Julia Roy

Funeral Livecasting

The Downard Funeral home in Pocatello, Idaho has started livecasting its funeral processions. They set up a camera to laptop and broadcast live on the internet. Family members are sent a link and password via email and can enter the password protected site to watch the funeral procession. It is then available for 90 days afterward, during which viewers can request a DVD copy.

Kinda creepy, but an innovative idea. Instead of taking off work to morn the dead, you can pay your respects through your computer, from the comfort of you office chair. 

AIM and GTalk Chatting

I make my AIM and GTalk usernames available for anyone to get on practically all my sites and social profiles. I make it as easy as possible for anyone who is interested to contact me, whether that be via email, twitter, chat, facebook, etc. I accept all Facebook friend invites, LinkedIn requests, Twitter followers, (although I have behind on keeping up with following everyone back on twitter), etc. Basically if you want to connect, I'm down to chat and message back and forth. Always keeping the conversation going.

However, I have to put my foot down and put a stop to the AIM maddness.  I have found recently that I am chatting with a lot of people I don't even know on AIM. Great, fun conversations, but it is too time consuming. Already being distracted by conversations on Twitter, Facebook and my blog are enough.  I think I am going to have to stay logged off of AIM for most of the day and only keep open Bonjour to chat with people in the office. I'll jump on AIM when I know I have some time to chat, otherwise peeps are going to have to reach me by Direct Messaging me on Twitter or Facebook, or of course, sending me an email.

Removing iPhone Apps

I am only keeping three applications on my iPhone- Yelp, Tetris and Pandora -and the rest I have removed from my phone. Not because I don't like them or find them useful, but because they make even the simplest tasks like texting and emailing really slow to load and I've been having serious keyboard slowdown. When opening my texts, I wait 20 seconds for my texts to be visible; i wait up to 30 seconds sometimes for the keyboard to catch up to my fingers. I never had these problems before. I also found the apps themselves are kinda crappy and often take forever to load, if they'd even load at all.

To keep my word, below is a critique of all the apps I talked about in my previous post. Here is my official MonkeyButt list for iApps^sm (title graciously suggested by THE Paisano, *hat tip.*)

Typepad: I cannot get into blogging from my mobile phone. A few months back Typepad launched improved mobile blogging features and although this app is a great addition, I don't like blogging from my phone. I am too slow typing on my iPhone and I am unable to edit and add images/multimedia to the post with the ease that I can when blogging from my laptop.

AIM: Didn't work at all. Could not even get it to load, at all. This was the first app I deleted, so moving on....

MoPhoto: To be honest, I never even opened this app. Flickr makes posting photos from my phone to my Flickr account incredibly easy. I email photos from my phone using my designated Flickr email. I never even gave this app a chance.

SunCompass: I wanted this to work so bad. I use Hopstop a lot for getting around NYC and the directions always say "go north" or "head south," and I never have any clue which way to turn. To my disappointment, this app did not work for me. It took way too long for the app to figure out which way is which.

Jamd: As much as I wanted to use this to keep up with pop culture/celebrity news, it seems I just don't care enough about the world of glamour to use it.

Bank of America: I like this app a lot, but I've always been able to easily access my account on the BOA website via my iPhone browser. I removed it because my iPhone is so slow now with these apps, so if I don't need it or love it, it's gone.

New York Times: Who am I kidding, I don't read news on the go, on my iPhone, ever. The only time I want to read news on phone- is on the Subway, which is impossible because no phone service underground. (So, while in transit, I read fiction bestsellers instead.)

Google: This app loads but then freezes and does not allow me to enter any text for at least 90 seconds. I can't wait that long. I am actually thinking I might try to keep this one, I do like using it better than the iPhone Safari browser.

Jott: Jott is a great organization and voice-to-text service, that I never fully got into. Thought I'd give it another whirl, but I quickly realized it was redundant as I am using a great task/note organization service at work already.

iPhone 2.0 Software Update and Applications

I finally took the time to update my iPhone with the new 2.0 software.  The new searching and storing features included in the update are fantastic and were much needed. I can now search my contacts in a search box, instead of having to scroll through my contacts alphabetically; delete multiple emails at once, instead of having to select, load and delete each email individually; and easily organize emails into folders. Other new features like the scientific calculator and language dictionary I could care less about, but I still wish it had the ability to cut, copy and paste. Oh well, maybe next time. 

The new applications I've synced to my iPhone are AWESOME.  I can't get enough of them and I can't stop searching for new ones on the iTunes store everyday. Here is a sample of what I've downloaded so far. I'll post a follow up with a review of the applications once I get time to really use them all. What do you think of the apps? Are there any that you think I should try that are not pictured here?

Facebook New Profile Design

I am not sure  how I feel about the new look and feel of Facebook. I am a HUGE fan of tabbed browsing, as anyone I work with can attest to the endless number of tabs I have open at any given moment, but I liked how the old Facebook profile lived on one page. It may be technically better, but it will definitely take some time to get used to.

Living in New York City

I never thought I would move to NYC in my lifetime. Too big, too noisy, too dirty, too much of... well... everything.  However, to my astonishment, I have found too much of everything is just enough for me.  I have made this crazy city my home, and now I can't imagine living anywhere else (at least for a while.)

In the process of moving here I discovered Roosevelt Island, a 2-mile long, 800-foot wide strip of land, between Manhattan and Queens.  After checking out an apartment building on R.I., The Octagon, I was sold. Living here can be a hassle at times, but I enjoy the separation from the city, the East River currents, the giant barges and tugboats, the extravagant yachts, and the extending, glimmering shoreline of Manhattan.

I think of how it compares to Boston, where I lived for 6 years up until January, and it makes my old Boston life seem like it was routine and static.  There is an endless/countless/limitless assortment of things to do and people to meet in NYC.  In Boston, it was always the same old thing; in New York, even if I do the same thing everyday, new things discover me. I am learning so much about myself, culture and society from living here. My personal growth in the last 7 months has been something to write home to mom about. New York City is feeding my imagination; inspiration is around every corner here.

**I took this photo from my backyard, on a small boardwalk that extends into the East River across from E 46th St. It shows the shoreline moving along towards Downtown and Brooklyn. The bridge, in the far distance, is the Queensboro Bridge.

National Grid Floe

My colleague Yianni showed me this wildly interactive website by the National Grid called Floe.  This is launched at the heals of news that Polar Bears are now an endangered species. Oh NO! Save the Polar Bear!

The Floe site from National Grid does a great job at using the case of the Polar Bear to teach consumers about easy, everyday energy efficient habits that make a big difference for the environment. The website is phenomenal being both highly engaging and educative. I would suggest checking it out... you might learn a thing or two about what you can do to save the earth (and yourself) from global warming.

Twitter Rumors

I follow close to 3,000 people on Twitter and am witness to all types of crazy conversations, shared thoughts and heated debates. People find answers, love, new jobs and invaluable advice on Twitter.  At the same time - hundreds of rumors are started, secrets are told, and news stories are leaked everyday on Twitter, making it the place to find and debate the best gossip around.

I was sucked into a twitter rumor today. It was tweeted and I contemplated it, questioned it with my followers and searched Google to find the truth. After my investigation, I am pleased to Announce to the World that Jared Fogel, Subway's legendary spokesman, is not, in fact, dead. I was so sad this morning when I was unsure, but now I am sure -- Jared is still alive not only in our hearts, but also on this earth. Hooray!

I would love to know, how many rumors are started, debated and killed on Twitter daily. The birth and lifecycle of twumors (twitterrumors) is fast paced, and well nutured by all of us who participate. There are pages of twitter search results from today alone, with people announcing, denouncing and debating Jared's death. 

I am also quite interested to know who is behind jaredremembered.com. Subway and its agencies? Some random dude in San Diego? Apparently, the rumor was debated as early as August of last year. And where are Jared's fans and supporters defending his life? Long live Jared! In any case, hat tip to the mastermind(s) - you got me.

Example of Great Online Advertising

Orange, a mobile internet provider in the UK, knows how to be a good web advertiser.

First, check out the orange racoon balloon floating on the lower right hand side of the Notcouture website, and click on it. It takes you to "the worlds first internet balloon race" sponsored by Orange Mobile, a communications service provider in the UK.  Lots of fun prizes to be won, great online game experience, smart adverstising and execution, love it.

Now, help me win some prizes! (Not even sure if I can win prizes since I am in the U.S., but I am sure as hell going to try.)