Monthly Archives: June 2014

Taking a cue from the growing success of Tumblr, Twitter declared on June 18 that its website, along with its iOS and Android apps, will support animated GIFs, which can also be set as avatar. Of course, this announcement came via a tweet from Twitter support, and the users have a pretty common response, “Finally!”

There are some dissenters who nagged that this would cause slower load times and will bog the users down. Not only that, they as well complain that Tweetdeck doesn’t support animated GIFs. Tweetdeck is not owned by Twitter, which some views has been a dinosaur in the space of social media dashboard. But for those people who are fond of using GIFs, this is definitely good news.

Tumblr is rising at such a fast pace and is probably the finest example of how this tool can be utilized in showing creativity and expressing without using words. Tumblr is considered as an outlier, in that it is a sanctuary for creativity, while Twitter is known better for spreading of news. Linkedin is mainly for business networking, Facebook connects you with your friends and family, and Pinterest is the top social driver for sales.

Pinterest also supports animated GIFs, same as Tumblr, and so is Google+ and the Blogger and WordPress platforms. As with heavy social media hitters, it significantly leaves one holdout, and it’s none other than Facebook. Linkedin isn’t required to adopt the format.

Unlike other social media dashboards, Twitter tries to step ahead of what’s happening instead of trying to catch up. If you are currently using a different dashboard, then it’s now the best time to make the most of your 30-day, no strings free trial and check what you are missing with your present setup.

The rumor mill never stops. The gossip about Hollywood couple Beyonce and Jay Z’s bumpy relationship has been on top of the news. The two don’t really confirm anything about this issue, but people have been really curious ever since that surprised confrontation of Jay Z with his sister-in-law Solange Knowles in May. And now, fans start to wonder again whether this Hollywood power team has some sort of trouble experience in paradise.

Currently, the famous pair has worldwide “On the Run” tour, traveling across the country for their concert. During their concert in Cincinnati, Ohio, Saturday evening, Beyonce decided to do a bit of improvement with the lyrics to one of her songs that have caught the attention of the fans.

As she performed the song “Resentment,” one of the tracks from her 2006 birthday album, she changed the line “Been ridin’ with you for six years why did I deserve to be treated this way by you” to “Been ridin with you for twelve years why did I deserve to be treated this way by you,” stressing the length of years she has been with the rapper. This drew loud roars from the audience.

This fueled the speculation as to whether there was unfaithfulness in their relationship since the entire song is about dealing with infidelity and cheating. To give you more idea of that certain line, it goes a bit something like this: “I know she was attractive but I was here first. Been ridin’ with you for six years why did I deserve to be treated this way by you, you. I know your probably thinking what’s up with Bee. I been crying for too long what did you do to me." So what’s the catch? It appears she resorted to her music to express or vent out her personal issues. But that simply doesn’t seem possible for a lot of reasons.

First, we all know Beyonce isn’t the kind of person to show the world the skeletons of her closet for everyone to check and analyze, especially from of her millions of devoted fans. Second, her rapper husband Jay Z is with her during her entire tour, which would likely make this so-called outburst extremely awkward (you know, he probably was on the backstage giving a side eye to this whole event). Last but definitely not the least, there are pictures from their tour, and these two have been showing their love for each other even more, from showing their never-before-seen wedding pictures to sneaking some of their smooches during their performance on stage. These pair seems to be closer than they were before.

Thus, we may be thinking that this was a merely play with words. Beyonce has posted some of their super-cute photos while they were on tour on her public site, which has just proven that everything is smooth and dandy in their marriage. Whatever the story is behind the diva’s change of song lyrics during her concert, well, remains a mystery.

Today, many kinds of ailments have grown widely, which affect us, humans. With the kind of lifestyle we are engaging in nowadays, it makes us vulnerable to various illnesses. One of them is heart disease, which is one of the leading causes of mortality across the world. Heart disease is caused by various factors. It can be genetic or can be the result of a sedentary lifestyle. Yes, unhealthy habits greatly affect our health. But it’s never too late to kick those bad habits and start doing simple changes.

It has been shown that cutting back your alcohol intake, quitting smoking, and adhering to a healthier diet and regular exercise can reverse heart damage and reduce the risk of heart attack. Yes, this simple lifestyle modification can lead to big and beneficial changes. According to the study conducted in the US, those people who picked up more of the bad habits instead of the healthy ones have great risk of developing heart damage. This study was published in the Journal Circulation.

As what professor Bonnie Spring of Chicago’s Northwestern University stated, “It’s not too late.” “You’re not doomed if you’ve hit young adulthood and acquired some bad habits. You can still make a change and it will have a benefit for your heart.”

The research showed that lifestyle modifications made in your 30s and 40s can have a huge impact. Study volunteers were evaluated at ages 18–30 then 20 years later. The findings concluded with two myths. According to Prof Spring, “[t]he first is that it’s nearly impossible to change patients’ behaviors. Yet, we found that 25 percent of adults made healthy lifestyle changes on their own. The second myth is that the damage has already been done – adulthood is too late for healthy lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of developing coronary artery disease. Clearly, that’s incorrect.”