Archive for December, 2008
I thought I’d give you some more ways to waste time, online. 
Check out some of these sites:
- Web Sudoku: “Billions of free Sudoku puzzles to play online.” You can play levels from “Easy” to “Evil.” There’s even a downloadable application that you can play offline on your Mac or PC.
- Lookybook: If you’re a children’s librarian, you might be able to say this is work-related. This, in a sense, takes Amazon.com’s “Look Inside!” feature one step further, with children’s picture books. You can see the entire book online. You can post your own reviews of the books, and see what else you might like based on what you’re looking at.
- Wikisky: If you’re interested in astronomy, you could probably spend hours here. Imagine Google Maps, except it’s space.
- Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the world yet? The LHC might be offline for a good while, but you can check the status of existence anytime with this handy tool.
- MagMyPic: Create fake magazine covers with any photo. This site also recently added the ability to do comic book covers.
- Motivator: Similar to MagMyPic, but with motivational posters.
- MyHeritage Face Recognition: Upload a photo of yourself and this site will tell you what celebrity you look most like.
- Why You Should Continue to Date Me: A Series of Charts and Graphs.: I think the title says it all, here.
- Let Me Google That For You: Reference staff will appreciate this. ‘Nuff said.
- Internet Memes: Did you miss a viral video that everyone else seems to know about? Or want to see internet memes on a cool timeline? Very cool, but be warned that some videos are NSFW (Not Safe for Work).
If you want to waste time but not to feel guilty about it, try Free Rice. Test your vocabulary skills while earning rice that will be donated through the United Nations. (This game also warns right on the front page that it could improve your job performance. )
Happy holidays!
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Well, I am. See that 2-dimensional code to the left? That code contains the following information about me:
- First & last name
- Email address
- Web site URL
- Phone number
- Physical address, including country of origin
All that is in there? What is it for? And why would you use it?
That thing is called a QR (“Quick Response”) code. It’s essentially a 2-dimensional bar code that can encode various types of information. The idea is that a cell phone can take a picture of it and, with the appropriate software, can decode it. It’s sometimes called mobile tagging as well.
Wikipedia says:
“Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or just about any object that users might need information about. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone’s browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks.”
As you might guess, these are currently popular in Japan, where mobile use is a totally ingrained feature of the culture. But they are starting to gain some traction in the States, as they are a handy way to link real world objects to the Web.
What does this mean to me, Laura?
- Imagine using these to encode links to book reviews or your library’s web site; the QR code could be on bookmarks, library posters or even door signage. Be creative; how many ways could you think of to link your library’s digital resources to the physical ones?
- More advanced QR codes can even have colors or images embedded in them without disturbing the actual encoded info. See some cool examples.
- This would be considered “bleeding edge” technology, except that the popularity of the iPhone may change that rapidly. QR readers for iPhones are easily available through the iPhone App Store.
- Making a QR code is simple and free. A free one to try is MSKYNET QRCode Generator (Maestro), but there are many others.
