Author: Sue

I have been writing in various forms since I was a child. I write about what is going on in my life, what I enjoy, and the struggles of dealing with chronic illness and mental health issues. I love live music, football (Scotland and Dunfermline Athletic), reading, Formula 1, Stock Cars, and eating lots of vegan crap.

Twitter App Ban?

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

So, after spending all day, trying to get UberTwitter (a third-party Twitter app, for Blackberry) to work. I got home, connected my phone to my WiFi, to a message saying UberTwitter has been suspended for breaking policies, or something. UberTwitter was the most popular Twitter client for Blackberry mobile devices, eclipsing Twitter’s very own official application.

Twitter say that UberMedia(owner of UberTwitter, Twidroyd and just recently TweetDeck) broke various terms of service, and are now suspended. The accusations are using unauthorised trademarks (Twitter in the name of a product), changing details within messages (this has not been made too public, but appears to be related to changing links or something) and a site used to post longer tweets (tmi.me) posts private tweets publicly. Now whilst this looks serious, you also wonder, why was the service suspended before UberMedia had a chance to do anything?

When my phone is operational (ahem O2), I am a very heavy ‘tweeter’ from my phone. I did initially try the official Twitter app, but found it very slow and non-working, so switched to UberTwitter, which was so much faster and easier to use. Now, when the service was suspended only two tweets appeared on Ubertwitter, and both where @support. One advised me that UberTwitter was suspended, the other was trying to get me to download the official Twitter app for Blackberry.

This, to me, seemed a little suspicious. Almost as if the suspension of UberTwitter was tactical, to push more people onto the official services. Within 12 hours of the suspension, UberMedia announced that UberTwitter was coming back as UberSocial, and that it just needed approval from the BB app store. So it looks as if things will return to normality soon.

It is thought that as many as 25% of tweets are sent through UberMedia’s applications, which makes it a hefty risk taking them off. You could end up leaving users disappointed, and they will leave Twitter completely. Or you could push them onto another third-party service, such as OpenBeak.

People are saying that this is another indication of the impending pop of the current internet ‘bubble’. With Twitter recently being a considered by both Google and Facebook owners for a rumoured $10 billion, people started to get worried. Many business and technology watchers find this evaluation of the micro-blogging site to be a little ‘steep’. And the over enthusiastic pricing, could be a sign that the internet is about to go down the toilet. Whether that happens or not, the big issue is that if Twitter are interested of getting a high price for the service, then they need to control where they lose money. Much like any business, you find where you are not maximizing profit. and you fix it. Here, Twitter was losing out on millions of dollars because another company was acting as a ‘messenger’ between twitter and the customer (end product). So twitter, revoke the licenses for the biggest ‘messenger’ service, to try to get people to use their own, in-house ‘messenger’.

It seems a little confusing, but I can see why the staff at Twitter would be forced to try to stop these companies profiting from their losses. After all, you will not get the highest price if your business plan (and profit) isn’t watertight.

It doesn’t take much looking on the internet to see what people’s opinions are of Twitter since the UberMedia issue. And it looks very negatively in the light of Twitter. Most of the thoughts are, that if Twitter had better applications of its own, and proper support for them, then they wouldn’t need to ban anything. Maybe Twitter should work on what it has, rather than attacking those who essentially bring business to their site.

*shrugs*

Twitter Unbalanced?

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

I use twitter A LOT!

It is a place I joined to get to know friends from other sites more. Which is something the site has done so well. It was mostly people from The Leaky Cauldron, Youtube and various Good Charlotte sites. Actually, mostly the Good Charlotte sites, as the GCfam are just brilliant. And twitter has brought me closer to them, and to the band themselves.

But recently I have noticed a few strange going-ons. First is people using the site to advertise themselves for work, and don’t make any personal statements or anything. And I just miss the point of that. You use the site to get to know people, even if it is purely those in the same industry as you, but simply retweeting people does not use the site to it’s capabilities.

The second thing, its fanbases trying to beat each other. Mostly its Lady Gaga Vs Justin Beibers (or Monsters Vs Beliebers), and they try to knock each off the trending topic lists. :S Again, most of it is spam, and doesn’t do anything bar get on peoples nerves. In fact, coincidentally, both acts are becoming very close to over-saturating the market. That is basically getting to the point where instead of making new fans, you annoy people and get less fans. It is the golden rule of advertising, don’t over-do it. And the fans don’t realise that they could be negatively effecting their idol’s sales.

But, twitter is a tool. And the reported interest 0f Google, to purchase the service for as much as $10 million. Watchers say that this inflated price could be the sign of another internet bubble about to go POP. The reason they say this is because they struggle to validate the site being worth that kind of money, especially when advertising and promotion have only been launched recently.

I guess time will tell with twitter. I love it, so as long as it still works, I don’t mind, really. Just don’t change it too much.

Adventureland

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Glasgow is my favourite City in the world. Some may say it’s because on a worldwide scale, I have no visited very many cities. But I’ll just dismiss that with a wave of my hand. I need to explain a little, or I feel I should. I spent a lot of time in Glasgow, about 8 years ago, when I was studying to be a Veterinary Nurse (something I failed due to my ability to flunk exams). But I stayed in Glasgow for a total of about 6 months out of the year, and I fell in love with the place. It is one of the few places I get really excited about visiting because it holds so many memories for me, and it is one of my dreams to move there.

++Clyde River- Glasgow City Centre++

Glasgow is a really warm city, and it feels really homely, well it does to me anyway. The people are so friendly and it just feels a buzz to be there. Like any city, it is seeing its fairshare of run-down areas, but there is movement in the right direction, with people trying to improve appearance. There are a few areas in the city centre, where there graffiti projects, which aims to make things that little bit brighter.

+Glasgow Graffiti++

But, of course, the reason I was at Glasgow was for Good Charlotte. Who I swear have the world’s most obsessed fans. When it started rain/hailing, it was only GC fans in the queue outside. Yes, I was there at 10am, when the venue opened at 6.30pm. All to make sure I got to the front. It was so worth it. The Wonder Years, Framing Hanley and Four Year Strong,  all played for half an hour each, whilst GC played for an hour and 20 minutes. And GC’s set seemed to go really, really fast. Was so awesome though, so worth all the waiting and everything.


++Benji Madden, Good Charlotte++

That picture of Benji from Good Charlotte. It is really out of focus after being told to switch the flash in my camera off, but I like it. It could be the subject matter *cough* or it could be it does look quite cool. Or to me it does anyway.

Funding

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

After a discussion with a friend at 4am this morning, via Skype, it has become apparent that I need a good idea for helping me get out of the monetary rut that I seem to be permanently stuck in.

Obviously, the easiest solution is to get more money, but what is the best way to do that? I have already tried to find a second job, something that is difficult, seeing as a lot of people have difficulty finding just one job in the times we live in. *sigh*And I have been doing design work, but as I touched on yesterday, people want things for free and are unwilling to pay.

So…after much thought, I decided to look in what is doing well. And, the solitary success of recent times, is this very blog. Which, at the moment is happily averaging at 40 views a day, without me posting anything. So, thank you people who are reading, as it seems there is a few of you. But, as with any site that goes well, advertising comes along, and becomes part of things.

I have two choices, the first is to ‘monetize’ with Google. Where they will place appropriate adverts on my site, and clicking on their adverts, makes me some money. The other, is to ask for advertisers myself. Ask people if they would like to be associated with this blog for a small, undecided, fee. This would be more cost-effective to myself, as everything would be created by me, so there would be no middle-man to pay.

I am sceptical about it all, to be brutally honest. I never started blogging to make money and make it a job. But, it has just come round that my financial situation may require me to do this. *sigh* I’m stuck, I guess.

I have talked to people who run other blogs, and they say that the page views are high enough for advertising to be a good idea. I guess I am afraid that by making me use the blog for profit, that I will lose my passion for it. Beh!

The good thing, is that I have been blogging for so long, that I know that I will update regular, and have done on here for the last 2 years. I think, I am going to have a think about things before I make any more changes.

If anyone wants to add their two cents or even email any queries about possible advertising or anything email me at suewantsaRIOT@gmail.com or simply comment below.

Aight!!

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Going to go out today to take some photos.

I am working a couple of hours extra today, and would like to do something with my day, other than just work. So, heading to bank as I need to find out information to get my PayPal account verified. So I’ll get that done today, and then I have a few clients that can pay me via PayPal, seeing as they don’t want to deal bank-to-bank.

The headaches of doing things for people and them not wanting to pay. It’s like people expect me do give them free things, just out of the kindness of my heart. I mean, I can give things away to an extent, but not to the organising 40 flashbook pages for a business that is already doing well. Considering all the images had to be cleaned up, some re-sketched, and categorised, it was a lot of work to expected as a freebie. I did say a tattoo would be adequate payment, but they didn’t like that idea. -.-

So, I’m using it as an excuse to head up into town, take some pictures, and buy nothing. Because I am still broke. :S Still, it’s better than sitting around here all day. Doing nothing. Well till 3pm, considering that’s when I start work. I may continue to do nothing at work, but, sssshhhhhh, don’t tell anyone.

As you can tell, I am in a random mood today, possibly made possible, because I can say that I should be seeing GC at the flipside of this weekend. If you don’t know that GC is Good Charlotte, and are my absolute favourite band in the world, then :P. It has to be said that Good Charlotte fans (the GCfam) are awesome and are some of my best friends. I have had a lot of ‘inner problems’ in the last few weeks, mostly over-stress, and they are the best support ever.

 

 

Home!!

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

So, I have done a little bit of re-modelling, to help wordpress be more homely. So, rather happy that it seems to all look ok. Well, for me, writing after 2am, sitting in my bed, it looks ok. *shrugs* My thoughts may be different when I am actually awake at a reasonable hour.

I guess I needed to add a little personal touch to proceedings, as this blog reaches second birthday in a few months, and it looked as bland as a boyband. Considering all I did was draw the lettering at work, and spent 5 minutes scanning it into the PC before uploading, it looks good. I think it is one of these things, the stuff you spend no time on at all, looks better than the things you spend AGES on.

I think this blog now looks a lot more organised than it did, because I am NEVER organised, so I never spent anytime on how it looked. Mostly because writing has been the only thing I have had any motivation in, AT ALL, so I never even worked on a banner. Sad times. But right now, I am back to using Photoshop on a daily basis, and am feeling so creative.

It’s such a good feeling after having nothing for so long. I go through phases of productivity, which if you have read this before, then you may have an idea of. And, although I still have periods where I can’t do anything, there are becoming more ‘ups’ than ‘downs’. Which is a relief, considering this is what I want to do with my life.

Other than working for Sky, of course. That was a life ambition. *rolls eyes*

Battling Digital Breakdown!

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

AKA, trying to fix a computer, and saving it from a malware which seemed to be the most annoying fake security software EVER!!

What was happening is that there were these pop-ups, coming up on the computer, no matter what it was you were using, and they advised you of an error somewhere, and to do a security scan to fix it. You would click to do the ‘scan’ and it would take you to a page to purchase in a ‘product’ to fight these infections.

All seems above board, right?

Wrong!

The error messages were not the most illegible, and looked slightly different to windows error messages. But that was just the fact that the messages were less rounded than the standard error messages, and little things that most users wouldn’t pick up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, your computer is ‘under the infections threat’. Scary stuff. *rolls eyes* Any without much searching, we soon found out that this is a malicious piece of software that effectively makes up errors. It gets users worried about the risk of their computer, so that they go and spend money on software to fix the problem. This doesn’t happen, and the details you use to pay for things, is given out to ‘third parties’, and leave you at risk of identity theft.

The big issue with this malware is, that your standard security software, will probably overlook the ‘Security Shield’ and think that it is perfectly safe. Although the software can be annoying, in that it pops up every 5 seconds, reporting some kind of fictitious fault. And it is also known for causing problems to the point of crashing your computer, and also rendering anti-virus protection as useless.

Whilst the best advice is to NEVER give your details to something that you do not know of. Because some malware is designed to look pretty damned close to legit anti-virus software. So always check the name that your alerts are under, anything that you have never heard of, delete. Better playing it safe.
I used MalwareByte to try and find Security Shield, after trying to remove it manually failed. Whilst MalwareByte found  Security Shield, and noted it as a risk, when it tried to delete it, Windows, once again failed, and I got the big blue screen of fail. At this point, it seemed like nothing would help, so I decided it was time to do a system repair.

This is an option most new Windows PCs have, where they have a partition in the harddrive which contains the ability to repair the computer, without going into Windows properly. Here, you can do things such as restore your PC to the last time it was updated, or restore straight back to factory settings. So because this malware only became an issue in the last few days, I just restored it back to an update that was made about a month ago.You do it by switching your PC on, and before you get to  the Windows Boot Screen, press f8 over and over again. This bypasses normal start-up, and puts the PC into recovery mode, where you can then restore or repair your computer.

After about 20 minutes, the computer rebooted and was A-OK!! Hooray!!

I, at the moment, have Norton, AVG and Avast! as anti-virus softwares, and I have never had any issues with viruses *touch wood*.

I have 3 on the recommendation that different security software have different flaws. So hopefully having a few, limits that chance of anything getting through the security.

Selective Personality

~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

So I am sitting in front of the TV tonight, and watching You’ve Got Mail. An overly cheesey ‘chick-flick’ starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Where two people fall in love as they email each other, but they are natural enemies in real life, and hate each other.

It started me thinking about whether people show themselves honestly online. I mean, people have the ability to create this online persona of perfection, why include your flaws in that. Through a site, you can pretend you are they person that you wish you could be. You can filter out all the undesirable rubbish, and make your more favourable traits, be major features of your personality.

But then, is it our immediate surroundings that make use behave in a certain way? Is it only when we are confronted with people and situations, our personalities change into something completely different?

When we are alone, typing responses into a computer, we have time to organise our thoughts. We can respond to questions, without panicking and our brains rushing out some idle, idiotic response. We can spell check, and re-read responses, and carefully tweak them, to get the desired effect.

When actually involved in a conversation with someone, we don’t have the luxury to think of a perfect response, the thought process and the words come out quickly. And, although you may say something accidental, it really does show who a person is more. And you see a person for who they are, online there is always the chance of someone holding themselves back.

So where is a person most honest to themselves, online or IRL? Does it matter? As long as you truthful to yourself and your views, it shouldn’t matter where you encounter people.

Distraction! Distraction! Distraction!

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

In a bit to stop dwelling on the fact that I am utter miserable, I am going to delve into something to try and raise the positivity points for a little. At least distract me for a little while, anyway.

*twiddles thumbs*

*scratches head*

Umm… so what do you say when your mind is as blank as my ‘completed’ Standard Grade Chemistry exam? Well, the same as what any other blogger does. Look at news sites, etc and see if you can find a topic that interests you. Failing that you could always post about a Meme that attracts your attention.

What is a Meme? Well, most people associate it with the Viral videos that spread around the internet like wildfire. You know the type, you’ve probably recieved a video via email, on facebook to the point it may even get mentioned in national media. But as far as the blog meme goes, it is more of a theme, or idea that people post, and it spreads to other blogs. A lot of memes centred around blogging, tend to be either GIF (moving images) posts or posting games.

The first meme I probably encountered was over on LiveJournal, which as I have said before, was my first blog, which is 7 years old this year. The homepage has a section called ‘writer’s block’ where members of the site submit questions, and other blogger answer it in a blog post. It is a good motivator, and I have seen myself use the ‘writer’s block’ to write a few times in a week, to help get into the mood for posting. Meme’s are ideal for people looking to get started in blogging, but don’t quite have the processes in place to blog on a daily basis, with different content. Here, the topic is decided, you just have to write about it. This small function of the ‘writer’s block’ is something unique, in that I am yet to see another mainstream blogging service employ such a service.

But if your blogging service of choice does not include something to help encourage posting, there are Meme sites online, where you can pick their topic or task of the day to help you write. The best site I have found for this is The Daily Meme, a site set up to post memes, which help encourage people to write when they are stuck. The Daily Meme, has the site split into days of the week, so that users can pick from a day, and doing it weekly, such as ‘Creative Writing Friday’. Another site which is rather good is The Music Memoirs, which as you can guess, is similar to The Daily Meme, except is based around music, where you create playlists for the season and things.

I have been a user of both sites for a long time, and they have both helped me out of some pretty serious writer’s blocks, so I can heavily recommend them both. And it is no bad thing if you post using a meme, every so often, because a meme tends to allow the writer to show themselves, which is what blogging is about. It also shows, that you are willing to use sources to help you, if you need to.

Also, and probably the most important thing, seeing as I know A LOT of people starting blogs within the last few months, posting a meme on your blog allows it to be slightly more than one dimensional. If all you do is repost other peoples’ Photoshop tutorials, then you aren’t really employing the blog to it’s full purpose. So if you struggle, try a meme, and it’ll help you get to what is at the heart of a good blog. YOU and your opinions.

 

 

Social Media Expert?

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

What is it that makes someone an expert at social networking?

It’s a thing that seems to be bounced around by an awful lot of people. They have Twitter and Facebook and think that constitutes them being an expert in all things social media. Well, just because you post 50 tweets since you started on twitter 2 years ago, doesn’t make you any sort of expert.

The thing is, businesses are starting to realise that social media is a perfect was to tout for business for free. Which is great, but if they put it in the wrong hands, it can do more harm than good. Spamming on Facebook may get you followers, but does it really get you more business?

I don’t think it does. If you spread yourself amongst various networks, and employ them well, they can all become interconnected. You can show all different aspects of blog posts, video posts, favourite pieces of the internet and more. By showing likes and dislikes, you can show some kind of personality to a business. Like I mentioned before on the blog about websites, not too long ago, if a business has personality, people are more likely to form an attachment with it.

So the more you employ various social networks to talk to other users, and show who YOU are, people will like what you say, and maybe give you business. But it is called SOCIAL network, doing ‘follow4follow’ is not being social and getting to know people. Social networking is about making friends and getting to know people. People become friends because they like where you’re coming from.

Maybe its just me. I have spent a lot of time learning to use networks such as Myspace, Last.FM, Bebo, Hi5, Flickr, DailyBooth, Twitter, Youtube, Livejournal, Tumblr and more. This is something that I do because I enjoy it. I love the idea of being able to get to know people all over the world. I don’t go on twitter because some I was told to as a designer to get work, it was something I used to as a way to get to know people I spoke to on other sites.

Maybe it’s because I do value websites I use as the people I know through these sites mean a lot to me. It always kind of bothers me, that businesses just use it for promotion. They don’t use the sites correctly, in my view, show no personality and don’t interact with people.

If you are a ‘master of social networking’, I believe that you should show the sites and its users with respect and love. It sounds stupid, but people can pick up when you love something, and if you a enjoy using a service, it will be picked up on by any potential client. If you don’t show care for a FREE website you have an account on, what’s saying that you’ll show care on any paid projects.