Category: Internet and Computers

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Do You Trust Wikipedia?

One of my first sources of information on the internet is Wikipedia and I love that site! I probably use Wikipedia 3 or 4 times a week – on average. Sometimes I will look things up and see related subjects or information that does deeper and I use it repeatedly throughout the whole research project. To me, it is just like the Encyclopedia Brittanica that I used in the school library when I was a kid. Except using it online gets me there faster and easier.

So my cousin, Gail, is a senior in high school and was asking me about some information and I told her that I would look it up online using Wikipedia and I was shocked when she said that her teachers says they are not allowed to use Wikipedia. I could not understand why a teacher would say that. My cousin says that true educators do not consider Wikipedia to be an authority site, because individual people can go on the site and change things.

Well, that was kind of the whole point of the Wikipedia project – that people contributed to it. I have not come across any information that I would be suspicious of or doubt its accuracy. Have you ever found anything on the site that was false information? I would really like to know if that is a problem or just a bullshit cop out from teachers.

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Mandatory Reading for Farmville Players

bookcover of farmville for dummies

Why do so many people spend hours and hours on Facebook every day playing this Farmville stupid game? Its not like you are getting paid for farming their stuff. What do you get out of it? Nothing! Its just a huge time suck. Get over it!

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What Do You Look Like?

3faces

Have you noticed that a whole lot of people on Facebook are not using a photo in their profile that is current? A lot of them are not even photos – they are cartoons or posters that make a statement. I wish people would just post a current photo of themselves – it is not that hard to get a nice photo. But do not take the photo yourself while standing in front of a bathroom mirror. I cannot stand to look at photos of other people’s bathrooms. Seriously!

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Bing Maps

One of the best things about the internet is the online maps. I like to know where I am going and how to get there, and a GPS just doesn’t cut it. I like to see the maps online and make decisions about my route from a greater perspective. So, I’ve discovered Bing maps and I love them! So easy to use and a lot of features that other online maps don’t offer. My favorite feature is in the directions from one place to another. Bing tells you not only step by step, but they go with the extra hint of saying something like, if you pass the McDonald’s you’ve gone too far, or if you see the Publix grocery store you missed the turn. Its so awesome!

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Star Gazing

My boyfriend has a new Android cell phone and he has been busy downloading apps for it. I have watched and most of them seem pretty boring. They are mostly for guys, I think.

There is a cool one that I saw, though. This one lets you hold the camera up to the sky at night, and the stars that show on your viewfinder are geocoded somehow. The app tells you what stars and planets you are looking at, what the constellations are by outlining them on your phone, and letting you take a picture of an eclipse. That was pretty cool.

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Texting is Hard on the Old Phones

If you want to start texting people you really need to ditch your old basic phone. The new phones have keyboards and you only press a key once to have it register. The old phones need you to press the same keys repeatedly to advance through the alphabet. That is so time consuming and so easy to make a mistake. I am looking into getting a new phone next month when my contract runs out. There are some really good deals on the internet and some of them don’t even require a new contract. I just have to wait a month, then my thumbs will be getting a real workout!

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Four Play

Four Play is a jazz group that I like. Once in a while I like to listen to a jazz station and have some soothing background music playing while I sort through paperwork or other tasks. There are no jazz stations on the radio here, so I rely on the internet to stream music from a station on the west coast. Thee are two excellent jazz stations in California – one is in San Francisco and the other is in San Diego. Sometimes I think moving to California would be worth it just for the cultural experiences out there.

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Looking for a Netbook computer?

Well I have seen quite a few of those ‘mini-laptop’ computers lately just about everywhere it seems.  I had wondered which ones were worth the time and money and which ones weren’t.  So where to go to find out??  Of course you should check out PC World.  After all, they will let you in on what’s what about computers. You can still buy a paper printed magazine at the grocery or book stores, or you can read a lot of their articles online.

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Here’s a great idea!

Have you ever heard of social media marketing? Basically what that is would something like me writing a blog post about a product and that in turn is a form of marketing.  I am basically writing a small commercial about what ever product I’m talking about that day and recommending you go purchase it or check it out.  Well that’s what ‘social media marketing’ is all about.  They used to call it ‘word of mouth’ but everyone is on the computer these days instead of meeting at the local pub or restaurant.  So the ‘word of mouth’ advertising is now ‘social media marketing’.  How about that?

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It’s almost that time of year again

Here it is October already which means that the ‘Trick or Treaters’ will be out soon.   The next thing you know, it’s going to be Thanksgiving.  we always have turkey of course but last year someone brought one of those deep fried turkeys.  Man it was great.  I had no idea they would taste that good and juicy so I’m getting Mom an oilless turkey fryer so she can make us one herself this year.

I had no idea they had an oilless turkey fryer but they do.  That has to be healthier than deep frying one and since Dad passed away from a heart attack, we’re all trying to eat healthier.  This a great way to do just that.  I would have never known about them if I hadn’t checked with Shop.com.  That is where I love to find the best prices and a few surprises too like the turkey fryer.