Picnik

A fellow student suggested a website to me for jazzing up your own photos called picnik.com. I wasn't familiar with it so decided I'd give it a try. I know I might have discovered this a little later than most people, but better late than never. I immediately loved it and embraced its craftiness. It is actually free to use some of the features. You can add borders, touch up your photos, add text and other related items. You can also save your photos in a library, e-mail them, or upload them to blogs or social sites. The site also features seasonal themes, so basically you can create your own low-cost Christmas cards. I briefly experimented in doing so, unfortunately I'll be too busy this year to send out Christmas cards. Next year, however, I plan on making my own and sending them out. As for other photos, I'll definitely be using picnik to spice them up and likely purchasing an upgrade to Picnik Premium to access all of the options.

Digesting Information

I came upon this article on technewsworld.com and found it absolutely fascinating. The article discusses the human brain's capacity for digesting information on a daily basis as shown by a group of researchers at UCSD. According to the article "The amount of information consumed by Americans in 2008 totaled 3.6 zettabytes and 10,845 trillion words...which equals 1 billion trillion bytes. Imagine a stack of paperback novels stacked seven feet high over the entire United States, including Alaska -- that's analogous to the amount of information Americans gobbled up. For an average person on an ordinary day, this represents 34 gigabytes of data and 100,500 words." To think about this for just a moment is really incredible. What is also fascinating are these results compared with results from the 1980s. "A 1980 study estimated that Americans received slightly more than seven hours of information on an average day, according to Bohn. Americans are now exposed to 11.8 hours of information each day, based on the new UCSD study, which calculated only the amount of information flowing into American households. It did not include the amount of information received in the workplace...Researchers looked at 20 sources of activities unrelated to work, including movies, cellphones, television, the Internet, video games, newspapers, magazines, books and music." This data is not surprising though. It just supports the fact that our society is very quick-paced compared to twenty years ago and our devices have a great deal of influence on our intake of information. Another interesting thought to ponder is how much quicker children should be learning bacause they are faced with more information.

Avoiding Technology?

I know that since I am a new media student, it only makes sense that I would have the latest gadgets technology has to offer, but I have yet to invest in an iPhone or an equivalent touch-screen device. I've toyed around with them, sure, but for some reason I think I have a slight fear of converting to the most modern technology and for this I may be somewhat old fashioned. Or maybe I'm just too simple for all of these new inventions. (And maybe I'm also broke because I'm still a student.) Whatever the reason, I am not up-to-date with my gadgets. My current cell phone is a bit beyond the basic flip phone; on the front screen there is a touch option for you to turn on your music, set your phone volume or turn on blue tooth, but it is not your full-fledged touch device nor would it likely support a number of apps. I desperately need a new ipod because my ancient ipod mini barely holds a charge. I considered getting an itouch and a few friends have suggested the itouch when I do decide to upgrade my ipod, and yet I am still slightly hesitant in getting one. On the bright side, I know I'll eventually have to face getting a touch-screen phone since it is becoming the standard. And getting a new phone just may be in the near future considering I dropped mine last week and cracked the front screen. Maybe with the new year will come more funds and bravery for investing in the most modern technology, but for now I'm content with my basic technologies.

Barbie at the Children's Museum

Recently I discovered that on December 19th, the new Barbie exhibit will open at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis and will run until February of 2011. The exhibit will feature an enormous collection of Barbies beginning in the early 1960s. Guests will also be able to design their own fashions for Barbie or Ken and "walk the runway." (I'm not entirely sure what this entails, but I do plan on visiting the exhibit to find out.) Barbie was actually revealed to the public on March 9, 1959 in New York at a toy fair, so her fiftieth anniversary was this past March. To celebrate, Mattel designer Robert Best created a golden fiftieth anniversary Barbie doll.
When I heard about the exhibit opening last month, the little child inside me grew ecstatic. Immediately I envisioned an entire room of bubble gum pink and hundreds of dolls on display. It is wonderful to see the transformations these dolls have made over the last fifty years. Their features have completely changed from when they were first unveiled. I grew up playing with them myself so my experience is different than my mom's of Barbie. I still have the majority of my dolls and their many outfits and accessories. I honestly am saving them for my little girls. I don't know that they would be worth anything, but the memories for me are priceless.

Buying Gifts Online

A good deal of my friends have decided that this year they are avoiding crowds and are buying their gifts online. There are pros and cons that come with this decision which I'd like to observe. First, the obvious, they are avoiding crowds as already mentioned. They won't be wasting any gas or dealing with the heavy volume of people. They won't be waiting in line either. They can get what they need right from home and really all they need is their credit card and a list. They can browse millions of things in a matter of minutes rather than going to separate stores to find what they need. They will however likely have to pay shipping costs. They also won't be able to see their purchases with as much detail as they would if they were to buy it up front.

This Holiday's Craze: Robot Hampsters

Practically every year there's a holiday craze for some toy. This year it happens to be Zhu Zhu pets, little robotic hamsters. The toy runs from 8-10 dollars. They scurry around, make around forty different noises and even come with accessories: a car and a house. They also have a setting to "snuggle." One reason some people think the toy is a hit is because they are inexpensive. Another possibility is because these little toys are now scarce because their demand is so high. Some are being resold online for around forty dollars. Personally, I don't understand the hype like many others; they are just tiny little robotic toys, however I am not ten anymore so how can I truly be the judge? If I had children of my own though, I might be more interested in these furry little robots. It is unfortunate that we forget what it's like being young at times and the experiences that accompany youth. I often wonder what growing up in this era would be like because of all of cool advancements in toys.

This post is a bit random, it is about a dream I had the other night. In my dream, I was driving along a highway, on my way to California for some reason and it was nighttime. All of the sudden, as I'm driving I enter this portion of the highway that is enclosed for miles, except obviously for the entrance and exit, which I'm driving through for a while, but I can't see outside of the enclosure at all. Then, an announcement is made on a loud speaker about the contraption. The announcement states that the "enclosure" is the first successful attempt for scientists to make the time of day change. Not long after the announcement, I see the end of the enclosure, and up ahead I see that it is now light out. I know that this was just a dream, but I don't think it is too far from impossible to think that this could one day occur.