This time tomorrow, I’ll be on my way to California for the summer. By day I’ll be working on a super fun project at Disney California Adventure, and by night I’ll be rolling down Rodeo drive. Well maybe not, but that just sounds cool.
I can’t wait to soak up every sun washed minute. Hollywood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Venice Beach. You name it, I want to see it.
I’ll be tweeting, blogging, and Instagramming the whole thing. So feel free to follow along if you ever wanted to see California in the summer.
Donald’s Mailbox by Shaina Kristi on Flickr.
Music: the soundtrack of life.
(via potentialitea)
I am in love. As a music junkie, I now have access to more music than I ever had in my entire life thanks to Spotify Premium.
And what’s better than that? With Facebook integration, I now know the musical tastes of all my friends. If you’re on Spotify, let’s connect.
Yep, this is the start of a beautiful friendship.
I made another Beatles flowchart. Sing along with someone you love.
(via ilovecharts)
Pure sexy. Need to start saving my pennies.
(via nowandthan)
I saw a post today on Mashable about the latest & greatest Android based smart phone, Samsung Gallery S III. Here’s a shot of the device:
Good looking phone, but it has one big problem. What’s an Android? Can you name one Android based device? Perhaps, Motorola’s Droid. There are countless dozens, with fragmented versions of Android OS which drives developers crazy. That’s another story.
Counter that with Apple’s shiny pony. There’s just one: iPhone. You can check mail, play tons of games, surf the web, and now even have your own personal assistant with Siri.
The Open vs. Closed debate will rage on and it’s true that Android has a greater market share than iOS devices. It’s the modern Microsoft/Apple war for fragmented vs. fully integrated hardware & software bundling.
I’ll take my devices fully integrated, thanks!
(Source: icanread)
1 of 8 Honest Ads for Instagram, Top Ramen, Cinnabon and More from Slacktory
It’s been one week since I cut the cord on cable. One week of not having live TV, sporting events, and 24 hour news. I thought I would capture a few thoughts 7 days into this fun little TV experiment.
Cost Savings
First off, my roommate and I are no longer paying $150/month for cable + TV. Instead we’re paying about $65/month which breaks out to $49 for internet, $8 for Hulu, and $8 for Netflix. That’s a 57% cost savings each month!
Content
Saving money is nice, but content is still king. The interesting part is that by cutting the cord on cable, I now have access to more content than I ever did through my local cable company. Thanks to my Roku player, I have access to over 350 channels for endless hours of streaming goodness.
Movies through Netflix, TV from Hulu, and I even get my tunes through Pandora for some nice background music…which is much better than putting the TV on some random show that I’m not watching anyway. Which leads me to my next bucket of observation: media consumption or viewing behavior.
Consumption/Behavior
If content is king, then media consumption is king maker. What’s most interesting thus far into my experiment is how I watch content. Back in my cable subscription days, BR or Before-Roku, I used to come home and turn on the TV, flip to a favorite channel, and sit down on the couch with my iPad or laptop.
What I realized is that I wasn’t really watching TV, but simply putting it on for some background noise. Contrast that with life after Roku. Now I have to actively select a program to watch. Which means I’m actually interested and engaged in what I am watching (either a movie on Netflix or TV show on Hulu.)
As for the occasional need for background noise? Now I have Pandora for that. No more noise, but tunes from my favorite bands served up through surround sound. Music to my ears.
What About You?
Are you happy with your cable or satellite content provider or do you have an itch to switch to content streaming?