Menu

My Writing Site

Trending Web Topics

Blog posts January 2016

No more free music: Sound Cloud was moving to paid subscriptions

Attention musicians and fans! Sound Cloud music was no longer to be free as it used to. Right now, new users were able to upload and listen to their music, but not allow free streaming or downloads. The biggest problem with this company was, with the adoption of a paid subscription, it was unclear what levels were offered or whether current users were going to stay. In order to stream my friend's new sound, one had to unlock those services by paying for them. Spotify, one of their competitors, did this pay thing already.

There were some other things discovered by this blogger too. ReverbNation was better used as a fan than an artist. Having free access to the site was a great way to find out who was trending. It was easier to get the word out. Unfortunately, for the artist with empty pockets, the choices were limited unless they became a paying member like the above two. Unfortunately, my friend lost the password to their account on Reverbnation sometime last year, so getting a link was a little more challenging.

Trying to follow the How to on getting a personal link was difficult. There were so many articles on the subject. This blogger barely got past uploading and renaming the song so the link could be created. After that, the terminology got complicated too. Last night, this blogger found a freebie on the internet that actually worked. This was one that was rather kept to myself for fear that it became a paying situation too. How did one suppose to survive using something other than an Office product to write with? This blogger found something that was just as effective and free. Updates weren't paid for by me either. Thanks to the free search, this blogger found a way around the monthly WinZip file charge. Since this blogger had a hard time, look them up without my help.

Trying to share the song via my Google Drive only worked only on my laptop. There was a link anyone was able to use, it just showed up blank on phones, other laptops and iPads. This was not believed until tried by me. My efforts at trying to write the link myself actually worked, except the file were hard to incorporate into it. In order to have had a strong Google presence, one had to sell their previously free music via the Google Play Store. The artist got 70% of the sales and their membership there was free.

The good news was, that by signing with Universal Music, Sound Cloud avoided bankruptcy. It remained to be seen whether the paying option became just as popular or not.

Go Back

 Posted in Entertainment

David Bowie: His Life in Pictures and Video

David Bowie (1947-2016)  Sadly, the entertainment world lost another music icon this week. In all fairness, the late David Bowie wasn't on my radar until the introduction of Labyrinth. Most of this had a lot to do with Jim Henson's Muppets that also appeared in the film. During this time, they also showed The Man Who Fell to Earth, but the complete movie was not seen by me.

It was refreshing to notice that his career was more than music. Thanks to that one DVD, this blogger learned that he appeared on Broadway as the title character in The Elephant Man. It thrilled me to find out, while waiting for the latest episode of Poltergeist: The Legacy, that he hosted a few episodes of The Hunger, another popular show that followed The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, based in Canada, also watched by me.

This past week, nearly everyone in the Entertainment that had a connection to this musical icon paid tribute on just about any form of social media. The one thing that struck a chord in me was the way he confronted MTV when they ignored videos of black artists. This meant he was no slouch when he saw something he didn't like. He spoke up just enough to avoid being blacklisted, something that was missing in some of the other entertainment artists today.

Lazarus was the last of his music videos to be released the week of his birthday, January 8.. Inside Edition made note of the cryptic message behind the piece According to them, this was a final farewell to his fans. They also made note of his haggard appearance in the video due to the adancing cancer.

Of course, one television show got into hot water for filming  AngelaBowie'sreaction to the news of her ex husband's death. In spite of their divorce in 1980, it looked to this blogger that that they were still very good friends afterward. To me it looked like the show was out to boost ratings, no matter how tasteless it looked. Inside edition mentioned that she was told without the cameras rolling.This was a far cry from the custody battle being fought in the media with Chris Brown.

Below was a media list of tributes to David Bowie.

David Bowie Remembered

David Bowie In Memoriam

Iman's Touching Tribute

Confronting MTV

Fans pay tribute

Remembered by Conan

The Camelion

Lazarus

Go Back

0 comments
 Posted in Entertainment

Golden Globes were full of 'mute button' moments

Thankfully, the Golden Globes went off without a hitch. No one was ushered off stage for hogging  the mike or kicked by Sharon Osbourne either. Every winner was given 30 seconds for their speeches of thanks, prompted to wrap it up as the orchestra started playing. One of the articles said that there's a big thaw when Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio met at The Golden Globes. It was said that the Internet lost its motherboard.  The internet went down like the Titanic.

Thanks to the nap taken earlier by me, the whole program was viewed. Media tagged it as one of the worst filthy-mouthed programs ever. They didn't use the 'bleep' button, they used the mute function instead. When something inappropriate was said, there was silence, sometimes a little more than a minute, according to Inside Edition. Judging by the reaction of the audience, 'mute button' moments were warranted by the censors. Being a star didn't mean that excused one for the use of bad language. Children could've been watching. This went further than a low-cut form-fitting dress.

Among the stars and the fashions, no one was removed by security because they didn't belong. It was said that the stars were well covered by the boys in blue both on and off stage. As a matter of fact, Jennifer Lawrence scolded someone for using their cell phone backstage. Unless someone were writing down notes for an article and didn't have a pen and paper, then it's ok. As a writer, my down time did not include the use of any electronics. It was a lot easier to post updates from my phone than from my computer though. The circuits have all but burned out.

It was great to see 'The Peanuts Movie' be nominated for Best Animated Feature Film.

Congratulations to all the winners, mute button moments aside.

Go Back

0 comments
 Posted in Entertainment

People's Choice Awards Highlights

The People's Choice Awards is the first award show of 2016. Congrats to the nominees and winners There were a lot of things to be seen and of course it had its controversial moments like, well see below.

Of course, my favorite part was hearing the speeches of the award winners and looking at the fashions everyone wore on stage and on the Red Carpet. Some of it was missed by me because of a full stomach and heavy eyelids.

2016 1ist of winners

It was great to see Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift among the list of winners. This blogger bet that John Stamos was floored when he received his award. This poor man has had it rough lately.

2016 Photos

PCA Backstage Faves These were funny!

Awards Mishaps

Dakota Johnson's wardrobe malfunction at People's Choice Awards 2015 This made the trending topics on Facebook early this morning. The Today Show showed it also.

My biggest concern  during the awards show was security. This would have been stopped if they had been around doing their job. If this were the president, they would have wrestled him to the ground, like they did the man who threw an object a President Ronald Reagan so long ago.

An unwanted guest grabs the mic This guy pulled a Kanye West, according to The Meredith Vieira Show. Sharon Osbourne kicked him, which may cause a lawsuit. The reference to Steve Harvey was uncalled for, in my opinion. The card he read from at the Miss Universe Pageant was incorrect. The award winners were shocked.


2016 Video highlights Some were awesome!

Watch the part missed here It looked like a good place to play catch up. I missed Ellen Degeneres' speech and the other with the stage crasher.

Next week, the Golden Globes were up. It was a wonder what would happen there?

Go Back

0 comments
 Posted in Entertainment

My arsenal for fighting scams: A survivor's guide

My arsenal for fighting scams got a little bigger this past December. Ordinarily, no one would have done what was about to be done now. It bothered me that there were bad people all over the globe, and not just in the United States. How To Avoid Fake Technical Support Scams was a great article, but what did one do once their name got placed on the scam list?

My best advice, remain diligent when reporting rogue incidents, whether they be phone or internet scams. Don't just settle for what someone tells a person. Developing an arsenal of websites was one's best bet to silence scammers for good.

My going to the phone company only produced two options:


  • Block the number which only offered 15 slots

  • Have the number changed, which meant telling my family of my new number

  • Amazon has an external number blocking system, but the $50 price tag was too much at the time.


    • Time was something a lot of my family didn't have with jobs outside of the home. Just ignoring the phone  or only turning off the ringer only worked when someone knew who called by checking caller ID. Thanks to the rogue call answered by me on August 4, 2014, my name, address and phone number existed everywhere on the scammers blacklist not just for computer tech support trolls who weren't supposed to call offer assistance.

    The only thing mastered by me was the fake tech support situation. The ironic thing was that one of the numbers that was not answered by me last month looked familiar.  Checking my phone app on my cell confirmed my suspicions. If there was  complaint list even on here, it was best to report it. Here  was the arsenal spoken of before:


  • 800Notes.com- largest database of known scams on the internet

  • RU A Scammer- Another database  of rogue numbers

  • Where to report Phone Crime--Report more scams than just on the telephone

  • Grant Fraud--This was easy due to that Call App function that allowed numbers to be searched.

  • 10 Ways to Avoid Fraud This was a great article on fraud prevention


    • Granted, the more information given to these places, the better chance they can stop the problem. Most of the computer tech trolls had a link inside the United States. The number was usually unreachable if the caller tried to call back and sometimes couldn't be blocked either except for my cell phone. Now, because there was a refund given last month from another software provider, they want wanted a piece of that too.

    Go Back

    0 comments
     Posted in Computers
    5 blog posts