The Web According to Google: Google Reader

I have used Bloglines for RSS in the past. There just hasn't been enough time to even keep up with that. I'm trying out Google Reader to see I will use it more. OK, I just imported my Bloglines feeds to Google Reader. I'm trying to see if everything came over. If it did, then it was pretty easy. Easy to change which folders feeds go into. I think I will like Google Reader, I will just have to find time to keep up with some of my blogs.

The Web According to Google: Resistance is Futile

I use several of the Google products on a regular basis. I like the calendar as a way to keep track of events from anywhere. I also us the Documents. Documents lets me access items from anywhere also. I've also used it to take notes on a pc and known that I can access the info from my own pc. And for lists of HCPL passwords since I am at another branch and may not always be able to access my Outlook On my laptops, I have Google Chrome as one of my browsers. I also like Google Maps. I use Gmail as a main nonwork email. Since there is one login to remember, this is usually the website I use. They also own Blogger, which I still use to blog on. I haven't tried the Reader, I just don't have the time to keep up with the blogs I want to read. It is something I might try in the future.

Picnik, my favorite online photo editing site has just been bought by Google and I don't know what that will mean in the long run.

Google Labs doesn't have many current items I am interested in. One is Google fast flip. A lot of news stories in a short space. You can see the headlines and if anything strikes your fancy, you can go to it. There are many subjects covered, just like in the Google News page, but with images. They have put a version of it at the bottom of their news page.

The Google books is almost all nonfiction. The only fiction I can find is in the Classics area. Those also seem to have a free download. I haven't tried it yet. Some of the classics might be helpful for students who come in at the last minute and need a book that they could download here or at home. Not everything in classics is full text, but a number of them are available.

Pets: Social Petworking

I already like AnimalAttraction.com because it helps to support Petfinder, another site I like. The AnimalRescueSite is also another site that supports Petfinder and other animal rescue sites. Every day you click, raises money for pets. They have associations with Rainforest, Literacy, Child Health, Breast Cancer and Hunger. You can click each tab and raise money.

I like Catster. If I were to do a blog for my pets, this is the one I would probably use. I like reading other posts and seeing what people write about their pets. The health site is good as well. There is a lot of good info on the site. My only problem is I don't have enough time for my stuff, I just don't have time to pet blog right now.

Week 6 - Technorati

I've tried the different searches with varying results. The search for blogs about, with exact phrase came up to almost 7000. Going to tags search without quotes is about 23,000 and with quotes 6300. The blog directory search without quotes was 465 and with quotes 280. Using quotes makes a big difference. The blog directory search with quotes seems to narrow results to library/librarian blogs. I recognized several of the blogs as ones that I have read or have in Bloglines. Many of the other sites are much more general.
Going through the 100 most popular blogs, I see several that I recognize. Looking at some of the other popular links, I liked the movies and dvds as ones I might like to look at. The others, not so much.
I'm still not sure that this is a site that I will use very much. I tend to use Google news or Bloglines to keep up with current stuff. It's not overwhelming like Technorati is.

Week 4 - Finding feeds

OK, I tried all of the ones listed. I was doing several very specialized searches.
Technorati needed me to be specific and even then it didn't find much. Syndic8 did well on one of the searches. Topix doesn't do hobbies or crafts or other things like that at all. It looks like its main point is news. It never found anything I was looking for. On Feedster, the tab for blogs made it easier to search and I found a couple of blogs on my subject. The one I found the easiest and most successful to use was Bloglines. For the most part, I was not impressed with any of the outside feed finders. I don't know if it was my subjects that were just not indexed by those sites or what.
Back when I first started blogs, I was reading The Shifted Librarian. The first aggregator she talked about was NewsIsFree. I got an account with them and used it for awhile. Then she talked about Bloglines and I went to them. I started out just searching them and found several library/librarian sites and subscribed to them. After that as I read blogs, they would mention other bloggers or have them listed on their sites.
I would also find the RSS logo on sites of interest and add them. Now, I basically just try to keep up with what I have. Sometimes a site quits posting and I'll drop them or someone mentions a site and I'll add it to try it out. If nothing else, I will try a search on a subject and blog and things will usually pop up. And most people list favorite blogs on their sites, so it makes it easy to add blogs that will probably be what you want and they have been screened for subject matter.
If you don't like a site, there is always delete.

Week 4 - RSS aggregators, Bloglines

I've used Bloglines for a couple of years now. I haven't had much time recently to keep up, but I can drop into it and read when I have a chance. I think I have about 50 subscriptions. Most are to librarians, but some are for gadgets, others for things of interest to me. I'm trying out their Beta Bloglines as of today. I'll have to see how I like it. The format is a little different.

Week 3 - Snipshot

And this one was also easy to use.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Week 3 - pixer

This image was done in Pixer. Also easy to use, you just have to save to pc.







This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Week 3 - Picnik Bird in a Basket

Bird in a Basket
Originally uploaded by me

I've just played with picnik a little bit. I seems easy to use and does a good job. Will try the others.

Setting up

I'm setting up this blog a week early because I will be on vacation next week. I have other blogs, but not anything I want to share.