HAPPY NEWS!

After months of rumours and speculation, Cheryl has officially announced she is pregnant! This news has come at the perfect time and it was only a few weeks ago that Beyoncé announced her pregnancy with twins to the world. February is most certainly shaping up to be a fun-filled and heartwarming month.

I am over the moon and absolutely overjoyed at the news of Cheryl’s pregnancy because it has been a long time coming and I am absolutely happy for both Cheryl & Liam Payne! Both of them will most certainly make fantastic parents and to see Cheryl at her happiest makes me and everyone smile. Happiness, love, respect, compassion and care is what matters and I send all of my happiness, love, respect, compassion and care to both Cheryl & Liam Payne.

Congratulations Cheryl & Liam! Both of you will most certainly be wonderful parents and I wish you every ounce of happiness all the way because you are both worth it 🙂

Alex Smithson

© L’Oréal 2017

© The photograph of Cheryl is copyright of L’Oréal. Full photo credit goes to L’Oréal. No Copyright Infringement Intended.

She’s a Grown Woman! Beyoncé is Pregnant with Twins!

In a surprise announcement, Beyoncé has announced she is pregnant with twins! This news comes after she uploaded a photograph to the photo-sharing service, Instagram, in which she cradles her stomach with a veil on in front of a floral display.

Who knew that this would be the best highlight of 2017. Beyoncé is pregnant! Her last pregnancy came in 2011 when she was pregnant with her first child, Blue Ivy Carter, who she gave birth to on the 7th January 2012 and now she has confirmed along with her husband of 9 years, JAY Z, that she is pregnant with twins.

View this post on Instagram

We would like to share our love and happiness. We have been blessed two times over. We are incredibly grateful that our family will be growing by two, and we thank you for your well wishes. – The Carters

A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Feb 1, 2017 at 10:39am PST

I am so excited and words cannot describe how over the moon I feel at this stage. I am sending my best wishes and happiness her way and also to JAY Z. Congratulations to both of you, Beyoncé and JAY Z. May this year be a special year for you both.

Alex Smithson

Music: How Are We Able to Relate Our Lives to Songs?

Music. It’s always the first thing we make sure to listen to everyday, whether any of us are travelling to school, to college or even to work, but there is something about music that makes us feel connected.

How does music relate to our own lives? Well music can relate to our own lives in many different ways, as there may be certain events in our life where we may have lost someone close to us, or that we may have gone through a difficult time in our lives, but sometimes, music can relate to the good things as well as the best things that may have happened in our lives.

For instance, with an album like Rebel Heart by Madonna, her album has more of her vulnerable spots to life than that of the rebellious side of her life, as Rebel Heart was based more around how she may have felt about it all, and I felt that with this album, I could relate to it, because it’s like the way Madonna has done it, it’s like she is speaking out language, like as if she knows that we all go through moments of heartbreak in life, but with the album track, Rebel Heart, it’s like she is trying to say in short that it’s time to stand up for what you believe in and it’s time for you to just be you and do whatever makes you feel happy in this world.

Other albums like 19, 21 & 25 by Adele have that appeal to life as those albums create different emotions, but the kind of different emotions that you can relate to. With Adele’s music, she’s has managed to create a mood in that song where you can feel at home, where you can feel like you have something in common but most of all where you can feel a sense of relief knowing that the kind of emotions you have are kind of emotions that other people like Adele may have.

But with music overall, it’s the emotive connections of music that bring us all together, as all of us are able to relate to what certain pieces of music are about, as well as how they impact on us all altogether.

I love listening to music as it’s my way of not just being able to come up with new ideas, but I love music mainly because a lot of the music I’ve heard over the years is music I can relate to, as music has always been a part of my childhood and music altogether will always be a part of my whole life.

Overall, I strongly believe that we can all relate our lives to the songs we hear, including the unlimited supply of music we all hear over the years.

If you enjoyed reading this article, please feel free to submit feedback. All feedback is much appreciated.

Alex Smithson

Monthly Roundup: June 2015

As I round June off on a high note, I will now take a look back on this month as it unfolded, and I will go through a quick roundup of the articles I have published on Mother Nature over the course of this month.

1.6.2015 – I welcomed you all back to Mother Nature for what would be a relaxing and peaceful month that would lie ahead. I also did a very short look back as I mentioned in this article that it would be one year ago this month that I had left school for good, given that I had also mentioned that I took a near-enough 5-month hiatus from February 2014 to June 2014, as I had my final exams to worry about.

6.6.2015 – Mother Nature marked a very important milestone on this day, as this day saw Mother Nature officially mark it’s 2nd birthday on WordPress. In the space of two years, I have gone on to publish two books online, one of which I have a physical copy of, and with my third book being close to being ready for its final release, I have felt absolutely proud to have come this far in the space of 2 years.

29.6.2015 – After a month-long wait and a lot of research, I was finally able to publish Case Study #6, which focused on the Former President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. This Case Study is the first case study to have more than 10,000+ words containing dozens of research about a Former President.

30.6.2015 – Following just weeks after Apple held their Worldwide Developers Conference, iOS 8.4 was officially released to the masses. Along with this update brought the newly-announced music service, Apple Music. After 2 very long years, the United Kingdom, for the first time ever, gets access to iTunes Radio, including the new Radio Station, Beats 1 Radio (a.k.a. B1), and with this update came an entirely redesigned Music app, which was given not just a massive overhaul in design, but it also brought back with it the ability to play music videos in the Music application, but in Landscape Mode, which was a commonly used feature that was often seen quite frequently in iOS 6.

Also on this day, I published a Special Music Feature article on the Queen of Pop, Madonna’s high-octane music video: “Bitch I’m Madonna (feat. Nicki Minaj)”. This music video had featured a numerous amount of cameo appearances. These cameo appearances featured the likes of Katy Perry, Rita Ora, Chris Rock, Diplo, Kanye West, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Alexander Wang, Rocco Ritchie & David. This video, as mentioned by some, if not a lot of people, would wipe Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video to the floor. This video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, who had previously directed Madonna’s previous video, Ghosttown, taken from Madonna’s 13th Studio Album, Rebel Heart.

Thanks so much to all of you, that’s including my friends, my family, my two main role models and also all of you for such a fantastic, relaxing and peaceful month, and I’ll see you all in July. Also, before I conclude this monthly roundup on a high note, I am delighted to let you know I will be publishing more articles over the course of July and August, now that I have got a huge amount of time on my hands until September. Again, thanks so much to all of you for a fantastic, relaxing and peaceful month, and I’ll see you all in July!!!

Alex Smithson

[Note: Please make sure to keep a close eye out for my third book: “My Journey Through a Lens”, as it will be out very soon, and I will also be announcing the release date for this third book on Mother Nature :-).]

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iOS 8.4 Available Now. Go & Get it!!!!!

Coming just weeks after iOS 9 was unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (also known as WWDC), iOS 8.4 has just officially been released to the masses. With this update comes the official Apple Music service, as well as many of the other new features that are now available in this update. This update came two hours early ahead of the usual release time that Apple have normally stuck to since the first ever iPhone, iPod touch and iPad were released.

Also, the Music app has officially been redesigned and includes new features, such as Recently Added, which is seen most commonly in iTunes. As well as that, the music player has finally got a mini player as you would most commonly see in iTunes as well, and to top it all off, Up Next and other further features in the Music app have finally been added.

Upon opening the Music application, you’ll be greeted with the Apple Music logo and background, with two options that will come up, giving you the chance to choose whether you want to start your 3-month free trial with Apple Music today, or if you don’t, you get the chance to just go to your music library.

Here is the full changelog for iOS 8.4, covering the features that are new to the software, as well as the music application’s icon being given a redesign, ready for the iOS 9 update coming in the Autumn:

This update introduces Apple Music — a revolutionary music service, 24/7 global radio, and a way for fans to connect with their favourite artists — all included in the redesigned Music app. iOS 8.4 also includes improvements for iBooks and bug fixes.

Apple Music

• Become an Apple Music member to play from millions of songs in the Apple Music catalogue, or keep them offline for playback later.
• For You: Members can see playlist and album recommendations, hand-picked by music experts.
• New: Members can find the latest, greatest new music available — direct from our editors.
• Radio: Tune in to music, interviews and exclusive radio shows on Beats 1, play radio stations created by our editors, or create your own from any artist or song.
• Connect: See shared thoughts, photos, music and videos from artists you follow, then join the conversation.
• My Music: Play from all your iTunes purchases, songs from Apple Music, and playlists in one place.
• Completely redesigned music player that includes new features such as Recently Added, Mini Player, Up Next and more.
• iTunes Store: Still the best place to buy your favourite music — one song or album at a time
• Availability and features may vary by country.

iBooks improvements and fixes

• Browse, listen and download audiobooks from inside iBooks.
• Enjoy the all-new Now Playing feature, designed specifically for audiobooks.
• Books that are Made for iBooks now work on iPhone in addition to iPad.
• Find and pre-order books in a series straight from your library.
• Improves accessibility of widgets, glossary and navigation in books made with iBooks Author.
• New default Chinese font.
• New setting to turn off Auto-Night theme in your library.
• Resolves an issue that may have prevented Hide Purchases from working.
• Resolves an issue that may have prevented downloading books from iCloud.

Other improvements and bug fixes

• Fixes an issue where receiving a specific series of Unicode characters causes device to reboot.
• Fixes an issue that prevented GPS accessories from providing location data.
• Fixes an issue where deleted Apple Watch apps could re-install.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:

http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT1222

After an extremely long wait, iTunes Radio has officially arrived in the United Kingdom, and can now be found next to the playlist icon. Also, Beats 1 and many other various radio stations are now available within the Music app. Apple Music Connect is also a welcome of open arms, meaning that after some time, you can now follow your favourite musicians, either through tapping on the “Follow” button, or by tapping on the “Automatically Follow Artists” button when you add the music from your iTunes Library to your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad device.

At last, after a long wait, landscape mode for music videos has officially returned to the Music app, a commonly used feature that was in iOS 6.

The Music application has had a major design overhaul and has also been more of a focus for Apple, considering that the Apple Music service has just officially been launched today.

Below are the screenshots that show iOS 8.4, and the redesigned Music application all in action (including iTunes Radio UK & Beats 1 Radio).

I have checked in the Music app, and it’s a luck of the draw, if you feel that you don’t want to subscribe to Apple Music, there is an option to say no, as Apple have put an option below the “Start 3 Month Free Trial” button, saying “Go to My Music”. This is a wise move from Apple, as this means that you don’t have to worry about it, you can still use the Music app for free, and making purchases in the iTunes Store and the App Store, including the desktop version of the iTunes Store mean that you can still use iTunes and the Music app for free without having to pay, unless you’ve already started the 3-month free trial with Apple Music today.

If you haven’t already, please make sure to go ahead and upgrade your iPhone, iPod touch (5th Generation) or iPad to the latest software. This iOS update is much better now and is worth the upgrade. It is also the most stable software update that Apple have released before the final version of iOS 9 arrives in the Autumn.

To update your iOS Device, go to the Settings app, then to General, and then to Software Update, where the update will be available to download and install.

Until then, enjoy the update!!!

Alex Smithson

© Apple 2015

© iOS Logo Copyright of Apple.

© Any of the logos, including the screenshots that have references of musicians and their album artwork, that’s including the changelog that was used in this article are all courtesy of Apple. No Copyright Infringement Intended.

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