Since it’s now officially too hot to breathe here and too cold to bear on Tina’s side of the world, we have no reason not to stay in and play on the computer. So here are a couple of digital toys I’ve been amusing myself with.
Summer in a Glass
You know all those pictures you come across while wandering around the internet? That exact perfect fabulous thing that you are absolutely sure you will remember where you saw it, and that it exists? Right, that thing. Or maybe you’ve printed out dozens of variations on a theme, looking for just the right one, because you know there is no way you’ll remember them all. Pinterest gives you a place to “pin” those pictures and points you back to where you found them. It also lets you categorize, tag and comment on them. Great idea. Wish I’d thought of it!
rrrewind
Whenever I spend a day or two offline, the first thing I do is wade through my accumulated emails, check Facebook to see what I’ve missed and take a look at my favorite blogs. But what about all those other sites I follow? What was happening on flickr and hacker news and twitter while I wasn’t looking? All that was just lost. Until now. A very smart fellow named Roberto Martinez has designed a site that keeps track of these channels and several more, providing us with a time machine back to last week and even last year. It’s safe to vacation again.
Scrivener
If you want to get some work done and your work involves writing, this is a great tool that is fun to use. Scrivener provides a virtual space to create fiction and nonfiction, with some elements that I really love. My favorite is the corkboard view where I can pin up notes. Also, it lets you easily separate a document into chapters and then coalesce the chapters for print or publication. All in all, a very elegant application.
So there you go. And after you’ve finished pinning, rewinding and writing, maybe you can join a friend for a coffee or a cocktail in Second Life.