoft has approached HTC in regards to ship its Android devices with Windows Phone as a secondary operating system. This if it becomes a reality is a game changer! The user can somewhat answer which operation system is better because they have the choice after purchasing a device.

At the moment to those familiar with rooting your Android know it's already a given possible. The reality of it coming shipped with your device and not the user having to tweak it to access the option is a completely whole new unique selling point.  This isn't an entirely unheard of idea some manufacturers have such devices on the market but of these are not flagship brands, but a union of Microsoft and HTC, with the right marketing will definitely prosper. The Python S3, a tablet released by Italian Ekoore that can boot three operating systems: Ubuntu Linux, Android, and Windows 8.

Xbox Music streams songs on-demand for free on the web (for a fee on mobile devices)

Xbox Music

Stream millions of songs free on the web.


"Xbox Music gives you access to millions of songs to stream for free with Windows 8 and on the web atmusic.xbox.com. Search for any artist, song, or full album and instantly play what you want. You can even create and save playlists for easy access to the songs you love." - 
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/music


Xbox Music is the resurrected Zune music service only simplified and improved. Xbox Music is an ad-supported subscription music streaming service by Microsoft and also offers music purchases through the Xbox Music Store. It is available on Xbox 360, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8,iOS, Android and the web. The Xbox Music catalog has over 30 million tracks.

Xbox Music has a free options as well as $9.99 a month premium options. To start-off, you'll need an Xbox account along with Xbox Music Pass. There is a 30-day free trial you can sign up for.  If you pay $9.99 a month for the Xbox Music Pass you get ad-free, unlimited playback of any track in the subscription catalogue on your PC, phone (Windows Phone to start with, iOS and Android later on) or Xbox 360 – including playing music when you're not online. Once you have the Music Pass, you can listen to music on your desktop through a Web browser or on your iPhone. Xbox music is not optimized for iPad at launch, but you can use pixel-doubling(the x2  on the bottom right) from the iPhone app.


The major reason behind my admiration of Xbox Music is that it has a clean and simple interface that's very responsive during use, you search then play and listen to music.  You can, however, create playlists and add to your music collection that is shared across all your devices on the same account. Playlists are songs you picked that will be played in the order you add them. You can make as many
playlists as you want. But the collection is a kind of favorites list for all the songs you want easy access to across all your devices. Both are synced up to the cloud, so you can create a playlist on your iPhone or add songs to your collection, and then you can access them on other devices.


Obviosuly there are other music streaming service but the Xbox music interface is my personal best.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Smooth Singing With Heavy Drumming



I just found out about this band and I'm in a trance. The harmonies are very impressive the combined infusion into their music makes their songs bad jams. First song I heard "Little Games" and it hooked me. The drummer's voice is on vocally on point, she can whisper to me for infinity. If you are a fan of sweet music this could be it.