Internet Freak

When 56k ruled the earth. Congratulations, it’s Friday. So with that I think it is only right that I share something fun with you.

I give you the 56k emulator. If nothing else this will bring back days of A.O.helL and 5 minutes of connect time.

Not much to say about it, check it out and have flashbacks of the days when you could either be on the phone or on the internet, but never both.

“Privnote - send notes that will self-destruct after being read.” It’s an awesome concept, and a lot of fun. If you’ve ever wanted to send an e-mail or a message to someone but were afraid of a “paper trail” then this service is for you. How it works is you type a message and you are given a link. You then share that link, containing your message, to the person you want to give it to. After that person reads it the link disappears. . .along with the message. This way no one else can read the message except for the one person you want.

You should give it a shot, even if you do it with yourself. Type a message, and then click the link. Now click it again. Pretty cool, huh?

So it’s Wednesday and the person beside you is driving you crazy in one way or another, so tell them with NiceCritic. It’s a fun service that allows you to e-mail a critique to someone who is in need of it. The great part is that you can do it without telling them who you are. And with categories ranging from personal hygeine to cubical critic to anonymous praise to thoughts for schoolmates, you are guaranteed to find something in there for you

Check it out, have some fun with it and become a critic today!

This one is for all the gamers out there. Good Old Games is a site that will offer downloads of all the games from the past, but not the lousy ones that no one played, the good ones. The one’s that you and I will want to buy. It looks like it will be an awesome service as all the games will be XP and Vista compatible, which will allow anyone to play them. The greatest part (for me) is that the games will be cheap, ranging from $5.99 to $9.99. This is great as I’m in college and don’t have $60 to shell out for a new game.

The site is still in beta right now, but if you sign up for the newsletter you might be able to get a special code for the early release! Check it out!

youconverit.com is a very powerful site I came across the other day. It’s idea is very simple, it converts files for you without you having to install any software onto your PC. When I first came across this site I thought to myself, “O its just another one of those sites that allows me to download videos off youtube, but that’s it. Boy I was wrong, you can convert files from your desktop into any format, including audio, you can download videos offline and even convert them into a compatible file before initially downloading the video.

It also has a feature to send files up to 1GB to anyone and even a conversion tab where you can convert units of measurement into other units. Two very useful additives to an already useful site.

Check it out, this site should definitely be on you favorites tab!

I received an e-mail from Mykich that had a link to Expirementalgameplay.com along with a brief description.

“I found it a year or so ago and its a great time waster. It offers game created by programmers. Many of the games were made in fewer than 7 days and to be posted have to have an “experimental” aspect to them… some of them are pretty crazy. I suggest you click on the top rated link and see what some of the best games are.”

So I checked it out and deemed it amazing. I downloaded a game that had a very interesting concept, and looked a few others making notes of others that I’m going to have to check out. I am quite worried though about how much time this will suck from my days as I am quite easily addicted to flash games. Guess I’m going to be using File Destructor this semester thanks to experimental gameplay!

There is one thing that I think every girl should have and should never be caught without. A geek. In this technology savvy world of ours, one has to know how to navigate, and if you don’t know how…you’ve got to have a geek. Personally, I try not to go anywhere without mine.

For example, last fall I was picking out a laptop and I found the perfect one. It was in my price range, and it was PRETTY (which was the most important part of the selecting process). I was so excited to show my geek and he immediately tore the poor little laptop apart. Too little memory (don’t know what that is), not enough GB, the wrong kind of hard drive…etc. So I ended up getting a laptop that met with the “geeks of America” standards. Not as pretty but its got a hellavalota “memory”.

Every Sunday we look at the ads in the computer, particularly the Circuit City ones and Best Buy. I’ll find something I like, and once again…it just isn’t quite up to par. Quite frankly, if I didn’t have a geek I would have a whole collection of sub-par electronics! So, I find that now I never get my heart set on any electronic product without first running it by my geek. Except for that little pink digital camera, I won’t give up on that…which, I’m sure has a lot wrong with (but it’s beautiful).

While a geek may not have all the social skills in the world, or perhaps isn’t the best conversationalist, he can pick out software like a maniac. And I wouldn’t be caught dead in a Best Buy without one (well only once and that was to dash in, head down, to get a charger). They come in very handy, and personally I think that everyone should have one.

Today I was asked why someone would join a forum, and I didn’t have an answer. So I’ve been thinking about it and I didn’t come up with an answer, but another question. Is social media replacing the need for a forum? Or is the internet turning into a massive forum? I think “yes” to both questions.

Blogs. A lot of people hear the word blog and immediately think “O great, another person who’s going to write about his day!” This is no longer the case, sure there are personal blogs, but now-a-days most of the websites you visit are blogs. Blogs have, to an extent, lowered the need for forums as each post creates a conversation that anyone can jump into. There are times where you’ll see a blog post with 10’s maybe even into the 100’s of replies. That’s better than most forum posts get.

Social Media. There are tons of sites out there now that all deal with sharing of information. Much like the purpose of a forum from 3 years ago. These sites provide the ability to join cliques, groups, etc and will keep you updated on what is going on in those cliques. Each item shared is then voted up or down and anyone is able to leave a comment discussing how they feel about what is being shared. Sounds like another version of a forum to me.

Micro-blogging/Social Sites. Today we have twitter and plurk. These sites allow you to get involved in many conversations at once. Most of the time these conversations happen in “real time” which makes these sites more fun than waiting for an hour to get a conversation started with 10 minutes in between replies. This also sounds a lot like a forum to me, just a little better.

I know it may sound as though I’m “hating” on forums, but that is definitely not the case. In fact I’m commenting on how much like Myspace; forum have influenced the internet. I would even say that forums had an effect on Myspace. Point being, in order for a forum to remain successful today it has to provide a very specific service to it’s members. A general chat forum will, most likely, fail on the internet of today.

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I came across this a week or so ago, and I still think it’s a hilarious/ingenius idea. It’s called File Destructor 2.0. Maybe you’ve heard of it, maybe you haven’t either way it’s worth the click.

“Welcome to File Destructor 2.0

Want to play games on your Playstation but got a deadline for an exam or report that didn’t match your gaming ambitions?

Then you have come to the right place.

Send trashed files and blame your faulty computer, instead of confessing that you are a lazy bum who just wants to play videogames.

Give yourself more time for gaming”

If nothing else it could be a lot of fun for a prank, I know I don’t have the guts to actually try to use then in school. If you do, try it and tell me how it worked out for ya.

If you’re curious as to what the destroyed file looks like they provide you with sample files to view. They’re pretty convincing.

Check it out, and tell me what you guys think.

Perhaps it’s the fact that I just bought my first laptop, but more than that I just learned that life beyond “Yahoo”, “MySpace”, and “Facebook” exists. A week ago I found out what bookmarks are, and not only did that blow my mind, but I also found it to be one of the best inventions of the 21^st century. It’s the simple things in life. HOWEVER, I was introduced to the most amazing discovery of my life, which includes those I have found on Stumbleupon (don’t even get me started on that miraculous entity). This remarkable discovery is Plurk. I curse the day my Geek introduced me to it, but yet I love him for it at the same time. Plurk is this amazing, connection of people from all over the world, not having a whole lot in common except they enjoy the wonderful World Wide Web.

I logged in, immediately got confused and exited the browser. I then ventured back to the website and tried to register again, I was like a terrified mole. I then signed up and immediately became utterly perplexed. I had one “Friend” and where do you go from there? The whole concept was completely mystifying. Backgrounds and wall papers, little animal friends and screen names, karma and taglines. You make friends with complete strangers and give them a play by play of your day and your life. These people make better friends online then they do in real life. Plurk. It’s a new, wonderful, complex social network that is at some point going to truly explode into something very big. The fact that the word “Plurk” is now a part of my daily conversations, it’s in my dictionary on Microsoft Word, and I sometimes speak in third person because of it. Yes, I manage to stumble my way through it, praying my “karma” level stays up, not really knowing why it does…or doesn’t. Yes, I somehow have a few friends and log in everyday and get the thrill of a lifetime when the number beside the conversation turns red. Yes, I am like every other Plurker in “Plurkville” who makes sure to log in and Plurk before karma updates. I will be the first to tell you that I am addicted, but I would be the last one who would be able to explain why. Plurk, my anti-drug.