QONQR the World
Recently I was blessed with enough disposable income to upgrade my crappy basic phone (dumb phones, I call them – I know, so original). Since I’m enamored with the new Windows 8 and can’t wait to get a new computer with a touch screen, we went to check out the Windows store. Lo and behold, they had a special running! Buy one get one! Whoo! Windows 8 Phone it is!
So far, its been great. Really easy to use, pretty intuitive, but not so basic that it’s boring. I love the concept of live tiles and having stuff ready to launch on my home screen, and I love that they’re interactive! The pictures move, guys! I’m easily amused.
One of the biggest complaints about the Windows phone is the limited App store, which I admit, I was nervous about. I still have my tablet, but with a smart phone, I don’t need to drag my bulky Galaxy Tab around everywhere. (When did the GALAXY TAB become bulky? I’m sensing a disturbance in the force, my friends.) But I love my Android apps, I cried! What if they aren’t all available?
Well, they aren’t. And I’m dealing. The only one I’m really missing, the one that doesn’t have a decent Windows version, is Instagram. And since you can’t upload pictures to Instagram via the computer, it’s a pain to transfer pictures from my phone to the tablet, but I’m surviving. My followers just get random, mega-uploads of pictures, which I then have to apologize for. It’s a work in progress.
I’ve seen some new and interesting games for the W8P, however. Because Windows has rules for releasing apps, unlike Android, and because the Windows phones are just now gaining popularity, the App store is indeed smaller. But I found a gem of a game, and I’m addicted.
It’s called QONQR (roughly pronounced like conquer, I’m assuming) and it’s fantastic. You download the app and it gives you a little description. From their Facebook page:
“QONQR is a location-based, social game for mobile devices. Players are operatives who must capture geographic zones by deploying nanobots to help their army defeat the opposing armies and QONQR the world. Successful deployments, recruiting, and squadron coordination result in experience points that, over time, promote the operative through higher and higher ranks, providing more powerful armament and abilities.”
The backstory is cute, too. “An Artificial Intelligence from the indeterminate future has mastered the intricacies of time itself and succeeded in embedding a small portion of its intelligence into the networked infrastructure of today.” Those who know about QONQR have argued over what to do and split into three factions; you choose to play as one of the factions.
It works pretty simply, too. Wherever you log on, that’s where you are. You create bases and harvest resources from those bases to buy upgrades to your “scope”, which is just a creative way to say your phone, and send your bots to attack whatever areas you can reach that are controlled by enemies. Its simple and quick and INSANELY addictive.
If you’ve got a Windows phone, seriously, check it out. I get frantic when someone takes a zone away from my faction! My husband introduced me to the game but I’ve quickly surpassed him in level due to my OCD about checking my bases.
My favorite part of the game is the necessity to move. It’s based on your GPS location, so if you never leave your hometown, you’ll never conquer anything. Every time we go visit family, our phones come out at least once an hour to check zones and create more bases. You have no idea how addicting it can be, but its gotten us to look at the larger map and see where we could travel. And since we’d be traveling, we’d be seeing new places and getting out of the house – which is always a good thing when you’re a gamer.
Location-based games and activities are definitely on the rise with the growing number of people using smart phones. Geocaching is another fantastic activity that gets you out and about.
I highly recommend the game if you’ve got a Windows phone; if not, keep checking to see when it’ll be available for your device. And when you sign up, PLAY THE FACELESS. We’re the coolest, guys, seriously.
Dove, Nike and the perils of positive advertising
Earlier this week, a video produced by Dove was making the internet rounds and sparking all kinds of debate in its wake. In it, a sketch artist drew two versions of the same woman - one as described by herself and one as described by her friend. The resulting disparities between the two sketches were meant to show how skewed the woman's perspective of her appearance is, and that she is more beautiful than she thinks herself to be.
Social Media & You: The Future of the News
I remember loving Monday mornings as a kid, because I got to read the Sunday Comics at my grandparents’ house. I loved playing with the old newspapers, making hats and boats and paper mache. I was inspired by the news; I created my own environmental newsletter and used photo cuttings from past papers. As I got older, I read the news in the paper. I wanted to do that, report the news to people who needed to know. Educate people of the goings’on of the world. I went into journalism an idealist – which is why I didn’t stay in journalism for very long.
My grandparents don’t get the paper anymore, because they say its just not quick enough anymore. They can get the news quicker from the television. Specifically, my Pepere wanted the sports scores and was getting them from the cable news faster than the local paper. I told them the internet is the best for news, but being of the older generation, they don’t have the internet. It wouldn’t be useful to them anyway, although I tried.
I’m reminded of that today, as I follow the breaking news about the Marathon bomber suspects and the manhunt in Boston. As is becoming the norm lately, major news stations are focusing more on breaking the news FIRST, and less on whether or not the news is actually accurate. Yes, it’s frustrating, but more importantly, it’s damaging.
This is the front page from the New York Post – not the most prestigious news institution, but a paper that reports the news nonetheless. If you click the picture to follow the link, you can see the entire bit by Stephen Colbert – in which he points out that, in the Post’s rush to report the “news” before any other outlet, they erroneously pinned the bombing on two innocent men. Regardless of why the FBI were seeking these men, the paper plastered their image on the front page, knowing that if anyone did find one of these men, it would incite panic and violence. And instead of reporting responsibly, they did what they could to sell papers.
I wish this were a stand-alone incident, but its not. Do people even watch CNN anymore, due to their frequency of nonfactual reporting? And unfortunately, it hasn’t been just CNN this week. In the rush to be the best, they’re barely even trying anymore.
However, through the darkness and the dishonesty, there has been a shining beacon showing us the reality of the situation, and that beacon may just surprise you.
You guys, it’s Twitter.
In the past, Twitter has been used to spread information from countries around the world suffering injustice. Its a fantastic platform for social activism and education. But in the past 24 hours, citizens of Boston and the surrounding area have been getting their news 
and updates, not from cable news or the newspapers, but from community watchdog organizations, online news outlets, and direct government feeds from their Twitter accounts. Yes, you read that correctly. Even Governor Patrick has been using Twitter to get important news updates out to the Watertown area residents to stay inside and lock their doors. Trending topics right now are things like #Watertown, #bostonbombing, and #manhunt, all referring to the events of the past 24 hours in Watertown and Boston. Seriously. An international social media service is trending news from our little corner of the world, because that’s what people are using it for. I’ve been following the feed myself since the story broke last night, and the news coming from Twitter is more accurate and faster than the Channel 5 news feed I was watching in a separate tab.
It’s not just me. People are calling this the death of traditional news media! And why not? News media is biased and inaccurate. It’s been that way for a long time – it’s why I got out of journalism. There are websites and blogs and watchdog sites specifically designed to provide accurate information quickly to the general public. These sites have Twitter to get the info out en masse. And government organizations are seeing the benefit; more people were alerted to the Watertown lockdown by Twitter than by the reverse-911 calls.
People have been fed up with the way the media portrays the news for a long time now. But the discussion is starting about whether or not there’s finally an alternative. Could Twitter, and other social media platforms, be that alternative? Last night, I was getting part of my breaking news from Reddit. REDDIT. Until the site was hit with a DDoS attack (strange, that…), there was a feed on the front page that was being constantly updated by people in the area listening to scanners, watching Twitter, and talking to law enforcement outside their doors.
It’s incredible the unity that arises from a situation like this, but instead of being segregated and locked in our homes (like many are physically in Boston right now), we’re coming together, via social media, to support Boston and the authorities as they catch the bastards that tried to make us feel weak, scared, and alone. Thanks to social media, we aren’t alone. And its being noticed.
I’ve spoken about social media before, and I plan to again. This entire, tragic experience has shown us a few rays of sunshine: that Boston law enforcement is incredibly brave, strong, and effective at doing their jobs; that social media and other internet news platforms may just be the future of the way we handle and respond to the news; and that New England stands in solidarity with Boston, a city that, quite clearly, should not be trifled with!
New England Strong <3 New England Pride
We’re here for you, Boston.
Have you been following social media at all during this week’s tragedies?
