Online Applications & Tools

I was quite impressed with this week's set of "things." I mean, I knew there was a lot of stuff out there.. but seeing it all together in one place like that, was almost like Christmas. That is, Christmas 2.0 (uh oh, I hope we don't ever get that far...)

I'm kinda peeved at myself... a few months ago I was trying to find an online planner/organizer/to-do list. I signed up for a few to try them out. I found one that worked pretty well, had a nice feel, and great functionality. I used it a couple times and then it got put on the back burner - it's not that it wasn't helpful, it was just going to take time (that I didn't have then) to set up so it would be helpful. Anyway, a couple weeks passed and it slipped my mind entirely. Now I want to go back. Except - I can't remember what the site was. *Bangs head*
I mean, it wouldn't take thaat much work to search and click around until I find it again (I'm pretty sure I could recognize the page layout) I just don't want to hassle with it right now.
I guess that shows just how dedicated I was to the planner idea... or maybe how much I truly need one.

That said, I've taken my shot at online planners.
That, that said... somewhere in my web browsing for this week's "things" I found a wonderful site. Except... I can't remember the address (again?) No seriously, I think I might have a significant short-term memory deficit.
It had Delicious in the name, making me wonder if it was a part of the social bookmarking world (which possibly could've made it even MORE wonderful.) But the layout is entirely different.. so I don't think it is.

*2 minute hiatus*
It actually only took me about 20 seconds to click on the delicious sites tagged "gdt" and search "delicious" bringing up on the first page: Delicious Library! Found at: http://www.delicious-monster.com/
How easy was that to remember?

(If I seem a little more energetic than usual it's probable a combination of being two hours away from a holiday weekend and the cup of coffee that I finished off with my lunch.)

So. This Delicious Library isn't quite a planner, but it certainly would aid in organization, particularly of my mind.
It is a way to collect and tag everything (by photo, screenshot or partial screenshot, the works) the way del.icio.us lets you collect and tag links. It can be accessed from your desktop, the web, or -get this- your cell phone.
The cell phone part sold me. I currently have a number of photos on my cell phone that might raise a couple eyebrows. Things like book covers, the backs of peoples' heads (she had cute hair), you get the idea.. things I want to keep record of, remember without having (or being able to) write down. But most of the time they stay hidden in my phone and I never really do anything about them. Dangit.
Another thing it can do - and I just read this briefly and don't understand it fully - is when used with a mac (including their fancy shmancy camera) it can take pictures of barcodes and the like and turn them into actual letters and numbers. Heck yes. So you can scan a CD and have all the information including the album art (copyright schoppyright) automatically saved to your computer.
Maybe macs could do this all along and I have kept myself in the dark.
Or maybe there is something magical in this software? I need to find that out. My husband's PC has a built in camera so I'm wondering if somehow that technology could work from there, or if again it's mac's superiority.

All that hype - and I haven't actually signed up yet.
My concerns: it might turn into del.icio.us or my clippings folder on Bloglines: a wealth of fantastic information and at the tip of my fingertips until it daily gets buried deeper and deeper by more fantastic information. Leaving such a mass of wealth that I can't become too overwhelmed to even dig a spoonful out. Pathetic, I know.

So concludes the first inspirational find from this week's 23 Things. Thank you SLA.

Other splendid finds:
Mindomo is like the snow that starts falling in Christmas Eve 2.0 - to follow my analogy. But again, I haven't actually used it, only fiddled. It could be a good recommendation to Intro to Writing instructors. Atleast those who teach brainstorming.

iGoogle has been my homepage on my home computer since my husband discovered it.
It's great, but never caught on entirely for me. I mean, I still have it there everytime I open Firefox. But the truth is, I rarely open Firefox. Maybe twice a week. I just always leave it open and on the pages that I actually use.

Docstoc (from the Web 2.0 awards): A lot of fun to browse and a brilliant idea. But there's almost so much there that unless you are looking for something in particular - you may not find anything (either that or stumble upon a masterpiece.)

Is anyone else noticing this trend? First of all, so many brilliant ideas taking birth on the web, but yet, that don't actually get used because as good of ideas as they were it just becomes too much or too impractical.
Which really comes down to the issue of information overload, I do think. There are just sooo many options out there. You are probably better off just picking the first thing you find to do a given job then to try to find the "best" - or you'll spend your whole life searching ("...for all the things we think we want" - the Ataris.)

I was very happy to find Etsy on the list of best Web.20. I love it and would spend much more time there if I made twice as much money as I do now (oooor, if I had the time to open my own shop..hmm..)

StyleHive looked interesting too, but I couldn't quite figure it out in the 10 minutes I was there (=poor web design?) Besides.. I don't see how that (or Etsy, for that matter :() can become industrious in the library/academic setting.

I think that covers enough for now... this week was quite enjoyable. Now on to other, more laborious, tasks.