Meebo – (all operating systems, all browsers) Many of us in the library use Meebo on a daily basis for our Reference IM service (add BoatwrightInfo to your buddy list). Meebo is “portable” in that it’s a browser-based application. To access your IM accounts, just got to http://meebo.com. From there you can login to one of your existing services, OR if you want to have all of them available to you in one browser window you need to create a Meebo account and add all of your services. Once finished you’ll have access to all of your buddy lists in one place and can talk with your all of friends regardless of the service they’re using. Note that in order to provide free service, Meebo includes minimal advertising in the browser page which can easily be hidden.

Pidgin – Pidgin is an open source Windows application that you can download from http://pidgin.im. While installing, it will prompt you to add your accounts, and once completed you’ll be able to see all of your “buddies” and can simultaneously send messages to multiple services, just like Meebo.

Adium – Adium (http://adiumx.com) is Pidgin’s equivalent for the Macintosh and really quacks.

Hope this helps to simplify your computing experience a little, have a good weekend!

PocketMod lets you build a booklet and load it with various tools like daily/weekly/monthly calendars, multiple to-do lists, reference charts, emergency contact information, shopping lists, and so on. The customization options seem limitless! Here are the steps to create your own PocketMod:

Go to http://www.pocketmod.com
Click “Create a PocketMod” on the right side of the screen
Choose all of the options and where you want them to appear (hint: click the item first, it will then appear and you can drag it onto the page where you want it to appear)
Finally, print your PocketMod and fold it according to the instructions. There’s also an instruction video on the home page.

What you’ve just created is small and compact, easily fits in your pocket, wallet, or organizer and can be filed away later so you can have a record of your activities and completed objectives. Good luck and make sure you fold along straight lines!

The reason I’m mentioning Skype this week is that they’re preparing to release version 4 which will offer an updated user interface and other enhanced features. You can download the Windows version here:

http://www.skype.com/download/skype/windows/beta/

A few possible uses include videoconferencing with remote colleagues or calling in to family and friends while away on business. The main requirement is that each user have a webcam as well as built-in microphone or headset w/microphone. Download it and give it a try! If you’d like to test it out, let me know. My screen name is andy_morton.

• Create an account
• Decide what kind of slide show to create (free or fee)
• Upload your photos OR it can automatically pull them from Flicker and other photo hosting sites where you have accounts
• Choose one of their songs or upload your own
• Hit Submit

It’s that easy and gives you something to do with the photos you take this summer! Here’s the example video I’ve created:

http://animoto.com/play/S3KrCc5HGeq1gQ0Est9rnw

Have a great weekend!

http://webware.com

I’ll highlight two parts of the site which are very beneficial, the Newbie’s Guide, with links directly off the homepage to various sites, as well as the Webware 100 Awards Site. Each year Webware receives several thousand nominees and goes through a weeding process resulting in users voting to select the top 100 sites and services.  The winners are a combination of sites including standards like eBay and Amazon, as well as up and coming services like Vimeo, Twitter, and so forth. I think it will be well worth your time to review the winners and learn more about what each service offers. You’ll also see that many of these sites now interact with each other, letting you move your personal information and other content back and forth.

Let me know what some of your favorites are!

After reviewing the feedback I received both from the survey I distributed and personal comments, it appears there is a need to delve a little deeper in the meaning of Web 2.0. It’s certainly thrown around very casually, but what does it actually mean?

Here’s what Wikipedia, a quintessential Web 2.0 tool, has to say about the topic:

"Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users."

This is a rather nebulous statement and can be applied in a vast assortment of scenarios. Here are a few examples: sharing knowledge by updating Wikipedia articles, providing feedback about a product on Amazon, sharing party pictures on Flickr (and commenting on them), pushing out updates on Twitter during campus lockdowns, etc. The list is endless!

Web 1.0 consisted of static pages, sometimes hard to update, that contained information that easily and often became outdated. Web 2.0 instead uses tools and services which makes it much easier to distribute your content as well as keep it up to date. In my opinion, what it really boils down to is that we’re using the web to better understand ourselves and those around us.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll share some of the sites and services with you that are considered to be "best of breed" in the Web 2.0 arena.

I hope this brief explanation has been helpful. This could easily be a VERY lengthy message, so instead, check out the Wikipedia entry! You might find yourself so intrigued that you’ll leave a comment, just look for the "discussion" tab at the very top of the page.

Today is the last part of the digital photo rodeo. Apparently you can’t beat a dead horse too much. Over the past couple of Fridays we’ve covered various tools to organize your photos on your computer as well as hosting options to share your pictures with family and friends. In today’s tip I want to tell you about two online tools for editing your photos. The great thing about each is that they fully integrate with both Flickr, Facebook and other services, so you if want to edit photos you’ve already uploaded elsewhere, you’re in luck!

Picnik – http://picnik.com – Picnik has a very colorful, Web 2.0 look about it. You can even use it without creating an account, however you’ll need to establish one if you want to access the photos you’ve already uploaded to other services. In addition to Flickr and Facebook it also interfaces with Picasa Web Albums, MySpace and other services. Picnik offers a full slate of editing and photo correction features for free. They also offer more tools for Pro accounts which cost $24.95 per year. When I’ve used it I’ve found that the free version has met all of my needs. Picnik is also a great tool to use to edit a photo you have stored on your computer. Simply select your computer as the source, upload the file, make changes, and then Picnik will save the file back to your computer.

Photoshop Express - https://photoshop.com/express – Adobe has decided to join this space as well and now offers Photoshop Express. Currently it is an entirely free service and also offers 2GB of online storage allowing you have yet another place to share photos with others. It also interfaces with Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa Web Albums (sounds familiar doesn’t it). They offer a series of short instruction videos under the help section to help you get started on the path of photo editing excellence!

Personally I really like both services for different reasons and think there’s room for each. As with the services mentioned over the past two weeks, it really comes down to what your needs are when deciding which one is best for you. Next week we’ll be moving on to another topic, in the mean time please take 60 seconds to answer 3 questions to help me better gauge your needs and interests:

Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=KiwaGqSvfQdi22AGqI5orA_3d_3d

A few sites (and there are many) I’d like to recommend for sharing your photos are:

Flickr – http://flickr.com – This is considered to be THE web 2.0 photo sharing site. There’s a downloadable application that makes it very easy to choose the photos you want to upload. Once uploaded, photos can be organized into collections and sets, tagged for easy searching, etc. Flickr also allows you to join groups and share your photos with other members (see Boatwright Kids for an example of a test group a few of us are experimenting with: http://www.flickr.com/groups/boatwrightkids/). There’s no limit on storage, however if you’re a free member you’re only able to upload 100mb per month, pro members ($24.95 per year) are allowed to gorge themselves on unlimited uploading. As far as privacy, you can keep your photos completely private and for-your-eyes only, visible only to family and friends, or wide open for everyone. Requirement: Yahoo! Login.

Picasa Web Albums: http://picasaweb.google.com – This is the companion web tool for Picasa. It offers many of the same features as Flickr, but doesn’t have the same community feel in my personal opinion. Uploading from Picasa on your computer is very simple as it’s part of the local application. Storage is a little trickier for Picasa Web Albums; you’re given 1024mb of storage and can purchase more, which is applied to ALL of your Google accounts (Gmail, etc.). My personal feeling is that if you only interested in having a place to direct family and friends to your photos, Picasa is the tool for you! Requirement: Google Account.

In addition to Flickr and Picasa Web Albums take a look at the following:

Photobucket - http://photobucket.com
Kodak Gallery - http://www.kodakgallery.com
Webshots - http://www.webshots.com

There’s really no “must use” tool listed here, just take a look at each and see which one best meets your needs

• Picasa - Picasa is my personal choice for managing my photos. During installation it offers several configuration options. You can let it search your entire computer for all photos, select only specific directories (such as your My Pictures folder on Windows PCs), or only load the photos you choose. Personally I recommend the first option, especially if you have a lot of photos. It could be that you may have forgotten where some of them are stored! Picasa also offers options for editing and touching up your photos. Picasa is free (and wonderful).
• Windows Live Photo Gallery (For Vista and XP computers) - Microsoft has done a good job of improving the photo management abilities they included in XP. Windows Live Photo Gallery does the same thing as Picasa. It searches your hard drive and creates a chronological view of your pictures based on the EXIF timestamp. Windows Live Photo Gallery is also free.
• Adobe Photoshop Elements - Elements will do all of the above functions but also offers a more editing options as well as the ability to create photo scrapbook projects, etc.  Elements sells for $99.99 unless you can find it on sale at an office supply store.

Of all these products, I highly recommend Picasa.  I think it will meet all of your management needs and also has some very easy ways to share your pictures with family and friends, which is what we’ll review next week. Keep in mind that managing a large collection of photos can quickly get out of hand, just like a large cattle herd (or cats for that matter)!

Enjoy your weekend! -Andy

FreeCycle’s organizational website is located at http://freecycle.org, but they utilize Yahoo! Groups to run each community’s site.  You can browse all the groups, or go directly to the Richmond group here. The only requirement for use is a Yahoo! login.  Registration is free and is done in a few seconds. To list an item, simply create a new post with the term "offer." For example:

Offer: Lightly Used iPhone

You should also provide a brief description of the item.  You can either rely on responses via email to your Yahoo! email address or provide a phone number (I recommend cell) for them to call.  Once someone has arranged to take the item, you can either provide directions for them to pickup or select a location to drop off the item.

You should post another message to the group after the item has been taken to alert others that the item has been claimed.

Taken: Lightly Used iPhone

Personally, we’ve been able to get rid of several things via FreeCycle and have gotten some great freebie kid toys and even a Weber charcoal grill that was in near new condition (retails for $149.00)!  I encourage you to give it a try as your junk is probably someone else’s treasure!

Enjoy your weekend!