Playing Nice in Web 2.0

Read this post if you like sharing and getting credit for it.

I just love Web 2.0 -- it means more free goodies for all. Creativity and inspiration become infectious, and I find myself downloading more megabytes of photos, vector images, Photoshop brushes, textures, and tools than I will ever have time to find a use for. Part of this culture was made possible by the nonprofit organization Creative Commons, which has been around since 2001 and helps artists/creators choose an appropriate copyright notice for their work.

Web 2.0 sites like Flickr, however, allow everyone to share this work with the public.

As both a creator and a user of content created by others, I was very excited to find that two of my own images from Flickr had been re-purposed on the web. Check out how they were used!

An entry dated May 5, 2009 in SaunaScape features my "Weigh" image from last August.

A May 27, 2009 entry in Everybody’s Invited! features my "Fondue Fun" image from Laura's 19th birthday.

As a final note, I was able to discover these images because the authors of these blogs so kindly mentioned my Flickr user name, whoaitsaimz, under the photos. Which brings up an important point about the sharing culture: provide credit where credit is due. It makes the experience fun, fair, and everyone will be more likely to continue sharing in the future.

The Best Social Bookmarking Widget for Blogger

This post is for Blogger users who like custom templates and widgets.

Sometimes, it's hard to be a Blogger user, especially when you see cool features in Wordpress that you can't have, like "related posts" widgets and nifty social bookmarking icons that link up automatically to your post.

Recently, I found this code from cheth Studios, and I installed it to my very own blog.

Instead of the "Add This" widget which I used to use (also recommended, easier to install and smaller but uses javascript instead), you can now see all the functioning social icons below each of my posts. So go ahead and e-mail, tweet, bookmark, and share to your heart's desire. It can't get any easier.

Thanks, Cheth!

Music Fans: You Need to Sit Back and Listen

This post is for everyone who listens to internet radio and likes free stuff.

Regardless of your music taste, and whether you've settled into your iTunes, your ForumW, your LimeWire, Pandora, or some other way of consuming music, you have to try out last.fm.

According to their website, "last.fm is a music service that learns what you love" ... and I instantly loved it back. This kind of love doesn't take a lot of effort; it's service is based not only on what you tell it now, but on your past. Meaning that for people who have been listening to music for any more than 5 days out of their lives will appreciate the seamless transition to its online/offline user experience. Borderline creepy-stalker-lover, Last.fm seems to know you as soon as you press the little "import" button on its GUI, updating your profile information to reflect your listening history. It's a good thing real relationships don't have that kind of unforgiving insight.

They also offer personalized music recommendations, some free mp3 downloads, stations based on a specific artist, all kinds of web 2.0 widgets for your blog/website/network, and automatically corrected misspellings of artist and track names. A website that can correct you, the music guru, when you're wrong???! It's creepy but it works. The question is, do you really want a service that works that well... wuahaha...

Fun with Avatars

Yahoo! Avatars is kinda fun if you're in a distract-me-please kinda mood. The selections are limited but here's what I came up with:

A little Rome-sick, maybe, hehe. Especially with all this cold weather in the States!

Stumbled Upon: Jackson Pollock

(Two posts in one day, oh boy!)

Just signed up for a service called StumbledUpon, which lets you find cool things on the internet based on your interests and likes / dislikes (via a browser toolbar). So I clicked that I like art, graphic design, and other typical things. And the first page I was taken to was blank. "Huh? Stupid service," I think.

Until I moved my mouse around on the page!!!

Coooooooooool. Hey ya know what I like most about this? No one's trying to make any money, lol.

So I'm not sure if this is a post about StumbledUpon, Jackson Pollock, art, or the fact that the web is so cluttered with money-making schema, but enjoy. And have a good weekend!

Word Reference

Just though I'd shout out one of my favorite sites, WordReference.com because I use it so often and have found it to be one of the best sites for learning another language (specifically, Italian). It's not like "free translations" which gives you a botched-up, literal version of what you're trying to say. While you can't really search entire strings of text, this site allows you to type in one word at a time and see it used in different phrases and even in forum discussions, which I have found to be very active and helpful, and super friendly! There are both Italian and English speakers in the forum, who are glad to answer any questions or help with translation issues. You can learn a lot about popular expressions, slang, and even some pop culture. For example, do a search regarding the phrase "TVB" or "ti voglio bene" to learn whether it means "I like you" "I love you" "I want you" or "I wish well for you."

There's also a helpful "conjugator" which allows you to type in any verb in the infinitive (or if you're not sure about the infinitive, type in a verb and it will tell you the infinitive and what tense it's in!) and get more than enough tenses to satisfy any writing need. And best of all, this is a completely free site! The only thing you would need to do is register (also free) if you want to ask a question on the forum, but browsing the forum is completely open to the public.

Finally, there's a cool browser plug-in so that you can have WordReference.com in your search bar! It couldn't be any easier to install and use:

Like I said, this site is a great word-by-word educational tool. It's not a shortcut for slackers but it will help greatly with the lifelong process of learning a new language:

English-Italian Dictionary
Italian-English Dictionary

Note: I have NOT been paid to write this (I wish). I just figured it was time I gave a shout-out to one of my all-time favorite websites which probably deserves a lot more recognition than it gets. Thanks WordReference!

SnagFilms Documentary

Support independent films! You can watch excerpts, trailers, and whole features for free, with short commercial interruptions. You'll also find links to relevant charities and websites. This one is about a Chinese / Canadian modern dance pair: