…right now. This is a seriously temporary list!

1. Gmail – never have I stuck with an email system or even address for so long. Quick, easy to use, almost perfect.

2. Newsgator – you could possibly substitute this with Bloglines, as I seem to switch between the two, but this is my current favourite, largely due to the clarity of the layout. Must have a look into the FeedDemon synching.

3. Writely – simply a brilliant idea, brilliantly executed.

4. ProtoPage – has fully taken over from the Google Portal for me. Am looking forward to any additions to the service next year – how about integrating with other services, like

5. HipCal – the online calendar that has actually got me using an online calendar – and that’s while it still only displays dates in US format!

6. WordPress – easily, to my mind, the best blogging platform there is. With version 2, it’s even more accessible.

7. Flickr – since upgrading to a Pro account I have started to realise the true benefits of this service. And all the talk about sharing is fine and dandy – but  nobody gets more out of seeing their photos online than the photographers themselves. Makes me want to carry my camara around all the time. 

8. phpBB – even though I have had to move Palimpsest onto VBulletin because of the workload, this remains the easiest to install, administer and use free internet forum. It’s amazing, really, that this doesn’t cost anything.

9.Wikipedia – lots of people sneer about it, but here’s my view: if you use Wikipedia as your only source for a piece of academic, or indeed any, work, you are a nitwit. I wouldn’t use Brittanica, say, as my only source for something, so why use something as obvious open to error as Wikipedia? But, as a quick guide to something, a way of genning up on something you knew little about, or as a way of whiling away a bored hour, there’s nothing better.

10. Palimpsest – well, I have to mention it. A haven from internet witlessness. Read this if you don’t believe me, if you have a spare couple of hours. Be there and be square.

Which I left in drafts until now…

• Knifing Charles: Was this Daisy McAndrew’s First Scoop?
• Sniping from the sidelines at Google Pack

It’s a Saturday, so not a lot going on, despite the Google announcements.

• Google Pack – hasn’t everyone already got this stuff?
• Politics: Charles Kennedy resigns at last (aside from whether he should have done so, whether now or months ago, the Lib Dems have come out of this looking pretty grubby); and Tony Banks is very ill.
• Google selling video now

Books and Desk
Originally uploaded by theclosedcircle.

This one is better I think: more pics at a smaller size.

A tip for when pasting in HTML from flickr into WordPress 2. the editor is supposed to pick up HTML and work it out for you, but for some reason it struggles with these image links. Better to paste it straight into the HTML dialogue by clicking the  button.

 

Created using the Flickr toys at Flagrant Disregard.

Much planning is being done over at Palimpsest for the second Big Day Out, which we have all been looking forward to after the success of last year’s.

It seems like a few new Palimpers will be coming along, which will be nice. So far, 11 have signed up, with 2 maybes.

Am staying over in the local Travel Lodge this time, so as to make an evening of it. As it isn’t until 24 May, I got a family room for £10, which I can share with amner. A fiver each! Excellent.

My local council has a forum which no one uses. Well, I thought I would give it a go, largely because I was so annoyed at how long it took me to find out my local councillors’ names and contact info (I want to find out what is happening to the park in our village, which is beset by vandals and where the play equipment is, frankly, lethal)!

Anyway, my post was suitably pompous, and after submitting it I was all sent to c&p it into here, but the bloody thing needs to be moderated. Presumably that means every post has to be… cue eyes rolling dramatically.

Been browsing through Flickr and found this beauty from Chillicheese: Palimper and blogger.

I have recently become a ‘pro’ member of flickr, largely so that I can dump loads of family photos for distant family members to see, so they are mostly private. But I am interested in taking more photos more often, not just when we go for a trip out somewhere.

A digital camera is an amazing thing really, when you think about it. Being able to take as many photos as you like, print out some if you want to, send them to friends. I guess it gives you the chance to take risks, wheras before one might have been worried about wasting exposures. Just take loads of photos and sift through them on the PC when you get home. Brilliant.