5.19.2010

Google Wave for everyone!




You can now get Google Wave without an invitation, Google announced today. If you've got a Google sign-in (such as the one you use for GMail) you'll be able to roll right into (and through) Wave's login page.

So what is Wave? Well, I don't really know since I just signed up. But it turns out that people were asking similar questions last year when the product was first rolled out:

[Google's introduction of Wave] failed to answer perhaps the fundamental question, “what do we do with it right now?,” developer Lars Rasmussen tells us. ”That’s because we weren’t sure,” he admits. People would load it up and get overwhelmed or confused. “But we know that now — it’s about groups of people adopting Wave,” he says.

Over the past year of watching usage, Rasmussen’s team concluded that the “sweet spot” for Wave is group collaboration. While these days, most sexy new services are some variety of social network where people share things, Wave is about “people getting together to get work done,” he says. And that’s the market Wave now intends to go squarely after. (via TechCrunch)
OK, so there is a bunch of information out there from Google and others describing what Wave is and how it works. I liked this video as an introduction.

Update: You may also want to check out this article in Lifehacker, linked to in previous post about Google Wave by Sara Loree.

5.13.2010

Try This Browser Plug-In Checker Web Page

Mozilla has completed development on their browser plug-in checker webpage. Simply navigate to the page and it checks the currency of all your browser plug-ins and reports which ones are out of date and possibly vulnerable. Then it offers you an opportunity to update.


Here's the url: Plugin Check

Facebook Releases New Login Security Features

In answer to the unceasing firestorm of concerns over Facebook's less than stellar performance regarding privacy, the company has released new tools and systems to help you maintain your privacy and take action when it is breached. The timing of the release of these features is interesting, don't you think?

Read more here: Staying in Control of Your Facebook Logins


summarized from TechCrunch

Remember Haiti

Remember Haiti is a digital exhibit created by the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University to share the history of Haiti through a selection of rare books.

Visit Remember Haiti

5.10.2010

It's paper-writing (and citation-building) time! Whoop-de-doo.


With the end of term comes sunshine, picnics, lounging in the sun and, oh yeah, all those big papers to write. Fun times.

And, of course, with those papers come your in-text citations, footnotes, endnotes, and the bibliography or works-cited page. We know they're not fun to build, but they are very necessary. Why?, you ask. Good question: the reason citations are important is because the person reading your paper (your professor) needs to know where you are getting your information from and, should they want to, needs to be able find the resource you cite with minimal effort.

Did you know that the library provides resources at your very fingertips for assisting you in citing your sources? It's true: check out this page that links out to guides on the various citation styles (APA, Chicago, MLA, CSE).

You may also want to consider using citation tools that can automate (read: save you time) building citations.

Remember: if you need help building a citation for a complex (read: frustrating) resource - such as an article previously published then reprinted in an anthology - ASK A LIBRARIAN for help!

Also, remember this: if you need help composing your paper, have a visit with your skilled peers in the Writing Center!




5.07.2010

Wikipedia Now Lets You Order Printed Books

Wikipedia has launched a new feature: the ability to create custom books from Wikipedia content and either download as a pdf or order as a printed copy. Wikipedia content is licensed in such a way that images and copy are free to anyone to access, use and share in this way. This for a fee service is available now.

Pricing is dependent upon size of book (number of pages). Value of content is left to the user to evaluate.

Read more here: Wikipedia Books


from Mashable

5.06.2010

Facebook hacked, used as instrument of social engineering in North Africa

North Africa 2007 299 Tunis

As a result of Open Graph implementation, "Facebook's New Policies Make Harassment Easy":

"(A) group was created on Facebook (in Arabic) for the sole purpose of reporting, and thus having removed, Facebook profiles of atheist Arabs. The group, which appears to have also been removed, was entitled 'Facebook pesticide' and its sole purpose was to 'identity Atheists / Agnostic / anti-religion in the Arab world and specifically in Tunisia ...' Once identified, the group members would then attempt to report such users."


Read about it here.

5.05.2010

Google to Launch Digital Books by Early Summer

Books - U Chicago Library

The e-book market just got more interesting - Google is entering the fray this summer.

Read about it at the Wall Street Journal.

5.03.2010

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Maps and Information

+ UPDATE: New Database: Oil Spills Since 2000 (U.S.)

+ UPDATE: Gulf of Mexico – Transocean Drilling Incident
A one-stop show with the updates; maps, images, news releases, info for and from specific states, etc.
Content from: DHS; NOAA; USCG; bp; and Transocean.

A Twitter Stream and Facebook page from DeepwaterHorizon are are also available.

+ Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Map – Forecast through May 3 (NOAA)

+ Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill – Maps and Images (U.S. Coast Guard)

+ Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill [map updated each evening] (NOAA)
Note: Make sure to scroll to the bottom of the page for MANY MORE resources.

Source: NOAA, USCG (via THE WONDERFUL Perry-CastaƱeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin)
Need a geographic related map? You can usually find it at Perry-CastaƱeda Web Site



via Resource Shelf.