I know I’m a day late and the Byte is really only good to Minnesota readers but I have a great tool for drivers…
MN 511 (http://www.511mn.org/) – it provides information on construction, delays, detours and weather reports – as they might have an impact on driving.
I see that 511 has been implemented in 22 states: http://www.deploy511.org/links.htm. So, I’m hoping some of you non-Minnesota folks will find a similar resource for your state there. Or maybe you can use MN 511 as an excuse to visit Minnesota.
Also I hear that the gas prices back home (I’m still in Ireland) are crazy. If it makes you feel any better – gas is $8 a gallon here.
I am pleased to unveil two new sites for one client with two complementary but separate businesses:
Karen Ray Associates helps business, government agencies, nonprofit organizations and individuals with consultation and training. Karen Ray Associates specializes in innovation and problem-solving.
Karen Ray Collaboration helps government agencies and nonprofits to work together – to collaborate. Much of Karen’s work is explains and built upon Karen’s published works:
The Collaboration Handbook and
The Nimble Collaboration
Sometimes it’s nice to feed headlines from one web site or blog into another. For example, maybe you have a blog that you maintain pretty often and a web site that is pretty static.
A quick and easy way to update that web site is to add the code on your homepage to grab headlines from your blog to rotate on your web site. Or maybe you don’t have a blog but you might grab headlines from another resource such as an industry magazine or the weather. If that resources offers an RSS feed; you can do it.
I want to thank Ruth in Detroit Lakes for telling me about a new (to me) resource for creating that code: Feed2JS: http://feed2js.org/
The site walks you through the process – and if you can add code to your web site, you can do this.
I hope Ruth won’t mind – but here’s the code in action: http://www.nlln.org – just scroll down to the blog headlines. Ruth’s blog is fun to read. She’s a librarian with a techie bent in Detroit Lakes, MN.
A widget is a tiny application you can post on your desktop, web site, or blog. For example I just had a client want a little weather box on the corner of their web site – not that the weather is bearable in Minnesota again.
WdigetBox (http://www.widgetbox.com/) is a huge collection of free widgets. Here’s an example of what you can get:
Weather widget, (http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/weather-badge)
Matisse Artist (http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/MatisseArtist) where you can assemble cut outs to create art
Movie Moron (http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/movie-moron) – movie news and reviews
ESPN (http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/espn-bottom-line-widget)
Happy widgeting!
