Final Thought – iPad

I know that no one can shut up about the iPad and I get that. However I feel that I should give my opinion on the new device, and why I won’t be getting one.

 

First of all I have a Desktop PC and a Netbook, which are great assets to have on you. As Steve Jobs said, the iPad will not be able to match a netbook in terms of performance. I also have an iPod Touch, which is great for looking at my E-mails in a glance. So long story short I don’t need an iPad and I will not be wasting £500+ on one when I can save that money for better things …. such as a holiday for example.

 

So, why might you want to get one. The iPad is designed for those who prefer to sit at home and just quickly check their E-mail or read a book, to be honest though, the iPod touch can already read E-books so I don’t know why it’s being sold as an E-nook reader. It can also be used for students to read text books on their subject of study.

So overall, if your not a heavy reader, and/or have a netbook then you should save your money for a better time. The thing is don’t rush out to buy an iPad as knowing Apple they will release too many different generations of the iPad, and then you will realise that you wasted £500+ of your hard earned money on it.

I don’t hate the iPad, but I won’t be getting one.

Thoughts on new YouTube video player, the layout.

I recently read in the YouTube UK blog about the new video page layout on YouTube. I managed to get it at college, but I couldn’t get it at home. However I only recently found out that it’s an “Opt-in” kind of deal. So I gave it a shot, and I was impressed.

The first think you will notice how minimalistic it looks. This is great, as those with slower internet connections will not have to wait for ages for a YouTube video to load.

Moving on now, the video description is under the video it’s self, I think that it is a lot better there. Because most people don’t even read the description, having it under the video will draw more attention to it. It also saves space on the right hand side. Which can be used to add more features. The view count has also been placed there.

Next thing, is that all of the YouTube user data is at the top (In simple terms the channel of the user who uploaded the video), next to that link there is a menu where you can see all of that users recent videos. Another feature that I like, saves space on the side bar and I don’t have to keep scrolling down all the time. The Subscribe button has been placed above the video as well. I think having the button there makes more sense, you can just watch the video and then click subscribe without having to scroll around to the right to subscribe.

If you are the uploader of that video, you’ll also get all the video editing options (for the descriptions), and you can also add anotations from there. It is placed above the video title.

 

Now onto the ratings. It seems YouTube have opted for a facebook “like and dislike” system. Instead of the old rating system. I quite like that because it is simple and it means that people can tell you whether they like the video or not without having to be confused about all the 5 stars stuff.

YouTube have also added a share and favourite button under the video as well.

Finally, onto the comments section. They have added an “Attach video” feature to the comments, instead of having a separate section to post a video comment. Really good feature, as it has more integration with the comments section.

 

That is not all that this new layout has to offer. I didn’t cover everything since most people don’t want to be reading on forever. I did cover the major changes.

Overall;

The layout is nothing short of amazing. It has been laid out really well and it isn’t hard to find where everything is. This is the one update that YouTube have gotten right in the past year.

News: I’ve become a writer on Duncsweb

I’ve been posting comments on Duncsweb for a while now. I really like getting involved with what people post on there.
Today I was contacted by the owner of the site DuncanM and he asked me if I wanted to start writing on there, I accepted his offer and I am now part of the duncsweb team. I am very happy and honoured to be given this position, and I will continue to produce content for the site.
You can view my profile here.

My advice, is to be involved, you can't expect to be noticed, if you do nothing to get noticed. You have to be in it to win it.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to posting more content both on this blog, and on Duncsweb.

Blogger in Draft – My thoughts.

As many of you already know, I’ve done a major overhaul of the look and feel of the blog, I was sick of using the old templates.
So I decided to give blogger in draft a try, and use the new template designer, that is supposed to allow you to adjust each aspect
of the blog. It has also given me the option to add “Pages” to the blog, these are not blog posts per se but they allow me to dedicate an
entire page to one subject, instead of getting it mixed up with other unrelated blog posts.

Blow is a screen shot of the new template designer interface

Personally I think it is fantastic that it allows me and many other users to make a professional looking blog, I have yet to find a single fault with it.
I have to say that Blogger has done a fantastic job here. It’s worth checking out if you have the time.

System Analysis Quiz

Do you want to become a Systems analyist? Take this quiz and find out.
http://careerplanning.about.com/library/quiz/career_quizzes/blcompsysanal_quiz.htm

It's actually quite good if your looking to become a systems analyist in the future as it can tell you what qualities you have and wheather they are good enough for being a systems analyist, and if needed the site will give you some very good research material for you to read if you don't get the desired result.

Even if it's not a career choice you want to take up it is an interesting quiz none the less. I personally want to be a video game tester, as I like gaming.