Thing 10 - Image Generators

This lesson was a lot of fun! Like so many of the other tasks, you could spend hours playing with all of the options. That's why I've started completing my posts at home so I can play away. It also helps to be an insomniac.

I added two new pictures to my Flickr page by using generators. The first generator I used was an Image Mosaic Generator. I uploaded a picture of Middleburg Library that I retrieved from the County web page and used it to create a beautiful mosaic. The second generator I used was a Catalog Card Generator. It was very appropriate for my profession and I was able to relate it to my favorite topic, guinea pigs!

Blogging For Fun - Popcorning Guinea Pigs

It's true that guinea pigs are classified as rodents. :-( What a horrible name for such sweet creatures! In reality though, they're more like little horses. For example, their diet consists primarily of timothy hay and veggies. Also, when they're really happy, they buck like horses. Guinea pig enthusiasts call it popcorning. Check out this YouTube video and you'll see a couple of content piggies. The two pigs featured in this video aren't my babies but they are adorable! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_jS2NYGGcg

Thing 9 - Feeding My Bloglines Account

My Bloglines account is now a buffet of information...

I've spent the last few hours exploring Bloglines, Feedster, Topix, Syndic8 and Technorati. Of all of them, I prefer Topix. Their web page was designed like an online newspaper. I couldn't resist subscribing to several of their feeds. One of its features that I found particularly impressive was it's ability to generate a news feed specific to my zip code. Very nifty!

My least favorite tools were Syndic8 and Technorati. I'm more interested in main stream news so I found more applicable feeds by just searching my favorite websites , Google and Yahoo.

I'm very curious to see the feeds other Web 2.0 participants have added to their bloglines account.

Thing 8 - RSS and Bloglines

First of all, I'm thankful to the person who created the Loudoun County RSS feed. Several months ago, my manager told the staff that Loudoun County was offering an RSS feed. I had never heard of RSS. I was so embarrassed by my lack of knowledge, that I went home, created a Yahoo account and subscribed to the feed (with my technology-savvy husband's help, of course). Without that experience, I think this task would have been overwhelming.

Tonight, I learned about Bloglines and I went a little crazy on the RSS feeds. Soon I may be suffering from information overload :-) I couldn't resist. There is so much to learn out there in cyberspace and it's so accessible. So visit my Bloglines account and check out my feeds. Don't worry, they're not all guinea pig related. :-p

Technology (Thing 7) - Borrow DVDs from Home

I heard an interesting news report this afternoon. Anne Arundel County Public Library's will be allowing their patrons to download movies over the internet. The downloaded movies will be accessible only for a week and then will be erased from their computer.

Read all about it on WUSA's website: http://www.wusa9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=55037
Or.... visit Anne Arundel County Public Library's website: http://web.aacpl.lib.md.us/

Imagine on the same day, I read that NetFlix is offering a similar service. They will be allowing a select group of customers to download movies and television shows from their website as well. Like Anne Arundel County, only a few titles (1,000) will be available initially but if the company can handle the data flow, more titles will become available and more customers will be able to access them.

What a great news day! Now I have to thank my husband for connecting our television to the computer. :-)

Read this story at USA Today's website: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2007-01-15-netflix-access_x.htm

Thing 6

Wow! I thought that Flickr was just a database of photographs but there are so many applications, mashups and tools within Flickr. I had fun just exploring all of the different utilities but I ultimately chose to make a Motivator Sign under FD's Flickr Toys. (on left) When I get a little more extra time, I'm going to experiment with the magazine cover maker featuring ... you guessed it, guinea pigs. :-)

Flickr

I now have a Flickr homepage: http://www.flickr.com/photos/guineapigfancy

I've used it to catalog my favorite guinea pig books.