Mining the internet gems

It is difficult to remember a time when there was no internet, when you could spend months searching for an elusive article and when the news of the world reached you, if it ever did, not in real time but in months. We have now however reached another end-- it is now difficult to find anything anymore because there is so much of it to go through. If you put a word in Google search, it will offer you over a million possibilities. And so now you spend months deciphering which of the million or so hits you need to examine to get to your objectives! First there was too little information, now there is too much. Nevertheless internet is an ocean of discovery and there are many a new gems to be found.

Some gems that I have found that you too might enjoy.....

Writing a book. You can now write a book, design it, illustrate it and publish it without needing an agent or a publishing house. If you have always wanted to publish your poetry, or your unique collection of receipes or share your paintings, you can now take charge and design and publish and market these collections yourself. And if you need help in any of these elements, you can hire a consultant from a large number to advise you at a rate determined by you as well. And best of all, you can decide how many copies of your books are printed-- you can print enough to give to all your family and friends or you can sell them through internet based book houses. Click here.

Blogging. A new development in which you can convert your anger and frustration at the days columnists and pontificating pundits on TV by writing about it and sharing it on the internet. You can write your own blog or better still, comment on the blogs of the many talking heads and nattering colunmists. The troubles of the newspaper industry in the US in particular has led many of the most famous columnists to write their own blogs inviting reader comments. The best of it is that your comments are not screened by an editor but are posted for all the world to see. Of course, there is another side of it as well where you can now read some of the finest minds on their blogs. Go to my blog where you will see a selection of the ones I admire and read.

Reading. A few years ago, I decided that I would read a new book every month on a subject I knew nothing about. See the results here. It has been a most interesting ride. I recently chanced on Project Gutenberg, which provides books on a variety of subjects and from a large number of countries at no cost.

Study. A number of world famous universities have started putting some of their most lectures on the youtube for free access. For access, click here.

New developments in technology and design. A new site called Ted.com provides a preview of the latest developments in technology and design around the world in bite sized bits. Click here This can be a very addictive site so be careful when you enter. To get you started, look at Rosling presentation of data on poverty,Patti Maes on the sixth sense, Larry Brilliant on how stop pandemics.