Productivity Tools

I quite liked the google calendar. I thought the functionality was very good- far better than the outlook calendar. I liked how it popped up in my email and that I didn't have to open email and then open the outlook calendar to get my agenda.

And yes, I would love it if something like this replaced ms software. I can not tell you how many times I have had to replace, rebuy or upgrade ms products..(I also say the same thing about different formats- how many times and in how many different formats do I have to buy the Eagles Greatest Hits?). I believe I have supported Mr.Gates quite enough over the years.

Flickr/Youtube

This was my first look at flickr and I found it quite interesting. It was highly navigable and the language was chatty and informal. I liked the simplicity of the rules--- 'do play nice' and 'don't be creepy'. Or "If you don't feel that you can abide by our Community Guidelines as outlined above, maybe Flickr isn't for you.' Succinct and to the point. I would imagine that people abuse the rules, but it sounds like flickr does moderate the content, so hopefully they are on top of catching repeat offenders. It would depend entirely on how much content they have to weed through I imagine---which we all know can be considerable. But at least they are attempting it. Hopefully creepazoids, out and out nutjobs and amateur pornogrpahers will go elsewhere.

I will definitely load a picture or two and play round with some photo editing and see what I can create. As to youtube, I use it strictly for entertainment---from the occasionally profound, to the more often inane, it is just silly fun for the most part.

And if I have done this correctly, here is a picture from the public archives that has no known copyright restrictions !!! It is circa 1890 and is of Dunottar Castle, Stonehaven Scotland.

RSS FEEDS

This was the thing that I was most interested in learning about. If I had any idea how simple it was I would have done it ages ago. It was unbelievably easy to set up, and I was able to add 3 sites to my watch list. It will really help to cut through a lot of the clutter. This will be a tool that I will regularly use and is of far more interest to me than facebook or delicious.

I think CPL needs to get our website enabled for this.

Comic Expo

Had the opportunity to man the CPL booth at this weekend's Comic Expo. What a blast! Lots of great costumes ---we were two booths down from the BEST Avatar, a young lady in full body make-up, wicked wig, and even the little pluggy-iny thingy on her tail (I know there is a proper name for this, I just can't be bothered to look it up). Lots of people stopping by our booth, and a host of compliments on CPL's graphix's collection. And although I couldn't get anywhere close to Leonard Nimoy or Brent Spiner, at least I breathed some of the same air that they did. This was a really excellent event for CPL to attend-people were impressed to see us there.

Google the Omniscient

Of all the things that we have reviewed for this exercise so far, Google is the one that I most consistently use. For almost everything. No point in outlining everything google does---but it does a lot and it does a lot well. I love Google Earth. I regularly use chrome, maps and images. I have just recently started playing around in Google SketchUp. And of course where else do you go for a good laugh at the end of a hard day, but the stupid, senseless and inane world of youtube.

Facebook CPL2.0

After close to two years of refusing to open a facebook account I have done so under duress. However there is no denying the huge appeal of it-everyone loves to talk, tell, and speculate about themselves. There is absolutely no requirement to adhere to truth. I suspect that most facebook accounts full into the grey area of , to quote Steven Colbert "truthiness". It was so damn fast and easy and so compelling that I am sure it will continue to be popular.

WIKI WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

Wiki is a good jumping off point ---you can find fast information on just about anything. I use it often to get an overview of many a subject and then depending on how much further I wish or need to engage in the subject, I will proceed from there. Sometimes I need nothing more than what Wiki provides. But Wiki would not be my first choice for anything requiring in-depth, meticulous research.

As to the structure, grammar, syntax, spelling---those needling little necessities, it's pretty easy to find errors. It's also pretty easy to correct them, but I wonder as we see more and more of them if the tendency to ignore them also isn't easier. One might ask does it REALLY matter? Well, yes, I believe it does. What starts out life as 'hello' can quickly become 'hell no'. And what a completely different message the two impart.