In the Cloud

I gamely grappled with the concept of Cloud Computing but still feel a little concerned about security implications arising from such a huge, self-generating endeavour. Nearly finished this part of the module and have found it very interesting. If this turns up on my blog then I will have successfully written this post in an online document and then managed to paste it to its eventual location. Fingers crossed ... Oh, and I also found LibraryThing very informative and interesting and I can see that it could be an extremely useful aid. Just about to sign up as a member.

Netvibes

I have played around with Netvibes and again, although there is an amazing amount of material out there for widgets and gadgets, I don't think this is for me. I'm quite happy to 'experiment' with widgets/gadgets so that I can find out what it is all about, but it isn't something that I would probably use. Unfortunately having attempted to screenshot several times, I have nothing to show for it. Must be doing something wrong ...

Widgets and Gadgets vs Portals and Bridges

Through the creation of 'a clump of code' Yahoo and Google devised a means of linking information in a seamless manner.
Yahoo calls them widgets whilst
Google prefers to call them gadgets.

Widgets/Gadgets = SAME

My initial problem was working out how large 'a clump of code' could be!! It seems small clumps can equate to placing one piece of information in your blogsite i.e. the real time in Los Angeles to larger clumps that, when used, become portals/bridges from one blog to several websites.

Hopefully, I have also added an Island gadget from the gadget collection. Just realised that this doesn't show up in 'draft' mode - only appears when you have published the post. Will now have to work on how to build text around it.

SearchBots (Part 2)

Good old Cedric - I have keyed in information for a holiday project and he has certainly come up trumps. It's going to take me a while to trawl through the information, but there is a lot available. I like this little chap ...

Search Bots

Well, I have plodded through Discovery and stumbled through Stumble Upon and finally came upon Search Bots. Having decided that I do not possess a creative bone in my body and feeling somewhat deflated by this news, I was heartened to hear about Search Bots. It has a degree of creativity about it - much talk in the tutorial was made of Moods and Emotions, but the idea of turning my little robot a reddish hue and getting back information about Communism or Tomatoes indicated to me that a great deal of specific information would need to be added if I required useful information for a particular scenario that I had in mind. It's a mind-blowing concept (to me) that all this information can be extrapolated from numerous search engines that I hadn't even heard of before. I will try and have some fun creating my little robot and then attempt to find it a specific scenario to work on. I also liked the idea that your little robot needed 'nurturing'... previous attempts at tender ministrations to plants have proved to me that they flourish best when I leave them well alone. I wonder if I might be more successful in a more artificial environment?

My first stab at creativity is to christen my little robot - I'm going to call him Cedric.

Ning

As a place to gain experience in the use of social networking tools, Ning has been helpful, but really and truly I am completely 'over' social networking!! I don't like expressing my thoughts in public ... it makes me very uncomfortable. Expressing my thoughts with a group of friends that physically exist and are in the same location as me over a glass of wine is much more convivial. So far, I have to admit that learning about Wikis is probably the most useful tool I've come across so far, mainly because I can visualise its potential for certain projects that I have been thinking about ...

Photos & Images - Mashups

I really thought that Photos and Images was going to be a 'Revelation' to me. Instead I felt confused and yes, even a little cheated!! Rather than panic, I have decided to spend a little more time on the subject just to see if 'illumination' dawns. I think the crux of the matter lies in the fact that I cannot think of a reason why I would need to use any of them ... and until that 'epiphany' occurs and I rush to create that 'magic & original' effect, I am stuck looking glumly at the various possibilities with no viable end creation in sight.