Week 3 - Twitter

Twitter. Well named IMHO. I don't know where Twitter began, USA I guess, I also imagine that in the States 'twit' is not another word for 'rather stupid'. I would not use this site. Not being a brash, in ya face type of person I am not convinced that the whole world is waiting breathless for my opinion on something - anything!

As more and more of these 'social networking' sites appear I am beginning to worry if anyone out there actually talks to anyone else face to face with real words.

Enough of my rant. Here is the quote for the week, from the same book as the quote last week.

"If you throw paint on a wall it's vandalism. If you put a frame around the splotch, it's art"

Week Two - Zamzar

The amazing Zamzar! What a useful website this is, no fancy do-dahs, just easy to use and very useful.
I actually began playing with Zamzar in week one when I first saw it. I converted an image from bmp to jpeg. That worked fine so this week I did the pdf to doc thing, also fine.
The really neat thing about Zamzar happened yesterday. A customer had a Works format file which doesn't work on the Learn.net but with a quick zap of Zamzar to a doc file she was able to use her file.

Quote for the week, relevant to nothing except I just read it in a book about the benefits of disorder and liked it.

"If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what then, is an empty desk?"
(Albert Einstein)

Week One

Web 2 - Week 1 - Blogging time

Here we are again.
Once again I shall start each blog with an attractive picture and end with an inspirational quote (even if I have to make it up).

What to blog about? The school holidays? Over and done with till next time. The public toilets have been 'redecorated' by the teens, so thoughtful of them.
I am doing this blog in Google Docs and am rather concerned to see the banner that says 'Google Docs is not supported in your browser'. Does this mean I won't be able to use my Google Docs anymore?

Inspirational quote for week one.
" Sometimes I aim to please but mostly I just shoot to kill "

Week 9 #23

The end.

At last, here we are at the summing up. Web 2 good or bad? A bit like the Curate's egg really, good in places.

There is a vast amount of stuff I simply will never use. There are also many goodly things here.

GoogleDocs - yes. Flickr - yes. RSS - maybe. YouTube - you bet! And more.

Podcasts (not iTunes) - no. Tagging etc - mostly no. Ebooks - no. Bebo etc - don't think so. And more.

The problem is that unless you use these apps. frequently you forget not only how to use them but even that they exist. Life is full of an awful lot of stuff that you don't really need to know.

The trick is to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Which leads me to -

Inspirational quote for today

"As you go through life

Make this your goal

Watch the doughnut

Not the hole"

Farewell to all my faithful readers.

Grizabella

Week 9 - YouTube, Podcasts, Ebooks

The last week. Oh joy.

Youtube : I like YouTube. I mean, what's not to like? You want videos of cats being stupid? youtube's your place. you want to see dogs being stupid? Look out the window!

Best clip for me just now is 6 minutes plus of Andreas Helgstrand with his beautiful horse performing in the freestyle final at the 2006 World Equestrian Games. Absolutely mindboggling and no way would you ever see this on NZ TV.

Podcasts : With the exception of iTunes I think podcasts are cr*p. The sites either would not load or if they did they just sat there like electronic lemons. The only sites that did anything simply flicked you to YouTube so why bother.

Ebooks : OK, the sites all worked, the layout was pretty, the sites were easy to use, I really can't moan about anything except - what is so wrong with paper pages? There is something very clinical about the idea of reading a book from an electronic device. I mean, you can't really snuggle up in bed with a good laptop can you?


Inspirational thought for today

"The greatest wealth is to be rich in friends
but if possible let them be
rich friends.

Week 8 Google Docs etc

Week 8 - Online Applications & Tools

I am creating this in Google Docs. So far so simple. I assume I can save this someplace and return to it at my pleasure.
Which is what I will do as I must away now to wait upon my adoring public. ($2.00 for Bebo)

45 minutes later.
The adoring public does not need me so I'm back. Docing away on Desk! This is brilliant!!!! Why wasn't I using this all the time? And on the Council Internet too!!! What gives? I thought all this was blocked.

Many weeks later!!!
Christmas was nice. I hope you all had a nice time. School holidays in Public Libraries are sheer hell. Then I had 2 weeks leave (and needed it!!)
Holidays over, leave over. Back to "$2.00 for Bebo". Sometimes this job is really boring.

The plan here is that I can upload this into my blog. Copy and paste should work. I'll 'give eet a go' as they say in Aussieland.

A few seconds later.
Well, it worked - sort of.
I had a nice photo at the top which didn't come through. Can't think why. Copy and paste worked well.

Few more seconds later.

The picture is now at the top. I had to do it the usual way. Whatever!

Inspirational quote for today

" If you love something, set it free

If it comes back, it's yours

If it doesn't -

Hunt it down and kill it!!"

Week 7 - Social Networking

Anyone who does not understand why this is funny (and clever) is missing out on a great website and I'm not going to tell you which. Ha Ha!!!

Social networking. What can I say. I looked at Bebo and FaceBook, also My Space.

Of the three My Space was by far the best from a 'lurker' point of view. The viewer was allowed to move about in the site without having to register much more than either of the others.

My favourite bit was the find a friend stuff. Just register your heart's desire and up he/she popped complete with photo. (Yes, of course I did! And the only bloke who looked at all interesting wrote that he was gay!) You really can't win.

All that aside. I don't have any use for such sites but can see the value for families who are spread about the world. An easy way to show off the latest grandchild etc.

To sum up - Social Networking has it's place in the world but should not take the place of talking to real live breathing smelly feet and all people.

Inspirational thought for the week

"Jesus is coming!" look busy!!!