Treehouse

This is a long overdue post but I am very excited to share this with anyone and everyone. I have found that my passions have since grown and my love for the internet and design has finally caught up with me. So what better way to combine the two than making and designing websites?

Well the problem was I didn't know how to build one.

That is where Treehouse came in! I was doing searches to find a place online where I could learn how to code. I have tried Codeacademy but I wanted something different and once I found Treehouse I was hooked. Treehouse uses videos for their learning, you pretty much sit in on a lecture and then afterwards you take quizzes on the things you just learned.

Sometimes you will even mimic what you learned through an activity where you code and can see the result at the same time.

It is the best of both worlds for those of us who learn by listening and those who learn by doing. The best part is they let you see them writing the code on your screen and you can follow along and do it on your computer with them.

What is great is they use badges for each of their lessons, so there is an incentive to try and gain all of them. They have a blog that is so informational and they include videos and interviews all the time. They offer web

You can sign up for free and browse the videos they have posted for free users or you can become a paid member. It is $25 a month for the Silver level and $50 a month for the Gold level. I only recommend this is you are truly serious about learning programming. However, Treehouse has held a domestic and international scholarship program. I was one of the lucky individuals to be given a two year "scholarship" to the website.

Programming and web design are two amazing fields that people should start embracing. It is a growing industry and there are projects and companies all over who are trying to get this sort of education out to the kids and public.

Below I'll list the Silver and Gold plans for the site. You can check them out and their amazing blog at teamtreehouse.com.

Screenshot from the website

iPhone 5: Are you impressed?

 I thought I'd touch on the ever popular iPhone announcement that happened yesterday. The iPhone 5 was announced and honestly, if you have been on the internet at all - then the whole thing should not have been a surprised. We've pretty much known how it was going to look for a while now. 

I have to say, I am not impressed. It is an amped up version of the 4S, I think the largest thing going for it right now is that it will support 4G LTE. However, here are some of the new features:

- 4 inch screen compared to the 3.5 inch screen on the previous models

- thinner by 18%

- 8 megapixel camera on the back and a 1.2 megapixel front facing camera

- it is 20% lighter and it is taller than the older models but not wider

- the back camera now features panoramic picture taking

- newly designed earbuds

- smaller connector port, which means new smaller cord

- Siri has new features like looking up restaurants and movie times, purchasing tickets, making reservations through Opentable, and she can even social network for you

- screen is even more crisp

One other thing actually worth mentioning app wise is the new Passbook app which is essentially "Google wallet without the credit cards" as said by my favorite YouTuber Philip DeFranco. Essentially, you can keep all your gift cards, tickets, plane boarding passes, and discount cards on your phone instead of physically needing them.

There are however some warnings you should know about the new phone. 

- They have come out with a new maps app because Apple and Google seem to be going at it. So you won't be getting maps and directions through Google, but through whatever system Apple sets up

- Because of the disagreements between Apple and Google, they are getting rid of the YouTube app, but never fear because YouTube has come out with their own app for iOS

- The new cord is USB 2.0 compatible not 3.0 which is what the new Macbooks are - womp womp

(don't worry Apple is estimated to still make 100 million dollars just off the cords alone in the next year - triple womp)

- Finally, any accessories and docks you have for the older iPhones are useless with the iPhone 5 - unless...you buy a $30 adapter for the phone 

Personally, I'm more interested in the Google Nexus and that may very well become my next phone. While others are fangirling out of their minds over the new iPhone - it feels like there is something still to be desired. New fancy features are great but there are a number of inconveniences that come along with it and honestly, some of them are features that should have come a while ago.

It is worth noting that Apple announced the new line of iPod nanos and iTouch - I actually would love to get my hands on the iTouch. It looks incredible - maybe look for a post about that soon!

Google versus Apple

I've been an Apple fan girl for quite some time now, I have the iPhone and a Mac Book Pro. I even got my mom to buy herself an iPad, and she loves it by the way. My brother was convinced to switch to a Mac Book Pro when he entered college. Needless to say, I've been an advocate for Apple within my family*.

However, I was talking to the boyfriend today while in the car and honestly, I think Apple has its' work cut out for it. They need to come out with something amazing because the Android market is booming. Now if you haven't made the connection yet, (I too was late to the game, no worries) Android is a product of Google. So all those phones that are "Android smart phones"? Yeah Google is the mastermind behind it.

Galaxy Nexus

Google has however, come out with their own signature smart phone called the Galaxy Nexus by Samsung. I have to say it is p.r.e.t.t.y impressive. It has all the capabilities of an iPhone and more. If you are familiar with any of Google's products, as in Google +, maps, Drive, etc; then you will see a lot of that integrated into the phone. Come on now, it's Google, they are going to integrate as much of the company into the phone as they can. I can't fault them for that though considering they have some great stuff.

Shaun mentioned that at work one of his clients was showing him one of the devices (phone or tablet, I cannot remember :/) and he told me how all the apps were just there, you didn't need to enter one and exit out of another. That is the impressive thing about the Galaxy Nexus and I assume the Nexus tablet, that everything is integrated into the operating system - Jelly Bean (what an awesome name btw!).

At this point, it seems like Apple needs a big product to catch up with how the rest of the market is moving. Apple had just announced its' new operating system, OS X Mountain Lion, which does have some new features. Some of the features include: auto save (in documents and iCloud), built-in sharing to social networks, dictation (talk to type). There are two major features that I think are a selling point for the system - notifications and messages. With notifications, it is a literal feed on your desktop that shows your calendar, mail, reminders, and "third-party apps". You can get notified when things happen, you can tweet from it and post to Facebook. This is something Microsoft has had for years.

Screen Shot of Apple Website

Then messages is exactly what you're thinking, you can send a message (through iMessage) to any iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Mac with Mountain Lion. So this is like AIM for your Mac. Remember AIM? Ah the good old days... It also includes group messaging which is definitely cool and you can also use face time.

Other than the new OS, the changes Apple has been making are minimal. They upgraded the 15-inch Mac Book Pro to a retina display and got rid of the 17 - inch completely, which in my opinion isn't the worst thing, it seemed like a little much. So they better make the iPhone 5 out of this world, or Apple is going to be in quite some trouble.

Nexus 7 Tablet

The point is, that the rest of the market is changing in ways that we couldn't have fathomed a few years ago. I mean the Galaxy Nexus is an unlocked phone for $349! That means you can go with any network provider you want! At $349 in comparison to the iPhone, it seems like a no brainer. Even the Nexus tablet at 16 GB is only $250!

Better step it up Apple.

* my father has resisted most technology and has the bare minimum for his cell and his company gives him a laptop...so yeah no luck there ;)