“The largest online protest in history has fundamentally changed the game.  You were heard.”

SOPA and PIPA have been stopped. For now, at least.

My Ford Explorer

Also, for the first time ever, I realized that I have many other interests besides technology. I have been keeping up with news and business, and I’ve had fun with that. That’s part of what makes it somewhat difficult to make decisions when it comes to matters of college and career. I am positive, however, that I will always be interested in technology, music, and business. I will continue to have new interests, but those will always stay at the forefront of my interests.

People always ask about New Year’s resolutions, but the truth is that I’ve never made a solid one. I actually think it would be pretty fun to come up with a few resolutions, but that’s only if they are goals that are within reach. One of my resolutions is going to be to blog more often, so I’m going to try to follow through with that. I feel like this is a great tool to share what’s going on in my life, and that I don’t use it nearly enough. Anyways, I’ve had a great year, and I am confident that 2012 will be fantastic.

Facebook Timeline

Trying out my developer preview of Facebook Timeline. I think they did a nice job!

Made today in digital photography. It's not perfect, but it's easily one of the coolest pictures I've ever taken/edited.

This is a masterpiece that I made in Digital Photography! Original image

Anyways, we came home, and spent a few weeks at home. Then, we went to Las Vegas! It was my first time going to Vegas, and I really had a lot of fun. We stayed at Hard Rock Hotel, where I watched people lose their money gamble, hung out by the pool, and people-watched. Vegas is a very cool place, even for the under-21 demographic. I found it to be a big city in the middle of a desert. After you leave Vegas, there is nothing. That didn’t stop us, though.

We also found Elvis. He's living in Vegas, now. Haha

We drove to Los Angeles. It was four-hour drive, but it wasn’t so bad. On the way to LA, we stopped and had lunch at Peggy Sue’s. Why did we eat there? Well, it was the only place to eat within miles. It turned out being decent, though. The food was good, and the atmosphere was like nothing else. They did a great job with the retro theme. Finally, we arrived in LA. We went to The Grove, where Mario Lopez was shooting a new episode of Extra. We took the TMZ tour, all of the touristy things. Los Angeles is a fun place to spend vacation time.

Summer has once again come to a close. Next year, I’m going to be a junior. This is incredibly hard to believe, but I feel confident that it’s going to be great. I realize this post is incredibly lengthy, but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to blog again, since I’m usually incredibly busy during the school year. I’m ready to go, though!

Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.

- James Dean

It’s been said that the best way to be successful is to copy something that has been successful. That’s kind of what Google did with Google+. The interface is nearly identical to Facebook, and the functionality is close, as well. They added their own famous colors and design elements, and mixed in some ease-of-use features that have made them famous. It absolutely feels like a solid product, and certainly better than their last approach to social networking, called Wave.

Google Plus looks a whole lot like Facebook

The hangouts are a welcomed feature, and Facebook has a lot of catch-up work to do in that department. Google+ has also been compared to Twitter. In my opinion, because of circles and hangouts, Google+ has major potential. For example, I tend to share more personal stuff (such as family photos) on Facebook. On Twitter (which I have set to public), I am more careful about what I post. I think that’s the way most people look at it. On Facebook, I choose who my friends are. Even though I have over 700 friends, I’m fairly picky about who I accept. On Twitter, many of my followers have never met me. And that’s fine. On Google+, though, everyone who wants to add me is able to. I get to decide who gets to see what, and it’s incredibly simple. That’s what makes Google+ stand out. Will the other networks copy it? Probably.

In addition to the main features, I also really like the +1 button. I have seen it on many websites, and I haven’t been afraid to click it. Clicking +1 is like clicking the Facebook “like” button, and they have built-in a simple way to see the +1 activities of your friends.

For now, that’s all I have to say. I’ll probably do a follow-up post sometime in the near future. If you’re already on Google+, add me. I would appreciate a +1 on my business website. What do you like about it? Let me know! If you want to be on there, let me know and I’ll send you an invite. Oh, and I’m currently testing out Spotify. I’ll post a review soon. That’s all for now!