extravagantGEEK

Just a geek and her thoughts…

Category: Software

  • Amino, Where Have You Been All My Life?

    Amino, Where Have You Been All My Life?

    It’s been awhile since I’ve really just fallen in love (or heavy like) with any social apps. I’m a little burnt out on the infamous Facebook and I mainly just use it to lurk on family and friends now. I occasionally post things about food, date nights, and watching movies but its essentially a yawn fest user experience for me. I have also started to use my twitter account a bit more but it isn’t something I check everyday or have made a lot of connections with. I presume it could be because of the 140 character limit but I think there’s a little more to it than that such as the lack of engagement. I realize that getting people to interact with you should be at least a 50/50 effort but its just so much work. Some people are able to get interaction from their followers without putting in much action themselves but I don’t feel like I’m quite at that level. I definitely plan to continuously work on it though.

    The only other social platform I’ve used sporadically in the past years is Google+, I joined while it was still in beta stage and for quite some time it was my absolute favorite site to frequent. I’ve made a few friends from the site and initially met my hubby through the site as well so it has had its highlights for sure. Unfortunately within the past year or so its struggled to hold my interest. But never fear, Amino is here! 

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  • Too Many Options.

    Too Many Options.

    I haven’t posted on here in awhile because life gets… well busy to be completely honest and you don’t always have time for the things you wish you did. I still want to accomplish that one post per month minimum goal though. 

    One of the many reasons I decided to start my own site instead of applying to work for someone else’s tech blog was because I knew there would be personal time restraints. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone by not being able to write all the time, and while I am still not writing as much as I’d like I am slowly making it more of a priority.

    As of right now I’m very much on the fence about what I want my next tech purchases to be, it’s only the beginning of spring and I keep seeing new things I want. I’ve also been looking at a few things that came out last year that I couldn’t budget for and now I can.  In terms of Wearables and Android Wear I am very interested in upgrading my old reliable LG G Watch. It was nice to be an early adopter for the Android Wear movement but mama wants something new and shiny. The hyped up Huawei watch and the newer offerings from LG have certainly piqued my interest and I’m still holding my breath for the new Moto 360 in hopes it won’t have that dreaded “flat tire” thing going on.

    As for phones, I’m still loving my Nexus 6 as I mentioned in my latest Vlog. Its an amazing device but I’m a little curious about other options as well. I’m an Android lover but at the end of the day I’m fascinated by all technology not just products from Google. I’ve being eyeing Windows Phone a bit, the higher end ones are superb but unfortunately lack official Google applications which is a deal breaker for me… and that leaves me with the iPhone (yeah yeah I know). I posted about the thought of getting one earlier today on my Google+ profile and someone said that my page must have been hacked, lol. I’m serious though, I’ve dabbled with iOS previously courtesy of an iPod Touch and an iPad and I don’t find it to be all that bad. It’s very simple which can be a pro or con depending on the user but I’m willing to take the risk and give it a try and I just might in the coming weeks.

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  • Google Hangouts + Google Voice = Awesome

    Google Hangouts + Google Voice = Awesome

    Chances are that when it comes to the cross platform application “Google Hangouts” you fall into one of three categories: 1) I use it everyday or at least regularly 2) I’ve never heard of it OR 3) It’s an app on my phone that I’ve never used. If you fall into the last category than hopefully what I have to say will make you want to explore it and if you’re in the second well, now you’ve heard of it haven’t you?

    To be precise, Hangouts is your all around video, messaging, photo/gif sharing app that can be used with Android Devices, iPhones, iPads,  iPods, Computers (yes even Macs), and both Gmail/Google+ within the browser.

    Initially Google Hangouts was introduced with the release of Google+ and primarily for video only, sure you could chat while in the hangouts but compared to what it is today it has certainly come a long way. When Google decided to get rid of G+ Messenger and Google Talk to implement Hangouts as an all in one messenger its reception was a bit unbalanced. Some people thought it was a great thing because it seemed unusual to have so many apps to essentially do the same thing, while loyal fans of Google Talk took a little more time to get on board.

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