Harness the Power of Any Search Engine Onto a Cool Toolbar
Web Resources of the Week
1) Search Tools Harness the Power of Any Search Engine Onto a Cool Toolbar
This week, it's time for a free web search tool that I recently discovered called NeedleSearch. It allows you to capture the basic search functionality from any web engine, site search tool, or specialized database and make it readily accessible at any time via an easy-to-use toolbar.
--
For some of you, the only issue in trying NeedleSearch is the fact that it only works with the wonderful open-source web browser, Mozilla. If you've never tried Mozilla, by all means do so. Like NeedleSearch, it's completely free and offers all sorts of features including a pop-up blocker. Mozilla also allows you to open and view multiple pages in the same browser application using tabbed windows. Very useful! Mozilla is available for several platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and more.
--
Now that we've got that out of the way, let's move on to NeedleSearch. This piece of freeware is the work of a Dutch software developer. In a nutshell, NeedleSearch operates like other toolbars BUT this one allows YOU to easily (and I do mean easily) and at any time harness the search functionality of any search engine directly into the NeedleSearch application. No need to wait for a developer, you can do it yourself!
--
You're then able to run basic searches without first having to go directly to the database or web site you need to search. Allow me to share a couple of examples. But before getting started, I can report that NeedleSearch installs quickly and easily.
--
Once installed you'll see that a few search engines have been "pre-programmed" for you. You can edit them, remove them, etc., the choice is yours. Editing or removing these choices is easily accomplished by selecting the "edit" button (second to last button on the toolbar). Ok, now let's add a rapidly expanding general web engine, Gigablast, to NeedleSearch.
+ Go to the Gigablast home page and turn on the NeedleSearch auto-adder (button with the "plus" sign on it).
+ In the Gigablast search box type: NeedleSearch. You should see a message that Gigablast has been added to NeedleSearch. That's it, you're done!
+ Now, the next time you want to run a basic search with Gigablast, simply enter your search terms into toolbar, pull-down to Gigablast, and click the search button.
--
Now for my favorite reason for using NeedleSearch. Not only can you use it to search general web engines, but you can also use it with specialized databases.
Here's an example.
I'm always searching Peter Scott's wonderful Libdex database of library web sites and OPACS. With NeedleSearch I can search the database without having to first go to the Libdex site. This will not only work with Libdex but with just about any site or specialized web engine with search functionality. Here are the steps I followed to add Libdex to the NeedleSearch toolbar.
+ Go to Libdex.Com and find the search box.
+ Turn on the NeedleSearch auto-adder (button with the "plus" sign on it).
+ In the Libdex search box type: NeedleSearch
+ An alert box notifying you you've added Libdex should appear
+ You're done.
Now, no matter where you are on the web, you can search Libdex without first having to and find the Libdex site.
--
Of course, many other features are included. For example, you can open results in a new window or Mozilla tab, highlight search terms, and more. A button is also available to find your search term(s) on the results page or the underlying web page.
--
Those of you with experience "tweaking" urls can set up more sophisticated queries by editing the url string with NeedleSearch. Like most web tools, the best way to learn about NeedleSearch is to download a copy, have the documentation nearby, and experiment. I think you'll find this free tool easy to use and very useful. Once again, NeedleSearch is free to download and use.
--
One final note for the Googleaholics out there. I think some of you will question the fact that your original download of NeedleSearch includes Dutch language versions of Google. Changing it to the www.google.com version can be accomplished by either removing this version via the edit/remove buttons and adding a new entry direct from Google.Com OR by simply editing out the from the url.
---
---
2) Television--History Reference Tools
Source: The Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago Full Text Book: The Encyclopedia of Television
From the site, The Encyclopedia of Television includes more than 1,000 original essays from more than 250 contributors and examines specific programs and people, historic moments and trends, major policy disputes and such topics as violence, tabloid television and the quiz show scandal. It also includes histories of major television networks as well as broadcasting systems around the world and is complemented by resource materials, photos and bibliographical information. The book is not searchable but does contain hyperlinked cross-references.
A family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success. Read more »
Recently I have found myself cooing over visualisation maps (and heat maps) of health and well being resources. The content rich data is overlayed with mapping technologies, and some interesting themes and patterns are emerging.
A lot of the talk around social media in the last year has been around information overload. Social media has provided us with new and exciting ways to create content. But it has also meant learning new ways to manage and engage with social media tools. Are we teetering on the edge of an information overload precipice?
Information overload is a figment of your imagination. Or a failure of your filter. Or a symptom of your technological submissiveness. Depends on who you ask.
What if you had to sort through 3.5 million articles and social media posts a day and try to pull out the most relevant items for your organisation? What if you then had to cobble it all together into something readable for your top groups and executives in your organisation?
Alacra Compliance saves time by aggregating information from both free and fee-based sources and enabling users to conduct an accurate federated search across these sources (coined “simultaneous search” by Alacra).
FreePint Family
Quilting big data threads
The fallacy of information overload
Information overload: fact, fantasy or filter failure? 
