More Google

I'm a google convert.  I love it.  I have an I-google page as my home page on my computer at home.  This allows me to see what I want to see straight away.  It also allows me to have quick access to the sites I want to go to without having to think. 

Included in this page is my google calendar.  Not used as much as I could, my sister (who lives in Melbourne) and I have linked our calendars so we can share family birthday reminders with each other.  She also uses it to know what we are up to as I have important events in it.  Our family does many events, fundraising for the Endeavour Foundation so she knows when to call home and maybe where we are if we don't answer.

Our fundraising efforts come about because we participate in the Great Endeavour Rally (http://www.greatendeavour.com.au/).  The road boss (organiser) uses google maps to map where we are going....This is very abstract and has many loops, just to keep us on our toes.  We use a code within a roadbook to get us around but the google maps are great for family members to track where we are.

I've used Google translate a couple of times however more for fun rather than anything serious.  I'd love to see how accurate it really is.

Browers

Every so often, a patron talks about firefox or mozilla or one of the many other browers that are out there.  My, I'm a traditional girl, I generally stick with whats around.......use Telstra as my home phone provider, use bigpond as my ISP, still have energex as my electrical company and the list goes on......BUT.....I have just downloaeded firefox.  I'm going to have a go.  See what comes up.  I love my igoogle home page so I'm sure with the additional customizable features of firefox I'll love it. 

Will let you know.

PODCASTS

I'm currently having a moment.....you know when you hit your hand to your forehead because I've just realised that I've experienced podcasts before.  My sister loves cooking shows so when I was visiting her we watched quite a few......off of her computer.  She has subscribed to many via ITunes which she watches on weekend. 

I guess the best thing it that she has set up on her computer that her podcasts only download when her computer is idol, not affecting her speed while doing other tasks. 

Few days to go.

Well, I'm finally back doing L2TD2.  I though the extension of time would be great.  Allow me to spend more time on each module to allow me to understand it better but then life happens and now we only have a few days left and I have a few lessons to do. 

Google maps

I'm still playing with the mashups.  I've created my own mapof my "Great Endeavours"  This was a little frustrating to create but I played with it again tonight and its much better.  I like it.  Might go through and add all my trips to the page.

Mashups

I feel as if I don't fully understand mashups.  I'm not sure but for our library service, I have added our photos to google maps.  Does this mean I have created a mashup or am I just using another part of the google maps / google business appliction?

I've looked through the mashup awards.  The majority of these relate to twitter and tweets etc.  As a non-tweeter, I have skipped these however it did take several pages to get past them.  I have found two mashups.  One called coffee seeker.  This looks great but wasn't Australian based.  I searched Brisbane and found only 1 coffee shop listed and Melbourne came up with zilch so I guess it hasn't really taken off here in Aust. yet.

I then found triplify which is a mashup that searches google, yahoo, msn and bing.  It seems to bring up many duplicate pages. 

At this stage, I think I'll stick with google mashups.  If I get time, I might try to create a mashup of some of my photos.

Test Drive #1: Online applications and tools

Online applications and tools. 

I'm a zamzar user.  I love it except I would also like to be able to convert files from a PDF to an excel spreadsheet.  If we can, I missed it.  I converted a pdf'd table to word and it didn't work out as great as expected.  The columns were still all good etc but the line up was more text boxes than anything.  Other than that, if you are converting straight text, it works brilliantly.  I love it.

I have also used WebEx as a training session.  It was great also.  Now all we need is a way to easily talk to one another online.

As mentioned earlier, I use Etherpad.  This is similar to the writeboard (I think).  Works perfectly in many situations -- work, home, friends etc.  Its a quick and easy chat session too without the need to login.

I love googledocs and use it for work, home and play.  Its great to put your document up on it and then access it from anywhere.  Use it heaps and heaps....saves carrying and/or finding my USB stick.