Thing 29 - Google tools

I love Google & the variety of applications they have developed over the years. They have taken the concept of a search engine to a whole new level with all the extras they've added.

I attended the Google tools session at MLA last year, so I had heard about a couple new products and add-ons they offer (like Google Notebook), and this Thing reminds me to check out all the new "toys" Google has been producing for us to use and to help people collaborate with friends, family & coworkers. I have already used the Google Docs for this purpose, and am also a Gmail user. (I love the layout and the combining of all the emails with the same Subject line - much easier to read and organize. Although this did take me a while to get used to it.)

I just downloaded the Google toolbar. Not sure how enamored I'll be of it, but I like the moon phase, "Today in History", National weather radars and cat clock widgets I've downloaded for so far. I'll post more on how this works with my work flow in the future...if I remember! :)

I glanced at the Google Sites application, but am unsure if I will ever use this kind of service. Then again, I can see this being really helpful for groups collaborating across distances, so I'll never say never on this one.

I can't wait to try out GOOG-411. The one question I have on it right now tho, is how do they pay for this service? A friend of mine mentioned that they might charge companies to be the top result like they do for their web search engine. I can see this being the case, so it will be something I'll take into consideration when using it.

Thing 28 - Customized Web Pages

I have been using iGoogle for a couple years already, and really like its flexibility and usability. I have a variety of widgets I use - including a birthday reminder, CNN news feed, local weather and my Google Reader feed. While I have been getting out of the habit of viewing this personalized page every day (since I use the web browser Flock and can easily get into my Gmail account with 1 click), I do enjoy taking a gander at it every couple of days. I still add and subtract things from my iGoogle page, and have even used the tab feature they offer (I currently have 3 tabs), which makes it very easy to keep my widgets organized.

Thing 27 - Twitter

I'm a very regular twitter-er already, so for this Thing I simply added a twitter widget to this blog so all my visitors can see my last 5 tweets. I usually use twhirl so I can upload what I'm up to straight from my desktop instead of having to login to a website.

One of my favorite tweets that I follow is the NatHistoryWhale. The "author" of this feed is the blue whale that hangs from the ceiling at the Natural History Museum in New York City. He has just started posting again after being silent for a while, and he posts quirky things like this one from yesterday: "Everyone's talking about how it's snowing outside. Hello? Why isn't anyone talking about the 21,000-pound whale in the room?" If you reply to his comments, you are almost guarenteed to get a reply, which is fun too.

I actaully have 2 twitter accounts, my personal one, and one for my work at SELCO. SELCOtv is a podcast project we are working on, and to help promote it, we have SELCOtv on twitter. Please follow it and find out our latest video podcast episodes! I think this is a great use of this kind of Web 2.0 tool, and a quick and easy way for libraries to share with their patrons what is happening in the library.

Thing 25: Bloggers' Toolkit

I had a lot of fun in poking around the various tool and toys in this thing this afternoon. I added two widgets to this blog; one looks at where visitors to the blog are from, and the other lets visitors see places around the world in real time. I figure they go well together! I would have liked it better for the Clustrmap to have the option of showing a more compressed area (like the Midwest, or even just MN), since I don't expect anyone from outside the region to come a visiting.

I looked at a couple other options like games and countdowns, but I didn't see them as being good choices for a mostly professional blog. That said, I may go back and add a couple of them to a personal blog sometime in the future. Other gadgets, like the frog that climbs the area given to the widget, are just plain silly. I would have liked to add a widget that featured leadership quotes since I'm active in MILE, but it had a script error and is not functional.

I poked around quite a bit when looking at these different tools. I'd say all told I spent about an 75 minutes on this thing. And I don't see it as a waste of time at all. Very good things to learn more about!