eugene gordin

I’m a big fan of Gmail. I’m a big fan of iPhoto. However, if I want to email my pictures from iPhoto with Gmail, I have to drag them from iPhoto to my desktop and then go to Gmail and browse for the file and then send it.

All of that isn’t necessary anymore with the help of a little plugin called iPhoto2Gmail, which allows you to, well, send pictures from iPhoto to Gmail believe it or not. It works through iPhoto’s File–>Export function and lets you login to your Gmail account and attach the selected photos to an email you can write in that same window (see screenshot).

If you use iPhoto and Gmail, I highly recommend this plugin. Its donationware, so if you like the work, be sure and donate (there’s a Paypal link on the site)!

Today’s useless but interesting nonetheless find is a screen saver called Fenêtres Volantes that makes your windows fly. I could go into greater detail, but that pretty much sums it up. Its a cool little animation, so check it out here.

Oh, and why from nothing you ask? Unless you are using an old type of monitor, the screen saver is nothing more than a pretty picture.

I was going to write one of those cheesy here’s what I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving, but geekify it a bit and write about what techy things I’m thankful for. But I’m not going to.

Instead, I think I’ll be thankful for free speech, with a little web 2.0 goodness mixed in. I’m talking about Standpoint, a website that allows you express your beliefs in a number of different ways.

You can state whether or not you agree with a variety of beliefs that other have submitted, or you could also submit your own custom beliefs, and people can comment, agree, disagree with what you said.

Its a pretty interesting concept, with the beliefs ranging from “Morality is not strictly religious- many atheists have very exacting moralities” to “Firefox is better than Internet Explorer” to “Ninja pirates are superior to everything.”

I think this site is perfect for days like today, when you’ve got nothing to do, and want to learn something / argue with someone / be heard / etc. Either way, check out the Standpoint, you might just like it. Happy Thanksgiving.

If you’re anything like me, you only use map sites to get directions to take you from one place to another. Don’t get me wrong, they are amazing for that, but there’s SO much more.

My absolute favorite mapping site is Google Maps however, purely because its just so intuitive (nevermind good-looking). If I want to see a bit to the right of the current view on the map window, I just drag the map within the window. No page reloading, no nothing. It’ll even give you traffic on your cell phone! Its brilliant.

However, Google Maps are even more brilliant than that. You see Google allows application developers to use their maps for other purposes. You can find out where the cheapest gas is near you. You can find out where there are housing listings on Craigslist. You can create a map of your Facebook friends. You can even complain about that one red light that never turns green!

There are tons of different applications for Google Maps, so check them out!

Between high school, college, graduate school, work, and, well life in general – you’re bound to meet a lot of people. Business cards get lost, emails get changed, phone numbers come and go, and screen names get forgotten. Not anymore.

Plaxo is a company started in 2001, devoted to keeping people’s contact information current, and in the hands of people you think should have it. In addition to Address Book integration (on OSX), and Outlook integration (on Outlook), it has a really nice website that is quite easy to use. Other features include mobile phone integration and Gmail contact import. Plaxo is great for the business world, as well as just keeping in contact with your friends. It allows you to send out your updated contact information to all of your contacts, as well as request them to confirm the contact information you have for them.

You might say well I keep my contact information updated through sites like Facebook, etc. Facebook used to contain a feature that allowed you to download your friend’s contact information into the vCard format. Now that’s all gone. Plaxo is now the best way to keep your contact information up to date.

The first thing I thought of when I first heard of this site was privacy issues – are they going to share my information with anyone? Rest assured, Plaxo upholds a strict privacy policy and is completely secure to hold your contact information. Currently it has 15 Million+ members, and its growing significantly every day.

I highly recommend you guys check Plaxo out, and add me as a contact (eugene AT gordin DOT net).

Today’s interesting find is iLike.com, a music social networking website devoted to helping you find new music. I realize that if you read Mike Went West at all, you remember my VolumeSessions post about last.fm, a site that is devoted to finding new music, but iLike.com has several distinct advantages over last.fm, despite the fact that iLike.com is still in its infancy: it went public on October 25, 2006.

iLike.com provides a sidebar attached to you iTunes window, which currently provides recommendations based on what you’re listening to (both song clips and full songs of free mp3s), tells you what your friends are listening to, and lets you access your iLike.com profile. The iLike iTunes sidebar hides either into a compact tab accessible at any time, or it can hide completely and run in the background. This is exactly the type of application transparency that is missing in the official last.fm player – the sidebar is non-obtrusive, well designed, and hide-able.

The site is also extremely well designed (and in Web 2.0 fashion), and allows you to connect to users based on your iTunes library, playcounts, and overall musical preferences. Since the site is just starting, its features are being implemented almost daily, and though the site is quite functional and interesting currently, there’s a whole lot of features on the way. My plan currently is to continue using iScrobbler for Last.fm and the iLike sidebar in the backgroun until iLike grows in both userbase and features, and then switch over.

Very cool interface, very cool site. Check it out, create an account, and be sure to add EGordin as a friend :).

I would like to introduce Mike Mieler who has a new blog called Mike Went West devoted to all things music – concerts, artists, shows, reviews, etc as well as a promised regular podcast with new music recommendations as well as his favorites from back in the day.

I like to consider Mike the go-to guy as far as getting the newest and best music out there. He is the person behind my Music to My Speakers post, who introduced me to emusic.com, as well as countless artists that I am now obsessed with (despite shrugging them off when first hearing them as he will tell you :)). So go visit Mike, and bask in the glory that is musical good taste.