Megan: So far, so good!

{C&P from my tumblr post:}

I initiated a survey through my personal blog last night (I have more followers there, and I can circulate it better) and I already have 35 responses! For the most part, people seem to spend a lot of time on tumblr and they’re pretty happy with their experience here.

I think I’m also going to ask a few people unfamiliar with tumblr to tell me what kind of impression they get from the site, what they think of it and whatnot. That may be more difficult to do but it would better help me to understand the impression tumblr makes.

Part of me wonders if the anonymity is what makes tumblr feel so spectacular to people; the anonymous option keeps identities secretive and you don’t have to reveal your personal information when you’re making the blog, and the blog can contain absolutely anything. There’s a lot of freedom to it, freedom that doesn’t exist in reality. That is why tumblr can be argued to be an augmented reality. It is a place where you can be who you want to be. You can be the person who supports others who have low self esteem; you can be the person who is artistic with graphics/edits; you can be the person who is surrounded by people who understand your love of a fandom and look to you for your insight.

The fact that so many people spend time here and depend on their blog is only further proof that we are attempting to live better lives vicariously through the text and images on a blog.

If any of you would like to help me with the latter portion (an "outsider" view of tumblr), that would be great!!

Kastle: Fliptoast App

The Fliptoast app is pretty ridiculous i must say. This app will let you access Facebook anytime on your desktop computer. It's basically a little sidebar which doesn't require you going on Facebook.com for all your friend's updates. Drag and drop photos right into fliptoast to upload them to Facebook. All your Facebook news will show up in little alert windows whenever someone posts something new. Chat with your friends right from your desktop. Isn't this just a handy little app? I've had experience with this app and i tried it for a week....It drove me NUTS! It was always there! Just another reason to be distracted and not do your homework. It pretty much gives you full access on Facebook while your working. How are you supposed to get ANYTHING done now?! Facebook is thinking of any way to connect to us even more on a personal and social level. They want us socializing every moment! This is social networking at a whole new level! Would any of you use this app? Why else could this app be a bad idea?

Ally: Twitter Names

Have you ever had a hard time thinking of a username? Have you ever tried to use a name and have been denied because it is already being used? Well fret no more! Just go here!

Can you believe it? They actually have websites that will create a username for you. Am I the only one that finds this partly hilarious and partly saddening? 

Just a silly little site that I wanted to share. Enjoy. Have some fun with it! 

Alison: Calling with Skype

International calls and texts can rack up your phone bill abruptly when phone companies start charging $1.99 per minute and $0.50 per outgoing text. With rates like that, contact with a friend or family member out of the country will surely dwindle or be costly.

Skype provides users with free video-to-video calling no matter where you are. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are, your Skype calls are free if you are using the free video feature. However, if you want to call a landline or a mobile device, expect to pay a fee.

"In 2010, a report by TeleGeography Research stated that Skype-to-Skype calls accounted for 13% of all international call minutes in 2009; out of the 406 billion international call minutes a total of 54 billion were used by Skype calls".

The benefits are not only reaped by those who want to keep contact with friends and/or family. Small businesses as well as larger corporations use the video feature with clients across the country and even internationally. This saves costs and at the same time it helps build relationships between clients by having the opportunity to see facial expressions from face-to-face talk time, and allows meeting times to be flexible.