Several websites have been launched to further President Obama’s goals toward improving transparency and encouraging citizen participation in government, notes the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

The much anticipated data.gov site provides public access to machine readable datasets from government agencies, with the goal of inspiring innovative uses of government data by developers and researchers — a process that has already begun with the Apps for America 2 contest and the Innovations Gallery, which highlights pro-transparency efforts of government agencies.

To improve citizen participation, the government is seeking public submissions to the Open Government Dialogue, a collaborative “idea” site similar to the “Join the Discussion” site used by the Obama transition team earlier.  The site will collect and rank policy ideas from the public on topics such as transparency, participation, collaboration, capacity building, and legal and policy challenges.  This is the first step in a three-part policymaking process that will include blog discussions and collaborative editing of the recommendations on a wiki.  The Administration also relaunched regulations.gov to let the public voice opinions about government rulemakings.

The EFF says they are excited to see the government using the participatory, collaborative power of the web to enhance policymaking processes and look forward to seeing more steps from the Administration to make the promise of government transparency a reality.

I just heard about BillShrink as a result of T-Mobile, my cell carrier, offering a link to a “Mobile Makeover.”

BillShrink says it is an independent service providing unbiased and personalized recommendations to save you money on cell phone plans, credit cards, and gas prices.  You can automatically repeat the analysis on a regular basis as your usage changes, or different product offers come to market, and so forth.  The company will soon offer the same free, personalized service for other complicated everyday services.

Learning how to save money using a free service sounds too good to be true, hmm?  On their site they say, “BillShrink’s technology allows us to present unbiased, comprehensive information so you can see for yourself which options are best for you and why.  We will even give you multiple options for where you can sign up for your service, so you are in full control.  We get paid by retail partners if you decide to sign up for new service.”

I tried BillShrink out on my cell plan — as I suspected, I could save some money with a change — and also went through the process of looking for a credit card deal.  Although there are a number of options to choose from as you go through the analysis, as you might expect, not every consideration is accounted for.  You’ll still have to make a thoughtful determination.  I did find the cell plan shopping considerably simplified using BillShrink, however.  Try it out.

I read yesterday in several places, for instance here and here, about a free “answer engine” — not to be confused with a search engine — called WolframAlpha.  I tried off and on all day to log on, but I guess everyone else was trying, too, and I never succeeded.

It’s a new day, however, and I have been playing around on the site, adding it to my list of very valuable Internet resources, and wishing it were named something shorter and snappier.  WolframAlpha is “a computational knowledge engine: it generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links,” according to information at the site.

Among its long-term and far reaching goals:

• to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone;
• to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm;
• to make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything;
• to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge in order to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.

They suggest some examples to try.  For instance, check out the info you get when you enter two stocks: Microsoft and Amazon.  You’ll get an up-to-date stock quote and a comparison of the two along the lines of market cap, revenue, net income and so forth.  There is also a chart showing a 5-year rate of return which showed me that I own the wrong stock.  Want to know basic facts about a date? a city?  Or select from their visual gallery of examples

In order to serve as a knowledge engine with powerful results presented with clarity, they expect to bring in the expertise of a wide range of professionals.  A capsule comment from their site:  “Wolfram|Alpha is an ambitious, long-term intellectual endeavor that we intend will deliver increasing capabilities over the years and decades to come.”

Finally, Google has done the sensible and long-awaited thing and added the ability to list tasks in Google Calendar.

Check your Google Calendar.  If you don’t see “Tasks” listed on the left side, as shown in the image, refresh it or try later.  Once it’s there you’ll find that tasks that have due dates will automatically appear on your calendar.  To create a task with a due date in Calendar, click on an empty space in month view or the all-day section of week view, and be sure to select the “Task” option.

Here’s some more things you can do, as suggested by The Official Gmail Blog:

• To attach a due date to an existing task, click the right-arrow from within the task list, and then click on the calendar icon.
• You can modify a task’s due date by dragging it to a different date, just as you would with a regular calendar event.
• To mark a task completed from within Calendar, just click on the task’s checkbox.
• To keep track of due dates before they arrive, there’s a nifty new “Sort by due date” feature available in the Actions menu at the bottom of your task list.
• While sorting by due date, you can reschedule a task by clicking on it in your list, then pressing control and the up or down arrow key.

The compiler says that, “From preschool to graduate education, these 100 blogs are a great starting point for educators looking for inspiration and innovation.”

Educators can find answers and valuable teaching resources in these blogs.  Includes General Teaching Blogs, Specialty Subject Blogs, Best Podcasts for Teachers, Best Video Blogs for Teachers.  [via iLibrarian]

Photo by peiqianlong. Creative Commons license.

I was pretty intrigued by Photosynth when it was first introduced to the public in Auguast, 2008, but I admit to being a fan of Google Earth over Microsoft’s Virtual Earth.

There’s always room for an interesting new twist, however, and today Microsoft announced the integration of Photosynth with Virtual Earth.  The foks at TechCrunch are lauding the step.

By using Microsoft’s Silverlight technology it is possible for users to port their Photosynths to Virtual Earth, running on both Macs and PCs.  The company suggests the combo is a must for tourism agencies as well as businesses who want to add a “cool visual layer” to their stores, outlets and offices.  The example they provide (one image below) is of a house for sale.

The latest release of Photosynth introduces commercial licensing, privacy controls, and one-click highlighting for viewers to easily explore synths.  TechCrunch points out that getting users to install and use both Virtual Earth and Silverlight will be a challenge.  So far they have eluded the mainstream.

Amazon just announced its much anticipated new Kindle DX: Amazon’s 9.7wireless reading device with a large display handy for reading newspapers and magazines.  It can be preordered now for summer availability and will cost $489.  The current 6 inch screen Kindle sells for $359.

Here’s a list of basic features:

• Slightly more than1/3 of an inch thick, as thin as most magazines
• Holds up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents
• Large 9.7″ diagonal display, e-ink screen reads like real paper; boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and sharp images
• Auto-rotating screen: display auto-rotates from portrait to landscape as you turn the device so you can view full-width maps, graphs, tables, and Web pages
• Built-In PDF reader: native PDF support allows you to carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go
• Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle DX, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, no annual contracts, and no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
• Free wireless delivery of books in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
• Long battery life: read for days without recharging
• Read-to-Me: with the text-to-speech feature, Kindle DX can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book’s rights holder made the feature unavailable
• Big selection, low prices: Over 275,000 books; New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases are only $9.99, unless marked otherwise
• More than books: U.S. and international newspapers including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, magazines including The New Yorker and Time, plus popular blogs, all auto-delivered wirelessly

At the packed press conference, Amazon announced a partnership with three top textbook publishers which account for 60% of textbook sales (Pearson, Wiley and Signage).  Five universities have agreed to pilot the Kindle DX: Arizona State, Princeton, Reed, U of Virginia, and Case Western Reserve.  TechCrunch’s liveblog from the conference includes a number of illustrations or you can see more at Amazon’s Web site.

There are 4 grade school age children in my extended family so I tend to notice technology designed for kids.

Safe browsing
A new browser called KIDO’Z is an Adobe AIR-powered desktop browser app that gives kids a safe and fun environment to play games, watch videos and/or visit pre-approved websites, says TechCrunch.

When you first install the AIR app as a parent, you can configure the age and gender of your offspring as well as your location and preferred language.

The settings operate at a content level, so KIDO’Z automatically caters to the media it thinks is most suited for your kid(s) at first launch.  Parents get password-protected access to an admin panel where they can add more or restrict access to certain content, set limited time frames for usage, and so on.

The user interface is very visual and colorful  and can be used by kids who cannot read yet.  There are three main areas:  games, videos and websites.

“All media can be opened and viewed inside the app’s interface, and in fact kids can only leave the KIDO’Z environment by exiting the browser altogether. CEO Gai Havkin says the tool will later be extended to a closed network of communication tools, including e-mail and instant messaging features making it more of a social experience but without the security and privacy hazards of existing services.”

KIDO’Z is currently free of charge, but paid content packages are expected in about three months so parents can buy additional video material, games etc. for a couple of dollars per month.

Create fantasy maps at Kidlandia
Kidlandia, is a web destination where parents and kids can create personalized cartoon fantasyland maps named for the people and places that tell a child’s personal story, notes TechCrunch.

“Kidlandia lets parents and kids create maps of a fantasy land, where the child is King or Queen of their own eponymous fantasy kingdom such as ‘Leenatopia’ or ‘Michaelland.’  You can insert family members or friends names into the map, so other areas of the land incorporate family members’ names.  The map also features whimsical characters from horned Uniquills and scowling Grumps to long-trunked Yuhoos on the map.”

Parents can order prints of the map that have been created online with prices ranging from $40 for a small sized scroll to $180 for a larger sized, high quality, framed print of the map.  Maps can also be printed on scrolls, that are easy for the child to carry around, or on canvas that is stretched over a frame to be hung.

Although “Kidlandia is a creative idea and the price points for some of the maps are fairly reasonable”, poster Leena Rao says that “there doesn’t seem to be any integration with the web to create a virtual world for kids alongside the product, which doesn’t make the site very interactive.  Webkinz and Disney’s Club Penguin create virtual worlds for children to immerse themselves in a fantasy land, and have become increasingly popular.”