Web 2.0 recap

Here is a cool Halloween pumpkin photo I saw on the net. I thought it was very appropriate for this last topic as it kind of "says it all!"

I also added Yotify to the list of MPPL favorites: New Web 2.0 sites. I've set it to send me updates for the next couple of weeks on my favorite political candidates. It'll be interesting to see if I can wade through the possible deluge of emails I'll get! Then again, maybe I'll get very few. I wish I had looked into this earlier in the race for the presidency. It will be a good tool to use when I have specific things I'm looking to buy, or read about, or places I'd like to travel to... you get the idea!

Thanks, L2T, for taking the time to show us all how much fun the new Web can be! I would never have set up a blog unless you made me. I don't know if I'll keep it up much, since I don't know if there is anyone out there very interested in it, but maybe I'll do it as a way to remind myself of my experiences. I've set up 2 wikis, one for family and one for a couple friends, and hope that I can get them interested in adding to them, or at least looking at them occasionally!

I now know I can post lots of photos to the web in order to organize them. It's better than leaving them all around on various computers and external hard drives. If only it was this easy for all the real photos that I have lying around in various places in my house! It's something for the future, but it's a goal!

All this knowledge will surely come in handy for a presentation I have to give in the future. Maybe I'll blog about that, too!

Happy Halloween!

Here a Pod, There a Pod...MMM Good!

Now this was a topic that I have had considerable experience with. I have been a fan of a couple NPR shows, namely "CarTalk" and "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" Since I don't always get to listen to the shows on Saturday mornings, I have learned to download several weeks of shows and put them on my iPod for my later listening pleasure. Here is a link to CarTalk's website. It is a very funny show and I always learn something interesting about car maintenance!

"Wait, wait" is a current issues show, with a host, an announcer, and a panel of three celebrities such as journalists, humorists, authors and comedians. Questions are asked of them relating to current issues of the past week. They also invite a guest of even greater celebrity status and ask him/her questions which have nothing to do with his/her job. Hilarity ensues. I mean it! This is a seriously funny show, plus you find out if you've been paying attention to the issues yourself! If you like these shows check out NPR's Podcast page for a comprehensive list of other shows and podcasts they offer - currently at 645!

Downloading these shows is just as easy as importing music to iTunes and then putting them on your iPod. I assume Vodcasts would be just as easy. I had a bit more trouble with My Media Mall, but eventually I figured out that I had to have the reader software on my laptop BEFORE I downloaded the book. Then I could actually FIND the book on my computer and listen to it. I do wish you had the option to return them instead of having to let them sit on your computer taking up space that another downloadable book could use, but I have not gotten so many that I hit the limit. I think it's neat that you can reserve them, just like a book at a library. I was also surprised at how many books were "checked out." I didn't think that many people knew about it. I even downloaded a children's book to read on the computer, just to see how it looks. NOT BAD!

The last way to add a photo to my blog is to pull a picture directly off my computer or flashdrive. I pulled this from a flashdrive. My dad took this photo of his sister and her friends at a county fair in the 1940s, I believe. My Aunt Joyce is in the middle. Again I had more control doing it this way, since I chose the size and placement of the photo.

Cinnamon Chocolate Cake

Cinnamon Chocolate Cake
Originally uploaded by ComeUndone

Here's a delicious photo that I blogged directly from flickr. There is less control doing it this way, it seems. However, clicking on this image takes you to flickr, whereas the other ways of importing pictures just show you the image. Each way has good points and bad.

What's NOT to like about chocolate and cinnamon?!

Adding photos to my blog

I used blogger URL to add this image to my blog. Once Jon showed me that I have to have the JPEG url, not the flickr page url, it worked, but I wouldn't have even explored that option if I hadn't asked him for help, so a big THANKS! Jon. This way of uploading gives me more control, both size and placement in the blog post.

The photographer who took this titled it My Office Window. He pilots a boat in Houston. What a great way to see the world! He has lots of other maritime photos to see on flickr. His profile name is OneEighteen if you care to see more.

TAG! I'm it!!

Well, let me say the concept of tagging is easier to comprehend than downloading the Delicious toolbar to my computer is to do! Once I decided to forget downloading the toolbar and just import my favorites, I was on my way. I now have a bunch of tagging to do, and the hard part is NOT going to my favorites and getting sidetracked by them - they're my FAVORITE places, after all!

I'm not sure I understand the advantages of importing everything to Delicious.com yet. I am using Vista and it's easy to see all my favorites in a list when I click on the star. Yes, I do see that if I'm on another computer - not my laptop where I have my favorites stored - it's nice to go to Delicious.com and connect to them there. But the idea of seeing thousands of sites that others consider favorites staggers the mind! I already don't have enough time to play as it is! The one site that really amazes me is Go2Web20.net, which lists tons of "newfangled" sites. It'd take me a month to go to each site and just understand what each one is used for!