Media Meditation 3

A Convergent Desktop.

After my computer crashed earlier this month, I decided that I would use the opportunity presented here to start anew. I wanted a clean, uncluttered desktop that would put the internet at my fingertips 24/7. Do do this, I chose a program called Rainmeter that functions my portal to both my computer and the wider media world. Using it has really improved my workflow and overall computing experience. It has also helped me keep up to date with news.This is my desktop as it appears currently. All the individual elements on the desktop, aside from the dock on the right (which is another program altogether) are movable. Rainmeter allows you to put in your own RSS feeds on the side for the newsreaders which will self update so that you can keep updated with your favorite things, be they blogs websites, news or whatever. There is even an option to tie your twitter account so that tweets appear seamlessly on your desktop. I didn't activate that particular plugin because I do not have a twitter account. You can also control your itunes from the desktop without actually opening up the program. These features which make the media and information seek me out have been really useful. I never really saw the advantage in this kind of thing until I used it.

The Lifehacker RSS feed has been particularly interesting to me, because it is a content aggregator in and of itself. Now, interesting DIY and other articles come together there so that they can then come down to me. It saves me from having to really look for anything. This is the advantage of living in a culture of convergence. Information finds me. I don't have to find it. There are a myriad of user created plugins for this program that I haven't even begun to explore. Who knows what else my desktop can be trained to do?

Rainmeter is also open source, somthing that is becoming increasingly common these days. Its a good thing too, in my mind. It allows the users to have some say in the way the things that they use are run and work. It transfers ownership to the community instead of one person.