Got Me A Pretty New Thing

Big news: I bought a brand new smartphone this weekend! Yes, this is Big News. I’ve been complaining about my old phone for years, so this replacement has been a long time coming and was much anticipated. Another reason it’s big news: it was goddamn expensive. I’ve had mortgage payments that were less than half of the up-front payment of this phone. When the retailer told me the cost and passed the debit machine to me, I could feel my skin crawling. And I was getting a DEAL on this thing too. It’s unbelievable how expensive smartphones are, it really is a massive class privilege to buy a brand new one.

The model I got was the LG V20. My heart had been set on the new Pixel, but my phone company doesn’t carry it. The V20’s interface is pretty similar my old phone (Nexus 5) but there are a few features that I miss not having. Even so, I’m happy with the purchase. No regrets. I even have a fancy new case for it, the kind that opens like a book and you can slip your bank cards and cash inside the front flap.

I was reading comparison reviews after I brought the phone home (I know, counter-productive) and the V20 isn't actually rated all that highly. Competitors like the Pixel XL, the OnePlus 3, and the Galaxy 7 Edge are touted as much better alternatives. Only the 7 Edge was a potential option for me, and I deeply dislike that curved screen. Also, it would have been almost $300 more wtf. The V20 was ~on sale~ and therefore a steal, making it the same price as the LG G5.

There's so much customization and tweaking still to be done, so happy with my shiny new toy. ;D

BBM for iPhone Is Terrible: Reasons Why

1. When someone sends a message, I get duplicate notifications in the lock screen.
2. Every time I enter a chat, the screen automatically defaults to show the keyboard, leaving me barely any room to actually read the conversation above.
3. You can’t add photos within the flow of conversation in a group chat, it has to go in a separate area.

I know it’s only 3 reasons, but that’s 3 reasons more than WhatsApp. Screw this inferior product! The iOS version needs some serious work to win my love.

Sci-Fi Movie Plot, Patent Pending

I do all of my best thinking right before I fall asleep. Last night, my train of thought was this:

One day, instead of smartphones we will all have chips embedded in the base of our necks that will connect us to the internet and allow us to control our homes and computers with our brains. But we’ll still be subject to privacy issues, but instead of Google using your words and image to sell products, they will use your thoughts and dreams to fund new movies and books, and you won’t be able to do a thing when they profit from your creativity because you waived all rights away when you agreed to their cumbersome Terms and Conditions.

Email Blunders

I see it time and time again; someone says something offensive, insulting, racist, sexist, etc. in an email that somehow gets sent beyond its intended recipient. And inevitably, the author of this terrible email admits they goofed... by being careless with email.

NOPE YOU GOOFED WHEN YOU BECAME A DOUCHE.

Seriously, I hate hate haaaaaate it when bad behaviour is exposed through email and the message is basically “your mistake was exposing your true colours”. Not that the fact of the matter is YOUR TRUE COLOURS ARE THE COLOURS OF CAT PUKE AND BABY POO.

Make people accountable not only for their actions, but for their beliefs as well.

Praise Where Praise Is Due

I remember learning once in school that people are more likely to leave reviews for service or products when the review is a negative one. For that reason, I make an effort to inform people when something goes right or if I have a good experience. Here are two such recent examples.

1. Rogers

It’s actually no secret... I hate Rogers. But in a very specific way. I don’t like the prices they charge, I don’t like their packages, their offerings are so limited and inflexible, and I lord help you if you try to call them with an issue. There is an exception to their generally crappy customer service though, and that is the @RogersHelps twitter account. Bless those account users, they sure try their darndest to help.

It all started two Sundays ago, when my internet suddenly ground to a crawl. No matter what I did to the computer or router or modem, I just couldn’t get the connection to improve. I shouted my anger to the skies aka tweeted my agony to @RogersHelps and they did their best to help out, but in the end they set up a technician visit for me. And while Rogers has crap customer service, their technicians sure are pros. The guy came by a couple days later and found out my modem was broken, so he gave me a new one, as well as new ethernet cables, just in case. Well played, Rogers. But I’m still leaving you once my contract is up. :P

2. Groupon

I’ve been known to use Groupon every now and then, mostly for services. (e.g. haircuts, massages, pedicures, etc.) A couple weeks ago, I decided my shoulders had had enough and it was time for another massage. I checked out the best deals online, compared websites and resources between all the different companies, and finally decided on purchasing a groupon from my top pick. This week, I tried to make an appointment and found the phone number was firstly wrong on the Groupon page, then when I went to check the correct number on the website I discovered the website was gone. D: Good thing Google caches everything, so I found the right phone number on a cached version of the site... but the phone line was out of service. Double plus ungood! At this point, if everything had suddenly resolved itself (phone and website fixed) I still would have felt too sketched out by this company to use their services anymore, so I requested Groupon look into it. Less than 24 hours later, I find an email in my inbox confirming a full refund in Groupon bucks. Would have preferred a refund directly to my credit card, but this will do.

Blog Topic #63 - You Are Here

Yes, you are here. Where is here? Here is ~*~*~THE FUTURE~*~*~

Exciting, no?

Let me explain. In the last year or so I feel there have been a few technological and scientific developments that really hit home the message that a lot of time has passed since I was a child. Like 3D printing drugs. Seriously. WE CAN PRINT DRUGS WHAT.



I know that technically the future never arrives, it’s always out there before you, but I don’t care what the people say, the future is NOW!

When I was a kid, they told us we’d grow up and live on moon colonies and vacation on Mars. None of that came true obviously, but other things did. We were so focused on the outer world, on outer space, that we forgot about our inner worlds, a world of DNA fragments and energized electrons. Before you know it, we’ll be operating on a quantum internet people!

More food for thought: this AT&T ad from 1993 that basically predicted the future.



We live in a world where you can video chat with anyone around the world (well, except for Syria right now), a world where a pre-verbal babies/toddlers know how to unlock an iPhone and find the YouTube app, a world where you can access real time photos and content the moment events break across an ocean. To some this may not seem like a big deal, but I am starting to find the present quite futuristic. :)

Another iPhone App Round-up!

Here are the apps I am currently digging! Nothing like the warm glow of your iPhone screen to keep you warm on these pseudo-winter nights when it should be breezy but it's snowing instead. ;)

Overgram – As the name suggests, this app ties in with Instagram. All it really does is allow you to add text to a square photo and then save/import to Instagram. But if you're an Instagram/graphic design addict like me (and you like to quote shit a lot) then this is the app for you. Added bonus: when you import to Instagram your share will be pre-populated with a crapload of hashtags designed to get you tons of likes. There are varying levels you can upgrade this app to; 99 cents lets you remove the watermark, $1.99 opens up more font choices. || Check them out! - @Overgram


InstaWeather Free – Another app that ties in with Instagram! This one allows you to take a photo and the app will add your location and weather forecast to the image, then you can ship it off to Instagram for sharing. Perfect for bitching about unexpected snowstorms or rubbing in your tropical vacation. ;) I'm using the free version, the Pro version removes the watermark and releases other layouts for the forecasts.
|| Check them out! - @InstaWeatherApp


Robotek – Now onto games! The premise here: robots have taken over the earth and you have to use some hacked robots of your own to take over various "nodes" around the globe. It's a turn-based strategy fighting game with great music and lots of creativity. Gets repetitive after a certain point though, and later on the enemies get so hard you can't go forward without in-game purchases.


Supermagical – A bubble-blaster type game with a little twist on the controls and a very cute storyline. Be warned: the twist in controls makes this game a lot harder than most, plus you run out of coins very quickly, making in-game purchases necessary again.


Dungelot Lite – Dungeon crawling distilled to the essentials. I have the Lite version where you can only choose 2 of the 5 character types but even then it's still really fun to play. Basically, ye find yeself in yonder dungeon and have to battle monsters, find keys and treasure, rescue villagers, etc. No storyline, just pure dungeon. The mechanics for the dungeon crawl are a little similar to Minesweeper, which is an interesting twist.

Bleep Bloop

I think it's about time I once again shared the apps that I'm currently in love with!

Puzzle Craft – This game actually costs money but it was free one weekend so I downloaded it. Basically it’s Farmville meets Bejewled LOL. You have to play two kinds of matching games that grant you resources to grow your own little personalized village. It’s not very difficult, the sounds and music are wonderful, plus it’s a creative idea.


Songza – I’m pretty sure everyone and their dogs has this app by now. The premise is that you can find free musical playlists customized based on what you’re currently doing or what mood you’re in. You can find pretty much any kind of music, from 70’s blues to classic Bollywood to the latest progressive trance. A wonderful resource to discover new music or just set the mood.


Tweegram – Sometimes I don’t want to Instagram a photo, I want to Instagram a quote. When I do I turn to Tweegram, which allows you to type the text, give it a pretty background, and then import to Instagram (or Twitter/Facebook directly if that’s what you want). It’s convenient and the free backgrounds are rather nice; the app definitely fulfills my very particular needs. ;)


Houzz – So you’ve bought a house but need design inspiration, what do you do? Download this app and let the inspiration and pretty designs carry you away! Scroll through thousands of photos of bedrooms and kitchens, or search for that perfect oak headboard you’ve been hankering for. If you sign up with Houzz, you can even save your favourite photos.


Cinemagram – It’s like Instagram but with 2 seconds of animation. Take a video and then highlight what parts of the video you want to keep the animation going and which parts you want to stay static. This tweaking allows for all sorts of interesting/wacky/freaky video to be created, plus you can add filters to give it that hipster look LOL.

The Love Keeps Growing

Time for me to share my favourite iPhone apps of the moment.

1. KingCamera – This app has some of the best filters ever. Not only can you tweak things like contrast, saturation, etc. but there's pre-set gradients and overlay layers and stuff I don’t even know how to explain, all I know is that it makes my photos look PRETTEH. ;) I've had compliments quite a few of my creations with this app and that really says it all.


2. Frametastic – This is an app that allows you to stick multiple photos within various frame setups, which is especially nice if you don't want to spam your feed with a ton of really similar photos. I've been using this app in conjunction with Instagram a lot when I'm taking photos of my nails; I take one pic with flash and one without, but instead of posting both I just combine them together in one frame, then add a filter in Instagram and voila!


3. Forestville - My current game obsession! It's basically a spin-off of Farmville; you have to discover different species of animals and build a forest town by farming and building businesses. It's strangely addictive and incredibly cute, very kid friendly. My only major complaint with the game is that it's MASSIVELY GLITCHY. I can't even remember how many times I've been in the middle of restocking my shops when the game shuts down or gets stuck in a loop. So beware!


4. EEBA - The acronym stands for the Easy Envelope Budget Aid. It's an app that lets you set up your monthly (or weekly) budget, and then tracks how much you spend and how much money is left in your allocation as time goes by. Incredibly powerful and quite nifty! I haven't quite gotten into the nitty gritty of this app simply because I have an Excel spreadsheet I use for this stuff, but I can see right away how fantastic the app would be for those in need of a good tracking system.


5. Meernotes - A very simple app, but the best things in life are simple aren't they? This is basically a diary app; you choose your font and just start typing. The app also allows you to sort what you right into different coloured tabs, and if you want you can have multiple notebooks for multiple writings. Great for jotting down thoughts that come by, I can really see myself using this if I get back into writing my novel.

Can't Get Enough Of These Things!

Enough time has passed that I believe it’s time for another episode of me suggesting what free iPhone apps y’all should download. I’ve got a few lovely ones to share today. My apologies if they are not free anymore. :P

1. Asteroid Blaster - I’ve always loved that game Asteroids; this updated version of the game released by Atari is a total gem, especially since it’s free. In addition to the game we all know and love, there’s the ability to unlock power ups, new sectors, and different ships. The learning curve gets very steep (I’m kind of stuck right now) but it’s so pretty and engaging that I’m willing to plug through with it.


2. Pocket Camera - I actually deleted Camera Sharp because I loved this new app so much! It has waaaaay more options than Camera Sharp ever had, like changing the metering and the focus, all kinds of resolution options, and of course the ability select timers and focus. Unfortunately I think this app is no longer free; I can only find it as Pocket Camera Pro in the iTunes store.



3. Snapseed - Aside from Instagram, this is my go-to photo editing app because of one special capability: CROPPING. It allows me to crop the image as I see fit, or even leave it in its native landscape/portrait orientation, as opposed to the perfect squares of Instagram. And for that, I thank it. It's also great for doing just minor fixes and tweaks on photos, when you don't want to get all artistic but just want a nice clear photo.


4. How Stuff Works - This free app is surprisingly awesome because it gives you access to host of amazing podcasts. As someone who is often stuck in a long commute, sometimes I switch the radio off and turn my iPhone up and listen to something from the Stuff Your Mother Never Told You series, a series that generall warms my little feminist heart. ;) Other rocking podcasts can be found under Stuff To Blow Your Mind and Stuff From The Future, but they're all brilliant really. Highly recommended for those of us who want to learn something interesting for 20 minutes. :)


5. Craftgawker - As a crafty crocheter, sometimes it pays to get creative inspiration from areas other than just crocheting, in which case I dip into the lovely visual distraction that is this app. It's basically just a pile of photos (with link) to all kinds of crafting projects online, from making your own buttons to a how-to on turning old tires into a retro kitsch lamp. :)

Imagine Life 10 Years From Now

Last night I was talking with a friend about jobs and the market and education and he brought up a point that someone had raised at one of his management meeting. The point was this: when we were in high school and university, educators were trying to train us for jobs that didn’t exist yet. So by the time we’d entered the labour force, there was a slew of jobs for things we hadn’t even envisioned. I could see exactly where he was coming from… no one told me in high school that I could have specialized in CCS and HTML and become a web/graphic designer in my late 20s because the field basically didn’t even exist at that point. High school “computer class” involved antiquated programming languages and using Lotus 1-2-3. :P

And today, another friend of mine mentioned that her university was looking for a professor of Social Media. Seriously, SOCIAL MEDIA. A PROFESSOR. What kind of wonderful world are we living in!? ;) It’s a crying shame that there are some awesome careers out there that didn’t even exist three or four years ago, so there’s no real way for people above a certain age to get into them without taking time off for re-educating themselves.

Crash And Burn

In the past couple months my computer has taken a turn for the worse. It all started when I upgraded to the latest version of Firefox and promptly hated everything about it. I ended up uninstalling it and going back to version 3.6 or so, and that’s when the problems started. Every five minutes, my browser would suddenly stop responding and start thinking really, really hard for a couple minutes before returning to normal. Needless to say, this sort of stop-and-go nonsense really ruined the flow of my internet experience, but I’m fortunate enough that I have an iPhone to supplement my online needs.

Alas, things have become worse. It came to my attention that it wasn’t just Firefox that was affected, but any internet browser on my computer (e.g. even IE had the same problem, and downloading Chrome or Safari wouldn’t be of any use). And since this past weekend, the ratio of “non-responsiveness” to “functional browser” has gone from 25 : 75 to 55 : 45. D: Honestly, I think I may have to reformat it once again, because Googling for a solution has just resulted in a lot of advanced gobbledygook that suggests Javascript is to blame.

It sucks. I don’t want to lose all my 6000+ songs and countless graphics all over again!

In other news, I was thinking of switching my blog from Blogger to Wordpress. I like the convenience of having Blogger tied in with my Google account, but on the other hand it makes me uneasy at the same time because, well. *points at tag*I also like how nicely you can customize your blog here, layout and image-wise. Just look at that lovely background pattern! But Wordpress is simply a lot more dynamic, easier to navigate and with more bells and whistles and customization options when it comes to privacy, security, and content promotion. That being said, as soon as I had thought about moving, Blogger decided to release its sleek new interface. So now I’m unsure what to do. I think I need to play around a bit more with the Blogger options before coming to a final decision.

I Love My New Plaything

Time for another episode of Apps I'm Using On My iPhone! As always, all the apps I share are free ones, so GO BANANAS, GO GO BANANAS. :)

1. iHome+Sleep - I use this as my main alarm now, screw that old school radio-clock! Not only does it allow you to create multiple alarms that can repeat in specific intervals, you can pick your wake-up (and go-to-sleep music). Plus, the app tracks your sleeping patterns and monitors hours and gives you nifty stats as a result!


2. Tiny Tower - Such an addictive game! Basically, it's like Sim Tower. You build residential apartments to move your "bitizens" in, then build different kinds of stores and services that they can work in and earn you money, so that you can build more apartments and stores... very Tower of Babel, LOL. ;)


3. Camera Sharp - I don't use the default camera app for the iPhone, I use this wonderful thing. It gives you so many added options like the ability to select where the image focuses on, what the exposure of the image is, timed photography, anti-shake options, and more. Seriously, I swear by this app, it makes all my photos look so much better for when I use them for the next app...


4. Instagram - A fun little app that allows you to run your photos through a bunch of lovely filters, then share them on Twitter and Facebook. I pretty much swear by this app, it's a great way to share snapshots of your life and see what creative things your friends can do too! :)


5. Hi-Def Radio - I like listening to the radio in the morning but I hate how morning radio has all those annoying DJs with insipid and generally rage-inducing things to say. So I've downloaded this app and every morning it's either the dance/trance station from Germany, my anime music station from Japan, or a Bollywood station from France of all places, hahaha. Non-stop good music makes my morning. :)

Viva La Revolución!

As of this month, I am now the proud owner of the iPhone 4. It's a nifty piece of technology to say the least, very dynamic and powerful. But as I troll through articles upon articles recommending the best apps to download, I'm struck by the fact that a lot of them work best if you're in the US. Aww, us Canucks, we just can't get a break. ;) So I thought I'd give a rundown of some of my current favourite apps, apps that do their thing and do their thing well even for a Canadian like me. Bounus feature: all of the following apps are FREE!

Wunderlist - Yes yes, go ahead and say it in an enthusiastic German accent. ;) One of the things I've been planning to do with my iPhone is turn it into the replacement for my pen and paper day-planner, and with this app dovetailing with the default calendar app, I'm able to list all the things I need to eventually do or look into or buy. It's a very pretty looking app too, which is a big thing for me. ;)


Miner Speed - Game app! Another free one and granted there's not much to it, but I still find it addictive. It's basically Bewjeweled with a few tweaks, swap the jewels to make them disappear, get yourself a high score. You get coins depending on how well you score and you can use these coins to buy (very expensive) power-ups. I find myself playing incessantly so that I can save up the cash to get as many power-ups as possible.


SoundHound - I actually have both this app and Shazaam, which had never let me down when I used it on another person's iPhone. But I've had a couple instances recently where Shazaam was at a loss and SoundHound pulled through, therefore it's the one getting my seal of approval. Hear a song you like and want to know about it? Turn on SoundHound and it'll identify it for you! Better yet, heard a song you liked? Just hum and SoundHound will figure that one out too!


Gas Price Canada - Fairly timely, don't you think? Want to know whether you should fill up your tank now or tomorrow? Pick your city and this app will tell you how the price of gas will change from today to tomorrow. Absolutely brilliant. I just wish I had checked this app before I left work yesterday. *facepalm*

Apps that disappointed me - Redlaser (doesn't always work and when it does, prices are only in $US), Angry Birds (okay, so I couldn't pass the second level, I might be a bit biased), Springpad (decent but not as pretty as Wunderlist).

Apps I might try - Epicurious, Weather Channel, and BlogTO.