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Sunday, August 28, 2011

My Memories Suite Review

Some time ago, I was contacted via email by someone to help promote their program. I was then given a review copy of the program to test and write a review on it. The program was called My Memories Suite and it was a digital scrapbook software. I have never used a digital scrapbook before, even a physical scrapbook... I rarely used. So I didn't know what to expect when I first ran the program. But to my surprise it was actually pretty simple to use. Having created something, I was able to make a review. Read on for more.

Firstly, lets start off with the program logo.

Software Logo

Nothing much to say about it except since its version 2, one can assume that future updates will be available to either add content or fix up bugs in the older versions. Thats always a plus. No one wants their software abandoned the moment you buy it. Hence one of the reasons for Apple's success. They treat their customers well and still offer support to them several years after purchasing their devices.

Next to discuss would be the layout of the program. Since I am neither a professional nor an art fanatic, I probably could not full appreciate the magnitude of features that the program offers. However, while I was using it, the program felt like an extension of my own moving limbs.

Screenshot of the program

Why I said that was because everything was clear and just made sense. If you wanted to add a textbox or a photo, go on the right side and pick the right tab you need, and there would be the correctly labelled button which did exactly what you wanted it to do. Completely unlike other softwares (Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Powerpoint), which to insert a picture, you need to go to the top menu then insert then picture. While I understand Microsoft Office isn't a software for creating digital scrapbooks, this program showed that simple and intuitive use of shortcuts makes doing things more like doing things. No more need to scour the menus to find out how to do every little task.

Because I've talked with general consumers, they don't need complicated computer programs. Apple knows this and that is why Apple is so closed, they do everything for you. From forcing you to use itunes with their devices, locking you out of a file system, not letting you jailbreak/unlock your phones. Those sound like all bad things. And in a way they are. But in another way, moving songs from your computer to an iphone if it had a file system could be very complicated. Most likely too complicated for some individuals to do. That means losing sales to Apple, so they just made it easy. What they're doing is targetting the general population (which is the majority). Only computer people would enjoy a file system where they sort their own stuff instead of letting Apple do it for them.

That aside was meant to explain while simple GUI or graphics user interface is important nowadays. If its too complicated for some people, they just won't buy it, if they won't buy it, you won't get money. So the plan is to make it simple enough for even babies to use. Because you can never be too sure.

Anyway.. ! That was a long aside. Great thumbs up for the user interface. Since I couldn't compare with other competing software, I'll leave this point at just that.

Next is the customization. While I may not know alot about art, I do know that art is about expressing yourself. Each person's piece must be independent of each other person and no two pieces of work are ever identical. Therefore, for this program to be truly successful in its own sense requires it to be adaptable to hundreds or millions of different artists and thus ideas.

I believe this company and program can definitely accomplish that. What makes me say that?

Well, there are several reasons. First of all this program offers an extensive list of pre-made templates where you can just apply, then simply add pictures and caption/text. It makes for one professional scrapbook with a few clicks of the mouse and a little bit of typing. Or you can go a little bit more by changing the template around to your free will until you find something you like. The template then bends and wraps around your creativity and that piece of work now becomes art.

Wait... what?? Well, if another person were to use the same template and changed it around, it is highly unlikely it would look like yours. Because you applied your own personality into it, it has individuality and is unique, those are what we call art.

While the program offers templates which are fine and dandy if you just want to get the job done. This program is provides much more than that. There is an option to create your own scrapbook from scratch. You decide what to place where, and build it the way you want. You shape it all in the palms of your hands. No restrictions, nothing. Think of it as using a template then deleting everything on the template. So you're left with blank pieces of paper and the easy to use tools to make everything in your imagination run onto paper.

In both options, there are massive amounts of customizations you can achieve. From changing background colour to creating customizable shapes/text. You can overlap text on top of shapes to give the album some depth. You can even change the kind of size you want your scrapbook to be printed on. You don't have to print on 8.5x11 paper all the time !

There is also a feature to export the album as a set of jpegs, or as a movie. Which also means, you can add sound/narration to your scrapbook. As technology advance, more and more features become available. MyMemories Suite is definitely no exception. Maybe its not new but the idea or adding sounds to a scrapbook seems... unreal.

As for the second reason, this company also offers templates for sale, some of them free, others paid, on top of their already massive library of core templates. These additions will give you more building blocks to work with and increase your arsenal of scrapbook tools. I personally believe this is an awesome idea as alot of other companies had already implemented the idea. In games, these are regarded as DLC or Downloadable Content. If it was on an Apple device, it would be called In-app Purchase. And etc. Either way, this has been very successful to previous companies and are sure to do well for MyMemories also.

Next we'll go through an example of something I made using the program. The scrapbook was about the California trip that I took at the end of June 2011.

I started with one of the templates already there, I liked how it used different boxes put together like a jigsaw puzzle. Since we ourselves also drove around California visiting things we passed by. We did have the 3 cities destinations (San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles) but we were pretty clueless as to what to see and where everything was. So whenever we saw something interesting, we parked the car and explored around.

The boxes originally were all separate but I had to put them together so it wouldn't look awkward since I couldn't fit California into a single box. I also changed some of the colours of those boxes. The pictured boxes were already implemented in the template, but it was very easy to add your own.

Here, I added the slanted words on the boxes and added a picture of my own to show how hot it was over there in California. I also changed the paragraphing to fit all the text without overflowing from the bottom.

Nothing special here, that was exactly how the template looked like, I just added the picture.

Also, unchanged from template, you can see how even without doing anything, the page looks great. A balance of pictures with shapes to give the reader some information about the trip without flooding their eyes with photos after photos.

Again, unchanged from template. I should mention that when you add the photos, because these photo boxes are square, parts of the photo is cropped (you can have it stretched if you wanted to, but I like cropping). Simply double click the picture and it'll open up a window which lets you control what is cropped, where is the center of the picture, etc. Very easy to use. Great for old people who are not into computers. And young people who want to share their experiences with friends but not familiar with artist terms like balance.

Picture of the Hollywood Walk in the evening. Shifted the focus down, perhaps a little bit more exposure of the sky would be better (?).

Nothing to add here.

This was probably the most interesting page I worked on, along with the one below. This specific page in the template (you can remove the kind of pages from the template you don't like and add duplicates of others as you see fit) had no place for words, so I decided to put something that didn't need many words on this and the following page. Something that tells itself. Something like an amusement park. And the 8 squares just perfectly fitted Lego Land. Great !

This page, I started with the same template as the previous, but I rearranged everything since Sea was only 3 boxes and World was 5. I added a little bit of overlap to create depth and tilted the words so they were parallel with the boxes.

Nothing in particular to add either.

This template had a good amount of pages without text areas, which was fitting for my trip as we mainly were sightseeing and exploring what attractions were available in California. Also, I dislike writing. Hahaha...

Again, I rearranged some boxes so I could have 3 coloured boxes adjacent to each other to spell out "See" and "You". As I mentioned previously, even though you loaded a template, each item (shape, text box, etc) are completely moveable and removable so you can make it fit your taste. No longer are you confined to the restrictions of the program. MyMemories Suite is made to fit you.

Video Tutorial (Provided by the company):


Welcome to the Family! from Lisa Jurrens on Vimeo.


Lastly, I have 2 things to share with the readers. Firstly, I was given the opportunity to host a giveaway of the program to one lucky reader of my blog.

Entry is simple. Just surf over to MyMemories' website and share your favourite kit (template) in the comments below. Just simply state the name of the template with the URL and why you like it (please write more than one sentence).

For example,

Fireworks Vol 1.
http://www.mymemories.com/store/display_product_page?id=MRKZ-EP-1105-2036
I like it because I enjoy looking at fireworks explode in the sky, they are so beautiful and mesmerizing. I want my scrapbook to have an impact and capture the attention of its viewers.


I will pick one of the comment randomly (I will random generate a number between 1 to #comments, the comment number that shows up will be the winner) on October 31, 2011. That is just about 1 month of time. Hopefully there will be a good number of applicants so it can be a little bit more lively here. (Even if its just once)

__

The second thing is for those of you who either don't want to wait until October 31, 2011 or didn't win in the giveaway. I was given a $10 off promo code to supply to the readers of my blog (Hurray!). So I'll share it with you all, if you wanted to get that scrapbooking software, now is the time !

The code is below,
STMMMS2796

Conditions (Taken from the site):
  1. This unique code is ONLY good for My Memories Suite v2
  2. MyMemories reserves the right to modify terms or conditions

Thank you for reading and best of luck in the giveaway ! If anyone wants to leave any comments or questions, please do so in the comments section below. I will try my best to answer them.



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Sunday, August 21, 2011

The time I lost my wallet...

It was on a normal day much like August 21, 2011. I ate breakfast outside at some Hong Kong style restaurant like a typical weekend. We ate till we were full then set out to shop since none of my family (my brother aside) had work. Since we were a techy family, we went to Futureshop down on Kennedy Road and Lawrence Ave. It was there we had a nice little encounter with Microsoft. I thought it was going to be a fine day... But...

I had no idea what was going to happen.

It was afterall, a very long and interesting day.

The day before this day, I had received word that HP's TouchPad had gone from $399 retail to just $99. We went to FutureShop to try to grab a copy. Needless to say, our attempt were futile as it were sold out at the store as well as any other FutureShop or BestBuy.

Then we continued to our other routine tasks of grocery shopping. This time around, we picked Walmart, since I am into building Yugioh decks, Walmart was a great place as I can sometimes pick out cheap packs of cards (when those 30-70% stickers are on the merchandise). It didn't take very long until we finished and the shopping continued.

My mother doesn't really like technology so we dropped her off at Winners in the Eglinton Square Shopping Centre. Afterwards, my dad and I went to check out another FutureShop, since we were skeptical. Of course, nothing.

Disappointed, we went to the dollar store, Dollar Giant, to get some cheap tools and utensils for some event he was planning. While there, we also picked up 2 BB guns for $1.25 each. It came with bullets and we shot a few rounds around (not aiming people and picking up the bullets after firing). The projectiles didn't fly very far, but a good toy for a little over a buck.

Since my mother can shop at Winners for a surprisingly long period of time, we decided to drop by a flea market which was very close by. We spent about 10-20 mins in there doing nothing more than window shopping then went back to Winners to pick up my mom.

Our last planned trip was to drop by a card/hobby shop at the Agincourt Mall before going home. I stayed there for about half an hour to an hour looking at what single Yugioh and Magic the Gathering cards they had. It wasn't as cheap as Dollys but there were many cards not found in one but in the another. While there, heavy rain and lightning storms were seen and heard everywhere. To avoid accidents, we stayed in the mall for a while longer. To spend time, we shopped at No Frills to see if anything else were cheap.

Everything was fine at this point... until we reached our car after shopping. It was then I noticed my wallet was missing... Sh!t.

With my forgetful brain, this crisis was a bigger crisis than it could have been. If I was able to accurately recall when was the last time I had my wallet, I could create a time range in which we would backtrack and search. However... I had no idea.

First we had to go home to drop off our groceries. It was then that I also called my credit and debit card companies to let them know I had lost my wallet. That way, they could disable my cards before I would be charged for things I didn't buy.

Then we backtracked the whole day's event starting from the most recent. So that meant going to all these places in order;

- No Frills
- Agincourt Mall
- Flea Market
- Dollar Giant
- FutureShop #2
- Walmart
- BestBuy
- FutureShop #1
- HK Style Restaurant (Where we had breakfast)

And after all that... nothing. No one reported a lost wallet... Sh!t...

Now broken and defeated, we went home to call the police to file a report. And so I did. They said they would call me back in an hour and told me to prepare some information to help me file a report. During that hour was long and rough... I kept thinking what would happen to me. After all, unlike most people, I carried my SIN (Social Insurance Number) card with me. They would also have my Health Card and Drivers License which had my address. And the entry card to enter our townhouse/apartment complex. It was very frightening for me indeed.

My parents at this point was very optimistic, they kept telling me that maybe someone has already turned it into the police and that everything will be fine. I'm sure they know deep down that I messed up so bad. They just don't want to say it.

I was so worried I didn't even notice I had a voice mail on my phone. I listened to it. It was our gatehouse speaking. Told me that a lady came to ask if I lived here, claiming to have my wallet. !!! Was I hearing this correctly? I rushed down to the gatehouse. And sure enough, she had left me a sheet of paper with an address and a note stating exactly that she had my wallet. There was also a contact info. Ecstatic, I called the number when I got back to my townhouse. She picked up and I scheduled a meeting time (in the next half hour). I got there and thankfully recovered my wallet. I thought it was awfully nice of her to drive all the way to my address to let someone know so I brought over a can of egg rolls as gift. My wallet was also lighter by $45... but I didn't say anything at that point. I was just glad it was back in my possession.

I asked where she picked it up. And it was at Agincourt Mall. Outside the card/hobby shop. I kind of knew it was there, but when we didn't find it, we couldn't just stop looking. While I couldn't say I was sure, I knew I frequently feel my pockets to make sure everything was fine. Surely today couldn't have been an exception. My bad memory made today just a terrible experience. I'll probably have to change where I place my wallet, or maybe not to put the wallet and my phone in the same pocket. I don't know yet, I'll think of something.

Oh, regarding the police, I left them an email saying I retrieved my wallet, although lost $45, I chose not to followup on it. If they need me to file a report, I'll let them know whatever they need me to know. But I won't search for compensation. It was my fault afterall.

Yes, I indeed lost my wallet today, on August 21 of 2011. Luckily I got it back. Just short $45. But nevertheless, no hassle to reapply for new cards. Maybe the gas was a bit of trouble too. Afterall, we went all over the place.

I'll have to repay my dad good in the next few weeks. Thanks for listening. If you ever do lose your wallet, don't panic too much. We do live in Canada and the people are generally nice. Do remember to temporary or permanently disable your credit/debit cards though. The police will also lend your assistance if you give them a call. And if you need extra comfort, my mom always tells me to pray when there are things outside your control which you need help in.


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Writing on the go: Windows Booth




On Aug 20, 2011, outside the Futureshop north of Lawrence ave on Kennedy road, was a Microsoft booth to educate the general public about Microsoft Windows. I originally went to futureshop to buy the HP tablet for $99. But unfortunately it was sold out. Read on for a more comprehensive of what was there.

The tent had several laptops and TVs for displaying some features. One of the displays were about windows Internet explorer 9. The only thing there that I have yet to know anything about. The TV showed a comparison between IE9 and Google Chrome. The webpages were identical, a html5 webpages of an aquarium with fishes. IE9 had 1000 fishes running at 16 fps. Chrome had 10 fishes and 11 fps. While I don't know if it's 100% legitimate but I will definitely try out IE9 when I get home. I also asked then about new features of IE9. They are;
- Drag-able tabs to window 7 task bar on bottom
- Drag-able tabs to edge of screen and maximize them like any other window explorer
- Uses computer processing power to shorten load times (unable to comprehend, just stating what they told me)
- Simple GUI with little clutter

I also asked about their windows live messenger but nothing much was new. Only;
- Supports skype
- Link with Facebook

There were a couples of mid to high end computers present to let you feel the windows experience. All in the $1000 range computers.

Lastly if you talk with those people for 5 minutes, you get a free pair of sunglasses. Also there's food. Free hot dogs or hamburgers with water and chips. Great stuff.



Yummy!

Come drop by sometime if you're close. It probably won't stay open for long so hurry!

- Written on the go from iPhone 3GS


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