photo credit: charlottel

MediaMaster is a free music-streaming service. Basically, you sign up, upload your music onto their servers (which could take a while), and then can play them anywhere with an Internet connection. It’s not the only music-streaming service out there, but it’s definitely one of the more interesting ones - it’s got album art, unlimited storage, and a bunch of other interesting features that I haven’t gotten around to using yet.

I’ve got a desktop at my house - with the decent speakers - and a laptop that I use. The laptop is much newer, and thus, I use it most often. However, the sound quality on the laptop kills me with its tinniness, so much so that I almost considered buying a second set of speakers. However, I decided to just upload my music to MediaMaster, then play it on my desktop computer. Sure, it’s not environmentally friendly, but it’s a valid solution - and better than wasting my money on a second set of speakers.

I’m not sure that everyone can find an interesting use for MediaMaster like I did, but if you are lacking a personal media player, want to blast some of your favourite tunes at work, or want to play your music on a better set of speakers connected to a different computer, then MediaMaster is for you. Try it out!

photo credit: acidcookie

Oh yeah, I did think of disconnecting the speakers from the desktop and connecting it to the laptop - but then every time I switched computers, I’d have to reconnect the speakers again! What kind of life is that? I’m put in the same situation when I have to disconnect my desktop monitor to attach to my laptop for a dual monitor setup which I like, but is way too much of a hassle to do on a daily basis.

photo credit: digiyesica

The service isn’t too bad: I watched parts of Maroon 5’s concert in Le Cabaret, and it actually looked better than Youtube!  Looks like In Concert is of some use after all.  Youtube’s definitely got more variety when it comes to this stuff, but at least In Concert is fully-legal.  There are short commercial clips playing in between, and the whole site isn’t as streamlined as it could be (in fact it’s a bit bloated-looking), but it still works nonetheless.  And that’s good enough for me!

The Maroon 5 concert, on the other hand, was downright impressive.  They could’ve done with a bit more audience pumping and interaction with the crowds - it wasn’t Bon Jovi impressive, but it was still quite something to watch.  If you’re looking to try out In Concert (free, no signups) then visit the link below!

Visit:

http://music.msn.com/inconcert (free, no registration needed)

photo credit: William Hook

Every game should take place in a completely open environment. Wow. Even though it’s hard to create such environments, linear storylines are incredibly boring and should be a thing of the past. I’ve played GTA before - believe me, it’s fun. You can do anything! Even when compared to Mario Galaxy - which I own, as a Wii-owner, I found myself enjoying GTA much, much more. Sorry Mario. Sorry.

First things first - GTA is high-def, at last. Which explains why it’s not available for the Wii - but why not the PC? I’m going to expect it to be released for the PC sometime soon, but I’m begging developers to change their minds if they don’t have it planned. Please. Please. And don’t kill my graphics card. Please. Please.

Asides from that, GTA IV also introduces a much cooler multi-player system, which takes place over the Internet. There are different modes to play, such as Cops vs. Crooks (think Cops and Robbers but in Liberty City and with real guns). Wow, that actually sounds so fun (not the shooting part, of course). And that’s enough out of me about GTA IV.

photo credit: William Hook

This new category takes care of upcoming games that I happen to hear about and I think are very virtually realistic, but also productive - should be a nice focus for digital entertainment, although it could get a bit hard to find productive games (Wii Fit, but that’s pretty much it).

Hopefully this works out - but then again, everything is pretty much about experimentation.

Full steam ahead!

• Free book sampling, cheap books: Sure, you can do it at Chapters - or you can do it in the comfort of your own home, or even in the back of a Taxi. You get the first chapters of certain books absolutely free for your sampling delight, or you can get books for $9.99. Books are delivered wirelessly and in less than a minute - wow.
• Have your newspapers delivered promptly, and wirelessly: I honestly think that this is the coolest technology - the Kindle delivers information over its EVDO network, which unlike Wi-fi, doesn’t require any hotspots to stream data. Pretty convenient and flexible - nothing unusual from digital media.
• Kindle your interest: You’ve got Wikipedia on the Kindle for free - what more could you ask for?
• It’s a screen, but it looks like paper: The Amazon Kindle features an extremely high-resolution screen that looks like paper, so your eyes don’t get tired from the screen. However, I can’t really be the judge of that, as I don’t have one yet (Amazon, if you’ve got any extra Kindles on you, give me a holler).
• Storage: It’s got enough storage to hold over 200 titles, but still weighs only 10.3 ounces.

photo credit: John Pastor

Nope, this isn’t a sponsored review. I just believe that Amazon’s seeing the future and bringing it to us as I write, and I really want to get my hands on one of these babies. Want to see my look at the future of wireless reading devices? Wait for it Monday.

It’s actually completely digital. All the content, including the layout, the advertisements, the table of contents, the words, the pictures, everything - is completely digital. “How’d they do it?” I wondered. And here’s a tip for everyone out there - whether it’s a Wordpress plug-in you want to discover in the page, or just what service they’re using, look in the Page Source. I did - and discovered that they were using a service called Texterity to completely change their magazine into a digital format. They also use Scalable Vector Graphics to make it available on such browsers as Safari on the iPhone and iPod Touch - wow, talk about next-gen!

What are the pros of ReadyMade, as well as other magazines, going digital?

• You get the traditional media layout in digital media format, meshing together the best of both worlds.
• They can be sold at cheaper premiums thanks to the negation of production, ink, and shipping costs. Of course, some of that would go to bandwidth - but still, not a bad idea.
• Compatible with wireless reading devices like the Amazon Kindle for a great magazine experience.
• Due to the lack of paper, it saves the environment and officially “goes green”.

I’m impressed, and as a possible future magazine editor and creator, I’m definitely interested in going green. Here are a couple of links for you to check out - visit them when you can.

http://www.texterity.com/

http://www.readymade-digital.com/readymade/20080405/

Gone are the days of having to bike down to the local EB Games to pick up a game, now you can pre-order a game available on PC via Steam, as long as you’ve got an account and a method of paying.  Your Steam account is significantly important, as every single game that you purchase will be stored right on the account.  If you’ve got more than one computer, this is a great system - download, and install.  You don’t have to worry about CD-keys or CD-corruption because the data is all digital, and Steam games can be played on more than one computer, provided it is not at the same time.  I’m not encouraging illegal activity, just stating the facts.

Steam’s also been known to be the distributor of free content for nVidia and ATI video cards.  A couple of months ago, I ended up creating a Steam account in order to download Portal: The First Slice, and Half-Life 2: Lost Coast and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch.  They’re not bad games, but my PC could hardly handle them (I need a new computer). 

The only downside to Steam is if you lose your account or password, or get your account hacked, you’re in serious trouble.  I’m sure that it’s recoverable to a certain extent, but you’ll have a hard time providing the right information and either way, it’ll be a hassle.  Don’t lose your password or username!

Steam’s following in the footsteps and pluses of digital media - delivering the content to you, as opposed to you having to go out and buy the game.  It’s a great system, it’s flexible, convenient, and at times, there are special discounts and freebies given away.  I highly suggest taking a look at Steam if you’ve got a great download speed and love for gaming.

Want to give Steam a try?  Go right ahead - visit http://steampowered.com for more information.

Audience reach

It’s all about the audience. I mainly create videos to promote my blogs and to use as a means of digital media (as a digital media blog, I’ve got to stay on top of this stuff). Youtube would be ideal for the first cause thanks to its huge user base. However, if I wanted to publish a video post, I would rather do it on another network with higher quality when compared to Youtube - I choose to use Blip.tv thanks to its acceptance of users under 17 with parental consent. I do turn 17 this fall though.

Also, most of my friends have Youtube accounts, making them available to comment. I was surprised when I published a communication technology project last year on Youtube and had a huge number of responses - I didn’t even push people to comment, and yet here they were coming left and right. I won’t lie - my project was a three-week piece of work for a five-minute music video, and I hardly have that kind of time to continue producing good quality work. However, I do hope to receive some comments on my videos.

Playing Catch-up?

Well, it seems as though Youtube is finally playing catch-up with the rest of the video hosts out there. Along with beginning to offer higher-quality resolutions for certain videos only, Youtube is also starting to offer revenue programs, making it ever-so-appealing.

As soon as Youtube makes these features more widely available, I’m sure Youtube will be unstoppable. However, I still suggest using other video hosts, as I predict that they will certainly always be a few steps ahead of Youtube.

Priorities

I guess it all depends on your priority and your objective. If you’re going for reach and audience and promotion, you’re going to want to stick with Youtube. However, if you’re trying to make a video post or submit a short film, or even host a longer film, you’re going to want to choose something over the measly ten minutes that you get from Youtube.

Who or what do you want your avatar to represent?

I don’t know about all of you out there, but I want my avatar to represent me. And what better way to represent me than with my own picture? Pictures are a great way to connect with other users - firstly your posting a picture of yourself would make me believe you were more trustworthy and easier to connect with than someone who simply had a picture of a dog or a celebrity on their display.

If you don’t have any pictures of yourself worthy enough to post up or want to keep your privacy, that’s still cool - why not put your username or your real name on your avatar? I know many people that use this technique - even though it doesn’t convey much of you, it still represents your online self.

Avatar do’s

If you’re feeling creative or insecure about those huge moles on your face (heehee), why not use a Photoshop filter? If you don’t have Photoshop, consider using a free alternative such as Paint.NET or Gimpshop. If you’ve got a webcam and want to create your own virtual photobooth to add lots of effects, I suggest trying out SnapStrip, an alternative to Mac’s popular photobooth program.

As for posing, that’s a whole different story - I will be writing a post on that later, but feel free to be creative. The best avatars are silly (for me, anyway - not so much for the CEO of Serious Business Inc). And who says peace signs are out of style?

Avatar don’t’s

Stay away from putting up foul fingers, cursing, or any of that jazz - it’s got no place on your avatar, even if it’s your favourite word. It already tarnishes your reputation (or solidifies it as someone who might be looking for a fight) and definitely isn’t what you want to be promoting, especially in many of the respected online communities out there.

One thing for me to whine about - when you’re shooting that photo of yourself in the mirror, please crop the camera out. I’ve got no idea why people leave the camera in there - it almost seems on purpose - but it makes them look pretty silly sometimes, and at times it even covers up their face! What’s the point of having an avatar of yourself that blocks out your face? It only opens you up to ugly jokes.

Suit yourself

But the most important piece of advice I’ve yet to give you is to suit yourself! I highly discourage profanity, but if you feel you’ve got nothing else to put up, then go ahead (at your own risk - not mine). It’s really you that should feel best from your avatar, and not whose looking at it.

If you want an example of the greatest avatar in the world, take a look at my About page - I’m sure you’ll get a couple of hoots out of it (if not, then you’re mature - good for you!).

And if you’ve got any questions, please hold them for now - I’m planning a few more posts on avatars because it’s actually quite the huge topic to cover.