Music App: Songza

Before I get started talking about Songza, let me just say that I still love Pandora.  It's great for road trips and when I'm looking for something pretty specific.  The only problem is if I listen for more than 2 hours at a time sometimes I hear the same thing over and over again.  But it doesn't stop me, I love it.

My super tech savvy husband, Stephen, first told me about Songza.  He told me to download it and he let me discover it's awesomeness on my own.  It's available on Android and Apple products.  According to Stephen, "Songza is to Pandora as Pandora was to Radio."  I think if it catches on it will change the way we listen to streaming music, again.  (Isn't that the beauty of Internet radio - it's always changing and someone is always coming up with something new and better?)

For the past three days I've been listening to Songza at work and I'm loving it.  It's new and therefore there aren't any ads to break up the music... yet.  There are ads on the screen while the music is playing, but I'm looking at my computer, not my phone screen.  Working in advertising, I have a feeling that's changing at some point - let's just hope it's a little bit further down the road.  I've been crazy busy, so sometimes it's just background noise so I can't hear the people around me, sometimes I'm answering emails and I can really pay attention to the music playing in my headphones.

Here is how it works.  The App knows what day it is and the time so it guesses, intelligently, where you are at that moment and what you're doing.  Based on where you are and what it thinks you're doing it will give you options to start down a path to get to a playlist.

The two screen shots above are the first two screens you'll see.  The first screen is where you can pick your general genre of music.  The screen shots are from Stephen (on an Android) and when I opened the App one of the options was different - I also had Working (without lyrics) instead of the Office Crowd Pleasers.  Little bit jealous, but moving on.  Once you pick from those six options, we picked Weekday Dance Party (of course), you're brought to the next screen you see above.  What kind of dance party do I want?  Such great options.  I chose '90s Party Hits.  

Did you think that was going to be the last option?  NO!  You still get more choices so you get to exactly what you're looking for.  Once I selected '90s Party Hits I had three more choices, the first screen shot above.  I went with At a '90s School Dance.  All of the school dances I went to growing up were in the 90s so I wanted to relive some of those moments.  Once that's selected you're taken to the last screen, the black one, where you hit play to begin listening to music.  You can also see a few other playlists that are similar to the one I chose on my path.  Tell me you couldn't listen to all three of those, too!  100 Worst Songs Ever, '90s Workout!  Come on, those are so great!

At my '90s Dance I've heard some Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys, Fresh Prince of Bel Air and UB40 just to name a few.  It's everything I could have wanted.  Part of me wants to go back to see what my options would have been if I chose Epic Walking from the very beginning, but let's be honest, I'm enjoying reliving Prom too much to leave this playlist.

iPhone Upgrade!

It's not what you think, I didn't upgrade to the brand new iPhone 5 - I went from my 3GS to the 4S.  I was up for an upgrade for about 6 months, but I knew that Apple would be introducing a new phone soon so I waited.

When the iPhone 5 was revealed I wasn't overly impressed.  I didn't want to have change out all of the chargers in my house and car and adding an extra row of apps in the screen wasn't super necessary.  The larger size of the phone didn't impress me either.  I want smaller phones, not larger.  My decision was easy when I saw that a new, 16G iPhone 4S was now only $99.  

Once the phone was ordered I wanted to design my own case.  I found a website, Coveroo, where you can pick you own case, your own design or upload your own design and even personalize the case.  I chose the above case and added my monogram.  When it arrived at home I fell madly in love.  

But our love story wouldn't last forever.  That first night I took a picture of Goose being cute, as usual, and I noticed that something was wrong with the camera.  Our house looked like it was filled with fog.  I didn't know if it was the camera or the new case so I took off the case and tried the picture again - perfect.  I had to admit, the case was causing my flash to reflect off the case and wash out the picture.  I've contacted Coveroo and they will be refunding me the money as soon as I send back the case.  I'm on a search for a new case now.  Sadly, I don't think I'll find one that I love as much as my polka dot Florida Gator case.   

Turning off iphone Apps

I've never posted anything about electronics, or how to fix them, but this was too important to share.

My iPhone battery was dying 4x faster than usual starting over the weekend.  My mind immediately went to "it's dead, 2.5 years later and it's dying." I always think the worst first.

I mentioned it to a few co-workers and one actually knew problem and the solution.  To Stephen's credit, he did know the problem, but I didn't think it was possible to fix it.

On the iPhone, once you open an App it stays open.  (I should note, this is all based on my 3GS and it also works for the iPhone 4.)  This drains your battery.  I don't read everything about my phone, but when I downloaded the new operating system a few months ago, I didn't hear about this.  You can see what apps are open by double tapping the home button.  You'll be able so scroll through your open apps.  Every app on my phone was active.

To turn off the apps, touch one of the app icons until it starts shaking.  Once it's shaking a little red circle with a white line will show up.  (Looks similar to how you delete an app from your phone)  To close the app, touch the red circle.  The app is now closed and it doesn't drain your battery.

It's been 2 days since I've tried this solution to my battery problem and it was the perfect fix.  I didn't even plug my phone in last night and I still have more than half of my battery life.  Over the weekend the battery was drained in just a few hours.

I also tried this on my iPad 2 and it works the same.  Great tip to prolonging battery life!

Blackjack Obsessed

I mentioned that over the weekend my friends taught me how to play Blackjack so that I can participate in the gambling when we go to Vegas.  It was very important to me that I get to gamble with the guys while I'm there.  Stephen isn't going to want to go to shows or fancy dinners while we're there but I did that a few months ago when I went with my friends.  The purpose of this trip is to really experience the gambling in Sin City, hopefully win some money, and take a fun trip with My Love.  :)

Last night I was still thinking about Blackjack when I got home from work so I downloaded an App on my phone so I could continue to play so I'm comfortable with certain situations and with "money".  I now understand how easily it is for people to sit at a Blackjack table for hours at a time.

The app is pretty neat.  You automatically start with $1000 and you control the amount of your bet.  You can double down and split and Blackjack pays 3 to 2.  It's been a good learning experience to watch the money go up and down so I get comfortable with streaks.

I plan on "practicing" until it's trip time - in December.  I totally understand that a lot, well most, of the game is total chance and that some hands I'll never have a chance to win.  But if I'm prepared for the situations when I should double or spit, I'll do better with my money.

It's very exciting.

Delta's iphone App review

I'm at the airport about once a month, sometimes more.  I live away from my family and a lot of my very dear friends.  I've often joked that I need to have a direct deposit to Delta for $250 each month.  I also travel pretty often for work.  Not as much by plane these days, but every now and then.

With all of this travel, I would easily consider myself an expert traveler.  I'm quick in the security lines.  I know my way around airports.  I never check a bag - I can pack anything into my carry on bag!  The only thing I need is upgrade status.  I'm not there yet... close, but not there.

One thing that has made my life even easier is the Delta Airlines iphone app.  I only fly Delta.  My grandpa worked for Delta for 40 years so the airline is in my blood.  Also, living in Atlanta, it's just easiest to fly Delta.  The app is AMAZING.  It's everything I wanted it to be and more.

With the app you sign in with your skymiles number and it automatically pulls up all of your itineraries.  You can even book flights from the app, I haven't done that just yet.  You can set up push notifications from the app and it alerts you when you can check in, and change seats, and it continues to update you with your flight's gate and any gate or departure changes.

The best part is the boarding pass.  I don't have to get it in my email or have it texted to me anymore, it's right here in my app.  And it saves expired boarding passes, helpful I can imagine if you have to do expense reports, etc.

It's SO EASY.  I've moved the app to my front screen on my iphone even though I don't fly every day.  It makes me happy to see it.

I'm off to the airport today to head to LAS VEGAS with 3 of my very best friends, Jen, Jenn and Lindsay.