iPhone 4S will do just fine for now

Image via CrunchBase

I subscribed to the LifeHacker RSS feed to add some spontaneity and spice to my Google Reader. LifeHacker is a productivity tool/ technology guide type website. Today I was lead to an article which gave readers tips to:

“Make your old iPhone feel like new this weekend“

…Which is good because I’m starting to get a little lime green jelly of the people who have obtained the new iPhone 5.

After reading the article, these are the steps I have taken to make my 4S feel snazzy as new:

• Cleaned the screen. Luckily I’m yet to crack the screen so a little spray and wipe has given the phone a brand-spanking-new shine.
• Updated the software. So, it’s basically a (shorter and fatter) iPhone 5.
• Cleared and Organized my apps. I deleted the apps I don’t use anymore (Draw Something, Words With Friends etc.) and created folders for the ones I commonly use. This gives me more storage space and in turn makes my battery last longer.

Glad I read this article because now I’m not $800 poorer. Thank you Life Hacker!

Comparing Search Engines: Google VS. Duckduck go VS. Instagrok

Today, as I was surfing the web, I found myself daydreaming about being in New York once again. Brooklyn in particular. I decided to research ‘Tourist activities in Brooklyn’, using three different search engines to see what I would find. I’ve never really used Duckduckgo or Instagrok before so it was interesting comparing the results.

Google
Due to familiarity, Google is probably the easiest to use. The search yielded ‘about 5, 110, 000 results’ in ‘0.28’ seconds. Nifty.
The thing I like about Google is the suggestions that pop up as I type a phrase into the search bar. I enjoy discovering what popular searches are because it helps me to find (what I assume are) the most reliable results. Google suggested that I search for ‘attractions’ or ‘top attractions’ for more results.
Google lead me to a great website, that has intensified my desire to visit NYC: http://www.visitbrooklyn.org/

Duck Duck Go
Duckduckgo was a pleasant surprise: easy to use, yielded relevant results and also offered suggestions. The top search result was VisitBrooklyn again. Duckduckgo suggested that I search for reviews. If I were non-hypothetically planning a trip to New York, this would be useful. There’s very little recognizable disparity between Google and Duckduckgo.

Instagrok
Wow, this search engine is not like the others. It’s interface is a bit confusing, and the search didn’t direct me to the kind of thing I intended to find. Instead of taking me to travel websites immediately, it gave me facts about New York. It’s a fun site if you’re interested in delving into a topic, but not if you’re looking for quick search results.

And the winner is…

Google!

Duckduckgo was a close second but Google wins on account of its ability to infer what I want to search before I type it in. Google is also a good site to keep as my homepage because it connects me to News, Mail and Youtube.

‘Girls’ Season 2 ?

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of HBO’s new comedy ‘Girls’ that wrapped up it’s first season a few months back. As much as I loved the first season, it flew by fast, being comprised of only 12 x 20 minute episodes. Ratings weren’t as good as they should have been at the beginning of the series, but as it progressed, the plot and quality of the show definitely improved. With each episode I laughed and loved it more and more, and just as I was getting really into it… boom! season finale. This left me wondering whether there actually would be a season two. Reviews were mostly good but then there were the not so good. Critic Curt Wagner dubs the show “frustrating to watch” in this article on RedEye.

With all this ambiguity surrounding the shows reputation, I signed up for a Google Alert. Turns out, there definitely will be a season 2, coming out around January 2013. There’s also been word on guest stars, which should be interesting given the fact that Season 1 seemed fairly big on putting underrated actors in the limelight. Maybe familiar faces is what the show needs to gain the recognition it deserves?

Rita Wilson will be playing Marnie’s (Allison Williams) mother. I’m intrigued and excited to see how their relationship will play out. I feel like season 1 glazed over the secondary characters, highlighting their flaws and raising questions without delving too deep into what they are all about. Hopefully season 2 answers some of these questions, transforming the show from being a sitcom about one girl and her friends to being a sitcom about four girls.

SNL’s Colin Quinn will also play a role in the upcoming season. I look forward to discovering what another comic personality can add to the already hilarious (in my opinion) show.
You can see the article detailing the confirmed season 2 cast additions here.

In other Ellyse’s Google Alert news…
Mike ‘Sugar Bear’ Thompson, the lovable father in TLC’s Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, is in crutches. (Yes, I created a Google Alert for ‘Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’… what of it?)
The Article

How To: Make Sense of my Blog and Avoid Infringement

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

See that hefty little symbol there? It means that you (you, being the hypothetical person who reads this blog) are free to share and remix my literary and artistic masterpieces, so long as you attribute my blog as the source. CC License may also be found on my about page, so no funny business.

You will notice to the right of my blog there are categories which help you navigate around my blog.
Rants- Is where I waffle on about nonsense and first world problems
Recounts- Is where I share my real life experiences for your entertainment
Reviews- Is where I inform you of something I enjoy and why I enjoy it
Random- Is where I store posts that don’t quite fit into the other categories
Networked Coursework- In order for me to pass a course I’m taking this semester, I must post various blog posts, to prove that I have a tight handle of the internet. These posts will be published to this category. (Yes, I do resent the fact that this category ruins the whole alliteration thing I had going).

I have also devised a strategy to deal with comments and spam. I have enabled WordPress’s default settings which allows askimet to protect my site from spam, placing the comments in a spam folder or queue for me to review. As for comments, I moderate them. Before a comment is published to my blog, it must pend for my approval. It’s a nifty tool because I also feel inclined reply to comments as I approve them!

No trolls allowed!

My New Youtube Obsession

Some of my favorite things in the world are Comedy, New York City and YouTube. I spend hours at a time watching Vlogs, shorts, trailers, reviews, how-tos, fails and more. Recently, I discovered a web series, created by two female New-Yorkers, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer. It’s called Broad City and it gives an insight into what it’s like to be a single and somewhat dysfunctional female 20-something living in the Big Apple (my dream future).

It’s hilarious.

Unfortunately, the camera work and direction isn’t too flash but I can look past that seeing as the two girls pretty much wrote and produced the series more or less on their own. Plus, it’s super quirky and awkwardly funny.

I give it 7/10.
They haven’t posted an episode for about a year now but they’ve been doing a bit of promo stuff lately so I have a feeling that a revamped new season is in store… I’ll definitely be on the look out for that.

Check it out!

Networked Media

A while back I subscribed to a free mailing list to receive daily email’s from life coach, Michelle Vargas  (stop judging me, I like a good train read). I signed up because, let’s face it, I’m just one of those people who doesn’t have a particular knack for getting things done. I’m lazy. So now, each day I receive a motivational email in my inbox, in order to remind me to keep trying to be less like- well, my natural self.
Anyway, the other day as I was enjoying my train ride to work, eyes glued to my iPhone screen, I opened and read my daily email. And this one got me thinking…

The Email

Why do I, without fail, wait until the very last minute to do things? …I always manage to get them done in the end but it’s a fairly bad habit I’ve got to shake. Then I was mentally scanning my ‘things to do’ list…
Essay… check
Histories and Technologies assignment… check
Spanish… check
Start working on editing broadcast assignment… check

I thought I was doing pretty well for myself. But then I remembered…

NETMED! … Something I’ve been meaning to do for weeks now. I made a promise to myself that as soon as I got home I would resume my Networked Media course work.

And so I did.

So here, we have, my ‘Initial Networked Media Post’