I have completed a number of updates to the site today. These include the following:
I was for quite some time bewildered as to what web application I could use for a private diary or journal. I carried out web searches and tested a few different applications (as well as software). I just couldn’t find anything that set out the journal in a way that I liked. The other thing was the fact that I like to test out web applications. So I just had to test out as many as I could. In the end I couldn’t settle on anything that I really liked.
Penzu seemed good – and it is. However, it didn’t have enough formatting options for me and I would have liked more ability to customize it also. But I didn’t want to let go of Penzu – especially if it improved over time and more features were added. Of course, there was always the concern about a web application suddenly closing down as well. What to do?
Suddenly it occurred me – what about WordPress.com? I love WordPress and use it for pretty much all of my Blogs – though I also have other Blogs that I use on Tumblr and Posterous for example (I love testing web applications remember). If there was a private option on WordPress.com than that would be brilliant – and there was. So that was the answer for me – use WordPress for my journal.
So I use both Penzu and WordPress, posting the same entries to both platforms. I like to use Namo WebEditor to write and format my enteries first though, just as I do for all of my WordPress Blogs. It gives me much more control that way. Of course Penzu is still limited in that area.
I thought I’d share that on the News at the Portal Blog because it could be a useful way for people to write their own diaries or journals should they wish to. Don’t rule out WordPress.com as an option – it’s great.
Visit WordPress.com at:
http://wordpress.com/
Visit Penzu at:
https://penzu.com/
I have been tinkering with the web applications and social networks listing on the page. I have decided to add links to all of the sites I use so that any interested visitor can check them out for themselves. I am identifying those sites that I have a public profile on and that I have linked to elsewhere on the page with a simple * at the front of the link. The list is not yet 100% completed – and will end up quite large as I do tend to test and use a large number of sites for one reason or another.
Bundlr
I have just started to use the Bundlr social network/web application this evening. This could be a great little tool that will allow me to bundle (hence the name) resources from around the web into collections of curated content. I should hopefully be able to embed this information into other websites in the future. It should be a great tool for some of my other sites and I am already experimenting with it for the kevinswilderness.com site. Links to my Bundlr profile and to Bundlr itself have now been added to Kevin’s Portal.
Visit my Bundlr profile at:
http://gobundlr.com/u/kevinwmatthews
Evernote
One of the tools I use a lot is Evernote and a link to this tool will be added to Kevin’s Portal tonight also. There are no public profiles for Evernote, though there is the ability to have shared folders and to share individual files with others and other sites. I will use Bundlr to form a curated page for Evernote also so that I can promote this brilliant tool. Evernote is my favourite tool in the cloud and it can be used on all manner of mobile devices and computers.
My Bundlr Evernote page will be at:
http://gobundlr.com/b/evernote
I am about to start using a new web application called BookYap. Put simply, BookYap is an application that recommends books based on criteria you enter. There are over 650 000 books in its database, so chances are it will find a book for you.
You can search for a book by using keywords or the filters it has available (based on personality types). By becoming a registered user, the application learns more and more about you and your reading habits, improving the recommendations it makes for you.
Books appear with thumbnails of their covers and book ratings. A brief description appears by hovering over the thumbnail. You are able to interact with the application and associated community by sharing books you have read and your reviews of them. There is connectivity with both Facebook and Twitter also.
You are also able to add books to a reading wishlist if you like. Books can be purchased from Amazon when you choose a book to read.
There is now a link to my BookYap profile in the directory at the left of the page.
Check out Kevin’s Portal at:
http://kevinmatthews.zxq.net/
I just added a new link to ‘Kevin’s Portal’ in the directory in the left column under ‘Other.’ The link is to a web application/social network designed to collect feedback from visitors about me. It is called, ‘What is Wrong with Me’ and it gives visitors the opportunity to tell me what they really think of me without me knowing who they are.
Check out Kevin’s Portal at:
http://kevinmatthews.zxq.net/
I have put up a few more links to Kevin’s Portal – these are:
Visit Kevin’s Portal at:
http://kevinmatthews.zxq.net/
Kevin's Portal 