PSHome版Happy! & photo movie

No place like Home

Well, since my last blog post, a great deal has happened! Playstation Home is, sadly, no more. I first wrote about PS Home in 2008, and described it as a slicker version of Second Life made by Sony. After spending a considerable amount of time on Home after the past 2 years, I can say that there really is no place like Home. It was one of the most remarkable places I have ever been in my life. It is actually indescribable in what it contained and offered if you were willing to spend the time on there exploring and revelling in the beauty of the spaces. When the news came through that Home was going to close forever, I was shocked, even though I knew it would not continue forever. The release of the PS4 was the death knell for Home. At least several months' warning was given, with the announcement going out in October 2014 and the last date of Home being 30 March 2015. Knowing it was all going to be gone forever, I thought hard about what I could do. I got the idea somewhere of using game capture software to make videos of my beloved personal spaces. I am not sure where I got this idea from but I quickly bought the Elgato Game Capture software and got to work. Using this software was also a new experience, and I only wish I had used it long before these final months of Home as I learned a lot about its capabilities and its shortcomings. I also learned a lot about how to film spaces on Home, so my early videos are nowhere near as good as the later ones. I ended up with around 600 videos of Home in the end and many, many photos. I have not yet decided but I may upload some of these to YouTube for other ex-Home people to enjoy. The final days of Home were frantic as I tried to capture as much as possible, though I still failed to completely film everything I wanted. But I have a real archive of my personal spaces and the public spaces of Home which will hopefully help to alleviate the sense of loss, which was at times overwhelming for me and so many others who had their Home taken away. Other virtual worlds lie on the horizon and there are of course those that already exist for PC, but those will be discussed in another post. RIP Playstation Home - you achieved so much and were loved so dearly by so many.

Haven't posted anything on here since 2010 but I think it is time now. My life on PS Home has become an intrinsic part of my real (first) life now. Stay tuned!

A mobile phone that's too smart for me

I had been relatively happy with my 'old' mobile phone but, due to the increasing pressure to text, put upon me by all those people with newer phones and newer attitudes who wouldn't actually ring me, I was having problems texting due to the tiny buttons and even tinier printed letters on each key, due to the main characters being Chinese characters (it's a long story). Then after a horrendously sweltering, endlessly long day and night at an outdoor music event, my phone suddenly seemed to have given up. Then began the slow and painful process of trawling through the phone shops, the online reviews, the YouTube demonstration videos, to try and decide what new phone to buy. A priority for me was a good digital camera, as I couldn't see the sense in buying a new camera AND a new phone. So in the end, it was between the Sony Ericsson Satio aka Idou and the Samsung M8910 because both had 12 megapixel cameras. They both had great features but in the end I chose the Satio as my previous phones have been Ericssons or Sony Ericssons and I have been happy with them.

It is a beautiful looking device, especially with the cherry red case and matching stylus I purchased for it. However, I am now discovering that, because I delayed upgrading my phone earlier, I am now several generations behind when it comes to understanding how these things work and what they can do. I have found it is not the most intuitive device but I have made a little progress since I got it. The instructions leaflet included is probably insufficient for someone of my limited phone experience, so it's a case of slowing reading up on and trying out each feature when time allows. It IS very lovely though and I think that, once I have worked it all out, we will have a great relationship.

Ironically, my old phone started working again perfectly AFTER I bought the new one.

Photo of Sony Ericsson Satio from:
Sony Ericsson

The fickle world of social networks

Ah, social networks - call me old fashioned but they just don't really cut it for me. I finally got a Facebook (FB) account just to make sure I wasn't missing out on anything and found... I wasn't missing out on anything. It seems a lot of the new voguey Web tools get tried out, then dropped just as rapidly. Here is an article that highlights a few trends in the current wave of social software on the net. One thing I found I worried about using FB was that anything you write is permanently on the net and possibly able to be indexed at some point (even if you choose not to have your account indexed in the options). Whereas, sending an email seems less risky or at least not as permanent. It's all 'out there' but email still seems more direct and private (not that it really is private of course). I can see some benefits of Facebook but, after checking many people on FB looking for potential old school friends, etc, it does seem that a vast number joined up then never used their accounts after that. Did they merely submit to peer group pressure? Did they join up in the hope of locating old friends and acquaintances but then discover for every name they tried there were 500+ results? At least in my case, I was only one of 2 or 3 with the same name, but anyone from my old school days won't find me as my name has changed. I think I find email and the phone (including texting) much more reliable and faster! It was fun to revisit old school FB accounts though and see some of the students who had attended there since I left.

Thought for the day

In this current climate of probable recession, a useful Credit Crunch tip: DON'T waste money on expensive iPods. Simply think of your favourite tune and hum it. If you want to "switch tracks", simply think of another song you like and hum that instead. Hee hee...

Barbie turns 50 but she's still a teenager!

Couldn't let today go past without noting that it is Barbie Millicent Roberts' 50th birthday. The new Barbie dolls certainly look glamorous but I prefer the charm of the vintage Barbie, especially the mod era Barbie. Mod era Barbie really captured the carefree feeling of being a teen and the era of truly innovative fashions.