Resource and Tool Roundup
June 23rd, 2004Here are a bunch of neat tools and resources that have come into my aggregator over the past few days. I must be working with Gary too closely these days because my first thought was to create a list. Enjoy.
1) Gmail and GTray - Download this file and get updated on your desktop when you get a new message in your gmail account. I have it running at work and home. Great tool. (via Google Blogoscoped)
2) Search Fight - I love this one. Instead of just having search wars in Google, Search Fight will run your queries in 10 engines. For librarians, this can be a neat way to demonstrate to patrons how different search results can be.
3) Complete Guide to Weblogs - Announcements - I was browsing through Peter’s site (a person can get lost in there, happily lost I might add) and came across this announcement list, run by Quick Topic. It’s a great site to watch for those interested in new weblog tools. One problem. No RSS feed. It desperately needs one but I don’t think Quick Topic support RSS. It really really should. There is an e-mail list (which I reluctantly signed up for), but a feed would be much better. Sigh.
4) Folderblog - “A ~15kb PHP script that automatically displays the images placed in a given subdirectory. It can be used as either as a blog or as a gallery and just about anything in between” (link via del.icio.us)
5) Gmail Addict - This blog posts bugs found in Gmail and Blogger. Worth grabbing the feed if you use both (like me).
6) Teri tipped me off to a general bibliography of RSS-related articles that are being collected by no other than Gerry McKiernan. This is probably the most comprehensive list that I have seen so far for the information professional community. I threw the site, like the others that Gerry puts out, into Web Sites Watcher, so I can keep track of any new additions. This site is another one that is begging for an RSS feed of its own.
I saved the best for last
7) The List - LBR mentioned this site the other day. It’s not just your ordinary subject guide put together by a bunch of librarians at the Minnesota Public Library. They have a page for new additions to directory. First of all the additions are annotated, but best of all, there is an RSS Feed for these new entries. A perfect use of RSS in the library world. One that I am going to point to in my presentations. An issue that I have with the “new additions” page is that they don’t have an XML button or any link to the feed. I had to find it on their RSS site, which also has a bunch of other great feeds…but it might be marketed better by placing the button on the “new additions” site.