Friday, December 12, 2008
YouTube lets you turn videos into greeting cards
"On Friday YouTube unveiled a new feature for the holidays that lets users create hosted video cards to send to friends and family. Users can select this option from any YouTube video, or from a special page that houses selected community videos and links to a user's own clips. There's also an option to make a personalized greeting straight from a connected Web cam." (via CNET)
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
HowToSayThatName.com
HowToSayThatName.com is a web site devoted to cataloging both first and last names, spoken by native speakers. No idea how to pronounce last names like "Nyugen" or "Dokht"? Look the name up and play the embedded audio file to hear it.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Let Me Google That For You
Let Me Google That For You Passive-Aggressively Helps your Friends
"If you're a power searcher, or other people think you are, and you're getting tired of constant requests for answers to questions that a quick Google search would provide, try Let me google that for you. Enter a search term, click the Google Search button, and a link appears that you can copy, paste and send to your friend. When they click the link, an animation displays the complicated process of searching Google for information, and then directs the user to the actual search results page from Google. Snarky? Yes. However, the time the user is forced to study the search term you used, they might pick up a trick or two in keyword syntax, search operators, literal strings and the like. After all, give a man an answer, and he'll come back tomorrow asking for more. Teach a man to search Google, and you'll have to offer tech support when he ends up downloading malware while cruising shadier purveyors of adult entertainment and file sharing software."
"If you're a power searcher, or other people think you are, and you're getting tired of constant requests for answers to questions that a quick Google search would provide, try Let me google that for you. Enter a search term, click the Google Search button, and a link appears that you can copy, paste and send to your friend. When they click the link, an animation displays the complicated process of searching Google for information, and then directs the user to the actual search results page from Google. Snarky? Yes. However, the time the user is forced to study the search term you used, they might pick up a trick or two in keyword syntax, search operators, literal strings and the like. After all, give a man an answer, and he'll come back tomorrow asking for more. Teach a man to search Google, and you'll have to offer tech support when he ends up downloading malware while cruising shadier purveyors of adult entertainment and file sharing software."
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
SlideRocket’s Impressive Online Presentation App Hits General Release
(via TechCrunch)"SlideRocket, an online presentation application that produces slideshows that rival (and in many cases, better) PowerPoint, has launched to the general public. The site had previously been available under a public beta, and is now removing the beta tag and introducing a set of pricing tiers along with some impressive new features."
Friday, October 10, 2008
Twitter for lawyers: TweetDeck application is your answer
"You've heard about other lawyers and marketing professionals using Twitter. You think they've lost their mind when they tell you they find Twitter an effective networking and communications tool. You've tried Twitter. You're convinced others have lost their mind, 'Twitter is the dumbest thing ever.'
If you're like me, looking at the Twitter interface and trying to make sense of that madness, it's easy to reach those conclusions. It was only after going to the well on Twitter for the 3rd or 4th time and using a Twitter application (think Firefox as a browser for the Internet or Outlook for email), that Twitter started to make sense.
After trying other Twitter applications, Geeklawyer, a London Barrister, turned me onto TweetDeck. TweetDeck rocks. " (via RealLawyersHaveBlogs)
If you're like me, looking at the Twitter interface and trying to make sense of that madness, it's easy to reach those conclusions. It was only after going to the well on Twitter for the 3rd or 4th time and using a Twitter application (think Firefox as a browser for the Internet or Outlook for email), that Twitter started to make sense.
After trying other Twitter applications, Geeklawyer, a London Barrister, turned me onto TweetDeck. TweetDeck rocks. " (via RealLawyersHaveBlogs)
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Official Gmail Blog - Stop sending mail you later regret
New in Labs: Stop sending mail you later regret - Sometimes I send messages I shouldn't send. Like the time I told that girl I had a crush on her over text message. Or the time I sent that late night email to my ex-girlfriend that we should get back together. Gmail can't always prevent you from sending messages you might later regret, but today we're launching a new Labs feature I wrote called Mail Goggles which may help.When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you're really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you're in the right state of mind?
Snowl: Unified Messaging In Your (Firefox) Browser
Mozilla Labs announced a new project today called Snowl. It is an add-on for Firefox that aims to bring all of your messages together in one place, whether it is from email, SMS, Twitter, or RSS/Atom feeds. The project right now is an early, buggy prototype that only supports RSS/Atom feeds and Twitter. So that is nothing special.
But once email and SMS is folded into the mix, it could become a very powerful messaging center, built right into the browser. It will allow you to search through all of your messages and feeds, both public and private, no matter where they originate.
Mozilla Labs Launches Ubiquity.
Mozilla Labs Launches Ubiquity. Ubiquity is an extension to the Firefox browser that lets you type in what you want to do—insert a map, translate this page, Twitter this block of text, search on Google—and invokes one of 30 Web services.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Celebrate Google's 10th Bday by Stepping Back in Time
2001: A Search Odyssey
"Now that we're a decade old, we figured we're long overdue for some spring cleaning. We started digging around our basement and found all kinds of junk: old Swedish fish, pigeon poop, Klingon translation books. Amazingly enough, hidden in a corner beneath Larry's and Sergey's original lab coats, we found a vintage search index in mint condition. We dusted it off and took it for a spin, gobsmacked to see how different the web was in early 2001. "iPod" did not refer to a music player, "youtube" was nonsense, and if you were looking for "Michael Phelps," chances are you meant the scientist, not the swimmer. "Wikipedia" was brand new. Remember "hanging chads"? (And speaking of that election-specific reference -- if you're a U.S. citizen, it's not too late: please register to vote.)We had so much fun searching that we wanted to put this old index online for everyone to play with. We thought it'd be even cooler if we could actually see the full versions of the old web pages, so we worked with the Internet Archive to link to their cache of these pages from 2001. Step into the time machine and try a 2001 Google search.For more information on this search, please read our FAQ."
"Now that we're a decade old, we figured we're long overdue for some spring cleaning. We started digging around our basement and found all kinds of junk: old Swedish fish, pigeon poop, Klingon translation books. Amazingly enough, hidden in a corner beneath Larry's and Sergey's original lab coats, we found a vintage search index in mint condition. We dusted it off and took it for a spin, gobsmacked to see how different the web was in early 2001. "iPod" did not refer to a music player, "youtube" was nonsense, and if you were looking for "Michael Phelps," chances are you meant the scientist, not the swimmer. "Wikipedia" was brand new. Remember "hanging chads"? (And speaking of that election-specific reference -- if you're a U.S. citizen, it's not too late: please register to vote.)We had so much fun searching that we wanted to put this old index online for everyone to play with. We thought it'd be even cooler if we could actually see the full versions of the old web pages, so we worked with the Internet Archive to link to their cache of these pages from 2001. Step into the time machine and try a 2001 Google search.For more information on this search, please read our FAQ."
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project
Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project
The Michigan State University Library and the MSU Museum have partnered to create an online collection of some of the most influential and important American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century. The goal of this project is to make these materials available to a wider audience.
The Michigan State University Library and the MSU Museum have partnered to create an online collection of some of the most influential and important American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century. The goal of this project is to make these materials available to a wider audience.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Free People Search - Find People - Wink
Free People Search - Find People - Wink
Free people search at Wink, the world's largest people search engine. Find people by name and get their phone number,address, Websites, photos, work, school, more.
Free people search at Wink, the world's largest people search engine. Find people by name and get their phone number,address, Websites, photos, work, school, more.
Free People Search - Find People - Wink
Free People Search - Find People - Wink
Free people search at Wink, the world's largest people search engine. Find people by name and get their phone number,address, Websites, photos, work, school, more.
Free people search at Wink, the world's largest people search engine. Find people by name and get their phone number,address, Websites, photos, work, school, more.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Wikileaks
Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact. Our interface is identical to Wikipedia and usable by all types of people. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Text messaging makes you dumber - Newlaunches.com
Text messaging makes you dumber - Newlaunches.com
If the radiation and cancer were not enough, aul Saffo, a technology trend forecaster in Silicon Valley claims that sending text messages lowers your IQ - 10 points to be precise.
"The act of texting automatically removes 10 I.Q. points. “The truth of the matter is there are hobbies that are incompatible. You don’t want to do mushroom-hunting and bird-watching at the same time, and it is the same with texting and other activities. We have all seen people walk into parking meters or walk into traffic and seem startled by oncoming cars.”
If the radiation and cancer were not enough, aul Saffo, a technology trend forecaster in Silicon Valley claims that sending text messages lowers your IQ - 10 points to be precise.
"The act of texting automatically removes 10 I.Q. points. “The truth of the matter is there are hobbies that are incompatible. You don’t want to do mushroom-hunting and bird-watching at the same time, and it is the same with texting and other activities. We have all seen people walk into parking meters or walk into traffic and seem startled by oncoming cars.”
Monday, September 08, 2008
Law Librarian Blog: TinEye Image Search Engine
Law Librarian Blog: TinEye Image Search Engine: "TinEye Image Search Engine
Developed by Idee, the TinEye search engine allows users to search by uploading a picture rather than typing in a keyword. The SE then conducts a pixel by pixel search across the Internet, flagging all instances of that image even if it's been cropped, merged or digitally altered in some way. SE Uses, copyright enforcement of course, but TinEye can also be used to identify image creators and publishers to provide attribution.
The SE will be coming out of private beta this month but in the meantime, you can read the TinEye FAQ and this PC Pro article, Visual search engine is photographer's best friend. Hat tip to Slashdot. [JH]"
Developed by Idee, the TinEye search engine allows users to search by uploading a picture rather than typing in a keyword. The SE then conducts a pixel by pixel search across the Internet, flagging all instances of that image even if it's been cropped, merged or digitally altered in some way. SE Uses, copyright enforcement of course, but TinEye can also be used to identify image creators and publishers to provide attribution.
The SE will be coming out of private beta this month but in the meantime, you can read the TinEye FAQ and this PC Pro article, Visual search engine is photographer's best friend. Hat tip to Slashdot. [JH]"
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Novelties - Lines and Bubbles and Bars, Oh My! New Ways to Sift Data - NYTimes.com
Novelties - Lines and Bubbles and Bars, Oh My! New Ways to Sift Data - NYTimes.com: "PEOPLE share their videos on YouTube and their photos at Flickr. Now they can share more technical types of displays: graphs, charts and other visuals they create to help them analyze data buried in spreadsheets, tables or text."
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Amazon Acquires Shelfari: Moves To Corner Book-Centric Social Networks
Amazon Acquires Shelfari: Moves To Corner Book-Centric Social Networks: "Shelfari, a social network for bibliophiles, has been acquired by Amazon for an undisclosed amount. Amazon has been a longtime supporter of the Seattle based startup, having invested $1 million in the site in February 2007.
The move comes less than a month after Amazon’s acquisition of AbeBooks, a vendor of rare and used books from independent publishers. As part of that acquisition Amazon also got a stake in Shelfari’s competitor LibraryThing, which AbeBooks had previously purchased a 40% stake in."
The move comes less than a month after Amazon’s acquisition of AbeBooks, a vendor of rare and used books from independent publishers. As part of that acquisition Amazon also got a stake in Shelfari’s competitor LibraryThing, which AbeBooks had previously purchased a 40% stake in."
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds
Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds: "Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Cuil - The World's Biggest Search Engine
Cuil - The World's Biggest Search Engine
Welcome to Cuil—the world’s biggest search engine. The Internet has grown. We think it’s time search did too.
The Internet has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years but search engines have not kept up—until now. Cuil searches more pages on the Web than anyone else—three times as many as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft.
Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance. When we find a page with your keywords, we stay on that page and analyze the rest of its content, its concepts, their inter-relationships and the page’s coherency.
Then we offer you helpful choices and suggestions until you find the page you want and that you know is out there. We believe that analyzing the Web rather than our users is a more useful approach, so we don’t collect data about you and your habits, lest we are tempted to peek. With Cuil, your search history is always private.
Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge. For knowledge, ask Cuil.
Welcome to Cuil—the world’s biggest search engine. The Internet has grown. We think it’s time search did too.
The Internet has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years but search engines have not kept up—until now. Cuil searches more pages on the Web than anyone else—three times as many as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft.
Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance. When we find a page with your keywords, we stay on that page and analyze the rest of its content, its concepts, their inter-relationships and the page’s coherency.
Then we offer you helpful choices and suggestions until you find the page you want and that you know is out there. We believe that analyzing the Web rather than our users is a more useful approach, so we don’t collect data about you and your habits, lest we are tempted to peek. With Cuil, your search history is always private.
Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge. For knowledge, ask Cuil.
Friday, July 25, 2008
CNN Study: Girls equal to boys in math skills
Study: Girls equal to boys in math skills
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sixteen years after Barbie dolls declared, "Math class is tough!" girls are proving that, at math, they are just as tough as boys.
Girls have caught up on test scores, which researchers attribute to more taking higher math classes like calculus.
Girls have caught up on test scores, which researchers attribute to more taking higher math classes like calculus.
In the largest study of its kind, girls measured up to boys in math in every grade, from second through 11th. The research was released Thursday in the journal Science.
Parents and teachers persist in thinking boys are simply better at math, said Janet Hyde, the University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who led the study. And girls, who grew up believing it, wound up avoiding harder math classes.
"It keeps girls and women out of a lot of careers, particularly high-prestige, lucrative careers in science and technology," Hyde said.
That's changing, albeit slowly. Women are now earning 48 percent of undergraduate college degrees in math; they still lag far behind in physics and engineering.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sixteen years after Barbie dolls declared, "Math class is tough!" girls are proving that, at math, they are just as tough as boys.
Girls have caught up on test scores, which researchers attribute to more taking higher math classes like calculus.
Girls have caught up on test scores, which researchers attribute to more taking higher math classes like calculus.
In the largest study of its kind, girls measured up to boys in math in every grade, from second through 11th. The research was released Thursday in the journal Science.
Parents and teachers persist in thinking boys are simply better at math, said Janet Hyde, the University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who led the study. And girls, who grew up believing it, wound up avoiding harder math classes.
"It keeps girls and women out of a lot of careers, particularly high-prestige, lucrative careers in science and technology," Hyde said.
That's changing, albeit slowly. Women are now earning 48 percent of undergraduate college degrees in math; they still lag far behind in physics and engineering.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Beauty School Dropout...
If the federal government can't accurately forecast which jobs will grow, can anyone do it? - By Jacob Leibenluft - Slate Magazine: "Help Wanted
If the federal government can't accurately forecast which jobs will grow, can anyone do it?
By Jacob Leibenluft
Posted Monday, July 21, 2008, at 3:29 PM ET
Has the BLS caused a boom in beauticians?
If the Bureau of Labor Statistics could predict the future, makeup artistry might look like a very good career right now. The government agency—perhaps best known for publishing the nation's unemployment rate every month—released a forecast late last year predicting which jobs would grow fastest over the next decade. Once it crunched all the numbers, the bureau reported that makeup artistry would be the seventh fastest-growing occupation in America from 2006 to 2016, between personal financial advisers and medical assistants. Overall, the bureau said, the number of jobs in the field would grow by a whopping 39.8 percent over the decade."
If the federal government can't accurately forecast which jobs will grow, can anyone do it?
By Jacob Leibenluft
Posted Monday, July 21, 2008, at 3:29 PM ET
Has the BLS caused a boom in beauticians?
If the Bureau of Labor Statistics could predict the future, makeup artistry might look like a very good career right now. The government agency—perhaps best known for publishing the nation's unemployment rate every month—released a forecast late last year predicting which jobs would grow fastest over the next decade. Once it crunched all the numbers, the bureau reported that makeup artistry would be the seventh fastest-growing occupation in America from 2006 to 2016, between personal financial advisers and medical assistants. Overall, the bureau said, the number of jobs in the field would grow by a whopping 39.8 percent over the decade."
Lively - Welcome
Lively - Welcome: "Create an avatar and chat with your friends in rooms you design"
Google's new virtual chat. SecondLife-y and pretty cool!
Google's new virtual chat. SecondLife-y and pretty cool!
Team Collaboration, Market Awareness, Competitive Intelligence Software: RivalMap
Team Collaboration, Market Awareness, Competitive Intelligence Software: RivalMap: "What is RivalMap?
RivalMap is a web-based application that gives companies an internal hub for market information. It's a faster, more effective way to monitor and share news, maintain industry and competitor knowledge, discuss information, and more. RivalMap helps companies stay agile by connecting people to the information they need to make better decisions."
RivalMap is a web-based application that gives companies an internal hub for market information. It's a faster, more effective way to monitor and share news, maintain industry and competitor knowledge, discuss information, and more. RivalMap helps companies stay agile by connecting people to the information they need to make better decisions."
100 Unbelievably Useful Reference Sites You’ve Never Heard Of | Teaching Tips
100 Unbelievably Useful Reference Sites You’ve Never Heard Of | Teaching Tips: "100 Unbelievably Useful Reference Sites You’ve Never Heard Of
By Laura Milligan
Beyond Google, Wikipedia and other generic reference sites, the Internet boasts a multitude of search engines, dictionaries, reference desks and databases that have organized and archived information for quick and easy searches. In this list, we’ve compiled just 100 of our favorites, for teachers, students, hypochondriacs, procrastinators, bookworms, sports nuts and more."
By Laura Milligan
Beyond Google, Wikipedia and other generic reference sites, the Internet boasts a multitude of search engines, dictionaries, reference desks and databases that have organized and archived information for quick and easy searches. In this list, we’ve compiled just 100 of our favorites, for teachers, students, hypochondriacs, procrastinators, bookworms, sports nuts and more."
Monday, July 07, 2008
Where the Hell is Matt? - A very touching, and silly, video
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
(via BoingBoing and WhereTheHellIsMatt.com)
"Matt is a 31-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play videogames. Matt achieved this goal pretty early and enjoyed it for a while, but eventually realized there might be other stuff he was missing out on. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he'd saved to wander around Asia until it ran out. He made this site so he could keep his family and friends updated about where he is.
A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do that dance. I'll record it." He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It's actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.
A couple years later, someone found the video online and passed it to someone else, who passed it to someone else, and so on. Now Matt is quasi-famous as "That guy who dances on the internet. No, not that guy. The other one. No, not him either. I'll send you the link. It's funny."
The response to the first video brought Matt to the attention of the nice people at Stride gum. They asked Matt if he'd be interested in taking another trip around the world to make a new video. Matt asked if they'd be paying for it. They said yes. Matt thought this sounded like another very good idea."
Thursday, June 26, 2008
100 Useful Niche Search Engines You’ve Never Heard Of | College@Home
100 Useful Niche Search Engines You’ve Never Heard Of | College@Home: "100 Useful Niche Search Engines You’ve Never Heard Of
By Laura Milligan
Though the general Google site is often touted as the number one search engine online, college students sometimes need more specific tools to help them uncover quality information on the Web that they can use for class projects, research papers, and even job and apartment searches. This list features a huge variety of search engines that can be useful to students, including tools that find photos, sound effects, summer internships, health and medical information, reference guides, and a lot more."
By Laura Milligan
Though the general Google site is often touted as the number one search engine online, college students sometimes need more specific tools to help them uncover quality information on the Web that they can use for class projects, research papers, and even job and apartment searches. This list features a huge variety of search engines that can be useful to students, including tools that find photos, sound effects, summer internships, health and medical information, reference guides, and a lot more."
Monday, June 23, 2008
Strategic law firm intelligence via Summize and Twitter : Real Lawyers Have Blogs
Strategic law firm intelligence via Summize and Twitter : Real Lawyers Have Blogs
"[W]ith the growing use of Twitter by those active in social networking and social media, monitoring the blogosphere alone is not enough. You need to monitor what people are 'micro-blogging' at Twitter. A lot can be said about you - good and bad - in 140 characters of text broadcast to hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of a person's followers on Twitter.
I subscribe to an RSS feed of keywords and key phrases mentioned on Twitter via Summize.
Summize is a search engine for Twitter that, like Google Blog Search for blogs, allows you to subscribe to searches. You don't browse searches ala a standard Google Search, you subscribe to an RSS feed of your search so as to read updates in your RSS newsreader."
"[W]ith the growing use of Twitter by those active in social networking and social media, monitoring the blogosphere alone is not enough. You need to monitor what people are 'micro-blogging' at Twitter. A lot can be said about you - good and bad - in 140 characters of text broadcast to hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of a person's followers on Twitter.
I subscribe to an RSS feed of keywords and key phrases mentioned on Twitter via Summize.
Summize is a search engine for Twitter that, like Google Blog Search for blogs, allows you to subscribe to searches. You don't browse searches ala a standard Google Search, you subscribe to an RSS feed of your search so as to read updates in your RSS newsreader."
Monday, June 09, 2008
oopsimsorry.com
"Oops.....I'm Sorry is an interactive web site that offers people Options, Opportunities, Possibilities and Solutions (OOPS), to deal with the 'OOPS' that happen in life. 'Oops' as we define it is, anything that goes wrong or is upsetting. "
Friday, May 16, 2008
World Community Grid - Home
World Community Grid - Home: "Donate the time your computer is turned on, but is idle, to projects that benefit humanity! We provide the secure software that does it all for free, and you become part of a community that is helping to change the world. Once you install the software, you will be participating in World Community Grid. No other action must be taken; it's that simple!"
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
About | Addictomatic
About | Addictomatic: "Addictomatic searches the best live sites on the web for the latest news, blog posts, videos and images. It's the perfect tool to keep up with the hottest topics, perform ego searches and feed your addiction for what's up and what's now."
Monday, May 12, 2008
Election fact checking | Free Government Information (FGI)
Election fact checking | Free Government Information (FGI)
"The sheer volume of election coverage can be daunting to follow for even the most hard-core election junkie, let alone the casual observer. A few sites do everyone the favor of breaking campaign reports and statements down to the facts, attempting to separate the truth from the truthiness.
FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. It is essentially a multimedia blog that responds to the factual assertions and allusions made in politics at the federal, state, and local levels. FactCheck.org's staff elegantly analyzes candidates' statements on such issues as a potential gas price fix for factual consistency. They dutifully list their reference sources and, for contextual emphasis, they frequently provide audio and video links to the candidates' actual comments.
PolitiFact, mentioned previously on FreeGovInfo, is a service of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly Inc. PolitiFact's trademark is its Truth-O-Meter, which measures political statements on a scale of "True" to "Pants on fire." It's handy for those who want bottom-line analysis straight away. Like FactCheck.org, PolitiFact does have full articles with which it provides sources and multimedia links, although the analysis is not quite as deep. But PolitiFact does a better job of organizing and integrating its content: you can browse statements by Truth-O-Meter rating, by subject, by the person who said it, by whom it was said against, and even by where it was said (TV ad, blog post, speech, etc.).
Other interesting fact-checking sites include:
The Center for Public Integrity - A "nonprofit, nonpartisan, non-advocacy, independent journalism organization" that uses investigative journalism to examine political and campaign issues in depth. Of particular note is the Buying of the President site which looks at how money influences the presidential campaigns.
Opensecrets.org - Tracks money in politics and distills it into graphs, charts, and brief summaries. It is run by the non-partisan, non-profit Center for Responsive Politics.
The Fact Checker - A Washington Post blog that analyzes campaign statements in a similar way to FactCheck.org and PolitiFact. The difference here is that topics are prompted by user suggestions. It employs a "Pinocchio Test" similar to PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter."
"The sheer volume of election coverage can be daunting to follow for even the most hard-core election junkie, let alone the casual observer. A few sites do everyone the favor of breaking campaign reports and statements down to the facts, attempting to separate the truth from the truthiness.
FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. It is essentially a multimedia blog that responds to the factual assertions and allusions made in politics at the federal, state, and local levels. FactCheck.org's staff elegantly analyzes candidates' statements on such issues as a potential gas price fix for factual consistency. They dutifully list their reference sources and, for contextual emphasis, they frequently provide audio and video links to the candidates' actual comments.
PolitiFact, mentioned previously on FreeGovInfo, is a service of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly Inc. PolitiFact's trademark is its Truth-O-Meter, which measures political statements on a scale of "True" to "Pants on fire." It's handy for those who want bottom-line analysis straight away. Like FactCheck.org, PolitiFact does have full articles with which it provides sources and multimedia links, although the analysis is not quite as deep. But PolitiFact does a better job of organizing and integrating its content: you can browse statements by Truth-O-Meter rating, by subject, by the person who said it, by whom it was said against, and even by where it was said (TV ad, blog post, speech, etc.).
Other interesting fact-checking sites include:
The Center for Public Integrity - A "nonprofit, nonpartisan, non-advocacy, independent journalism organization" that uses investigative journalism to examine political and campaign issues in depth. Of particular note is the Buying of the President site which looks at how money influences the presidential campaigns.
Opensecrets.org - Tracks money in politics and distills it into graphs, charts, and brief summaries. It is run by the non-partisan, non-profit Center for Responsive Politics.
The Fact Checker - A Washington Post blog that analyzes campaign statements in a similar way to FactCheck.org and PolitiFact. The difference here is that topics are prompted by user suggestions. It employs a "Pinocchio Test" similar to PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter."
Word Wise: Spaced Out
Word Wise: Spaced Out
"Despite what you learned in typing class, stop using two spaces after a period. It’s nothing more than a habit – one worth breaking. ("Curious things, habits,” Agatha Christie wrote in “Witness for the Prosecution.” “People themselves never knew they had them.”)
The practice of double spacing after a period is a holdover from the days when typewriters had “monofaced” type, meaning fonts in which every letter had exactly the same width (in other words, “m” used the same amount of space as “i”). Because of the monoface font, two spaces after a period made it easier to see where one sentence ended and another began."
"Despite what you learned in typing class, stop using two spaces after a period. It’s nothing more than a habit – one worth breaking. ("Curious things, habits,” Agatha Christie wrote in “Witness for the Prosecution.” “People themselves never knew they had them.”)
The practice of double spacing after a period is a holdover from the days when typewriters had “monofaced” type, meaning fonts in which every letter had exactly the same width (in other words, “m” used the same amount of space as “i”). Because of the monoface font, two spaces after a period made it easier to see where one sentence ended and another began."
Friday, May 09, 2008
Monday, May 05, 2008
DigitalKoans Blog Archive Open Access Directory, a Factual Wiki, Launched
DigitalKoans Blog Archive - Open Access Directory, a Factual Wiki, Launched: "Peter Suber and Robin Peek have launched the Open Access Directory (OAD), a wiki where the open access community can create and maintain simple factual lists about open access to science and scholarship. Suber, a Research Professor of Philosophy at Earlham College, and Peek, an Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at Simmons College, conceived the project in order to collect OA-related lists for one-stop reference and searching.
The wiki will start operating with about half a dozen lists—for example, conferences devoted to open access, discussion forums devoted to open access, and journal 'declarations of independence'—and add more over time.
The goal is to harness the knowledge and energy of the open access community itself to enlarge and correct the lists. A list on a wiki, revised continuously by its users, can be more comprehensive and up to date than the same list maintained by an individual. By bringing many OA-related lists together in one place, OAD will make it easier for users, especially newcomers, to discover them and use them for reference. The easier they are to maintain and discover, the more effectively they can spread useful, accurate information about open access.
The URL for the Open Access Directory is oad.simmons.edu."
The wiki will start operating with about half a dozen lists—for example, conferences devoted to open access, discussion forums devoted to open access, and journal 'declarations of independence'—and add more over time.
The goal is to harness the knowledge and energy of the open access community itself to enlarge and correct the lists. A list on a wiki, revised continuously by its users, can be more comprehensive and up to date than the same list maintained by an individual. By bringing many OA-related lists together in one place, OAD will make it easier for users, especially newcomers, to discover them and use them for reference. The easier they are to maintain and discover, the more effectively they can spread useful, accurate information about open access.
The URL for the Open Access Directory is oad.simmons.edu."
Library Receives Original Spider-Man Story - The Library Today (Library of Congress)
Library Receives Original Spider-Man Story - The Library Today (Library of Congress): "Library of Congress Receives Original Drawings for the First Spider-Man Story, 'Amazing Fantasy #15'
In a deed of superheroic proportions, an anonymous donor has given the Library of Congress the original artwork by Steve Ditko for Marvel Comics' 'Amazing Fantasy #15' -- the comic book that introduced Spider-Man in August 1962.
This unique set of drawings for 24 pages features the story of the origin of Spider-Man along with three other short stories -- also written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko -- for the same issue: 'The Bell-Ringer,' 'Man in the Mummy Case' and 'There Are Martians Among Us.'"
In a deed of superheroic proportions, an anonymous donor has given the Library of Congress the original artwork by Steve Ditko for Marvel Comics' 'Amazing Fantasy #15' -- the comic book that introduced Spider-Man in August 1962.
This unique set of drawings for 24 pages features the story of the origin of Spider-Man along with three other short stories -- also written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko -- for the same issue: 'The Bell-Ringer,' 'Man in the Mummy Case' and 'There Are Martians Among Us.'"
Law Librarian Blog: 12 Screencasting Tools For Creating Video Tutorials
Law Librarian Blog: 12 Screencasting Tools For Creating Video Tutorials: "12 Screencasting Tools For Creating Video Tutorials
Great resource from Mashable: Ever wondered how people show you so clearly what is happening on their computer? Thanks to screencasting software, anyone can do it. Try out one of these 12 tools. Hat tip to iLibrarian. [RJ]"
Great resource from Mashable: Ever wondered how people show you so clearly what is happening on their computer? Thanks to screencasting software, anyone can do it. Try out one of these 12 tools. Hat tip to iLibrarian. [RJ]"
Recycle your PACER documents | Free Government Information (FGI)
this is so awesome
Recycle your PACER documents | Free Government Information (FGI)
"Just upload all your PACER Documents to our recycling bin. Click on the recycle bin and you'll be presented with a dialogue to choose files to upload. Then, just hit the “Start Upload” button and you'll hear the sounds of progress as your documents get reinjected into the public domain.
We'll take the documents, look at them, and then put them onto bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/pacer for future distribution. This is a manual process and you won't see your documents show up right away. But, over time, we hope to accumulate a significant database of PACER Documents. "
Recycle your PACER documents | Free Government Information (FGI)
"Just upload all your PACER Documents to our recycling bin. Click on the recycle bin and you'll be presented with a dialogue to choose files to upload. Then, just hit the “Start Upload” button and you'll hear the sounds of progress as your documents get reinjected into the public domain.
We'll take the documents, look at them, and then put them onto bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/pacer for future distribution. This is a manual process and you won't see your documents show up right away. But, over time, we hope to accumulate a significant database of PACER Documents. "
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Twitter Stat Tools - Xefer Analyzes Usage & Habits
Twitter Stat Tools - Xefer Analyzes Usage & Habits: "With so many people addicted to Twitter, it would be neat to view a chart of a person’s tweets statistics, giving an insight into their habits and usage patterns.
Powered by Yahoo Pipes & Google Charts, xefer allows you to create scatter plots and charts of a Twitter user’s tweets. You can choose to view the data by hour, day of the week, month or a combination of those."
Powered by Yahoo Pipes & Google Charts, xefer allows you to create scatter plots and charts of a Twitter user’s tweets. You can choose to view the data by hour, day of the week, month or a combination of those."
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
StopForwarding.Us | About
StopForwarding.Us | About: "This site was created to meet the need of those who are bothered by poor email etiquette, specifically when it comes to forwarded chain letters, urban myths, and bad jokes. The primary function of the site is to allow individuals to anonymously email someone who has sent them spam or forwards (also known as FWDs) a generic letter that politely asks the recipient to refrain from sending this type of email.
The recipient of this email is protected against abuse of StopForwarding.Us by a feature of the site that keeps the same email address from being used more than once every month. To facilitate this feature, the email address is kept on record for 30 days before automatically being erased from our system. These email addresses will not be used for any other purpose other than as mentioned above."
The recipient of this email is protected against abuse of StopForwarding.Us by a feature of the site that keeps the same email address from being used more than once every month. To facilitate this feature, the email address is kept on record for 30 days before automatically being erased from our system. These email addresses will not be used for any other purpose other than as mentioned above."
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Bachelor's of Comic Books, with a Minor in Superheroes
UNT to Offer Grad-Level Course Dorkdom, Geekness Come Fall
Shaun Treat's a Visiting Professor of Rhetoric at the University of North Texas -- and, no, I have no idea what that means, not exactly. But just in time for the onslaught of super-hero movies crashing into multiplexii this summer, UNT today has announced that Treat's treating the school's grad-school students to a course sure to be populated by cheerleaders and jocks: Mythic Rhetoric of the American Superhero. Treat, whose dissertation "explored the mythic culture types and fantasy rhetoric of charismatic leadership," will use as his textbook 2002's The Myth of the American Superhero, and says the UNT media release announcing the new course, which debuts in the fall:
Treat said his students will also read various comic books and graphic novels, including Superman: Red Son, an alternative universe DC Comics story that has Superman growing up in the communist Soviet Union and eventually becoming powerful enough to unseat Joseph Stalin. In addition, the students will watch films such as 2005'sV for Vendetta, the X-Men movies and 2002's Road to Perdition, which was based on a Japanese graphic novel.
The fact I know, without even looking it up, that the latter's not true -- Road to Perdition, written by Max Allen Collins, was published in 1998 by DC Comics-owned Paradox Press -- means I am not going to take the course pass-fail. --Robert Wilonsky
Shaun Treat's a Visiting Professor of Rhetoric at the University of North Texas -- and, no, I have no idea what that means, not exactly. But just in time for the onslaught of super-hero movies crashing into multiplexii this summer, UNT today has announced that Treat's treating the school's grad-school students to a course sure to be populated by cheerleaders and jocks: Mythic Rhetoric of the American Superhero. Treat, whose dissertation "explored the mythic culture types and fantasy rhetoric of charismatic leadership," will use as his textbook 2002's The Myth of the American Superhero, and says the UNT media release announcing the new course, which debuts in the fall:
Treat said his students will also read various comic books and graphic novels, including Superman: Red Son, an alternative universe DC Comics story that has Superman growing up in the communist Soviet Union and eventually becoming powerful enough to unseat Joseph Stalin. In addition, the students will watch films such as 2005'sV for Vendetta, the X-Men movies and 2002's Road to Perdition, which was based on a Japanese graphic novel.
The fact I know, without even looking it up, that the latter's not true -- Road to Perdition, written by Max Allen Collins, was published in 1998 by DC Comics-owned Paradox Press -- means I am not going to take the course pass-fail. --Robert Wilonsky
Monday, April 21, 2008
have you hugged your librarian today?
hugs are nice, but i prefer hard currency ;)
Library Use Value Calculator - What is your library worth to you? : How much would you pay out-of-pocket for your library services? The calculator worksheet has been adapted from the downloadable spreadsheet, original provided by the Massachusetts Library Association and then adapted for the web by Chelmsford Public Library. Maine State library added extra accessibility coding and reformatting for ease of reading online. This spreadsheet requires either Microsoft Excel or the Excel Viewer.
Library Use Value Calculator - What is your library worth to you? : How much would you pay out-of-pocket for your library services? The calculator worksheet has been adapted from the downloadable spreadsheet, original provided by the Massachusetts Library Association and then adapted for the web by Chelmsford Public Library. Maine State library added extra accessibility coding and reformatting for ease of reading online. This spreadsheet requires either Microsoft Excel or the Excel Viewer.
Mental Detox Week - April 21 to April 27 (formerly TV Turnoff)
Mental Detox Week - April 21 to April 27 (formerly TV Turnoff)
For one week you take a break, unplug, turn off the TVs, computers, iPods, Blackberries, and cell phones. You don't have to go cold turkey, just challenge yourself to cut back a little. In the evening, you watch your favorite show if you have to, but then you switch off, relax, read a book, take a walk, or maybe go for a pint with a friend.
It's all about mental health. Recent studies have revealed a connection between our increasing use of a wide range of digital devices and growing stress levels and incidence of psychological disorders. Two out of three Americans suffer disconnection anxiety if they're away from their gadgets even for a few minutes, and The American Journal of Psychiatry has classified excessive gaming, porn surfing, emailing, and text messaging as a compulsive impulse disorder. Unplugging for a week is a non-pharmaceutical method of protecting your sanity and well-being.
So you take a step back from it all. Maybe for the first couple of days you'll feel crabby, sweaty, or agitated, like an addict in withdrawal. But then something remarkable will happen. Your over-stimulated brain will cleanse itself. You'll relax. You'll feel calmer and more grounded. You'll be whole again and see the world anew.
Mental Detox site
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
In Pictures: Online computer tutorials based on pictures. Free.
In Pictures: Online computer tutorials based on pictures. Free.: "In Pictures online tutorials are based on pictures, not words. They're the easiest way to learn computer subjects.
There's no complicated multimedia, just pictures that show exactly what to do. Learn more about our approach."
There's no complicated multimedia, just pictures that show exactly what to do. Learn more about our approach."
Article Records From British Library Now in WorldCat.org
Article Records From British Library Now in WorldCat.org
this is awesome news because the BL has one of the best docdelivery services in the world and now their articles are even easier to find.
this is awesome news because the BL has one of the best docdelivery services in the world and now their articles are even easier to find.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
He Wrote 200,000 Books (but Computers Did Some of the Work) - New York Times
He Wrote 200,000 Books (but Computers Did Some of the Work) - New York Times
"And he is laying the groundwork for romance novels generated by new algorithms. 'I’ve already set it up,' he said. 'There are only so many body parts.'"
"And he is laying the groundwork for romance novels generated by new algorithms. 'I’ve already set it up,' he said. 'There are only so many body parts.'"
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Nation - Iraq's Ruined Library Soldiers On
Iraq's Ruined Library Soldiers On: "The brutalities of the Iraq war accumulate so fast it is difficult to keep track. But in this season of fifth-year anniversaries, one largely forgotten crime demands to be recalled, in part because it relates directly to the politics of memory itself. Five years ago this week, US troops stood by as looters sacked the Iraq National Library and Archives (INLA)--one of the oldest and most used in the world. In Arab countries the old expression was 'Cairo writes, Beirut publishes, and Baghdad reads.'"
Texas Pages Blog | Guidelive.com
good news for North Texas bibliophiles!
Texas Pages Blog | Guidelive.com
Texas Pages Blog | Guidelive.com
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Should the public library no longer be public? | Library Stuff
this is going nowhere good.
Should the public library no longer be public? | Library Stuff: "Tewksbury Advocate - “As the national economy plunges further into recession, gas prices continue to hike, and the price of living continues to climb, local governments like Tewksbury that are already wrought with fees and cuts are exploring the notion of privatizing the public library.”"
Should the public library no longer be public? | Library Stuff: "Tewksbury Advocate - “As the national economy plunges further into recession, gas prices continue to hike, and the price of living continues to climb, local governments like Tewksbury that are already wrought with fees and cuts are exploring the notion of privatizing the public library.”"
ResourceShelf Databases: Science: Say Hello to Green File, Free from EBSCO; EBSCO, Hasselt University Library, IODE Developing Open Science Director
ResourceShelf Databases: Science: Say Hello to Green File, Free from EBSCO; EBSCO, Hasselt University Library, IODE Developing Open Science Directory: "GreenFILE, a freely accessible research database focusing on the relationship between human beings and the environment, with well-researched but accessible information on topics ranging from global warming to recycling to alternate fuel sources and beyond. Comprised of scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports, GreenFILE offers a unique perspective on the positive and negative ways humans affect the ecology. Drawing on the connection between the environment and disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology, GreenFILE will serve as an informative resource for anyone concerned about the issues facing our planet. GreenFILE’s initial release will include A&I for more than 600 titles, including comprehensive coverage – from to volume 1, issue 1 to present – for Bioscience (back to 1964), Conservation Biology (back to 1987), i>Journal of Ecology (back to 1913) and Journal of Environmental Planning & Management (back to 1948). The total number of records is approximately 295,000, and full text is provided for more than 4,600 records from open access titles.
Note: Be sure to set a bookmark for http://www.greeninfoonline.com. This link takes you directly to the GreenFILE"
Note: Be sure to set a bookmark for http://www.greeninfoonline.com. This link takes you directly to the GreenFILE"
EDGAR's new companion, EMMA | Free Government Information (FGI)
EDGAR's new companion, EMMA | Free Government Information (FGI): "Everyone knows about the SEC's EDGAR database. Now, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, a self-regulatory organization established by Congress to develop rules for broker-dealers and banks that underwrite, trade and sell municipal securities, has launched a pilot project, EMMA (Electronic Municipal Market Access). EMMA is an Internet-based disclosure portal that provides free public access to disclosure documents and real-time municipal securities trade price data for the municipal securities market. The EMMA website is now accessible at emma.msrb.org"
beSpacific: First Ever Congressional Hearing Simulcast in an Internet-based Virtual World
beSpacific: First Ever Congressional Hearing Simulcast in an Internet-based Virtual World: "First Ever Congressional Hearing Simulcast in an Internet-based Virtual World
Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
Tuesday, April 1, 2008. Witness List & Prepared Testimony.
# News release: 'Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, conducted the first ever Congressional hearing simulcast in an Internet-based virtual world [April 1, 2008]. The hearing addressed the evolution, culture and future of virtual worlds such as Second Life, Zwinky and There which are part of a new form of communication that has exploded over the last few years...'Virtual worlds are at the cutting edge of so-called 'Web 2.0' applications and services, which enable users to generate the content of the realm, such as with YouTube and Flickr and Facebook. Virtual worlds can also support business operations and commercial applications - from real estate sales, to business conferences, product marketing, music sales, and the general buying of goods and services.'"
Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
Tuesday, April 1, 2008. Witness List & Prepared Testimony.
# News release: 'Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, conducted the first ever Congressional hearing simulcast in an Internet-based virtual world [April 1, 2008]. The hearing addressed the evolution, culture and future of virtual worlds such as Second Life, Zwinky and There which are part of a new form of communication that has exploded over the last few years...'Virtual worlds are at the cutting edge of so-called 'Web 2.0' applications and services, which enable users to generate the content of the realm, such as with YouTube and Flickr and Facebook. Virtual worlds can also support business operations and commercial applications - from real estate sales, to business conferences, product marketing, music sales, and the general buying of goods and services.'"
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
DrWeb's Domain: A Chat with NYC's Coolest Culinary Librarian - IgoUgo
DrWeb's Domain: A Chat with NYC's Coolest Culinary Librarian - IgoUgo: "Who boasts the best menu in New York? Our vote goes to Rebecca Federman, keeper of the New York Public Library’s culinary collection. The passionate bibliographer—and writer of Cooked Books—talks to IgoUgo about her fascinating job and favorite tables."
Google April Fools!
Wake yourself up with our new Google Wake Up Kit!
Do you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning? We do, too. In fact this problem became so serious at times that it sometimes resulted in lacklustre attendance at team meetings. To help solve the problem we've created an innovative solution called the Google Wake Up Kit.
hehehehe....
Google WakeUp
"'I could never wake up on time to get to our team meetings. But thanks to the new Google Wake Up Kit, I'm always on time now!' - Pedro C.
In combination with the kit, you can receive a new type of notification from Google Calendar, called the "wake up" notification. This notification is relentless in ensuring your timely awakening from restful slumber. The "wake up" notification uses several progressively more annoying alerts to wake you up. First it will send an SMS message to your phone. If that fails, more coercive means will be used. The kit includes an industrial-sized bucket and is designed to be connected to your water main for automatic filling. In addition, a bed-flipping device is included for forceful removal from your sleeping quarters." Learn more
Do you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning? We do, too. In fact this problem became so serious at times that it sometimes resulted in lacklustre attendance at team meetings. To help solve the problem we've created an innovative solution called the Google Wake Up Kit.
hehehehe....
Google WakeUp
"'I could never wake up on time to get to our team meetings. But thanks to the new Google Wake Up Kit, I'm always on time now!' - Pedro C.
In combination with the kit, you can receive a new type of notification from Google Calendar, called the "wake up" notification. This notification is relentless in ensuring your timely awakening from restful slumber. The "wake up" notification uses several progressively more annoying alerts to wake you up. First it will send an SMS message to your phone. If that fails, more coercive means will be used. The kit includes an industrial-sized bucket and is designed to be connected to your water main for automatic filling. In addition, a bed-flipping device is included for forceful removal from your sleeping quarters." Learn more
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Image Recognition Problem Finally Solved: Let’s Pay People To Tag Photos
Image Recognition Problem Finally Solved: Let’s Pay People To Tag Photos: "Image Recognition Problem Finally Solved: Let’s Pay People To Tag Photos"
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
FriendFeed Brings Twitter Back
FriendFeed Brings Twitter Back: "FriendFeed is the new Twitter. That’s what everyone is saying these days (including me). And by everyone, we mean the early adopter crowd, many of which that made Twitter popular in the first place.
Interestingly, one of the most common things to see on FriendFeed is a long back-and-forth conversation develop from a simple, short Twitter post. Given the uzi-fire rate at which the FriendFeed team creates new features, it was only a matter of time before they decided to create the ability to send some of those conversations on back to Twitter."
Interestingly, one of the most common things to see on FriendFeed is a long back-and-forth conversation develop from a simple, short Twitter post. Given the uzi-fire rate at which the FriendFeed team creates new features, it was only a matter of time before they decided to create the ability to send some of those conversations on back to Twitter."
Sunday, March 23, 2008
pronetos.com
Pronetos [http://pronetos.com/] is a home to communities and scholars of every academic discipline: a global think-tank of the leaders in your field.
* Share a paper with colleagues
* Find scholars in your field
* Post course materials
* Network and collaborate
* Find research in your field
* Post an announcement to your colleagues
* See the message board in your discipline
Pronetos is a social network for scholars and an Open Access publisher. It provides an intuitively designed, real-time, web based community platform that facilitates mass collaboration and democratizes content for global distribution among academics with the ability to archive and search that content. With Pronetos, ideas are shared at the speed of thought, and those who create them control them.
* Share a paper with colleagues
* Find scholars in your field
* Post course materials
* Network and collaborate
* Find research in your field
* Post an announcement to your colleagues
* See the message board in your discipline
Pronetos is a social network for scholars and an Open Access publisher. It provides an intuitively designed, real-time, web based community platform that facilitates mass collaboration and democratizes content for global distribution among academics with the ability to archive and search that content. With Pronetos, ideas are shared at the speed of thought, and those who create them control them.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Technology News: Social Networking: Social Media Burnout
Technology News: Social Networking: Social Media Burnout: "My Facebook profile is in danger of becoming an office directory with pictures. That's fine to a point, but the idea of Facebook is to interact with a community of like-minded friends. Social networking has turned into work. I'm not alone in my concerns. An online marketer -- and Facebook friend -- also noted social media fatigue."
Friday, March 07, 2008
Scents and Sensibility: Books: The New Yorker
Scents and Sensibility: Books: The New Yorker: "So taste is mainly smell, and smell is a profound mystery. Why is it that one molecule
smells of spearmint, while its mirror image
smells of caraway? No one knows."
smells of spearmint, while its mirror image
smells of caraway? No one knows."
Law.com - 8-Year-Old Passes Law School Entrance Test; Authorities to Investigate
i thought doing this at 18 was a big deal...this kid did it at 8!
Law.com - 8-Year-Old Passes Law School Entrance Test; Authorities to Investigate
Law.com - 8-Year-Old Passes Law School Entrance Test; Authorities to Investigate
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Naughty Librarians’ Convention 2008 | Laughing Squid
OMG!!!! someone send me a plane ticket!!!
Naughty Librarians’ Convention 2008 | Laughing Squid: "Naughty Librarians’ Convention 2008
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/449103/?ps=6
Saturday, March 8, 2008
2:00 PM
Ha-Ra Cub
875 Geary Street
san francisco, California 94109
Category
Education
Description
Librarians are the new nurses and it’s time to break out your bookish booties for the sake of something hot: reading!
Dress as a sexy schoolmarm, a libidinous librarian or a prurient professor and meet up at 2 p.m. Saturday for prim and proper cocktails at the Ha Ra club in the Tenderloin.
From there we’ll head to the San Francisco Main Public Library to put our libidinous librarian mojo to work. Hosted by Princess Honeybee. Sponsored by RIF (Reading is Fundamental), the Hoover Institution, the Mitchell Brothers, Focus on the Family and Good Vibrations."
Naughty Librarians’ Convention 2008 | Laughing Squid: "Naughty Librarians’ Convention 2008
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/449103/?ps=6
Saturday, March 8, 2008
2:00 PM
Ha-Ra Cub
875 Geary Street
san francisco, California 94109
Category
Education
Description
Librarians are the new nurses and it’s time to break out your bookish booties for the sake of something hot: reading!
Dress as a sexy schoolmarm, a libidinous librarian or a prurient professor and meet up at 2 p.m. Saturday for prim and proper cocktails at the Ha Ra club in the Tenderloin.
From there we’ll head to the San Francisco Main Public Library to put our libidinous librarian mojo to work. Hosted by Princess Honeybee. Sponsored by RIF (Reading is Fundamental), the Hoover Institution, the Mitchell Brothers, Focus on the Family and Good Vibrations."
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Slashdot | UN Makes Its Statistical Data Free and Searchable
Slashdot | UN Makes Its Statistical Data Free and Searchable: "Since its foundation, the United Nations system has been collecting statistical information from member states on a variety of topics. The information thus collected constitutes a considerable information asset of the organization. However, these statistical data are often stored in proprietary databases, each with unique dissemination and access policies. As a result, users are often unaware of the full array of statistical information that the UN system has in its data libraries. The current arrangement also means that users are required to move from one database to another to access different types of information. UNdata addresses this problem by datapooling major UN databases and those of several other international organizations into one single Internet environment. The innovative design allows a user to access a large number of UN databases either by browsing the data series or through a keyword search."
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Can't remember the 11 planets? 4th-grader offers help - CNN.com
i have, apparently, been out of school too long...there are 11 planets! 3 are dwarf planets! what does that even mean?!?! pretty exciting...
Can't remember the 11 planets? 4th-grader offers help - CNN.com: "Maryn Smith, the winner of the National Geographic planetary mnemonic contest, has created a handy way to remember the planets and their order in distance from the sun.
Her award-winning phrase is: My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.
The 11 recognized planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eris."
Can't remember the 11 planets? 4th-grader offers help - CNN.com: "Maryn Smith, the winner of the National Geographic planetary mnemonic contest, has created a handy way to remember the planets and their order in distance from the sun.
Her award-winning phrase is: My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.
The 11 recognized planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eris."
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Tame The Web - Txt a Librarian
Tame The Web � Blog Archive � Txt a Librarian: "As instant message reference freed patrons from having to come to the library, text messaging reference frees them from their desks or laptops. Yale Science Librarians offer a text messaging reference service to meet this preference for mobility: patrons can text a librarian from study halls, classes, laboratories, dorms, offices, or even from the stacks without having to approach a librarian."
Fix Your Grainy, Dark, Low Resolution Videos for Free--High-Tech Video Enhancement Service for Cameraphones, Digital Cameras, and Webcams
Fix Your Grainy, Dark, Low Resolution Videos for Free--High-Tech Video Enhancement Service for Cameraphones, Digital Cameras, and Webcams: "FixMyMovie is a video
enhancement site powered by MotionDSP's patent-pending video technology. It makes movies from your mobile phone,
digital camera, or webcam look great."
enhancement site powered by MotionDSP's patent-pending video technology. It makes movies from your mobile phone,
digital camera, or webcam look great."
TVC Alert Research News for 25 February 2008
TVC Alert Research News for 25 February 2008: "What Lawyers Should Know about Metadata
(20 Feb) The National Law Journal features an excellent article that provides an overview of legal and ethical issues concerning metadata. In addition to explaining what metadata is, the article briefly examines how one finds it as well as the ethics of mining for it."
(20 Feb) The National Law Journal features an excellent article that provides an overview of legal and ethical issues concerning metadata. In addition to explaining what metadata is, the article briefly examines how one finds it as well as the ethics of mining for it."
google docs bulk upload
Stark County Law Library Blog: February 2008 Archives: "“For you Power Google Docs users out there, here's a nifty tool: the Documents List Uploader is a utility that lets you upload multiple documents from your computer up to Google Docs. If you want to go straight to the download, click here. Once you've installed it, all you have to do is drag and drop Word, Excel, or Powerpoint documents to the Uploader, and they'll automatically be added to your Google Docs account.”"
Monday, February 18, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Blue Organizer’s Latest Indigo Release Lets You Surf Things Instead of Web Pages
Blue Organizer’s Latest Indigo Release Lets You Surf Things Instead of Web Pages: "Semantic search applications are finally starting to gel this year. Tonight, Adaptive Blue is releasing the latest version (dubbed Indigo) of its FireFox add-on, Blue Organizer. Put simply, Blue Organizer lets you surf things instead of Web pages. It recognizes when a Webpage that you are browsing is about certain classes of things: books, movies, music, stocks, recipes, restaurants, blogs, wine, clothing, electronics, celebrities, musicians, hotels. And it creates shortcuts to other Webpges about that same “thing” (or object). If you are reading a book review on a blog, for instance, Blue Organizer will let you jump directly to the page on Amazon about that book, or AbeBooks, Alibris, Barnes & Noble, eBay, and more. You can also go to custom Google page that only searches book reviews for that book. For each different class of things it recognizes, you get a different set of options."
Monday, February 11, 2008
Friday, February 08, 2008
Digsby aims to simplify communication; we've got invites
Digsby aims to simplify communication; we've got invites: "Communicating with coworkers, social networks, and friends across the Web is getting more complicated by the week. Some friends use e-mail, your garage band members stick to Yahoo! Messenger, and you probably spend half your day keeping an eye out for your boss while you swap between an Excel spreadsheet and Facebook to stay in touch with your Web 2.0 acquaintances. Right now, keeping pace with all these groups requires some serious multitasking skills, but the developers at dotSyntax believe things can be easier. With a new cross-platform product called digsby poised as a universal communicator between IM, e-mail, and social networks, they're off to a strong start."
Note: I actually started using Digsby and it's pretty great. I think it might be crashing my system, so I dont leave it running, but it is a handy way to sign into everything at once and check on everything.
Note: I actually started using Digsby and it's pretty great. I think it might be crashing my system, so I dont leave it running, but it is a handy way to sign into everything at once and check on everything.
reference interview puppet show
this is so dorky but really fun. what not to do in a reference interview.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Twine
why was this in novelties? how is the future of the Internet a novelty?
NYTimes |February 3, 2008 | Novelties
An Online Organizer That Helps Connect the Dots
By ANNE EISENBERG
HOW often have you wasted time searching through page after page of
e-mail messages, Web sites, notes, news feeds and YouTube videos on your
computer, trying to find an important item?
If the answer is *too often,* a San Francisco company, Radar
Networks, is testing a free, Web-based application, called Twine, that
may provide some robotic secretarial help in organizing and retrieving
documents.
Twine (twine.com) can scan almost any electronic document for the names
of people, places, businesses and many other entities that its
algorithms recognize.
Then it does something unusual: it automatically tags or marks all of
these items in orange and transfers them to an index on the right side
of the screen. This index grows with every document you view, as the
program adds subjects that it can recognize or infer from their context.
Customers have individual accounts on Twine*s Web site, where they
save URLs or other information. They can make their collections, or
*twines,* private, share them in groups with other members having
common interests like politics or fashion, or even make the twines
public.
[snip]
Twine is based on technologies created for the developing semantic Web
- foreseen as a smarter Web where machines may someday be able to
process the meaning of words and phrases in documents and even routinely
answer direct questions.
Sarah Miller, a librarian at Illinois Wesleyan University in
Bloomington, became a member of Twine*s test group in November, partly
because she and her husband, Ethan, a doctoral candidate, needed a place
to organize all the documents they wanted to share with each other about
teaching and learning.
For More Of The Story ... Visit
http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/2008/02/twine-semantic-web-is-here.html
NYTimes |February 3, 2008 | Novelties
An Online Organizer That Helps Connect the Dots
By ANNE EISENBERG
HOW often have you wasted time searching through page after page of
e-mail messages, Web sites, notes, news feeds and YouTube videos on your
computer, trying to find an important item?
If the answer is *too often,* a San Francisco company, Radar
Networks, is testing a free, Web-based application, called Twine, that
may provide some robotic secretarial help in organizing and retrieving
documents.
Twine (twine.com) can scan almost any electronic document for the names
of people, places, businesses and many other entities that its
algorithms recognize.
Then it does something unusual: it automatically tags or marks all of
these items in orange and transfers them to an index on the right side
of the screen. This index grows with every document you view, as the
program adds subjects that it can recognize or infer from their context.
Customers have individual accounts on Twine*s Web site, where they
save URLs or other information. They can make their collections, or
*twines,* private, share them in groups with other members having
common interests like politics or fashion, or even make the twines
public.
[snip]
Twine is based on technologies created for the developing semantic Web
- foreseen as a smarter Web where machines may someday be able to
process the meaning of words and phrases in documents and even routinely
answer direct questions.
Sarah Miller, a librarian at Illinois Wesleyan University in
Bloomington, became a member of Twine*s test group in November, partly
because she and her husband, Ethan, a doctoral candidate, needed a place
to organize all the documents they wanted to share with each other about
teaching and learning.
For More Of The Story ... Visit
http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/2008/02/twine-semantic-web-is-here.html
Friday, February 01, 2008
epa-results.pdf (application/pdf Object)
epa-results.pdf (application/pdf Object)
"The GPO has released a white paper on the results of its recently completed “Web Harvesting Pilot Project” and is requesting comments from the public. They had to extend the comment period until Fri. Feb. 8 because apparently they’re not getting any response, so the folks at Free Government Information are urging people to take the time to look at the project and make comments. What is the project? Many publications being published by Federal agencies are not being included in the Federal Depository Library Program that distributes all government documents. These documents have come to be known as “fugitive publications”; with increasing frequency, federal agencies are publishing content only in electronic formats and they frequently fail to inform GPO of these new publications for inclusion in the FDLP. In light of the large number of publications that have become fugitive, GPO is seeking Web crawler and other technologies that can provide a solution for the identification and harvesting of fugitive documents and publications from agency Web sites. A summary (pdf) of the results of the pilot project (they used the EPA website as the subject of the pilot) is available at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/harvesting/epa-results.pdf and the simple online comment form is at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/harvesting/epa-comments.html on the GPO website."
"The GPO has released a white paper on the results of its recently completed “Web Harvesting Pilot Project” and is requesting comments from the public. They had to extend the comment period until Fri. Feb. 8 because apparently they’re not getting any response, so the folks at Free Government Information are urging people to take the time to look at the project and make comments. What is the project? Many publications being published by Federal agencies are not being included in the Federal Depository Library Program that distributes all government documents. These documents have come to be known as “fugitive publications”; with increasing frequency, federal agencies are publishing content only in electronic formats and they frequently fail to inform GPO of these new publications for inclusion in the FDLP. In light of the large number of publications that have become fugitive, GPO is seeking Web crawler and other technologies that can provide a solution for the identification and harvesting of fugitive documents and publications from agency Web sites. A summary (pdf) of the results of the pilot project (they used the EPA website as the subject of the pilot) is available at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/harvesting/epa-results.pdf and the simple online comment form is at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/harvesting/epa-comments.html on the GPO website."
Monday, January 28, 2008
Save Ink, Paper, and Money with GreenPrint
Featured Windows Download: Save Ink, Paper, and Money with GreenPrint: "Windows only: Save money on ink and paper while helping the environment with GreenPrint World Edition. The freeware version of the otherwise shareware GreenPrint offerings, GreenPrint World Edition identifies and removes unnecessary pages or space—like images you don't need to waste ink on or pages with lone URLs—from your print jobs. GreenPrint also keeps track of just how much money, paper, and greenhouse gases you're saving by using it. The freeware world version includes most of the best features of its shareware siblings, so give it a try and start saving both white and green ($) paper today. GreenPrint is freeware, Windows only. For a closer look at how it works, check out their screencast."
Saturday, January 19, 2008
cARTalog Project Gallery - University of Iowa Libraries
cARTalog Project Gallery - University of Iowa Libraries
"What do you do with dead catalog cards? If you're an artist, maybe this: "A small community of library staff—motivated by both nostalgia and library subculture-- has come together to give the card catalog cards themselves a rebirth."
"What do you do with dead catalog cards? If you're an artist, maybe this: "A small community of library staff—motivated by both nostalgia and library subculture-- has come together to give the card catalog cards themselves a rebirth."
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Listen to Wikipedia on Your MP3 Player with Pediaphon
Wikipedia: Listen to Wikipedia on Your MP3 Player with Pediaphon: "Web site Pediaphon turns any Wikipedia article into an MP3. The site plugs the article into a text-to-speech synthesis app, and while the synthesis isn't the best you've ever heard (what is this lif - eh - hacker, anyway?), it's very fast, meaning you could plug in an article and sync the MP3 to your MP3 player in about a minute before you head out the door."
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Songbeat. The music is mine!
Songbeat. The music is mine!: "Songbeat is the newest web-based music player for your Desktop. Songbeat allows you to search the web for music files by using an innovative search platform: just submit the song title or artist, and Songbeat finds the music for you! No illegal filesharing. No viruses. Just music."
Our Documents - 100 Milestone Documents
Our Documents - 100 Milestone Documents: "The following is a list of 100 milestone documents, compiled by the National Archives and Records Administration, and drawn primarily from its nationwide holdings. The documents chronicle United States history from 1776 to 1965."
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Five weird ways to see search: Quintura, Clusty, and more | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone
"weird" has clearly changed since this article was written, but it's still interesting...
Five weird ways to see search: Quintura, Clusty, and more | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone: "Standard search engines are great for finding individual Web pages to answer discrete questions. But their lists of search results do not help you to understand a field in general. If that's what you need, you might want to check a visual search engine that clusters results, and in doing so gives you a better overview of a field."
Five weird ways to see search: Quintura, Clusty, and more | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone: "Standard search engines are great for finding individual Web pages to answer discrete questions. But their lists of search results do not help you to understand a field in general. If that's what you need, you might want to check a visual search engine that clusters results, and in doing so gives you a better overview of a field."
Friday, January 11, 2008
SkreemR Mp3 Search
SkreemR Mp3 Search - About: "SkreemR is a search engine for locating audio files on the web. We don't actually host any files--we index what exists on the publicly accessible reaches of the internet. Our goal is to make this content as searchable and useable to the internet community as possible."
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Search Wikia - About
i just got my account set up. they're right...search results are very poor quality. curious to see how this shapes up.
Search Wikia - About: "Wikia is working to develop and popularize a freely licensed (open source) search engine. What you see here is our first alpha release.
We are aware that the quality of the search results is low..
Wikia's search engine concept is that of trusted user feedback from a community of users acting together in an open, transparent, public way. Of course, before we start, we have no user feedback data. So the results are pretty bad. But we expect them to improve rapidly in coming weeks, so please bookmark the site and return often.
Right now, the most important thing you can do is help with the 'miniarticles' that appear at the top of popular search terms. These will vary in purpose according to the circumstance, but the primary uses will be:
* Short definitions
* Disambiguations
* Photos
* See also"
Search Wikia - About: "Wikia is working to develop and popularize a freely licensed (open source) search engine. What you see here is our first alpha release.
We are aware that the quality of the search results is low..
Wikia's search engine concept is that of trusted user feedback from a community of users acting together in an open, transparent, public way. Of course, before we start, we have no user feedback data. So the results are pretty bad. But we expect them to improve rapidly in coming weeks, so please bookmark the site and return often.
Right now, the most important thing you can do is help with the 'miniarticles' that appear at the top of popular search terms. These will vary in purpose according to the circumstance, but the primary uses will be:
* Short definitions
* Disambiguations
* Photos
* See also"
Annotated Justinian Code
am i a dork for thinking this is cool? don't answer that...
University of Wyoming - George W. Hopper Law Library - From about 1920 to 1952, Fred H. Blume, attorney and Wyoming Supreme Court Justice, worked alone in his spare time to produce a massive, annotated English translation of Justinian’s Code. His hopes of seeing it published during his lifetime never came to fruition. Blume also translated Justinian’s Novels into English during the same period, but they, too, remained unpublished. This web site is dedicated primarily to housing an edited, electronic version of Justice Blume’s magnum opus--what he referred to as his ANNOTATED JUSTINIAN CODE. It also contains his translation of the Novels and other materials related to Justice Blume’s Roman law work, but it does not attempt to be a portal for research on the Code or Roman law in general.
University of Wyoming - George W. Hopper Law Library - From about 1920 to 1952, Fred H. Blume, attorney and Wyoming Supreme Court Justice, worked alone in his spare time to produce a massive, annotated English translation of Justinian’s Code. His hopes of seeing it published during his lifetime never came to fruition. Blume also translated Justinian’s Novels into English during the same period, but they, too, remained unpublished. This web site is dedicated primarily to housing an edited, electronic version of Justice Blume’s magnum opus--what he referred to as his ANNOTATED JUSTINIAN CODE. It also contains his translation of the Novels and other materials related to Justice Blume’s Roman law work, but it does not attempt to be a portal for research on the Code or Roman law in general.
myGreenElectronics
myGreenElectronics: "Electronics improve the way we live, work and play.
But, there's one place where electronics should have no impact—the environment. Through responsible use, reuse and recycling of electronics, the consumer electronics industry and consumers can protect and preserve the environment—together."
But, there's one place where electronics should have no impact—the environment. Through responsible use, reuse and recycling of electronics, the consumer electronics industry and consumers can protect and preserve the environment—together."
Thursday, January 03, 2008
CoinCalc.com - [Coin Jar Calculator]
mr. information could've used this last weekend, when he cashed in our bottle full of $58 dollars in coins! we guessed that there was maybe $20 or so...it was fun to be wrong!
CoinCalc.com - [Coin Jar Calculator]: "Most of us have a jar in our house full of loose coins...Ever wonder how much money that jar is worth? CoinCalc.com will help you figure it out.
Just grab a representative handful of coins and fill in the values below along with the total weight of your jar."
CoinCalc.com - [Coin Jar Calculator]: "Most of us have a jar in our house full of loose coins...Ever wonder how much money that jar is worth? CoinCalc.com will help you figure it out.
Just grab a representative handful of coins and fill in the values below along with the total weight of your jar."
Converting Google Book PDFs to Actual Books
Converting Google Book PDFs to Actual Books: "PublicDomainReprints.org allows you to paste in a book URL from the Google Books program – at least those books in the public domain, which Google offers as full PDFs – to then order them via print-on-demand service Lulu.com. (To find just public domain books on Google Book Search, check the “Full view” option on the Advanced Book Search page.) Other than Google Books, Public Domain Reprints also supports sites like the Internet Archive."
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
plasq.com - Skitch - Snap, Draw, Share
plasq.com - Skitch - Snap, Draw, Share: "Your friends are global… you can send them links… but what if the action is on your screen? ... Point out a quick suggestion to a colleague or pass on that funny moment from an IM chat, post images to MySpace, eBay, forums or via email..
Skitch is the Internet age's Camera and it Rocks!"
Skitch is the Internet age's Camera and it Rocks!"
The Evolution of Web Apps & Human Interaction
Internet Evolution - Ilya Joel-Pitcher - The Evolution of Web Apps & Human Interaction: "As we increasingly embrace the Internet and online applications, our interactions with the Web will evolve in two ways. First: Applications will emerge to address the unexpressed, hidden needs of users. Second: Human behavior in some societies and cultures will evolve so that technology access becomes one of those basic needs."
Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks
Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks: "When it comes to the Google search box, you already know the tricks: like searching for exact phrases in quotes like 'so say we all' or searching a single site using site:lifehacker.com gmail. But there are many more oblique, clever, and lesser-known search recipes and operators that work from that unassuming little text box. Dozens of Google search guides detail the tips you already know, but today we're skipping the obvious and highlighting our favorite obscure Google web search tricks."
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