Blog Fail.

Just wrote almost an entire post and deleted it with the slip of a button :) Technology is a bitch. Sigh.

Tweet tweet.

So it's finally happened. I have at last ventured into the coveted bluebird realm of micro-blogging and have begun my journey to the twitterverse, yes ladies and gentlemen, I have joined twitter. (Alright it's not that big of a deal, I just enjoy being dramatic from time to time.)

Anyways, so now that I'm actually using it I'm kind of starting to question why I didn't join sooner. At first glance it seems pointless, just another way to let millions of people who probably don't care know what you're doing, etc etc. But it's actually a pretty useful networking tool. I haven't even been a member for very long and I'm already making connections with up and coming graphic designers and the like, something I never really thought to do before. Pretty neat!

Also Conan O'Brien is hilarious. His tweets are definitely reason enough to join twitter. And if that's not good enough to convince you check out some of these strange/funny twitter apps:

SecretTweet.com



Sort of a Post-Secret meets Twitter kind of thing. Basically you can 'tweet' your secrets anonymously. Like post-secret some are funny, some are embarassing and some just plain disturbing.


Twecipe

This one is perfect for foodies/recipe lovers such as myself. Simply enter the ingredients you want and the database pops out a suitable recipe! And if you want more specific results you can follow twecipe on twitter, send in some ingredients and recieve a recipe by direct message.


Track This

Now here's something I could definitely have used back when I was applying for colleges and had a million and 4 packages to track online.
You can set up text or e-mail alerts to send you live updates to track your package via the tracking id number you usually get from a courier service, or alternatively you can link it to send notifications to your twitter and/or facebook account. Potentially a very useful service, and it currently supports all majour couriers ie. DHL, FedEx, and UPS.

TwitMarks

TwitMarks 'marks' your gender by analysing your post stream to determine whether you're male or female.
Let me tell you, not very effective :) But fun to try out.

TwitterLit

An affiliate of Amazon, this site uses twitter to post literary teasers twice a day. ie. The first line of a novel without the title of the author's name, but with a link to Amazon so users can see what book it is. Somewhat useless? Perhaps. Addictive and profitable? Definitely.

Check out more bizarre apps at TechXav. Oh and follow me on twitter :)

Gorgeous Street Headphones by Brian Garret Schuur

As featured by Abduzeedo, these awesome headphones have now moved up to the top of my wishlist. 

A pretty impressive grad thesis on rapid manufactured designs featuring his custom Street Headphones (above), landed industrial designer Brian Garret Shuur a job with  design giants Freedom of Creation, who are now selling those beauties for a whopping 997 Euros. 

 

Although to be fair, they're worth it. Since they're made to order, you can customize the headband with your own musical taste, ie. names of fabourite artists/songs.

At the moment they're only available to order in black and white, but my dream pair would have to be white and hot pink (Although I'm liking the yellow a lot too) . And the headband would be littered with the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, John Mayer, Florence and the Machine, The Shins etc.

 

Pretty creative design work. Definitely keeping my eyes open for more of Brian Garret's work. Click here for his portfolio.

So Little Time, Not Enough Sleep.

It's been a while. Busy doesn't even begin to describe what I've been lately, I've actually found that I'm  now constantly surprised at how few hours there are in a day. It's times like these where one of Hermione's time-turners would be extremely useful. /geek. So basically, my wonderful lecturers/tutors at university have decided to set up about 4 huge consecutive deadlines within the span of 3 weeks which has proven to be just a little bit hectic. It's also rendered my social life non-existent, seeing as I've basically been living in the library/computing building for the past week. That, combined with the stress of having to keep up with job applications and interviews AND trying to come up with an idea for my final year project (read: dissertation) is...flabbergasting. That's what it is. That is the perfect word. <3
On a brighter note, the weather has been surprisingly sunny for a few days now, which always puts me in a better mood, and Easter is almost right around the corner which is awesome because I get to go home where the REAL sunshine is. I miss wearing shorts outside. And open toe shoes.

Speaking of Bahrain, I recently came accross a series of new TV adverts for Batelco's "Nothing Left to Say Syndrome" campaign. Now, my biggest problem with Batelco (well, maybe not my biggest problem considering their shoddy customer service is probably higher on that list) is that they have no semblance of consistency when it comes to their branding and advertising, which is simply because they switch ad agencies every other week. This week it's FP7, and I have to say I think they might just be heading in the right direction.
Yeah, some of the ads are cheesy/stupid. But they're a world away this atrocity.
Anyways, check them out on youtube, these are my favourites:






Now for some truly genius advertising:

“If one pixel can tell you a story, imagine what millions can.”