The phone was handed to me by my Media Writing lecturer, after having me record a final thoughts segment about Barcamp Cork, in a roundabout way. http://qik.com/topgold#v=550651

We sat down as he explained how the phone worked, but I was having too much fun playing with it and marvelling at all the photos I could take with the 8.2 Mega Pixel camera to pay attention, and my failure to focus almost got me locked out of the phone later, as I couldn’t for the life of me remember the pin number.

As you can imagine, one of the features I really love about this phone is said camera. It’s truly amazing. There’s a shutter at the back of the phone to protect the lens, the option to put frames and clip art into the photo, and many features that can usually be found on a digital camera, like macro, to take close up pictures of flowers and plants, which a real floral fanatic like myself will appreciate. http://www.flickr.com/photos/irisheyes/3024979334/

The picture quality is fantastic, and even with the zoom on it still manages to hold the quality. However, if you want to use the zoom really well, you need a still hand as the phone tends to wobble a bit.

Another thing about this phone that really makes it for me is the fact that I can access the my lecture notes on Moodle, the learning system on Tipp Insts website. I can be anywhere and I can learn on the go.

So, I really, really, really like this phone, and I’m praying that my lecturer will forget he gave it to me, and then it will be mine, all mine..

I am sitting down today to tell you a little bit about the Media Virgins. The idea for Media Virgins was born the the canteen in Tipperary Institute, Clonmel. It was here that a group of first year Creative Multimedia students came up with the idea of creating a website that newcomers in our position could come to for advice and education on the field of Multimedia.

As most of our class are complete novices to the industry we felt that we needed a place to come to, to share and to learn from. We soon realised that within our class everybody was good at something and for all of us to succeed we needed to pull together and learn from each other. This website has given us the opportunity to do that.

The site is not elitist and we welcome the experiences and advice from others. There are no two people in the class that are the same. Everybody has brought different qualities to the venture and I feel that the site is much richer for it. Because there is such a diverse range of interests and talents we feel that we can cater to everybody’s needs. The main aim was to appeal to new comers in the Multimedia Industry and to hopefully teach them as we, ourselves were being taught in college. The media virgins are unique in that we have the expertise and support of experts in the industry (our fantastic lecturers) while at the same time we bring a freshness that we haven’t found elsewhere. This is just the beginning to our adventure . During the course of it we will let you know how we are getting on and give you a behind the scenes look at how we do what we do. If you have anything to add please do not hesitate in leaving a comment. Thanks a million.:-)

5. Youtube

While not one of the most obvious choices you may have thought this does have some pretty nifty tips and with a cast of almost 50 million you can never be lost for choice.

4. Tutvids

Great site for tutorials. The only thing i hesitate about it is because it only has about 40 videos. But still its better than nothing.

3. PSDTUTS @ Vimeo

One of my favourite websites for Photoshop Tutorials, PSDTUTS, recently started an official channel at Vimeo for Video Tutorials. What makes this one a bit special is the HD setting which allows users too see a much clearer video Photoshop Tutorial than usual.

2. You Suck at Photoshop

This is a great one for beginnners. Its quite humerous too. This guy basically shows us how to use photoshop in real life situations and gives handy hints and tips aswell, keeping us gripped with the comedy he adds.

1. Pixelperfect

This is without doubt the best site for viewing the ever-needed tutorials. The presenter is Bert Monroy and he is one of the more prominent figures in Photoshops history and is an amazing artist too. With his famous Wacom tablet he gives the basic-est of user a hand while helping along with the needs of the more advanced. This has just recently been removed from Revision3, due to cutbacks in the company, but the tutorials are still there, and you can still learn from them

This month there has been a plethora of websites redesigning themselfs, almost rebranding and differing from what they were set up to do. And are they better than previous?

Last.fm

Better / Worse: This is a tough one. There have been many compaints about it but I like it much more than the slightly homo-erotic vibe it portrayed before

Facebook

Better / Worse: Facebook have been clever not to fall into the web of crappy designs such as *cough*MySpace*cough* and has came out on top. But i cant help thinking “Whats the difference?”, besides the obvious bar on the top saying “The new Facebook is here”

Myspace

Better / Worse: Nothing can take away the page after page of horridness. There’s no redemption here im afraid. Wow, you added a gradient. Well done.

Del.icio.us

Better / Worse: I dont think there is a doubt on anyones mind that the recent update here has finally made this site viewable. Bring it on Reddit

Speaking of redesigns, dont get too accustomed to the MediaVirgins design at the moment.

Have I missed one? Leave a comment if i did.

The reasoning behind this phrase, from Mulley.net:

in order as as not to pollute the indices as much as possible.

which is fair enough

For people who dont know what SEO is, its the art of manipulating search engines to display your site on the first page of a search. It is a highly sought after skill with great benifits if you can do it correctly.

So why am I posting about this? Yours truly is about to undartake this task and learn a bit more about SEO at the same time. So, lets put on our geansai gorm and let the games begin

Since I first joined Bebo the rules seem to have changed: pictures of sober people appear to have been banned, soft porn is not only acceptable it is encouraged. It seems that every month the average age of bebo users gets younger and younger. We’ve all seen the inappropriate pictures of ‘teenie boppers’ posing as eighteen and nineteen year olds. Kind of makes you wonder doesn’t it?

Don’t get me wrong Bebo is not all bad it is a great tool for keeping in contact with old friends. On a much broader note Bebo could be seen as being good for the economy as teenagers spend a lot of their money in internet cafes on bebo – often leaving comments to the person sitting beside them. What’s with that anyway?

From reading this blog you would probably assume that I am a narky old woman, buy I am in fact a narky 18 year old girl. While I do use bebo, I dislike doing so. It goes against what I believe in but I’m drawn to it like a moth to a flame. And so ends my disjointed rant. I’ll just leave you with this thought – knowing what you do about the antics of beboer’s would you let your children on it?