Thing 7.1 Online Image Generators

I did have some fun with these but like most of these "homegrown" online magic tools their functionality is spotty. I must say that Toondoo has a loyal following. Within hours of posting my cartoon I had 4 comments on it. The best one was: NICE BUT I DONT GET IT--obviously a user of the web and not a philosopher of it. I was surprised when I pasted in the html code for the cartoon that it didn't post it as a static 2-frame cartoon but that you had to mouseover to see the second frame. But it gives more movement to my blog.

Thing 6: Flickr Mashups

Warm Fuscia wall - Greece
Originally uploaded by mnadi

Captured this door from Colr Pickr, a Flickr mashup. This mashup uses 11 prechosen photos from Flickr in several categories. This category was Doors & Windows. Then a color wheel is displayed in the middle and you can choose another prominent color and it will change the photos to represent that color. 11 orange doors; 11 pink doors; 11 blue doors--a different set of photos for each color. Now who in the world had the time to set this all up is beyond me. And the practical use of it is fleeting but it's fun for a quick entertaining mashup. If you find a photo and color you want to capture you click on the photo and it takes you to the original Flickr account where you can click Blog This and it sets a posting in your own blog with the picture embedded and you're able to write your own text with it--as I am doing, voila. This door is from nice back alley near the marina at Matsouki, Kefalonia, Greece.

I went through several of these types of mashups--they are mildly entertaining, barely usable and huge time wasters. Some of them are not working correctly. The eBranch could use them in adding pictures to the website for promoting a program (for instance Spell with Flickr) or within the site to add color and eye appeal.