Thursday, July 31, 2008

Mashups

as we usually think of them are like FlickrVision, however there are some more serious uses for them.

The Chicago Police Department uses a mashup to integrate the department’s database of reported crimes with Google Maps. This helps to stop crime in areas and warn citizens of areas where the crime rate is high.

MapLight.org is another more serious use for mashups as it ...
"brings together campaign contributions and how legislators vote, providing an unprecedented window into the connections between money and politics. We currently cover the California Legislature and U.S. Congress."

A Wired article on the subject.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Cuil

Cuil is the latest search engine. It has a very cool GUI, but the search doesn't match up to Google... yet. They're new, so lets wait and see. Click on the images for an enlarged view.



I made a button link!

This will make it a lot easier to see what to do next!

I also made an image link to one of my favourite cartoons from 2005...



This Genie can tell your gender. Apparently I'm male...

Monday, July 28, 2008

ECB library


ECB library
Originally uploaded by Elle431
Posted from flickr. I am a long time flickr, shutterchance and photobucket user. (Free sites) This is the first time I have used the "blog this" button to post a picture to my blog though, as I generally upload photos directly from my computer.


Unless I'm posting to a forum, in which case I just use photobucket, and use the appropriate html that is generated for me shown in the box below.


Monday's educational link: Astrology is hooey.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Google in Maori


I know (now) that various other news sources carried this story, but I only just came across it on Geekzone. Excellent!

Friday's Interesting Link: The Codex Sinaiticus Project is an international collaboration to reunite the entire manuscript containing the Christian Bible in Greek, as well as the oldest complete copy of the New Testament, in digital form and make it accessible to a global audience for the first time.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Baldwin Street

I mentioned The Best Article Every day as having some interesting articles. Well their recent article features Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. There are some good pictures.

The World's Twenty-Five Most Modern Libraries

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Who are you?

And it is now possible anyone with a few spare minutes, and the inclination, to discover which Jane Austin character they would be...

I am Elinor <span class=

Apparently I am Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! "You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see." You think?!?
Interesting link

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Congratulations!




Philip Pullman's book Northern Lights has been awarded the highly prized Carnegie Medal. "Unlike other literary awards, which seek submissions from publishers, the Carnegie takes its nominations from librarians."
Times Online



And in other news the “World Book Capital 2010” is none other than Ljubljana, that town we all know so well. It’s in Slovenia for any ignoramuses ...like me, who have never heard of it.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Today is the day...

I was rather over-hasty with my blogging. Today is the official beginning of the web 2.0 experience for North Shore Libraries. This is my first official post, and any other posts on this page are just figments of your imagination.

Interesting link of the day.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Exploring the web...

A site that often has interesting information is The Best Article Every day. Worth browsing.

Anyone interested in science will probably enjoy ScienceBlogs. One of my favourites is Pharyngula, the blog by PZ Myers - a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, and an outspoken atheist.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Why pay?

Of all the sites offering a range of alternative free software that can be used instead of MS Office, Google Docs is probably the most well known, but there are others...
  • Zoho Show 2.0 is an excellent option for people who don't have Microsoft Office. I love their UI (user interface), and all the more complicated applications include video demonstrations. It is a site well worth exploring!
  • SlideRocket is another alternative. This is only available as a private beta at the moment, although it is possible to sign up at the SlideRocket registration page and receive an invitation when it becomes available to the public. There will be a free version.

Another interesting beta is Evernote which can be available on both your computer and mobile phone as it works on recognition technology. It looks simple and easy to use if the overview video is anything to go by, but I have not tried it out myself yet.