#8 RSS

I love Google Reader as it ties in with my other Google applications (including Blogger) and I then only have to login once - in fact at home It just remembers who I am and I never have to log in.

I subscribe to 40 Blogs via Rss and this allows me to scan a plethora of information very quickly while a sip a coffee in the morning. . . .yes I know, sick . .. .

I also use RSS to perform saved searches in search engines that automatically tell me when new information or items have been added. I could tell you what I mean, but in doing so may incriminate myself, so i will end this sentence here . .. . Hmmm, in summary, it assists in finding things to download. . .

I use this every day . . . .

Google has recently added a search box at the top of my page so I can quickly search my subscribed blogs for thing I may have read, but have forgotten where. It also allows me to "Star" items, "Share" items and view blog "Trends".

My Shared items are here:

I am going to try this to see what it does - it is suppoed to be a "clip" of my shared items. Looks like it is adding a "Widget" to my Blogger setup - hmmmmmm. I now get to arrange me shared elements and choose where these items will appear. Which should be over to the right. . .

#7 tech blog post

My favourite tech site is Engadget. They keep me up to date with what is new and shiny.

Like this new Display from Sony which is rumored to be only 3mm thick and 10 time brighter than other screens currently avaialble.

The screen uses a new techology called OLED

Mmmmmmm shiny . .. .

#6 Flickr mashup

I love the EarthAlbum mashup that combines Google Maps and Flickr to create a geographic means of browsing and searching flickr.

From the site:

earth album is a simpler, slicker Flickr mash-up that allows you to explore some of the most stunning photos in the world courtesy of Google maps and Flickr. To begin your journey, just click somewhere on the map, e.g. "Greenland". Note-- since the top Flickr images are used, the images change every few weeks; bookmark this site and check back for a different experience in a month!

Thing #5 Flickr

This young child is displaying the smarmy smile of success as a result of hijacking his fathers boots for the first time.

Not exactly the first time, but the first time he made it without ending up flat on his face.

This image is linked from my flickr account.
I use a pro accout at flickr that I load all of my digital camera shots onto. I then promptly set them to private so only I can see them.

I currently have 3113 photos in 60 sets stretching back to my first digital camera in 2001 and even some shots that i scanned from photos from before then.

I do like flickr but I find it a pain when i want to upload a batch of photos and the uploading tool times out on me. This gets frustrating, but i am sure there is a better way.

Australian Public Libraries Search

When you start thinking about the different types of Custom Search you can construct the options are limitless.

Being anti-creative I have made a Custom Search that attempt to only search Australian Public Library websites.

I started out cutting and pasting each URL for each Library service, starting with the list for Victorian Public Libraries. This proved to be arduous so I gave up half way though when my 2yr old son wanted to see another "Robot" video on YouTube. This was a blessing in disguise.

When I came back to my Custom Search Administration Section I found a new way of adding websites to the custom search. In fact it is a new new way, just released from Google.

What it does is let you give a website address that may have a list of URLs in it, and Google will strip out those Address' for use in your Custom Search - perfect and exactly what I needed.

I then found and gave Custom Search the Victorian, NSW, WA, and QLD lists of Public Libraries.

I am not sure how many Libraries this is - - - -

Anyway I thought this would be good for researching what other Library Services are doing across the country. For example you can search for "Children's" to see what activities are offered . . .

Try it out . ..

NEW !! Google Custom Search Engine

I have just had a play with this new development from Google Labs the R&D unit of Google.

Google Custom Search enables you to "Create a search engine tailored to your needs".

The example I threw together searches over 50 of the Top Library related Blogs from across the world. Blogs are notoriously difficult to search, but this solves the problem instantly.

You can try Google Custom Search here: http://www.google.com/coop/cse/

You can try out my own personal search engine here: