Del.icio.us at MIT Libraries (thing 13)

The MIT Libraries are using del.icio.us to re-create and update their Virtual Reference site. Del.icio.us users can add the Virtual Reference site to their network, or users can subscribe to an RSS feed to keep up with changes and updates.

The Librarians are also using a tool called "Feed Digest" to update their Virtual Reference Collection page. This tool allows them to add bookmarks onto their del.icio.us account and have the links sent via RSS feed to the webpage. Pretty nifty.

(via Library Stuff)

So... how could this be useful for BCPL?

Unofficial Google Advanced Search Tips
(via reddit)

Skip past the code info (unless of course that stuff is meaningful for you), and you'll find some handy tips on getting Google to do some pretty neat stuff:

I liked:

• Basic Operators
• ~ Similar Words
• Advanced Google Operators
• filetype: File Types
• site: Restrict To Site
• cache: Google Cache
• weather: Weather Forcast
• music: Music Search
• movie: Movie Search
• Flight Information
• SEO-Oriented Operators (yeah, I know - but that's the heading)
• allintitle: All Words In Title
• intitle: Word In Title
• allintext: All Words In Text
• allinurl: All Words In URL
• inurl: Word in URL

Although it looks like it, I haven't really reproduced all of the tips. Examples are given, so that you know how to structure a search.

RSS Readers (thing 8)

I took a look at Bloglines and also at Google's Blog reader and decided to set up my RSS subscriptions in Google - mostly for convenience. I didn't want to open one more account and password set, when I already had a Google account.

I do realize that I am contributing to the Googlization of the web, but that is a subject for another post.

Anyway... after madly adding all types of interesting RSS feeds, I've knocked them down to a more managable number.

Playing Catch-up (things 4 & 7)

So... just for the record, my blog has been registered with Technorati since I set it up. I did that as a part of searching out a unique name - separating the steps didn't make much sense to me. I used Technorati and Google's Blog Search to check name possibilities.

Currently, technology-wise, I am watching the iPhone phenomenon. I can't quite justify it to myself, but it really is shiny. I think that we are moving to a world where many people will be connected all the time (MT Anderson's Feed aside), and devices like this push us closer to that possibility. Plus, shiny.

Of course, all of the hype has attracted the hackers and reverse-engineers and over on Wired there is an interesting article about the similar applications that already exist. Of course, you need a bit of know-how to put all of that together and make it work without crashing - it is never as easy as they make it sound. My father, for example, is infamous in our family for downloading programs to his Palm and causing very inconvenient program conflicts. Me, not so much - mine is for tracking appointments, phone numbers and reading. Nothing fancy. This make me an atypical user, btw.


ETA: Beware the Magical iPhone... "This device, portrayed as a harmless product of science, is obviously designed to introduce our children to witchcraft and sorcery."

Bwahahaha!! I love Wired.