CPL 2.0 - Twitter:(

What I really don't get is not how someone came up with Twitter, but how come that it's so popular.

Armed with a bit of knowledge about what Twitter is all about, share your thoughts on this fast growing online phenomenon.

When I first heard about Twitter I thought: Who on Earth needs this? I didn't have any desire to explore it at that time and I hardly did it now.

To me it is chaotic and sooo useless.

CPL 2.0 - LibraryThing

Do you see any practical applications for LibraryThing either at home or at work? Will you start using this site?

The reason I signed up for a LibraryThing account awhile ago was that I've become a volunteer for a homebound reader who doesn't use a computer. I thought if I catalog all the books read by that person, by using tags I can much easier come up with new suggestions. Although I didn't need that after all, because the person I’m helping has had her own requests, I still think that it can be one of many practical applications for LibraryThing.

I also think that LibraryThing is absolutely great for a personal use, and after signing up again (it seems that if one doesn't use their account for a while it expires) I will be using this site for myself.

CPL 2.0 - Online Productivity Tools

Do you see free online tools like these eventually replacing expensive software like MS Office?

I've been using Google Documents for some time and they are definitely a great idea, but like with everything else, there are “pros and cons”.

As a user of a netbook with a solid state drive (instead of a hard disk), on which you can’t install much due to a very small capacity, having some kind of a substitute to MS Office is very helpful. I don’t have time to finish everything on my desktop computer at home, so being able to take notes and keep journal every day using Google Docs is very handy. The fact that you can access your documents at any time from any computer is also very convenient.

There are two other situations where Google Docs can be extra helpful. It is common to MS Office that someone could have a problem with opening a Word or Excel document due to different versions of the software, but this cannot happen with Google Docs. Another very helpful thing particularly for the people using public computers at the library, is writing a resume using a template. MS Office 2007 doesn’t contain such templates, they are actually stored online and you have to download them in order to use them, which is impossible with these computers. Google Docs offer lots of templates, not only for resumes.

On the other hand, regardless all the convenience, Google Documents are not nearly as sophisticated as MS Office, at least not yet. Not only that they don’t have all the features like MS Office, but even those that Google Docs do have don’t always work properly. There are so many things that need to be corrected and improved. Formatting either a text document or a spreadsheet can be a pain. Sometimes it looks like Google Docs have their own character and just won’t obey one's commands. Very frustrating.

By the way, the same problem exists with Blogger’s post editor.

Google Docs are also very slow, regardless of the computer configuration or Internet access. I can type a half of a sentence before seeing it on the screen. So, for documents that are more complicated or need to look really nice, or whenever I can chose between those two, I would rather use MS Office.

It's hard to say whether free online tools can ever completely replace software like MS Office, because we have to keep in mind that behind MS Office are twenty years of making and improving different versions of it.

Maybe Google doesn't even have to try to replace MS Office with its Docs, because there are advantages of using them comparing to MS Office (they come free, after all).

What I do hope is that Google will work hard in order to improve these tools because they have their potential, but improvement is definitely what they need.

CPL 2.0 - Flickr & YouTube

Comment on the quality, entertainment value, or usefulness of the content on these sites.

I have known about Flickr for some time but I wasn’t really interested in it because I use Picasa for storing my photos online. However, I checked it out and I would say that when it comes to private photos it is pretty much the same as Picasa. Browsing public photos on Flickr is OK, but time consuming. So, when you either need to find something particular or you don’t have anything else to do (which is never the case with me), here's an idea where to go.

YouTube, on the other hand, is one of my favourite websites. I watch music videos, product reviews and how-to videos. I find it very useful, but it’s hard not to notice that it contains tons of absolutely worthless videos, too.

CPL 2.0 - RSS

I have always wondered what that little orange square stands for. I guess I haven't been curious enough to check it out until now.

Were you able to successfully set up your RSS feed? If not, where did you run into problems? If you were successful, does this make information-gathering more convenient for you?

I did set up my RSS feed, but instead of signing up for a Bloglines account I used Google’s Reader.

I can definitely see the potential and usefulness of RSS, but I am not sure that I’ll be using it. There are some websites that I would check regularly, but nothing is that important and if I miss some update, not a big deal. I am getting overwhelmed with “information-gathering” so I think I’m going to stick to the old way: when I get a time I will check the websites I can think of (the important ones I won't forget).

CPL 2.0 - Google Universe

I love Google! Google search engine is very user-friendly; it would correct your spelling and help you by suggesting the keywords. It looks like it reads your mind! Having English as a second language and coming from the “Metric world”, it is so convenient to be able to check spelling quickly and convert feet and inches to centimetres. Being able to check currency rate through Google is very convenient too.

Google products that I use, mostly for years, include Gmail, which has been one of my main email accounts and I have always liked it more than any other. Picasa is great for storing pictures online, creating photo albums and sharing them only with people you want them to see (unlike Facebook). I use Google Maps a lot, watch videos on YouTube, sometimes I chat using Talk, I use Documents, etc. I also check News through Google.

I have installed Google Earth on my computer years ago, and I used it a lot at first, but ever since Google added Satellite view to their Maps and especially since Street View became available I hardly use it anymore.

I also installed Google Chrome and tried it out, but I don’t use it regularly.

What do you like about the Google product? What do you dislike? Would you recommend the product to friends and colleagues?

I cannot think about anything I dislike about Google products. In fact, I really love them and I would recommend them to everyone. Beside all other advantages, they are free, too.

CPL 2.0 - Social Networking

Ah, social networking, aka Facebook.

(Apologies to MySpace.)

Although I am not a fan of Facebook at all, on the contrary, I do have an account, like millions of other people. I know it may look hypocritical, but as a person who is trying to keep up with different technology features, I need to explore them myself.

For you, is Facebook useful or a time-waster?

For me, personally, it is totaly time-waster!

I don’t want go on and on with the things that I don’t like about Facebook, because this post would be very long. Let’s just say that there are some people (very few) with whom I am just in contact through FB, and it’s worth it. With some I am in contact through other ways too, and we wouldn't need FB to keep in touch. And, for the rest, I really don’t care what they do in FarmVille, whether they’re tagged in photos, or giving each other a heart, flower, kiss… whatever.

On the other hand, I can’t but remember people who are homebound and not able to be "out and about". I think that in such situations, social networking can be a great help.

CPL 2.0 - Wikipedia :)

I absolutely love Wikipedia!
I’ve been using it for four or five years, and it’s always been a great help. Considering that you know what Wikipedia is and that you wouldn’t use it as the main or only source for your project, it is the best starting point for almost every search. Whenever I need to inform myself quickly and without much trouble, Wikipedia is there to help like nothing else. It is clear, intuitive and usually contains all main information about the subject. I tried editing in Wikipedia; I corrected the article about my home town. It was just a grammatical correction, but I got an idea how it works.

Were you able to find a topic obscure enough that Wikipedia doesn’t cover it? If so, congratulations! If you managed to publish an article, comment on the process.

Believe it or not, I was able to find some topics, usually on different people that weren’t covered, but although I’m a big fan of Wikipedia, I am not brave enough to write an article. I would always assume that there are other people out there who know the subject better than me.