THING 40. MASHUP THE WEB

I liked Lunchbox. You plug in a zip code and find a place to eat. Wheel of food is fun and colorful, but hard on the eyes with all the spinning. I searched TimeTube using the keywords "CDC H1N1." Imagine my surprise when I pulled up a single video called "Swine flu rappers." After looking closely, I saw I typed in "HiNi" instead of "H1N1." I searched with the correct spelling and pulled up a timeline with several YouTube videos. I tried to embed it in my blog but it didn't work. Couldn't view the terms and conditions.

Crime reports lets you plug in an address to pull up crime reports in that area.

I tried Walkable to find out the walkability score of my neighborhood. The score was 35 out of 100--"car dependent"--only a few destinations within walking range. No argument there. I sometimes go for a walk in my area, but I don't run errands by walking. I tried my old address in Roseville and the same score came up--35. I have to disagree with that. I lived across the street from a movie theater and a grocery store. I was within easy walking distance of a drug store and the bank. I walked to Como park. I even walked to the library sometimes!

THING 39. DIGITAL STORYTELLING

This Thing was fun. I used Scrapblog to create a page using pictures from the Japanese Cultural Fair held at the library in August. Scrapblog was easy to use. After uploading, you click and drag the photos to make the layout. I played around with cropping the photos and the arrangement. I added a simple background and text balloons. You can change the type style and size for each balloon. I didn't embed the finished result in my blog because of privacy issues with the people in the pictures.

THING 38. SCREENCASTING

I had never heard of screencasting, but after reading through this Thing, I can see the usefulness of it. Perhaps many of the tutorials I've watched online were done with screencasting and I didn't know it. Screen-cast-o-matic looked good, but it requires a different version of Java. I was all set to use Screen Toaster for embedding a tiny tutorial in my blog. Then I read their privacy agreement. Not private enough for me. I looked at the screencasting sites that require a download. Our Computer Services people frown on downloads. I decided to go on to the next Thing.