Thing #12, Rollyo

To me, Rollyo was kinda interesting, but I lost interest quickly because its pretty much a search engine. If you're really interested in a topic, couldn't you just use Google to search for it? Maybe I've grown too dependent on Google and Wikipedia to look for everything I need to know about. Here is my Rollyo search, on cuteness:

http://rollyo.com/wonderninja/my_cuteness/

Thing #11, Library Thing

Here's another "thing" I love! I really love reading books and finding new things to read, so LibraryThing is good to know what I've already read and what other people who like my books would suggest. The only downside is having to input or search for every book you've read or own, and for a librarian, that can be a considerable number of books. But its lots of fun searching for good books to read! Its like shopping on Amazon.com and not having to spend anything. Here is my link:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Cobrani

Thing #10, Images

This was interesting! I liked playing with the images, and was able to make a few. I wanted to to the Simpsons generator, but you really need pictures of yourself online. I didn't have any available, so this is something to do at home, I think.

Thing #9, MERLIN

After all the fun websites like Flickr and Bloglines and stuff, I was disappointed with MERLIN. It didn't really seem all that special or flashy to me. It seemed like any other library website that had links to other technology-related information for customers. It had a lot more sites available than a regular website, but the format it was presented in was kinda dry and just seemed like it was a jumping point to better websites.

Thing #8, Bloglines

Wooo, Bloglines! This is pretty cool stuff here. Before I thought RSS feeds were crazy, convoluted things where you had to go to some specific web page to see what you had signed up for, and it was harder than just looking on the original web page you'd subscribe to. Bloglines is nifty because you can just click on the name of the site you've subscribed to and it shows you the top headlines. The only thing I don't like is that it kinda takes the fun out of just casually putzing around a website and clicking on things randomly, just to see what you can see. I hope to definitely use this in the future though. I chose to do the optional activity, and here's my public link:

http://www.bloglines.com/public/Wonderninja

Talking about Skype, Thing #7

I adore the program Skype. A friend of mine over in England introduced me to it, and now I have so many of my friends on it. It acts as an instant messenger, file transfer, and voice communication tool. It's completely free, and it's as easy as talking on the phone. Sometimes the quality is even better than on the phone, since the phone can cut out. You can also post a picture of yourself as your icon. Another aspect is that you can search for other people to talk to on Skype, so if you felt like talking to someone in say, Brazil, you can see who's available to chat in Brazil and just start calling or instant messaging them. While IMing a person, you can also insert fun little emoticons, which I love.

Thing #6, Mashups

Having recently come from a trip to San Diego, I was intruiged by Yahoo! Travels "Trip Planner" mashup site. You plan your trip with driving directions, hotel planning, nearby restaurants and such, and then when you come home, you can upload your pictures and show where you've been. You can comment on other people's trips, and get directions and addresses to where they've been. For my trip to San Diego, I didn't go to a lot of different places, so Trip Planner probably wouldn't be used to its full effect.