WEB DESIGN MULTIMEDIA WEBANIMATOR SYNAPSE CIRCUIT

The Deftones - probably the most original Metal / Alternative band to come out America.

Somehow I don't think she'll be remembered in 2 years let alone 10! R.I.P. B. B. King!
I don't want to hear her cover of the Bee Gees song 'How Deep Is Your Love'.

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT
WEB DESIGN
MULTIMEDIA WITH WEBANIMATOR PLUS,
SORENSON SQUEEZE & WYSIWYG WEB DESIGN PROGRAMS

Goodhour, Synapse Circuit Readers! It’s great to see you as always! I hope that all is well with you and that you are winning with your tech projects! What? You are not doing a tech project??? C’mon... What’s wrong with you??? You need a challenge! Come with me...

Technology is a funny old thing... Tech know how = Technology. The Internet has been responsible for many things – including causing business models to adapt and change where possible or they fall by the wayside. One of the things that technology has changed somewhat is a reliance on systems created by others... All too often we give our power away to the next new thing on the Web be it MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, iTunes and so on! Some of us have stopped being excited at the prospect of creating an online web presence. That’s right! I am waxing on about how many of us have turned away from the dizzy world of Web Design. Read on...

#Incomedia #WebAnimatorPlus #SorensonSqueeze #Multimedia

THE DEATH OF THE INDEPENDENT MUSIC SCENE... LONG LIVE THE NEW ALTERNATIVE ONLINE MUSIC SCENE...
I would like to use the world of music to illustrate just how bizarre the mentality of the artist / band has become... As a younger man I was searching for the equivalent of my Holy Grail, a recording contract! Suffice to say that I never got one! Hahahaha! I laugh but I am actually very relieved that I didn’t get one as I have had friends who thought themselves fortunate to have gotten a “record deal” only to be dropped unexpectedly.

Along came the Internet and then the advent of the CD-R... The CD-R writer when it was first launched was quite cost prohibitive and when the CD-R Plus & Minus writers became a PC standard we got some great software to enable us artists to make our own CDs. Some of us managed to make a living – not a fortune – selling our original music. Some of us came up with a great way to present a CD-R album i.e. many of us made custom album cases / packaging to sweeten the deal. But the euphoria that came with being truly independent was short lived as the MP3 format hit the scene and with Napster the masses didn’t want to buy music anymore. To be honest I can’t say that I blame people for not wanting to purchase music as a majority of chart music is forgettable. Without Googling Jennifer Lopez, name 3 of her tracks starting from now... See? You had to think about hard!

Apple’s iTunes, in my opinion, and I know that I go on about it a lot, snared the artist / band back into bondage. Jobs decided what a track was worth and I do believe that the iTunes business model doesn’t give a lot of scope to up and coming musicians in terms of royalties, etc. The artist still comes last when it comes to dividing up the costs to make and promote recordings. Further down the line there are outlets such as BandCamp that helps to get up and coming artists / bands music to an audience. So, artists / bands do not have an official website as they rely upon BandCamp, Zimbalam and an assortment of social network accounts. Artists / bands just squander their powers away when they could be selling CDs, CD-Rs, MP3 and merchandise from their very own official website.

DISCOURAGED?
It seems to me as though creative people in general are being discouraged from actively participating in their own web design. I think this is wrong! Yes, there are web hosting services that allow their customers to modify website templates but that are not what design is all about! Uh-uh! Me? I would rather see a badly designed website than a modified template as it such sites gives me an idea as to what the people behind them are about.

Once upon a time what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) web design software had a buzz around it as so many people from a non-design background were willing to have a go at designing their own website. Those were the days! Of course there were those that insisted that hand coding a site was the only way to go! Now it seems that the average person on the street has no desire to create a website as Facebook, Twitter, G Plus, YouTube, etc has fulfilled a basic need... A Facebook presence can lead the targeted market to a BandCamp page and so on...

Personally I would love to get you to make your own website! Although I am appealing to musicians in this narrative I wish to appeal to anyone and everyone to get the credit card out and invest in some decent web design and multimedia software...

ENCOURAGEMENT
One of the most important reasons for you to have your own website is to have an outlet whereby you can’t be oppressed. God knows how irritating it is when the social network Mother Hen Brigade tells us:

1. “Stop making friends! You are making too many friends and if you don’t stop making friends we’ll delete your account.” Yeah, right! These people are bluffing as they WANT and NEED our data. And if they do decide to delete your account unceremoniously they know that the likelihood of you making another one is high – especially as you may have bonded with some great people as I have!

2. “You have been accused of SPAM... As a result you cannot post many more links... Blah, blah, blah...” You know how I feel about that if you read up on my Antisocial Networking articles. In a nutshell “spam” is an overused terminology that is malleable to suit the purpose of the people behind the social networks. Just messaging someone you don’t know on Facebook constitutes as “spam”. As far as I am concerned “spam” is when you get true junk email i.e. offers for Viagra, slimming pills, etc. In fact Facebook is the BIGGEST SPAMMER going as it constantly puts advertisements in our faces on a daily basis! And to a degree it is the same with Google’s Gmail! Of course when they SPAM us... No... When they constantly bombard us with SPAM they call it something else... Great! The two-faced so and so’s... As you should know by now the main reason for these attacks and threats is that the social networks don’t want you to use their tools for your marketing.

3. You have the power to create your own business online without giving a large portion to a second or third party. PayPal is enough!

4. Avoiding censorship! I tell you... <shakes head and smiles wryly> ...the people who take it upon themselves to police the Internet end up being the very thing that they detest: A TROLL! Lately I have seen “ATTACHMENT UNAVAILABLE” on Facebook. Gee, I wonder that that is all about... You can bet it is someone posting up a conspiracy theory that touches upon the untouchables... Ooooh... People should have their say! On the one hand some people claim “freedom of speech” and in the next breath or click of a mouse all of a sudden we aren’t entitled to freedom of speech. Somebody somewhere would like to take things a step further and have you locked up with a criminal record for having and expressing an opinion these days. Let’s get away from conspiracy theories and freedom of speech...

You are an artist and your work features nudity / sexuality as you are using that medium or mediums to express something of artistic value... Sadly, very sadly, the self-appointed Internet Police try to make you out to be some kind of pervert or something. Often the self-appointed Internet Police are not intelligent enough to reason with and they troll you. They try to shut you down because they believe that they are the voice of reason when the irony is that you can’t reason with such folk! As an artist you might find that your own website is vital.

Still on the subject of censorship... I have a female friend on Facebook who has just hit her fifties and looking great – if I do say so myself – who likes to take glamour photos of herself and share them with her Facebook admirers. I think her photographs are tasteful and bear in mind that Facebook (and many other social networks) do not allow nudity on its platform. Even if Facebook were to revoke the policy on nudity my friend’s photos would be still tasteful! However, she gets trolled by people that keep claiming that her photos are indecent only to be proven wrong by the bods behind Facebook! I do feel for her as I believe that she should be able to express herself without people being a nuisance. If you don’t like it do not look and then launch into an insincere tirade against. My friend has her audience and she’s happy so why rain on her parade? The self-appointed Internet Police are nothing but simple minded trolls.

Again, my last point on censorship is that if you are a music artist and your video contains nudity / sexuality you can’t show it on YouTube. Do not misunderstand me; I don’t particularly like gratuity be it of a sexual, violent or any other nature but if there is context behind it that’s down to the originator. If you or I don’t like it then we can’t do squat about it as it is already out there. Do I want to take the time to have artistic expressions removed? Hell-to-the-no! The way I see it is this: as long as there is a warning that the material may be offensive then the expression is what it is. An artistic expression is a lot different to having some genuinely disturbing picture or video suddenly appear from performing an innocent Google search...

5. The last reason is that building a website enables you to learn more about the Internet and things like ecommerce (PayPal), web and graphic design and so on! These things are good to know and it will empower you!

FLASH IS DEAD! LONG LIVE HTML5!
When I was employed as a web and graphic designer many moons ago (gosh I am getting old) one the most exciting things around was (then) Macromedia Flash. Flash, in its early stages, just allowed for simple to complex animations that included sound and interactions that often became a part of the website navigation... Adobe bought out Macromedia and Flash eventually gained the ability to stream video and this video technology is prevalent in YouTube today! However, Flash has had its run and now one can create animations that include sound, video and interaction with relative ease! Certainly HTML5 based animation / interaction is far easier to achieve than with using Adobe Flash! For a start the Incomedia WebAnimator Plus costs a mere £64.99 compared to the cost of the Adobe Flash CS 6 software! Seriously! C’mon... Why on Earth would you want to pay £400 just to make animation / interactive content that can be seen on the PC, Mac and mobile devices when you can pay just £64.99???

Honestly, Adobe does not have the stranglehold on web media as it once did. Adobe is one of those business models that have had to adapt with the changes in technology and it is currently offering a monthly payment scheme for its collection of software. Personally I think that some of these monthly costs are too high! Adobe tries to keep up this elitist sensibility when they have been surpassed by Incomedia and Magix when it comes to web design, video editing / production and DTP. Once upon a time people would pay good money to do a two day course on Dreamweaver and today we would just spend the money on the following web design programs:-

Incomedia WebSite X5 Standard & Professional

Magix / Xara Web Designer Standard & Premium

Coffee Cup Visual Site Designer

And you will still have money left over to other stuff when you skip doing these two day courses. What £250 for a two day course??? Are you nuts??? Bear in mind that there are some free web design software out there! I will do an article on them in due course!

You can easily use WebAnimator with the web design programs listed above.

INCOMEDIA WEBANIMATOR PLUS
I don’t want to bore you with an extensive tutorial on WebAnimator Plus. No! What I want to do is give you a taste of what can be done with it! Below I did a very simple PowerPoint-like presentation based on one of my favourite Rock groups of all time, The Deftones, to illustrate just how quick one can create such presentations that can be viewed on a PC, Mac and mobile devices without you wanting to pull your hair out! 


1. I decided to create a full HD screen presentation, 1920 x 1080.


2. I created a menu screen quite easily by using an image (of the band) and adding a button. The image fades in and once complete the button flies in from the left to the centre of the presentation.


3. I then added a second scene that holds a full HD video so once the button is clicked on the first scene it jumps to scene two (with the video).

As you can imagine I could have created a more sophisticated presentation that has many screens / pages (scenes) and with intricate animations and interactions. But the purpose is to show you that within minutes a simple presentation can be completely outputted to an HTML file with the resources folder (containing the video and graphics) that can be placed online straightaway or can be a part of a website. Easy!

The last two screenshots above show the presentation playing within the Chrome browser using F11 to go full screen.

WebAnimator Plus: Present the way you want to! A well deserved Synapse Circuit Platinum Award as WebAnimator Plus allows you to create sophisticated animations, presentations and interactions with ease using image, sound and video files. There's also basic shapes and buttons! 



SORENSON SQUEEZE

If you read my review on Magix Video X7 Pro you should be familiar with the Sorenson Squeeze video format converter and compressor. No? OK... In a nutshell... Sorenson Squeeze can take video files and convert them into different file formats for different purposes i.e. the web, DVD, Bluray and so on. Even though we have fast broadband speeds and 4G data connections for our mobile devices it is still a good idea to make large video files as small as possible while maintaining the integrity of the video. If you are a recording artist and you want to showcase your videos without hindrances then you might just want to invest in Sorenson Squeeze. There are three different versions of Sorenson Squeeze:

Desktop Lite, $199

Desktop Standard, $549

&

Desktop Pro, $749

You will find that the Lite version should give you all that you need to start compression your files and / or formatting for different mediums i.e. DVD and Bluray. The professional version is for people / institutions that make their living from streaming video and create daily broadcasts independent of YouTube and similar online video outlets.

Sorenson Squeeze is a reliable and fast video / audio converter and compressor! It gets a Synapse Circuit Platinum! 

There are some free video compressors and I will have to take a look and make comparisons with the commercially available software such as Sorenson Squeeze. The reason why I recommend Sorenson Squeeze is because of its track record. Several years ago when I was part of a team creating a CD ROM for an up and coming Pop music act we discovered that the video was causing a major problem with some test systems that we had access to. I found Sorenson Squeeze through a web search – before Google had begun – and when it arrived we were able to have different formats on the CD ROM: MPEG-1 and QuickTime. Back in those days formatting video was a real pain mainly because PCs were used primarily for word processing and not much else. One couldn’t guarantee that a video would be able to play smoothly from one system to another.

In any event no matter what software you use to compress a video file into MP4 and OGG when combined with Incomedia WebAnimator Plus the results will be brilliant! The only thing missing from WebAnimator is a packager for Android and iOS apps! But that said who wants to be constantly downloading apps when presentations / animations can be viewed online? Even the news aggregator apps rely on taking content from the web.

And do not forget that if you get Incomedia WebSite X5 Standard or Professional it will be even easier to add an animation / presentation to the website you are creating whether it is for the desktop or mobile device such as a smartphone and / or tablet!

Do checkout these links for WebAnimator, Sorenson Squeeze and WebSite X5:-

WebAnimator

Sorenson Squeeze

WebSite X5

Dive in and make your website! Once it’s online give me a shout and I will link it!

Thank you so much for reading Synapse Circuit!

Expect more reviews, news, opinions, competitions and more from Synapse Circuit! 

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT LOOK NOW LOOK UP

Above: Gary Turk making his antisocial point through social networking media.

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT
OPINION:
SOCIAL OR ANTISOCIAL?


Good evening, Synapse Circuit Readers. It’s good to see you as always! I hope that all is well in your world?

I am sure you have seen the latest YouTube video, ‘Look Up’ that decries the phenomenon of (anti) social networking. Do you think Gary Turk right?

LOOK NOW
It would be very easy to dismiss Turk’s sentiments regarding folks using social networking for self-aggrandizing when the man has his own website and social networking accounts... Look:-

www.garyturk.com

www.twitter.com/gary_turk

www.newdesertblues.com

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfHJe1XCvPckXPcgKh2V-5A

It’s a bit like those anti-Transhumanists using technology to make their point no matter how ill-informed their arguments are. I would be ignorant to dismiss ‘Look Up’ by Gary Turk for the aforementioned reason(s).

I HAVE EX-AMOUNT OF FRIENDS BUT...
...I don’t feel lonely. I have over 700 friends and counting and that’s right, I don’t feel lonely. Do I know each and every one of them in great detail? No! How many people do I know offline in such an intimate way? Well, now that I am thinking about it I know a handful of people on an intimate level and in actuality I wish that I hadn’t. Sure, I am talking about ex-girlfriends and a couple of rare friendships that lasted over 10 years only to have the glues that held them together dry up! Intimacy is not all that it’s cracked up to be! Ha ha! I kid but there is an underlying seriousness too.

I would say that some of my best friendships are online than off line. I still have a handful of good offline friends and maintaining those (offline) friendships can be hard work and very rewarding. I hardly have to see them because each of us are doing his / her own thing and that, my friend, is the nature of life. We’re busy! Thanks to “free” call / messaging apps we are able to keep tabs and meet up occasionally. Should they need me in an emergency they know that I will be there in a heartbeat! I know that they have me covered too! Needless to say that navigating our...  ...ok... my way though intimate friendships – let alone family – can be a bloody nightmare! STRESS!!!!

The good thing about online friendships and yes I call them friendships is that you can switch off; turn the devices off or mute the volume... If the worst comes to the worst there is the delete and block button. It’s funny... ...I think back to a time when I was fed up with the progenitor that was MySpace and was turned on to Facebook by a “friend” that I thought I knew offline. Yes, I deleted her! Hee hee... It’s a bit of a long story but I have to say that it was useful to cut the arguments in person, over the phone and via Facebook mails with a delete and block move! I reckon if it wasn’t for Facebook that “friendship” would have endured longer than it needed to. Under the right circumstances you can find out the true nature of a “friend”.

MYSPACE, YOURSPACE, OURSPACE: FACEBOOKED
When MySpace was all the rage it was great! I met a lovely woman from Telford, we fell in and out of love (and we’re still good friends today – a rarity) and I also, around 6 years ago, met with a woman in Germany, Siegen, who I am still friends with today! If it wasn’t for MySpace I wouldn’t have met these wonderful people. MySpace went downhill when it tried to monetize and had a awful overhaul that put many off – not just me!

When I joined Facebook all those years ago I only knew that one offline friend that I proudly added to my friend list. So, I had the exciting task of getting to know new friends. In fact I tell a lie! I went through a couple of Facebook accounts before I arrived at the one I have now. I had set up a couple to interact with former work colleagues who turned out not to be worthwhile so on both occasions I deleted those accounts. My former friend reintroduced me to Facebook; I began adding friends and interacting with them. That must have been around 6 or 7 years ago.

A PROCESS
Adding “friends” is a process regardless of Facebook’s nannying annoying rules about having “knowing” the “friend” in offline. It’s a great process of discovery that I can’t replicate so easily offline. You wouldn’t “poke” a stranger on the street... You also wouldn’t approach a stranger on the street and proposition a friendship. It’s just about ok to compliment a member of the opposite sex with an offer to meet for coffee, etc. The truth is that it is easier to meet people online; it’s not only safer but simplifies things a great deal. The Internet acts like a buffer to overcome misunderstandings and suspicion in a less stressful manner. Here’s an example of an awkward offline interaction...

I was on a bus travelling home after attending a satisfactory music festival and before I knew it a man started talking to me asking me if I was Gay to which I told him to kindly mind his own business and to cease talking to me. The man was talking to me with the assumption that I was Gay and I objected to it. Not because I have anything against Gay people. A) I don’t think that being Gay is subject to an accusation. B) I don’t want to discuss anything to do with sexual orientation to a stranger – especially for all to hear on public transportation. The next thing I know the man is touching me on my leg telling me that it’s alright to be Gay and that he “loves” me. I was not happy! I am a person who does not like to be touched by strangers. It could very well be that mildly autistic but in any event the man’s behaviour was wholly inappropriate. If I had done this to a woman I could have been charged with sexual harassment.

Online one can add a stranger and over a course of time get to know that person.

STATUS UPDATE: RELATIONSHIPS
In the time that I have been on Facebook I have seen quite a few women for possible romance and / or friendship. I would say that all in all it has been a positive experience. Occasionally, there have been a couple of instances whereby a couple of romantic prospects turned out to be less than honest but such instances can happen offline too! But online it’s no problem! Delete! Hahaha!

There is one big faux pas in the name of romance on Facebook: “In a relationship”? Just as it is offline, online it is hard to synchronize feelings; usually one person feels more than the other person in the “relationship”. Sometimes the online persona doesn’t match the offline persona. Sometimes it’s different to have a person in your home as opposed to a hotel. Hahaha! And sometimes people who have met online try to rush emotional development when they meet for the first time offline. Yes, what Turk said about people only showing the positive side of them is partially true. But it is also true about any kind of meeting be it a date – no farting! A job interview, you’re not going tell potentially offensive jokes! Sometimes online people forget to keep learning about the other.

There have been a couple of times whereby I started to see a woman offline in a romantic capacity and they wanted me to change my status immediately to “In a relationship”. I did it the first time as I felt we had something which ended soon after! Hee hee hee... But with the other one we hadn’t been talking that long online and I proposed that we take time offline to get to know each other. I couldn’t have made it clearer than that however she continued to get obsessed about making online statements. My logic was that if I was spending time with her offline the chances of me doing anything with anyone else are extremely minimal – especially as I take my article writing seriously! I don’t have time to entertain hordes of women! An intelligent person would know that! Still, I don’t have regrets about letting those women go as it wasn’t working out. Don’t get me wrong, I did make the effort but when I saw it wasn’t working I accepted it and moved on.

Oh my goodness! I remember another meeting with a woman that I had been talking to for a couple of weeks who wanted to introduce me to her son straightaway! I was a bit taken a back! Decorum is important both on and offline. Communication is the key! How many of us have been stung by a player we have met offline?

And in a non-romantic capacity I have seen “friends” come and go! One in particular was an animal rights extremist who insisted upon hijacking wall for her purposes and I had to let her go.

People change all the time and it’s a good thing. Friendships / relationships last for as long as they are meant to. But if you care I urge you to take time!

THE FAMILY
The mobile device revolution reminds me of the advent of the wireless radio and the TV. As a child I grew up with the TV as part tutor and part parent. I used to love my cartoons and I still do! Hahaha! Today’s child is either into a console or smartphone playing games. It is natural that a child will gravitate to the latest technological trends. But this does not mean that parents abandon their right and duty to use their guidance. Today many parents do not exercise their right to guide their children. Referring to my childhood yet again I was what is known as a “latchkey child”. When I came home from school I retrieved the door key from under the hiding place and took food out of the oven and was in charge of my two younger brothers. The TV entertained us until my Pop came home from his shift!

Today’s parent or parents (if the child or children is fortunate) has to work very hard and for very little. The UK economy is at a critical point because employers do not want to pay workers a good wage and so they draft in immigrant workers (usually from Poland) who will work for less. This has resulted in the level of pay going down and it makes working life very hard for British nationals who are more or less driven by consumerism. Buy this latest tablet on sale! Buy this 52 inch curved flatscreen TV for only £££! Buy! Buy! Buy! So people try to live this technical modern life on credit and have little or no means of paying the credit back.

It’s a hard time for workers and the unemployed! If you’re in work you’re struggling or if you’re out of work you’re struggling to find it! Some people have just given up looking for work altogether. And at the moment this coalition government is cracking down hard on those receiving state benefits and are using sanctions to cleanse London, for example, of its poor population by driving them to other cities. It’s really horrendous as to what’s happening right now. I believe that it breaches human rights laws.

In any event working parents are often burned out and find it hard to get that quality time with their child or children.

EMPTY PARKS
Technology is not necessarily preventing children from playing in the park. No. There are a few factors...

1. The parent(s) find it hard to cook meals from scratch and so feed their children with cheap frozen foods full of fat, salt and sugar content. Children and adults do not feel full on such a diet because there is little or no fibre in pizza, cheap white bread, fizzy drinks, etc so they over indulge.

It’s customary for children to eat meals from fast food establishments more than twice a week. This results in children and adults becoming obese to the point where they cannot find the energy to partake in outdoor activities.

2. You just can’t leave your child or children unsupervised outside your doorstep let alone in a public park! It could very well be that the media is scaremongering the population with news of paedophile activities. There seems to be at least one story every day about child abuse. As a parent you do not want to be one of the unfortunate to have experienced the abduction, sexual abuse and death of your child. That must be one of the most horrendous things to happen to parents and children. You can’t even trust family as in a lot of the cases that I have followed it is an abusive uncle, stepfather, grandfather and even women at a nursery have been behind child abuse and paedophile rings.

3. Then there are young teens partaking in gang violence leading to lethal consequences meted out to transgressors of gang rules such as being in another postcode (zip code) area. As a parent you do not want to let your child or children out in such environments. You try to keep them at home as much as you can. Growing children can rebel and for working and single parents it is hard to impose disciplinary measures as the child can turn around and claim abuse to the authorities. Such claims can result in the parent or parents having a criminal record! And if your child is not in a gang you do not want him or her to get caught in gun battle crossfire. Stray bullets have found themselves borrowing into the innocent. Another disturbing trend is that young girls / women are initiated into a gang through performing group sex. You’d think that some of these young girls / women are forced into such sexual acts. Very often female gang members are willing to cross that bridge to be inducted. No doubt that some are forced physically and some mentally by peer pressure.

I do see the family suffering unnecessarily through the government giving children rights and therefore weakening the parent or parents authority Then the government in turn are looking to fine parents whose child or children vandalize buildings for example.

The mobile or smartphone is pivotal in today’s society for parents to keep track their child or children. In an ideal world parents wouldn’t rely on just mobile devices to entertain their child or children; there would be time for family outings. Oh, and because of the violence some parents do not want to venture out with their children to avoid exposure to dangers of gang violence. Many adults are afraid of unpredictable teenagers and young adults. There have been a virulent outbreak of young men testing their strength by a dealing a devastating blow the the temple of an unsuspecting passerby. Or even an adult querying antisocial behavior.

Going back to the government... I don’t know why they are interfering with how parents discipline their child / children to the extent whereby they can be prosecuted citing physical abuse. But there again, the prosecution system allows for violent criminals and sexual predators walk free amongst communities. It does not make any sense to me.

STUPID PEOPLE / SMARTPHONES / THE MEDIA
I don’t think one can blame the advent mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets for the decline in intelligence in society. For want of a better expression people were stupid beforehand.

Do you think that people speaking sentences in questioning tones started with the advent of the smartphone? Do you know how dumb that sounds? Yet this phenomenon has spread like a virus to the point where some television presenters sound idiotic. 

A smartphone can actually help people to spell with the auto correction (predictive spelling) turned on. But if one cannot spell anyway one will not be able to recognize the correct spelling! I have been asked by people in a position of management to turn off the auto correct feature of their handset! Some people prefer to spell using shortcuts such as “soz” meaning sorry for example. And these shortcuts have extended to phonetic (no pun intended) spelling such as “intelektual”. While I can understand using spelling shortcuts due to the limited texting allowance  from a network as it can be costly. But because of smartphones one can make use of "free" (depending on the Internet allowance) applications for messaging. Once I moved over to “free” messaging apps I dispensed with spelling shortcuts. I hate it! After a while I think I was losing my ability to spell! Gosh!

But society is constantly being dumbed down by the corporate owned media. Remember my “friend” Josie Cunningham? This is what made the headlines 9 hours ago on the front page of UK tabloid The Mirror which was also posted up on its Facebook profile:

Oh dear. Josie Cunningham is at it again. This time she's vowing to release footage of her baby's birth so she can be 'bigger than Jordan'.

''I'll sell DVDs of my baby's birth to be bigger than Jordan'': Josie Cunningham's latest outrageous confessions

Keywords: Celebrity News Josie Cunningham abortion

Just think about it for a minute... This, er, news (sic) was “reported” by The Mirror. Who the hell cares if she was “at it again”? Don’t report such foolishness! Yet people react to it on Facebook like sharks to blood in the water.

Look at the keywords... “Celebrity” Is that what passes for celebrity these days? “News” Again, that’s not news! “Josie Cunningham abortion...” For real??? Why on Earth is this news for anybody to know about??? Jesus wept! You could say that I am reacting to it too but I am reacting to idiocy of the whole thing. Don’t get me wrong, if Josie Cunningham wants to get into “show business” then good for her but why does it have to be on the back of nonsense such as threatening to abort her alleged child? Talk about selling one’s soul...

And if that is not enough music has been reduced to soft porn. I was just saying the other day that the current music industry will never see another John Lennon, Bowie, Iggy Pop, Sex Pistols, etc again. I think the next time Miley Cyrus announces a concert the tickets will be in the form of scratch ‘n’ sniff thongs.

CONCLUSION
I think that social networking and smart mobile device technologies can redeem mankind from going down this path of ignorance. It’s down to people using the likes of Facebook and Twitter to expose the extreme Thatcher-right wing politics of the UKIP which sees their members uttering the most inane ideas about race, homosexuality and feminism since the Stone Age. Hopefully the UKIP will disappear up its own orifice.

In the meantime I continue to make wonderful friendships online and I look forward to meeting them – if possible – offline. I have many friends all over the world and it is a great feeling and extension of the pen pal concept.

I also look forward to one day finding my significant other either through social networking or by chance when I am going about my business offline. I am not impeded by technology to interact with others face to face.

I think that Turk’s ‘Look Up’ video appeals like tabloid journalism in that it tugs at the concerns of thoughtful people to the point where they question themselves for being able to interact with meaningful connections.

Yes, some connections will be deeper than others. Yes, you will be deleted by someone and you will no doubt delete someone yourself. We make what we will of our social networking. There’s so much potential for us to meet and form deeper bonds / connections with people because our honesty will sort out the sincere from those pretending to be something that they are not.

You know what they say? Like attracts like!

I do believe that we can develop such a powerful neural connection / network in that our smart-devices become extra synapses – hence Synapse Circuit - that can be likened to a “psychic” experience. However, we must allow for the rest of the mind and body to catch up when we meet! We are different offline not because we present ourselves differently online but we react differently in physicality to each other. We react more to body language which we do not usually see unless using a webcam or video call via the smartphone and that's just the facial expression.

When we become more comfortable with each other we become more open. Online this openness can come more quickly than offline because we’re using this extra synapse to compensate for the lack of a physical presence. As long as we take time to adjust should an offline meeting takes place we’ll be alright.

And we shouldn’t substitute online for offline interactions and vice versa. In a word: Balance.

We need more time and time is money so if anything we should ask for a raise and shorter hours to spend more time with our family and friends.

THANKS FOR READING...
Please check out the Synapse Circuit site here: Synapse Circuit.com

Yes, I am well aware that the site is due an update soon! It’s coming...

Synapse Circuit for tech news, opinions, articles, reviews and competitions. You will find interactive PDF magazines, videos and links to free legal software! Check it out at SynapseCircuit dot com

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT ANTISOCIAL NETWORKING 2014

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT
ANTISOCIAL NETWORKING 2014
#AntisocialNetworking #Trolling #CyberBullying #Hate

Good late evening, Synapse Circuit Readers! How are you? I hope that you had a wonderful relaxing weekend! I sure did – even though I found some time to write a couple of articles last night! Well, I love to write as you probably have figured out! Lol!

A few days ago an online article, ‘Internet Trolls Really Are Horrible People Narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathic, and sadistic.’ It reminded me of the articles I wrote on ‘Antisocial Networking’ a while back. I am not sure if I agree with all of the articles contents...

“INTERNET TROLLS REALLY ARE HORRIBLE PEOPLE NARCISSISTIC, MACHIAVELLIAN, PSYCHOPATHIC, AND SADISTIC.” REALLY?
The trouble with the above notion is that the Internet – under the right circumstances can bring out the negative in some of us. It’s just like observing a kind, caring mother turn into a raging psychopathic killer when her child or children has been bullied, etc.

From my experiences I am inclined to think that some people really do believe in what they are doing by ostracizing someone online in, let’s say a forum. Again, it should come as no surprise that it is often the people that claim to be of a high moral standing i.e. a member of a particular religion, etc are often the most extreme because their sense of morality justifies it. Usually, such “moral leaders” have a following and that following are people who want to belong and will 90% of the time go along with what the “moral leader or leaders” have put forward against another.

Followers that question the “moral leader or leaders” are also ostracized.

I have been a member of a few forums and my stance has always been anti-clique! I can’t stand forum members that take the viewpoint that they own the forum space because they have been there the longest. And it’s the same with a lot of forum “moderators” who are supposedly there to keep the forum(s) pleasant and enjoyable for all but they just pander to their friends who they have formed bonds with from day one! This is what destroys any potentially good forum. The forum police become corrupt as does its mayor (the most respected forum member) and followers thus making any member that comes afterwards the outsider or outsiders. Sometimes it is hard to break through a clique of closed minded people.

At one point in a particular forum belonging to a rather well known software house I was being trolled by a rather disturbed person who was accusing me of being a troll just for having a wide presence on the Internet. If you have a website and social networking accounts then you will leave a considerable trail behind. However, this disturbed person did not seem to understand that he was in fact trolling me and questioning me about my various innocuous online activities to do with having a website and social networking accounts. This guy was really bonkers but he couldn’t see it because as far as he was concerned I was the “enemy”. Naturally, this guy wasn’t alone! Uh-uh! He had a rather accomplice in a “moderator” who is of Christian faith and quick to make accusations of “spam” for no particular reason other than for spite.

SELF-HATE
I’ve come to realize that people who are participating in trolling, cyber-bullying, etc are people who have a self-loathing and the Internet is used as some strange therapy. These people feel the need to be nasty towards others; it’s like they can’t help themselves. I reckon this is why some of these people do this anonymously. Offline they are the kind of people you wouldn’t notice and online they are the vilest people you could ever come across. Because of their insecurities they feel as though they need to make others feel worse!

Look at the young girls who were driven to suicide... I can’t think of one of those belated young girls that looked – for want of a better expression – ugly! All the young girls / women looked very beautiful and if school was like anything that I experienced when I was a pupil then it was the girl who looked like a model was the one who got picked on. Sometimes vanity can kill! I mean, if you think you’re beautiful and get told that you’re not it could make you want to take your life. But if you know that you are a beautiful person inside and out then it is harder to succumb to such bullying – that’s my theory!

In fact the one forum moderator described herself as a “yodel uneducated hick...” and that supports my theory that many people that have a self-loathing can be the nastiest people online. She’s probably still the same way. I was trying to have a discussion with her about the arts. I had an online magazine about music and she objected to an artist’s view on God. She confused that artist’s opinion of God with whom I am as a person. When I tried to reason with her about artist expression she came out with that description of herself, “yodel uneducated hick...” But that’s nothing to do with me but her uninformed outbursts within the forum and a negative effect on me. There you go!

As a web designer I have advised clients to NOT have a forum on their site if they cannot police it properly. A forum can bring the wrong kind of attention to what you are doing! In fact the well known software company has taken a more “community” approach to their forums. I have yet to join it. I might join it to see what happens! Lol!

LATELY
Sadly, there have been suicides. It seems like there isn’t enough education available to those who are affected as both bully and victim. Some “celebrities” have tried to capitalize on the subject of bullying to improve their status but it appears that not much has been achieved if school children are still taking their lives after suffering horrendous bullying both on and offline. I think I’ve yet to see a program that focuses on the bullies; ‘From the mouths of bullies. Why do they do what they do?’ That would be one interesting program.

Again, education or lack of it seems to be a major problem. For example, take this “NekNomination” craze, that I believe comes from the UK, it has claimed 3 lives (if I am correct) and the deaths came about through alcohol poisoning where the nominees must accept the challenge of drinking very dangerous amounts of alcohol. One deceased person is said to have consumed 2 pints of gin! Can you believe it????

Shouldn’t it be common knowledge that if you drink spirits in large quantities that it can cause alcohol poisoning that could kill? There again, how many teenagers have heard of the dangers of mixing wine, beer and spirits? As a teenager I found myself celebrating someone’s birthday in the cosy setting of the home; nothing outlandish like a nightclub, pub or anything like that. I was at someone’s home who was celebrating his birthday. Innocently, I consumed a potentially deadly stream of different alcohols: wine, beer and spirit. The quantities were not what I would consider as dangerous but the accumulation of these different forms of alcohol almost killed me! Now just imagine if I were in a different setting where there was a competitive atmosphere; I think I would not be here now. Since then I have read many ‘o’ times of accidental deaths occurring at stag nights. Come to think of it, I can’t remember any females dying of alcohol poisoning at a hen night.

TRENDS
The way I see it, there will always be people who have a low opinion of themselves and / or may not be well educated. This is the fuel for the on and offline hate campaigns that can drive others to suicide and getting into mischief that can possibly result in death by misadventure.

FURTHER READING
LINKS TO ARTICLES

Woman becomes first person to be jailed for ‘trolling herself’
http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/05/woman-becomes-first-person-to-be-jailed-for-trolling-herself-4292090/

Internet Trolls Really Are Horrible People Narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathic, and sadistic. By Chris Mooney
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/climate_desk/2014/02/internet_troll_personality_study_machiavellianism_narcissism_psychopathy.html

Fifth Neknominate death after man downed two pints of GIN to 'show who's the boss'.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/fifth-neknominate-death-after-man-3150586

ANTISOCIAL NETWORKING

AMANDA TODD
http://synapse-circuit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/antisocial-networking-amanda-todd-could.html

PAY UP!
http://synapse-circuit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/more-antisocial-networking-pay-up.html

ANTISOCIAL NETWORKING: R.I.P. REHTAEH PARSONS
http://synapse-circuit.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/antisocial-networking-rip-rehtaeh.html

ANTISOCIAL NETWORKING? PART ONE
http://synapse-circuit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/antisocial-networking-part-one.html

ANTISOCIAL NETWORKING? PART TWO FORUM FASCISM
http://synapse-circuit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/antisocial-networking-part-two-forum.html

ANTISOCIAL NETWORKING? PART THREE FORUM FASCISM
http://synapse-circuit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/antisocialnetworking-part-three-forum.html

What do you reckon?

Take good care!

Thank you for watching and reading!

Please check out the Synapse Circuit website for video, i-PDF and more! 

Synapse Circuit Dot Com

SOCIAL NETWORKING: DON’T BE PARANOID.

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT.
SOCIAL NETWORKING:
DON’T BE PARANOID.
DON’T BE STUPID.
DON’T BE SPITEFUL.
DON’T BE HUMAN.

#G+ #Facebook #Twitter #Humans #SocialNetworking #AntiSocialNetworking

Good afternoon, Synapse Circuit Readers! I hope you are having a great day so far! And if your day has just started then there is still time!

A funny thing happened to me at around 04:30 AM. My Google Blogger account had me as logged out when I didn’t log out. So, just in case I was being hacked into I took some precautions that had me close and re-launch the Chrome. I logged back into Google Blogger to receive the following message: There’s unusual activity on your account. Please submit your phone number for verification (words to that effect). I obliged and received a call from an Unknown source at 04:37 AM. I was given a numerical verification code which I entered to confirm my status...

...DON’T BE PARANOID

What happened there? Could it be that because someone, me, is using Google Blogger instead of Word Press – and quite prolific too?! Amazing... Someone posts a couple of blogs per day and it gets logged as “unusual activity”. That has got to be so freaking stupid. Oh and guess what?

Did you guess? I used Google Plus (G+) to post links to my articles within their communities. Now, isn’t that the idea? Hmmmm...

Anyway, I came across a term that I had never heard of before regarding my article, ‘Understanding Android’, “Clickbait”. “CLICKBAIT”????!!!!! Jeez! I swear these computer-dork-nerd-geeks make life harder for themselves... Lol! These people are so paranoid that they feel that if they click on a link to an article that somehow the article writer has got the better of them. Gimmie a break! The ‘Understanding Android’ article was posted in an Android community and I guess some ardent Über-Android Fan took the article as a slight against the Android operating system. Here’s the nonsensical response...

“I read it. It's clickbait. Not only that, it's almost a useless article talking about how people from other phone experiences get pissed at Android because they can't figure out what they used to do. It's actually the opposite of the clickbait title.

I'll not be reading anything else you post, sir or madam.”

The point is that the person didn’t read the article or read it with the view that there’s a malevolent agenda hidden somewhere in the context.

DON’T BE STUPID

Yes, you! Don’t be so bloody stupid! Read first, judge later.

Speaking of bait... When the likes of Facebook and Gmail first started out there wasn’t such strict rules as there are now – especially regarding what you want to call yourself.

Here’s the rant of a delusional iPhone / Apple Fan:

“You don't even use your real name on G+ and you're obviously just here to troll. You won't win any hearts and minds here. Go away.”

Oh, I am not suggesting for a second that he is delusional because he is an iPhone / Apple Fan. But mind you, if Tim Cook and cohorts are delusional... Hahahaha! C’mon, you have to have a sense of humour! Anyway, it just so happens that Blue Gene is my real name. I had to scan my passport and send it into Google! For crying out loud! Hahahaha!

Do you really think that Google didn’t know that people were being spied upon? I think they, Apple Facebook and others knew. Why do you think they are insisting upon users using their real name? What is so stupid about this rule is that anyone could withhold their name by using a typical English one i.e. John Doe and that name will get through. You couldn’t make it up. Well, actually you can’t if you subscribe to an alternative lifestyle such as Punk and its upgrade, Cyber-Goth. If you wanted to call yourself Putrid Peter or Vicious Vagina you can’t – well not on Facebook or Google Plus. Not anymore.

In fact what Google + and Facebook have done with this rule is antisocial. If people can’t be themselves then what’s the point? Sure, I am sure that there are those who will try and push an alternative name but the reality is that if the likes of the NSA wanted to track human behaviour then it is best to leave people to their own devices regarding what they wished to be called. People reveal more about themselves through self-expression and for most people self-expression starts with their name. Google, Facebook and others should know that – especially psychological profilers working for intelligence (hee hee hee) agencies. 

Some people don a name to mark an adjusted state of mind for good or bad like a superhero or villain. Sometimes you can guess the nature of the name i.e. Sunshine Flowers (fictional, I don’t know anyone by that name)... But what kind of person do you think Sunshine Flowers is? Male? Female? An enthusiastic environmentally conscious person? Yes, that could be. It could also be that Sunshine Flowers is so extreme about the plight of the planet that he or she could be willing to assassinate the CEO’s of companies that wilfully pollute the Earth.

On the flipside of the coin someone could be calling his or herself Nigger Killer and that person could be an Afro-American rapper. This issue of identity is a complex one and the likes of Google Plus and Facebook shouldn’t mess with it. It is wrong to exclude people on that basis; we should be free to call ourselves whatever we want.

DON’T BE SPITEFUL

Often I come across spiteful people that love to dish out terms like “Clickbait”, “Troll” and “Spam” when such terms aren’t even justified. These spiteful people often cause the accounts of others to be closed / deleted without warning. I know that if you have been in that situation these “Customer Support” people are less than helpful and seem go out of their way to be an ass! And when you get into a position where you’re actually talking to a human like I did with someone from Twitter and ask them what I was supposed to have been spamming there’s no answer. These misguided folk do not take the time to look at the nature of the links.

Often I link my articles on relevant Facebook Pages and Groups. It just takes for one spiteful person to complain “SPAM” and I lose all my posting privileges. It is DUMB! In fact I had my posting privileges restored when the Facebook people or person took the time to see what I was posting did not constitute as “SPAM”. But it’ll happen again if I keep posting links to my articles on Facebook. All it takes is just one! It is bloody annoying to say the least and that is why I hardly use Facebook nowadays. Facebook has decided that “SPAMMING” includes writing to people that aren’t on your Facebook “friend list”. Say, aren’t they going to charge users to write to celebrities? Hmmmm... Anyway, I think anyone crying SPAM without just cause should be banned for 30 days on any social network. Surely there ought to be algorithms to determine where a link is going, no? How difficult would it be to detect if a link is going to ‘That Magic Blue Pill dot com’ or ‘Blogspot dot com’? But please... NO MORE SPAM, CLICKBAIT or TROLL talk; shove it up your a$$e$!

Google Plus is a little better. I am actually connecting with wonderful, intelligent people which more than makes up for the paranoid people who write in a way to let people know that they are intelligent. The difference between me and them is that I write because I am intelligent. I wouldn’t say I am exceptionally gifted but at least I am able to read an article and understand the intent.

“I'll not be reading anything else you post, sir or madam.”

Yeah! See if I care! Don’t read my articles. And please don’t post your crap responses! Bah! I do find that I have to restrain myself when taking such negative people into consideration. I shouldn’t be spiteful back. But that’s human nature...

DON’T BE HUMAN

I think that Technology (I see it as a quasi-religion) should unite the planet. I prefer Android (despite the weirdness that can be demonstrated by Google Plus or G+) because of their willingness to include apps that spans platforms as was demonstrated at the Google i / O 2013. But if you happen to like Windows or iOS then good for you! I don’t get why people take it so personally when their chosen technology is being scrutinized and criticized; I think these criticisms is what makes the developers strive to accomplish more. As an Android user I am keen to know what will be the makings of Key Lime Pie. Phone users have been delighted with what promises to be iOS 7 and I don’t hold it against them.

Isn’t technology supposed to be making us smarter? Hmmmm... I don’t know... About 4 or 5 years ago ore more I was using my Nokia 95 and I had ex amount of texts to my monthly rental plan so I had to use Text-Speak i.e. l8r, cre8, w8, m8, etc. Thankfully, I don’t remember these word abbreviations but I could swear that at one point it was making me forget how to spell. And a girlfriend who I was seeing at the time couldn’t spell for toffee and she was using Text-Speak even when she didn’t have to i.e. in a short text. I am so very thankful for apps like Viber, WhatsApp and LINE, etc where I can write normally.

I think people who have time for such idiotic words as “Clickbait” are dumbing themselves down. People would rather distrust me than to distrust a government and social networks that has no respect for the privacy of their citizens. Every time I accept an add request on Facebook the question comes, “Did I know this person offline prior...” It’s none of your Goddamned business!  But just for the record in case I am being spied upon...

I do not know or willingly anyone who holds racist, misogynist and homophobic views.

As much as I would like to erase some people off the face of this Earth I do not know or willingly condone any acts of violence. Violence is abhorrent. Murder is an abomination of humanity. There is no religious or political justification for it. The act of personal self defence is different. As far as I am concerned there is no bravery in blowing oneself up and to kill and maim others in the process. There is no bravery in harming / killing innocent people – especially women and children.

I do believe that a life should be taken by the law of those that commit murder and sexual crimes against children and adults. I do not want my taxes going on keeping these criminals locked up to enjoy a roof over their heads, food, TV and computer games. My motto is this: Can’t rehabilitate. Incinerate. I don’t want paedophiles to be let out of prison only for them to be re-housed near schools.

The taxpayer money should be spent to better healthcare for law abiding citizens.

What do you reckon?

Thank you for reading!

Take good care!

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Thank you for watching and reading!

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