Another Clean Up Entry

Hi All,

Periodically I graze through my Firefox bookmarks and decide to generate a 'clean up blog entry' wherein I list sites that are interesting, but probably don't warrant a whole blog entry devoted to the particular site.  Today is another one of those entries...enjoy the links.  Its a bakers dozen list - there are 13 sites...

National Geographic Photo of the Day - great nature sites

Five Websites That Turn Your Used Electronics Into Money - courtesy of CNET.com

National Security Archive - from George Washington University

Financial Calculators  

Total Number of Websites - Internet Live Stats

Rantings of a Civil War Historican - My Top 12 Civil War Books

The Scientific 7 Minutes Workout - New York Times link from 2013...

WannaLearn.com

Population Clock - from the US Census

Symptom Checker from the Mayo Clinic

6 Links That Will Show You What Google Knows About You - privacy?  what privacy.

The Daily Meal: #1 for Restaurants, Recipes, and Drinks

The Quest to Unlock and Ancient Library - article from the New Yorker in 2015

Regards,
Stu

Fun at the Library?

Hi All,

Fun at the library?  You bet!  Read on. (A list of fun things to do in the library...)

1000+ images about Library fun and ideas on Pinterest.

Fun activities @ you library! 

8 awesome ways libraries are making learning fun 

LibraryGames.com - making libraries fun!

Fun websites - Broome County Public Library

Fun and games at the library

Games for kids - Monroe County Public Library

Free to play games in Steam library

Games - NYPL Kids

Library Learning Games - Media Center

Enjoy the links.

Regards,
Stu

Is This Site Safe?

Hi All,

Norton Safe Web is enables users to find out if a website has any computer threats, identity threats or annoyance threats to users.  Basically Norton Safe Web analyzes websites for safety and security problems and gives users a report for review.   The Norton rating is a results of Symantec's automated analysis system. 

Click here to learn a bit more about Norton Safe Web. Click this link to get information from Norton Safe Web's link to Community Buzz which discusses latest reviews, latest threats and most reviewed sites.

Enjoy the site.

Regards,
Stu

Commonsense Media - Homework Help Websites and Best of Lists

Hi All,

Commonsense Media is a website that rates schools, helps educate folks regarding kids issues, and advocates for kids, families and schools.  For more information about Commonsense Media click on this link. 

One of the best sections on the site is their Homework Help Websites link.  This is where parents, teachers and students can learn about useful homework help sites.   Sites are divided up for
* Preschoolers (2-4 years old)
* Little Kids (5-7 years old)
* Big Kids (8-9 years old)
* Tweens (10-12 years old)
* Teens (13+ years old)
* All Ages is also an option

Also available on the site is a section of 'Best of' Lists.  This is where parents, kids and teachers can find age-appropriate ideas and inspiration for every interest.  Best of lists include:
Best Movies For Kids
Best Games For Kids
Best Apps For Kids
Best Websites For Kids
Best TV For Kids
Best For Character Development For Kids
Best for Learning For Kids 
Best Books For Kids


Enjoy the site and the links!

Regards,
Stu

Internet Archive: The Wayback Machine

Hi All,

Who says that everything on the internet is always there?!  Its not.  Material get posted and then gets removed every single second of every single day.  So how are you able to find material from a few days ago - let alone a few years ago?

Great question and for that we have the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine.  With an easy url to remember - http://archive.org/web/ - its not wonder the site is so well known and so well used!

The site moniker is '456 billion web pages saved over time'.  Wow - that is almost half-a-trillion (yes, with a 't') websites.  The number looks like this 456,000,000,000.  Awesome.  And all the sites can be searched. 

Just type in a website name (businessweek, espn, Farmingdale Public Library, etc.) and you'll be directed to another page that has the url that you searched and the number of times (between a particular date the) site was first found on the Wayback Machine and the current date.

For example, a search for the Farmingdale Public Library resulted in a page that says the Wayback Machine saved the Farmingdale PL site 74 times between August 17, 2007 and March 29, 2015. 

And there is a box which enables the user to click on a particular year - and then a particular month - to choose to view the site on certain day.  Click on the blue circle of the date you are interested in and you'll see a snapshot of how the site looked on that day. 

Some notes...sometimes pictures take a bit of time to load and sometimes page links don't go to an original link.

Click on this link to learn a bit more about the Internet Archive.  Click on this link to capture a web page as it appear now for use as a trusted citation in the future!  Click on this link for a very, very extensive FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) from the Internet Archive.

And for some fun Internet Archive links, click on this link which offers over 6,000,000 fully accessible public domain ebooks.  Awesome!  Not all torrents are bad!  Click on this link to go to a page of Archive Torrents.  There is a search box for you to use on the page.

And, as if this wasn't enough, the Internet Archive has a blog, and a store, and a full-fledged organization structure.  Click on the prior links to see the particular option you are interested in.

And to think that some folks still say that 'nothing is free anymore!'.  Go figure.  They just haven't seen the Internet Archive yet!. 

Regards,
Stu

What is in Store For Technology in the Next Five Years?

Hi All,

I just came across this very, very interesting article from a website called VentureBeat.com.  (VentureBeat - as they explain in their 'About' section on the website - provides news about innovation for forward-thinking executives. It covers a range of technology trends, from social media to mobile, clean technology, games and chips. We try to explain what these trends mean for business leaders, executives and other thought leaders in the industry.)

That all said, you can understand why VentureBeat would post an article entitled,'IBM reveals its top five innovation predictions for the next five years'.  Click on the prior link to find the full text of the article. 

So, just exactly what are the five innovations predicted in the next five years?
1. The classroom will learn you.
2. Buying local will beat online.
3. Doctors will use your DNA to keep you well.
4. A digital guardian will protect you online.
5. The city will help you live in it.

Simply put it means that the computers are going to get smarter, faster and their will be more appropriate safeguards for privacy and security...  "As computers get smarter and more compact, they will be built into more devices that help us do things when we need them done. IBM believes that these breakthroughs in computing will amplify our human abilities."

For computer enthusiasts (read: geeks and technologically savvy folks) there are many, many websites that can help you learn about these trends in real-time websites.  Some of the better technology websites available include:

www.PCWorld.com

www.PCMag.com

www.Cnet.com

www.Extremetech.com

www.Techcrunch.com

www.thenextweb.com

www.wired.com (future web trends and at one time a print magazine)

www.digitaltrends.com

www.techradar.com

All of these sites have are current, reliable, and focus on technological news related to computer, tablet computers, privacy, networking, the internet, software, hardware, and basically anything related to computers or technology.   Go forth and enjoy the many, many links and articles from the sites.  

Regards, 

Stu

Part II from 8/10/10 Entry Entitled ‘Alphabetically a List of Fun Websites’

Part II from 8/10/10 Entry Entitled ‘Alphabetically a List of Fun Websites’ (I hope its fun at least...)

Hi All,

Way back on August 10^th I generated a fun entry with the first half of the alphabet…here is a link to that post if you missed it. This entry is the second part of the alphabet – L-Z. Enjoy – there might be some interesting sites that you haven’t heard about or tried yet.

Stu

Don’t forget to friend the library on our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter!

L: LinkedIn – great networking resource for job searchers

M: MySpace – social networking forerunner that has been overshadowed by Facebook

N: Netflix – great site for downloading movies or having them mailed to you…pay site!

O: Orbitz – make travel plans here…Overstock – online shopping at clearance prices

P: Pandora – listen to free internet radio and find new music…Paypal – send money or pay online

Q: Quicktime – view internet video , HD movie trailers, personal media in a wide range file formats – free

R: Realtor.com – get real estate listing, school/neighborhood information and other important info you need to know before you move or buy a house/co-op/apartment

S: Skype – internet calls for free…SparkNotes: study guides and discussion forums on various academic subjects…

T: Translator-free online language translation service via Google Twitter-what is going on in your world in 140 characters or less TMZ – celebrity gossip and entertainment news and Hollywood rumors Travelocity – great travel site for airline tickets, hotels, flights vacations

U: Urban Dictionary – streetwise lingo posted and defined by readers/viewers

V: US Department of Veterans Affairs – provides patient care and federal benefits to veterans and their dependents

W: Weather.com – find weather across the country Wikipedia.com – free encyclopedia that anyone can edit

X: Xbox – games, uploads, info about the amazing Xbox

Y: Yahoo.com – news, weather, sports, business, science and much more …Youtube – homemade videos and some commercial videos from Google – easily searchable and lots of fun!

Z: Zillow – more free real estate information, search for homes for sale, home values, recently sold homes, mortgage rates, condos, co-ops, apartments and much more…Zip Code Lookup – find a zip code by entering an address (from United States Postal Service)