The Cloud

I found this article about cloud computing that I thought was pretty good. Take a look.

A Quick IT Joke

I work at WQED, and the IT department had this joke on their section of our website:

Information Technology joke:
Q: How does Bill Gates screw in a lightbulb?
A: He doesn't. He declares darkness the industry standard.

Kindle

Every now and then I think about buying a Kindle. Chances are, I won't because they are too expensive plus I prefer reading an actual book to reading an electronic device. But I found this article from PC Magazine that gives some suggestions to make the Kindle even more attractive to customers, especially with the iPad coming out (which I definitely won't buy!) http://www.pcworld.com/article/185528/how_the_amazon_kindle_may_evolve_in_2010.html

3DS

Video games and I have a torrid relationship, however about 2 years ago, my older brother bought me a DS Lite for my 26th birthday. I am not very good at video games, but there are a few I like to play--mostly puzzle games. My brothers and sister are really into video games though, and the other day, my older brother told me about the new DS that Nintendo is putting out. This article tells you all the neat features the 3DS will have and what features the writers think (more like hope) the 3DS will have. http://kotaku.com/5499784/what-we-know-and-think-we-know-about-the-nintendo-3ds. It's pretty cool! I know someone in my family will eventually buy one, so I'll get to test it out sometime in the near future!

Dream Weaver

Just thought I'd mention that I've been having some crazy dreams about databases lately. Hmmm, I wonder why?

Omeka

I'm in the middle of working on the Omeka assignment. It took me a while to get comfortable navigating Omeka, but now that I am, things are moving along. I do have to say, though, it's a pretty tedious process! I hope I can finish before midnight : )

How do I love thee, Linux? Let me count the ways...

I was thinking about Linux recently, especially after we talked about it in class a couple of weeks ago. It really is pretty neat that it is open source (which I never really realized) and that it's free. There's a lot of other stuff that's great about it too. You can read the top 10 reasons to use Linux go to http://www.tuxmagazine.com/node/1000117. TUX is an online magazine for Linux users.

I have used Red Hat before and really liked it. My old computer (when it was new) was giving me a hard time and eventually died. My dad and brothers brought it back to life but the only way it would run was on Linux, which was interesting. I ended up using Red Hat for a while until my dad figured out that Windows XP would run on my computer, but not Windows 2000. Recently, my family's computer died suddenly and again, the only way we could get it back was by using Ubuntu. Eventually, after taking everything off the old computer and backing it up, then wiping the hard drive, my dad reinstalled Windows XP, which has been working fine...for now!

When I eventually get a new desktop, probably sometime in the next few years, I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be using either Red Hat or Ubuntu as my operating system. Plus, I remember that there were some great nerd games on Red Hat that I liked....

"Even Librarians Go GaGa!"

I just had to share this with my fellow MLIS colleagues!

http://perezhilton.com/2010-06-02-even-librarians-go-gaga

Easy Does It

I finished my Zotero/Jing assignment the other day, but I was thinking about it today. I don't know if any of you out there in LIS 2600 had trouble completing the assignment, but here are a few tips if you are still struggling: I know that I had to re-do my recording a few times. Either because my dogs started barking in the middle of it, or my internet connection was lost, or someone came in the room and started talking to me, or I just messed up. So, if that happens to you, just uninstall Zotero and start over. To uninstall Zotero, all you have to do is go up to Tools in your Firefox browser, click on Add-ons, scroll down until you see Zotero, and then click on Uninstall. Then you can go back and try again. Another hint...and this one is probably obvious, but when I was trying to figure out how much of my screen to capture in Jing, I kept making it way too small by dragging down to the lower right hand corner. You would think that I would notice that the numbers were getting smaller (of the size of the section of the screen I was capturing) but sometimes I'm a little slow to catch on...so just drag the capture cross hairs to the upper left hand corner and that will let you capture your whole screen. For me, those two things gave me the greatest trouble. Otherwise, this assignment was pretty simple, although I hate recording and then listening to my voice! Good luck classmates!

My Zotero/Jing Assignment

After a few false starts, here is my Zotero installation and configuration presentation:





To view a larger video of my assignment, follow this link: Zotero Assignment

High School Flash Back!

I have to say that last night's lab took me back to 1999--back to my high school computer class. Now, I will be the first to admit that I'm a total nerd and that I love school, but I hated this computer class. I am not a very tech savvy person, as I've said before, and I took that class with hopes of improving my computer skills. Needless to say, the teacher had no patience for students who were slow to pick up what she was layin' down, and even with extra "help" from her, I still did terrible and had that awful pit in my stomach every time I walked down the hall to that class. Looking at the lab worksheet last night took me right back to that insecure 11th grader sitting in the high school computer lab, in a cold sweat, trying to figure out this bizarre language that most of my classmates were very comfortable with.

Now, I know that if I just slow down and take my time, I will be able to decipher the language. I've learned a little bit in the past 11 years--I'm a little wiser. Feeling rushed was part of it last night--20 or 30 minutes for me was just not enough time to get the assignment finished. I would have stayed longer but my hour drive home is more like 1.5 hours this week because of construction so I wanted to get out of there as quick as possible. I just wish that my brain wouldn't freak out when it sees computer stuff. It's like it can't get over 11th grade computer class. I'm hoping that after I make it through this class, I'll have conquered this fear of technology and move into the 21st century!