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Friday, September 30, 2011

iPads in school: an example of working harder or smarter?



We all know the saying 'work smarter not harder'  and it might be that doing your school work on an iPad is the perfect example of this. I have been doing a lot of reading about apple and mac and all that for work, and today I came across a really interesting article about a number of schools all around America who are getting iPads rather than text books.
Now, I want to be a writer and I know that I need an agent and a publishing house to get a book made but many people are saying that publishers of physical books won't exist in the future. I for one don't believe it, but if high schools move towards digital books then many companies will loose a lot of their business.
Also, I have a theory that the alphabet won't be taught as A B C D in the future, but Q W E R T Y because children will only see the keyboard and it won't make sense to them to learn the letters any other way. I know that the way that the alphabet is taught has a rhyme to it and is easier for children to recite but if they will be using a keyboard instead of writing then they will be seeing the qwerty layout more often.
One of the main arguments for iPads in school is the up to date texts and the vast number of educational apps, but many people are saying that the iPad will just give children more opportunity to procrastinate and more access to sites that promote cyber-bullying.
It's still early days but it seems that tablet PCs in school will be here to stay. I for one like that I was taught how to handwrite despite the fact that my writing is really bad and, if I don't pay absolute attention to every letter that I type, I will jumble the letters around. It happens when I type too but typing has auto correct :P.


What does everyone else think about iPads in school? Do you think that it's the way of the future, or are you upset that you didn't get to use one in school? Are you using one in school, maybe you're reading this on your iPad? I want to know ha ha.

Kathy

Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Many-US-schools-adding-iPads-apf-1245885050.html?x=0&.v=2 the aritcle that I read about iPads in American schools.

Themes: iPad, ipad, iPad 2, iPad in school, ipad in school,

Holy Hannah ya'll

I have another blog post ready to go this afternoon after I finish work, but I just had to share this with you all:

Nice yes???!!! It's so cool that she actually responded :D I'm tickled pink and can't stop smiling.

Talk to you all later,

Kathy

Themes: Once Upon A Time, Once upon a time TV, Ginnifer Goodwin, Snow White, ABC,

Monday, September 26, 2011

Get Glue: Checking In and Checking Out Rewards


Article first published as Get Glue: The Way of the Future on Blogcritics.

At the 2011 Comic Con Warehouse 13 actor Saul Rubinek said that he would love an artefact that would enable him to gauge the real amount of viewers. Saul mentions that his daughter in college told him that no one there has the time or patients to watch TV shows when they are airing on the traditional medium and that knowing the actual number of people who watch the show would show that that Warehouse gets more viewers than what is measured at the Neilson ratings.

Get Glue might not be an artefact but it is a great way to measure how many people are watching and thinking about a TV show, movie, book, or topic. Get Glue is a new social networking site with a difference. Rather than updating a status, users check in when they are watching a TV show or movie, reading a book, listening to music, or thinking about a topic. This is more entertaining and exciting than updating on FaceBook or Twitter because you can see how many other people around the world are watching the same show or reading the same as you. You can also use it to compete against friends and family to see who the bigger fan is or who saw the movie first.

Get Glue is also one of the first social networking sites to reward its members. Some check-ins are rewarded with a virtual sticker that adorns your profile, and when you have 20 stickers you can opt to have these sent to you- free of charge. The stickers are roughly the size of a button and are real; you can put them in your diary or on your fridge it’s up to you.

Get Glue has over 50 major entertainment sponsors helping to boost the number of series, books, sports, and movies on the site. With the Fall TV line up starting this week in America it’s no surprise that distribution companies are falling over each other to have their show on the site. Get Glue is a great way for these companies to find out who is watching their show and how they are doing it. People can check in from all over the world and comment with the episode number and time that they are watching and this gives the networks the information that they have been waiting for. For example, eight thousand people may check in when the new episode of The Office is airing but over the next 24 hours a further 10,000 may check in from overseas who have downloaded the show or from people watching it from their DVR. Get Glue is the way that networks can track who is watching their programs.

Obviously, I don’t work for Get Glue but I am a member, and being a member is free and you don’t have to pay extra to get your stickers. I encourage everyone to join up to make it easier for networks and producers to see the real number of people who are watching their TV shows, reading their books, and thinking about their sports.

So Saul, this might not be an artefact like you’re used to, but Get Glue sure has some power.

Who else is on Get Glue and would like to share their experiences? Do you like it or think that it's a fad? Let me know in the comments.

Kathy

Themes: Get Glue, SMM, social media, Social Networking

Friday, September 23, 2011

The Coffeeholic and the Cafe by Elizabeth Martin




On her living room floor in the middle of the day while flicking through a newspaper, Claire has a revelation about her life. She is a Coffeeholic and she doesn’t care.

What follows is a series of adventures that seem too funny to be true; Claire moves to far north Queensland to help open and run what is to be the best coffee shop in Queensland. After lying—that is, fudging some of the facts—on her resume Clair lands the job and embarks on the journey of a lifetime.

Her new boss Maria starts off a treat but ends up being very dismissive and her son Daniel is a mamma’s boy who seems to love nothing more than sitting around in his underwear watching TV. There’s also Bruce, the farm hand that Claire thinks is too attractive for his name so she calls him Tom.

The Coffeeholic is a fat paced and funny novel that is very enjoyable to read. Sometimes Claire is a tad annoying but because the book is from her point of view you can see why she does the things that she does. She is too self-centred for me to say she could be a friend, but she is definitely the person you want around when you’re going for a coffee.

Martin writes quite well and this is a good first book. Her description of Far North Queensland is so beautiful that it makes me want to jump on a train to head up.

This isn’t the best book that you will ever read but it’s very enjoyable and you will get a laugh or two from it. 

Let me know if you're read any good books lately or you have a different opinion on this one. 
Kathy

Themes: Coffee, I love coffee, Elizabeth Martin, The Coffeeholic and the Cafe, book review,

Thursday, September 8, 2011

I'm away for a day and so much Once Upon A Time news comes out

I had 32 e-mails in one account and two in another, 300 new FaceBook updates and countless Tweets and I was only away from the Internet for 24 hours! Holy Hannah peeps!

If I can I'll let you know where I was, but for now let's check in with Once Upon a Time. First up, Ginny! Oh much love for Ginnifer Goodwin. She seems like such an adorable, bubbly, smart person. I would love to have a cuppa with her (and Ginny you can totally come over to my place, I'm working on frothing the milk I swear).
She is a cover girl this month on the wonderful BackStage magazine, as well as having a great interview inside. I mean great interview too; I hate when the interviewer has no idea what's going on. This person asked some great questions.


Interview lies beyond the link

Jennifer Morrison is also making the rounds:
Here
And here

Last but not least, Once Upon a Time as a whole. Ad Age has found that Once Upon a Time is the most anticipated new show despite airing up to a month behind other shows. Well done to Once and to fans!

If you've found anything else about Once let me know.

Kathy

Themes: Once Upon A Time, Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, ABC, Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis, TV, Once upon a time TV, once upon a time

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Top Female Characters on TV---Guest Blogger


Because I know that everyone has different opinions and not everyone watches the same TV as I do, I asked what other people thought about their Favourite Female Character. My friend Sara jumped at the chance. Her top female character is Debra Morgan from Dexter:

5 Reason Why Debra Morgan is awesome:

1-      She Doesn’t Know Everything:

If she’s at a crime scene she doesn’t go up to the body and know everything they need, she gets the coroner, someone whose job it is to know that sort of stuff. When there’s forensic evidence she doesn’t run it herself, she gets a lab tech. This doesn’t make her dense or bad at her job, it makes her a better rounded character and someone you could met in real life and not want to shoot them in the head five minutes into a conversation.
 Here’s the thing. I’m trying to be a writer and imagine if I put into one of my stories: my characters were in a sinking ship and the only way to unlock the door to safety was by diving into the already flooded depths to find the key. It would take at least ten minutes. They’re doomed! But, oh, wait. There’s the main female character. And although she never discussed it or mentioned it in any way, shape or form all these years, she spent eight months working as a deep sea oyster diver. She can hold her breath for fifteen minutes! They’re saved!
Who would buy that as an ending? But apparently many now think that if you do it repeatedly it makes a female character awesome. It does not. It makes her irritating and completely fake.

2-      She Knows Her Short Comings:

So what’s a girl to do when she’s not perfect? In Deb’s case she delegates, she learns, and she prioritises. She knows herself well enough to know what she’s good at and what she just plain hardcore sucks at and doesn’t let her pride get in the way. Since she is a homicide detective I find this especially awesome. They mention that she is one of the youngest officers to ever make detective and yet she doesn’t swagger about taking charge when she has no right to. If she needs help she’ll ask for it, and the same goes for her personal life, ego and image be damned.
The writers did this very well seeming that when we first saw Debra she had the drive and intelligence to be a great cop but just didn’t have the confidence. Over the seasons they grew and developed her. She still has shitty confidence in some situations but in so many ways you’ve watched her come into her own.

3-      She Doesn’t Give Up:

When Deb is on a case she’ll be the last one out of the office each night. She will track down any lead, no matter how small, and will devote her all no matter how many knock backs she up against. She’ll shift through mind numbing paper work ask a million defensive witnesses if there’s a glimmer of hope that one will talk to her. And if all the leads run dry she’ll go right back to the beginning to see if there is anything she missed.
I admire that conviction and dedication.
She's had a lot go wrong in her personal life that would make anyone choose a life of celibacy and cats by now, but not Deb. Dear Debra Morgan is willing to go another round and take another leap for love. I only wish I could do that, and I don’t have all that baggage.

4-      She Doesn’t Continuously Bring Up That She’s a Woman:

This happens quite a lot: Writers want to have a strong female character so they set her up in a job that is predominately a men’s domain, and then she or someone else mentions at least once an episode that is does, in fact, lack a y-chromosome. 
To me this is particularly irritating since it always hits my ears like they’re saying her mediocre achievements should now be considered awesome because of her "handicap". It’s like they’re trying to justify how her actions could possibly be awesome. Deb doesn’t fall into this category. 
Sure, she’s a female cop, she’s also the youngest one there and no one cares. You know why? It’s not because she constantly spots off that she has a uterus. She shows up, she works hard and she gets the job done. And not once have I seen her grandstand about how difficult it is. 
My mother was once in the army (she was actually one of the first women who were trained up and eligible to be sent into the battlefield if war was to breakout) and she was posted at a base where she did outrank a lot of the men. After seeing so many shows with so called strong female characters boasting about their trials I went up to her and asked her if it was tough, being in such a position as a woman. She looked puzzled for a second and then told me that it didn’t matter that she was a woman. That all she did was conducted herself in a manner that said ‘I respect you, so you respect me’ and it had never been an issue.  That has always stuck with me. Not just as a girl interacting with men but as a human being interacting with others. Don’t demand more than you’re willing to give, but don’t accept less than what you have given. I guess this is why when writers pull this stunt it always just leaves me feeling offended.

5-      She’s a Survivor:

Emotionally neglectful and absent father.
Under estimated by most people in her life.
Kidnapped and almost dissected by serial killer.
Shot.
Watched her boyfriend die. . .
And she just keeps going
-Give the girl a hand!

So what does everyone else think? Does Deb deserve Sara's number one spot, or is this all Deb-Delusion? Comment below and let me know.

Sara 

Themes: Jennifer Carpenter, Debra Morgan, Dexter, Top Female Characters on TV, Favourite Female Characters, Top Female Characters on TV, Guest Blogger