Review: Who Stole the Moon?

Who Stole the Moon?

Name: Who Stole the Moon? Interactive eBook for Children
Developer: Windy Press
Author: Helen Stratton-Would
Illustrator: Vlad Gerasimov
Price: $2.99 for iPhone/iPod touch, $4.99 for iPad; Free version for iPhone/iPod touch and iPad also available.
Rating: 5/5
Requirements: iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Previously, I’ve written a small post about Who Stole the Moon?, but I’ve never actually reviewed the app. I feel ashamed to admit that, because I feel that if I recommend something, I should at least write about my own experiences.

Note: I use the words book and app interchangeably throughout the review.

History

I first found out about this book by way of Vladstudio. You see, Vlad Gerasimov is a very talented illustrator, and I enjoy going through his many illustrations and using them as wallpaper on my computers and portable devices. While there one day, I read about how he helped illustrate a book, and of course, I was curious.

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I Named My Son After A Cartoon Character, So What?

No, really. I did.

You see, I have this (unhealthy, as Jess would say) obsession with Futurama like you wouldn’t believe. Ever since the show first aired back in 1999, I’ve been hooked. I honestly don’t know if I dislike anything about it. The characters, the actors, the storyline, the animation…it all works together, and works together well.

However, with that all said, I do have a favorite character from the show. No, not Bender, not lovable Zoidberg, or even Professor Farnsworth.

Philip J Fry

Why Philip J. Fry? Well, I really can’t pinpoint any one reason for choosing him, other than the simple fact that, in a way, if I was a cartoon character, he would be the closet to which I can relate.

I’ve always wanted to name my son after my grandfather on my dad’s side, Justin. It wasn’t until a few years ago, back when Fox was contemplating bringing the show back from being cancelled, that I started to think about the name Philip if I had a son.

You see, according to the Infosphere Futurama Wiki page for Philip J. Fry, the J has no special meaning or name. It’s just an initial. So, I thought, why not Philip Justin? It’s not a bad name at all, and I get the small satisfaction that my son is named after my favorite cartoon character. Luckily, after much begging and whining and pleading, Jess finally agreed to allow the name. Ok, maybe I didn’t do all that.

So there you have it. It’s not complicated and, unlike most babies being born lately, my son can grow up knowing he wasn’t named after a sparkling vampire.

That’s just wrong.

And now, a video montage of Philip J. Fry from random episodes of Futurama.

NASA Spacecraft Records ‘Earthsong’

NASA logo

In space, they say, no one can hear you scream.
Nobody ever said anything about singing, though. A NASA spacecraft has just beamed back a beautiful song sung by our own planet.
 
“It’s called chorus,” explains Craig Kletzing of the University of Iowa. “This is one of the clearest examples we’ve ever heard.”
 
Source: NASA

Very cool sound. Check out the article to read more and hear the ‘song’ that was recorded.

Review: Postbox 3

Postbox Icon

Name: Postbox 3 (version 3.0.5 at the time of this review)
Developer: Postbox, Inc.
Price: 30-day free trial, $9.95 new licenses; $4.95 upgrade from v1.x and v2.x
Rating: 4.5/5
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7, 10.8; Windows XP SP 2, Vista, 7

Back in July, Mozilla announced that Thunderbird would no longer be actively developed after this year. I will admit, being a Mac user, I wasn’t too fond of Thunderbird. While it was robust and handled pretty much any type of email account out there, it just didn’t feel like a Mac app.

Enter Postbox.

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Changes

Every January 1st, most of make resolutions to better ourselves, in hopes that with a new year we all become a better person. Every January 2nd, most of those resolutions are broken for many reasons. I call them excuses, because if you want to make yourself a better person, there should be no reason you can’t change your ways.

However, we don’t need to wait until a the beginning of a new year in order to make those changes. We can start on any given day throughout the year. There should be no excuses. With 365 days in any given year, and 366 in a leap year like this year, you can start whenever you want and not look back.

Sure, life gets in the way. Roadblocks, lifestyle changes…we’ve all been there. But instead of giving up and saying “I’ll start over again next year”, why not start over the next day, or even the next week? Any given opportunity to un-pause where you stopped is a good thing. it tells the world that you won’t give in and that you’re not quitting, no matter the circumstances.

Why am I saying all of this? Because I’m guilty of doing this exact thing. I start to make myself into a better person and then I let things get in my way and I end up losing sight as to what my goals were.

No longer will that get in the way.

I’ve come up with a list of goals and I’m starting now with them. No longer will I use the excuse “I’ll start over again next year”, or “I need to think of another goal instead”. No, I need to make my list and I need to stick with it. I have to be more self-disciplined.

Starting today, I’ve come up with a list of goals I want to achieve by the end of the year. I know they can be done, because I started them before but never stuck to it.

Here’s what I want to do:

  • Become more positive. It’s tough, especially when I have a strong opinion about stuff, but there’s no way to make it in the world by calling people out and being a complete asshole about it.
  • Continue writing. I want to have at least one post per day on this site, and I also want to push myself to continue writing my little short story/book when I can.
  • Quit drinking soft drinks/carbonated drinks. Whatever you call it, I need to give them up. It’s not the caffeine I’m addicted to, it’s the accessibility of the drinks that’s the problem. The sugar content alone should scare me off, let alone the medical implications that can arise from them.
  • Become a better father. Not that I’m a bad one, but I need to have better patience with my kids. Every parent probably has this goal, and even if it sounds simple, it really isn’t when you have a daughter that’s 5 going on 15 and she’s only in Kindergarten.
  • Focus. There isn’t just one thing I need to focus on, I just need to keep myself focused and not let anything get in my way. I’m sure everyone can benefit better if they just focused. Broad? Maybe, but it’s not easy to do.

That’s 5 things I need to do, and not in any particular order. There’s no one thing that needs to be accomplished first, but I would love to have made a huge improvement on all of them by the end of the year. I’ve already started on becoming more positive, and it’s already showing in how I post stuff online and how I react to topics presented to me.

If you’ve been putting anything off to turn your life around, you don’t need a set time or day to start. In the terms of Nike, “Just do it”.

Let’s Write A Short Story!

Let's Write A Short Story

In trying to better myself as an author, and as a writer, it should come as no surprise that I subscribe to various email lists from several other writers as a way of looking for inspiration.

One such site is The Write Practice, by Joe Bunting. Just about every day, an email sits in my inbox from the site, calling to me. Topics range from anything to get you motivated, writing contests, or even announcements of a new book that readers might find interesting.

Last week, Joe released a book titled Let’s Write a Short Story!. The book, as described by Joe:

Let’s Write a Short Story! is an eBook about the process of writing and publishing short stories. The book will guide you through the process of researching publications, writing your story, editing, and submitting your work to literary magazines.

It’s also a primer in how to make a career in fiction writing. If you’ve ever wanted to be a writer, this book will help get you started.

  • Why all the great writers started with short stories, and why you should, too.
  • How to build a fiction platform with short stories rather than just another blog.
  • How short stories are structured differently than novels.
  • What theme to write about to give you a greater shot at being published.
  • How to break through your writer’s block when you get stuck.
  • How to submit your short stories to literary magazines (and which ones you should submit to).

Let’s Write a Short Story! won’t just give you the information you need. It will challenge you to take the next step in becoming a writer and help you get your writing published.

For just $2.99 (at the time of this writing), you’ll have access to the Kindle version, viewable on any computer with the Kindle app, via web browser, or any smartphone that’s able to run the Kindle app.

If you’re looking to write but aren’t sure where to start, this book is just for you.

Let’s Write a Short Story! – Amazon

Backups

I’ve been pretty fortunate in that all my years of using computers, I’ve never had any major data loss resulting from hard drive failure. Let’s face it; almost all of us store our lives on computers these days, and we usually don’t think about “what if” scenarios when it comes to protecting those items.

That’s not to say it can’t happen, because I’ve accidentally deleted files in a hurry one afternoon, resulting in the loss of my complete iTunes library. To some, 10GB isn’t much, but to me, not having a backup meant that I had to re-rip my entire music collection in iTunes again. Talk about time-consuming. I can’t imagine what would happen to my 30GB iPhoto library, or my documents folder which contains letters, resumes, you name it.

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Using CloudApp With A Custom Domain For URL Shortlinks

While I’m a fan of using shortlinks to share articles or websites with friends, I don’t like to use a third-party site that doesn’t offer stats to show me if what I share is being viewed. I’ve used bit.ly in the past; and while I enjoyed the basic tools of shortening a URL and sharing it, I started to want more from it. I wanted to share images, video, and files as well.

Here’s the catch: I want to use my own custom domain.

It’s simple, really. Any spammer can sign up for a bit.ly account and start posting spam (and to the credit of the bit.ly staff, they’re working hard to combat this). That isn’t how I want to use shortlinks, and I felt that by using my own custom domain, I will be able to secure trust in those that come across my links without the need to worry if it was a spam link and would be damaging.

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Early Apple Tablet Prototype

Tablet Prototype

Because of all the hype and buildup surrounding next week’s (supposed) launch of an Apple tablet, including thoughts by our own Mark Rolston in the New York Times on how said tablet may or may not succeed in the marketplace, the folks here at frog design opened up the archives to find some early prototypes our designers created for a young Steve Jobs back in the early 80s. Yes, good innovation can take a while.
 
Source: Frog Design

Keep in mind, this was written back in January 2010, just before the iPad was announced. Still, it’s fun to see early prototypes of devices that may or may not see the light of day.