DAY ONE

Day One is a journal/diary that allows you to record and preserve memories every day. The design is beautiful and the interface is just so smooth and easy to get along with.  You can sync all your entries through numerous devices to make sure you retain those memories and entries across time. As well as viewing your entries in a timeline format you are also able to browse the entries by looking at the photograph you have taken for that day.

When you click to create a new entry, the first line of text will be bold. This is great if you want to summarise the day in a sentence as it makes that stand out when you're looking back through your timeline. You can use tags to group some of your entries together. For instance if you were going on a trip and wanted to look at those memories again when looking back on your timeline it's there to be able to do so, without you having to sift through past entries to reach it. As well as adding tags to your entry you can also place a photo from the day, add the location which you were at as well as adding the weather. All these extra things allow you to create a journal entry where there is a lot of information involved to allow the best retrieval of that memory when you are looking back on them. To keep your content safe, if you wanted to keep your entries secret, you can create a password lock which you have to enter before accessing the app.

I love this app and thinks it's a great idea to keep track of those little things everyday to look back on. At the moment you can only add one photograph to an entry but I think that they may be developing the app further in the future to allow you to add more. If you're someone who loves to keep note of there favourite memories of just every day life then I would highly recommend this app.
Day One is free for i0S with research into hopefully bringing out an Android app in the future. Also available for download from the Mac Store.

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BRIT CO.

Brit + co is a website which has a ton of things on there! With content spanning across 8 topics, there is a lot to see. Whether it's a new recipe you fancy trying out or you're looking for something new to make, as well as articles on a variety of topics there is a lot on there for everyone. When you create an account you can save the articles to look at again later. Some of the larger articles, such as 100 Ways to repurpose a mason jar, links through to the DIYs on other sites. So Brit Co. brings a range of DIYs altogether in one easily accessible place.

The App:

The app is really simple to navigate with a nice fluid design. You can login to the app to gain access to any articles or DIYs you have previous favourited. It syncs with all your devices so that you can access all your favourites on the go. The layout on the app is pretty much the exact same as on the website including all the topic areas. To favourite an article on the app you just clicked the little star at the top and that's it it really is that simple!

If you're looking for a new DIY project or looking for something delicious to cook then definitely check out Brit Co. Some of my favorites include DIY Patterned Planters, Ways to repurpose a map, and the Wire word wall art.

Brit Co. is free to download on i0S, Windows and Android devices as well as there being the website as well.

WUNDERLIST

Wunderlist is my go to app for making lists at the moment. The simple user interface means that it's incredibly easy to create a number of lists and organise them to improve your productivity. When you sign up to the service (it's free) it means that you are able to sync those lists to a number of devices, using your user login.

On the main screen you have; inbox, starred, today and week. Your inbox is where you just add any number of tasks and have them all in one place. The starred section is where you will find any of your more important tasks that you have bookmarked. To star an item simply click the star on the right of the task and it will place a red bookmark over it. This means that you can easily keep track of the most important tasks to you. When you set up a new task you can either add it straight to your inbox, your starred section or onto your own sub lists. You can assign deadlines for each task as well as setting a reminder for a specific time and day, this is all done when you set up a new task. As well as setting reminders, you are also able to create small sub tasks, write notes and add a specific file to that task.

If the inbox style of one long list is too much, you can also create a number of sub lists for specific categories. For example one of my lists is for new films I want to see and I also have another list for general things I need to do that week. I find having a number of sublists for different topics really helps with this app as I think this form of layout would be incredibly useful for assignments when you have a number of different things to do in order to complete one main task.

As well as the basic Wunderlist account, which you can download for free, there is also Wunderlist Pro. Wunderlist Pro means that a number of people can all access the same lists making it perfect for a group assignment. You can all access specific tasks as well as assigning tasks to specific people. The pro service means that everyone can be kept up to date on changing tasks and aware when separate tasks have been completed.

I really enjoy using Wunderlist and would highly recommend it if you're looking for an app that will allow you to create a number of lists and stay organised. If you don't have a app compatible phone there is also the web version available which is literally the same as the apps layout, just larger.
Wunderlist is available free for i0S, Android and Windows devices as well as there being the web version. An upgrade to Wunderlist Pro costs $4.99 a month or $49.99 for the year. 

THE AVENGERS: B-ROLLS AND BEHIND THE SCENES

I found an article on Empire Magazine’s website this week talking about Cinema's Greatest Effects (make sure you definitely check the whole article out!) and as a result of this I wanted to do a post on something I love in movies, and that's everything to do with the production and behinds the scenes that goes into producing and creating them. I wanted to focus on the Avengers as this was one of my favourite films from last year and I thought it was incredible.
*(This contains some spoilers as to how the Avengers were filmed in relation to locations used and any effects added after filming.)

There are a lot of topics to cover when talking about the production and the processes that go from taking that initial idea to creating a movie that is played at cinemas. With any movie you’ll have a story boarding process, numerous rewrites of scripts, finding locations, casting for roles, filming, sound effects, post production work etc. The thing I want to focus on in relation to the Empire article is the way in which movies are created and specifically b-rolls and behind the scenes footage. These allow the viewer to experience the goings on behind a major picture. I find B-Rolls, behind the scenes footage, deleted scenes and outtakes all extremely interesting to watch as it’s something that would have previously remained unseen had we only watched the movie.

One of the ways in which a B-roll can be used is in the form of showing the production and behinds the scenes goings on that result in the final shot. I really enjoy finding any behinds the scenes footage or outtakes with films, as I personally think it’s hugely interesting to see what goes into making that movie. One of my favourite b-rolls I've watched is a 4 video set showing Raw B-Roll footage taken on the sets of the Avengers movie. The amount of work that goes into creating something that it as visual amazing as the Avengers is truly outstanding.

One of the best sections of the Avengers B-Roll for me it is knowing that the big street explosion scene (if you've seen the Avengers you may know what I'm talking about, if not check out the trailer here to find out!) was actually real and the amount of time and planning that goes into filming a scene like that must be insane. You can see the shot being filmed in the below B-Roll footage (part 2 of 4. You can check out the other 3 parts to this footage here; part 1, part 3 and part 4)

What’s equally as impressive as the actually production of the shot is any work that goes on after the action has been filmed. There is a huge amount of CGI used in a film like The Avengers, more that some people may first believe. In this video shown on the channel ILM Visual FX (who have also created visuals for other films such as Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean) they explain that due to various restrictions to do with filming in New York, both on the ground and in the sky using helicopters, a large portion of the New York you see in The Avengers is CGI. The team behind it actually filmed 7 miles of streets, filming 100 metres above using cranes and filming 35 different rooftops across the city at both day and night. This resulted in the creation of around 2,000 spheres and over 250,000 images which they placed together to get the basics to the scenes. They then have to add a lot of extra components to get to the scenes that you see in the movie such as people, vehicles and even adding in the details like the insides of offices buildings.

I know some people don't like spoiling the magic of the movie but for me I always want to know more and I find this enhances the joy I get from movies. The majority of times after I have finished watching one, I will research a lot more about it. I’ll want to know what the location was for the shoot, the time it took to make the film and so on. I would highly recommend watching the B-rolls for The Avengers as it's fasicnating to see how a huge film like this is created. It’s not just The Avengers movie which has a B-Roll, there are a host of other movies on YouTube which can show you footage similar to this as well as featurettes. A couple of my other favourites are the The Dark Knight Rises featurette and The Amazing Spider-Man B-Roll, which you should definitely check out!

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DROPBOX

You may have heard of Dropbox before, but I am fairly late to the idea of cloud storage and understanding just how great something like this is. The idea behind Dropbox is that whatever you place in your box you are able to access from a host of other devices. If you change a document on one device it will sync up to the others so the changes will go with you. 

Something like this is definitely going to be handy whilst I'm at university as it will allow me to have  aback up system online so that if any of my work gets deleted or lost (this has happened to me before) then I have another copy avalible. "Dropbox secures your files with AES-256 bit encryption and two-step verification". Now although I don't understand exactly what that means I know that any protection is better than none and for an app like Dropbox where you things are mostly stored in the cloud, this is brilliant as it means you can feel safe knowing that your documents are secure. 

You can access your files online, on your computer as well as your handheld devices. The things you put in your box are actually synced to all your devices meaning you can access important documents on the go and if you have a word document you need to edit you can use a secondary app such as Evernote to do so.

With it being easy to use and a good amount of storage avaliable to the free user I think that Dropbox is an app definitely worth trying ever if you just want to take a closer look at it.

Dropbox is free to download with a free 2GB worth of storage (you can get more if you refer your friends) and with a pro plan you can get 100GB, 200GB or 500GB of storage starting at $9.99 a month. The Dropbox app is available for download on i0S, Android and Windows devices as well as the web browser and desktop download. 

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NETFLIX

I first signed up to Netflix at the beginning of the year and have not once thought about cancelling since the day I've joined. There is sooooo much on this site I actually have a struggle figuring out what I want to watch next! If you've looked into Netflix before you may know that it is an American company (founded in 1997) which provides a wide variety of documentaries, TV series and films to the subscribers of the service. If you've seen the content on the US site and think it will be the same on the UK version of the service, you need to bear in mind when the UK service began. Netflix in the UK was actually only released in January 2012 which is why there is a considerable difference in the amount of content available. Since I started watching in January of this year you can really see just how much they've already added to their site and as the service in the UK grows this content will keep expanding.

Once you're signed up there are many different ways of finding content to watch. You can use the search bar to search for a specific title, actor, genre etc. or the homepage can provide some suggestions. On the homepage it displays whats popular with your friends (if you sign up through Facebook), what's new on the site and what the most popular things are at that moment on the site. As part of the sign up process you also answer some questions on a taste profile which means that Netflix can then suggest content which it thinks you may like to save you browsing to look for something new. Another great thing about Netflix is there is also a designated kids zone which has a whole host of separate genres to browse through if you were looking for something specific for your kids to watch.

This service is available on a large number of devices and I have already tried it on quite a few. I've had no problems so far with buffering through my Wii and have only witnessed a small delay in loading with my handheld devices but this may possibly be down to the internet connection being used and not the device its self. The apps and mobile versions (as well as the Wii) are extremely easy to navigate and have many of the exact same features of that of the desktop site.

One of my favourite TV series to watch on Netflix has to be Breaking Bad. This is an American TV show which is extremely hard to view over here but thanks to Netflix it is completely up to date with the current episodes! The second half of the final series actually premieres in the US this Sunday (Sunday 12th August) and I am so excited for it! As I was typing this post I actually found out that Netflix will be airing the new episodes every Monday, the day after each episode is released in the US. This is HUGE news for fans of the show (including me) as I (and it seems many others) were fearing that we would have to wait until the series had completely ended in the US before we even had a chance to get it over here. Thanks to Netflix broadcasting it means that there is only a days break between the new series in the US and UK. Although I haven't seen a specific time when it will be aired on Netflix we will hopefully be finding that news out soon.

Overall, I think Netflix is a fantastic service and with a months free trial it is definitely worth giving a go even if you cancel after that month. With the UK version of the site still being baby in comparison to is US counterpart, the content may seem slightly limited to some at first but I'm sure that we will see bigger and more recognisable titles being added to the already large collection in the near future.

I haven't tried out any of Netflix's competitors yet such as Love Film but if you have please let me know what you think!

Netflix is available for £5.99 a month (with a one month free trial) with free apps available on iOS and android devices. As well as this it is available on devices including the Wii, X-Box 360 and the Playstation 3.
*This post is in no way sponsored by Netflix I simply love the service too much not to rave about it and thought it would be a perfect time to post this seeing as the new series of one of my favourite TV shows is being released literally at the same time as it airing in the States.

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DUOLINGO

The above screenshots are taken from the app version of this program. The online version of the site is incredibly similar in terms of layout and functionality.

The App.
It's a very easy to navigate app with a simple layout to the the menus and a really smooth user experience. This is a progressive learning experience so the more topic areas that you work on, the more you progress through the app, thus the more you learn. There are a variety of sections in each topic area and you progress through them by answering a variety of questions. The questions can come in the form of:
- Typing the French phrase into English (and vice versa)
- Building the English sentence from the French words (and vice versa - like the version above)
- Repeating the French phrase
- Choosing a translation from a list of multiple choice answers
There are lots of helpful tips as you go through the app and if you click on the word in the question it will give the translation of each word to help with your understanding to then complete the whole translation of the given phrase. Another thing I really enjoy about this app it that if you haven't practiced the skills for a couple of days it will knock some of points off of your level, which you then have to complete again to build that score back up. This is a great way of motivating you to continue and practice a little bit each day which can reinforce the language and help you retain key words and phrases.

The Website.
In essence the website is pretty much the same as the app, but the only major difference that I've noticed is the conversations aspect to it. After each question there is the option to discuss the phrase/question you have just completed and talk about various aspects of it. This can include the tenses used and other people can help if you're struggling with certain phrases or whether the word before needs to be masculine or feminine. This can be really handy when getting to the more complex sections or if you keep struggling with the same word and want to know why it may be phrased a certain way.

- Both versions have a microphone feature in which you repeat the phrase it gives you and you move on if that repetition of said phrase is correct. If you don't get it right you simply repeat until you do. I found this can a little bit temperamental if you speak too quickly, but if you are too quick, it will say it can't understand and ask you to repeat it again but slower.
- It will mark your answer and if you fail you will lose a life. If you lose all the lives on that level then it will end but you can restart it from the beginning again straight away.
- If you have got the translation/answer right it may sometimes correct it and point out any types for you that you may have made just to make sure that you have got the answer correct but that there were other issues in the answer that you gave.

Overall I think that this is a brilliant app that can really help either develop existing experience within a language or allow you to learn a completely new one. It's also great if you're going on holiday to a foreign country and wanted to learn a bit of the basics of the language to be able to speak it whilst out there.

Duolingo is available for both i0S devices and Android as well as there also being a chrome extension and a website. Languages include Spanish, English, French, German, Portuguese and Italian.

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