Barbora Zychova

Frame Your Friends!

barzych — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:48:00 GMT

There are 17,375 applications on Facebook today, including two new ones I'm going to write about - Framed Again! Gadget and Office Poke! Gadget.
The first one allowes you to make an exchange of photos more fun. All you have to do is go to the special Framed Again! gallery, choose a frame with head-shaped cutout you like, include your friend's photo and save it.
Frames include office-related themes such as "Employee of the Day", magazines, album covers or fantasy business cards.
Users can upload their photo directly into the frames and post them on a friend’s Facebook page. It's very easy to resize, rotate and color the photo in a way that it will fit right into the pre-made frame.

Office Poke! gadget gives more options to all those who already like to SuperPoke! their friends. Users can engage in a common office-based behavior from having lunch with friends/co-workers to throwing a stapler at them. You can even explain why have you decided to punish
them - e.g. for having a questionable bathroom hygiene or having a really, really bad haircut.
More Office Poke! you use, more poking powers you get. After sending just 5 of them you get promoted from an Intern to the Office Gossip Coordinator.
Over the time you'll gain the authority to fire, hire, promote or demote your employees... ehm friends.

Strawberries need SpaceS

barzych — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:12:00 GMT

Until recently I have known only one person who loves strawberries ("jahody" in Czech) so much that he names his stuff after them. He even owns a Strawberry Island in online world of Second Life where you can get various T-shirts, drinks and also tattoos. With strawberries, of course...I was offered a friendship by a young woman called Yahoodka through my Spaces few days ago. I have never accepted any similar requests from strangers. Neither on Spaces nor on Facebook.However, I have decided to make an exemption this time since I have realized that we both have something in common - we had both lived in Australia for few years.Today I have decided to check out her Spaces and was fascinated by a sentence "I was not able to add any more strawberry photos since I have reached my maximum monthly allowance". You can add up to 500 photos per month there, so I was curious to see this "strawberry usage". Well, have a look for yourself. It´s worth it and as Yahoodka promises more will come next month... In general, Spaces are becoming more and more popular. Nowadays even TV personalities have their account there. As Filip Rozanek mentioned in the Czech magazine Reflex, for example TV news host Petr Tichy is amongs them. If you or someone you know have Spaces worth looking at, let me know. I´ll write about them in some of my next blog posts.

The Best Things are for Free...

barzych — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:47:00 GMT

I have some great news for those of you who are Xbox fans - a game Undertow free of charge!
The full version of this award-winning Xbox LIVE Arcade game will be available for download from next Wednesday 2 a.m. PST till Sunday 11:59 p.m. PST.
It's free for silver and gold Xbox LIVE subscribers worldwide. More info is available in this article on Channel 8.
Just to make it clear - Channel 8 is mainly for students, Channel 9 for developers and Channel 10 for technology enthusiasts.

Don't be boring!

barzych — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:19:00 GMT

Posts that you write for your blog on Spaces don't have to look ordinary = boring. I have a tip for you.
A tip for a website where you can find various different backgrounds.
Each of your blog posts could have a different theme from now on. It will be appreciated especially by those of you who are into fantasy.
All you have to do is: click here, choose your preferred background and download and insert html into your blog.
You can find more instructions here. Don't forget to send me a link to your modified post!

ALWAYS READY TO CHAT

barzych — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:00:00 GMT

If you've ever dreamed about how great it would be to have the possibility to chat with your friends while using a public computer e.g. in the library, Internet café or in your friend's house but you coudn't because there was no Messenger installed I have some news for you.
You can do it now with new MSN Web Messenger. It differs from the "traditional" Windows Live Messenger since it doesn't have to be installed on the computer you are going to use for your chatting.
All you need is a computer with an Internet connection and then just type http://webmessenger.msn.com in your web browser (no later versions than Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, Netscape 7.1 or Mozilla 1.6).
If you use Explorer you can also add this site to your "favourites" straight away by clicking Ctrl+D.

"HALF THE PLANET" USES MOBILES

barzych — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 09:45:00 GMT

There are so many mobile phones in use nowadays that it would be enough for half of our planet's population.
The first mobiles appered 26 years ago. According to the latest survey there are 3.3 billion phones in use worldwide today. Of course, it doesn't necessarily mean that every second person on Earth owns a mobile phone. The reason is that it is common to have two or even more devices per person in almost 60 countries while there are no phones at all in some parts of the globe.
People don't use their phones for-calls-only anymore. Also devices with Windows Mobile system are becoming increasingly popular.
When I'd visited Redmond campus (Microsoft headquaters) I was lucky enough to be introduced to the musician who composes ringtones for these mobiles. Benjamin Bethurum is one of the coolest and most energetic people I've ever met. You could've come across his music also on the Czech radio station - Radio 1 few months ago. Benjamin is going to release a new CD soon and it is going to compete also in one of the Czech hitparades.

ZUNE "GALLERY"

barzych — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:36:00 GMT

Here is a way how to be truly original. Dress up your player into some nice piece of art. Zune Originals is a new website that will be launched tomorrow where you can find 27 original art works created by 18 international artists. These are designed to be engraved onto the back of the device. Visitors of the site will be able to customize their Zune by size, color, illustration and also with up to four lines of text. This all will come free of charge. If you can´t wait till tomorrow and want to see some of these pictures today have a look here.

HAVE A NICE WEEKEND!

barzych — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 13:27:00 GMT

It's Friday. Again. This one's being quite slow and sleepy. At least here in Prague. It's cold, it's raining, people are not nice neither to themselves nor to others... Therefore I was really pleased to find out that among all those new blogs that are emerging each day is at least one that wants to make people laugh. David Salaguinto has started this brand new blog in a bit untraditional way - it's a web comics. Have a look at it, start smiling and enjoy your weekend!

SOCIAL NETWORKING PHENOMENOM

barzych — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:04:00 GMT

Business Tuesday session I'd attended this week in Prague focused on the social networking phenomenom. LinkedIn, Facebook and XING seemed to be most popular among the audience. Most controversial topic was Second Life. Presentation about this unique virtual world was shown by a mayor of the Czech city called Bohemia - Martin Dvorak. This is a place where mainly Czech and Slovak communities get together.
It's one of those where I teleport myself regularly during my visits to the Second Life. Another favourite place of mine is a beautiful Strawberry Island with beaches and lots of fun stuff to do. It belongs to a friend who keeps working on it whenever he gets a chance. He also hosts regular Sunday parties and keeps creating secret invitation-only places. One of his recent ones is the Magic Forest. He's made it for a very special event - his wedding. Well, have a look at this beautiful couple on the photo yourself...

INTERVIEW WITH NEW MS CEO JANE GILSON

barzych — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 22:00:00 GMT

Come and join me in this exclusive interview with the new CEO for Microsoft's Czech subsidiary and see for yourself why is Jane Gilson often described as an extraordinary woman.

Video: Jane Gilson - English version

AMAZING OLD TECHNOLOGY

barzych — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:42:00 GMT

Term „amazing technology" usually translates to „latest technology". But it doesn't have to be necessarily this way in all cases. Let me share a story I had experienced recently.
Assoc. Prof. Michael Meadows - my former lecturer and also a Head of Media School at the Griffith University in Australia came over to Europe to do his research. I was pleased by his choice to include Czech media in his work and also about the fact that we could meet again.
Michael's focus was on public media therefore I took him for an excursion to the Czech Television and also to the Czech Radio. Director of one of its stations - Radio Praha (broadcasts in 6 languages) Miroslav Krupicka and also chief editor Gerald Schubert were very well prepared and we'd spend several hours together in the end.
According to the profesor the equipment of all newsrooms, studios and editing rooms were very similar to those ones in Australia but what really grabbed his attention was - apart from excellent language skills of Mr Schubert (native Austrian able to speak six languages including perfect Czech) - a paternoster. This is a unique cyclic elevator and Michael has never seen anything like that before.
Gerald Schubert has found a story written by one of radio's reporters about it for us. You might find the story behind the paternoster amazing as well.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

barzych — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:28:00 GMT

Halloween is here so let´s celebrate and do something different this year! Here are few tips to keep you going and have some fun on the way. You can e.g. spice up your correspondence with Office Clip Art Gallery and its hundreds of pictures with Halloween themes. You might also consider downloading various scary Halloween sounds, make a freaky T-shirt, labels or Halloween party invitations. Learn how to do it here.
And if you don´t want to stay by yourself tonight you can find some friends or maybe even a partner for life on Windows Live Messenger. Halloween's carved pumpkin (situated in the left column) is a symbol for Dating&Personal service there.
So...I have only two more words to say to you today: "Happy Halloween"!

I´M HELPING THE WORLD - BY CHATTING A LOT

barzych — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:11:00 GMT

If you like to chat and also enjoy helping others there is a great option for you. And it will not cost you a cent. For every conversation you start by using Windows Live Messenger there is a certain amount of money donated to your preferred charity organization - e.g. I've chosen the UNICEF. In order to contribute to our society this way you just have to add a special logo "I´M" in front of your name. There has been almost $150,000 raised so far.
You might also consider to star in a new MTV project that is starting now in order to promote this cause.
Windows Live Messenger has over 220 million contacts worldwide. It is popular for the wide range of services it offers. Apart from the traditional text, phone and video conversations users can play games (e.g. chess), chat with special agents like Encarta and share their photos and other files. All this is for free - as well as other Windows Live services.

I COLLECT FRIENDS WHAT ABOUT YOU?

barzych — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:09:00 GMT

Microsoft beats Google in a closely watched contest over Facebook. The company agreed to invest $240 million for a 1.6% stake in this popular social-networking site. It is estimated that Facebook is valued at $15 billion. As part of the deal, the two companies also expanded their existing advertising agreement.
Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers. It was founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg who was just 19 y.o. at the time.
It ranked 7th in terms of its traffic in the world of Internet. Facebook has around 50 million users worldwide with about 4 more joining each month. People spend in average 19 minutes a day on Facebook. They can not only share their photos and videos but also e.g. send a virtual glass of wine, a kiss or a fish to a friend's aquarium.
Some people use Facebook to meet new people. It is also not unusual for users to compete in number of friends they "have". One friend of mine is currently thinking about what present should she give to her 1000th friend since that's the number she is approaching fast (she enlists about 10 new friends a day).
Everyone can become a member of various networks on Facebook with London and Toronto being the largest.
Facebook is also great for finding lost friends. I've found my Norweigian friend after years of having no contact with him. I'd got his profile with his picture within seconds on the Facebook finder.
According to the survey done by Student Monitor agency, Facebook was named the second most "in" thing among students. The first place belongs to the popular MP3 player while "beer" and "sex" finished behind Facebook.
You can have a look at an interesting video about student lives here.
Facebook is becoming more and more important also for various personal agencies. Cases when a person didn't get a job because of his/her strange behaviour on Facebook are not unusual any more.
Facebook is a really great tool for communicating with a large number of people at the same time. However, noone should forget that some of the information can be viewed by anyone and therefore misused.

MICROSOFT FIRST EMPLOYER THAT HELPS ITS LEFTHANDED EMPLOYEES

barzych — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:04:00 GMT

According to the surveys every tenth person is lefthanded. Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Napoleon and Marylin Monroe belong to some of the most famous. There was not much support for lefthanded people during their times but it is changing lately. Even employers are trying to help their lefthanded employees nowadays.
The very first company that has bought office supplies for its lefthanded staff in the Czech Republic is Microsoft. This company bought e.g. special scissors, rulers and sharpeners.
Life is getting definitely easier for lefthanded people in this country. They can become members of the Club for Lefthanded, do shopping in the Prague's Karlin shop or buy products online at www.levaruka.cz these days.
Lefthanded computer users can get easily e.g. special keyboard or digital joystick.
I have one more interesting info for you. If you decide to go to do some shopping in the shop and if you'll mention a secret password - name of this blog - you are going to get a surprise!

IMAGINE CUP BRINGS HOPE TO DEAF

barzych — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 12:57:00 GMT

Deaf people don’t have equal opportunities to access education as do others without such a handicap. But there is a hope for them which comes with a new project SilentBooks presented by students from the Czech Republic. Ales Sturala (Andy) and Dominika Sedlaczkova from the Brno University of Technology have decided to take the challenge and compete in the biggest student competition in the world – Microsoft’s Imagine Cup 2007. And they have been successful so far. They made it to the finals in Korea with their signing 3D model that provides education for deaf people in sign language instead of classic language. Ales says: “I have been dealing with problems that deaf community has to face for some time now. I’d seen that especially children have a problem to access information when it’s in a written form so I have decided to try to solve it.” Ales is an experienced IC competitor. This is his second time entering finals: “I’d enjoyed it a lot last year. It was great to meet with other students from different countries.” He is happy about his decision to enter the competition despite the fact that he was working on the project for more than half a year almost nonstop: “It was an excellent programming experience for me. I’ve also learnt some new technologies which is great.But this team is not the only hope for the Czech Republic. Imrich Zivcak (Imro) and Lukas Perutka (Lucaso) from the Prague’s Charles University form the Gold Fusion Team and they are going to fight in Hoshimi Programming Battle. These two former roommates have heard about the competition for the first time two years ago and at the beginning were hesitating to enter. At the end they did and this decision brought them to the finals in Korea at the end. Even though that waiting for the results was for them according to Lukas nerve breaking experience they don’t regret it. Imrich is happy about entering the competition not only for the fact that they’ve made it to the finals: “It enabled us to verify our programming abilities.” Both teams believe that they’ll succeed in Korea. Imrich and Lukas had the opportunity to compare their knowledge to that of their competitors already: “We have met with other finalists during semifinals and ended up second then”. Their main concern seems to be safe flight over to Korea. Apart from that they are all excited about getting to know this country, its culture and cuisine. No matter of what is going to happen in Korea, these students know what they want to do with their lives. Ales is moving to Netherlands in September where he is going to study for one year and he hopes that his project will draw interest of some business company which will help with development and distribution of the SilentBooks:” This project hasn’t been created only because of this competition. Its main aim is to help deaf people.” Imrich and Lukas have to get back to their studies soon after the end of the Imagine Cup. They hope that their participation in this event will help them to find a good job later on.