The Daily Blast

That Can Be My Next Tweet

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:07:00 +0000

Possibly the most fantastic website I've ever seen, That Can Be My Next Tweet analyses your Twitter profile and decides what you're going to say next. I'm @bohemiacademia on Twitter, and this is what it came up with for me:

What's Your Holiday Destination?

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 08:07:00 +0000

Halifax is currently drawing attention to a pretty cool application on Facebook, which analyses your data and suggests a holiday destination for you, as well as telling you things such as where to stay, what the weather will be like, and what kind of cuisine you should try out. Here's my breakdown:

Cape Town? Really? I never would have thought that. Still, sounds like an interesting place! Apparently, being an adventurous kind of gal, I'd love to see some lions in Africa. Unfortunately (or perhaps not!), having spent far too much of my life online browsing the archives of sites like Weebl & Bob, anytime someone says 'Lions in Africa', the only thing I can think of is this video:

Still, looks like fun!

Hmmm, what else can I do when I'm there? Apparently, I can stay at the Green Elephant - hostel, home-cooked meals, large animals painted on the walls. Sounds like my kind of place!

Apparently I could have a penguin-spotting trip for £2.79, which sounds like fun, though I'd probably be more likely to look for snakes. Or, for a tenner, I could buy 115 kilos of biltong. If I wanted to.

And here were my final suggestions:

You know what? I'd be really up for the circus school. And I've already read Chekov, but not sure if I've read all of his plays, so I'd be up for that as well.

It does sound like a pretty awesome holiday. Head over there now and see what your destination is!

This post is sponsored by Halifax

Google Introduces The +1 Button

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 06:29:00 +0000

Google Science Fair

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:20:00 +0000

Google is looking for the brightest and the best, as always. This time, they're looking for budding scientists between the ages of 13 and 19 to participate in their Science Fair, which closes on the 4th of April.

The prizes are pretty awesome; they include:

A 10-day trip to the Galapagos Islands with the National Geographic
A $50,000 scholarship
Experience somewhere fantastic, like LEGO, CERN, Google or Scientific American

...and loads more.

How do you enter? There's lots of information on the Science Fair site, along with resources for kids, teachers and parents.

Go on, then. Get your thinking cap on ;)

World Family Names

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 11:03:00 +0000

World Family Names is a really fun and slightly addictive site that allows you to check the distribution of your surname across the world. All you need to do is enter your surname into the 'Map Your Surname' box and it'll bring up an interactive map coloured in different shades. Click on the countries for more details - it'll also tell you which names are the most popular in a certain country.

Definitely worth a try, though my surname (de Courcier) wasn't on there... maybe I'm just unique ;)

2010: A Review by Google

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 09:43:00 +0000

What kind of smartphone user are you?

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 16:27:00 +0000

A Three-Step Process to Selling Your Gold

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:45:00 +0000

There are a lot of website around that promise gold for cash deals. Monster Price for Gold, unlike many of them, actually seems to be not only kosher but a pretty good deal. Working in partnership with the Post Office, they can estimate how much cash they can give you for all your unwanted bits and pieces of jewellery.

There's a simple three-step process to follow:

Put your gold in an envelope
Take it to the Post Office
Wait for Monster Cash for Gold to call and make an offer

And here's a quick five-step guide to how it works:

If you reject their offer, all items will be returned within five working days
They can send your payment in cash
They contact you first with an offer
They pay top prices because they don't advertise on the television
They buy all types of gold, platinum and silver

There are testimonials on their website, so you can go and take a look at what other people have been saying about them as well.

Picture credit

Gmail Paper

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 21:22:00 +0000

Yes, it's true. Not content with keeping everything organised for you online, Gmail is now releasing Gmail Paper, for those among us who just like to have paper copies of everything.

How does it work? It's a pretty simple idea, actually. You tell Gmail which of your emails and attachments you'd like to have printed, they print them for you and offset the cost of printing with ads on the back of each sheet. There's no limit as to how much you can print, and it's even alright for the environment, as each sheet is made from organic soybean sputum.

More info here

Picture credit

Tesco Compare

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 14:31:00 +0000

A handy place I’ve just discovered is the Tesco Compare Car Insurance website. Like other comparison sites, they’ll give you a list of potential providers and tell you the difference between them, but unlike others the site is clear and easy to use, with a built-in ‘jargon buster’ which I found very handy! It’s often easy to get swamped by a variety of long words people seem to use just to confuse you, so it’s nice to see that there’s a company out there who’s willing to be clear about everything they’re saying.

It’s a very simple process: you enter your details (and those of your car, of course) into a form, they search a range of insurance providers and give you the option of viewing monthly or annual payments. You take a look, decide which policy suits you best, and buy it online, without having to fill in any more details. There are thirty-two providers included in the breakdown, so it seems pretty conclusive.

There’s also a section on guides for different people – women, young people, students and so on – so you can see how your insurance needs to be tailored even before you’ve given the site any details.

And finally, the thing I probably liked the most: there’s a fun section in the ‘car insurance tips’ tab which tells you what the top ten weirdest road rules are:

• In South Korea, left hand turns are generally prohibited unless otherwise indicated.

• Taxi drivers in Finland must pay an annual royalty fee for playing music while driving customers.

• In Montreal, you are not allowed to park your car so it’s blocking your own driveway.

• In Alabama it’s illegal to drive barefoot.

• In Youngstown, Ohio, it’s illegal to run out of petrol.

• If driving in Iowa you’ll not find an ice cream van in sight, they’ve all been banned.

• Some of Bangkok’s one-way roads change their direction at certain hours of the day.

• In Glendale, Arizona, cars are not permitted to be driven in reverse.

• In parts of Shanghai, you are not allowed to beep your horn.

• Cruise control is illegal on Belgian motorways.

It made me smile, anyway. Head on over there if you need an insurance quote or you’re thinking of changing providers.

Profile of a Twitter User

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 15:12:00 +0000

Click to enlarge

Mary Meeker on Internet Trends

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 20:59:00 +0000

MySpace Connects with Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 22:52:00 +0000

Mashup your Facebook Likes on Myspace

Myspace | Myspace Video

MySpace Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:51:00 +0000

There's a whole host of stuff going on at MySpace at the moment, with Mashable saying that the two social media platforms will be making an announcement together at 12pm PT today. MySpace seems to be moving away from the 'place for friends' thing and into the entertainment space, taking it out of direct competition with Facebook. Probably a good idea.

Here are a couple of videos about the new MySpace and their new logo:

A Life on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 14:05:00 +0000

Smartphones: How We See Them

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 09:41:00 +0000

This made me smile; it's from Csection Comics. Click to enlarge, it's worth it ;)

A Billion Views

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:14:00 +0000

I quite like this. A general parody of lots of internet memes and a popular song:

Where to go for lunch this week

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 22:25:00 +0000

The Sun is giving away free subs this week to promote Domino’s pizza delivery service. Normally worth £3.50 apiece, from the 4th of October until Friday evening, the pizza subs will only cost you 20p, and you’ll have something to read while you’re eating it as well!

Each day has a different flavour, so take your pick and go along (or, of course, you could use the offer to sample them all):

Monday – New Yorker: sausage, smoky bacon, onion and mozzarella, topped with cheese & herb sauce and a dollop of American style mustard. Yeah, that’s what you missed on Monday, but it sounds like it’ll be well worth shelling out the full price for.
Tuesday – Vegi Supreme: taking its theme from the pizza it’s named after, this contains mushrooms, onions, sweetcorn, tomatoes, green peppers and mozzarella with Domino’s vine-ripened tomato sauce.
Wednedsay – Meatball: meatballs, onions and mozzarella with vine-ripened tomato sauce
Thursday – Cheese Steak Melt: juicy slices of steak with onions and mozzarella, topped with a cheese & herb sauce
Thursday – Pepperoni Melt (oh yes, two options on Thursday! Go on, buy two Suns, you know you want to...): pepperoni, ham, onions, mozzarella and of course the vine-ripened tomato sauce
Friday – Nuclear: if you’re anything like me, this one will be practically impossible to resist. Spicy tandoori chicken, jalapenos, onions, mozzarella and cheese & herb sauce.

I know where I’ll be going for lunch this week...

The Alphabet According to Google Instant

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:59:00 +0000

I borrowed this idea from Yannick, who did an excellent French version.

Here's what comes up in Google's instant search if you tap in the letters of the alphabet:

A for Argos and its shiny book of dreams
B for the BBC
C for Currys - there are so many Bill Bailey references in my mind it's almost worrying
D for Debenhams - lots of shopping going on with the alphabet!
E for Ebay
F for - unsurprisingly - Facebook
G for Google Maps
H for Hotmail (do people still use that?!)
I for ITV - so far, we're a social networking, shopping, TV-watching country...
J for John Lewis
K for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
L for the National Lottery
M for MSN
O for O2
P for Paypal, sticking with the shopping theme, I guess...
Q for QVC
R for Rightmove
S for Sky TV
T for Tesco
U for Utube
V for Virgin Media
W for the weather - come on, what else would we talk about all day?
X for the X Factor - I'd laugh, but I'm hooked too.
Y for - you guessed it - YouTube
Z for Zara

Come on, carry on the game! Do a different country :)

Picture credit

Lyrster

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 08:06:00 +0000

Lyrster is a really handy website. It's essentially a website for song lyrics, but it differs from the others in that you can search for a song by typing in some of its lyrics. So if you can only remember one line, and you have no idea what the rest of the song is (happens to me frequently!), you can type your line into Lyrster and it'll tell you which song it's from and what the rest of the lyrics are. A really useful little site :)

Tweetcloud

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 13:44:00 +0000

Here's my tweetcloud:

Choice quotes from reading along the lines:

'probably trying online'
'singing found coffee'
'double week, home' - this pretty much sounds like my schedule
'doing love, looking busy'
'world luck stuff'
'maybe exciting husband song'
'evening rainbow feeling'
'they're food'
'getting snakes started'
'offline article, enjoy results pilgrimage review'

What's yours?

The Human Body in HTML

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:52:00 +0000

(click to enlarge)

Worst Places to Break Down

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 09:16:00 +0000

It's a driver's nightmare: being in the middle of nowhere, far from home, when your car suddenly gives out on you. Of course, arranging good car breakdown cover can help with this; and as long as you've done that, it shouldn't be any more than an irritating inconvenience when your car decides it's not going any further.

But some places are worse than others in this scenario. Here are my top (or bottom) four :

The Yungas Road in Bolivia
With barely enough space for two vehicles to pass one another on a road that overhangs a huge cliff, this really wouldn’t be a good place for your car to give out. You might remember it from the Top Gear episode that saw Jeremy Clarkson hanging precariously over the side while another car tried to pass him. Not the nicest road to drive along...

Sichaun-Tibet Highway in China
With its rough terrain spanning an array of rivers and fourteen mountains, anyone getting stuck up here would be in for a difficult time, to say the least.

Halsema Highway in the Philippines
This sounds like a terrifying place to drive at the best of times, let alone to break down. It’s 200km long, it’s bordered by sheer cliff faces, and there are no guard rails. As if that weren’t enough, mudslides and avalanches are common occurrances. So, if you don’t drive off a cliff, you might end up being crushed by one. Probably best just to stay away from this one.

Tarim Desert Highway in China
One of the longest desert roads in the world, this really wouldn’t be a good place to come to a sudden, helpless halt. It’s 552km long, and it’s constantly in danger of being buried by sandstorms; so much so, in fact, that the Chinese authorities have taken to planting trees and bushes along the side to catch the worst of the sand.

I’m sure there are places closer to home, as well – what are your least favourite places to break down?

The New Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 10:07:00 +0000

The new Twitter - or #newtwitter, as it's commonly known - is being rolled out soon. There's a video preview below. It looks interesting, and I do like the idea of being able to see photos, videos, maps and so on in situ rather than having to click through to another site. But I think it's either going to be fantastic, or it's going to be one of those really irritating things, like the way people's mini-profiles pop up when you hover over their names (grrrr). Anyway, here's the video; what do you think?

Tlists

noreply@blogger.com (Scar) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:33:00 +0000

You know what's fascinating? Tlists. Not only can you find other people's lists - which you can do on lots of other websites - you can also add your own. Admittedly this isn't the most original of ideas either. But it gets more interesting, because Tlists also shows the top conversation points - hashtags and keywords - for each of your Twitter lists. Take some of my top lists as examples:

TopTweeple - the list I follow most closely. Primary topics include Roma, science and brain.

UnrulyMedia - the guys I work with. We tweet about London, music, viral videos, trains, brands and YouTube.

Academia - my academic friends mainly tweet about science, brain, sociology, untranslatable, anthropology and philosophy.

Romale - my Romani friends tweet about the Roma, Roma rights, Romani, Balkan music, Gypsies and green.

Caffeine - unsurprisingly, keywords include coffee and espresso.

Staca - which stands for 'Stop trafficking and child abuse' - these people tweet about abuse, sex, child abuse, slavery, rape and victims.

I thought it was interesting to see what all my lists were doing, and was pleased to discover that they seemed like they were all in the right places. Head over to Tlists to find out about yours.