Digital Value.

Photo By borman818

I have noticed that I along with a lot of people have a weird attitude towards value based on how “physical” things are. 

I came to this conclusion as I was standing in line to buy coffee whilst browsing the app store on my iPhone. I pay $3.50 for coffee everyday. I was browsing for apps (I am debating learning to cook) and was looking at the free and paid ones. Most of them clock in at around $3 bucks though some are up to $10 *le gasp* so I hit the button for the free list. I got to the front of the line and ordered my coffee and handed over my $3.50 and the cognitive dissonance of my actions hit me. 

I am willing to pay $3.50 every day for coffee. Each and everyday I hand over $3.50 and get coffee. I don’t hand over $3.50 and get coffee everyday for ever more with updates if the technology improves! Its not a perfect metaphor but you see my point. 

Link Love #5

Dandy by Miss Addict

Happy Monday Lovely People! Is once again time for Link Love! So here are the things I have been loving the last 2 weeks.

• Let Me Google That For You!

Ever get people asking you stupid questions that they could just Google? Use this wonderful site!

• Virginia the Blind Dog

Great post on Boing Boing by Jason Torchinsky about his dog Virginia learning how to cope with being blind. Funny and Inspiring!

• Kiva: Loans that Change Lives

Kiva is an awesome concept. It is the world's first person-to-person micro loan website, individuals lend directly to entrepreneurs around the planet! So Awesome!

• Make Up Tutorials on Youtube

Specifically the Pixiewoo Channel. I love the english accents and they have a billion tips and tricks. Found them while looking for a tutorial on Dita Von Teese style makeup!

• Sunday Sweets on Cake Wrecks.

While I Love me a Cake Wreck Sunday Sweets is my favourite post of the week hands down. This week it was Cakes Based on Threadless Shirts. Not sure if I want the cakes or the shirts more! SO gorgoeus!

• Twitter Home Page:

Twitter has a new home page with the emphasis on searching for content. Very slick but since I twitter mainly through TweetDeck probably not going to effect me much. Strangely no outrage as always happens when Facebook changes something

• Graph Jam

Graph Jam is an offshoot of Fail Blog and LOL cats and is nearly always funny! I specifically love this one

• Lick My Cupcakes

I linked to Em last time for her "Think inside the box" secrets post. Her blog is a really positive source for me. Em is gorgeous and so brave in my opinion! The girl cuts her own hair! So check her out peoples!

What are you loving and linking this week? Lemme Know in the comments pretty please!

Love and Obsessions
Miss Addict

p.s. Expect a review on my new Hair Straighter later this week . Its a Turbo Ion (not the Cortec)

Link Love #4

Photo By D Sharon Pruitt

So My RSS reader got a little out of hand this week because I wasn't home last weekend to clean it out and then I was sick (All

Better Now don't Stress) So I have had to be very selective in what sharing because there is just SO much I could share.

To Begin:

• Gala Darling has a new Project called "Letters to the Universe" Really cute! Because who doesn't love Gala!

• I'm totally in love with cute overload (No surprise there) but this one made me "awwwww" out loud!

• A really interesting experiment taking place within the sims.

• Emma over at Lick my Cupcakes has a great project going. Like post secret but more immediate. Great Read

• Doe Deere is one of my favourite people on the Internet. This post about her Unicorn Outfit is amazingly inspiring.

• Evolution Graffiti So awesome! Must of taken a lot of work!

• Wataru Itou is an art student in Tokyo. His art work is hand made and took four years of hard work to construct. It has electrical lights, Ferris Wheel, and a moving train, all made of paper! The photos are utterly stunning and beautiful!
  

• Sydney Design Festival is on from the 1st of August and I shall be having a look around that lemme tell you. Details here: [Link]

• This and This very NSFW image from ModFetish. If you don't like Naked girls don't click!

So What are you drooling over this week Ladies and Gents? Link me your loves!

Love and Obsessions

Miss Addict

P.S Im trialing a new commenting system to allow threaded comments and the ability to post with your twitter account. Please let me know of any glitches or issues :)

10 Signs You're Addicted to Twitter

Twitter Pillow by Craftsquatch

I am addicted to Twitter. Whole heartedly. It came to me when I was walking home in the rain shielding my phone so I could send a tweet complaining about the rain! And thus I started composing this post. I am probably missing alot the signs of Twitter Addiction so feel free to add them in the comments!

1. The first thing you do when you wake up is to announce your presence to Twitter.

2. You Tweet people who are in the same house as you.My sister and I do this frequently...

3. Your friends no longer call you to find out how life is going since they now follow your every move on Twitter.

4. You use hash tags in IM conversations with friends. Extra points if you do it outloud in RL.

5. You have more than one Twitter Ap (eg. Twitteriffic, Tweetie, TweetDeck, Twirl or Digsby) installed on your computer and your choosen one runs automatically when you start the computer.

6. When you cant twitter you start to get withdrawl symptoms such as talking to yourself (but only in 140 characters or less).

7. You follow important news via "Trending Topics" i.e You heard about Michael Jacksons death via Twitter.

8. You need to log off Twitter or you dont get any work done... But you are still logged in.

9. You are constantly harassing friends and family to join Twitter. My Mother, Sister, Best Friend, Boyfriend and Assorted other people in my life are all on Twitter.

10. You walk into and trip over stationary objects because your Tweeting on the go... then you Tweet that you just fell over.

Many thanks to Corpsey, Chevell, gnomeangel, angelayang, joolzgirl and tizbanana on twitter who contributed idea via Twitter for this post. Follow all of them they are all awesome!

So People what other signs are there that you have a Twitter Addiction?

Love and Obsessions

Miss Addict

P.S You can purchase the gorgeous twitter cushion at the top of this post from Craftsquatch Here: [Link] along with the RSS pillow I featured in last weeks Love and Lust Haves #5

Flash Games Addiction!

Picture By /Francesca

Im not really one for video games. My sister currently holds the reigning title of "Queen of Playstation and Xbox" in my house. However I personally love flash games. Utterly love them. I get sucked in and will emerge hours later trying to figure out how I managed to lose 5 hours of my life. So I thought I would share with you the games that I am currently playing to distraction. Play at your own risk!

Nom Nom Nom 4 Fud

This is the lol cat game. Use the cats tail to aim and slingshot the cat towards fud. Earn extra points by collecting cheese burgers and balls of yarn.
I discovered this game last week and played for hours. Getting frustrated with levels I couldn't get past and rejoicing when I beat them! I promptly got a friend of mine obsessed too and we sat chatting backwards and forwards about how we were doing for hours enjoying the incredible cuteness that is a zooming cat looking for Fud.
Addiction Level: 8

Bejewelled

I first got addicted to this game back in high school and found it again a couple of weeks ago thanks for a fellow addicted friend. Match jewels to get points. You can play beat the clock or regular untimed games. A very easy way to pass the time. Not as cute as Nom Nom Nom 4 Fud but a decent way to distract yourself while you wait for something to download.
Addiction Level 5

Peggle

Like a game of ping ball with a cannon. Extremely hard but satifying when it does what you want. Hit all the targets by rebounding the ball in the right direction. I found this one after I finally got bored with BeJewelled and finally went looking for something else to play. Cute Name, Addictive Game.
Addiction Level: 7

Pengiun Baseball

I have been playing this game for years. I am shocking at it but I love it all the same! Hit a penguin as far as you can playing a baseball bat swinging Yeti. Again with the addictive. Of course penguin lovers might want to skip this one!
Addiction Level: 6

All Screen Shots are captured from original game sites.

What games are you addicted to? Any games you have loved for years and years that never seem to get old? Anything Im missing out on? Lemme know in the comments!

Love and Addictions I'm off to play Num Num Num 4 Fud!

Miss Addict!

I must say a very special thank you to Adam who has been testing games along with me the last couple of days. I got him horridly addicted to Nom Nom Nom 4 Fud. Sorry Hun! ( he is much better at it than me so I dont feel that guilty!)

Web Comics Recommendations!

I love Webcomics and I Read a lot of them. There are thousands literally out there to read and choose from. Starting a webcomic is a huge commitment and there are quite a few that look promising and then stop updating at some point leaving you hanging! Like blogging updating reliably with a webcomic is one of the key factors that keep readers coming back.

There are few webcomic artists who are able to support themselves solely on the money they make from comics, most have day jobs on top of the very full on job of creating a work of art that updates weekly/bi/tri weekly or daily! The comics linked below are all updated regularly and fairly well known but if you are just getting started with webcomics these are a good place to start!

Questionable Content
Updated: Monday - Friday
Colour: Full Colour
Panels: 4
RSS: Full Comic

Questionable Content is created by Jeph Jacques. The first strips went online on August 1, 2003 according to his about page. Its an ongoing story about a group of friends with the core characters being Martin, Faye, Dora, and Hannalore. Supporting cast includes Raven, Pennelope, Anthro PCs and a fair amount of other people who pop up on a regular basis. The strip count is up over 1300 so reading the whole archive will take you awhile but is well worth it for the back story on all the characters.

Another good reason to read the archive is so you can appreciate how much the artwork has progressed over the years. Jeph has a twitter account which can be found here: [Link] where he posts random comments, updates on how the drawing of the comic is going and the occasional drunken message. QC is my favourite webcomic and I have been reading it for a long time ( going on 5 years!) and the writing, characters and artwork still impress and make me hungry for more every time!

One more nifty thing about Questionable Content! A few of the characters have their own twitter accounts which interact with each other. I cant imagine the phenomenal amount of work it takes to manage this but its extremely cool and adds a nice dimension to the characters. Collection of twitter accounts can be found here [Link]








Devils Panties
Updated: Monday to Friday with full comics. Saturday & Sunday with Sketches and Occasionally a full comic.
Colour: Black and White with Colour Highlights.
Panels: 4
RSS: Link Only

Jennie Brendan the creator of Devils Panties is furiously prolific with her comics, she produces Devils Panties 5 Days a week, Geebas On Parade semi regularly and Customers Suck every Monday. Devils panties is the story of Jennies life, She calls it semi autobiographical and it includes her adventures clubbing, going to comic conventions and stories about her home life (she cooks about as well as me apparently!) with occasional "famous last words" and "what not to say in the bedroom" single strips.

Jennie has a Twitter account [Link] and a youtube account [Link] with which she video blogs. Devils panties has existed since October 2001. Again the archives massive but well worth the read to get the back story on Jennie including several moves and the story of how she met her SO Will. I have been reading Devils Panties longer than QC so going on 6-7 years and I would count Jennie as one of my Heroes. Her comic is utterly awesome and when I go to the states I will be timing it so I can go to a convention and possible pounce her! Funny, Feminist, wonderfully drawn and brilliantly written!


Snowflakes
Updated: Monday Wednesday Friday
Colour: Full Colour:
Panels: 4-5
RSS: Full Comic

Snowflakes if a new webbcomic only having been around since March of this year and was recommended to be by a friend. This webcomic has some serious Talent behind it as the Artist and Scripter have both worked on webcomics that rocked before. Created by James Ashby (story/plotting), Chris Jones(Art) and Zach Weiner(Scripting) its the tale of an Orphanage sometime in the Andes mountains its set against the back drop of never ending snow.

The art work is delicious and the characters and funny and offbeat while still being relateable Not a huge archive to read which is one of the benefits of young webcomics. The web design for this comic is great, clean and easy to navigate with the ads being non invasive which makes for a pleasant reading experience. I cant wait to see where the story goes!



Templar Arizona
Updated: Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays
Colour: Sepia Toning
Panels: Full page, panels depend on Art work
RSS Feed: Full Comic

Templar Arizona is artistically one of the most gorgeous webcomics on the net! Spike is insanely talented, her lines are so freaking clean and her colouring is incredible! The story of Templar is compelling, confusing and makes me crave updates because I want to know whats next! Her Central character is a writer named Ben though plenty of other characters fill the landscape. According to the about section of the comic Templar Arizona is
"A slice-of-life, speculative fiction comic about a fictional city and its inhabitants"
and
"This is a story about a town that doesn't exist, and the people who live there.
This is also the story of a guy trying to find himself, and run away from himself at the same time."

I am not sure how long with webcomic has been online but the archives are substantial and organised into chapters. We are currently in Chapter 4 with an intermission in between each chapter so it makes keeping track of where you are up to fairly easy. A gorgeous and beautiful comic with a kick arse story line and brilliant writing! Spike has a twitter account which can be found here: [Link]





Freak Angels
Updated: fridays with a 6 page episode!
Colour: Full Colour
Panels: Depends on the page
RSS Feed: First Page then link for the rest of the episode.

Freak Angels is written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Paul Duffield. Its gorgeous with muted colours, intricate details and Beautiful styling. Currently up to Episode 53 its an amazing read about a post apocalyptic world filled with a flooded world, steam helicopters and people with amazing powers. An interesting take on the end of the world. The characters are fantastically written from the girl who is kick arse, gorgeous and just a little bad to the guy who makes your skin crawl.

A hefty archive though worth the investment. I have been putting off buying the Books (2 are currently in print) because of lack of funds but that would be a great way to catch up on the comic as well as a worth while invention because this is a comic you are going to want to savour and I can imagine how amazing this artwork would look in print form! No twitter for either the writer or illustrator but there is an active forum to get involved in.



As I said these are just a few of the comics I read and some of the most well known. All of them have great artwork, well written stories and characters as well as being easy and a lot of fun to read!

What Webcomics do you read? Who is your favourite Artist?

Love and Obsessions

Miss Addict

p.s: All Images are copywrite to the owners of the web comics listed!

RSS Mayhem

Word Collage Made with Wordle

Its been a long week and its only Wednesday! Sorry for the lack of post Monday. I have barely made it to my computer since sunday due varying factors. I checked my RSS this afternoon and its getting out of control! 1000+ things for me to read! Which prompted me to write a piece about RSS Readers and Feeds.


I have over 100 feeds in my RSS Reader. Thats 100 Websites feeding me News, Blogs, Gorgeous Photos, Fashion Tips, design news, pretty naked people and webcomics. This is a screenshot of my RSS Reader currently. Note the crazy amount of things I read/am interested in/keep meaning to read.

RSS Screenshot - Click to Enlarge

Before I discovered RSS I used bookmarks to keep track of all the sites I was interested in and then would have to check them one by one everyday.. however this got seriously impractical over time as I had dozens of websites and some that updated Multiple times a day everyday. I was continually forgetting what I had checked and who updated when.

Now that I have set up my RSS Reader I dont have to worry about forgetting to check a website when I can just check one place and know exactly whats updated. I love opening my RSS Reader in the morning and seeing all the content that was created while I was sleeping. Some of websites syndicate the whole post/article/comic others just include a link. Personally I prefer reading everything in my reader and then if I want to comment I'll take the time to go to the site however I understand why people just include a link. When Website traffic is your income you need people to come to you rather than seeing your content from a distance.

I use Google for the simple fact of being able to access it anywhere anytime which simply my google log in allowing me to share and show friends what im reading/obsessing over currently however there are alot of other choices out there. Since I havent used anything other than Google Reader I cant comment on how good/bad the other choices are but Life Hacker has an article about the Best RSS Newreaders as voted by their readers. [Link]

To start recieving feeds you need to add them to you reader. Many websites have an inbuilt RSS Feed Link like the one underneath my twitter feed currently, Firefox has a nifty feature where if you go to bookmarks you can select Subscribe in reader and then add it to you reader of choice.

The great thing about RSS is that everything is one place, you can pick and choose what to read and where to go. Its an easy way to organise everything you read. It can get overwhelming when you have over 1000+ things to read. If after a few weeks you realise your not reading that blog or that website, or the fact that they update 30 times a day makes you want to scream unsubscribe, go back to just browsing the website as you did before. This will cut down on the amount of feeds that sit unread for days accusing you from their folders:P Google Reader has in built stats reports showing what you do and dont read to help you prune your RSS when it gets out of hand (Note to self: Prune RSS!)

I have quite a few Different catorgories and I am currently creating even more prescise labels to make my reading easier. Some of my catorgories include Design, Fashion, Personal Blogs, A Day, News and Pretty naked people. I will be writing a post on how to best organise your RSS Reader in the next week since I realised it an entire post on its own while writing this one so keep an eye out for that :)

What are you favourite RSS Reader? Do you use one? How have you found it changes your web browsing habits?
For more informtation on RSS head over the Wikipedia [Link]

Love and Obsessions

Miss Addict

A little Schadenfreude in your monday.

Photo by -=[michael]=-

Schadenfreude: satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone Else's misfortune


Schadenfreude: it's difficult to pronounce and conjures images of horrible witches cackling over crystal balls watching the gorgeous (and of course helpless) princess trip in the Forrest running from her minions ... or perhaps that's just me.

But there is a lot to be said for realising that your not the only one who bad things happen to. Having a little giggle at the youtube video of the Dad getting hit in the balls by his toddler is totally okay and just as therapeutic as watching Cats on treadmills or Hamster on a piano 100 times a day! Perhaps more so. Not being alone in your crappy mood can make it lighter and easier to get on with life without dwelling on the bad stuff.

I'm not talking about laughing when your best friend stacks it down a set of stairs or when you see an old lady struggling with her shopping.

However laughing at simple things like the website "Oh Crap My Parents Joined Facebook" (which lets face it would be fairly horrifying) is a great outlet on a Monday morning when you missed your train, it rained, you forgot your umbrella and that cute guy/girl on the bus saw you drenched from head to toe looking decidedly unsexy and frazzled. After all at least your Mum isnt seeing that photo of you at that party you only kinda remember...

There are a tonne of great websites out there that catalogue the misfortunes of others with humorous intent and submitting something yourself can be a great relief. Take "I bang the worst dudes.. sorry mom" where you can submit a story bout the worst you dude ever .. *ahem* banged along with a photos of the Dude in question (they censor him with a black line) and all anonymously so no one has to know it was you!

I enjoy a little Schadenfreude ... when its done in fun so much that I have a whole category devoted to it in my RSS Reader (labelled unimaginatively Schadenfreude ) Here are a couple of Choice links to get your through a bad day with a giggle and the assurance that its not all that bad, at least you didn't sleep with a guy who likes to be called “Moose” and have his butt spanked "like mom would" [Link]

I Bang the worst dudes ... Sorry Mom!
[Link]

This website is not very old but has already got some serious attention. Run by "mom" the horror stories will make you realise that your worst boyfriend cannot compare.. or if he can you just post it up here and feel a little better bout the whole sordid affair. Trust me when I say its a great outlet!

Good For: Bagging out that one night stand shamefully sitting like a skeleton in your metaphoric closet without having to admit to your friends you slept with him.

Oh Crap My Parents Joined Facebook
[Link]

How do you respond to a friend request from your Mum? This site catalogues the funny/embarrassing/plain arkward things parents do on Facebook. I haven't had to deal with Mum on facebook but a friend request from my Boss was a bit odd. I ended up not replying for 6 months until I left the job and then declined it...

Good For: Realising your not the only one who has to be careful on facebook cause Mum or Dad is watching. Also a good reminder not to take those "Purity Test?" quizzes..No one wants their mum asking they have had a threesome.

Said In Bed
[Link]

The site says "as arkward as the act" as a description. I have to say some of the quotes make me laugh, others make me squirm and some are serious WTF moment.. like this one [Link] Brilliant to read with a friend and laugh til your sides split. Or as a guilty pleasure on your lunch break.

Good For: A laugh and some great brain twisting moments trying to figure out what might have preceded the quote!

My Very Worst Date:
[Link]

Remember that date where your best friend asked you to ring her and then she pretended her pipes had burst just so she could get away from the loser on the other side of the table? Well if that story isn't up there it would fit right in! A lot of dates don't go well and this website is a chance to wave the experience around in public again behind the veil of Anonymity.

Good For: Stressing yourself out about all the things that could possibly wrong on your date tonight... or for telling world how incredibly wrong your date tonight went. Or just great for a little Schadenfreude in your Monday.

F my life!
[Link]

When you need a quick "My life isn't so bad" pick me up head to fmylife.com. For the moments when nothing else says it the phrase "Fuck my life" exists and now the whole world can enjoy the moment to... would you rather be laughed with or at? Read though a never ending list of FML moments that are little longer than a twitter post.

Good For: Days when you either need to say "Fuck my life" to the whole world and let it out or just realising that other people are having a shit day too


Extra Giggles without the Schadenfreude:
Hamster on a Piano - [Link]
Cat on a Treadmill: - [Link]

Love and Obsessions

*mwah*

Miss Addict

10 Signs of a Net Addict

by Jared

Net addicts are a varied and complicated breed of people. We are from all walks of life from your grandma who got addicted to online marjong (after you explained to her how to use the mouse) to the13 year old geek who has discovered forums and other geeks just like him!

Here are 10 simple signs you or someone you know is a net addict!

1. The first thing you do in the morning is turn on your computer and check your email.

I am incredibly guilty of this. I get up, walk into my office, turn on my computer and then go make myself a cup of tea and breakfast while it loads, come back, update twitter, open Google Reader then get absorbed so badly the house could burn down around me and I would not notice!

2. Your internet gets capped and you get irritated at waiting 60 seconds for a web page to load.

There are 3 people sharing the net connection at my house. Thats 3 times the flash games, youtube videos and downloads so inevitably we get capped. When it happens I will actually YELL at my computer to go faster... it sadly doesnt listen!

3. Its 3am, you have to be up for work tomorrow at 6am and you find yourself saying "just one more webcomic/blog post/game"

I do this on a nightly basis, I will stay up horridly late reading webcomics, blogs, new articles, photography and photoshop tutorials or looking at pretty naked people and then the next day I will be an awesomely not fun person to be around until I have ingested approximately enough caffeine for an elephant.

4. You have dreams where you met your favourite bloggers (or the creator of your favourite game)

This has happened to me more than once. I dreamed Gala Darling and I went on a shopping trip and found a store that sold real live unicorns! (Probably inspired by her Holo Unicorn Necklace) I also dreamed the gorgeous Lady Smaggle and she asked me to take her outfit photos.

5. The power goes out and your first reaction is "Oh no the internets!"

Not 3 weeks ago someone hit a power box near my house and I was without power for 3 days. I didn't know what to do with myself. I ended up rnd pretending that this was the apocalypse and trying on the best zombie fighting outfits (fyi High Heels are not practical in event of apocalypse)

6. You find yourself telling your grandmother about the latest lol cat at a family dinner... and then spend 15 minutes explaining what a lol cat is because you know she'll find it funny if she could just understand cat linguistics.

I haven't done this to my Grandma but did I explain the whole story of Pastafarism to my Grandfather and he promptly decided he liked and and now tells everyone he is a Pastafarian! (My Grand Dad is too cool) More info on the Flying Spaghetti Monster Here [Link]

7. When someone asks you a question you say "ill google it" even if its just "whats for dinner?"

A very common saying in my house is "Just google it" everything from Recipes, Songs and Pet Tags the Internet is the ultimate Tips and Tricks guide.

8. Before cleaning the house you search for more efficient ways to clean rather than just getting started

I did this yesterday because I could not figure out how to get the gunk from an exploded lasagna off the roof of my microwave!

9. You have conversations with your real life friends and you tell them something you have done recently they say "Yep read it on your twitter/facebook/blog"

I follow several RL friends on twitter and recently in a conversation a friend mentioned something that had happened to him that he had Tweeted. So far haven't had a story of mine made redundant by tweeting but the day is coming.


10. You obsessively refresh your RSS Reader when you have read everything desperately hoping someone will update and give
you something to read!

My Google Reader has over 100 websites subscribed in it and I still run out of things to read and am constantly adding things to it. I love blogs that update multiple times a day and especially if they are pointing out other cool things like on the net (Boing Boing is great for this)


There are alot more things that characterize us net addicts but these are a few that I am guilty of. If you are worried you might have an actual problem take the Net Addiction Test: [Link]

What makes you a net addict?

Love and Obsessions

Miss Addict