This month's sites are geared to help you break away from Google, who, along with Microsoft, wants to Rule the Planet. We must thwart this evil intention. Here are some good Google alternatives to play with:
Gigablast.com goes beyond Google. Besides Web pages, the site also indexes PDF, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, PostScript, and Excel documents.
Kartoo.com displays search results graphically instead of alphanumerically. Findings look like clusters of cities on a map. When you put the cursor over one of the listings, a thumbnail image of the Web page pops up.
Wisenut.com groups search items into categories, "helping you refine your search or expand it into areas not initially intended through your original search.
SingingFish.com searches for audio and video files, making finding songs, movie trailers, and audio and video blogs a snap.
Source for this month's sites: The Week, December 1, 2006, p. 36
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
November 2006 Sites
NationMaster
NationMaster's goal is to be the "Web's one-stop resource for country
statistics on everything." What sets it apart are its numerous reliable
sources and the visual presentation of statistics. Statistical results
comparing countries are strikingly presented using colored bar graphs, pie
charts, and geographical maps.
And, companion site StateMaster
StateMaster is a unique statistical database which allows you to research
and compare a multitude of different data on US states. They have compiled
information from various primary sources such as the US Census Bureau, the
FBI, and the National Center for Educational Statistics. More than just a
mere collection of various data, StateMaster goes beyond the numbers to
provide you with visualization technology like pie charts, maps, graphs
and scatterplots. They also have thousands of map and flag images, state
profiles, and correlations.
The Federal Citizen Information Center's National Contact Center This site lists federal agencies and private organizations that "assist
individuals in locating persons of unknown whereabouts." It provides
guidance for finding active, reserve, and retired military personnel, AND
private individuals (including U.S. citizens living or visiting abroad).
Check this out! It might be a way of helping patrons looking for people
when we can't help using the more traditional directories, online or in
print! Thanks to Karen Johnson for passing along this great site.
Jo
NationMaster's goal is to be the "Web's one-stop resource for country
statistics on everything." What sets it apart are its numerous reliable
sources and the visual presentation of statistics. Statistical results
comparing countries are strikingly presented using colored bar graphs, pie
charts, and geographical maps.
And, companion site StateMaster
StateMaster is a unique statistical database which allows you to research
and compare a multitude of different data on US states. They have compiled
information from various primary sources such as the US Census Bureau, the
FBI, and the National Center for Educational Statistics. More than just a
mere collection of various data, StateMaster goes beyond the numbers to
provide you with visualization technology like pie charts, maps, graphs
and scatterplots. They also have thousands of map and flag images, state
profiles, and correlations.
The Federal Citizen Information Center's National Contact Center This site lists federal agencies and private organizations that "assist
individuals in locating persons of unknown whereabouts." It provides
guidance for finding active, reserve, and retired military personnel, AND
private individuals (including U.S. citizens living or visiting abroad).
Check this out! It might be a way of helping patrons looking for people
when we can't help using the more traditional directories, online or in
print! Thanks to Karen Johnson for passing along this great site.
Jo
October 2006 Sites
With holiday gift-giving (and gift-getting!) just around the corner, Karen
J recommends sites that let you sell or swap gift cards that you can't
use. A number of places do this, some offer a bit more security than
others, but if you might be interested in unloading a gift card, or in
getting a good deal on one yourself, check out these sites:
http://cardavenue.com
http://swapagift.com
http://giftcardbuyback.com (get cash for your cards!)
http://giftcardsagain.com
http://plasticjungle.com
There was an article in the Gazette recently about these sites which you
might look at to get an idea of things to watch out for:
Gazette 10/22/06 p. 2D (available through Newsbank online). Otherwise,
check them out and see what kinds of deals you can make!
Have you ever wished you convert your own documents to pdf format? Have
you ever priced the Adobe software that lets you DO that? Yikes! It's
REALLY REALLY expensive! But this doesn't mean you can't create your own
pdf documents. Just visit http://pdfonline.com where you can convert your
own documents to pdf for free! Seriously! You can convert most commonly
used document applications (e.g., Word, Power Point, Excel, etc.) to pdf
format right at the site. Of course, I found out about this just AFTER I
bought my own software (not Adobe, but still pretty expensive). Give it a
try! Thanks to our own tech guys for showing me this one.
Portal to Asian Internet Resources (PAIR)
This site was highly recommended by CHOICE magazine. PAIR offers scholars,
students and the interested public more than six thousand professionally
selected, cataloged and annotated online resources within 25 different
subtopic areas including agriculture, business and industry, demography,
environment, politics and government, many others! An excellent resource!
I hope you will enjoy these sites and that you can find ways to make use
of them for yourself and for our patrons.
Jo
J recommends sites that let you sell or swap gift cards that you can't
use. A number of places do this, some offer a bit more security than
others, but if you might be interested in unloading a gift card, or in
getting a good deal on one yourself, check out these sites:
http://cardavenue.com
http://swapagift.com
http://giftcardbuyback.com (get cash for your cards!)
http://giftcardsagain.com
http://plasticjungle.com
There was an article in the Gazette recently about these sites which you
might look at to get an idea of things to watch out for:
Gazette 10/22/06 p. 2D (available through Newsbank online). Otherwise,
check them out and see what kinds of deals you can make!
Have you ever wished you convert your own documents to pdf format? Have
you ever priced the Adobe software that lets you DO that? Yikes! It's
REALLY REALLY expensive! But this doesn't mean you can't create your own
pdf documents. Just visit http://pdfonline.com where you can convert your
own documents to pdf for free! Seriously! You can convert most commonly
used document applications (e.g., Word, Power Point, Excel, etc.) to pdf
format right at the site. Of course, I found out about this just AFTER I
bought my own software (not Adobe, but still pretty expensive). Give it a
try! Thanks to our own tech guys for showing me this one.
Portal to Asian Internet Resources (PAIR)
This site was highly recommended by CHOICE magazine. PAIR offers scholars,
students and the interested public more than six thousand professionally
selected, cataloged and annotated online resources within 25 different
subtopic areas including agriculture, business and industry, demography,
environment, politics and government, many others! An excellent resource!
I hope you will enjoy these sites and that you can find ways to make use
of them for yourself and for our patrons.
Jo
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