Web 2.0 awards

Senator Ted Stevens' "series of tubes" certainly has yielded some amazing stuff, hasn't it? I don't know that these are Things that Libraryland will want to cover in another 2.0 blitz, but I can tell you that I found them interesting:

Be Green Now: Five years ago I might've thought a carbon footprint had something to do with Bigfoot. Either children or social consciousness has made me more aware, however, and I am slowly but surely trying to make my footprint smaller. This site helps me tally my carbon footprint, gives suggestions as to how to reduce it, and keeps track of my progress.



Etsy: As you may have noticed from my links on the right, I am already a huge fan of Etsy. It is a fabulous place to browse-- and if you're really lucky, purchase-- handmade loveliness of all stripes. Viva la internet. Of course, it's a great way to sell too, if you're crafty.



Guess the Google: I played this game a long time ago and was pleasantly surprised to be reunited with it on this list. It is based on work from the creator's original project, Montage-a-Google, which uses Google's image search to generate a large gridded montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by the user. Guess-the-google reverses this process by picking the keywords for you. The player must then guess what keyword made up the image - it's surprisingly addictive.



Lulu: Just upload your manuscript, photos or digital files, use their formatting tools to get everything set up just the way you want, from size to binding to cover art, and... well, that's it. You're the proud parent of a brand new digital creation, ready to publish and cherish.

Lulu offers free book publishing services. No set-up fees. Set your own price, Lulu prints and ships each item as it's ordered, and you collect 80% of the creator revenue on every sale.

Then your book is, if you choose, automatically listed for sale on the Lulu Marketplace - a booming ecommerce destination that attracts more than 900,000 unique visitors every week. Lulu's #1 ranking among self-publishing websites ensures that your work will show up at the top of the search results in places like Google and Yahoo. You can also get your own ISBN, so you can make your masterpiece available in retail stores, libraries and schools around the world - online and off. Becky, are you ready to write that nonfiction book with me?

Thing #17. Check.