Tuesday, October 13, 2009
A Movie Recommendation via Video Blog
I can't find a place to record my video blog that won't disturb others so I have to speak through written words. But if I could speak and it wouldn't take Uterrli 2 hours to post or not freeze...I would say to go see Paranormal Activity because it will leave you thinking that you are hearing noises in your sleep. All sounds begin to paranoid you. You will not trust anyone to sleep in the same room with you. You'll start imagining things. But all that wears off after about a day. Paranormal Activity is just fun, scary and creepy. It is filmed Blair Witch Style. Another movie that is playing at the Chicago Film Festival is "Precious" and stars Mo'Nique and Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz. It is getting Oscar buzz and it looks really good!! The trailer speaks for itself.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Mash-Ups Are Not Only for Songs, but Websites As Well!
Imagine you are at Enclave nightclub on a Friday night and suddenly you hear two songs being played against each other. This is called a mash up. Now you are at home surfing the internet late afternoon looking for a house and you come across housingmaps.com and you wonder what it is. Well that my friend, it a website mash-up!
As college students, we are always trying to hustle by finding the cheapest apartments in the greatest locations. If we just look at a map we know where the good neighborhoods are, but there are no listings. If we look on craigslist.com we find the listings but may not exactly know which neighborhood it is in. Housingmaps.com combines both quikmaps.com (which we’ve used) and craigslist.com (we we ALL definitely know).
Another website that is very similar to housingmaps.com is chicagocrimes.com. It combines a map with the exact location of the crime selected.
As university journalists, all these websites are very useful to us. For all us search engine fanatics, we can safely assume that Google and Yahoo are two of the most popular search engines. What would happen when you combine both? You get www.doubletrust.net which combines top search results from both search engines and also shows results that do not appear on one or the other’s site.
My favorite mash-up website that I have seen after thorough investigation is http://popurls.com. It combines some of the biggest social, political, news, entertainment websites. It features websites we’ve worked on in class such as twitter and delicious. It has the top You Tube videos and the top Flickr photos.
You can find all the news you would ever need on this one website with combinations such as Google news, Newsvine, and the famous NY Times. Want to watch a clip of your favorite Family Guy episode? Well it is on popurls.com.
One of the best things about this mash-up is that it can be personalized! You register with the website and indicate your interests and the website caters to you. The homepage only features what you want it to.
Websites like these are crucial for a journalist because they save us time and in the news world it is all about who can report it first. Instead of having to visit each website and looking for a story the story comes to you. Mash-ups are definitely worth getting to know and definitely worth checking out!
As college students, we are always trying to hustle by finding the cheapest apartments in the greatest locations. If we just look at a map we know where the good neighborhoods are, but there are no listings. If we look on craigslist.com we find the listings but may not exactly know which neighborhood it is in. Housingmaps.com combines both quikmaps.com (which we’ve used) and craigslist.com (we we ALL definitely know).
Another website that is very similar to housingmaps.com is chicagocrimes.com. It combines a map with the exact location of the crime selected.
As university journalists, all these websites are very useful to us. For all us search engine fanatics, we can safely assume that Google and Yahoo are two of the most popular search engines. What would happen when you combine both? You get www.doubletrust.net which combines top search results from both search engines and also shows results that do not appear on one or the other’s site.
My favorite mash-up website that I have seen after thorough investigation is http://popurls.com. It combines some of the biggest social, political, news, entertainment websites. It features websites we’ve worked on in class such as twitter and delicious. It has the top You Tube videos and the top Flickr photos.
You can find all the news you would ever need on this one website with combinations such as Google news, Newsvine, and the famous NY Times. Want to watch a clip of your favorite Family Guy episode? Well it is on popurls.com.
One of the best things about this mash-up is that it can be personalized! You register with the website and indicate your interests and the website caters to you. The homepage only features what you want it to.
Websites like these are crucial for a journalist because they save us time and in the news world it is all about who can report it first. Instead of having to visit each website and looking for a story the story comes to you. Mash-ups are definitely worth getting to know and definitely worth checking out!
What Are You Doing? Facebook Status Vs. Twitter
Facebook, a social network that has overtaken Myspace in popularity within the last couple of years, still has many loyal followers, but it is apparent that Twitter is stiff competition, but why?
Facebook’s newsfeed seems to be very similar to the home page of Twitter. Twitter seems to be more accessible and simpler. Twitter is accessible through all smart phones and through different applications meanwhile Facebook is accessible through one mobile application and through its full website.
Facebook has more distractions with thousands of friends, photos, links, applications, and updates. Although Twitter has all the same features, it is all narrowed down to 140 characters. This means a lot more abbreviations, link-downs, and simplicity.
Founded two years apart: Facebook in 2004 and Twitter in 2006, it does seem that Twitter could be heavily influenced by Facebook. Both have garnered millions of users in such little time and Twitter has been heavily promoted through big name celebrities such as Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears both with over 1 million followers.
The simplicity of 140 characters allows celebrities to reach out to their fans while maintaining a form of privacy. Although celebrities still maintain a Facebook most of them don’t keep it up to date. They do not want people looking through personal photos, knowing their location and their history. This is the main reason why college students are constantly on Facebook.
I was lured onto Facebook because it was a great way to casually keep in touch with high school friends, co-workers, and far away relatives without constantly being on the telephone. I tried to remain off of Twitter, but I eventually gave in because I wanted to know what all my favorite celebrities were doing.
Both websites do have their flaws. Both are bombarded with spam, fake tweets and profiles and sometimes the websites can be a source of stress for an individual. Internet bullying and potential employees being denied employment may persist more on Facebook while Twitter can be too time consuming if a user has too many people following and too many tweets because unlike Facebook, Twitter doesn’t require a confirmation between both users.
If you look at both homepages of these social websites, they look awfully familiar. The newsfeed is centered and all other features are on the side. Log-in information and logos are located at the top.
The future of both these websites seems to be very secure as long as they both continue to be free!
Facebook’s newsfeed seems to be very similar to the home page of Twitter. Twitter seems to be more accessible and simpler. Twitter is accessible through all smart phones and through different applications meanwhile Facebook is accessible through one mobile application and through its full website.
Facebook has more distractions with thousands of friends, photos, links, applications, and updates. Although Twitter has all the same features, it is all narrowed down to 140 characters. This means a lot more abbreviations, link-downs, and simplicity.
Founded two years apart: Facebook in 2004 and Twitter in 2006, it does seem that Twitter could be heavily influenced by Facebook. Both have garnered millions of users in such little time and Twitter has been heavily promoted through big name celebrities such as Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears both with over 1 million followers.
The simplicity of 140 characters allows celebrities to reach out to their fans while maintaining a form of privacy. Although celebrities still maintain a Facebook most of them don’t keep it up to date. They do not want people looking through personal photos, knowing their location and their history. This is the main reason why college students are constantly on Facebook.
I was lured onto Facebook because it was a great way to casually keep in touch with high school friends, co-workers, and far away relatives without constantly being on the telephone. I tried to remain off of Twitter, but I eventually gave in because I wanted to know what all my favorite celebrities were doing.
Both websites do have their flaws. Both are bombarded with spam, fake tweets and profiles and sometimes the websites can be a source of stress for an individual. Internet bullying and potential employees being denied employment may persist more on Facebook while Twitter can be too time consuming if a user has too many people following and too many tweets because unlike Facebook, Twitter doesn’t require a confirmation between both users.
If you look at both homepages of these social websites, they look awfully familiar. The newsfeed is centered and all other features are on the side. Log-in information and logos are located at the top.
The future of both these websites seems to be very secure as long as they both continue to be free!
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