Oh! That’s new :)

NEWSFLASH…

Just seen just now – YouTube has its own Mini Player. Go on, I dare ya! Have a look.

All in a click…

In my last ramble, I talked about the Avast browser. It was very, very good. But then, I stumbled upon a piece of information about how another browser, Firefox, handles traffic. You’re supposed to be protected (guffaw!) from cookies trapping you into a system when you’re bombarded with adverts that are supposed to be ‘more meaningful’ to you.

Well, wash my socks! Have you seen the other gag where every page you visit tells you they value your privacy, and you are instructed, (I kid you not) to accept their cookies chasing your browsing habits. I always refuse to click anything. They couldn’t give two hoots for my privacy, thank you very much. It’s all a con to have us lot believing our safety is assured, Phfff! is my response.

But I do like Firefox, all the same. It’s pretty quick at finding stuff you want to read up on, and handles tabs as well as any other browser. I’ve decided I’ll keep it.

What a week!

I’ve just loved dealing with various software issues this week. (Spot the deliberate facetious sneer!)  Hands up, all those who love their Internet browsers?

For many, many years, I loved and trusted Google’s browser, but in the last year or so of using it, there were various issues beginning to happen, mainly, the tabs were doubled, meaning that if I saved a bunch of tabbed pages to open each time I ran the browser, I’d have to manually close the second set of pages that opened. I didn’t want two of everything! (It’s too heavy on resources).

The fateful day eventually arrived when nothing would work. Something bad happened to Google’s browser, and it completely stopped working. All I got was an unresponsive browser that had obviously got tangled up in its own code, (poor update code, maybe?) so I had to find something else to use instead. Microsoft’s Edge became the next bad boy, and I put it through its paces and ran it as I used to run my beloved Google.

Page handling in Edge was appalling, right from the start. It refused to open some pages while sending me off to known bad sites. The times I had to stamp on a page and close it quickly was very worrying. I put up with running the Edge browser for a few weeks until again, it failed me badly, locking me onto a supposed Microsoft-handling page which worked like a dreadful virus. The only way out was a hard stop on the laptop to close it all down.

I had noticed, several weeks ago that my Anti Virus software offered its own browser! Avast users are actually very well treated. As a member, you get a safe browser which is handled by the A/V. It seems to offer some rather good protection, especially for shopping online, amongst other goodies. I’m quite relaxed again, having that to use. All my requested pages open without a hitch, so far, and I get offered decent protection alongside my usual browsing habits. Good ole Avast Safe Browser. I hope it lasts forever 😀 I really cannot be bothered with having ‘issues’ to sort out, any more. Dealing with software that does not work just makes me grumpy.

Look at pretty YouTube!

Isn’t that lovely. Nice and clear, just above the film window.

Very nice indeed. Just noticed it today 🙂

Legalities

Someone was talking about getting a mixtape done. I’m more than happy to help and have told the guy as much. But legalities come into this.

At a guess, this bloke either has no recording equipment, or he doesn’t know how to copy tracks from hard drive to CD. That’s a simple process. Very easy to do, but I need to get him to understand that I will not copy MY album tracks. I’ll be more than happy to BUY him the songs he wants and send them to him, but piracy?

Not. Bloody. Likely.

See, I’m a radio jock. I know the ins and outs of piracy to a degree. I’d like to know the whole legal process. I know that if you share songs with others, however you do it; if the Royalties are not paid, then someone is not being paid for their work.

And that is not on.

My Hospital Radio station pays Royalties on the music they use for all programmes. It’s why we keep a log of everything we use. Then we know who needs paying and for how many times. It’s simple. Make a mixtape as often as you like. But if that’s the road you’re going down, make sure the music you use is paid for.

Or you’re in a whole heap of trouble.

Too right an’all.

Forget Facebook!

I must be cursed.

Time after time after time, whatever I touch falls to dust and drives me mad. Maybe it would be easier if I WAS mad! Another sickening day today. My left leg is about to collapse underneath me again because I just can’t manage doing the stuff I used to do on foot any more. Forget asking for help. That’s as useless as expecting it to ever arrive.

Then Facebook crashes. Honestly, a few minutes has turned into a joke. People from as far away as Rio (de Janeiro) are complaining. For some, the breakdown happened a week ago.

If it was ONLY that which went wrong today, I might be able to put up with it. just. But after a slew of other stuff, absolutely designed to throw me, I’ve just about had enough. I mean, how cheerful is this after the day I’ve just had?

I’m FED RIGHT UP 😦

Back in harness

I’ve shared music with other people since I was 14 years’ old. I started by covering for a local pair of youth clubs; one was near my house, the other was at the other end of the village on the nearby R.A.F. base.
The latter didn’t last many years. The former, I attended for 13 years altogether.

I suppose I had a seven-year break from my passion before finding my next musical home at my local hospital radio station. I had a ball over there, meeting people in the hospital who came from all walks of life. It gets very interesting when you see someone whose been in hospital for a whole year, who finally gets the call to go home, having suddenly improved and recovered from the terrible injuries she sustained to her leg. I went to meet her that last night. She called my name in rapturous mood. “I’m finally going home!” she said. “Well, ’bout time an’all!” I replied, and gave her a massive hug. I was so pleased for her.

Then another lady, quite a bit older than I was at that time. Her son told me she was a distant relative of someone in a well-known band. Status Quo got her through her stay in hospital. She loved them, because one of them was family, apparently.

Then, someone else who had once worked for Her Majesty, our Queen. I kid you not!

Very occasionally, I’d meet people I knew from years before and we’d have a short chat and a catch up of sorts. Meeting your listeners when you play programmes in a hospital setting is incredibly exciting. It was the best bit of my night, hands down. I was active at the station for 18 years, and they decided to bless me with a Life Membership. I sat there in one of our meetings in stunned shock. I really couldn’t speak for a few minutes when I was told about it.

And then, life rolled off the rails. I got sick. My husband got sick and I had to decide to leave the station. They still keep in touch, now and again and I’m currently in a position to be able to make programmes at home for the backup 24 hour playout software that keeps the station rolling through the night and all the following day, every single day when we’re not there to physically man the studios. I’d love to go back. I ache for the old days sometimes, especially as I don’t see anyone now that hubby’s in a care home. I’ve become a hermit due to the condition I have, and no one ever comes to visit. So I need to kick meself up me own rump and make things happen. That means getting my own station together! It’s going to happen too. This summer, Sunshine Radio will be available. I just have to get a couple more bits of studio kit, then I’m up and running with the new obsession 😀

See, it’s all Mum’s fault. When I was a kid, she had given me a very old music box; a diamond-shaped lump of metal, (I kid you not), with a huge turnkey on top It was a black and gold thing, and I would not go anywhere without it, apparently. I’d had this item since I was a small baby and, if I hadn’t got it with me at night, I’d create merry you-know-what until I was given it again.

Then, I’d go to sleep!

Mum loved to sing. She also played the piano, and we had a big wind-up gramophone which got played at the weekend. It was Mum who played me my first request. We had the radio as a background sound. In later years, it was records on a beautiful old radiogram I loved to play with.

So, I’ve had music around me since probably before I was born. I love it. I can’t live without it, and these days, the first inkling that I can get back sharing it with others again, I’m right in there. So look out for Sunshine Radio this summer. I’ll leave the link and contact details when it’s all set up.

I’m sooooooooo excited 😀

iTunes

I’m noticing some sweet changes in iTunes tonight, as I’m working on playlists. Use the search facility to look for songs and a new Play icon shows up. Nice doings!

Also, if you want to point to a particular playlist; after putting one song in it, forever after, you’re given the choice at the top of the list to put your song in the same playlist you used previously. I’ll have to do a screenshot of that one, coz it’s awesome:

Isn’t that fantastic! It’s the top line in the list of options that’s changed after the latest update.

iTunes ROCKS. I always did love it. Now I love it even more.

Mmmm. This is good. Me like’um!

Now, you all probably know this already. See, it takes time for me to learn certain things. Being alone all the time takes its own toll in that there’s never anyone to give me input as to how jobs can be made a bit quicker. So when I find something out, just by tinkering, and when the result is something I like, it doesn’t half make a difference.

I’m gonna need little tips and tricks like, when you’re in an iTunes playlist and you want to Page Down; you can hit that key, and if your highlighter is in the right place, you’ll get the next page of the playlist. If it doesn’t work, then see where your highlight is. It might be in your list of playlists. In which case, then, click one of the tracks in the playlist you want to view and try Page Down again on the keyboard. It works, and is a nifty little plaything. Much quicker than mouse-scrolling, and a more definite page sequencer.

Me like’um. 🙂

I need to know these little time-savers because it turns out, I am definitely going to get my own radio station set up in a few months, after all. Just heard some fantastic news about Radionomy. I was correct in my assumption that they were under fire again for the same reasons, but they’re parrying with those who have come out with their gloves on, and both sides have had to compromise somewhat. Which means everyone ends up happy again. The live stations should start producing shows again by next week, and we’ll all be busy putting stuff together for live sets. So I need all the help I can get with time saving, ya see!

(I’m not hard to please, am I, hahahahahahaha) 😉

Remember when WordPress looked like this?

I do, too! Only just noticed it today. Upping pictures is a bit fractious right now, but with enough patience, it can be done. Better see what this page looks like!