YouTube - videos

Hi All,

Pretty much most everyone knows that YouTube has millions of videos of cats playing, drag races, fun videos and much, much, much, much more. Right?

But did you know that there are lots of educational videos on the site?  Yep - just do a bunch of searches for Windows 10 or iPad or baseball highlights or making ice cream or United States History or introduction to geometry or Android smartphones and you'll see videos galore on the topic that you searched for.

But there's more...did you know that the Associated Press and British Movietone just added more than a million minutes of the last centuries' most iconic events on to the site?  Nope, didn't think so.  Click here for the link that discusses the additions to YouTube. 

This link goes to the AP Archive on YouTube. 

This link goes to the British Movietone Archive on YouTube.

Enjoy the videos and the links!

Regards,
Stu

The Internet in Real Time

Hi All,

Very interesting website alert!  The Internet in Real Time.

What the heck is this you ask?!  Great question.  

Readers can click on this link to watch as various internet giants (Twitter, YouTube, Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Netflix, WhatsApp, Yelp, Foursquare, Pinterest, Pandora and more) do what they do best! 

Users can see LinkedIn (the number of user searches), YouTube (the number of videos hours watched), the number of check-ins at FourSquare or the number of the reviews posted on Yelp or the number of files saves on DropBox or the number of Likes and Posts on Facebook or the number of hours watched on Netflix or the number of hours streamed on Pandora...and much more...

Very simple, colorful and entertaining website.  Here is the link again.

Enjoy the site - don't spend too much time on it!

Regards,
Stu

How Do I....?

Hi All,

I don't know about you, but I think the web is an amazing source of information.  From getting current events, to getting driving directions, to weather, statistics on your favorite baseball player.  From swapping photos of your grandchildren to getting email from a long lost friend and booking your seat on your next trip.  The web is amazing - and there is a huge amount to learn.

And that is the topic of today's blog post: where to go to learn how to do 'things'.  The site is called 'Howcast' and is similar to Youtube in the sense that videos are posted by folks - experts and non-experts alike - on how to do 'stuff'.

For example, as of March 18th at roughly 10am, the Howcast homepage had videos on topics like Irish Step Dancing For Beginners, How to Knit, How to Play Flamenco Guitar.

On the site itself there is a  very clear search box at the top center portion of the page.  At the top right part of the page is a link to 'Categories' that Howcast covers. Categories include: Style, Tech, Fitness, Home, Money & Education, Food, Recreation, Health, Family and Relationships.

Videos on Howcast are usually between 2 and 5 minutes in length.  In addition, at the bottom of the screen you'll find more videos on the topic.  In addition Howcast includes a list of similar videos on the right side of the screen.  Interesting stuff - and it can be educational.

Enjoy the site.
Regards,
Stu

Cash Mobs - What the Heck Are They?

Hi All,

Today I'm going to go a bit 'techie' on you.

You might have heard about flash mobs. And if you don't know what a flash mob is; click here to find out. Simply put, a flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, or artistic expression. Flash mobs are organized via telecommunications (cell phone), social media (Twitter, Facebook), or viral emails. The previous definition comes from Wikipedia - which, regular users know that I use as a helpful source of information in the blog.

And now, if you really, really want to get geeky, you can click on this link from Youtube. I did a simple search for 'flash mobs on long island'. A lot of times a flash mob is video recorded and then the results are uploaded to the web (in many cases to Youtube) so folks can view the event.

So...now that you know what a flash mob is, what the heck is a 'cash mob'?

Well, in a similar vein as a flash mob, a cash mob 'is a group of people who assemble at a local business and all buy items from that business. The purpose of these mobs is to support both the local businessess and the local community. Again, the source of my information is Wikipedia - click here for the link to the site description for cash mobs.

Now, the reason I'm writing about cash mobs is the article that I saw on the Newsday website on Monday, March 5th. Entitled 'Cash Mob Idea Spreads on Long Island'. Click here for the link to the Newsday site for the article.

To learn even more about Cash Mobs and the 'rules' under which they operate, click on this link.

To learn even more about Flash Mobs and how they are spreading, click on this link from CNN for an article.

Interesting stuff, eh? And now, blog readers can say they have heard of both flash mobs and cash mobs just by reading this entry. How cool is that? And it didn't even hurt!

Enjoy the mob scene!

Regards,
Stu

How to Wrap a Holiday Gift or Present?

Hi All,

Holidays are right around the corner and I just thought of a great topic: how to wrap gifts and presents.

First some facts: how much wrapping paper is used each year during the holidays? Click here for a link to Ask.com for the answer. Click on this link that help you figure out how much wrapping paper you need for all your holiday presents!

Click on this very intuitive and interesting link that will help you estimate how much wrapping paper to use for a single present - cool site!

Okay, now that you've figure out how much wrapping paper you need, click on this link that is basically a 'tutorial' on what you need to know about wrapping paper.

Did you know that you can recycle wrapping paper? Yep - you can! Click on this link that will help you start recycling your leftover wrapping paper after the holiday season!

Now you get to the fun part - how to wrap the present!

Here are x links to videos from various sources that show you how to wrap a gift!
1. Wikihow video - how to wrap a gift
2. eHow.com - not a video - just written instructions on how to wrap a gift.
3. RealSimple.com - how to wrap a gift
4. YouTube.com - how to wrap a gift professionally

You can also do a search on Youtube for the phrase 'wrapping gifts' and you'll find many, many other videos on how to wrap gifts.

Hope this makes your holidays a bit easier! Happy wrapping!
Stu

This Commercial Has Been Brought to You By...(Top 5 Funniest Commercials)

Hi All,


Want some fun? Want to relax a bit and let go of the stress of daily life? Well then you've come to the right place.


Today I'm going to talk about funny commercials. Sure they are everywhere, but on TV you have to wait until you see them. The web is dramatically different since you can go to various sites like Youtube to search for commercials. And not just funny ones either...users can search for sports commercials, dumb commercials, commercials with pets and any other type of commercial you can think of...pretty neat and entertaining to boot.


So...click on the next link to see my search on Google using the phrase, 'top 5 funniest commercials'. Click here for Hubpages Top 5 Funny commercials - you'll especially like number 3 - the Nextel Dance party.


Click here for more Top Funny Commercials from TVCells....this site has the top 100 - or so they say...note also that they are not exactly new commercials. Some might be a year or two old.


Finally, click here for a link to the Top 20 Funniest Sports Commercials of the Last 20 Years.


Enjoy your spare time!

Stu



PS Friend the library on Facebook and check out our fascinating tweets on Twitter!

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)