Grasping at nothingness

So it’s week 8. There’s 11 weeks in our quarter system and I feel like I’ve gotten no where. My Web Design class is a rehashing of old ideas and working on a group project (which is going no where).
My PHP programming class is getting no where all too quickly, 7 weeks of sitting in that class and I have no better grasp on php than I did when I walked in. I’ve looked over the course materia, and the examples that he’s handed me in hopes of gleaning some information that would be all too useful for my web design class, but of course either it’s too complicated for me to figure out or the documentation is just no there. My Flash class is even going further down the drain, while it’s interesting I feel too stressed out by the other classes I have to be able to really devote any real time to the projects he’s setting before me, so I chose something too easy to work on that I have no real interest in doing. I can’t wait for the remaining 3 weeks to go by, solely because I’m going to Paris after all of this is done, so I also sort of have a certain feeling of disinterest in everything around me because I know this time next quarter I’ll be in France drinking fine French wine and not having to worry about these things.

Flock anyone?

Alright so at Macworld I got a chance to talk with the Flock guys,
not having used the browser before I was fairly interested in it after
seeing a piece on it on Mahalo Daily.
Despite these two events taking place I decided to drag my feet on
downloading the browser, but one lonely late night I took the plunge.

So here’s some things you should know ahead of time about Flock.

• It’s built completely off of Firefox
• It has it’s own set of add-ons
• It gives you quick access to your social networks
• It allows you to manage more things that you may have

Alright so what’s the big deal about Flock? Well there’s a couple of things, they give you a “myworld” page that allows you to manage all of your RSS feeds in one place a lot like Netvibes does, and it’s always open whenever you start the browser.

Flock allows you to be connected in a way that previously had been impossible.

The Image above is an example of your people, with a click of the mouse you can have access to all of your friends on any number of websites, in this case I’m viewing my friends accounts on Youtube.

But be warned this is not for the faint of mind, it’s very easy to get lost into Flock, and it’s even easier to kill an hour and a half just looking through youtube videos on your top media bar.

Switching out what the media bar is showing is super simple you just click on the Media Stream button and you have access to a wide variety of different things.

One of the best elements about Flock (besides the built in blog editor which I’m using to make this post).

(if you’re curious all of these pictures have been placed here from the web clipboard which allows me to drag my pics from the Media bar to the square and then just put the pics into this blog)
 

Is by far the picture uploader which allows you to choose a number of different places to put your photos, like your Facebook, Photobucket, or Flickr, just to name a few, and the interface is as easy as the Flickr uploader if not easier.

So who should use Flock? Well that’s a difficult thing to say, since it’s built off of Firefox it is just as stable, and it has a huge selection of things for you to do, even if all that you do is blog and cruise Youtube there’s a ton of things for you to explore. Flock’s interface can be a little daunting at first like but once you sit down with it, and start to do some work you find that it’s an essential part of your life, I look forward to seeing where the Flock Development Team takes this browser in the following months, especially with the release of the Firefox betas. Anyways I’ve chosen to end this post with a break down of the Flock Toolbar.
 

From Left to Right: My World, My People, My Media Bar, Open Feeds, Open Favorites (bookmarks), Open Accounts Manager, Open Web Clipboard, Open Blog Editor, Open Picture Uploader

Blogged with Flock

Tags: Flock, Firefox, Youtube, Facebook, Photobucket, Flickr, Linking into your social networks, Mahalo Daily

Dollar Theatres – A Cultural Mystery

I had no idea these were in other parts of the country! It often felt like Dollar Theatres were just part of the small town, lower income St. Cloud Minnesota story. But apparently they’re across the country. Suddenly the world seems a little bit smaller. If you didn’t grow up with a dollar theatre, then you certainly have missed out.

Here’s the wikipedia link 

My Avatar and Me

I really like virtual worlds. I think they’re the future. Whether or not they’ll look like Second Life or World of Warcraft, or something that has yet to be released, I think definaetly all browsers will have some sort of a 3D interface built in, if not everything will be done through some sort of a virtual world. The best part is that most people don’t realize  that they’re helping out this revolution. Remember back to the old days when you got your Nintendo Entertainment System, or your Sega, or even your N64 or Playstation 1. Remember how when you wanted your friends to play with you you needed to have them over at you house. Well think about your gaming experience now. What are you running in the background, Xbox Live, or the Playstation network, or are you connecting with your friends to play games online with your Wii? Well that’s the basis of a virtual world. While they may not be as extreme as Second Life, or as enthralling as World of Warcraft, but still it’s the begining of a Virtual World. Where will the next gen consoles lead us, will we be able to hang out in a virtual lounge with an avatar that resembles us?

At least that’s where I see the future of console gaming going. But right now there’s a few heavy weights when it comes to virtual worlds, and of course lesser ones, really there are 2 types, the ones who claim not be games, and then games. In both cases I’ve dipped my hand a few times, right now my only active account is in Second Life, my on again off again account is in World of Warcraft. In both instances I’ve had a few different avatars but really for what ever I reason I find myself embodying the opposite sex (a woman). It’s not for the voyeuristic pleasure of knowing guys look at me and imagine a girl behind the keyboard, nor is it for the fact that I secretly have the desire to be a woman. Instead I look at all virtual environments the same way, they’re a new experience to do things that you can’t do in real life. Most of the time I chose to take this to extremes, I create female avatars. And as you can imagine there is a bit of uncertainty by my colleagues who meet me in world. But for whatever reason I don’t take the time to explain to them my thinking, instead I allow them to come to what ever conclusion they want, because in the end that’s not going to affect how I play the game/experience things. Also on a side note when ever I don a female avatar people seem to be generally nicer to me, and they drop items for me/invite me to see their floating space stations.

If you’re ever in second life try adding me as a friend: Eleanor Ryba.