Books and Cataloguing

I once had all of my books catalogued and organised. I guess the ones I had up to that point still are – but now, with ebooks and other traditional book additions to my library, the number of books/ebooks I own has probably doubled at least. I should have continued to catalogue and organise them as I added to the library, but alas I did not. I have been working away at doing it now, on and off, for a little bit in recent months. I’ll get there eventually, but it takes a bit of time.

I use Goodreads online for cataloguing and a database on my computer for offline cataloguing. Both have their purpose, and one acts as a back up of the other. If I can get this done, it will be very helpful in using the library for research and study purposes, and also save a lot of time in the long run.

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Movies & Social Networking

I have spent a goodly amount of time this evening trying to find a social networking/web application experience that will allow me to share what DVDs and movies I own, as well as sharing my reviews, ratings, etc. Try as I may (and have), I am yet to find a place that will allow me to do all of this in one place and that will share all that experience to my Facebook timeline. There must be a place – but I can’t find it.

I have tried Keepio and Bagcheck, but these don’t really do what I want. They are probably good for listing your items (not just DVDs and movies), though Keepio is not allowing me to add any more than one item at the moment for some reason. Bagcheck is way too public for my liking. So I have accounts at both, but I’m not likely to use them for this particular purpose.

I use Flickchart and Flixster, which have proven to be very good for rating and reviewing movies, but not so good for listing the DVDs and movies I own. I do like both of these sites and will continue to use them. I will probably use something like Listgeeks (where I also have an account) for listing what movies I own, unless I find something else.

One other avenue I haven’t really explored at the moment are the various iPhone apps, so I’ll do that next.

Anyone got any ideas – I’ll be grateful for that ‘place’ that will do it for me. Someone? Anyone?

So what started all of this off? It was buying and watching ‘The Grey’ last night – it got me to thinking that I should get around to doing this part of the social scene. My review can be found at Flixster – http://www.flixster.com/movie/the-grey-2012/ .

Goodreads

If you are into books and sharing your thoughts about them, whether that is by book reviews, lists, what you own, etc, then Goodreads may be a social network for you. I am on Goodreads and I am using it to catalogue my entire library (both hard copy and digital) – it will take me a while to complete the exercise. I use Goodreads and Shelfari – at the moment Goodreads is probably my preferred book sharing social network.

http://www.goodreads.com/

Shelfari

If you are into books and sharing your thoughts about them, whether that is by book reviews, lists, what you own, etc, then Shelfari may be a social network for you. I am on Shelfari and I am using it to catalogue my entire library (both hard copy and digital) – it will take me a while to complete the exercise. You can embed your bookshelf into your website, start a book group and share with others within the Shelfari community, plus much more. Well worth a look.

http://www.shelfari.com/

Official Seal Maker

Today’s link is to a web application that allows the visitor to create official seals – think FBI seal, etc. Perhaps you need a seal for your organization? This site will allow you to create your own.

See more at:

http://www.says-it.com/seal/circle.php

Free Twitter Designer: Design Your Own Twitter Background

If you’re not happy with your twitter background you can make your own. An easy way to do this is to use freetwitterdesigner.com and upload your own photos, make your own text, etc. It is quite easy to use, but I would suggest you have your twitter profile open in another tab/window when you upload your background as you may need to tweak the background a bit to get looking just right – so don’t delete your work until such time as you are happy with the background as it appears on your profile.

Visit:

http://www.freetwitterdesigner.com/

See mine at:

http://twitter.com/particularkev

Blogging: Blog Hosted by WordPress

If you want to go an easier way (like me) than hosting a WordPress Blog on your own site, than WordPress has a way of doing this as well – with plenty of options.

Go to the WordPress site at:

http://wordpress.com/

Blogging: Lessons on Blogging from WordPress

WordPress is one of the best (the best in my opinion) blogging platforms there is. You can install WordPress on your own site or have a site that is hosted by WordPress itself. I have quite a number hosted at WordPress and cannot praise the platform enough – I love it.

WordPress has a whole section of their site dedicated to lessons about blogging:

http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons

Ning Free No More

Ning, the site that allows you to create your own social network, is going to discontinue its ‘free’ service and only have paying clients. I used to use Ning but changed to the Grou.ps platform about a year ago. I believe I made the right decision when I did so and now I really feel I made the right decision back then.

If you would like to visit Ning, click on the link below. However, I have a feeling that many social networks will be fleeing Ning and looking for alternatives.

http://www.ning.com/

Rollyo: Create Your Own Search Engine

If you have a website and would like to create a search engine just for it, you can use Google of course, or you can use Rollyo. But more than that, with Rollyo you can add whatever sites you like to the search engine. This is a great little idea which I intend to use in the future (when I get around to doing so).

Check it out at:

http://rollyo.com/index.html