To start, I created a homepage that I was unfamiliar with. I chose Pageflakes. This is also why it appealed to me. I wanted a challenge. I was not disappointed. In actuality, it was a pretty incredible process. Being slightly familiar with iGoogle, I was expecting basics, such as the weather and possibly a calendar, but there was much more. First, I personalized the weather section. Next, I decided to be creative and attempt to tie my previously made Google calendar (from this class) to the generic calendar on the homepage, and it worked! At this point I was pretty excited, but I digress. I tied my e-mail, my facebook, and my twitter to the homepage. Alerts would just pop up without me having to have these different links open. There was even a news box and flickr box for local news and photos. Simply put, I'm sold. This covers my social network (Facebook, Twitter, Email), my local news, events, weather, and my own personal calendar from google! Not only will I use Pageflakes in the future, I will be asking my boss if I can incorporate it at the office (minus the social networking, of course).
The online calendars are an area we've touched already in our 23 things. I am in love with my Google personalized calendar and am still currently using it. I was excited to find that it even rolled over onto my iPhone, and to this day I don't know how! I was literally marking my phone calendar one day and saw that my events saved on Google were now there, so I can only assume my calendar on the iPhone was always the Google calendar, and I simply wasn't aware. This calendar has been incredibly useful because, since it is online, it can be accessed anywhere. Even on my phone. There are also nifty calendars that you can find at
http://www.icalshare.com/ that offer options as neat as a personalized Nashville Zoo calendar.
As far as to-do lists, Pageflakes also offered one of these. I was sad that I could not tie an outside url to it like I had been able to for the calendar. I already have a great to-do list account also learned of from this course from remember the milk. I like my to-do list, however I find it just as easy to mark events on my calendar and set reminders. Then to find my calendar now personalized on a homepage is as easy as snapping my fingers. Plus, those same reminders pop up on my iPhone like a text message. I imagine everyone will have their own preferences for what they like. I'm learning that applications and formats that are usable in different ways are the most beneficial, and probably are more so in a classroom setting. A calendar accessible from any computer and also a mobile phone sells itself, especially when it's free, easy to use, and sends reminders. Others may prefer a to-do list. I may use Remember the Milk after this course, but until it is transferable to my new homepage, it may not be as convenient for me, and when someone is busy, it simply comes down to convenience.
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