High quality tunes in a real simple interface.In my quest for the best site to download songs from, I've come across songza, seeqpod, skreemr, Pandora, and imeem. Yet none meet my standards quite as well as Playlist. The setup is so user friendly with all the important stuff highlighted so there's a clear flow to each page. The selection of music is impressive not only including what I'd normally find on a CD but remixes as well. Only imeem can compete with that. Similar to songza and seeqpod, making my own playlist just requires a search and click to add. If I'm feeling a bit lazy to build my own library of songs, I can listen to another member's playlist. The best part about Playlist is that all the music is in mp3 or mpeg format so they can all be downloaded with DownloadHelper for Firefox and I never have to do any flv conversions. Although I'll still go on imeem for unique music, seeqpod for discovering new tunes, Pandora for interesting variety, and skreemr for superior quality audio, Playlist has become my new default for song searches.
The mystery behind the internet phenomenon, Boxxy.Once upon a time, there was a girl who referred to herself as lonelygirl15. Her intriguing videos detailing her life captivated the YouTube audience and she became an internet sensation. It wasn't until later when it was revealed that she was an actress and her whole lonelygirl15 persona was completely fabricated with all the videos directed and edited professionally. Although she was able to move to the silver screen for a while, YouTube has been eagerly awaiting a new lonelygirl15. In comes Boxxy. Her crazy antics and total randomness sparked a wave of love and hate especially on 4chan. Seemingly out of nowhere, Operation Valkyrie attempted to simultaneously halt the spread of Boxxy, spam her and her friends, and find out what is her true identity. These are my findings summarized from the Boxxy Dox.
Boxxy is also known as moldylunchbox and boxxybabee (possibly bellflower_priestess as well). She was a casual Gaia Online user where her friends Pocky and 4DM1RALAWESOME hung out. Boxxy's real life name is Catie and Pocky is presumed to be a long time Indian friend from school named Priyanka. Since her internet fame boom, she has since changed her Gaia Online name from M o l d yLunchboxx to mule372 and, most likely, does not login frequently if at all anymore. Little else is 100% known about her including last name, age, phone number, or address. The investigation into Boxxy is still ongoing and this post will be updated when new information has been confirmed.UPDATE: Boxxy is 16 years old and lives in Roseville, California. She is presumed to attend Woodcreek High School. Her YouTube account, boxxybabee, has been hacked, possibly by another anti-boxxy group called the CBCR whose purpose is to make sure boxxy never releases another video.
British student invents fridge fit for Africa.If it's not already explained well enough in the image from Mail Online, this rather small "eco-fridge" is a really great idea. Instead of the food inside the container getting hot the water does and evaporates. It's so simple and yet this is the first time I ever heard of this type of system. I had no idea water could keep a cylinder of food at 6C (42.8F). It's no ice box, but I can imagine that this incredible invention is a blessing to the poor in Africa. I'm sure it won't be easy to constantly replenish this portable fridge with fresh water to keep it working, but it's better than the alternative and I'm sure there will be a few improvements some time in the future. Thanks Emily Cummins for emphasizing the point that brilliant inventions don't have to be complicated or expensive. I wish her good luck and hope Africans will have slightly better lives from now on.
Nintendo's DSi Pros and Cons.When I first saw Nintendo's next generation handheld system the DS (Dual Screen), I thought was big, gray, and awesome! It had really cool features and great new games but could still play my old GBA games too. Within a month of the North America release, I bought my very own system. I've spent many hours playing with it but ever since the announcement of the DS Lite, I've been wanting to get rid of my original style Nintendo DS -- or as most like to refer to it as the "brick" -- and get a thinner, all around better version. I didn't want to get a DS Lite, however, because I knew Nintendo was going to come out with a second redesign that would be even better than the Lite. I waited patiently... FOR MORE THAN 2 YEARS and, finally, Nintendo has announced it's third platform, the DSi. It'll have bigger screens, an even slimmer design, and not one but two cameras! But it replaces the GBA slot with an SD card slot, which is both good for new ways to store and view media but also bad since I won't get to relive all those old GBA games again or be able to grip my DS when playing Guitar Hero: On Tour. I'm not sure what to do. The DSi with two cameras sounds like another huge opportunity for more innovative games, but do I really want to give up the backwards compatibility the Lite offers? I suppose I have over seven months to decide on what to do before the DSi comes to America. In the mean time, I'll give my "brick" one last good work out until I buy a Lite or DSi.
The truth about the Miley Cyrus death reports.I'm not sure about you but I've been hearing a lot about Miley Cyrus's death on the morning of Friday August 5th. Yahoo and TMZ reported early on about the story claiming she died in a car crash and that there were "leaked photos" of the tragedy.
Here's the truth:
It was an impromptu hoax that presumably started on 4chan's /b/ site (I don't provide a link because I don't recommend anyone going to that site). I was on /b/ when I saw a thread that basically said "hey everyone, let's go to this Miley video on YouTube and post 'rest in peace Miley 1998 - 2008'." Obviously many laughs were shared because the idiot couldn't do math so if she was born in 1998 then she would only be ten years-old. Some members were against it saying it was stupid but others thought it was going to be great fun. After many, MANY posts saying that Miley Cyrus was dead, all the news reports started pouring in out of no where making up evidence as they went along. 4chan kept a good record of all the news stories (there were plenty) but I didn't think to copy them down to post here until the thread was already deleted due to inactivity. Anyway, later Friday evening, photos of Miley at the Fashion Rocks event surfaced which completely disproved Miley dying the morning of.
So there you have it. It all started on 4chan, was reported on based off of nothing, it was exposed as being false, and then everyone on 4chan lol'd (laughed).
High quality tunes in a real simple interface.
