I jumped into the RSS feeds when I signed up for a Gmail account. I didn't check out Bloglines much more than the links provided because I already set up the Google Reader and have been utilizing that tool.
One nice thing about setting up a Google Reader is they have bundle feeds. So, for instance, there is a News bundle which has feeds to BBC News, ESPN, Google News, etc. You can subscribe to these preset bundles, then add websites to the already existing bundles, or create your own. I stumbled across some cool photography websites this way through one of their packages. It's also pretty easy to manage the subscriptions. There aren't too many websites I visit every day, so it wasn't hard to just go through and subscribe to them. I didn't even have to look for the RSS icon (which was pretty easy to spot once you're actually looking for it) since the Mac has the RSS option right in the address bar.
Pretty much the only sites I haven't subscribed to are the news sites. Seeing as how news is updated quite frequently, I still find it easier to just hop over to CNN, Commondreams or wherever and check out the headlines. Other than that, it has been an overall timesaver.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
My "Tech-Related" Blog: The Magic and Tragedy of Apple Z
One of my favorite technological advancements of all time is a nifty little feature named "Undo". I first discovered this little guy in school, where he was aptly named "Apple Z" for the shortcut command on Mac computers. His PC cousin is "Ctrl Z" and as I am usually choc-full of mistakes, they have become fast friends.
Apple Z comes in handy especially while working on an illustration or another art project in the computer. It's fun (and a huge time saver) to be able to change entire blocks of color, layouts, lines, or anything else and then just undo them. Basically, it's a big help to play around with any element and try new things without having to worry about losing original files or having to take the time to revert to a saved copy. It's pretty cool to say the least.
Of course, Apple Z also spoiled me. Most of the artwork I've done in the past 4 years has been on the computer. It all starts out traditional, then I scan it in and go to town. Adobe Photoshop is amazing, and Adobe Illustrator is another of my best friends. In fact, Illustrator allows me to Apple Z to my heart's content.
But as you may have noticed from an earlier post, I started painting again. Now, I took quite a long break from painting, so it's a little slow getting back into it. Imagine my surprise when I decided to redraw the figure's forehead, only to decide she looked better before hand, and couldn't Apple Z my way back to the beginning.
Well, "fiddlesticks" as Grandma would say. (I didn't actually say "fiddlesticks." While not as playful, my choice of words was definitely colorful.) And silly me, I can't tell you how many times I actually stopped and looked for the undo option during that first couple of hours.
It's quite embarrassing. But it also (re)taught me that no matter how wonderful even the tiniest technologies are, sometimes it boils down to gettin' your hands dirty and doing it the old-fashioned way.
Or Grandma's way. You know, whatever works.
Apple Z comes in handy especially while working on an illustration or another art project in the computer. It's fun (and a huge time saver) to be able to change entire blocks of color, layouts, lines, or anything else and then just undo them. Basically, it's a big help to play around with any element and try new things without having to worry about losing original files or having to take the time to revert to a saved copy. It's pretty cool to say the least.
Of course, Apple Z also spoiled me. Most of the artwork I've done in the past 4 years has been on the computer. It all starts out traditional, then I scan it in and go to town. Adobe Photoshop is amazing, and Adobe Illustrator is another of my best friends. In fact, Illustrator allows me to Apple Z to my heart's content.
But as you may have noticed from an earlier post, I started painting again. Now, I took quite a long break from painting, so it's a little slow getting back into it. Imagine my surprise when I decided to redraw the figure's forehead, only to decide she looked better before hand, and couldn't Apple Z my way back to the beginning.
Well, "fiddlesticks" as Grandma would say. (I didn't actually say "fiddlesticks." While not as playful, my choice of words was definitely colorful.) And silly me, I can't tell you how many times I actually stopped and looked for the undo option during that first couple of hours.
It's quite embarrassing. But it also (re)taught me that no matter how wonderful even the tiniest technologies are, sometimes it boils down to gettin' your hands dirty and doing it the old-fashioned way.
Or Grandma's way. You know, whatever works.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Flickr vs Picasa
Believe it or not, I took about 1600 pictures during my college career. Most of those were taken during my Junior and Senior years and pretty much all of them were taken with disposable cameras. Needless to say, I have still yet to take the time to scan in those pictures. (And I'm not holding my breath that I will tackle that anytime soon.) Being the savvy artist that I am, one would think I would have used my now ancient digital camera, and a wicked-cool photo sharing site like Flickr. Share them with everyone, print out what I want, etc. etc. Would have been sweet.
Oh well.
I am semi-familiar with Flickr and Snapfish. I've surfed through friends' pics with guest passes in Flickr, and apparently even have a Snapfish account. I don't take nearly as many pictures as I used to, so I never really got into the online photo sharing frenzy. This will probably eventually change.
While it seems that Flickr is probably the most popular of these sites, and one with some of the best sharing/organizing capabilities, it apparently requires one thing I don't have: a Yahoo! account. I have a Hotmail account (that is driving me crazy since they upgraded to WindowsLive), a Verizon account, and now a Gmail account (which I signed up for because I intend to eventually can Hotmail.) I don't really want to keep track of another account. Not to jump on any sort of Google bandwagon, but since I can access my blog through Google, why not my pictures too?
Perhaps Picasa will meet my needs, limited as they are at the moment.
Oh well.
I am semi-familiar with Flickr and Snapfish. I've surfed through friends' pics with guest passes in Flickr, and apparently even have a Snapfish account. I don't take nearly as many pictures as I used to, so I never really got into the online photo sharing frenzy. This will probably eventually change.
While it seems that Flickr is probably the most popular of these sites, and one with some of the best sharing/organizing capabilities, it apparently requires one thing I don't have: a Yahoo! account. I have a Hotmail account (that is driving me crazy since they upgraded to WindowsLive), a Verizon account, and now a Gmail account (which I signed up for because I intend to eventually can Hotmail.) I don't really want to keep track of another account. Not to jump on any sort of Google bandwagon, but since I can access my blog through Google, why not my pictures too?
Perhaps Picasa will meet my needs, limited as they are at the moment.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
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