Faux Ikea

While having a look round art blogs for art/DIY ideas, I strayed across Ikeahacker for all kinds of variations on  a theme….

Congress Goes Virtual

A brief one in passing for anyone interested in Virtual Reality. Check out this link to recent posts on Second Life.

Godel, Escher, Bach

COURSE LINK. While blog browsing last week, I came across a post on Douglas Hofstadter’s “Godel, Escher, Bach - An Eternal Golden Braid“. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has published a series of lecture notes and videos on GEB online - for further details follow the link.

Time Management - Randy Pausch

Time Management - Randy Pausch - Google Video (76 minutes)

If you’ve not come across this video before, you may find it well worth noting to come back to.

Randy Pausch gave this lecture at the University of Virginia in November 2007. Poignancy is added to the talk as Randy had only recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and acknowledges that for him time is precious. There is now a book ‘Last Lecture’ associated with this talk (see info on Google page), which is currently the most watched time management video on the web - out of millions.

A gifted communicator, Randy conveys a broad range of constructive tips in this fast paced talk. I’ll certainly be watching it again.

Links to Randy’s personal website which is updated regularly.

Further views in Wired Science

Zoho Notebook - Powerful App & Collaborative Tool

While browsing links for the Google Notebook, I came across posts on the Zoho Notebook - a more powerful form of notebook which can compile material into book/page form, and has a number of other useful features, including online collaboration etc.

Five minute video.

Have you tried Google Notebook?

While browsing blogs I usually bookmark anything interesting to re-read or check out later, or as a place- marker while following links. Every week or so I clear the accumulated bookmarks out, either deleting or saving worthwhile links elsewhere. This can be a tedious job if I can’t remember without checking the site which were passing links and which were of significance.

This morning I came across a post on the virtues of carrying a small notebook around to jot down ideas as they occur, and as an organizational tool. Though that does not fit my lifestyle, a comment on the post pointed me to something that does - Google Notebook. Looks like it could solve browsing problem as a few notes can be added to a saved link in Google Notebook to indicate its relevance. Wish I’d noticed this months ago.

It takes a few seconds to download the programme, and the resulting application sits neatly in the corner of the screen (or can be expanded or closed). Select text, click the tiny gold star for a clip, and a brief entry appears on screen. With this literally in view, I’d be more inclined to deal with the info at the time than have it build up to a long scroll job.

More than one notebook can be added for different life areas or tasks, and they can be shared online. Looks like a very handy little tool, and a useful reminder of things that can tend to get forgotten while blogging.

Can also see obvious applications for writing, study or journaling etc.

NB - If you highlight text to select, GN adds any link automatically. Zoho notebook is a more powerful app.

The Truth According to Wikipedia

Contrasting views of the influence of Wikipedia in this documentary footage. Includes views of Andrew Keen, writer of the polemic ‘The Cult of the Amateur’ - an analysis of blog culture and it’s impact on the Web.