Top 10 lists
This New Year’s Eve day I find I am plenty tired of “top” lists for 2007.  However, I decided I just had to save this one from Lifehacker for future reference.  It lists useful stuff, not just memories. You gotta love those free computer system recovery tools, Firefox extensions, and ways to sleep better when you’re not computing.

List of 2007 lists from TechCrunch
The Year in Launches 
Most Popular TechCrunch Posts of 2007 
The Year in Deals
The Year in DeadPool 
and a final list from TechCrunch shows their most bookmarked posts as determined by those who used the “add this” button.  Includes “9 ways to build your own social network” and “If you don’t use del.icio.us, you will now” among its 25 links.

Manage your Web reading better
These tips from Web Worker Daily, or reminders if you are already familiar with them, caught my eye and reminded me that I could use some more help in making my way through the good stuff that shows up in my RSS feeds. 

One favor I did myself this past year was to select and stick with Google Reader and take advantage of the features it offers.  I mentioned the feed search function here awhile ago and also the “personalized recommendations.”

I vaguely remember reading about the Firefox extension called “Read it later” but didn’t install it then.  Now I’m going to try it.  Developer Idea Shower recently brought out a major release.   You can download the extension here. 

Wiki for free e- and e-audio books, educational information
Librarian Chick has a wiki containing a list of free resources for anyone in a learning mode, and especially students and educators.

Search for free audio books, ebooks, and text books here and visit the Learning Center here.  [via The Distant Librarian]

Pageflakes in education
Pageflakes, a popular start page, has a Teacher Edition which can be used as a practical tool for interaction between teachers and students. 

You can use the Teacher template to put together your own page(s) by adding and deleting “Flakes” that you select from a gallery of choices (see some below).  The page is private until you choose to share it with students and/or colleagues.

Functions include calendars, to-do lists, photo and video links, grade trackers, educational bookmarks and many more. [via LibrarianInBlack]

A survey of 69 large U.S. cities used six key indicators to rank literacy, including newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, and others.  Seattle has been in the first or second spot for at least 4 years. [via LISNews]

This year’s top 10 most literate (and wired) cities:

1. Minneapolis, Minn.
2. Seattle, Wash.
3. St. Paul, Minn.
4. Denver, Colo.
5. Washington, D.C.
6. St. Louis, Mo.
7. San Francisco, Calif.
8. Atlanta, Ga.
9. Pittsburgh, Pa.
10. Boston, Mass.

Online censorship in 2007
in the tradition of the year in review, Mashable recounts “several poignant, backward-thinking moments of the past twelve months in which individuals the world over have had to juggle the existence of Internet blocks; be they government-enforced or leveraged by corporations.”

Some of the sites censored:  MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube.

 GCal scheduling every-which-way
Lifehacker has rounded up a wealth of GCal syncing guides, organizers, and other GCal tools for your desktop, mobile device, Firefox, and even iPod.

Moving from Windows to a Mac
Two of my close relatives (you know who you are) abandoned Windows-based machines to embrace Macs.  If you are doing the same, there are things you need to know and Web Worker Daily lists 16 ways to successfully make the switch.

Tech in review
Lance Ulanoff at PC Magazine focuses on key topics as he reviews technology doings in 2007 and tells us what he thinks is likely to happen in 2008.  Includes Vista, iPod, Google, Facebook, chips, and more.

Another point of (re)view
Grumpy John Dvorak spreads his misery around as he reviews tech in 2007.  He looks at some of the same tech activities as the those listed above.

Tips and tricks to master Gmail
Writer John Brandon at PC Magazine asks you to abandon your old ideas about email and embrace all that Gmail has to offer, giving tips on how even those accustomed to Microsoft Outlook can successfully transition. 

Advantages of Gmail, he says, include never having to download your mail again, using a powerful mail search that doesn’t seem like an afterthought, and having a nearly infinite amount of online storage space. 
 

The books at Podiobooks.com are completely free because authors choose to make them so for a variety of reasons, mostly to gain exposure for their work.  You can make a donation to the author if you wish.

Books can be browsed by 20 categories, ranging from alternative history to young adult.  Choose a title and you’ll often find an indication of its “adultness” (although not always), customer ratings and reviews, a link to hear a sample, a link to let you begin listening to the first episode on your computer, and a way to subscribe to the book.

You can choose to receive the episodes of books via an RSS feed or by directly downloading episodes from the Podiobooks site.  Audio files can be kept on computers, transfered to CD or to an MP3 player so you can listen no matter where you are.

You can just click and listen from the site or register for a free account and have episodes sent to you one at a time.  Subscribe in iTunes, Juice, or Transistr (formerly iPodderX).

They have recently posted a list of the best Podiobooks of 2007.   Check the FAQ for more information.  Thanks, Nicole. 

Check out NORAD’s Santa tracking operations center, discover Santa’s current location, view the video about the event, and visit Santa cams around the world.  NORAD’s map of Santa’s locations include a link to Google’s search engine where you can learn more about the location.

And be sure to download the Santa tracker for Google Earth.  If you don’t have Google Earth, you can download it here. 
 Once you have it, download the Santa tracker from the NORAD site and make sure that only the “terrain” layer is checked.  Ho Ho Ho!

This link, Special Report: troubled tech at Homeland Security, will take you to a number of Business Week stories about tech problems at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  Government agencies continue to take on big tech projects, causing concerns about their abilitiy to pull them off.

Homeland Insecurity is the first of three stories on the challenges and opportunities faced by DHS.  It focuses on DHS’s reliance on outside contractors who are insufficiently managed.

Airport Fast-Pass Moves Slowly, the second story, is about “Clear” which lets screened travelers skip long security lines and epitomizes the pitfalls of developing technology for Homeland Security agencies.

Is Homeland Security Too Focused on Now? 
In this third story, some say that DHS’s emphasis on near-term results could leave the U.S. vulnerable to threats that can’t be anticipated.

Mashable’s predictions for 2008
Mark Hopkins gives his predictions for social networking, intellectual property, web applications, media, stupid trends and cool gadgets.

Digital Media and Learning
The series on Digital Media and Learning examines the effect of digital media tools on “how people learn, network, communicate, and play, and how growing up with these tools may affect peoples sense of self, how they express themselves, and their ability to learn, exercise judgment, and think systematically.” 

Open access electronic versions of all the books in the series are available from links at the site.  [via LibraryBytes]

Mozilla Weaving the Web
The Mozilla Labs Weave project site says, “As the Web continues to evolve and more of our lives move online, we believe that Web browsers like Firefox can and should do more to broker rich experiences while increasing user control over their data and personal information.”

Weave will attempt to explore blending of the desktop and the Web through deeper integration of the browser with online services.  The project will focus on finding ways to enhance the Firefox user experience, increase user control over personal information, and provide new opportunities for developers to build innovative online experiences using an open extensible framework.  Experimental prototype registration is here.  [via TechCrunch]

The aptly titled memoir of a public library assistant, Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library, gives a picture of goings on probably undreamed of by the majority of patrons accustomed to a well-ordered library environment.

Yet Don Borchert’s “expose” rings true say customer reviews at Amazon.

The author’s tales and anecdotes focus on the small percentage of activities that the library and its employees face, such as drug deals in the restrooms, floods of latchkey kids and unattended children as young as two, “the homeless, the mentally ill, occasional pedophiles, … con artists, thieves, and people who are in general angry with every level of state and federal government.”

Borchert’s book is witty and sometimes profane, says the reviewer for the Seattle Times, but provides the occasional out-loud laugh.  He also celebrates the thrill “of giving someone the right book that can change his or her life,” and he describes the challenges and frustrations of working in a place “that welcomes everyone,” notes USA Today.