GotPassion?

Why Spotify?

Taking a break from photos to talk about a very cool program which I think you should try!

Spotify is a music application that allows you to stream music from the internet. 
What is streaming you ask? Well it is the opposite of downloading. Downloading involves you taking possession of the file on your computer whereas streaming allows you to access it remotely, you can stream music and videos. Sort of like watching the t.v through someone's window!

Spotify is sort of like a personalised radio. You find the music you like, create a playlist and then you can add similar music. It is in fact very good at allowing you to personalise your music. The above screen capture shows my Spotify and if you can see the songs you will see it is a very random selection.

You can pay for Spotify which will you give you unlimited music and no adverts. At the moment I am quite content to hear the adverts and as I listen to Spotify in addition to my own music I am quite happy to be restricted to 20 hours.

It is a great way of checking out new songs and having more variety and now they offer it free to everyone I'd really suggest checking it out. The main disadvantage is that they don't have *all* music, but hopefully the more people that use it, the more likely musicians will be to let their music be on it (I hope!) So click below if you would like to try it out and follow the link to Spotify "Open".

I want Spotify!

At the moment my playlists are all about random (Taylor Swift?!), and I'd like to get them a bit more organised and maybe add a few more different artists. One step at a time...

10 Reasons to use Google and igoogle

Love it or hate google is here to stay and has lots of benefits, which you should at least know about before choosing not to make use of them!

Step 1. Get yourself a google account. This will give you a google email and ensure you can make full use of all of google's features. To get an account just go over to www.google.com, click sign in (top right hand corner) and then click 'get account now' on the lower right.

The best way of using google is through igoogle. Which can be found at www.igoogle.com (make sure you are signed in!). Igoogle is basically a central point which you can use to access everything. And it can easily be configured to make it suit your needs and preferences as seen from a screen shot of my igoogle page.

Note the pretty flowers, that an a variety of other pictures can be selected through 'theme'. On my igoogle (in clockwise) I have bible gateway's verse of the day, BBC News, a notepad, map, google reader, weather, wikipedia quicklink and email. Along the top left of the screen is shortcuts to all the things like images, maps, news etc. It does make things a lot easier for getting around from a central location - my favourite at the moment is probably google reader as that is what I use from igoogle the most. Although I am considering making gmail my main email and when I do I will probably appreciate that feature loads.

 

1. Email
2. Google Reader
3. Picasa
4. Blogger
5. Photo
6. Documents
7. Maps / Earth
8. News
9. Calender
10. Search

These are just a few features of what google offers, there is much much more, and I will dedicate future posts to each of them in detail. If you have any questions about them do let me know and I'll do my best to include that in the posts!

Well anyway, hope you enjoy this technology post, try it out and let me know how you get on!

XBox hits the house!

Along with the acquisition of the new television, its been my brother's dream to get an xbox and this weekend it finally happened. I have been largely against it, convinced everyone will want to play it (and thus stop me from watching Grand Designs and Friends to my heart's content).

However as I got up this morning, sufficiently grumpy for realising I had my second cold in two weeks (gotta love childcare) Malc had it out and the game was motor racing so I thought I would have a go. I must say great fun, although very very hard. I picked the nickname Crash, appropriate because I couldn't finish a single lap without crashing spectacularly. I see I will have to work on improving my performance! The graphics are fantastic, nothing like the 2D computer games when I was a kid (who remembers super mario bros?) and you can even change the perspective, such as seeing from the drivers perspective or from outside the car.

This game in particular 'Grid' gives you a newfound respect for motor racing drivers and the fact they don't crash all that often all things considered. When you can't see that far it is really really hard to know when the corners are coming. As I watch the Motor Racing this afternoon I will appreciate what those drivers are achieving at the Barceolona track with more than its fair share of hard corners.

Uhoh and I as I write this the safety car has come out within seconds of the Barcelona F1 starting, oh dear!

Children's T.V, Making it Useful

Children's T.V can be pretty controversial, but one thing is for sure, children love it and as long as it makes money it isn't going anywhere.

There are numerous reasons for and against children watching television. This is about how to make it useful and use it to help your child's learning. Some of the  benefits include giving children a wider knowledge of the world (turn on the Discovery channel), teaching children about other cultures and places they might never get to see otherwise. How else could a city kid learn about the jungles of South America or the Wild of Africa, let alone simple things like life on a farm (not all of us have access to city farms).

At an age where children are susceptible to what everyone else is doing it can be very encouraging to have a show like Lazy Town which is all about living healthy and being good, children want to imitate. Rather than just use a tv as something to keep the children from under your feet 24 hours a day, and risk their eyes actually turning in to squares (as your parents always promised would happen). Use it to your advantage...

Discuss: Everything in a show is up for a discussion, why did X do that, was that wrong or right? what should they do now? how do you think z feels?

Observe: Children learn by what they see, are they practicing their numbers, have them look out for numbers they see on screen, or look out for letters that match their name. You get the idea. Kind of like I Spy but for tv. 

Use:Incorporate what they have seen on tv in their play else where, and vice versa. Basildon Boy 3 loves Wall-E and likes to make spaceships out of some magnet toys his mum bought for him. Seeing how much he enjoys it - she bought some more which he can use to extend his play learning opportunity. On the other hand he aslo loves Dinosaurs, so as you can imagine, getting to see a film about Dinosaurs was great for him. Another favourite is also Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear is a treasured toy.

Have an idea what your child is watching and their reactions to it. If you don't like it, or see what your child's behaviour changes as a result of watching it, then turn it off! Just because it was made for children doesn't mean it is appropriate (I'm thinking of the film : The Incredibles at that comment, which I just can't get to grips with).

Some of my personal favourites for young children at the moment include Lazy Town, Charlie and Lola (I am convinced that it convinced BB3 to eat tomatoes and sweet corn!) and Pocoyo (Stephen Fry narrates wonderfully).

For funny websites check... http://icanhascheezburger.com/

In case you have never heard of them, welcome to the world of 'lolcats' at icanhascheezburger.com. The idea is you have a funny picture of a cat to which you add a caption, the bad spelling is deliberate. (Cats can't spell properly!). The blog linked to has loads of these pictures and even has translations if you can't get the spelling, well worth a look cos its hilarious!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Facebook: Boring, Untrue or Irrelevant?

Social networking when I was a teenager involved actually seeing the person face to face, phoning, or writing a letter. 15 Years on, look where we are - it started with friends reunited, now we have facebook, twitter, myspace, bebo and the list goes on.

My personal favourite is facebook - hence the title. 

5 Good things about facebook

1 - Novelty Factor (and different can be exciting)

2 - Remember: you know the feeling when you have had a conversation with someone and they excitedly tell you about how they are having a baby and after a week or so - you sort of forget. Well with facebook - you'll never forget anything any more.

3 - Share photos. Gone are the days you see people taking photos at a party and you never see the results, today you can share and keep these memories forever.

4 - Keeping Track. Often a few months go by and you realise you haven't spoken to Auntie Maud, with facebook - you can just leave a note on her wall without having to give a full rundown of your life since the last time you met. Also you will never miss a birthday again.

5 - Social Events - Using the events and groups feature makes it easier to share info with a whole bunch of people. Maybe your birthday party is open house - you make sure everyone knows about it through facebook. 

5 Rubbish Things about Facebook

1 - Dictators! The recent changes have meant it is harder to use and has less flow to it - Facebook don't seem to care about alienating their users. 

2 - Not you again! It makes it easier for you to be traced by people in your life you may not wish to be traced by. 

3. Those photos you were so happy to share and see from your birthday party include a particularly embarassing one - in the old days it would have been put in a dusty album never to see daylight again, now it is out there for all the world to see.

4. Overwhelming: Sometimes having 200,000 friends can just seem a little overwhelming - how are you ever going to keep up with them all?

5 - Application Risks - I have a rule that I pretty much delete them all, the good, the bad and the ugly. With some of them carrying the risks of viruses - it seemed like the sensible decision. Sadly nothing seems to stop facebook sending me each day a speed dating 'thing' not sure what it is because I never followed the link - but without fail I get it everyday. If they ever stop I might even miss it.

In conclusion (and in my opinion), Facebook isn't boring, it's truefulness is a little questionable (is Auntie Maud really a supermodel in an 80 year old's body as stated in her status update?) but it is quite relevant, inasmuch as it is about your friends and hopefully your friends are relevant in your life.

So what are your feelings about facebook, would you sooner watch paint dry for 24 hours or is it a must have in your life?