Misc: Generation M

Derek hits the nail on the head as he describes Generation M:

Frankly, I never saw much connection between myself and those [Generation X and Y] labels. And lately, I've been thinking about what truly defines my generation. Us web geeks, us iPodders and remixers. I think we're Generation M. Here's my loose, entirely unscientific definition in three parts.

Read the rest on Powazek.com.

Web: Finding the Right Book Cataloging Application

I definitely appreciate having a nice collection of books about the web, art, and graphic design along with many other topics that inform and inspire me as an artist, web designer, and person. I recently decided to post a list of my books online so I ventured off into evaluating the different options:

• I used a trial of Collectorz to create a book list a couple years ago. I entered 75 ISBN numbers and it pulled up the data on most entries. I would need the full version ($40) since my collection exceeds the trial limit of 100 books. It isn’t web-based but I could export the list and post it to my site.
• I thought MediaMan used to be free but it is now also $40. I’m not sure if the export will generate as clean a list as Collectorz did but I like that MediaMan has tagging rather than just categories. It is not web-based.
  
• LibraryThing has import and export features and is web-based. It also has a very engaged developer who appears to listen to the users and upgrade the application frequently.
  
• Listal is web-based and looks great but doesn’t have import functionality. I don’t really want to start over entering books manually. There is no export either so the data would not be portable.
• I've heard good things about Delicious Library but it is Mac only and therefore not for me.
• Reader2 doesn’t have import or export.

I decided to go with LibraryThing and have been very pleased with the application. It imported my existing book list quickly and it is easy to add more books. The web interface and tagging work great. There are even a couple RSS feeds for recent additions and reviews of books in my collection. I highly recommend LibraryThing. Here is my collection and the tag cloud to click directly to each topic (I still have more tagging to do!).

Category: Web

Music: Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music

I started going through Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music and am very impressed. He has broken down electronic music into more sub-genres than I knew existed. Ishkur includes short descriptions of each, many audio samples of songs, and links to radio streams. The Flash interface is a bit cheesy but I highly recommend Ishkur's Guide.

[via Mr. Coates]

Category: Music