Fotobabble offers an interesting mashup of sound and image.  Upload your photo and then record a short audio blurb about it.  You can share it on email, Facebook, Twitter or embed it on your blog or website. 

There are no fees, though you do have to register for an account to use the service.  It is entirely web-based, so no downloads either.

They also have an iPhone app that you can use and be able to Fotobabble your entire day.

I can see libraries using this to create an interactive tour of their facilities without a video camera.  All it takes is a digital camera and an online connection.

Image via CrunchBase

Zemanta is a handy blogging tool that really helps you create links, find images and link to related articles in a fast and user-friendly way.  Simply install the plugin on your browser, and it interfaces in your blog.  It added itself to my Windows Live Writer with no trouble and to Drupal as well.

Zemanta watches what you are typing in your blog post and offers a menu on the side that has links and images.  You don’t link blind, you can also click to see what the link contains, what article it is linking to too.  It is very slick but still allows you to really know what you are connecting your content to. 

Beautifully simple and exceedingly inviting and easy to use, you really have to try this out if you blog.  I don’t have many blogging tools that I use, but this is one that I really recommend.  I will link to a couple of articles on Zemanta below so you can see how that looks.  It’s entirely built by the service as is the image above along with its attribution statement.  See, you know you want this! 

I am watching the live announcement of Google Buzz thanks to people posting about it on Twitter.  I am loving what I am seeing and hearing.

Buzz has five main features:

• Auto-following
• Rich, fast sharing experience
• Public and private sharing
• Inbox integration
• Just the good stuff (automated recommendations based on who you are following)

They are implying the service will be launched today, but I don’t know when we will see it as an option in Gmail.

Check out Techcrunch for detailed notes on the announcement.

Update: the service is launching today.  It will take several days for it to be rolled out to everyone.   I am also thrilled to see that Twitter is supported.

Embedit.in is a free service that lets you embed documents into your website.  You simply select the files from your computer and they are embedded.  You have the ability to choose how people can interact with your content, whether it can be downloaded or printed, depending on whether you want to protect it or share it openly. 

When you select a file, you will get a list of services to choose from, these allow you to login to embedit.in without creating a new username and password.  After that, you get a screen with the embed code.  You can decide whether it is to be a fully embedded file, a thumb that opens another screen to view the file, or a link to the file.  Then you can change the width and height to your liking as well as the colors. 

Very simple and easy to use and I love the customizable features.

One of my favorite blogs for finding great links is Free Technology for Teachers.  Just like with most education-focused blogs or websites, many of the ideas transfer effortlessly to public libraries.  Richard highlighted two new lists of resources for downloading free images which are ideal for library websites.

Check out 180+ Resource Sites to Download Royalty Free Stock Images and 30 Websites to Download Free Stock Photos.  You will soon have more graphics than you know what to do with!

Google Browser Size is a great new tool for libraries to use to check out how people are viewing their site.  It puts an transparent layer on an image of your website so that you can see what portion of your website a given percentage of users can see.

The best part about this is that you don’t have to install anything at all.  Just type your URL into the tool and it shows the layer.  For us, we have about 90% that can view the most important part of our site without scrolling.  Whew! 

Image via CrunchBase

I always love lists like this because I get to take a tour of sites I may not have ever seen and get to crow with glee when one of my favorites makes the list. 

I must grip about the very first category of Blogging/Microblogging.  They list Bloglines for reading feeds, but not the great Google Reader?  Bah! 

In the Film category they got it just right as far as I am concerned.  My four favorite websites are listed.  Great choices for film buffs or for librarians who do the DVD selecting. 

I admit that I groaned when Twitter did not make the Social software list, only to grin when I saw it had its very own category.  Well alrighty then!

Bravo Guardian to a well-done list.  My only gripe is with the exclusion of Google Reader.

Cool!  A cloud formation of your past Tweets.  Very nice interface that lets you select the length of time you want reflected.

Here is mine from @tashrow:

Twibbon is a neat Twitter service that lets you show visible support for a cause right on your Twitter picture.  Create your own Twibbon for any cause you like.  For libraries, it could be a local project or perhaps showing state-wide support for your library association.  There are a handful of library-related twibbons already loaded, including a nice one for public libraries in general.

At my program on Twitter last week, I was asked about the public record ramifications of Twitter.  The main question was how long Twitter maintains its database and how that impacts public record.

My response was that you probably would not be tweeting public record items, or if you do it would not be the primary document about it.  That may have been a tad glib.

I have one good option for those of us who would like to have a Twitter history to have on record. 

Twistory is an app that feeds your Twitter posts into a calendar.  It can be a Google calendar, Thunderbird, Outlook, etc.  This way your tweets are chronological.  I find it very interesting to see my tweets like this and to look back historically for trends and as a sort of diary.

I did try several other apps and they are less useful because they also archive items that people are sending to you.  One Outlook app filled my inbox within minutes with hundreds of new posts from the people I follow.  Not what I was looking for!

This one is strictly your own tweets, a handy archive, and in chronological order.