The Login Screen

I really don’t like how the text is aligned to the right, however the input is aligned to the left. So when you click on the box your focus is in the wrong spot (text should disappear when you click the box)

Home Page

There is a lot more going on, social network links, images of bands and groups, etc. This isn’t to be loved or hated but I see this as an improvement from what I remember.

Artist

This artist page has some cool idea’s going on. It is no Ping and it isn’t trying to be. Technically Guvera existed way before Apple announced their Ping service. It has 4 main sections which I’ll talk about quickly.

Overall though it is a decent idea for a page, and has many decent ideas within the page. This seems to be the biggest problem for me. There isn’t a way I can click on the subheading/section to see specific information or expanded information for that section. Pretty much all of the sections need to be removed from this page. Instead I would have the ‘Artist’ section down the bottom take up the whole page, removing the scrolling within the section and that way I get what I expect.

Touring

This lists the artists which I can only but assume are touring at the moment. Of course I’m not sure where this information is gathered from and there is no information on the site regarding dates, locations, info, etc. I did a few random checks on artists who have been listed as touring or having gigs this year and all cases they actually were (3 tests). Basically great idea, but provide information about the tour! There is also only space for 7 artists to be on tour, which is displayed in total random fashion. ie: If there are more than 7 artist on tour, it will only show 7 and there isn’t a way to list anymore

Greatest Hits

Well similar to above, artist who pretty much have ‘greatest hits’. Not much to go on here, it does what it says. Also in the similar 7 artist order, at least when you click on the link it takes you to their album/songs as that is the expected behaviour.

New Releases and Charting

Same thing, I guess this is an area to list new songs and if nothing new is happening, songs that are charting. Not much to say here really. Good concept.

Artists

Well this is stupid, it lists artist starting with A, however it can’t lis them all see it goes over pages. Fair enough. But then why do I have to scroll horizontally in this small window? I’m not a fan at all. Besides there seems to be a lot of artist with duplicates in the list. This needs a major revamp, great idea just not done well at all.

Albums

The Albums page follows the same formula of Artist. However I can’t help but feel it is better suited for Albums. There are 3 main section with images in the following categories, Live Albums, 80′s Classics and Our Picks. I’m not going to bother talking about each section. Basically I like the idea, however I want to click on sections, what happens if I want to look in other categories? Do they exist? Improvements could made for sure, however it needs to be talked about as there are pro’s and con’s.. I’m not getting paid for this (although maybe Guvera should swing me a few hundred bucks for my time).

Channels

Well I can say it doesn’t follow the same formula as the previous to pages.. but it kinda of does (not from a lack of trying). It basically lists My Channels, Our Picks and Classic Albums. Straight up, why is Classic Albums here. This has to be some sort of bug. I don’t see any relation to this. Remove it.

So basically a Channel is where stuff happens. I should probably expand on this, but I’m really only reviewing how things have changed and to me. It doesn’t looks like it has changed that much. I will say one thing quickly. “In the Guvera Channel, you can watch a video on ‘How to download’, where is the audio at? A little voice over to tell the users what is happening wouldn’t be bad, or some music. I can only assume there is nothing, or for some reason it wasn’t working on my PC (or should I say Mac now).

Update: There also appears to be no correlation to ‘My Channels’ vs what I’ve actually picked to ‘My Channel’ as seen under ‘My Guvera’. Of course it is called favourites, so maybe they are different things?

Genres

Well this follows the some formula. I can’t help but feel this formula needs improvement! I expect to see a list of genres of music I can select from, but I can only see 3 from which Guvera has picked. The thing down the bottom where I can search for a genre / refine the list. Like I said before this needs to be bigger, no scrolling, etc. This section however I’m pretty sure (100%) they aren’t even Genre’s you search for.

Update: There is a sub menu underneath the Genre menu when you click it. This lists other genres, however this needs work as well. Things just aren’t categorised well enough. (this was hard to find, mainly because of the said formula on the other 3 pages didn’t have this sub menu – also this technically looks to be the 4th menu from the top).

New Releases – Top Downloads

These two pages I’ve decided to put under the same heading. Basically it is the same formula, I’m that bored already I can’t explain it further. I will however say this is where I would expect a Grid slash (yes I typed it rather than using a symbol) Chart to display information, songs, trends, etc. Go look at the Aria charts for inspiration on this one.

Other Random Pages/ Things

• Favourites under ‘My Guvera’ displayed ‘created’, this is now when the channel was created from what I can tell but when you actually added to be a favourite. This is miss leading.
• My Account Details -> This has still be an issue/bug since I reported it last time (either reported it or wrote about it in a blog post, if not both). I still can’t edit my date of birth to my correct one. It is still of by a day (can you at least just change this for me now, make it a 13).
• It still doesn’t excite me, engage me or give me a reason to return. The amount of downloads is still limited to the amount of channels and how much an advertiser wants to allow. Fair enough, but I imagine you might max out at 10 downloads a year?
• There are now credits it seems now, it is purely ‘downloads available’ this is an improvement, I believe I commented on this ages ago.
• No way to interact with other users on the site? How big a community is this?
• What are the goals of Guvera, to give you legal downloads to music – well you can only do so much.. I think you need to expand your goals and become much more to keep interest (how about ‘Become the number 1 site for fans to get information on music’?, well.. I must admit I haven’t tried hard but I do imagine seeing stuff like artist page which albums, lyrics, tour dates, forums, chat rooms?, etc…

Summary

Guvera has progressed, however I would say it has only moved forward by about one or two ‘Sprints’ (translated Agile development talk into a time –> 2 to 8 weeks). This is really slow for an up start and to be honest it is one of the reasons why I haven’t visited it until now. In fact the only reason I did as I was prompted to give some feedback again. I can’t help but feel sorry for the guys at Guvera, as I can get right behind what they are trying to do and it isn’t with out great effort on their part (or is it). It just doesn’t seem to be working out for them. I feel they need more than ‘Beta’ testers to point our obvious flaws and bugs with the code, layout suggestions but they need to giving more direction as a company where they want to go. How they can open up and get people interested like me.

I wish them well, but I wont be visiting the site again until I hear people around me talking about it as I honestly feel if they don’t step their game up, their idea wont be so new and interesting in a few years once they change the lay out a bit more and fix a few bugs.

One point of note though. I haven’t commented on the range of music available which would have to be the biggest things. It would clearly appear they have gotten a lot more artists on board and there is more music on offer. I feel that this might of been their biggest challenge and has consumed most of their time. On this side, I think they are getting there for sure!

Seeing I went to the effort to play around with it, I thought I would share the photos. The last few photos was actually in a race using the replay feature. If you can’t tell what is happening, basically the race has started and my car has gotten a fair bit of lift and is landing on top of the car in front. Not your usual method for over taking!

Policelink Flood Information Hotline
Relatives and friends seeking information about people in flood affected areas should call 1300 993 191

Bureau of Meteorology
The BOM website has up to date weather information, including up-coming forecasts
www.bom.gov.au/qld

Warnings and River Height Bulletins
www.bom.gov.au/qld/flood/

Traffic and Travel information
Call 13 19 40 or goto www.131940.qld.gov.au

RACQ road closure site
Call 1300 130 595 or go towww.racq.com.au/travel/Maps_and_Directions/road_conditions

Queensland Police Twitter page
www.twitter.com/qpsmedia

Qld State Disaster Coordinator – Deputy Commissioner Ian Stewart’s Twitter page
www.twitter.com/QldSDC

Monitor local councils and local radio stations for local information and updates.

ABC News and information links

ABC Local Internet Radio Streaming Links
www.abc.net.au/local/

ABC Local Radio Frequency Information
www2b.abc.net.au/reception/frequencyfinder

ABC Qld Flood Crisis Map
http://queenslandfloods.crowdmap.com

ABC Affected Towns Map
www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/qld-floods/default.htm

If you need help

Please contact the SES Flood Storm Emergency line on 132 500. More information about flood preparation and emergency kits can be found at www.disaster.qld.gov.au

When you hear a flood warning

What to do if you need to evacuate

How to get assistance

Centrelink QLD Flooding Community Recovery page
www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/emergency/qld_flooding_dec10.htm

Community Recovery Hotline
People experiencing personal hardship due to the flooding can call 1800 173 349.

Department of Communities website
Visit the Department of Communities website www.communities.qld.gov.au for updates on the types and availability of support.

Queensland Rural Adjustment
Primary producers are urged to contact the Queensland Rural Adjustment Authority www.qraa.qld.gov.au for assistance.

Queensland Health
For practical health advice during and after floods visit the Queensland Health website www.health.qld.gov.au/healthieryou/disaster/ .

Insurance Council of Australia Hotline
If you have a question about your insurance policy, or need help identifying your insurer, call the Insurance Council of Australia’s 24-hour emergency hotline on 1300 728 228.

Business and Industry
Businesses impacted by flooding may be eligible for recovery grants and loans visit www.business.qld.gov.au/risk-management/flood-assistance.html .

How you can help

Premier’s Flood Relief appeal
The best way is to donate to the Premier’s Flood Relief appeal:
www.qld.gov.au/floods

St Vincent de Paul Society Flood Appeal
St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland has opened the Vinnies Christmas Flood Appeal to assist Queenslanders affected by flooding. St Vincent de Paul Society Volunteers in affected areas report that what they need now is funds.

However, I’ve just come across ‘Real Life Modern Warfare’, which puts gaming into a whole new world! As one person said (Niko), when is the release date on this?

Check out the video, and if you haven’t picked up on it already… it isn’t real.

The guys over at FlowingData.com Demo Slam put it together and I would just like to say well done. I wonder if this will spawn a trend of animations made with Google Docs in the future? Kind of reminds me when you use to draw a series of pictures in a notebook and then flick through it.

Niagara Falls, Canada

The American side is to the left and the Canadian to the right

The Grand Canyon, USA

A 360 degree view of the Grand Canyon. You can just see the Colorado River.

New York, USA

New York, Looking South

New York, Looking North

I never knew that it was so hard to source a car in a specific colour. Out of all the colours they have there are only 2 available (Silver and White). So what have I ordered? A Toyota, RAV4 auto, Cruiser L. The colour, black (Metal Storm) with a very slight tint of blue.

Dolphin Nursery at SeaWorld, Orlando, USA.

One of the first things we did at SeaWorld was come across this dolphin nursery. At the time we were trying to find a map and work out a game plan for the day while walking. We saw this quiet little area that looked fairly open so we thought we would check it out. To our surprise we started seeing dolphins pop there head out of the water near us, as they all started taking a keen interest in what we were doing (and vice versa).

Orca (Killer) Whale Show at SeaWorld, Orlando, USA.

As everyone entered into the arena to watch the show, they let the Orca whales out to just swim around. This wasn’t part of the show but it was pretty cool watching them be whales.

Dexter Walkway Advertising, Las Vegas, USA.

In the MGM Grand in Las Vegas there are a few advertisements which light up the ground. The best one, would have to be this one for Dexter. As you walk over it, blood covers the area and reveals the show time.

Now that I have come back from my holiday to the USA and Canada (well only Toronto), I’ve got some time to go through photos and videos of the trip (also have some annual leave combined with the public holidays). Today being Christmas, I thought I would start it off with a Christmas video. I’ll try and more photos and videos following this.