Zotero Is Your Online Research Assistant

Zotero (pronounced “zoh-TAIR-oh”) is a new browser plugin that is aiming to help you with your online research for any number of projects.

This tool will help you automatically store citations of webpages used in your research, store PDFs, take notes, export information, integrates with WordPress… basically it sounds like it will take out all the tedium of research and just let you concentrate on the important parts of looking for sources. I’m not sure there is any bigger pain in the universe than writing bibliography, so this sounds like a dream come true to me.

Currently the plugin works with Firefox 2.0, Netscape Navigator 9.0, or Flock 0.9.1, and is suited for cross-platform performance on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Beware holiday hackers

As consumers spend more time and money online, hackers are out in full force this holiday season.

The holidays are prime time for online mischief, and shoppers looking for holiday deals make ideal prey. Some tips on how to avoid being scammed online this holiday season.

Japanese Prime Minister Becomes YouTuber

First, the American presidential candidates, then (reportedly) the outgoing Australian Prime Minister. Then the Queen of British Empire. Now the Japanese Prime Minister. It seems now anyone who is anyone is posting videos to YouTube.

Now, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda posted a New Years greeting both in English and Japanese. In the version I could understand, the Asian PM commemorated the 100th anniversary to the end of the Japanese-Russo war, but pointed to a number of problems facing the Japanese that he intends to face: descending birthrate, economic disparity, the global war on terror, diseases like AIDS and malaria, and global human rights issues.

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8 Sites to Learn Typing

10-Fast-Fingers.com - A 10-step typing tutorial program that teaches you more finger placements in each lesson, and then tests you on them. When you’re all done there is a speed test to see how you improved.

GoodTyping.com - Has over 27 lessons, offers 18 different keyboard layouts and is available in multiple languages.

Learn2Type.com - Offers a typing test to test where you are skill wise, and besides teaching just the QWERTY keyboard setup, they also offer AZERTY and Dvorak layouts. Also has lessons for kids as it’s never too early to start learning to type.

PowerTyping.com - Okay, so maybe typing sites aren’t all fancy with rounded corner logos, or gradient images, but did you come to look at the pretty, or to learn to type? This site focuses on QWERTY and Dvorak keyboard layouts.

Typing-Lessons.org - While the site has a very 1990’s feel to it, the site explains this is on purpose so as not to distract you from the purpose of the site which is to teach. Teaches you all th rudimentary skills you need to get started on the road to being a better typist.

TypeOnline.co.uk - Offers lessons on normal keyboard placement, and has practice lessons for touch typing and speed tests. Also offers a nice selection of information on safe typing so you don’t develop things such as Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.

TypingWeb.com - A full-featured online typing tutor with lessons, games, statistics to track your progress and more. The system is free for individuals, and they do have packages available for schools and companies for a fee with group progress reports.

Bonus: after you’re done with all these, you can have some fun with Qwerty Warriors, a strangely addicting game that forces you to type faster and faster before the enemies swarm you.

Google Presentations Introduces Embedded Slide Shows

Source: TechCrunch

Google Docs just added some cool new features to its Web-based Presentation software: slide shows that you can embed anywhere on the Web. Check it out below:

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Microsoft Using YouTube To Promote Vista & Live, Leaves Comments Open

Microsoft has taken its marketing push for Windows Vista and Windows Live into enemy territory by offering demonstration videos on YouTube (example above). The new channel (link) was launched December 21.

The content itself isn’t all that exciting, but they do demonstrate various positive aspects of Vista and Live that viewers may not be aware of. The more interesting aspect is that Microsoft would use the Google owned YouTube for such as promotion; it certainly demonstrates just how powerful the market position of YouTube has become over the last 2 years that Microsoft would use it to promote their products.

Courageously, Microsoft has also left comments open on each video. Most people can guess the next part:

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