Twitter

I would have to say that I am not impressed with twitter. I do not feel the need of participating at all in this. When I read some of the tweets (I think that is what they are called) they were a foreign language to me. I had no idea what they were saying. A few of the young people I talked to are not interested at all in this so I guess I am not the only one (I thought maybe it was my age and that is why I was not interested).

Librarything.com

I did set up an account on librarything and thought it was very easy. I think it would be very useful as a tool for remembering all the books one has read. I have quite a few customers wishing we had someway of noting all the books they have read on our website under their account. Next time they should somehow install that tool.

Online Productivity Tools

I suppose that if I had a more appointments either social or business I would use the calendar but at this time in my life I do not feel the need to using this tool. It would be useful for families that are in sports, music, clubs, medical appointments, school appointments, business meetings and even vet appointments. My family has all adults and everyone looks after there own. I use the traditional paper calendar that hangs in the kitchen and it works well for our needs. As for the document tools, I only use a computer at home or at work and both have the needed tools.

Flickr's and YouTube

I visit YouTube quite a lot and find it wonderful. I can see music videos, visit my favorite places and also watch special cooking segments of my favorite shows. I find it very easy, even when I was just beginning to use the internet it was very easy. Sometimes when I want to watch a music video of some years back, it's there on YouTube. I find myself watching more and more things on the computer, especially on YouTube. Flickr looks interesting and I will have to try it when I purchase a digital camera. When I took the Flickr tour, there were a lot of options what you could play with - so it looks very interesting. It would be ideal if you going on that special trip and want to make your photos into something to remember.

RSS

I can see how this tool is used for the convenience of getting information fast. That is why I have subscribed to the following feeds,CBC, BBC and CTV. I tend to like the news and this way I can scan the headlines and if I want more info, just click on the story. I had no problem at all to getting the account or the feeds. Sometimes the site does not have the little symbol but it has the letters RSS ,so some you had to look more carefully. I will probably use this early in the morning with my cup of coffee.

GOOGLE PRODUCTS

I have used some of the products already but I would say the most frequent ones I have used are Google Maps and Google Images. I love going to Google Maps mostly because I can go to places that interest me either because I have been there and miss them or I just want to visit my relatives villages in Britain. I love the Street View using the little yellow man. The only thing that frustrates me is when I try to go to Princes Street in Edinburgh some of the street is not accessible using Street View, I can only guess is that there would be too many people on the street and might cause a privacy issue. The other product I use is the images to get ideas for drawing or craft work. You can design posters to promote a library program using this tool. I was surprised about the books as a Google Product, I will have to look at this more closely when I have more time-the cookbooks are interesting. Recipes of the Gold Rush, Recipes from a Log Cabin are some titles that caught my eye, so there is historical recipes as well as flavours from other countries. The magazines seem to be back issues and some of them I have not heard of so again I will have to have a closer look. So the negative issues I have stated above are not that serious and understandable so I do not have anything that really bothers me about these tools. Will have to look at Google Earth, some of the space views would interest me like when hurricanes or huge storm cells can be seen. Also the City of London Timeline and the forest fires. A person could spend hours on Google. Oh yes I also like Youtube for music videos, Jamie Oliver's cooking and Rivercottage. If anyone is interested in growing your own food, and trying to eat meat that has been raised properly check out Rivercottage. There is one of my favourite videos from Rivercottage go to Youtube and type in Rivercottage public fruit trees.....sigh!

When I first opened my account with Facebook, I thought maybe I was wasting my time but now friends and family are talking and sharing their photos with me. I have not talked with this one person for 5 years so it was nice to hear from her. I will eventually share some of my own photos when I return from trips. I still feel though quite guarded to what I want people to see. The younger people I associate with seem to be more open which does trouble me and they hear about it but they think I am over reacting. The youth ( 16-23) always thinks that I do not know what I am talking about. SIGH. Yet, I have to admit, sometimes I treat them the same way. I know I will use it more also when loved ones are hundreds of miles away. I am glad you can block people and choose who you want to talk to. Some people I think use it to say look how popular I am and they have 200 friends on there - I think that is crazy!