The link below is to an article I created on Storify regarding Evernote Hello. Evernote Hello is an app I use of my iPhone for contact management.
For more visit:
http://storify.com/particularkev/evernote-hello
application
Beginning with GMail
The link below is to a tutorial that looks at starting out with GMail – a beginner’s guide to Google’s free email service/application.
For more visit:
http://mashable.com/2012/09/27/gmail-beginners-guide/
Goodreads: The Book Reading Social Network
Native Wildlife of the Area
It’s another wet and windy day in paradise, so not much to do but sit it out. It also means I haven’t got a lot to type about (as opposed to write about, given I’m using the keyboard). So I’m going back a little and posting about some photos I’ve taken in recent months here. In fact, what I’m posting about today is one of the great things about living here in Tea Gardens, which differs a great deal from other places I have lived down Newcastle and Lake Macquarie way and that is the abundance of wildlife around here. Sadly we have managed to kill of most of the wildlife down around Newcastle, or at the very least drove it all away. Here it abounds and I love it being so.
I’m not talking about just the smaller animal and bird species you might expect to find in a suburban area, but even the bigger examples of wildlife also. Kangaroos and Wallabies can be found all over the place in this area and it isn’t unusual to see them bounding down the main street in numbers. In fact, sadly, you often find them as road kill on the main road out to the highway. Where I work we have smaller wallabies and kangaroos actually living in and amongst the homes, with joeys in their pouches as well. The odd Dingo can also be seen from time to time. Koalas are known to live in healthy numbers around the area – not that I have spotted one here yet.
Reptiles abound here also, with large numbers of Red Belly Black Snakes, Diamond Pythons (pictured at above left) and Tree Snakes readily found in the warmer months, along with Blue-Tongued Lizards and Goannas. I have seen some Goannas that have been at least 1 metre long. Some of the Diamond Pythons have been closer to 2 metres in length.
It is the bird life that really thrives around here, especially the wetland varieties. The area is rich in bird life. At work you can see on a daily basis Wattle Birds, Blue Wrens, Finches, various Parrots and Rosellas, Black Cockatoos, Galahs, Water Fowl, Wood Ducks, Ibis, Egrets, Spoonbills, Herons, Black Swans and many, many more species of birds. There are the rarer sightings of birds also. A Tawny Frogmouth (pictured at below right) has made its home near where I live, trying its best to look like part of the tree in which it chooses to roost.
The area also abounds in sea life, of various types and sizes. It is not unusual to have Humpback Whales sighted of the coast here and Dolphins can be spotted almost every morning if you know where to look. The Sting Rays are also easy spot at the right time of the day.
You do get your not so welcome species of wildlife also, such as mosquitos and sand flies, but I guess these play their part in the general run of things, being food perhaps for the more welcome members of wildlife society.
One of the things I’m doing down here, tieing in my interest in web applications and social networks, is being involved with the Project Noah social network. This is a place to log wildlife spots with GPS markings using the iPhone application, along with the web application. I haven’t long been involved in it, but it is something I will be doing more and more. It will be good to build up a more complete picture of what species live in the area. Others can get involved in recording and mapping the wildlife of the area here by joining the ‘mission’ I have started at Project Noah.
The mission I have started for Tea Gardens can be found at:
http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/12346009
HappyRambles
HappyRambles is something between a Blog and a personal diary. It is a way of remembering the blessings you receive and/or what you are thankful for each day.
When you are registered and set up, the application will email you each day with a reminder to log in what you are grateful for on that day. You simply reply to the email with 3 to 5 items and your Blog/diary is updated. The daily email also reminds you of what you were thankful for on a previous random day.
You are also able to share entries with others by simply emailing them a copy of your day, right from the entry.
Visit at:
http://www.happyrambles.com/
penzu
Some people like to keep a personal and private diary or journal. It may be for just jotting down thoughts that you want to remember for some reason, perhaps private reflections on daily happenings or whatever reason it may be. I have tried to keep a diary on a number of occasions – with varying degrees of success. I was never able to keep it up for great periods of time however.
I am trying to keep a journal again now. I use two online resources for doing so now. The first is penzu – which I really wanted to test out and see if it was any good and if it met my needs. Penzu is an application that is allows users to have their own personal and private diary or journal stored online (or in the ‘cloud,’ as they say these days). You are also able to share your entries with the world should you so wish – but they are private by default.
Penzu is free to sign up for and there is a permanent free version of the application. There is of course also a premium or paid for version which offers more options.
The free version also allows you to insert photos (including those stored at flickr). There is a very useful auto-save feature, which means you won’t loose your entries by forgetting to save them. Should you choose to share an entry with others, there is a comments feature for others to share their thoughts on your entry.
The ‘pro’ or ‘premium’ version has a lot more to offer. I don’t have the premium account, just the free one at this stage. Should you choose to upgrade you are of course able to do so. Should you wish to secure your entries to a greater degree than the free version, the premium version allows for that. The premium version also allows for larger photos, more than one diary or journal, the ability to export data in a number of formats, mobile diary ability, email posts to your diary, set reminders, tagging of posts, etc.
Check out the site at:
https://penzu.com/home
Quotista: Sharing Quotes Social Network
I am looking for a web application that will allow me to store quotations online, that will allow me to search the database, allow me to share quotes, etc. I haven’t really been able to find the application that is just what I’m looking for, but Quotista seems to be the closest to what I’m looking for. I have joined the Quotista network and will begin experimenting with it. It certainly has a lot of potential and is still only in beta development, so I’m sure it will continue to improve. It is already a pretty good site.
ABC2MP3: Text to Speech Application
This link is to a web application called ABC2MP3. This application is another very good application for turning text into speech. It has many uses which are outlined on the website.
See more at:
YakiToMe: Text to Speech Application
This link is to a web application called YakiToMe. This application is another very good application for turning text into speech. It has many uses which are outlined on the website.
See more at:
iSpeech: Text to Speech Application
This link is to a web application called iSpeech. This application is a very good application for turning text into speech. It has many uses which are outlined on the website.
See more at:
Kevin's Daily Photo, Video, Quote or Link 
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