Ashlee's Blog

Technology

mcquaya — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:34:04 +0000

For my info systems class we have been using quite a few different sites. Some of the sites we have been using are Google Reader, Delicious.com, this really cool energy saving site powered by Google called Blackle..and a few others. There is numerous things that are good about technology, most of the things that Mrs. Claytor is teaching us are time saving. Which is always good for anyone. One very useful piece of information that Claytor taught our class was how to search for something on the internet. By this I mean an easy way to narrow down your search results and find what you want in less than half the time.

Some tips as to how you would do this would be to add subtraction or additon symbols, be more describtive, use quotations. Its amazing how much time it saves you. I’m sure there’s more simple little tricks like that she will be teaching us. But you should check out some of those sites…they are REALLY good.

The Beatles: Rock Band =D

mcquaya — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:18:13 +0000

Well of course this would get my attention. The Beatles may have been around years before I was even thought about, but I’m a very big fan of them. They have influenced a lot of bands for years. Reviewers of this game have warned the public not to attempt to play this alone. It would actually be quite hard to press the colored buttons with your left hand and strum with your right while you have the mic under your arm trying to belt out the words “Come together right now, over me.” With this special version of Rock Band, you can play early Beatles tunes all the way up to their last performance in 1969 on the rooftop of the Apple Music headquarters in London. You can also have up to six people playing at one time (depending on the amount of controllers that you have.) Even when you are not playing there is something that you can do, you can watch animated re-creations of The Beatles performing. From what I’ve seen these graphics (via commercials and reviews) these graphics are amazing.

The further you get in the game the more songs and other prizes you unlock. If the 45 songs that are already in the game aren’t enough you can download any others for $1.99 each. Unlike the regular Rock Band when you sing with this game it will be just that…singing WITH The Beatles. With more than one microphone players can practice harmonies as The Fab Four were notorious for. Now with this version of Rock Band if you suck you will not get booed off the stage. Honestly who would have ever booed The Beatles? This game is available for PS3 and Wii for $249.99, and for a limited time you can buy a custom Beatles guitar and drum set. Here’s the link…http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/06/beatles.rock.band.review/index.html?eref=rss_tech

Typejockeys??

mcquaya — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:34:15 +0000

One of my assignments for my web design class is to read some articles on my Google Reader to see what I can come across involving web design and to blog about it. So here we go…I came across this article that got my attention immediately, it said something about a “Typejockey”. Now what is a Typejockey exactly? Well its a Austrian website that deals with younger more modern types of web design. It was designed by Anna Fahrmaier, Thomas Gabriel, and Michael Hochleitner.

If my explanation isn’t good enough take a look at what the creators said about their website themselves, “Typejockeys is a graphic and type design company based in Vienna, Austria, established in 2008… The services go from printed material, like posters, editorial- and book design, over digital media, like web and screen design, to corporate design and signage. As the name already tells, the small and independent office focuses on an appropriate use of typography in its work. With its international experience Typejockeys can offer products like custom type and lettering with international standards uniquely offered in Austria. Always work and think whole-hearted. With or without serif.” (from http://www.typeoff.de/?p=690)

They have this really cool font which they call “Premiéra” If you want to know more about Typejockeys or you want to take a look at this article go to this link….http://www.typeoff.de/?p=690

Just some comments and discussion about my web design class

mcquaya — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:29:17 +0000

So far I’m really enjoying my Web Design class, the most recent thing that we did was sign up for a Google Reader. Now with this little tool you can subscribe to many of your favorite websites and get direct feeds from them. This is a good way to save time. I’ve been using it quite frequently.

So far its been a very useful tool. You can subscribe to anything from jokes to the news. I had to subscribe to five feeds for Info Systems 1 and five feeds for Web Design. Its a very good thing to have when you are taking any type of computer classes.

An $8,000 cell phone bill?!?

mcquaya — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:44:43 +0000

Okay so this sounds crazy right???

I was reading this interesting article about a man who’s cell phone bill ALMOST cost him his house payment. Get this, his wife decided (kind of randomly) that she wanted to take a vacation to Indonesia. Her bill ended up being a shocking $8,000. When she was there she didn’t realize that every text she sent back home cost her an astounding $2.50, while calls cost her $1.75 a minute. Her husband commented, “We almost missed a mortgage payment when the auto-withdrawal for the first bill came through and wiped out our checking account.”

Stories like this are becoming more and more common. Most researchers say that this is because a lot of people have began to use their phones more for data purposes, than voice calls. When calling someone you can control your talk time and gauge your cost per minute. But when using your phone for data services you can rack up a higher cost than you are aware of. This is because most e-mail, websites, and videos are more costly then you think, when using a cell phone.

There’s quite a few things that you can do to prevent this kind of thing from happening to you. No one wants to go on a vacation and have to worry about what kind of insane bill they are racking up back home. Some of these things that you can do are as followed:

1. Buy another phone

If you’re going to be at your destination for a while its a good idea to either rent or buy a phone in that country.

2. Get a plan

If your phone is your life, (like to many Americans it is) chances are you never go anywhere without it. It would be a good idea to take advantage of what options you can get involving abroad calling plans.

3. Go VOIP

Now what is VOIP you ask? Its quite simple…a VOIP is a Voice Over IP. Still clueless? Well a Voice Over IP is using a PC or any Internet connected device to make phone calls. You can do this simply by downloading Skype. Skype is a software application that is used to make voice calls over the Internet, skype also includes instant messaging as well.

And lastly maybe one of the easiest things you can do…..

5. Just leave your phone home.

This is the only way to be absolutely sure, that there will be no surprise bill waiting on you when you return.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/traveltips/08/28/cell.phone.saving/index.html?eref=rss_tech

About this whole thing…

mcquaya — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:12:05 +0000

I’ve been asked to keep a blog, as a record of my times in Claytor’s Web Design and Info Systems classes. I’ll be updating and writing new posts each week as required. So for now let’s give you a little bit of info about myself. For starter’s my name is Ashlee McQuay, I’m a junior at Huntington High School, 16 years old. Now for the teacher….this character they call Claytor, well I met her last year as a sophomore when she was an English teacher. Thanks to her (and for this I will always be grateful) I have been informed of some unknown diseases…these would be WGS (White Girl Syndrome) and FMD (Footin Mouth disease). Now you see the thing is…I admire her sarcasm, I enjoy being very sarcastic BUT it’s ALWAYS with the BEST of intentions.