NorthStarNerd.Org

Expanding Across the Web via Twitter and RSS

If one creates good content ... it moves! Here is an example from my new Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine which I created last night (and Tweeted).

From bit.ly I can tell that my original Twitter link has been clicked upon 99 times in the last 24 hours. Add yesterday's 623 Feedburner subscribers, and over 700 people have already reviewed this content, and this does not include all the folks who came to NorthstarNerd.Org directly.

From Twitter Search ...

Realtime results for search engine "nobel prize"

0 more results since you started searching. Refresh to see them.

• 
  raysadad: This looks useful. Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/X3rSt (expand) (via @zaidlearn)
  about 6 hours ago
  .
  
• 
  zaidlearn: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/X3rSt (expand)
  about 6 hours ago
  .
• 
  blablatj: RT @ShellTerrell: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/13RsHG (expand)
  about 7 hours ago
  .
  
• 
  av2learner: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://ff.im/-94CxP
  about 11 hours ago
  .
• 
  pgsimoes: RT @ShellTerrell: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/13RsHG (expand)
  about 15 hours ago
  .
  
• 
  web20classroom: RT @ShellTerrell: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/13RsHG (expand)
  about 15 hours
  .
  
• 
  ShellTerrell: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/13RsHG (expand)
  about 15 hours ago from
  .
  
• 
  elearningPosts: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/YAeA3 (expand)
  1 day ago from
  .

And Finally ... me!

• 
  NorthstarNerd: Just created a new custom Google Search Engine which indexes Nobel Prize Winner Lecture Videos. Access via my blog at http://bit.ly/21uzau (expand)
  1 day ago from 

Twitter Search ... a Yammer for some Reggae!

Welcome to another Northstar Nerd Tutorial. Today we look at Twitter Search. You may have heard about this Web 2.0 service, and discounted it as just a lot of noise, but what if you had the ability to eliminate the static and focus in upon useful content? You need not Tweet yourself. Enter the Northstar Nerd and my short tutorial (under four minutes) which will demonstrate how even without a Twitter account you can data mine this service for useful content.

• Twitter Search Tutorial
  (make take a moment to load)

Here is a screenshot from the tutorial ... click to view full sized.

Blog, Wiki, Tweet ... The Real You??

"It all began in realspace, on a subway train in South Korea. A young woman’s small dog pooped in the train. Other passengers asked her to clean it up, but she told them to mind their own business. That’s when it moved over to cyberspace and became even uglier."

These are the opening lines from the book, The Future of Reputation, written by George Washington University Law School Professor Daniel Solove. The book may be downloaded without charge. He also edits one of the top legal blogs on the web, Concurring Opinions. (listen to a Yale University Press podcast interview with the author)

If you ever doubted the need before, after reading parts of Solove's book you will understand that you need to learn how to manage your online reputation (personal or business). Do you have Google RSS feeds which monitor your name? (the same in the blogosphere or Twitter?). An intelligent company uses the web to learn when customers are angry (or happy). A few additional RSS feeds which use the words <insert your company name + sucks> or similar phrases could save your firm big problems.

While, I can't teach you how to monitor these key areas, here at least is a start (prior blog posts involving both search and RSS):

• Google Alerts
• Google Blog Search
• Keeping Current via RSS
• RSS Software

Keeping Current ... the Table of Contents Way

Earlier today I created about twelve "table of contents" RSS feeds for different technical journals and magazines. Via RSS I will now receive notification of each new issue with links to abstracts describing each article. Some of the content to which I subscribed includes the IEEE Spectrum, PC World, Wireless Today, MIT Technology Review, KM World and LINUX Today. One of the services I used is a great (and did I mention free?) service from a United Kingdom based academic consortium. This new service is named ticTOCS, and contains a huge amount of academic and research journals. I have included two screenshots with this post to give one an idea of how ticTOCS works. Create a personal account; it allows you to save your searches (i.e. desired journals) and RSS feed data.

The other big source I used was an online service which I access through my work named EBSCO. This online magazine service allows me access to more commerical kinds of magazines (PC World, Wireless Today, Business Week, etc.) Even in you don't have a similar service where you work, check with your local public library. In the United States it is now rare for public libraries not to given online access to magazine and journals ... the price of admission is your free library card. The two big services are ProQuest and EBSCO. Given how fast technology changes, and how hard it is to keep current, you owe it to yourself to create similar alerts. Here are two links which will help you find your local public library .... anywhere in the world:

• via LibWeb
• via LibDex

Here are the two ticTOCS screenshots. Click upon either image to view full sized.
.
 

Oxford Podcasts: The Engineering of Tolkien's Ring!

I've known about various Oxford podcasts for some time, but via Open Culture I learned last night of Oxford's new central podcast portal ... and it's cool ! Whether you want to learn about the relationship between J.R.R. Tolkien and the University of Oxford, or you want to focus upon engineering ... you'll find 470 podcasts available for download, and that number is growing. Better yet, you can easily subscribe via RSS to the different divisions and sub groups. I wish all schools constructed their podcast sites in this manner. It may have taken the venerable old Oxford longer to join the web 2.0 revolution, but now that they've done so ... wow! My congrats to the dons! Obviously this podcast portal gets added the my engineering learning wiki podcast section.

I've attached a screenshot below from the Oxford podcast portal. It shows how to easily filter the content for your desired interests.

Discoveries and Breakthroughs Inside Science

I've known about DBIS science news / video reports for a while, but it really bothered me that although a superior service, it did not have a RSS feed for updated content. Using the free RSS generation service from FeedFire, I was able to just drop in my desired url, and have a feed scraped from the html page. Try FeedFire some time; it's dirt easy to use.

Thus, now that I've built my feed, here is Discoveries and Breakthroughs Inside Science.

Supported by a coalition of scientific and engineering professional societies and a generous contribution from the National Science Foundation, DBIS promotes awareness of and appreciation for the role science, technology, engineering and mathematics professionals play in our daily lives by providing short, accurate, and scientifically reviewed scince news videos to local TV stations throughout the United States.

Here is a screen shot of a recent science news story ... Measuring Lightning. I will add DBIS to the Engineering Learning Wiki section ... Engineering for Children.

Click upon the image for a full sized view.

Tracking Google Results via Google Alert

Do you Google? Would you like to be automatically informed of relevant Google results that match a query you pre-define? Does tracking those Google results via RSS appeal to you?

Assuming the answers to these questions are "yes", then you need to use Google Alert. This service allows you to create RSS feeds and/or email notifications against your Google query results. Over time, you may also track new content which satisfies your query options. A basic account to use Google Alert is free.

I've created an updated Google Alert tutorial / screencast which reviews the basic features and demonstrates how to create an effective alert. I use this service to track competitors, vendors, technologies, etc.

• Northstar Nerd Google Alert Tutorial
  (may take a moment to load)

Software Engineering Matters!

I discovered this blog, Software Engineering Matters, via one of my Google Search Bots / Google Alerts. If your discipline is software engineering, it's definitely work a look and RSS subscription.  Here is how the blog author, Nicholas Chen, describes himself:

I am currently pursuing a Ph.D in software engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am a programming language fanatic and love learning new programming languages. At the moment, Ruby, Smalltalk, Haskell and Erlang are the most interesting languages to me.

I have added this blog to the "blogs and pods section" of the Engineering Learning Wiki. If you know of other serious engineering focused blogs which are authored by individuals (not companies), please let me know in the comments section.  I would like to expand this part of the Engineering Learning Wiki.

Nokia N800 RSS Capability

I decided it was time to do an entire post using my bluetooth keyboard and my Nokia N800 internet tablet. Last night we had some friends over for dinner and everyone was amazed with both the clarity and size of my Nokia's screen. Obviously that is the key point ... my ease of viewing web based content as well as upgrading when new software is created for the Nokia's Linux based operating system.

One change in my web browsing habits is that I've split up my RSS feeds. My work focused feeds remain on my PC; but my leisure based feeds are now on my Nokia. It's nice to sit on my bed after a long cross-country ski with my feet up and read for fun. It's just plain comfortable! Thus attached to this posting are eleven screenshots taken on my Nokia N800.  They demonstrate how easy it is to use and read RSS feeds via the Nokia. In my case I was leaving the frozen Northland for a trip via the NY Times Travel Section.

• Screenshots
• 00: Nokia Desktop
• 01: Web Applications Menu
• 02: RSS Application Start-Up
• 03: RSS Menu - Feed
• 04: RSS Menu - Edit
• 05: RSS Menu - View (and zoom)
• 06: RSS Menu - Tools
• 07: NY Times Travel Section Feed
• 08: Toggle to NY Times "Full View"
• 09: Web Page Link / Galapagos Islands
• My Earlier Nokia N800 Review (demo screencast)

I've yet to find an application out there which allows me to edit jpg files. More than likely, I'm not looking hard enough! Oh yes, one final point  ... the RSS Feed Reader that came with my Nokia had no problems importing an OPML file. Thus, I was able to import feeds in mass via a file transferred over from my PC.
.

Google Says Subscribe to This RSS Feed

For some time I've used GreatNews (my screencast and overview). This RSS feed reader has great features, and allows me to read my premium internal corporate feeds (i.e. content inside the firewall).  While I expect to continue to use GreatNews at work, I may have to switch to Google Reader at home.

Why?

Google Reader has recently added a new feature which recommends blogs to which I should subscribe based upon my usage history (i.e. my subscribed sites and what I actually read). Maximize the two screenshots to see what I mean. One can easily export all one's feeds to an OPML file and then import them into Google Reader.  It's an experiment worth trying. You may monitor what Google is up to with their RSS service via their Google Reader blog.
.