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gadgets

Google gadget tutorial

Oct 16th, 2008
by pollyalida.
2 comments

Google gadget tutorial
This tutorial from SEOish on How to Make Google Gadgets uses  google gadgets to teach about making google gadgets. Love the video next to the gadget editor. Clever and effective.

Google Gadgets & Library Search

Oct 16th, 2008
by pollyalida.
2 comments

Last year I fiddled around with creating some simple Google Gadgets for the catalogs of my local library systems. Mostly to figure out how to create them, but also because I’m lazy. I wanted easy access to all my local library catalogs in one place, on an iGoogle page.

I haven’t looked at editing gadgets since then, so I was excited to learn  that it’s much easier to make gadgets now. Sometime during the year, Google added a nifty gadget to help create gadgets. That sounds confusing, but it’s just another little iGoogle tool that helps you edit, preview and launch your own gadgets. This tutorial helped explain how to use it.

So, while looking at other library catalog search gadgets tonight, I wondered if I could ‘borrow’ code to make something slicker than my original clunky gadgets. I found Andrew Schulz from Pierce County (WA) Library System had a very elegant gadget for their Polaris catalog. A quick copy of the code and editing of the catalog URL and it was working for my local library. Woohoo!

Any recommendations on good models for other systems?

David Pogue loves the Flip video cam – so do I

Mar 20th, 2008
by pollyalida.
1 comment

In the NYT tech section today, David Pogue give the simple little Flip video cam a terrific review – Camcorder Brings Zen to the Shoot

I bought one about 4 months ago, lured by its ‘shiny new toy-ishness’. And it truly is a terrific little camera. Perfect for schools & libraries doing video projects with kids and teens (and adults). I’m thinking durable and easy to use. Is it the greatest video quality in the world? Not really. But is it good enough for fun youtube type videos? You bet!

This is the camera I’d throw in my beach bag or give to kids to use at a pool party. And I might just buy the waterproof case mentioned in the review. I think a snorkeling trip to Hawaii would be a good way to test that one out. Aloha.