Arlington Public Library Technology Blog

Information Maven with Information Overload

2009-07-11T12:02:00.011-05:00

Because of the nature of my work, I track all sorts of information flowing from the Internet. For someone who's fairly ADHD, it's a bit of a challenge to try to be consistent with what I track. Fortunately, there are all sorts of tools and technologies to help try to get a grip on what's important to us on the 'net and in day-to-day life.

Ok, I confess to being an inveterate information junkie.

For the moment, my information tracking/management toolkit contains: RSS feeds of blogs and news (and more) all organized through my iGoogle home page, Tweetdeck to keep an eye on Twitter, SkyGrid (in beta, limited availability) to keep an eye on real-time business news from multiple sources, Excel spreadsheets to manage time and tasks between my boss and myself, and a personal organization software application called uOrganized to give me an overall view of my personal and business tasks. I also use a service called Jott Assistant to e-mail myself automatically transcribed reminders and tasks via my cellphone. That's a lot, but life would be harder yet for me without these resources.

There's even more because that leaves out Outlook for work and Gmail and Google Calendar for personal use. So, I won't even mention those. (jk!)

The fact that I use so many different products/services is either an indication of how complicated our lives have become or, maybe, just my ADHD-driven need to track a lot of interests.

In the coming weeks and months, I hope to produce tutorials on how to actually USE these tools. They'll appear here and on the Arlington Public Library website.

My main iGoogle page running in the Google Chrome browser
Tweetdeck displaying my Twitter feeds
SkyGrid Beta running in the Google Chrome browser

Just an FYI, my mention of any product or service does not imply an endorsement by the City of Arlington or the Arlington Public Library.

A little inspiration ...

2009-06-30T11:48:00.005-05:00

... for the era of "involuntary entrepreneurship" (i.e. when you can't find a job, create your own).

Going Green: Cyber-Warriors vs. Censorship in Iran

2009-06-23T15:30:00.008-05:00

Oppression gets tougher for governments to pull off:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Yet, in spite of "hacker heroes," governments still have the upper hand in controlling the flow of information on the Internet: Red Tape Chronicles

Still, Twitter still seems to work in Iran. Time Magazine also wrote on "Twitter's Moment."

(If you're not particularly familiar with Twitter, this story on FinancialPost.com provides an interesting backgrounder as to how it can be used.)

Meanwhile, in China, their government has required a sort of "v-chip" in new computers that's designed to "protect" (aka censor) their citizens from having access to sites the government doesn't want them to see.

Netflix vs. Redbox vs.Blockbuster vs. Your Library

2009-06-23T15:07:00.002-05:00

From Time Magazine's website: What's the best rental deal?

Why phishers love Facebook

2009-06-09T09:12:00.003-05:00

Phishing: the process of trying to extract confidential information from potential victims, usually by links in bogus e-mails.

Here are some important things for Facebook users to think about from The Red Tape Chronicles on MSNBC.com. Did you ever notice how the word "think" has a strong association with using the Web?

Something to think about when you share on the web

2009-06-05T13:58:00.004-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!

2009-05-25T13:01:00.005-05:00

In light of the economic climate, it can be a bit difficult to find things to smile about some days. Our depression-era forefathers lived in an even more grim black-and-white world, at least in the largely monochromatic press and in the cinema. There were many songs and movies that attempted to elevate the social mood of the time. A fairly literal example of that is the 1931 Merrie Melodies cartoon, "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!"

Digressing a bit, the lead character in this cartoon, Foxy, is an early film example of IP (intellectual property) infringement. Looks a bit like Mickey, doesn't he? Right. It was "Lawsuit Time," even then.

But, it's 2009 and we have the Internet to channel all sorts of information, including about every form of humor, right to us. One of my favorite websites to get a quick laugh is VeryFunnyAds.com, run by Turner Broadcasting. Great television advertising is hard to come by and great commercials with humor even more rare. VeryFunnyAds.com brings together some of the funniest advertising from all over the world. Because commercials are short, it's a great site to get onto for a couple laughs, then get back to work ... bite-sized entertainment. This Fiat commercial from South Africa is one of my favorites. (the direct link to the site doesn't seem to be working, so try searching on "Fiat" in the VeryFunnyAds search box and click the link to the pic of the bicyclist.)

Note: You might find some of the ads a bit risqué, but keep in mind that standards, and humor, in other parts of the world sometimes go beyond generally accepted boundaries in this country. To my way of thinking, that makes them even funnier.

The ultimate reality tv (online)

2009-05-18T13:56:00.006-05:00

Thought you had a tough job? Tired of your boss always hovering? Imagine being these guys...

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

http://twitter.com/NASA

NASA provided real time twittering and video feeds of the latest repair mission of the Hubble Telescope. One astronaut, John Grunsfeld, accidentally bumped an antenna causing a small amount of damage and a huge amount of tension for the viewers. NASA reports the antenna is still working, by the way.

RT Grunsfeld said, "Hubble isn’t just a satellite- it’s about humanity’s quest for knowledge."

This is why I love the Internet. Amazing.

The Economy? Swine Flu? Not such a big deal.

2009-04-30T10:08:00.005-05:00

If there's not enough for you to worry about in today's news, console yourself with the thought that there are even bigger things out to get you.

A quick list:

Volcanic eruptions!

Nuclear apocalypse!

The end of bees! (seriously!)

Mass Extinction!

An unstable planet Mercury!

Reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles!

Solar storms!

Exploding stars!

Pandemics! (OK, you're learning about that now)

Man-made black holes!

Climate change!

Earthquakes!

Wait! There's more. Check out the original article HERE.

Online Swine Flu Resources

2009-04-30T09:49:00.007-05:00

Whether the Swine Flu becomes a potentially disastrous pandemic or ends up as over-hyped as the last visit of Halley's Comet, you may want to keep an eye on what's going on. I've assembled a few resources from the web to give you the big picture.

New Scientist: Swine Flu: What you need to know

Center for Disease Control

Google LatLong Blog: Mapping the Swine Flu Outbreak

Mashable.com: How to Track Swine Flu Online

Mashable.com: Swine Flu on Twitter: How to Filter Out the Noise

Google.org: Experimental Flu Trends for Mexico

Local resources:

City of Arlington

Tarrant County Disease Control and Prevention

Arlington Independent School District

Job losses mapped

2009-04-23T13:01:00.004-05:00

If you've read this blog more than a couple times, you have already surmised that I'm a big fan of products like Google Earth and of data mapping. My latest find is a map of (mostly) vanishing employment across the country. It's about as grim as the Google Earth layers illustrating Hurricane Ike's destruction of the Texas coast.

Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, this is Slate.com's illustration of vanishing employment.

Zoho and Google updates and notes

2009-04-16T10:55:00.005-05:00

As you might have noted from my previous posts, I'm a fan of online or web-based applications like Google Docs and the Zoho suite of products. While both companies are constantly improving their products, Zoho Writer 2.0 has jumped ahead of Google's offering with a redesign and a few more features. If you don't absolutely, positively need the "corporate" functionality of Microsoft Word, either of these services will save you both money and the hassle of installing software on your computer.

On a largely un-related topic, Google is now hosting the Life magazine photo archive with millions of historic photos now available through Google's image search. To me, this is an absolutely incredible gift to the public and it will be an absolute boon to teachers, students, researchers and history buffs. Most of these images have never been published before. It's a remarkable collection.

COOL new technology from Google!

2009-04-01T10:10:00.003-05:00

Check out Google's new artificial intelligence engine, CADIE. CADIE will pave the way for new advanced applications. The GMail team at Google already has a beta (of course) implementation of CADIE in a new feature they call Autopilot. As they say, e-mail has never been easier.

Even cooler yet, CADIE's artificial intelligence even allowed it to generate it's own homepage. Be sure to take a look. CADIE is light years from Google's earlier PidgeonRank technology.

Scandal Mapped

2009-03-17T11:24:00.001-05:00

One way to visualize the breadth of the Bernie Madoff scandal: www.madoffmap.com

Facebook vs. Twitter vs. LinkedIn

2009-03-12T16:07:00.003-05:00

If you're not sure how some of the social networking sites compare:

A somewhat funny look at the three services (and what to wear while using them) from InformationWeek.com.

And a more serious evaluation from Webb Henderson of NetSuccess, a Dallas web design and web development firm.

Jobseekers and Identity Theft

2009-03-12T11:53:00.003-05:00

The Internet multiplies the ability of some of the bad guys to do dirt to desperate people. The scams just keep coming. Worthwhile information from Information Week if you're job hunting: Job Seekers Targeted by Identity Thieves

Social Networking Tales

2009-02-22T11:38:00.004-06:00

The most dangerous person on Facebook is the Facebook user. Pretty much the same thing could be said substituting the name MySpace. Privacy issues on Facebook are huge, partly from the company's apparent attitudes toward privacy and partly for the failure of users to take advantage of the privacy controls Facebook provides. If you're a user or know a user of social networking sites ... any social networking site ... these two articles on Facebook and on MySpace should be mandatory reads. The Internet doesn't follow the maxim of "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas." It's more like, "what happens on the Internet may follow you around for a very long time and may prevent you from getting a job or career that you want and may even make it easy for an identity thief to leave you in misery."

Sadly, privacy is pretty much history, anyway.

Property Data + Maps = Mashup

2009-02-22T10:38:00.004-06:00

Fascinating data mashups of Arlington's growth at hindsight.trulia.com and of Wal-Mart's transition from local business to big business The Arlington data is part of a larger map, so you can zoom in and out and navigate by dragging.. Find your own neighborhood or subdivision and watch it fill in over the years.

The Wal-Mart map shows their rise to prominence in American retailing. If you're more of a Target fan, there's a map for you , too.

(For Deep Thinkers Only) A Lot to Think About

2009-02-19T16:18:00.009-06:00

A long and, I think, a truly worthwhile blog entry written by Jonathan Rosenberg, SVP, Product Development at Google on where we stand as a society and some of the opportunities and challenges of where we're going. For all the bad news we read about 19th and 20th-century industries failing (and, sometimes 21st-century industries as well), we live in a time when so much of what the future will bring rests as much in the hands of the individual as much as that of behemoth corporations. If you want to find opportunity in this mess, Rosenberg's thoughts are a great starting point. The post was originally written for internal consumption at Google, Inc.

I also subscribe to some of management guru Tom Peters' ideas about our current economic situation:

"If you think of it as a recession, you may be tempted to "hunker down" and wait for the economy to cycle back.

"If you think of it as a recalibration, you will be motivated to focus on what you have to do differently, since everything is different now.

"The way your business generates results is different, now.
Your customers think differently, now.
Your customers care about different things, now.
Your customers act differently, now.
Your customers may actually be different people, now.
Customers aren't disposable anymore; more than ever, you have to create sustainable customer relationships.

"Everything is different now."

Not my usual post about some new technology or something neat you can do out there on the web, I know.

Read Rosenberg. Read the Peters quote. Think. Recalibrate. Act (differently).

Twenty Ways to Improve Your Chances

2009-02-05T10:43:00.004-06:00

If you're an experienced professional looking for connections or looking to make the most of existing connections, you should look at LinkedIn.com. LinkedIn is a social networking site (like MySpace or Facebook), but for professional networking. The current information on the site says it has 35 million members in 140 countries across 170 professions.

Blogger/entrepreneur/venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki has written two blog postings focusing on how to get the most out of LinkedIn. In 2007, he wrote "Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn" and a few days ago wrote "Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job." Whether you're looking for a job or not, these are two worthwhile reads on how to use this potentially valuable tool.

The Vatican Gets It!

2009-01-23T12:17:00.006-06:00

I have a friend who sometimes "attends" church services via streaming video on her church's website. I tease her that showing up in a real church building with a real, in-the-flesh congregation is "the only real Path." But, religion's got a long history of using technology to spread its various messages. I guess we could start with the Gutenberg press ... later radio, then television ... and now the Vatican has its own YouTube channel in four languages.

I guess you don't have to show up after all. I wonder if Father Guido Sarducci will have a guest spot.

The Internet, it's everywhere. Thanks to the Official Google Blog for the tip on this one.

Newspapers, again: More on Change.

2009-01-20T12:07:00.006-06:00

The exodus from print to digital is picking up speed. As I discovered today, the Christian Science Monitor announced in October that it will halt the printing and distribution of its daily edition. In its place will be a website (CSMonitor.com), a weekly print edition and daily e-mail newsletters. In another sign of change, Google has dropped its print ads program.

Newspapers may not yet be extinct, but what is left of their market will be very different in a few short years. As marketing guru Seth Godin blogged a few days ago, "What will you miss?"

Additional resources: Jeff Gomez's "Print is Dead" blog and The Wall Street Journal on e-books for cellphones.

The Wall Street Journal Mobile Edition as viewed on my Motorola iRazr. Reading glasses required for almost anyone over 50.

Web Tools for Personal and Career Goals

2009-01-07T14:16:00.004-06:00

This is a great list from Online-College-Blog.com. It covers everything from careers to household chores. I've never heard of many of the sites, but I have no doubt that many of them are worth exploring.

The Newspaper is Dead ... Paper! Get'cher paper right here!

2008-12-30T13:12:00.005-06:00

A Pew Research Center for People and the Press survey indicates that the Internet has overtaken newspapers as a primary source for news. While still lagging television as a primary source of news for most people, the Internet now rivals television among the under-30 crowd.

Some of us get a certain amount of our news and opinion via RSS feeds, usually collected into a news reader like Google Reader or an RSS-enabled home page, like iGoogle or a pre-assembled site like Alltop.com. In effect, we're piping multiple information resources right to a summary page on our computer screens. If we want to take that information away from the computer, it's a pain to print out the individual posts.

Now, Tabbloid.com allows us to have our own "newspapers" e-mailed to us in an assembled form ready to read on-screen or to be printed. You can select the news or opinion feeds of the most interest to you (as long as they're available in RSS format). In my example, I've taken feeds from marketing guru Seth Godin, designer/marketing professor Garr Reynolds, venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki, and several other blogs. Tabbloid automatically packages the latest posts and e-mails the document at a preselected time and interval. The service is free.

Drawback? While it's a nice, easily readable layout, it's not as space-efficient, text-wise as the newspaper. My example for Dec. 30, using eight moderately active blogs, filled 26 pages. If you've got to print it, you're still killin' trees. (Subsequent tabbloids have run 1-4 pages on the same blogs, so it's possible that just the first one catches up on slightly older posts. - RP)