Google Plus. Facebook's biggest threat at the moment. But why? What does Google Plus have that Facebook doesn't? There have been numerous reviews on Google Plus, obviously by Facebook Fanatics, because they didn't even give Google Plus an honest chance. I'm not talking about all the reviews out there, I'm talking about the ones who logged in for a few hours, looked around, then turned tail and ran. Not a very good impression is it?
I've been active on Google Plus for almost three months now. This has given me a better look at the big picture. I've had time to adjust and see what I don't like, and what I do like. Quite frankly, there isn't really anything that I've found that I don't like. Here are my thoughts.
My first thoughts of Google Plus were amazement, as thought this was something new. I'm still in amazement at Google Plus. It has a very clean and magnetic feel to it. Once you start using it, it's easy to get drawn in. This is indeed a threat to Facebook. Why? Because for one, Facebook is all cluttered and filled with ads galore. Ever notice how many ads you're faced with each day on Facebook? On top of that, Facebook's security features, just plain suck. Most people will agree with that one.
What's with the circles? One of the key features of Google Plus is the Circles. These are groups that you can sort people into. Put your family in one group, while your acquaintances are in another. You can create other groups as well, such as Gamers or Minecrafters. Part of an online Book Club? Put those in their own circle. Are you a blogger? Put your fellow bloggers in a circle. You can also add people to multiple circles. This way, when you want to share something with just one circle, it'll only be shared with them.
What are Hangouts? Hangouts are video chat groups that you can host, or join. You can have up to eight people in one Hangout. I've seen Hangouts ranging from various topics, such as: Falling Satellite, Writers, Lego Creations, etc. There is a wide range of Hangouts, even just random hangouts that people start. If you have a webcam, these Hangouts will be up your ally, especially if you use Skype, sense the Hangouts are powered by it.
Perhaps one thing I don't like about Google Plus yet, is one loop whole in the security of it. If you make a post and share it with a group of people, those people can then share that post with another group(s). That is my only complaint so far. If Google Plus will fix that, they'll be Golden in my book. I have yet to try out the Facebook's group sharing option. I just find Facebook redundant all together.
In conclusion, Facebook is a mess of a mess and needs a lot of work. While I think the new Timeline feature is fascinating and could be a game turner, I don't think a new profile look is really the answer to anything. All profile changes do, is piss people off. Don't believe me? Look at MySpace. Google Plus has a few things going for it, at least in my opinion. It's clean, it's fun, and gives you more options. I do enjoy having the Google Plus notifications at the top of my Google Home Page, Gmail, etc. I'll most likely be sticking with Google Plus for a while, at least they have a way to send Feedback. Facebook didn't start giving users what they wanted, until Google Plus came on the scene. That should raise a red flag.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Minecraft 1.8 Is Out
Today, they released Minecraft 1.8, at least part of it. The next update will feature the other part of it. People all over the world from New Zealand, to the America's are gearing up and getting their Diamond armor and Pick Axes ready to go.
The challenge? Enderman. Notch added Enderman to the game. These guys are supposed to be a creeper type of mob, but what ever you do, don't look at them. As long as you aren't looking at them, it's as though you don't even exist, but if you do look at them. Be ware. They'll become angry and get aggressive. Also, they have the ability to teleport to you. If you do make them aggressive, the only way to hold them off so far, besides trying to kill them, is to keep your mouse pointer over the mob, when you get far enough away, it'll teleport closer to you. This will increase the excitement and rush for Minecraft players. This adds a whole new level of game play.
We finally have floating islands. Yep, a way to build in the sky. Floating Fortress anyone? You have to build a portal to the Nether in order to build a portal to the Skyland. Here's how it works, first, build a Portal out of Obsidian to get to the Nether, then go into the nether and collect some Glowstone. Once you have enough Glowstone, you can create a portal to the Skyland. This should be an interesting game play feature. I can see people already making 1.8 videos. There are so many cool features being added, such as Minecarts being able to be used as Boats.
Many people have already updated their Minecraft, while many others are at work, or at school and can't wait to rush home. We know what the first thing they'll be doing when they get home will be. Updating their games of course. In fact, I'm off to update mine as well.
The challenge? Enderman. Notch added Enderman to the game. These guys are supposed to be a creeper type of mob, but what ever you do, don't look at them. As long as you aren't looking at them, it's as though you don't even exist, but if you do look at them. Be ware. They'll become angry and get aggressive. Also, they have the ability to teleport to you. If you do make them aggressive, the only way to hold them off so far, besides trying to kill them, is to keep your mouse pointer over the mob, when you get far enough away, it'll teleport closer to you. This will increase the excitement and rush for Minecraft players. This adds a whole new level of game play.
We finally have floating islands. Yep, a way to build in the sky. Floating Fortress anyone? You have to build a portal to the Nether in order to build a portal to the Skyland. Here's how it works, first, build a Portal out of Obsidian to get to the Nether, then go into the nether and collect some Glowstone. Once you have enough Glowstone, you can create a portal to the Skyland. This should be an interesting game play feature. I can see people already making 1.8 videos. There are so many cool features being added, such as Minecarts being able to be used as Boats.
Many people have already updated their Minecraft, while many others are at work, or at school and can't wait to rush home. We know what the first thing they'll be doing when they get home will be. Updating their games of course. In fact, I'm off to update mine as well.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Acer 20" Monitor Review
I said I would do a review on the Acer 20" Monitor that I purchased about a week and a half ago. First off, here are the specs.
Size = 20"
Contrast Ratio = 12,000,000:1
Price = Just over $108 tax included
First off, I'll go over the cons, sense there isn't really that many of them.
Cons
The CD that came with it is useless. Put it in my dvd burner and it didn't even work. Then again, there wasn't much of anything on there that I needed.
Was a little tricky to put together. At first, I just sat it down in there, thinking that there was something else that held it in. Then I figured out, that you had to push down pretty hard on it for it to snap into place.
No VGA to HDMI adapter. I have one of these from my old Monitor, so no biggie for me, but might cause problems for others in the future, if one of the cables goes bad.
No detail to the menu buttons. Might be confusing at first.
That's it, for the cons. Not much right?
Pros
Comes complete with cables and everything. No need for adapters? Yep, has two connection cables. One cable that connects directly to your PC video card, and another one that requires the adapter. Those two cables are the HDMI and VGA cables. Very handy to have both.
Did I mention that it was wide screen? 16:9 support?
Resolution is 1600 x 900, and has excellent picture quality. So much better than that old 15" CRT that I had.
Cost, for just over a $100, you can't go wrong.
Did I mention it was Ultra Thin and you could pick it up with one hand?
All in all, I'd say this is a pretty good monitor. The contrast ratio is insane for the price. Just love it. This monitor is actually better than the 17" Flat Screen that I previously had, despite the cons this one currently has. I highly recommend this if you're on a budget like I was.
Size = 20"
Contrast Ratio = 12,000,000:1
Price = Just over $108 tax included
First off, I'll go over the cons, sense there isn't really that many of them.
Cons
The CD that came with it is useless. Put it in my dvd burner and it didn't even work. Then again, there wasn't much of anything on there that I needed.
Was a little tricky to put together. At first, I just sat it down in there, thinking that there was something else that held it in. Then I figured out, that you had to push down pretty hard on it for it to snap into place.
No VGA to HDMI adapter. I have one of these from my old Monitor, so no biggie for me, but might cause problems for others in the future, if one of the cables goes bad.
No detail to the menu buttons. Might be confusing at first.
That's it, for the cons. Not much right?
Pros
Comes complete with cables and everything. No need for adapters? Yep, has two connection cables. One cable that connects directly to your PC video card, and another one that requires the adapter. Those two cables are the HDMI and VGA cables. Very handy to have both.
Did I mention that it was wide screen? 16:9 support?
Resolution is 1600 x 900, and has excellent picture quality. So much better than that old 15" CRT that I had.
Cost, for just over a $100, you can't go wrong.
Did I mention it was Ultra Thin and you could pick it up with one hand?
All in all, I'd say this is a pretty good monitor. The contrast ratio is insane for the price. Just love it. This monitor is actually better than the 17" Flat Screen that I previously had, despite the cons this one currently has. I highly recommend this if you're on a budget like I was.
Problems With Space Junk
Right now, there is literally tons of trash floating around in Space in our orbit. Isn't that enlightening? The fact that there is even trash up there to begin with, just goes to show how uncareful mankind can be. With this problems, rises numerous amount of questions and issues.
One of these questions, is how do we get rid of all that garbage? One suggestion, is to send a giant Magnet up into orbit, that will float around and collect the trash. Great, another object floating up in Space, just what we need right? Well, this is actually a great idea, if they go about it the right way. There is always that IF, isn't there? What is the right way to go about it? Well, of course, everyone has their different opinions and points of views on it.
One point of view, is that we could always collect it, then send it off towards the Sun. Seriously? Yep, sounds logical if you think about it. Some people say, well, it'll never make it there. You're right, it won't make it there, in fact, I don't know if you noticed or not, but the Sun, is burning our skin when we stay out too long, even from that distance. Imagine the closer it gets to the Sun, it'll vaporize before it gets there.
So, would argue that that's a bad thing, I ask, why? Why is that a bad thing? What harm is there in disintegrating garbage into the sun? Some would argue, that our trash isn't supposed to be in Space. I say, isn't that what Stars and Black Holes are? Debris cleaners? They get rid of the trash that's already out there don't they? It's a natural waste disposal unit. Built right into our own Solar System, as well as the numerous amount of others.
We can't simply keep hording the trash here can we? Oh wait, there is another option. We could recycle. Now those same people that argue against sending trash into space, are going to argue that this is too much work? Sorting cans and plastic into recycle bins? Too much work? Did you know that about 70 percent of our trash is recyclable? Yet, at the same time, only about half of that, actually gets recycled? Less than half actually. So, if we recycled more, how much land would that free up? How much better for the planet would that be as a whole? Think about that one for a while.
One of these questions, is how do we get rid of all that garbage? One suggestion, is to send a giant Magnet up into orbit, that will float around and collect the trash. Great, another object floating up in Space, just what we need right? Well, this is actually a great idea, if they go about it the right way. There is always that IF, isn't there? What is the right way to go about it? Well, of course, everyone has their different opinions and points of views on it.
One point of view, is that we could always collect it, then send it off towards the Sun. Seriously? Yep, sounds logical if you think about it. Some people say, well, it'll never make it there. You're right, it won't make it there, in fact, I don't know if you noticed or not, but the Sun, is burning our skin when we stay out too long, even from that distance. Imagine the closer it gets to the Sun, it'll vaporize before it gets there.
So, would argue that that's a bad thing, I ask, why? Why is that a bad thing? What harm is there in disintegrating garbage into the sun? Some would argue, that our trash isn't supposed to be in Space. I say, isn't that what Stars and Black Holes are? Debris cleaners? They get rid of the trash that's already out there don't they? It's a natural waste disposal unit. Built right into our own Solar System, as well as the numerous amount of others.
We can't simply keep hording the trash here can we? Oh wait, there is another option. We could recycle. Now those same people that argue against sending trash into space, are going to argue that this is too much work? Sorting cans and plastic into recycle bins? Too much work? Did you know that about 70 percent of our trash is recyclable? Yet, at the same time, only about half of that, actually gets recycled? Less than half actually. So, if we recycled more, how much land would that free up? How much better for the planet would that be as a whole? Think about that one for a while.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Royalty Free Music For Videos
Maybe you are a Youtuber and would like to have some Royalty Free music to use in your videos. Or perhaps, you're an amateur film maker and would like some affordable or free quality music to use. Well, I may have the answer for you.
incompetech has some awesome music that is of good quality that you could use in your videos. Are you trying to produce a book trailer for your new novel? This might be what you're looking for. Are you a gamer that's trying to get some cool intro music for your Minecraft Let's Play series? incompetech, just might be your answer.
You browse by collection, or browse by genre of music. They have various Genres ranging form Horror, to African, to Epic, to Film Scoring Moods. With a wide variety of music tracks to choose from, they are sure to have something available for everyone. If you'd like to check them out, just click on the link below.
incompetech
incompetech has some awesome music that is of good quality that you could use in your videos. Are you trying to produce a book trailer for your new novel? This might be what you're looking for. Are you a gamer that's trying to get some cool intro music for your Minecraft Let's Play series? incompetech, just might be your answer.
You browse by collection, or browse by genre of music. They have various Genres ranging form Horror, to African, to Epic, to Film Scoring Moods. With a wide variety of music tracks to choose from, they are sure to have something available for everyone. If you'd like to check them out, just click on the link below.
incompetech
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Is Google Doomed To Fail? Bloggers New Layout.
Blogger has a new layout and it's not really that bad. I mean, it's not like Blogger is trying to become the next MySpace and Facebook. Right? Well, let's look at the details.
The over all look is clean. The Dashboard is really well laid out. I can't give enough Thank Yous to Google for making these changes. Quite frankly, I'm impressed. Your blogs are all right there at the top for easy access. You can quickly create a new post in which ever blog you want, by clicking on the big orange Pencil button. That easy. Your Overview, Pages, Comments, Stats, Earnings, Layout, Templates, and Settings are all conveniently located in a Drop Down menu next to the New Post button. You can View your Blog right next to that. It's a very clean feeling. Like someone went through the house and did some spring cleaning.
The Blogs that you follow, are all at the bottom of the page on the left hand side. Their post, are to the right of that. Easy to read, easy to manage and sort through.
Individual Blog dashboards are just as easily navigable. Menu buttons are neatly arranged on the left hand side, while your page views is right dab in the middle. The Blogger official post, are right below that. Blog stats, Blogs of Note, and the Blogger Guide are all on the right side.
Your actual blog layout, stays the same. No changes there, just to the dashboards. I believe that this is a good change. A much needed change. Now, let's hope that Google doesn't become layout happy and start changing things like MySpace and Facebook. One might argue that Blogger is doomed to be the next MySpace or Facebook as far as Layout changes go. Google, take my advice and leave it as it.
All in all, I'd give this update 5 stars. Many people argue that Google can't do anything right. I beg the differ. Blogger is a successful platform and will only grow with these changes. Gmail is a major email system with a wide range of users. Google Plus is gaining ground and gaining quickly. Google a failure? I think not.
The over all look is clean. The Dashboard is really well laid out. I can't give enough Thank Yous to Google for making these changes. Quite frankly, I'm impressed. Your blogs are all right there at the top for easy access. You can quickly create a new post in which ever blog you want, by clicking on the big orange Pencil button. That easy. Your Overview, Pages, Comments, Stats, Earnings, Layout, Templates, and Settings are all conveniently located in a Drop Down menu next to the New Post button. You can View your Blog right next to that. It's a very clean feeling. Like someone went through the house and did some spring cleaning.
The Blogs that you follow, are all at the bottom of the page on the left hand side. Their post, are to the right of that. Easy to read, easy to manage and sort through.
Individual Blog dashboards are just as easily navigable. Menu buttons are neatly arranged on the left hand side, while your page views is right dab in the middle. The Blogger official post, are right below that. Blog stats, Blogs of Note, and the Blogger Guide are all on the right side.
Your actual blog layout, stays the same. No changes there, just to the dashboards. I believe that this is a good change. A much needed change. Now, let's hope that Google doesn't become layout happy and start changing things like MySpace and Facebook. One might argue that Blogger is doomed to be the next MySpace or Facebook as far as Layout changes go. Google, take my advice and leave it as it.
All in all, I'd give this update 5 stars. Many people argue that Google can't do anything right. I beg the differ. Blogger is a successful platform and will only grow with these changes. Gmail is a major email system with a wide range of users. Google Plus is gaining ground and gaining quickly. Google a failure? I think not.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Minecraft - 1.8 Update
So, Notch is going to release an update for Minecraft. When? Right around the time of the Minecon Convention. So, it'll be a couple months yet. At the same time, not everything is really confirmed in the release. What is confirmed? Well, here's a list of things below.
Creative mode and the fact that you'll be able to have every item at your disposal is an awesome feature for Minecraft. No longer will you have a need for the TooManyItems mod. I mean, if you want to go into adventure mode, why do you really need it? This is great for those who want to join the game and just build.
Endermen, I'm not sure how I feel about these at the moment. The fact that they do have a weakness, makes it even more interesting. I just hope I'm not in the middle of a Desert when I run into one of them.
Oceans will be larger and randomly dotted with Islands? This opens up a whole new level of Gameplay. So, who wants to be a Pirate? Anyone? Join my crew?
Rotting Flesh from Zombies? What is that uses for anyway? A mask you can wear in the Nether?
The NPCs feature will be epic. I can see the potential of this now. Lot's of adventures in Minecraft to be had now. As though there wasn't enough to do right? Still, going to be awesome.
Charged Bows and new achievements will bring a slight fun factor to Minecraft. This is going to be interesting. I imagine it being sort of like the Charged Sword attack in Zelda.
New animations for eating? I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I mean, why not leave it the same. Unless Notch wants to make it a little harder to play. Maybe he thinks we have it too easy?
The Dead Mine Shafts will be a site to see. This will add a new scary factor to Minecraft. Yet another way to creep people out. Just make sure you don't get too scared when that Zombie jumps out from around the corner.
XP Bar. While this is an interesting feature, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Will there be magical skills that you can purchase as upgrades so to speak? That would be awesome.
This has been my epic review of the Minecraft 1.8 update features. Hope you enjoyed it. There are some things that aren't set in stone yet, but we'll have to wait and see what comes out when it finally comes. There is however going to be a couple of other features, such as Floating Islands and Baby Animals that you can supposedly tame and train. Good luck on your Minecraft Adventures and look toward the future.
- New Biome Code (Confirmed biomes: Large cliffs, Mountains, Islands, Canyons)
- Snow is now covered over the whole cubic block to look more realistic?
- Creative Mode (That mode will allow flying without mods both in SSP and SMP.)
- New Mobs! (Confirmed Mobs: Endermen)
- New lighting system.
- Rivers
- Food eating w/ animation.
- Skills
- Experience orbs.
- Hunger
- New HUD. (Whats new: Hunger bar, skill bar)
- Randomly generate mineshafts.
- New title menu background.
- Volcanoes will not be in 1.8, but Notch confirmed they are possible and could be coming in the future.
- Biomes will be much more distinct, and rivers will separate some of them.
- Endermen will have a two block reach and will teleport to attack you when you move your crosshairs off of them. They do, however, have a major weakness: Water. If you can lure them into chasing you into water they die off fairly quickly. They will also collect blocks to make geometric shapes. They are considered rare.
- Silverfish is some sort of new random mob.
- Oceans are much larger and with randomly dotted islands.
- Rain has been improved, “like a thousand times better” according to Notch.
- NPC Villages are ready to go, but not the characters themselves, they will be released down the road. They will be peaceful and leave you alone unless you attack one. Sort of like Zombie Pigmen in the Nether.
- Speaking of the Nether, there will be no updates for the Minecraft underworld just yet, but there will be at some point in the future.
- Lava and torches will have new lighting effects, and in possibly one of the most exciting updates, torches will give off light in your hand while holding it.
- Zombies will now drop rotten flesh as opposed to feathers (which never really made sense, anyway).
- Bows & Arrows have new animations, and charged arrows will have a lot more power and fly further.
- You’ll finally be able to grow pumpkins thanks to seeds.
- Melons have been added and can also be grown in farms.
- You will now have a Hunger Bar on your HUD. The more you sprint, the hungrier you get.
- There is now an animation for eating, and it also takes a few seconds now instead of being instantaneous.
- Tables. Finally … tables. No more just placing a wooden block and making people think it’s a table.
- Glass panes will be super thin glass and you can remove them unlike glass blocks.
- “Dead Mine Shafts” will be randomly generated like Dungeons and will feature rails, torches and wooden pillars.
- New Creative Mode will allow you to fly, hover, instantly destroy blocks – including Bedrock – and spawn items in unlimited numbers.
- You will be able to pull up a menu and just click on the items you wish to create. Admins will be able to turn this on and off.
- Killing animals and mobs will now drop Experience Orbs, and you gain skill points by filling up your XP bar, but you can’t do anything with those points … yet.
- Due to the number of updates, 1.8 updates may come in parts. (i.e. 1.8.1, 1.8.2)
Creative mode and the fact that you'll be able to have every item at your disposal is an awesome feature for Minecraft. No longer will you have a need for the TooManyItems mod. I mean, if you want to go into adventure mode, why do you really need it? This is great for those who want to join the game and just build.
Endermen, I'm not sure how I feel about these at the moment. The fact that they do have a weakness, makes it even more interesting. I just hope I'm not in the middle of a Desert when I run into one of them.
Oceans will be larger and randomly dotted with Islands? This opens up a whole new level of Gameplay. So, who wants to be a Pirate? Anyone? Join my crew?
Rotting Flesh from Zombies? What is that uses for anyway? A mask you can wear in the Nether?
The NPCs feature will be epic. I can see the potential of this now. Lot's of adventures in Minecraft to be had now. As though there wasn't enough to do right? Still, going to be awesome.
Charged Bows and new achievements will bring a slight fun factor to Minecraft. This is going to be interesting. I imagine it being sort of like the Charged Sword attack in Zelda.
New animations for eating? I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I mean, why not leave it the same. Unless Notch wants to make it a little harder to play. Maybe he thinks we have it too easy?
The Dead Mine Shafts will be a site to see. This will add a new scary factor to Minecraft. Yet another way to creep people out. Just make sure you don't get too scared when that Zombie jumps out from around the corner.
XP Bar. While this is an interesting feature, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Will there be magical skills that you can purchase as upgrades so to speak? That would be awesome.
This has been my epic review of the Minecraft 1.8 update features. Hope you enjoyed it. There are some things that aren't set in stone yet, but we'll have to wait and see what comes out when it finally comes. There is however going to be a couple of other features, such as Floating Islands and Baby Animals that you can supposedly tame and train. Good luck on your Minecraft Adventures and look toward the future.
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