Ten Best Flickr Mashups

The word of the day is Mashups:

A mashup, for the unfamiliar, is a hybrid web application that uses data from an outside source to drive a web service. Mashups can be created using data culled from RSS feeds, public databases, or any open data source.

My favorite mashups use Google Maps in some way, but I am seeing many more combinations now. This list of very interesting mashups using Flickr is from Webmonkey.

My favorites in the list include navigation, games (guessing or Sudoku), and even search by drawing, and a utilities for color picking.

Widgets

I know of two main types of widgets that are popular, Dashboard on Mac OS X Tiger and Yahoo Widgets (previously known as Konfabulator)

In addition to the EleeNo clock I posted about, I also run the following Widgets:

• Calendar - Nice monthly view
• Day Planner - Summarizes meetings and todo’s, but only works with Yahoo Calendar and Outlook 11
• Koncalculator - Nice minimization feature for this calculator
• Google definitions
• Inspiration - Some random quotes
• The New York Times - News headlines
• WiFi Signal - Good to know signal strength when roaming
• Battery - Small and simple
• iTunes Bar - Very slim and barely takes any space… big fan of this one
• Weather

EleeNo Watch Widget

One of my favorite widgets du jour is the EleeNo clock, based on the Japanese SciFi Watch.

It’s nice and simple with clean lines, and easy to read once you know how to.

Excel Cheatsheet

So here are some Excel formula’s that I have used in the past and seem to keep finding ways to recycle:

Count unique names in a list:
(To define a range, highlight cells and select Insert –> Name –> Define)

=SUM(IF(FREQUENCY(MATCH(range,range,0),MATCH(range,range,0))>0,1))

Match if a name in one list exists on another list:
(This formula would be in the A column, comparing the B record with the A column in the “attendees” worksheet)

=IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP($B2,attendees!A:A,1,FALSE)),”No”,”Yes”)

To indicate a duplicate record:
(Formula in A column looking to see if the record in B column has already occured in the B column)

=IF(COUNTIF(B:B,B2)>1,”Duplicate”,”")

Count the number of records:

=COUNTIF($A:$A,”*”)-1

or to count non-blank:
=DCOUNTA(A:A,1,$A$1:$A$2)

Light Rail Screening and Expansion

It feels like a Light Rail mention kind of day. Today was the first day I was actaully screened at the Exchange Place PATH station, after the machines being installed a week ago. This is a pilot program to test for explosives. Overall a delay and screeners with attitude. At least the pilot is only until the end of the month.

It’s not as bad as the airport, since you only need to scan your bags seperatly. No need to remove phones, ipods, keys, shoes etc.

NJ Transit also announced the opening of two stations on the northern stretch of the line, Bergenline Avenue Station in Union City and Tonnelle Avenue Station in North Bergen.

I was also very excited to see on the new route map that 8th Street Station has been added as “Future Expansion”. Since I currently live off of 8th Street in Bayonne, this would save me the drive to 22nd Street. Of course I will have long moved away, but a nice touch.

My Feb Google Rank

How time flies, I seem to of missed the January update, so this is overdue. The full tracking is on the About page.

Results from GoogleRankings.

Feburary 2006: The G goal is getting close, and trackbacks and/or links are next on my list.

Keyword: adam karas URL Pattern: adamkaras.com
Google: Position: 3
Yahoo: Position: 19
MSN: Position: 1

Google Page Rank: 0
Number of Backlinks: 0

Keyword: “adam karas” URL Pattern: adamkaras.com
Google: Position: 5
Yahoo: Position: 6
MSN: Position: 7

Google Page Rank: 0
Number of Backlinks: 0

Zillow.com

Home valuation meets Web 2.0. Zillow works for buyers, sellers and owners by not only making it easy to check out home values using a Google Maps interface, but you can estimate, compare, and index. They also do a nice job summarizing each zip code value.

Of course the downside is that my place is new construction so hasn’t made it into the system yet. The site also shows a value for my last place that seems way too high but I want to check more into why that is.

NYC Nightlife

Just got introduced to an interesting site, targeted to the female audience, but adaptable to metros.

Shecky’s is New York City’s only complete resource to brutally honest, unbiased reviews on thousands of local venues. Want cool events, bars, restaurants, spas, salons, beauty, fitness, arts/culture, services, shops, and erotica? Read on!

Some of the features would be a Party Aid, where you can input what kind of place you want (lounge, club, etc), theme, hood, food and if open bar, and the site returns suggestions for the entire evening. Nice for exploring new places or filtering the incredible options in the city.

So another resource for city planning, along with Citysearch and Zagat (subscription), along with MUG.

IN PRINT, “Shecky’s is one of the largest publishers of NYC lifestyle guides. Let’s face it – we cover everything that makes NYC the best city in the world!

CHECK OUT SHECKY’S MANY TITLES! CLICK TO SEE MORE INFO.
Shecky’s Best in New York
Shecky’s Bar, Club & Lounge Guide NY
Shecky’s Beauty Book New Work City
Shecky’s Girl’s Guide to NY Nightlife
Shecky’s Pretty City NY
Shecky’s Erotic NY
Shecky’s Sexy Jobs in the City
Shecky’s 151 Coolest Cocktails
Shecky’s Guide to Downtown NYC
Shecky’s New Jersey Guide
Shecky’s Apartment Rental Guide
Shecky’s Dirt Cheap NYC

Reddit, Del.icio.us and Digg

Following up on my Newsvine story, I found this post interesting and had to agree on the findings. I grow tired of Digg and Reddit (as well as Slashdot) pretty quick, while Del.icio.us feels like it will have longer legs.

Why Reddit, Digg, will not succeed with main street audience and Del.icio.us will.

Why does someone tag something on del.icio.us? Because users want to save it for personal reference. What’s the psychology for other news aggregators? I think this is cool and I will share it with others in hopes of karma whoring.

Newsvine

Just got my invite for Newsvine so spending some time checking it out.

Basically it is an news aggregator site mixed with community news creation with all sorts of tools.

• Read - Direct sources and feeds from AP and ESPN amoung others
• Write - My own column if I choose to write it
• Seed - Point to other sites

Every day I spend at least some time surfing news sites like NYT, BBC, Google, and WSJ. Recently I have been using Digg and Reddit as ways to also get to content, but in general have been unimpressed with what gets voted to the top of the page.

Some of the tools that can be used on every article is vote, comment, live Flash chat, and reporting. Some of the articles are audio also. Overall I agree with the positive reviews and look forward to running it thru the paces.

I have my own invites, so let me know if you want to check it out.