Posts tagged social
Review: Deluxebite
01 month ago
Please note that since writing this review the Deluxebite website and twitter feed have disappeared and I can no longer get hold of the company. Very strange. I will leave the post online for reference but it looks like you can’t actually subscribe to this any more. If they materialise again I’ll let you know.
Deluxebite is a new monthly subscription service that delivers a box of unique artisan and gourmet food samples, made by small independent producers, to members doors and desks on a monthly basis.
But Deluxebite is much more than just a new subscription service. For every box we send out to members they donate a meal to foodbanks in the UK through the Trussell Trust who operate a network of nearly 4000 foodbanks throughout the country.
It was lovely to receive the March box – “The Explorer Box” – so I could try out the service. In it I received…
…a bottle of Cotswold Gold Extra Virgin Rapeseed Oil, a bottle of Cornish Orchards Lemonade, some Choccy Munchy Seeds with Chilli and Ginger, some Rossini’s Chicken and Pork Marinade, and a Black Garlic Bulb.
A really lovely selection of products, none of which I have had before – and that is of course the point of this kind of hamper service. There are a couple there that might well get their own blog post once I’ve used them, but for now I wanted to let you know about the hamper.
I love trying new things and discovering new foods, and so I will always be intrigued by this sort of company. And the fact that this box scheme also has a social benefit is even better.
You can join Deluxebite for £20 per month (or get two free boxes if you buy a year’s worth in one go).
Disclaimer: I was sent a Deluxebite box so I could spread the word. I have not been told what to say and have been no less honest as a result of receiving the product for free.
Rock+Paper+Scissors – A New Crafterie in Lincoln
03 months ago
Last week a new cafe opened in Lincoln. A friend and I went to check it out at the end of the week and I think it’s fair to say we both fell in love with the place.
Rock+Paper+Scissors is a “crafterie”, that is, a cafe, a place to do crafts, and a shop. Run by Elizabeth and Michelle, who have both moved back to Lincoln (they were both at Uni in Lincoln) after a little time away, it is a little shop on Guildhall Street, offering something quite different to any of the other cafes and tea shops dotted about. A place to socialise and try your hand at various arts and crafts, as well as somewhere to buy locally sourced gifts from cushions to prints and jewellery to tea towels.
Laura and I sat and chatted with Lizzie and Michelle for ages. They told us what life has been like since Uni, that they both went off to try their hands at all sorts, but that they were called back to Lincoln because they loved the place. They wanted to bring something different to Lincoln, something artsy, something vintage, something social. The idea seems to have come from wanting to create something where they could both spend time with interesting people, something hands on where they could interact with their customers as well as teach and learn at the same time.
They served us loose leaf Darjeeling Earl Grey tea in a massive teapot and little mismatched bone china tea cups and saucers. We had a slice of gooey lemon cake, home made of course. It was divine. What a wonderful way to spend a lunch break.
It’s so cute. Browsing through the wares on sale I found so many things I could easily have bought. Local artists and crafters are able to use the shop to sell their hand made items, it’s going to be a great place to find gifts for friends and family. I particularly liked the cushions by Mary James of Bille Bug, and as we left I found a print I think I’ll actually go back and buy when I get a minute.
The social side of the shop comes from the crafting sessions and other activities they run. Laura and I were there on Valentines day when they were offering a free session to create a valentines message for your loved one while you sat and drank tea. There are also crochet and knitting sessions planned, as well as a clothes swap. And we are told there are lots more planned – sugar craft, paper crafts and other such delights.
In fact Rock+Paper+Scissors has inspired me to finally get my sketchbook out after what must be years and years of neglect. There is a creative person inside me somewhere, I will find her again!
If you’re around and about Lincoln definitely make Rock+Paper+Scissors one of the stops on your list. A gorgeous little place.
Biker Buddy – A Research Project
0
Are you a motorcyclist with an Android phone?
If so then you should take a look at Biker Buddy.
This is a new app designed to look at the way motorcyclists might use smart phones to plan and execute social rides.
Biker Buddy is an Android app developed for an academic research project into the use of mobile and social applications for planning and undertaking social motorcycle rides.
The application is designed to be used by motorcyclists arranging the rides or just taking part, and runs on Android devices owned by the motorcyclists. Your part in this evaluation is to use the application on your own Android device to plan and/or join social motorcycle rides, and to track your location during rides, and then answer a series of questions.
To help with the MSc research project you need to download the (free) app, have a play with it, and then complete the survey on the website.
Have a look at the Biker Buddy website for more information and to download the app.
And make sure you tell all your biker friends about the project too! Cheers 
Chocolate and Instagram
21 year ago
It’s perhaps one of those iOS apps you either love or hate. I’ve been using instagram on my iPhone for a while now and I’m in the love camp – I like how you can easily crop and add filters to your photos and share them on twitter and Facebook. I also like how other instagram users can “love” your image and comment on it away from other social media using the instagram app.
Instagram is a free social media photography app that allows you to take and share photos with or without pre-set filters directly from your iPhone. It has a very simple interface that shows your own, your friends and random popular snaps, and links with twitter, Facebook, Flickr and foursquare for sharing purposes.
These photos I took of my five year old mini-lop bunny Chocolate yesterday evening are examples of what you can do with instagram. In each case I’ve added a different filter, which I think suits the particular snap and gives each something different for the purpose of sharing online.
The original photo of Chocolate and the mug is ok – not spectacular of course it’s only an iPhone snap, but it’s cute and I thought worth sharing with my bunny-loving friends. So I stuck it in instagram and had a play with the available filters and chose this one just to give the image a warm glow, something different.
In many cases (like the one above) I will take a quick snap knowing I will be cropping them to a square, and therefore will compose accordingly – I wasn’t worried about the paperwork on the left or the plates on the right of the original shot. As for choosing which filters to use when, I tend to choose the image first then apply different filters until I particularly like the look of one.
I only use instagram for social media sharing, it’s a “for fun” app not there for serious images (the resolution of the edited image is only about 1400 pixels square at 72dpi). In many cases I won’t use any filter because I like the image just as it is. But I do rate the app highly and will continue to use it for twitter photos in favour of posting on twitter or TwitPic directly, or at least until something even better comes along.
When it comes to browsing other people’s instagram shots, I actually use the instapad app which has a lovely designed interface for viewing, loving and commenting on images. I love looking at the photos other people take, although the unhealthy food ones do make me hungry, and the gorgeous seascapes make me wish for the waves. That’s the point though, the reason people post them, right?
There are some downsides to instagram. One is that it is an iPhone only app, it doesn’t even work properly on an iPad, and you can’t upload, love or comment on photos on a computer. Another is that if you only have a GPRS connection, or even Edge, you won’t be able to upload your pics – you need 3G or WiFi for it to work properly. Considering the small size of instagram images that is pretty poor really. It also has no Google+ integration yet (many apps and websites don’t).
They say a picture says a thousand words, and instagram is great ways to share yours with your friends and followers. It might be a just for fun app, but it’s free and worth having a play.
If you fancy following my images on instagram I’m Splodz on there too.
