The summer is flying by… alas, I still have to go to work everyday, so I take advantage of the weekends by exploring the city. But the weekends seem to end much too soon.
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Washington DC, days 3 & 4
The Capitol
The Library of Congress
MLK Jr. memorial
FDR memorial (my favorite)
View from Thomas Jefferson’s memorial
The White House
The flight home
Whew! That concludes my Instagram photos from my trip to Washington D.C.! Follow me @ashleyhennefer.
Washington DC, day 2
Rainy day in Maryland
Iwo Jima memorial
Arlington Cemetery
Ampitheater of the Unknown Soldier
A trail at Mt. Vernon
Gardens on Mt. Vernon
Beer break in Alexandria, VA
Ghost tour in Alexandria
Old town Alexandria
Washington DC, day 1
Adventures in Washington DC!
The flight over…
National Museum of Natural History
Sculpture garden
Air and Space Museum
Korean War memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Photography from my pocket | Campus
I officially had my last class of the semester last night–whoo! But I’m on campus a lot still for research–which is fine by me, because campus is one of my favorite places to be.
Update on Persona: Expressing who you are through photographs
When I wrote about alternative networking sites, I got a few emails about Persona, the supposedly “graphic novel”-esque app that was shrouded in mystery. I happened to click back to their website today and was pleased to see that a little bit more was posted. Their home page has been revamped and there are now images of what the app looks like.
I was right about it being an Apple-device-only app, but that seems to be temporary. If you click the upper right corner of the home page, the corner folds down to reveal that an Android app is in the works.
My impressions now that screenshots have been revealed: I’m not sure what makes this different from other apps already out there, including Path and Instagram.
Image from http://www.new-startups.com
They seemed to have revised their description of the app from when I had last wrote about it. Their site reads “A new way of expressing who you are through photographs … Persona gathers the stories behind each photograph of your life and personality to create a visual collage, much like a fingerprint, that is wholly, and uniquely your own.” I don’t see any of the “graphic novel” language, which is what had originally caught my eye about this app. I was really looking forward to seeing how that would play out.
It would be so cool to have an app that lets you use your images and text to make a comic. I think it would be easy, too, kind of like the photo grid options that Android and iOS users often use with Instagram. Take some pictures, write a caption, and upload it to a grid, and it can export it as a comic. Maybe make it into “pages” and save it as an e-comic. That would be awesome, right? Hmm. If I were an appmaker, I would be all over that.
In any case, I’m a bit disappointed that this doesn’t seem as grand as I had hoped, but I’m still interested to try it out. Check out their website and let me know what you think. If you have an iPhone or an iPod touch, become a Beta tester by Tweeting them @GrooovyApp.
Photography from my pocket | Busy week
A few photos from the week taken by me and my significant other (follow him on Instagram @ando1337.)
Photography from my pocket | Bay Area pt. 2
More Instagram photos from San Francisco.
Photography from my pocket | Bay Area pt. 1
The drive from Gardnerville to Richmond…
3 alternative social networks
As a web junkie, I’m always curious to try out different kinds of social networking sites. I love connecting with people virtually, and social networking is a tool I use often in both my professional and personal life. Compared to all of the new, glossy, design-y start-ups that seem to be popping up, Facebook is starting to feel like old news. And yes, I know many people have felt that way for a while. I’ve been making an effort to use Google+ more, and I like it’s new design, but it still feels kind of clunky.
I, along with other techies, am on a quest to find a perfect social networking platform. I want something that allows me to easily share content from around the web, edit and post pictures, and have the option to engage in discussion or casually browse other people’s pages. A nice, clean layout is preferable, as well as integration between computer browser and mobile device.
Based on these guidelines, here are a few projects I’ve stumbled upon that may fit the bill.
I can’t remember how I heard about Path, but it’s kind of an awesome app that I don’t hear anyone talking about. I’m sure people are, but I don’t know anyone using it, except for literally one other person. I like that it’s a combination of many of the apps I already use–status sharing, picture taking and editing, location tracking, etc. Basically, you create a “path” of your activities, and it documents your day, including when you wake up or go to sleep, arrive in a new place, etc. I don’t think many people want to track everything that closely, but it’s a pretty thorough take on status updating. It’s like Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram combined and streamlined. Which should make it the perfect app, right? If there was a browser component to this, I’d be stoked. I think that’s a big reason why people still use Facebook and Twitter, even though many people do much of their social networking with their smartphones. I know Path’s design doesn’t make much sense for a web platform, but I think its lovely interface would work well on a bigger screen. I’m going to test it out on my new tablet. I have a feeling I’ll like it even more on there, but its features make more sense on a smartphone. In any case, I’m pretty impressed with how nice this app looks and functions. I’m trying to give it a solid test run this week. Even though I’m on the Instagram bandwagon, I think Path’s photo features are pretty awesome. It would be nice to integrate Instagram with it instead though, or at least have an option to use your favorite photo app with Path. I’m not sure if this is an app I see myself using as often as Foursquare or Instagram, but if more friends start using it, I would definitely keep it on my homescreen.
My Path homescreen:
Taking a picture:
Posting a picture to my path:
Diaspora* has been around for a while but I’m not one of the cool kids who has access yet (it’s still in Alpha phase). According to their website, “Diaspora* is an open-source and distributed community of social networks run by users that enables you to own your own personal data, control with whom you share, and discover cool stuff throughout the Web.” You hear that? An open-source social network. Some of my cyberpunk friends already use it, and I’m looking forward to jumping in. Plus, it looks really, really nice. It kind of reminds me of the first G+ interface, but I don’t know if that’s true or not; I’m just basing that off of screenshots. Not much more I can say about this one until I use it, but I’m looking forward to using it. Let me in, Diaspora*!
Both images taken from http://www.diasporaproject.org.
Okay, I honestly don’t know much about this project at all, but I’m intrigued. According to Persona’s website, “In short, Persona is your autobiography in graphic novel style; your personal blog, fully illustrated. What’s your morning routine? Your favorite music? Persona doesn’t show people where you’re going or what you might be doing a week from Friday. Persona only cares about those little idiosyncrasies that make you who you are today.”
This seems less like a social network and more like a different take on blogging, with a focus on images, but it seems like there is a social component. I honestly can’t find any screenshots or any other information, but I’m hoping to find out soon what this project looks like. I also hope the iPhone doesn’t imply that this will be for iPhone only, but I signed up anyway. At first glance, it reminds me a lot of Path, but I’m interested to see how it will use images. Is it going to be like Pinterest? Or more like About.me? Hmm. I’ll let you know.
What are some other social networking projects to check out? Which ones are your favorites?
