Samsung Galaxy Y moblogging

Right now I’m here at Ali Mall in Quezon City to moblog from my Samsung Galaxy Y.

Here’s a picture:

Video:

I began moblogging with a 92 percent battery charge. Now I’ve got 89 percent. Okay let’s publish this thing.

Samsung Galaxy Y: My first smartphone and Android phone

Samsung Galaxy Y? Oh, I like it so much! It’s my first smartphone, Android phone and touch screen phone rolled into one. My sister gave one to my last Sunday as an advanced birthday gift.

Why do I like it? Well, I like the fact that I can now edit photos and videos on such a small device. In the near future, I will try to publish an entire blog post using only my Samsung Galaxy Y.

I did the exact same thing with my iPad 2 in September 2011. I wrote the article “Testing iPad 2 as a media production gadget” using only my iPad 2. I would like to see if my new phone could do the same things.

To help myself accomplish this task, I’ve downloaded WordPress for blogging, Photoshop Express for photo editing and VidTrim for video editing.

iPad 2 as a media production device for mobile journalists

It’s been mentioned in some forums that the iPad 2 is primarily a media consumption gadget, but as a content producer/journalist I would like to explore the potential of the iPad 2 as a media production device.

Thankfully, the iPad 2 has the capability to take photos and videos, enhancing its content production potential. The quality of the pictures and videos is another issue though.

If you don’t add anything to the iPad 2, it is pretty much a consumption device: surfing the Internet, listening to music and watching videos are the main activities that you’d most likely be doing using the gadget.

But with free and paid apps, the iPad 2, it seems, can be transformed into a versatile media production device.

Here are some of the free apps that I’ve downloaded so far:

Noterize. (note taking). As a journalist, I think that this can be a great companion at press conferences. The app is capable of recording audio while you’re taking down notes.

PS Express. (photo editing). The features are quite limited, but I downloaded it because of the Adobe Photoshop name.

Hokusai, WavePad, QuickVoice. (audio recording). You can also edit audio using Hokusai and WavePad.

Video Editor. (video editing). The free version allows users to combine videos and share the finished product with other people via email, YouTube and Facebook. I’m hoping though that there would be a free video editing app that would be as powerful as Windows Movie Maker.

The following are the two apps that I’ve bought so far:

Inkpad. (vector drawing). I think of it as a $7.99 version of Adobe Illustrator. 

Animation Creator HD. (animation). I’ve always wanted to try my hand at animation, so I think that this $1.99 app would be a great start.

I will attempt to come up with an entire blog post, with text, audio, video, photo, illustration and animation, using only the iPad 2, to see for myself if this Apple product can be a good media production device.

How to customize masthead picture

A fellow blogger has just told me this:

“very nice blogsite Ljubomir! I love your theme as well. Would it be an imposition to ask how you customize the pictures on the masthead? Thanks in advance and more power to your blog!”

http://ljubomirgatdula.wordpress.com/about/

Here’s how to change the header image:

1. Go to your Dashboard.

2. Scroll down the page and look for Appearance. Click on Header.

3. Follow the instructions.

Thank you for your comment ylbnoel and I hope you’ll find this blog post on how to customize your masthead picture helpful.

WordPress and After the Deadline join forces for better blogging

Matt of WordPress has pointed out that last week, WordPress users “published 1.4 million new blog posts, but … only ran the spell checker about 204 thousand times.”

He said there could be two possible explanations: “We’re all perfect writers or that we just forget to run the spell checker.”

Personally I don’t write directly on WordPress. I write first on MS Word and then run the spell checker there, before copying the text and pasting it into WordPress.

But with After the Deadline now on WordPress, I think I would be using the spell checker here more often. I’ve tried it once, and corrected “someone that.” Neat!

I may even use the WordPress spell checker for my non-blog works.

Bloggers beware, Big Brother is watching us

Blogging is fun, but...

Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports that a journalist has lost his job due to one of his blog entries. (Read Deutsche Welle story here)

Personally I believe that bloggers should always be mindful of what they blog about, whether or not they live in a country where press restrictions abound.

Just a reminder to folks who use the Internet to express themselves: Big Brother does watch us.

That’s especially true if you’re looking for a job.

As mentioned in a recent report, people should be careful with information that they post on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

WordPress versus Blogger

I have created an account on Blogger to see for myself how different it is from WordPress.

However, I do recognize that it would be difficult to maintain two blogs, especially now that I’m busy with my work and my graduate studies.

But I would try my best to immerse myself in both websites to personally determine the strengths and weaknesses of both blogging platforms.

(Ljubomir Gatdula on Blogger)

SoundCloud on WordPress welcomed

The Macau workshop was conducted by Germany's DW-AKADEMIE and participated in by nine Asian journalists

I first encountered SoundCloud during the introduction to online journalism workshop that I attended in Macau three months ago.

However, we couldn’t directly embed audio files into WordPress at the time.

The trainers from Germany had to rely on their ingenuity so that the workshop participants could put SoundCloud files into their blogs, albeit indirectly.

Now, WordPress users can directly embed the SoundCloud player on their respective blogs. (Read WordPress blog about SoundCloud)

I’d like to thank WordPress for enabling this service.

This is a test recording for my personal blog:

Second month of blogging on WordPress

My thesis writing and blogging companion

Times flies so fast.

It’s been two months since I started this blog on WordPress.

I enjoy writing about the things that I’m interested in, such as travel and the media.

I suppose it’s easy for anyone to forget the passage of time when they’re having fun.

However, the time has come for me to tackle pressing concerns.

Starting next month I will no longer publish at least two posts each week. At least once a month, perhaps? It all depends on my schedule.

I have to focus more on my graduate studies.

Leo celebrates first ‘monthsary’ on WordPress

The author while editing today's post

Today I’m celebrating my first month of blogging on WordPress.

I’m happy because I’ve kept a promise to myself – to publish at least one post a day.

In May I had three posts and this month, 32, excluding this one.

But I’m also a little bit sad.

I will be very busy with graduate school work next month.

In July, based on the schedule that I have submitted to my adviser, I will go to several libraries to photocopy lots of newspapers.

Then I will read all of them and craft interview guides for my interviewees. I will then conduct the actual interviews, either in person or via email.

Materials that I have used for my thesis. More coming up...

Hopefully I can also defend my master’s thesis proposal next month.

On top of that, I also have to go to work from Sunday to Thursday every week.

It means I can no longer publish at least one post a day.

I will publish a post on Tuesdays and Fridays though. It’s a promise that I will try to keep, despite my tight schedule.

I may still come up with a post on other days, but it all depends on the progress of my thesis.