Tuesday, March 25, 2014

iPad Life Hack: Instant Photo Scroll

Are you the type that takes thousands of pictures on your iPad?
If you are, don't you find it annoying when you enter the Camera Roll app and it brings you to your oldest photo when all you want to see is your newest photo?
Well, those annoying days are over!
With this simple trick you can instantly scroll to any location in your Camera Roll!  

Check out my video for a demonstration:


Thanks for reading/watching!

VerusAnimus

Please note: I am not sure if this works for iPads on iOS 6 or 7.  I will update this if I ever find out.  My iPad is still on iOS 5.  I don't want to update it because I'll lose my jailbreaks. (I already updated my iPod to iOS 6 and I can't get back any of the jailbreaks...for the meantime at least).

Friday, March 21, 2014

Colleversity Tips: The Origin of The Tips

I have always wanted to make a blog.  I just didn't know what to write about.  Additionally, I had video ideas since last November about making University Survival Guide Vlog videos.  I eventually decided against that.  I had an opportunity to combine those ideas and create a blog after I enrolled in my first ever online class, Bioresource Science and Engineering 211, at the University of Washington.  This is a class that teaches students to expand on their creativity.  In this class, students were given an opportunity to make one of their creative ideas a reality.  With this assignment (the midterm), I finally had something to write about; it is thanks to that midterm assignment that I was able to give my blog life.  The following is the first draft of my midterm.  The final draft only had to be two sentences.  I didn't want the rest of my work to go to waste so I decided to make a blog entry for it.  
Here is the reason why I make my Colleversity Tips.
_________________________________________________________________________________
What is something creative I can do to contribute to society, particularly to incoming college and university freshmen?  I can make a blog that provides creative tips on surviving the college and university experience based on my experience. 

What is needed as the first step to make this idea a reality?  First and foremost, I need to create a blog – this is easy as there are many free and reputable blog-providers online.  A potential name for my blog is “Colleversity Survival Tips.”  The next step, which is truly the first step to making this idea a reality, is to gather my experiences from my college and university years and be able to present them in a creative way that viewers will find helpful.

Who is this the intended audience of this blog?  When this survival guide idea popped into my mind, my intended audience was my brother.  However, I want others to read my guide, hence the reason why I am bringing my creativity online.  I feel that by making an online blog, not only can I help out my younger brother, I can also help out many incoming college and university freshman in the years to come.  Perhaps sophomores, juniors, and seniors will also learn a couple new ways of doing things if they happen upon my blog.  

Why do I want to make this blog?  The main reason why I came up with this idea is because my younger brother is graduating from high school this year and I want to creatively give him tips on how to survive college or university.  By providing college survival tips, I will be able to analyze how I reacted to particular experiences and I will be able to better prepare my brother for the future.  Additionally, I hope that by sharing my personal experiences in the classroom and on campus, I can inspire others to do well during their four-plus years in college.

When will I post blog entries?  I plan on posting blog entries as often as I can.  I will gather as many creative college survival tips as I can and post weekly blog entries with possible entries in between weeks.  I hope to have numerous entries posted online by the time my brother graduates this spring.  

When did I obtain the experiences I plan on sharing?  I obtained my experience over the past four years.  I have attended both college and university (which have very different environments).  I have lived in both an apartment and in multiple dorms.  I have lived alone and with roommates.  I have learned the tips and tricks necessary for doing well in and out of class.  I have had my successes and my failures.  I learned from my experiences and used my creativity to prevent future mistakes.  Overall, I believe I’m qualified to share survival tips on an online blog.

Where have my experiences taken place?  My experiences are directly from two accredited academic centers in Washington State: Skagit Valley College and the University of Washington.  My experiences in each environment are unique and extensive.  It is important to note that while my advice can apply to any college and university around the world, some tips will be localized to these two Pacific Northwest schools. 

How exactly do I plan on making this blog successful?  I know there are already abundant amounts of college and university survival tips online.  My plan on making this blog a success is to share advice based purely off my experiences.  By sharing tips directly from a university student, I believe that my blog will have a more creative and personal twist.  I am confident that some of my tips will have applications that extend beyond the academic environment.  Regardless, I would consider my blog a success if it helps out incoming college students, particularly my brother.


In conclusion, something creative I can do to contribute to society is to create an online blog that provides advice for making it through college and university.  By sharing my personal experiences and giving creative tips on how to survive the college and university life, I hope to have a positive impact on as many students as possible.
_________________________________________________________________________________
As you can see, my blog has taken this idea, modified some of my original plans, and transformed into something more. 

VerusAnimus

Monday, March 17, 2014

Colleversity Tips: Save on Eating Utensils, Condiments, Napkins & Drinks

College can be expensive. One way to be resourceful and save your money is to collect complimentary eating utensils, cups, and napkins.

It's simple, really.  This type of money-saving method might be common knowledge.  However, if you don't know about this method, keep these bullet points in mind:

  • Whenever you eat out, go grab a couple extra plastic spoons, forks, and knives.  
  • While you're at it, get some extra napkins for your car and home.  
  • Don't forget the straws!  
  • If you like condiments, be sure to collect some extra packets of ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, salsa verde, salt, chili peppers, and whatever else you like!
  • If cups are free and there are a lot, go get some. 

Doing this will save you a lot of money in the long run. It will also keep you will supplied for unexpected moments.
Example scenarios for when collecting these items will come in handy:
- You never know when you'll need a couple straws or napkins in your car.
- If you run out of vinegar, at least you'll have an extra stash of vinegar packets ready to go.
- You want less dishes to wash so you use plastic utensils.  However, please note that it saves resources to wash and reuse your plastic eating utensils.

Before you do this though, it's important to determine if the establishment has any written strict rules against obtaining complimentary items.  Also remember not to be obnoxious and take too much.  Leave some for other people.  They need to build up their complimentary stash too.

When it comes to drinks, if your school has a water fountain specifically designed for bottles, simply reuse your plastic bottles!  No need to buy any fancy water bottles.  You can reuse Gatorade bottles, the water bottles that come in packages, or even an iced tea bottle.  If you want, you can change the bottle you use every few days or every week.  The point is that by reusing what you have, you will save you money as well as help the environment.

VerusAnimus

Monday, March 10, 2014

Colleversity & Life Tip: Getting Food Out from Between Your Teeth

Do you carry dental floss with you wherever you go?

Probably not.  If you do, then that's great!  You can keep reading this or you can do something else.

This post is for people who get food stuck between their teeth and don't carry dental floss.

Depending on the food you eat, you are bound to get food stuck between your teeth.  It can be awkward and embarrassing talking to someone later on with chicken or spinach sticking out of your teeth.

So what's an easy and cheap way of getting food out between your teeth that doesn't involve floss?

The answer is simple: Water.

  • What you do is go to a bathroom and take a mouthful of water. 
  •  Keep your mouth close.  
  • Then, using the pressure from your tongue and mouth, push the water through the portions of your teeth that have food stuck in it.  
  • You may have to direct the water with your tongue if the food is in your front-left or front-right teeth. 
  • Spit out the water and repeat as necessary.
It's that easy.  Just be sure you are satisfied with the cleanliness of the sink's water supply.  

This tip works well everywhere, from school to the malls.  As a bonus, if you don't have water, feel free to build up your saliva as an alternative!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to actually brush and floss.

VerusAnimus

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Colleversity Tips - Take Care of Physical & Digital Valuables

It is VERY import to take care of all your physical and digital valuables.  This may seem obvious but you would be surprised at how many people still aren't careful with their things, regardless of how many times they are told to take care of their physical and digital valuables.

Physical:
It is very important to keep your physical belongings with you at all times.  Whether it's a laptop, a textbook, or any sort of bag or purse, always keep them within eyesight.  

It only takes a few seconds for a thief to inconspicuously steal your things. 

If you have to go to the bathroom or answer a call outside or something of that matter, ALWAYS bring your belongings with you.  If it is inconvenient to bring your things with you for a couple of seconds/minutes, ask someone to watch your things.

NEVER leave your things alone.  The risk of losing your valuables, the financial impact, the trouble of contacting authorities, and the emotional pain that comes with losing your things isn't worth it.  
You can prevent all this pain by not taking risks and ALWAYS keeping your valuables with you. 

ALWAYS.

Digital:
Just as it is important to keep your physical valuables with you at all times, it is also important to constantly protect your digital valuables.  Digital valuables include important files, homework, email, social networking accounts, and other personal data.

When editing any digital document, ALWAYS save your files.  Afterwards, backup your files by saving it to your USB, emailing yourself a copy, and saving an extra copy on your laptop.  You never know what will happen to the original file and you may find yourself in need of the file when you don't have Internet access or you don't have your USB on you.  In fact, you should always keep extra backups of all sorts of important digital files, not just the ones you've edited (such as pictures, videos, "version 1s" of essays, pdfs, and so on).

Additionally, ALWAYS log out of your accounts.  Whether it's your email, your social network profile, or your school account, log off.  If you are logged in at a computer lab and you have to leave for awhile, ask someone trustworthy to watch your computer if logging out will be an inconvenience.  

Lastly, NEVER forget to leave your USBs plugged into public computers.  It may be easy to forget so a simple solution is to attach a lanyard to the USB and then wrap something you always carry with you to the lanyard such as your keys or your headphones.

Take care of your digital files, they can be copied, shared, and deleted instantaneously.  More often than not, it is impossible to reverse any negative occurrences that results from negligence.    

Remember:
ALWAYS TAKE CARE of your physical and digital belongings.  Make it a good habit. You know how important it is to take care of your teeth and your physical and emotional health right?  Well, for slightly different reasons it is just as important to take care of your physical and digital valuables. 

VerusAnimus 

Monday, March 3, 2014

Colleversity Tips - Elevator Kindness

I live on the top floor of my dorm.  I like the top floor because of the nice pseudo-aerial view.

I came up with a good act of kindness a couple months ago. It involves being considerate to people who haven't arrived at the lobby elevator yet.  This act of kindness applies to dorm/apartment buildings but it may apply to other elevator scenarios as well.  

Elevator kindness is simple.  I take the elevator all the way to my top floor.  If no one is waiting to use the elevator at the top floor, I push the "Ground/Lobby" floor button and proceed to my room.  This way, people at the lobby don't have to wait for the elevator to go all the way down.  I don't like to wait for the elevator to come from the top floor, so I decided that other people shouldn't wait either.

However, there is a problem to this: what if the coast is clear when I exit the elevator at the top floor and push the lobby button and then someone appears to take the elevator but it's already doing down?  This is where your personal discretion comes into play.  It is up to you if you want to press the button or not.  I often do this act of kindness in the morning/afternoon when the majority of students are in class.  That way, when they get out of class they can easily go back up.  I would recommend spreading this act of kindness if you know there are more people wanting to go up than people wanting to go down (and the upper floor lobbies are clear).

Additionally, I ALWAYS take the stairs down, so I don't have a problem with the elevator going down.  Perhaps other top floor students can do this too since it is so much easier going downstairs than it is up.  I understand if they don't want to - elevators are more convenient.  I personally like the extra little exercise.  

So there you have it.  A little act of elevator kindness I came up with this school year.  It may or may not seem kind to others depending on if they get the quick lift or if they are left behind.  As long as you time things right, you might end up making rather than breaking people's days!

VerusAnimus

Sunday, March 2, 2014

How To Easily Gain Instagram Followers - The VerusAnimus InstaFollowMethod

There are many articles online about how to gain Instagram followers.  I came up with a creative and easy way to gain Instagram followers.  I'm still fairly new to Instagram - I only became active at the end of summer 2013.  The following method looks takes a psychological/statistical point of view.  I came up with this idea simply through observation who interacts with my Instagram account, experimentation, and creative thinking.  Maybe someone else has thought of this idea but as far as I know, I discovered it myself.  I thought I would share my discovery with you all.  I like to call it the VerusAnimus InstaFollow Method.

Please note: If you follow my instructions then this method has very high probability of working - it has worked consistently for me.  The reasons for it not working is if you "travel" through an unpopular #hastag, it's not a busy time of the day and you don't like enough pictures.  This method is significantly better and simpler than many of the methods out there.

I have noted that there is a trend on Instagram where if someone "likes" your photo, it is common courtesy for you to "like" theirs back.  This sense of reciprocity is especially apparent when people like multiple pictures.  Of course, not everyone "likes back."  Anyways, this InstaReciprocity is the basis for my method.

The basis of my method is to creatively and inconspicuously advertise my account.  It selectively targets people.  For most people, it is fairly easy to receive a single like and not like back.  However, people have a higher probability of liking back when they receive two or more likes.  I begin my InstaFollow method by initiating InstaReciprocity.  Here are the steps for easily gaining more followers:

  • I choose a hashtag that tends to have lots of pictures.  I “travel” through cyberspace to places such as #Seattle, #Vancouver, #trees, #snowy, or #railway.
  • Once there, I choose a type of picture to focus on.  For example, I focus on scenery pictures.  Of course, you don't have to focus on any particular picture.  I have discovered that having a genre to focus on makes the process go faster.
  • I scroll through the hashed pictures and tap the ones that fit my focus.  I like that picture and enter the user's page.  I check if they have a ratio in which their "following" is greater than their "followers."
  • If they fit that requirement, I like one extra picture.  I only like one extra so that it's not obvious that I'm advertising my channel and so that I can speed up the process of targeting more users.
  • If the hashtag I'm in doesn't have the proper ratio, I travel through a different hashtag and try that out.
  • While I have gotten followers from around the world with foreign hastags, I tend to use local hashtags since "local" people are more likely to follow other who post pictures of similar interests. For example, #Seattle, #Washington, #Oregon, #PNW, #PacificNorthwest, and #forest works well for me. 
  • Please note: I discovered that sometimes Instagram automatically "unlikes" some pictures if you double tap too many in a row when entering from the hashtag portal.  Just be careful about this.
  • Anyways, since I like at least two of the user's photos, they would have a higher chance of feeling committed to enter my account and like my pictures back.  Remember, not everyone does this - that's why I have to repeat this process for multiple pictures for about 15+ minutes.
  • Since the targeted users have a higher "following" to "followers" ratio, they have a higher probability of entering my account, liking my pictures, and following me.  
That's it.  It's that simple.  If you do this for multiple pictures for an extended amount of time, you are guaranteed to gain comments, likes, and followers.  I have gained numerous likes, followers, and comments every 40 minutes.  Sometimes I wait longer because I like to see the mass notifications.  This may not seem like much to some people but for me, it's a lot since only a couple weeks before writing this I had less than 70 followers.  

Remember, this can be time consuming.  Don't get stuck doing this.  There's a whole world out there to explore!

Some may note that this method is similar to the "scroll down and like everything you see" method.  In some ways it is and in some ways it isn't.  That method doesn't really attempt to gain followers.  It just likes every single picture.  My method is more streamlined in that the target is people with a higher "following" to "follower" ratio.  This method may take a couple more seconds per photo but at least it will result in easier followers.  

The whole process is a creative method I came up with by using lateral thinking after observing human psychology behavior on Instagram.  For those who think this is cheating, it's not.  All it is is very good "advertising."  I don't spam people's accounts an I don't force anyone to "click my user name" and follow me.  I don't want people to feel obligated to follow me.  All I do is make my account available to them so they have the free will to follow me if they like my pictures.  It's different and it works.

Thanks for reading this and good luck gaining more followers!  If you use the post in any way please credit me by citing my blog, my Instagram (@Verus_Animus), and my real name (Joel S. Atienza).

Also, check out my video for a real-life demonstration and proof that I gained 120+ followers in one week! 

If you like this article and/or it helped you, be sure to share it and follow my main Instagram at @Verus_Animus.

Shoutout to all my present and future followers!  Thank you! I couldn't have done this without you all.

Joel S. Atienza aka VerusAnimus
Electrical Engineering student
University of Washington

Bonus: Food account: @JVerusSAnimusA
Bonus for reaching the end: If you still have trouble finding the followers (which you shouldn't), then perhaps my followers will follow you. Hint hint.