2 of our FAVE new GOOGLE products
Yes – Stoffel always keeps us up to date with the latest online trends and launches. Google has been on a mission, they look set to take over cyberspace… They have recently launched a whole bunch of spanking hot products and we tell you about two of them:
First up the FANTABULOUS GOOGLE SKETCHUP…
Basically it’s free …
3D software that you can learn to use and start drawing your dream house, office space etc…. This is really worth playing with. You can then also integrate it into Google Earth!! Here’s their talke:
Google SketchUp (free) is an easy-to-learn 3D modeling program whose few simple tools enable you to create 3D models of houses, sheds, decks, home additions, woodworking projects – even space ships. You can add details, textures and glass to your models, design with dimensional accuracy, and place your finished models in Google Earth, share them with others by posting them to the 3D Warehouse, or print hard copies. Google SketchUp (free) is a great way to discover if 3D modeling is right for you.
THE SECOND FANTASTIC GOOGLE INVENTION is GOOGLE TRENDS – click here to go there.
With Google Trends, you can compare the world’s interest in your favorite topics. Enter up to five topics and see how often they’ve been searched for on Google over time. Google Trends also displays how frequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and which geographic regions have searched for them most often.
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Thanks to Stoffel for his usual great story – Click here to go to the Guardian UK site for more info. If you have ever been to the UK – you will know how seriously they take their “chart positions” – their music industry functions like a tight ship, with positions on charts being determined by the ACTUAL number of records being sold as opposed to other dodgy methods that we’re used to…So South African Muso’s – there’s nothing stopping you from cracking the UK charts now… GO FOR IT!:
“Gnarls Barkley and the song Crazy made pop music history yesterday as they went to number one based only on the number of people who paid to download it.
Technophobes can today find out what all the fuss is about and go into a shop to physically buy the CD single.
It went to the top of the charts thanks to a rule change brought in last month which allows download sales to count as long as a pressed CD is released a week later.
Gnarls Barkley – a made up name – consists of US hip hop producer Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) and the singer Cee-Lo. The song went to number one based on more than 31,000 downloads, a far cry from the sales previously needed.
HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said: “This not only represents a watershed in how the charts are compiled, but shows legal downloads have come of age.”
Also making new entries into the top ten were Morrissey with You Have Killed Me and The Streets with his confessional When You Wasn’t Famous. Depeche Mode continued the retro feel going in at number 12 with Suffer Well and the re-issued Michael Jackson single The Way You Make Me Feel went in at 17.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE GUARDIAN UK STORY.
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23 March
Represent just wouldn’t be Represent without the help of STOFFEL, the most loyal and long-term Representer about – He keeps us up-to-date with the latest gizmo’s, gadgets and internet trend news. If we’re hot it’s thanks to him :).
While we’re still developing our new layout (we do things slowly!) we thought we’d give you a taste of his incredible feelers that stretch all along the internet superhighway and back.
If you like to be on the pulse of what’s happening in tech and internet culture and inspirational information that helps you to pump up your lateral thinking and abilities, watch this column for juicy Stoffel titbits:
13 March
First up is a great story on a woman called Sandi Thom in London who has launched her music career through LIVE PERFORMANCES on the net from her home in Tooting – she performs to 200 000 people worldwide through a webcast every night – Her latest marketing move is to allow 6 people per night into her lounge as “live concert guests”…
Click here to go there. COME ON JOZI MUSO’s – let’s think big.
20 March
Second dose of great Represent content from Stoffel goes out to all the designers and graphic artists out there… check out this website POP EXPERIMENT – an “Experimental pop, arts, music, motion and photography” portal. Besides all the great info on music etc the visuals section of this site showcases work from some of the most unbelievably brilliant artists out there. Click on the picture or here to go and stock up your mind candy… by the way if you see a visual you love click on the artist’s name and it will take you to their website.
23 March
WHAT? Stay with a stranger… well you ask any backpacker about some of the weird and wonderful places they have slept in during their stays and they’ll tell you all about ’em.
THe concept is that members of the COUCH SURFING global family are only accepted once they have been vouched for or verified by an existing member. While this is no guarantee for eliminating psychopaths, it does make us feel better.
Here’s the lowdown from the site:
What is Couch Surfing?
CouchSurfing.com helps you make connections worldwide. You can use the network to meet people and then go and surf other members’ couches! When you surf a couch, you are a guest at someone’s house. They will provide you with some sort of accommodation, a penthouse apartment or maybe a back yard to pitch your tent in. As a member, you can communicate with other members all over the world and see if there is a person in the place that you’d like to go who is willing to host you. Stays can be as short as a cup of coffee, a night or two, or even a few months or more. The possibilities are endless and completely up to you.
*You become a member of CouchSurfing.com.
*You decide you want to spend two weeks in Central America somewhere.
*You log on to CouchSurfing.com and do a search for other members within 200 km/miles of Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
*You see a list of other Couch Surfers within 200 km/miles. You contact interesting prospects and explain the sort of travel/stay you’re looking for.
*You get several offers for places to stay. You decide that you want to spend one week in Limýn, Costa Rica and another surfing in a small town in Panama.
*You confirm with your hosts, make your travel plans, and then get on the plane and go.
*Your new friends meet you at the airport and introduce you to their family and friends.
*You stay a week, learning all about the local culture, and possibly a new language too.
*As a good example of a good Surfer, you do as much as you can to give back to your hosts. *This includes doing simple things like, for example, the dishes or stacking some wood. *Maybe you have a special skill you’re willing to share?
When it is time to move on, you say goodbye to your friends and take a bus to that small town in Panama.
*When you arrive at your host’s house, Jose offers you a big glass of lemonade and a surfboard to use while you’re staying with him.
*The next morning he shows you to some of the best surfing around.
*You spend the week in the sun, talking with Jose about politics, the weather, surfing, and a whole host of other things.
*By the time you leave on the bus for the airport, you feel that you’ve gotten a good taste for the slow paced local life. You consider coming back some day soon to buy a little place on the beach where you can forget about the prior rat race and just bask in the sun… just you, your board, and a crappy pair of sandals.
*You go back to where it was that you came from, with new memories and new stories to tell your grandkids. Hopefully Jose will come and visit you in your country sometime soon. *Perhaps there are things you can teach him about your culture…
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Keep on watching this space for more brilliant content from STOFFEL!
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