Predictions for 2008

Stephen Abram, SirsiDynix's VP of Innovation, posted 30 Library Technology Predictions for 2008 in his blog today.

A smarter iPod?

From OpenCulture - 10 Ways to Make Your iPod a Better Learning Gadget - Be sure to check what generation your iPod is before trying to install some of these programs.

1. Put Wikipedia on Your Ipod - generations 1-4
2. Watch DVDs on Your iPod
3. Load YouTube Videos to Your iPod
4. Make Other Video Formats iPod-Ready
5. Convert MP3 files into One Big iPod Audiobook File
6. Create eBooks for the iPod
7. Record Web Audio and Move it To Your iPod
8. Get a Civic Education on Your Ipod - ten important documents in American history
9. Load Maps onto Your iPod
10. Study Foreign Languages, Take University Courses, and Listen to AudioBooks on Your iPod - a plug from OpenCulture

Big Year for RSS

2007: The Year in RSS by Marshall Kirkpatrick on his blog ReadWriteWeb

Library Firefox Lovers Unite

From LibrarianInBlack Sarah Houghton-Jan:

Ellyssa Kroski on iLibrarian has amassed the single biggest list of Firefox plug-ins useful to library staff that I have ever seen. She broke it into three parts, so as to make it easier on the head! If you use Firefox (and you should) then you will be sure to find something useful here, and even for you Firefox fanatics like myself, you will probably find at least one new plug-in that has you grinning. Thanks Ellyssa!

40 Useful Firefox Add-Ons for Librarians – Part One
40 Useful Firefox Add-Ons for Librarians – Part Two
40 Useful Firefox Add-Ons for Librarians – Part Three

Fred's favorite web apps

Since we're talking about our favorite Web apps, here's my list. It's hard because there are so many useful tools out there!
1) Del.icio.us -- It's basically a portable bookmark manager. It's on the Web, so unlike browser bookmarks you can get to it from any computer. It also lets you add your own tags to pages so you can find them later. All in all I have a couple hundred things tagged.
2) Gmail -- There are a lot of free e-mail providers out there. Gmail stands out in my mind, though. First, there's the massive volume of storage. You can use Gmail as an online hard drive, emailing documents to yourself so you can get to them anywhere. Next, there's the excellent search functions and effective spam filter. Finally, it has IMAP support, meaning you can pair it with an e-mail client like Thunderbird to bring your messages to you in a cool, smooth interface. In my mind Gmail's the undisputed champion of Web-based e-mail providers.
3) Bloglines. In an earlier post I touted the features of Google Reader as a blog aggregator. I'll spread the love here though by mentioning Bloglines. It tracks all your favorite blogs, keeping track of what you've read and what you'd like to keep. An easy way to get far more relevant news than would ever be fit to print.

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Top Web Applications for the Year

What are your top three recommendations for web aps or add-ons this year? Share your suggestions of new, improved, or just discovered aps for 2007. Maybe we can put together a top ten or twenty list for the new year.

My three favorites are:

1. picnik - what I like most about picnik is that I don't have to log-in to use it, so I can get started cropping, resizing, or editing images immediately. Since I edit images primarily for webpages, it satisfies most of my requirements. You may have to upgrade to the premium version or try other commercial editing tools for more features, but for quick fixes - the basic, free version does the trick;
2. mixaloo - want to try your hand at putting together a cool musical mix to share with friends online? This is not an entirely free site. The mix consists of 30 second clips of your selections, but if someone wants to buy your full length version, mixaloo will give you a very small commission per track. You're not going to make your fortune here - just have a little fun;
   
3. cooliris - this is really just a browser add-on, but I'm hooked! Once installed, cooliris works by opening up a window whenever you pass your mouse over any link on the webpage you are viewing. Versions are available for both Internet Explorer or Firefox.
   

Google Reader

In the library's computer classes about blogs, I've introduced people to the RSS aggregator Bloglines. It's a wonderful tool that gathers up all your blogs for you. I may be rethinking that choice of aggregator though after trying out Google Reader.
It's not that Bloglines is bad, mind -- actually it's quite a good tool. But Reader brings with it some of the interface slickness that defines Google. Adding new feeds is easier, discovering new blogs is much simpler, and there's a little more customization possible. Also, rather than the clippings folder used by Bloglines, Reader goes with a more unified approach. Simply "star" the entry you wish to keep and add some tags. Later, you can find it with a simple search. Finally, there are some rudimentary social networking functions built in. You can share entries with groups of friends and so on. I still have my beloved Bloglines account, but I have been finding myself visiting Reader much more often this week.

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