Revision and my new blog

I am currently super busy with my revision for my final exams at university EVER (hopefully - assuming nothing goes terribly wrong). This is why this blog has been so poorly updated and I apologise. I am however still using Twitter (as seen on the right) and have also started a personal blog with vox, you can find it here. I am updating this blog to the Vox question of the day and the occasional random post.

I hope to resume normal blogging after I have completed my exams in a few weeks! Hope everything is going well for everyone else, be it revising or essay writing that seems to be plaguing all at the moment.

x

Blooks and Turning a Blog into one

I learnt a new internet term today. A 'blook' is apparently a blog/website that has been turned into a book. I'm always amazed by the rate that new words are apparently added to our language. I'd only just got used to the word 'blog'. But anyway, moving on, The Lulu Blooker Prize 2007 has announced it's shortlist. So if you are interested in discovering what a 'blook' really is, then have a browse.

Also this article from shinyshiny gives suggestions of how you could turn your blog into a blook if it takes your fancy!

Vox.com

I have just started a new blog at vox.com in an attempt to find something prettier than blogger which I can use, and I have to say vox wins hands down in the easy prettiness stakes. If I had any vague understanding of html i'm sure that blogger would be the better option, but sadly at 21 i seem to be losing my brain agility for understanding new computer based things.

As far as I can work out however, there is no way to import twitter, which is annoying. And although it has several tools regarding importing things from youtube (which i do actually use), it is also advertising flickr which I have never had patience with. It is also based on a neighbourhood scheme, which involves you being able to blog simply at family and friends, as well as to the big wide world... as much as I actually quite like this idea, I am painfully aware that i'm the only one sad enough amongst my friends to blog so I would not be able to use this option. It also won't let me send blog posts that i make on vox to this blog, although I haven't yet checked whether I can do it from the blogger side of things.

Also having Facebook, plenty of gmail emails, twitter and this blog to occupy what time i do not have, it raises the question do I really need something else to log into and check or update. In fact I deleted my MySpace account a couple of months ago because it just seemed pointless and increased the amount of spam I received about ten fold.

Basically I'm left wondering if I can really justify swapping functionality for prettiness. I don't think I can. As I am however, lothe to part with my pretty new page I am going to have to think of a cunning way to use it. Ideas on a postcard please.

Twitter: What are YOU doing?!

I thought I should perhaps tell you a little something about Twitter because until very recently I had never heard of it. Apparently taking America by storm, this site allows you to make short updates (text length minus your 13 character user name) by accessing the site, GoogleChat or text messages, all to answer the key question 'What are you doing?'. You can opt to only allow your friends see your updates, and if you don't choose this option then anyone can opt to 'follow' you, which essentially means they can choose to be instant messaged or texted your updates. Now in my opinion the texting thing is slightly scary and stalker-like, as if you are publicly updating then some random in Brazil could be being texted the fact that you are 'just leaving the house' BUT then again like many of these networking sites you can only be stalked by how much information you give. It would be sensible for example to not be updating with 'in house all on my own, forgot to lock the doors, have lots of expensive electrical equipment'.

The major advantage of the site is being able to blog quickly, and it does make you consider what you write much more as you have to be informative and amusing in a minimum number of characters, particularly if you are posting publicly. My favourite posts are not the ones about going to buy shopping, they are the ones that tell you something interesting, funny and amusing.

Overall it seems pointless when you first join, just like a site dedicated to the 'status' feature of Facebook, but definately grows on you. My turning point was the morning it snowed last week, and on the public timeline you could see the reactions of people all around the country, VERY interesting.

On a more informative note you can also choose to receive news updates from BBC England, and could effectively just use it as a free text information service.

On a less informative note apparently you can follow Macworld (I don't have one and so won't be), and there are rumours that many tv/film directors are planning on joining, including the director of My Name is Earl... or that Ed show, i can't remember which or where I read it...

NB. It is Mike Pennie, writer/producer of 'My Name is Earl'. Find his twittering here. And I rediscovered this on the Twitter blog here.