Former Google Video user?  If so, you should think back to see if you have any files there you want to keep.

Google has decided to shut down Google Video, which actually stopped allowing uploads in 2009.  If you’re (were) a Google Video user, here’s some info that can help you save your files.  You have until May 13.

[Thanks, Kate!]

Last fall, Google released a new collaboration product, Shared Spaces.  This allows you to create customized collaboration work spaces with anyone.  You can create a place to play games, plan a trip, make lists or search Amazon, with people you know.

For those of us who want a really fast snapshot of recent Internet activity and news on a topic, try Addictomatic.  You can simply type in a search term, and get a page highlighting the latest news from Twitter, Google Blog search, YouTube and more.  It’s kind of fun, so try it out — here’s my search on the Watson computer that won Jeopardy.

Image from thewildernessdowntown.com

Most of the time the difference between one web standard and another isn’t obvious in day-to-day use, but HTML5 is different.  It’s currently supported on many browsers, and will enable several features that will make (y)our Internet experience much, much better.   Via CurrentCites, here’s the beginning of an article in Technology Review that goes over the details and explains what’s what.  Drexel Libraries has access Technology Review if you want to read the whole thing, which I’d recommend.

One example of HTML5 in action is the experimental interactive video The Wilderness Downtown by Arcade Fire.  If you haven’t seen it yet, you should check it out.  It combines the video with information you provide, making it a custom video.

Some features pointed out in the Technology Review article:

You’ll be able to drag and drop images from web pages to email, and so on.  GMail allows this now, but this will be ubiquitous with HTML5.

Video and audio will be easily embedded into web pages, eliminating the need for Flash.

There will be increased browser storage. This means that interactions with web sites will be much faster because your browser will have less constant back-and-forth with the server.  This also means that more information will be stored in your browser, so even if you’re not connected to the internet, you’ll be able to send emails, or change your fantasy football roster and your browser will sync it up when you reconnect.

IM+ now has a web application that works a lot like our beloved Pidgin, but also has the capability to integrate with Skype chat accounts.  It works on the desktop now as well as in their popular mobile interface, and it just came out of beta.

Try it out!

The EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) just released their 2010 Study on Undergraduates and IT.

Some highlights:

• Over 40% of undergraduates are “power users” of internet-capable handheld devices, compared with only 25% in 2009.
• 95% of respondents ages 18-24 use social networking sites, as do 58% of those 50 and older.  96% of these use Facebook.
• Most students are accessing course information via a Course Management System (CMS), such as Blackboard, but the number of participants who “feel positive” about their CMS has dropped to 51% from 77% in 2007.

The full report, and key findings, are available for download.

Google Wave apparently wasn’t so popular with the users.  From the Google blog;

“But despite these wins, and numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects.”

Full post here.

Now that Google Voice is open to The World, anyone can sign up for an account.   CNet offered a recent post about the ins and outs of Google Voice and a few basic pieces of information to know before you get started.

Google also has detailed help pages once you’re ready to get started.

Congrats to our very own Kate Lynch for her work at DrupalCon San Francisco, held last week.  As you all may know, Kate’s been very involved with Drupal for our own library website, as well as with the Drupal community as a whole.  In addition to her presentation on accessibility at the recent conference, she was a part of a presentation focusing on libraries and library websites, and got a nice mention in the American Libraries conference writeup.

Yay, Kate!

[Thanks Peter!]

The Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has this pretty dashboard where they display the statistics that are relevant to their library.   This includes database statistics, cataloging statistics, membership information, and so on.

Has anyone seen anything like this in use in an academic setting?  It seems like a nice way to package some numbers about the kinds of things we do, and usage information.

[Thanks Kate!]