Let’s just say I’ve been a tad preoccupied at work this week, hence the lack of a post yesterday, or probably for the rest of this week. In the mean time, have a little fun checking out Greg Rutter’s Definitive List of The 99 Things You Should Have Already Experienced On The Internet Unless You’re a Loser or Old or Something.
Photo: mezzoblue
I’ve got a folder on a network drive into which other NLC staff put audio files that I need to produce for the NCompass Podcast. (You are a listener right?) In the past they’ve needed to e-mail me whenever they’ve left a file for me. Now, I’m notified via RSS of new files using the little program Folder-RSS. Just download the .exe file and remember where you put it. Then, create a scheduled task in windows to run this program as often as you’d like. (I’ve set mine to run whenever I log in.) You’ll also need to set the location of the folder you wish to monitor and the location and name of the RSS file you want created. This last bit might be the kicker for most people. You need to make sure that the RSS file is saved to a location that can be accessed via the Web. (In my case, that’s a mapped network drive that is a folder on our Web server.) Lastly, just point your RSS reader at the RSS file and subscribe. Now, whenever a new file is added to that folder you’ll receive a notification. How sweet is that? (Additional commands are available and can been viewed by just running the .exe file.)
There’s plenty of DVD ripping software out there today. Trouble is they vary wildly in the needed level of expertise needed to get them to work. If you’re the person who just wants to make a backup copy to your hard drive of either the whole disk or just the main movie, DVDSmith may be for you. Seriously, just insert the DVD and choose one of two buttons: Full Disc or Main Movie. (You may also want to choose your output directory too.) That’s it.
I’ll also mention that if you’re looking for a great introduction to the different types of DVDs check out their Overview page.
If you’re one of those folks with a more than healthy level of paranoia when it comes to the information you provide online, please ignore this post. It looks like Google is playing with making you, not just search results, location aware. Just turn on Google Latitude in your account and all your friends can know exactly where you are and what you’re doing whenever you check in. Me, I’m at the office and as far as Google is concerned, I’ll pretty much never leave. I do my location-based stuff using Twitter and Brightkite.
Ever need to make a diagram? What have you used to do it? Word & some clip-art? PowerPoint? Getting those arrows to line up just right is fun isn’t it? How about trying Lovely Charts next time. Does it do everything? Of course not. But it’s free and it does flowcharts, sitemaps, network diagrams and a few other types without too much of a learning curve. Here’s a network diagram of my home network that I was able to create in about 10 minutes without any prior experience with the site.
This of course is a screenshot to give you an idea of the interface. Completed diagrams are exportable as .jpg or .png files. Below is the same diagram as an exported (transparent) .png:
Lastly, you can open a diagram up for multiple editors. How sweet it that?
It’s official. The form to submit your presentation idea is now available for downloading (as a PDF) from nebraskalibraries.org. I’m looking forward to seeing what tech presentations we can come up with. (Hey, I can’t do ‘em all myself 
Some of you participated in Nebraska Learns 2.0. Did you learn anything? Please share with the class. There are already ideas that have been floated to include an unconference on the pre-conference day, and to have an evening gaming session.If you’re interested in helping with either of these ideas, please contact me directly.
Some of you may already know that I pretty much don’t watch standard TV any more. Yes, I have Dish, but I think I’ve watched a “station” three times in the past six months. Between BitTorrent, Hulu, Netflix, and some other sites, I watch almost everything via the laptop hooked up to my HDTV. It took a while to get everything running as smoothly as I’d like and eventually I settled on Miro as the one interface to all my media. Well, almost all of it. Sometimes I’d have to go out to my browser to get something to work.
Well, as of yesterday, that might almost be over. Miro 2.0 has been released and, as the creators say about the program it’s “really really awesome”! Why? Let me count the ways:
Need I say more?
(Ok, there is one problem but it’s not Miro’s. Netflix streaming won’t work because it only works in IE and Miro isn’t IE. Neflix FAIL.)
I’ve recently blogged about different ways to test your Internet connection and it seems that Google shares my interest in this topic currently. They’ve put together the Measurement Lab which collects various online resources for testing your connection. The ones I’ve mentioned here previously are included along with a few others. It looks like they’ll be adding more in the future so this is a site you may want to keep your eyes on.
Ok, so this isn’t exactly a tech-centered post but I figure that many of the readers here also have LibraryThing accounts. Did you know that you can sign up for the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program and you just might score a free book or two? Just sign up and then pick from a list of dozens of titles each month. There’s no guarantees but you can’t win if you don’t play.
Want to know if your federal representatives are on Tiwtter? Want to nudge them to participate if they aren’t? Check out Tweet Congress for all your congressional Twitter information.