I've tried using iGoogle in the past and didn't really enjoy it. I don't know if I just need to play with it more or what. I like being able to focus on one thing at a time I guess. My RSS feed is busy enough as it is, I don't want my email and the weather and whatever else vying for my attention all at once. Maybe I just need to adjust things a bit more, I don't know.
I use Google Calendar all the time. It's really nice being able to color-code different kinds of events and set reminders, and the interface is nice and straightforward. Even though my Mac has iCal, I can get to my Google Calendar from anywhere. Similarly, my Mac has a built in sticky notes widget, but I just use the "tasks" tab in my Google account to list reminders from time to time. I don't use a "list" like this to jot down anything particularly important, just a little note about something to check into when I get a chance. I generally lead a pretty post-it free / reminder-free life otherwise, I'm not sure how exactly I get by without staring at a list of reminders every day.
I think all of the different productivity applications offered under the Google umbrella is one of the best examples I can think of that demonstrate how digital work, digital lives, are moving to the cloud. There's no need to store a lot of different kinds of information at home when it's easier to just throw it out onto the web. It's why Google Docs has been my go-to for group projects / collaboration: each individual can work on things when they choose without having to be in a central location, and you can chat with collaborators if they're working on the same document at the same time.
All of this integration means you have to trust a corporation enough to handle all of these aspects of your life, of course. That's where things get sticky I guess. Clearly, Google has me pretty well sold: I use them for my email, RSS reader, calendar, notes, blogging, really everything except my homepage. I guess they've got me, but it really is nice to know I have all of those tools in one place.
I think these kinds of tools are best for personal tasks rather than library tasks (with the exception being Google Docs for small group work). At the workplace it's a little different: it makes sense to have a paper calendar hanging up that doesn't require you to log in to look at it. It makes sense to have some post-it notes handy. Both personally and professionally a tool is only useful when it solves a problem. I'm not going to go out of my way to find tools that, while possibly neat or clever, solve a problem that I don't really have in the first place.
All of this integration means you have to trust a corporation enough to handle all of these aspects of your life, of course. That's where things get sticky I guess. Clearly, Google has me pretty well sold: I use them for my email, RSS reader, calendar, notes, blogging, really everything except my homepage. I guess they've got me, but it really is nice to know I have all of those tools in one place.
I think these kinds of tools are best for personal tasks rather than library tasks (with the exception being Google Docs for small group work). At the workplace it's a little different: it makes sense to have a paper calendar hanging up that doesn't require you to log in to look at it. It makes sense to have some post-it notes handy. Both personally and professionally a tool is only useful when it solves a problem. I'm not going to go out of my way to find tools that, while possibly neat or clever, solve a problem that I don't really have in the first place.
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