I Am Sel » Internet

The mouse that keeps on living

admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:04:05 +0000

On January 3, 2005, I received a computer mouse from IT to go along with my first company laptop. I call it Microsoft Optical Mouse Version 1.0 because I cannot remember whether there is any other more basic model than this one:

This model was probably one of the first upgrades from the old mechanical mouse ball model in the 90s. It is a no-frills mouse that simply works without fail.

Throughout the last five years, this mouse has been with me through thick and thin. I have regularly lost building badges (in fact, I flushed one down the toilet), keys, umbrellas, gloves, lip balm, and whatever else you can think of (maybe my mind at times), but the one thing that I cannot seem to lose or break is this mouse!

Today, the ‘mighty’ Microsoft mouse lives on. Not that I have intentionally tried to break it, but the thing just will not break from normal usage. I almost secretly want it to break so that I can upgrade to a savvier wireless mouse (we all know that cords are a nightmare! The less, the merrier). Modern optical mice are now compact and just plain cooler. I generally follow the mantra of “if it ain’t broke, why fix it,” but I am slowly moving towards relaxing on it for this matter. While I want to be loyal to the device that has never failed on me, I may compromise by using it only at home, and buying a wireless mouse for travel.

Another New Home

admin — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 04:20:44 +0000

My personal blog has hopped around several homes over the years. In high school/pre-college, Live Journal was the new thing for people to have a free online journal. In those days, blogging sites were fairly primitive so there weren’t too many options to choose from. Next came Xanga for the majority of college, which became the latest craze because people could subscribe to your posts via e-mail and bloggers had the ability to join Xanga ‘rings’, otherwise known as community interest groups. Xanga certainly wasn’t that savvy nor pretty, but it worked. Once Google hit the scene, Blogger clearly had the advantage of Google’s platform and connectivity. Naturally, I wanted to ‘upgrade’ to the latest and greatest, so I did. It still does a fine job, but I love trying new gadgets because they have a natural tendency for continuous improvement. Somewhere between then and now, a whole slew of blogging platforms have become the new kids on the block, such as WordPress, Typepad, Movable Type, Tumblr, etc. I chose WordPress simply because of its clean lines and also because I already started Let’s Chow! on it. When it comes down to it, a blog is a blog, and the content speaks for itself. The aesthetics, photos, widgets, etc. are of course nice enhancements, partly because they somewhat portray the author’s style and personality. In the web savvy world today, branding suddenly becomes part of your online presence.

With all that said and done, welcome to my new dwelling at selinaang.com using WordPress. It’s always nice to have my own domain name

The Essentials

admin — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:47:00 +0000

What would I do without Google products on a daily basis…?

Gmail
Google Talk
Google Maps (Street View is very cool)
Google Reader
Google Calendar
Google Docs (Document, Spreadsheet, Presentation)
Google Groups
Picasa Web Albums
iGoogle
Blogger
Google Translate
GOOG-411

The respective Yahoo counterparts aren’t quite up to par in my book (except for Flickr compared to Picasa). They work, but not as well. I simply like the user interface of Google products more. I also greatly appreciate the collaboration aspects of Calendar and Docs, and I see them both having essential future enhancements, such as integration with Outlook or other email applications, and other added functionality.

RSS what? who?

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 04:26:00 +0000

One word to describe this clip: awesome

Click To Play

There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don’t. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don’t know where to start.

Information Overload

admin — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 06:12:00 +0000

Thinking back to my initial usage of the Internet, I was amazed that even a site like Yahoo existed as I slowly surfed the web with my 14.4 kbps modem (1997?). It was neat that more and and more websites were forming for different organizations, newspapers, and personal homepages. Instant messaging was a big hit as well.

Now we have these same tools that have advanced tremendously, only with infinitely more available. They are bigger and badder. There are sites that aim to consolidate the most popular social networking sites into one simple interface. The only social networking site I knew of in 96-97 was Yahoo Chat. Now there is an abundance of sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Orkut, and so many more. Need help organizing life? There are magazines, blogs, online to-do lists, and who knows what else out there to help you. Need some opinions before buying? Sites like Epinions or Consumer Reports will do it for you. There’s just…a lot of stuff. Literally anything you want or can think of – it’s out there.

One of my new favorite gadgets on the Internet is my trusty RSS feed reader. From Bloglines to now Google Reader, I have learned to love and hate this online device. This is truly my one stop shop for information, and tons of it. I have bookmarked sites like Digg, friends’ blogs, National Geographic, BBC, recipe pages, etc., and it feeds me new information in real time. If I want more information, I look for more sites to add that have this feature. Most news and popular blog sites now do. Every time something new posts on these pages, I turn to Google Reader to view them. As you can imagine, there could be hundreds and thousands of posts to read if I don’t check periodically. That leads to my hate of information overload. OK, I don’t really ‘hate’ it, but let’s just say that too much of a good thing can be stressful!

In the midst of all this information, I often feel overwhelmed. I have magazines that pile up on my coffee table every month. Now that stresses me out. I subscribe to things like Real Simple, Shape, The New Yorker, and I barely have time to read them. It’s ironic because Real Simple is a magazine to, needless to say, simplify your life! And I hardly have time to read it?! How can I simplify my life, then? With Google Reader, I get the latest news headlines, but some turn out to be 10 page articles when I link to the actual page. That’s a bombshell right there. It’s information competing with other information. Perhaps I could live a simpler life like my mother does and disregard the many online gadgets and information available. She gets by somehow, but with less information about the latest happenings. Ignorance is bliss!

On the flip side, I could (and am trying to) learn how to prioritize and channel information more efficiently. There is indeed a lot of information out there, and the world would not end if I didn’t read all of it. Thoreau wrote “Simplify, Simplify” which for me in this case, translates to “Filter, Filter.” I crave more knowledge, but I think there are times when knowing a little about a lot is better than knowing a lot about a little.