theeidcollection

[theeidcollection]

[theeidcollection]

Mixtape in Progress

For most of you who have already dropped a mixtape onto your soundcloud account, Audacity should be your list of fave autotune programs. However, for those of you, much like myself who are new to the world of sound recording programs, you’re probably as lost as I am and have no idea what a dB even stands for (which I have now discovered means decibel... which I still had no idea what it meant, so i checked the dictionary and it referred to the sound level). So let me just toss my “Sound Recording for Dummies” book aside, and fill you guys in about my experience using Audacity.

Source: Audacity Team

I’ve never used Audacity before, nor have i used a digital sound recording program. I have used many video editing programs however, and find that Audacity can be quite useful for adding in original voice clips to movies. While programs such as iMovie allow you to record your own voice and add the clip to the video, they do not let you do much editing and altering to the sound. Creating voice clips on Audacity and editing them to your liking, and then exporting them as an MP3 file could be an alternative to settling for the few voice effects iMovie has to offer.

So when I got started with the program I recorded a quick clip of myself humming a tune. I didn't insert any out side audio and I recorded all my audio using the microphone attached my headphone jack. You could use this feature to add a voice clip into movies, if you were trying to create a military or police radio scene. I found that there were tons of voice effects that you could use to make your voice sound like you were coming in from a radio to making your voice sound like it was underwater. You just had to play around with the filters. I was able to make my voice seem like it was coming from a radio station by equalizing my voice recording and playing with the dB by putting it at a very high one. 

I also found a feature where you could clone your voice, and create multiple voices by using the time shift tools. This could sound like someone making a major announcement thought the radio, or could even be used to make a slogan for a radio station. Turn the pitch up and you got the sound of a bunch of minions talking as well.

Source: S-Media

Another cool feature that could be used for voice recordings in informational videos is the noise filter that Audacity has. This noise filter basically takes and fuzzy background noise out of your voice recording and clears up your voice to make it easier to hear and understand.

While all these features that i found were awesome... can we just acknowledge probably the biggest complaint i have and i”m sure many of you guys would as well... THE OUTDATED DESIGN. For something that has so many features and seems liek a good voice editing program, you would think updates would be released that would have updated the design of it. The grey monotone colour gives the program a very old 1999 Windows Microsoft exeperience, which of course to us people of the future with all our fancy gadgets and such do not find attractive at all.

Source: Audacity

Now that I know what program to use to make myself sound like Will.I.Am, give me a week to get to know every feature and you may have to catch my mixtape - coming soon...

Source: Humoar

[theeidcollection]

That Time I Escaped Execution

I’m sure all of you have seen those horror movies where people are stuck in rooms and have to find clues to get themselves out… & I’m sure all of you have thought, “Ugh, if that was me, I wouldn’t be so stupid and I would have found my way out!”. Well now you can put yourself to the test! With the trend of Room Escape facilities popping up all over the world, you can round up your friends and pay to get locked in a room and are given a certain amount of time until the butcher comes after you with his chainsaw or the evil zombies rip your brains apart (whatever the story is). Sounds thrilling doesn’t it.

So a couple friends & I decided to throw ourselves into one of these rooms and prove that we’re really the detectives we think we are. We chose to go to Round About. It was at a great location which was accessible to many people as it was on Yonge St, just north of Dundas St.

Source: Facebook

The room escape was located on the 2nd floor, and a staircase leading up to it on groundlevel, just wedged between Marbleslab Cremery and Aldo Shoes. Once up, the waiting room was small but super funky. It was painted with abstract designs, that I wouldn’t say an interior decorator would fully support, however I believe that it helped add to the mysterious and fun experience of the room escape environment.

Source: Yelp

The reception desk was located right when you walk in. We check in and payed our fee. Lockers were placed directly to the right of the reception desk, in which we could place all of our belongings. Phone’s weren’t allowed in the rooms as it would take away from the experience, as well as so you don't spoil it for future visitors. The washroom were located right beside the reception desk when you first enter. In the washroom, it had the same funky wallpaper as the lobby, as well as checked floors, giving it that Alice in Wonderland’s curiosity feel.  

Source: Pinterest

The facility had 5 escape rooms to choose from. 3 of 5 entrances of the rooms were located in the lobby, while the other 2 were through a hallway located outside of the lobby. We chose to be locked in the prisoner room and experience what it would like to be a wrongly prisoner trying to break our way out of jail before we’re sentenced to death.

Source: Roundabout

The room was a great design! I won't give away too many details just incase any of you reading want to go and try it out yourself. This room requires 3-9 people and you have an hour to break out. The success rate of this room was 30%... & we were planning to be in the 30% of groups that break out of here without being executed. 

When you first get into the room you and your friends are locked in to 3 separate prison cells. One tip I’ll give you guys is that it’s important to work together as there are certain clues in each other cells that helps someone out in another cell! Based on the layout and room design, i would give it a 5/5. It was very realistic to a real prison, with symbols on the walls supposedly written by dead prisoners who were in the cell before you, in which are clues to your escape. It looked very realistic to a real prison (not that I have ever been to one).

All in all we made it out in 50 minutes and proved we can escape any horror film out there! Overall, it was a great experience! Low waiting time, realistic setting  and working together with friends to get us out of there. I would definitely go again... and this time for the butcher’s room!

[theeidcollection]

MaRS - The Centre of Innovation (not the planet)

Just at the corner of University Avenue and College Street, lies the centre of our country’s future of social innovation, MaRS Discovery DIstrict. Originally MaRS stood for “Medical and Related Sciences”, however with more than many meaning the hub could undertake, it’s now just the name for this creation ground. It’s the first of it’s kind in Canada and one of the biggest.

Source: MaRS

The website’s mission statement says: “MaRS supports promising ventures tackling key challenges in the health, cleantech, finance & commerce, as well as work & learning sectors as they start, grow and scale.”

Mars gives budding entrepreneurs a chance to test out their skills with the resources that MaRS provides. With it’s main purpose to provide capital and researching resources to future ideas, this place is a hub for cultivating new projects that could one day rule the world. Funding is a big thing they provide as many startup business do not have much cash just lying around to utilize on projects. Venture services such as expert advice, market intellegence as well as networking with important figures can bring your ideas from 0 to 100. 

MaRS facilities are state of the art. Whether you need office or lab space to test out and do some research, or you require a meeting or event space to launch your ideas... the MaRS building has it all for you!

Source: nxl & danieletdaniel

Even their website has great tools that students can use, such as the Entrepreneurship Toolkit. It includes a library/database where you can research any relevant topic on there and get some info and the latest news on it. There are also collection of data put into their own specific libraries for you, whether it be market research, accounting or growing your business, just to name a few. For those looking to get into entrepreneurship, MaRS is even offering Certificates in Entrepreneurship which are provided by UofT’s School of Continuing Studies.

With workshops, conferences and networking events, this place is a must for budding innovators that want to you get their ideas out there and into the real world. Future events include Data Analytics Workshops, Idea pitch competitions, and conferences such as Venture Out 2017. Incase you're interested, a full list is listed here, of all the upcoming events they will be holding.

[theeidcollection]

Pepe’s Rise to Meme Fame

I’m here to flood your page with the infamous: “Pepe” meme!

Pepe first made it’s appearance in 2005 in an internet comic series called “Boy’s Club”. This was created by Matt Furie. The collection follows four slobby, slap-happy roommates cruising through a drug-hazed postadolescence: energetic Brett, charming Andy, hedonistic Landwolf, and unassuming Pepe. Originally, Pepe was a black and white character until the Pepe broke the internet in 2008. Pepe’s origin comes from a comic called “Feels Good Man”, in which the last panel we see the black and white pepe sketch that has blown up.

Source: knowyourmeme 

The happy pepe face was turned upside down and turned in to a meme saying “feels bad man”.

Source: YouTube

Since then, Pepe’s colour was added as well. and starting in 2009, many variations of the meme were created that blew the frog to internet success. The meme can be used to express various emotions, from “happy Pepe”, to “sad Pepe”, to “smug, mischievous Pepe”.

Sources: Vox, Imgflip, Pinterest

As Pepe has gained popularity over the last year, he now has an ever growing portfolio of many remixed pepes. Many variations of Pepe were created to morph into famous celebrity faces such these:

Sources: iFunny, Reddit, Tumblr

The variations of pepe memes have been spread across the internet and have been altered by artists everywhere. Due to the widespread Pepe memes all over the web, rare pepe memes were created to spread good luck and keep meme lovers on the hunt for them. People have come as far to create rare pepe websites where viewers can purchase rare pepe memes such as https://rare-pepe.com. Which begs the question: “What can’t you sell on the internet?”

Source: StareCat

Pepe continues to dominate the internet with his memes. I hope you are now educated on our favourite internet frog, so here’s to wishing you good luck with running into a rare pepe meme in the near future!

[theeidcollection]

Say Bye-Bye To Your Password Books!

The day of the pen and paper are done & don’t even think about clicking on that “Forgot Your Password?” link. With all the latest tech coming into our world, things of the past which required so much memorization and long processes have now been made easier. Remember when you used to have to grab a pen and paper so you could jot down the password to your Facebook or Myspace (depending on which generation you’re from)... well no need for that any more! Computers have integrated programs on them now which can automatically save your passwords, so re-entering your password anytime after that is not needed.

The password manager application I will be reviewing is “iCloud’ Keychain”, which is based on my personal use of the program.

Source: iphonized

Keychain is a password manager that works by keeping an online database of passwords that you use within the iCloud community. This keychain can keep track of passwords on multiple sites however, there are some drawbacks. Keychain only works for Apple users and some websites have not integrated the apple password manager into their sites. So for those running on android or windows networks. this application, won`t benefit you. Not only can these applications now keep your passwords, they can also store credit card information. Now that can cause some red flags for some, but it is convenient for heavy-use internet shoppers.

Can I trust password manager applications?

In an interview conducted by Tech Republic, they sat down with developers to find out more about the applications and how well these programs protect your passwords.  Even if the passwords are encrypted at rest, they must use reversible encryption. That means a hacker with access to the victim's machine could potentially steal the database/backup files, and walk away with the password.  Remember that once you put something out on the web, its there forever! Even if you’ve delete your passwords and have blocked the application, your information has most likely already been stored in a data base. It also helps to use a variation of passwords on different accounts to help minimize the risk of one password being released... along with the rest of your accounts.

So while technology has made these password managers here to stay, we shouldn’t yet toss the old password memorization methods to the side. 

[theeidcollection]

Middleware Appreciation Post!

Middleware: is a general term for software that serves to "glue together" separate, often complex and already existing, programs.

Source: bigdatalondon

Middleware basically refers to the systems that allow interoperability (the ability of computer systems to exchange and interpret information). The working parts in the middle deliver data from point A to point B, so they’re super crucial for a functional system. Whether that be delivering a text message to your friend which uses an SMS middleware or you requesting information from a database where in that case a middleware server is used to send information from the data base to the user. Now for you guys that are confused and don’t know what middleware exactly is and why it is so important, allow me to use a real life situation to make things easier to understand! Ill be relating my current job to the concept of middleware.

So currently I work as a salesperson for shoes (not mentioning the store for privacy reasons). While at most retail stores all the products are already out on the floor, a stockroom is used to hold all products for shoes. This means that there must be someone who delivers the shoe to the customer... *Enter me the sales person as the middleware part to this equation*. Let’s also pretend that the shoebox being requested by the customer is the data being transmitted by a user. The flow of the sale would be:

Customer wants a product → I get them the shoe box from the stock room → I then deliver it to the customer

This can be related to the middleware flow in technical terms:

User wants a piece of data delivered → Middleware servers deliver data requested → Data is then transferred to a database

As i am requested to bring out a shoe box, I not only bring out that shoe box, but I am also using their requested product information and interpreting it, as I bring out other shoes to suggest as well that seem relevant to what they have requested. Interoperability between systems involves both exchanging information and understanding it, therefore creating a relationship.

However, it is possible to have more than one middleware player in a situation. There could be many middleware active at the same time. When customers choose to purchase a product, they head to the cashwrap area and create a transaction between us. If customers decide to make their purchase using debit / credit cards, they insert their card into the card terminal, which is the middleware in this situation. The card terminal transmits data from the owner’s card chip to their bank and sends data back for the approval of funds to be sent over.

So as we can see this is all a smooth process when all the system parts are functioning together. However, lets say that we remove the middleware aka me as the middle person...

Without me, customers would have to go into the stockroom themselves and have to decipher between thousands of shoeboxes which one belongs to them. Confusion then arises and we no longer have a smooth functioning system. This then opens up the risk for theft as the products are all available there and ready for them to walk out. This is similar to malware entering systems if there is no virus prevention program installed (them being the middleware). In relation to the cloud, without the middleware in effect, data would have no one to deliver the information together.

We can now see the importance of middleware in both real life situation and the online world, so here’s to this appreciation post to middleware!

[theeidcollection]

SOS, Technology is Taking Over My Life!

Digital touch point: the reaching of an individual through a digital media device to deliver your message.

From the moment I start my day, I'm already reaching for the closest digital touch point. I turn off my alarm on my phone to get the day started (okay let’s be real, I slam the snooze button for another half hour) and then start my day. I decided to experiment and create a 24 hour log of every interaction with digital technology I came across to see what my digital footprint looked like. My log was done on a Monday, where I started my morning at 8am, had class from 10am-1pm and then 3pm-6pm, and went to bed at midnight. Here is my digital touchpoint log that show you all how much I’m in serious need of an offline life... Take a look!

The ✓’s indicates that the digital touch point was used within the hour.

Prior to starting my log, I assumed that technology was a big part of my day… however, I did not expect that I spent all my waking hours using digital touch points! In fact, 16 hours of my typical daily schedule is attributed to interacting with digital touch points. That’s two-thirds of my day!

I found that my highest hour of tech usage was at 8pm, which is the time where I'm home from school and finished dinner, aka time to catch up on what I’ve missed on the gram and see what everyone’s up to. After taking a look at my overall result, I knew that applications and tools i could access on my phone were going to have the highest usage. With phones being a handheld device, they’re basically a portable digital touch point and have replaced many individual utilities and gadgets such as an alarm clock, flashlight and music players. 

However, I realized that products that were in my surroundings could also be considered digital touch points, even if i don’t actually physically touch them…particularly advertisements. I didn’t even recognize these as digital touch points during my logging. When I’m out in the city, digital advertisements are everywhere from the big screens at yonge-dundas square to digital ads on streetcar stops. Just by engaging in the advertisement I’m participating in yet another digital touch point.

Within social media apps, advertisements appear everywhere - even when I’m not asking to view them. Not to mention, alot of the time ads appear which show specific products that I was once looking at on another site. Especially on sites like Facebook, known for tracking which online retailers you were browsing, and then sending you personalized ads of the products you were previously checking out. While this can be a great marketing strategy for companies, I know I'm not the only one who finds this super creepy and invasive. However, again although I’m not exactly asking for the service, I am still engaging in the digital touch point of these ads.

As much as I’m a kid who grew up when the tech giants were just first making their big breakthroughs, I’ve accepted that technology has become a part of our world. So rather than being a traditionalist and refusing to conform to our everyday use of tech, I think embracing it and using tech to make our lives easier is much a better outlook.

[theeidcollection]

Keep Calm and Netiquette On

Much like going out to dinner where manners and following proper etiquette are a must, the internet also has it’s own set of rules, called Netiquette.

As social media use is on the rise by people from all over the world, things can get pretty heated when different opinions get into the mix. Regulations too, must be enforced to insure conflict is kept to a minimum on all these sites. Much like ensuring your pinky is up while sipping English tea, there are certain rules to also follow to ensure online interaction is pleasant and your cup of tea.

Here is a countdown of guidelines formed by BBC to follow when interacting with people in the online world.

Source: MemeGenerator

1. Keep the peace in the (online) streets. Arguments will arise as different opinions challenged, but its important to stay cool and keep the nasty comments to yourself. Just because no one knows who you are, and you are just a face in cyber space, its important to remember that you are still in communication with people and not computers. Unlike computers, humans have emotions and can either get very hurt or aggravated if you’re not careful with your words.

Source: 123rf

2. Don’t spam. We all know how annoying it is to get our inbox flooded with the same email and receive the same comments over and over again. Avoid getting hit with that block button by posting your comments on relevant threads and not reposting the same things over and over and over and over (you get the point) again.

Source: MemeCentre

3. Dont $peak lik dis! Slang is unacceptable. Write out your words clearly so they're easily understandable. The internet is filled with people from all over the globe and English may not be their first language. Understanding basic English may even be a little challenging, so stop the foolishness and give everyone a chance to understand your non-sense.

Source: FunnyCaptions

 4. Keep in mind all posts are public! That means your grandkids will probably be able to track down embarrassing pictures of you (and your outdated fashion sense). Let’s help you avoid that conversation altogether by being aware of what you make public, and making personal social media accounts private.

 5. Make sure you posts are relevant to the topic of discussion. Posting a question about makeup advice in a thread about the best workout supplements probably won't get you much help.

 6. Google is your friend ☺ Before asking for help, do your homework and research. If you truly can't find an answer, only then should you ask for advice from the online community. Make sure to tell them what you've already attempted to do to fix the problem, so they know you aren't just relying solely on their help.

Source: MemeMaker

7. Copyrighted material doesn’t belong to you if you don’t have the rights. That dreaded “©” can get you in some deep water if you aren't careful about the legal aspects of the online world. Avoid having to tell your friends why you have a court date by making sure to follow the legal regulations and restrictions of the social media site you’re on.

However, for my choice of the most important netiquette rule, Aretha Franklin said it best…

Source: ThePeopleExperts

8. RESPECT. This can get you a long way on the internet. Not only will you avoid any potential conflict, you gain more credibility on your posts and comments shared.

The world is filled with different opinions and ideas constantly becoming present, but that’s what makes the human race so great. However, it is important to be careful not to cross any boundaries. To end with, online sharing of opinions and posts in cyberspace is great as it is a cultivation ground for ideas, but its also important to be respectful and remember to apply the golden rule to all social media conversations.

Source: toomuchstarbucks