All posts in category Technology

Capturing changes

Facebook timeline is launching. I set mine up and published it early. I wanted a chance to edit it and get used to it. The main difference is old posts used to be hard to find, now you can look back at your Facebook exsistence easily. Thankfully, I was a sporodic user until recently so there wasn’t much to feel embarrassed or sad by.

If you want to see my timeline page visit me here. Feel free to friend me whilst you’re there

I have been posting more frequently on Facebook thanks to finding blog readers on there and my desire to connect with other writers but I still prefer WordPress by far as a social media tool.

However, it took a while to get used to the fact WordPress keeps my posts, that I can look back and see my thoughts and ramblings. For someone who never kept a journal, it was hard to put things on here that I knew would remain fixed until I desired to remove / delete them. We change so much through time – who we are and what we’re doing and who is part of it that capturing all the changes becomes a scary thought but I think it would be scarier not to see the changes.

If I looked back and couldn’t see growth in myself then I would be disappointed. So I’m going to embrace the new Facebook and treat it like this blog – something to watch myself and those I’m connected with grow through and by.

How do you feel about the new Facebook? Do you like to look back and see how you’ve grown?

Vix

30 Comments

by Victoria-writes on December 22, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Musings, Technology

Tagged development, Facebook timeline, growth, musings, technology

Posted by Victoria-writes on December 22, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/12/22/capturing-changes/

The Social Network

I finally watched The Social Network at the weekend. Regardless of how much the film actually depicts real life events, I couldn’t help but marvel how one person can literally change the world.

Facebook started in a university dorm room. The guys that created it are my age. They are now billionaires. It’s an amazing story.Whatwever we think about Facebook we can’t deny how it has altered our society, the way we interact we friends, how it’s suddenly acceptable to stalk ex-boyfriends and our language - “Facebook me”.

I’m also a teeny bit jealous that people can invent something like that at university and become the youngest billionaires in the world. It certainly didn’t happen whilst I was at Uni But you know what, it is inspiring. These guys come across as geeks in the film (whether it’s true in real life I don’t know) – highly intelligent but socially awkward yet they managed to create a social network site that practically everyone in the world has heard of. Pretty impressive.

It got me thinking that often life gets in the way of dreams, of thinking “big”, it makes us think we shouldn’t even try, that there’s too much struggling to make the effort worth it. But amazing things can and do happen in life. If it wasn’t for people like Mark Zuckerberg the world would stay the same, there would be no innovation, no development, no dreams coming true.

Imagine if you had been trying to create Facebook and gave up only to watch the Harvard boys sweep in and make it a success (which if you believe the film did happen). So next time you’re thinking of giving up on your dream because it’s too hard or you think it’ll never get there, just log on to Facebook. Don’t give up!

Who’s seen The Social Network? Anyone want to be my friend on Facebook (drop me a link and I’ll add you)?

Vix

47 Comments

by Victoria-writes on May 9, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Films, Musings, Technology

Tagged dreams, Facebook, films, musings, technology, The Social Network

Posted by Victoria-writes on May 9, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/05/09/the-social-network/

My best friend is a screen

I’m starting to worry about the future. Everywhere you go things are turning into self service, screens are replacing books and actual conversations and you don’t even have to go out anymore, things get delivered to you. But where will it end – will we all end up hermits locked to a computer screen forgetting how to talk to each other?!

Years ago you arrived at the petrol station and an attendant filled you up and checked tyres etc. Now you have to do it all yourself and can pay at the pump on your card so you don’t have to speak to anyone.

You used to go into a shop and read out what you needed and the assistant packed it all for you. Now we have self-service tills at supermarkets, although they never fully work and a shop assistant needs to be on hand to help you but they may sort that out in time

It all reminds me of the film Wall-e where people are cuising around space for years stuck in chairs with screens and getting very large in the process …

Is this the future?

Vix

57 Comments

by Victoria-writes on May 5, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Life, Musings, Technology

Tagged life, musings, self-service, technology

Posted by Victoria-writes on May 5, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/05/05/my-best-friend-is-a-screen/

Where have you been all my life?

Here are the best inventions in my lifetime (from 1983 onwards) in my opinion:

1. Hair straighteners: I use GHDs almost everyday. My hair is naturally thick and wavy with a tendency to frizz especially in wet weather. Straighteners have meant I can actually style my hair. When I was younger it was very busy (think Hermonie from HP) until I chopped it into a crop at secondary school. Now I can have most lengths using these.

2. iPod: This is so handy for commuting to work, small and light and packed full of my favourite music. I do still buy CDs as I like the physical format and worry about losing my iTunes music (wish they would store it online for us) and they are tough about sharing songs and reducing their prices but overall I do love my iPod.

3. Laptops: growing up, I was one of the first years to learn computers at school but didn’t have my own one until I was at college. Laptops arrived when I was at Uni but were pricey, now you can get one for about £350 and it means you’re not confined to one room in your house or your house full stop. Mine is pink! Only issue is the heat on the old knees.

4. Skinny jeans: When these first arrived I was skeptical and though they would only work on models but I like wearing them with long tops or jumpers and tucked into boots. Very versitile!

5. Uggs: I actually don’t own an official pair, just high street versions but they’re so comfy and warm for winter. Great for working in the city.

I wish they would invent this

6. Flat screen TV and Blu-ray player: I love films as you know and this have made film watching pretty much like being in the cinema but without the annoying kids taking through everything. HD is also great for clarity of picture and sound, it’s like being there. I’m glad I’m not an actress though – you can see all the flaws! Flat screens are also great space wise – no more big chunky square boxes, they even go on the wall. I’m not sure about 3D TV yet but maybe it will improve.

7. The internet / email: This has come on leaps and bounds in my lifetime. I started my email account in 2000 and it was still new and strange then, I used to email my friends across the room! I can’t imagine working life without these tools. They’re just part of everyday now. And broadband is the icing on the cake.

8. Blogs: I had to include this! I only found Wordpress in December 2010 but it’s a great forum for writers and a place to share experiences and get to know people. Horray for blogging!

9. Mobile phones: I got my first one in my last year at secondary school and it was a brick with no texting. They have moved on so quickly, now I have an iPhone which does not even compare to that old Motorola! What did we do when we were stuck on a train, late home from work or in a car that had broken down in the middle of nowhere. A great invention if sometimes overused by people – do you need to talk that loudly all the way home?! Also the cameras are pretty handy too.

10. Google: I thought about Facebook but Goggle really is the best website in my opinion. I use it everyday without even realising it sometimes, it’s part of our langauge now and helps you find things amazingly quickly. Pretty darn nifty.

What’s your favourite invention of your lifetime?

Vix

25 Comments

by Victoria-writes on April 9, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Life, Musings, Technology

Tagged inventions, life, musings, technology

Posted by Victoria-writes on April 9, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/04/09/where-have-you-been-all-my-life/

Is Twitter the new Marmite?

I once tried Twitter. Last year, I thought I’d give it a go curious about the hype and quite fancying becoming a celeb stalker online as well as in print (yes I’m the person in the office people go to for ask celeb questions!) but I dropped it almost immediately. I did not get it. Firstly, none of my friends were on Twitter so I was reduced to following celebs who never follow back and trying to jump into conversations amongst strangers with no clue how to get my own followers. I was also unconvinced I’d have anything worth saying in under 140 characters.

I feel like Twitter is a love or hate thing. Some people spend their lives on it and seem to build up a huge network, others can’t understand the appeal, and these people may or may not use Facebook or blog instead, like me.

What has struck me lately is that some people can’t make their minds if they love it or hate it. Celebs seem to first embrace Twitter, building up a following and using it to thanks their fans or berate the press. Then the love affair ends. They flee Twitter, suddenly embarrassed about how they tweet every part of their lives and have more connections online than offline. Then they do a 180 and go back to it like an addiction they just couldn’t break.

Two cases – Miley Cyrus and Lily Allen.

Last year, Miley a popular Twitterer abandoned the site claiming it was taking up too much of her time and was making her forget to live. A quote at the time (found from goggle):

“I was that person who was like, ‘I’m so sad. I have no real, normal life, everyone knows what I’m doing’, and I’m like, well that’s my own fault because I’m telling everyone.

“I just think it’s kind of lame. I feel like I hang out with my friends and they’re so busy taking pictures of what they’re doing and putting them on Facebook that they’re not really enjoying what they’re doing … So I think just enjoy the moment you’re in, and stop telling people about it. Just enjoy it.”

This week, Miley posted on her record label Rock Mafia’s page on the social networking site at the weekend, declaring she would use the site when she needed to speak out. Is her own page just a short step away?

Back in 209, Lily Allen also fled the site along with all of her electronic devices – her laptop and Blackberry and stopped emailing. Her last message on Twitter read:

“I am a neo-luddite, goodbye.”

This year she has returned however, posting to her fans to denounce her new documentary on TV as not representing who she is.

Why the turn around?

Both mentioned boyfriends when they quit Twitter, mentioning they wanted to spend more time with them and the boyfriend’s confusion about how much time they spent on Twitter and the like. Miley is now no longer with Liam Hemsworth and has suffered some setbacks press wise – hello lap-dancing, drug taking and her parents relationship issues. Lily has also suffered in her personal life, her tragic miscarriage and constant press intrusion and the fact her new show revealed she suffered an eating disorder.

Both seem keen to get back online to tell their own stories, for people to get the words from them and not the press or PR. What the men in their lives think about the return to Twitter, I don’t know. Maybe breaking with Twitter gave them more perspective and they’ll use it more sparingly and perhaps wisely in the future. Time will have to tell.

I remain unconvinced about me finding love for Twitter but I do understand the need to use the online world to speak out, to share your voice with the world and to tell the truth from your own lips.

So do you love or hate Twitter?

(What about Marmite? I hate it )

Vix

25 Comments

by Victoria-writes on March 25, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Celebrity, Musings, Pop culture, Technology

Tagged celebrities, Lily Allen, Miley Cyrus, musings, pop culture, technology, Twitter

Posted by Victoria-writes on March 25, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/03/25/is-twitter-the-new-marmite/

Kindle vs Books

Increasingly, I am noticing people on my train and the tube reading from Kindle’s and it concerns me. I don’t want to lose my love of books by transferring them to an electronic device.

I love holding books and flicking the pages, enjoying creative book covers, browsing for books either in a bookshop or online, getting excited by new titles and good reviews and seeing books stacked or lined up on a book shelf.

I’m someone who keeps books she has enjoyed. I also buy new, fancy versions of my favourite books. See below:

When I have my own home, I want to proudly display these books on a bookshelf. After all, we are supposedly what we read but if you hide what you read on an electronic device, are you hiding who you are?

Sure I get that a Kindle is useful for long journeys so you don’t need to carry heavy books. That’s fine, I just don’t want us to lose the books altogether from our lives.

Do you have a Kindle? Are you worried about losing books?

Vix x

24 Comments

by Victoria-writes on February 24, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Books, Musings, Technology

Tagged books, Kindle, musings, technology

Posted by Victoria-writes on February 24, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/02/24/kindle-vs-books/