Author Archives: Rick Mason

Typo of the Day

At first glance, this seems like it ought to be tagged “Humor“, but take a few minutes to check this against your own catalog, and you won’t be laughing at all: Typo of the Day has a mission… they will … Continue reading

Posted in Libraries, Online Databases, Search, Software | Comments Off on Typo of the Day

Eudora to be based on Thunderbird

In the news today: Eudora, the e-mail client that has been around since the late 1980’s, will soon be based on the Mozilla Thunderbird source and released as an open-source project. The reason behind this is that Qualcomm, the owner … Continue reading

Posted in Open Source, Software | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Eudora to be based on Thunderbird

Gentium – a typeface for the nations

This isn’t a new discovery, but I found myself recommending the Gentium typeface to someone this morning, and thought it made sense to post it as well. Gentium is easy to read, especially when printed out.  It can sometimes look … Continue reading

Posted in Open Source | Tagged | Comments Off on Gentium – a typeface for the nations

Opensecrets.org

If you have this desire to know what is being spent, and by whom, in this year’s political races, then Opensecrets.org is the site for you. from ResourceShelf

Posted in News, Online Databases, Politics, Search | Comments Off on Opensecrets.org

Media Convert

Need to convert a file?  Whether it be word processing, image, audio, or video, Media Convert handles most of the file formats you know, and many you probably have never heard of! This service is web-based, so it is available … Continue reading

Posted in Software | Tagged , | Comments Off on Media Convert

Two from Billboard, close but no cigars

One: This Day in Music History is a great way of gaining information about particular days and the significant musical events that occurred… except that it only works for the current date, and 15 days before.  So much for checking … Continue reading

Posted in Online Databases, Search, Web Design | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Two from Billboard, close but no cigars

Unscramble

One of the frustrations in life is needing to find the spelling of a word when it is the beginning of the word that you aren’t sure of. How does one find “phonetic” in the dictionary if you aren’t thinking … Continue reading

Posted in Definitions, Google, Libraries, Online Databases | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Unscramble

Common Cartridge – a standard for learning management software

It has been announced that a group consisting of publishers and course software makers have created a standard format for online classes called Common Cartridge, which promises to allow electronic resources to be used interchangeably within different learning management software. … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Open Access, Open Source, Software, Training, Web Design | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Common Cartridge – a standard for learning management software

Wiki WorldCat

In September, OCLC will be trying out a Wiki component to their WorldCat database. This is based on their WikiD project that they have been working on for a while. Those of us familiar with Amazon know the depth that … Continue reading

Posted in Libraries, Online Databases, Search, Web Design | Tagged | Comments Off on Wiki WorldCat

Literacy Project

A partnership between Google, LitCam, and UNESCO’s Institute for Lifelong Learning, The Literacy Project gathers together a bundle of resources that can be used by teachers or anyone else working with literacy and education.

Posted in Education, Google | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Literacy Project

Color Palette Generator

This is nifty: give this page the url for an image, and it will give you the best colors to design a web page that goes well with the image. from Monkey Bites

Posted in Web Design | Comments Off on Color Palette Generator

Indiana’s Inspire-ation

The state of Indiana has it right:  they have a state-wide collection of online databases that they not only make available to all libraries in the state, but to every resident. The Inspire Database contains a lot of fantastic resources, … Continue reading

Posted in Libraries, Online Databases | Tagged , | Comments Off on Indiana’s Inspire-ation

Indiana’s Inspire-ation

The state of Indiana has it right:  they have a state-wide collection of online databases that they not only make available to all libraries in the state, but to every resident. The Inspire Database contains a lot of fantastic resources, … Continue reading

Posted in Libraries, Online Databases | Tagged , | Comments Off on Indiana’s Inspire-ation

Genealogy and Family History Internet Web Directory

You name it, if it relates to genealogy, it is probably listed on this site. from the Web4Lib Listserv

Posted in Genealogy, Online Databases, Search, Web Design, WebSearch | Tagged | Comments Off on Genealogy and Family History Internet Web Directory

Beyond Freakonomics

Interested in a one-hour Princeton lecture by Steven Levitt, author of Freakonomics?  Here you go!  (you may want to save the .asx file to your desktop, then play it from there). from ResourceShelf

Posted in Education, Lecture | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Beyond Freakonomics

Google Gadgets

Google has opened up their gadget library of over 1200 gadgets to the general web.  Gadgets are user made code that were originally designed to customize people’s Google Personalized Homepages, but they are now available for anyone who wants to … Continue reading

Posted in Google, Software, Web Design | Tagged | Comments Off on Google Gadgets

Advanced Searching on WorldCat.org

WorldCat.org has added an Advanced Search page, allowing the user to search by Title, Author, ISBN, OCLC, Language, Format or Publication Date.  This ought to be helpful when searching for items with commonly used words.

Posted in Libraries, Online Databases, Search | Tagged | Comments Off on Advanced Searching on WorldCat.org

SearchMash: it may not look like Google…

… but it most certainly is! SearchMash.com is a new search engine that looks only a little like Google, but don’t let that fool you. It is a testbed for new innovations from the popular search engine company. Try it … Continue reading

Posted in Google, Search, Software, Web Design, WebSearch | Tagged , | Comments Off on SearchMash: it may not look like Google…

Zotero – Public Release Day set

Zotero, the software project I am waiting for, won’t keep us waiting much longer:  the Public Release Date has been set for Thursday, October 5th. One slight hitch:  it requires Firefox 2.0 (I have been staying on 1.5.0.7 for the … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Libraries, Open Source, Software, Web Design | Tagged | Comments Off on Zotero – Public Release Day set

Songbird upgrade

The Songbird project has gone to version 0.2!  This means that many, many features still do not work, but many, many features do work, and they work great! This is to be a full-fledged media player built on the same … Continue reading

Posted in Open Source, Software, Video | Tagged , | Comments Off on Songbird upgrade