Monday, February 7, 2011

ESPN- Endless Opportunites

If you are looking for a successful and reliable sports website to stay up-to-date in the world of sports, ESPN has got you covered. Whether you want to find out about the Packer's Super Bowl win, Sidney Crosby's concussion injury, or the Celtic's loss, ESPN is your go-to site.

ESPN has a lot to offer. The website caters to the nation's most popular and unique sports. From the National Football League (NFL) to the National Hockey League (NHL) and even Horse Racing, can be found on the ESPN website. Some of the other sports available on the website are the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), professional soccer, college football, college basketball, Nascar, lacrosse, cricket, tennis, and the list goes on.

Besides the monstrous amount of sports offered on the website, what really sets ESPN apart from other sports websites is the way that the designers and reporters present the information. On the home page, a viewer can find tabs on the top of the site showing the different sports offered. Below the tabs is a media slideshow of the latest pictures and stories uploaded, and to the right of the media you can find the top headlines. Browsers can also find daily polls, videos, “Must See” articles, and much more. Each sports section of the website is set up very similar to the home page, and also included sections more specific to that sport such as teams, standings, rosters, etc.

ESPN also has over 40 live blogs! If you are unable to watch a broadcast of your favorite contest and you are capable of catching Wi-Fi on your laptop in the airport, or logging on to ESPN mobile on your cell phone in the car, you can stay updated by following the live blogs.

Also, not only does the website allow you to print, email, and comment on a sports article but the website also allows you to share your favorite articles with friends and family through Facebook and Twitter.

No hablas en Inglés? Hay una forma de web en Español. (You don’t speak English? There is a form of the website in Spanish).

So next time you’re in need of a sports score, or simply just want to keep track of your favorite basketball team, check out www.ESPN.com.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Wyoming Seminary Field Hockey Captures PIAA State Title

Excited players and coaches of the Wyoming Seminary field hockey team celebrate after winning the 2010 PIAA State Title.  The Blue Knights topped the Lehighton Indians 5-0.

Monday, January 10, 2011

An Advanced Google Search?

If you are looking for an effective way to search a topic on the Internet and find the best maximum results, you'll find that an Advanced Google Search is exactly what you need to do the job.  Sure, typing a desired topic in a regular Google search can bring up hundreds, of thousands of results, but more than half of those results stray off of the actual topic you were looking for. 

I had never used an Advanced Google Search before this project, but I liked the effectiveness and accuracy of the search.  I was interested in finding out about the Philadelphia Eagles football team after their loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, January 9, 2011.  I did not want to find out about the Eagles roster, the Eagles head coach, or a game that had been played last week such as versus the Minnesota Vikings.  I wanted to know about the specific game on the 9th.  And, the Google Advanced Search did just that. 

It was really simple and easy to use the Google Advanced Search.  Here are the steps to using the advanced search. 

First, open up your web browser and go to http://www.google.com/.  The main Google search will appear on your screen, but to the right of the text box you will find a link called “Advanced Search.”  Once you click the link, a page will become visible that has many options for you to obtain the best information possible on the topic you are searching for.               

Using the Google Advance Search allowed me to find web pages that matched an exact word or phrase that I entered, and it also was able to disregard any pages that included words that I entered that I did not want to know about such as the game versus the Minnesota Vikings.  I could also choose the language of the websites I’d like to see (English, Chinese, French, etc), the results per page, the reading level, and the file type of the page (Microsoft Excel, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Google Earth, etc).  I was also able to choose if I wanted the search to occur within a certain site or domain, such as http://www.youtube.com/ or http://www.espn.com/. 

Overall, the Advanced Google Search is a tool  to achieve the best results when looking for a desired news story or information.  If used effectively, this advanced search can obtain useful and worthy information for your next research paper, or such assignments like this one, a blog post.  Next time you are "Googling," check it out!      

Friday, December 17, 2010

RSS?

KINGSTON, Pennsylvania-
If you're unfamiliar with what an RSS is, you've come to the right place.  Created in March of 1999, an RSS, short for Rich Site Summary also Really Simple Syndication, is a specific format used to deliver content on the internet that is constantly changing.  For those of us who are tech savy, and use the internet quite often, the RSS is a great tool.  Rather than having to visit each site individually each day to check updates, RSS retrieves the latest content from any site that a user is interested in that offers RSS feeds.

Interested in using RSS feeds?  First, you'll need RSS reader software such as Amphetadesk (Mac, Windows, Linux) and Feed Reader (Windows).  There are also web-based feed readers such as My Yahoo and Google Reader.  Once you have a feed reader, you can look for websites that have RSS feeds that you can add to your feed.  For your convenience, some sites include an RSS, XML, or RDF icon, indicating that you can add their site to your feed reader. 

Student, Jason Cholish enjoys using RSS feeds on his laptop every day to keep up with his favorite web sites.  "It's a lot easier to quickly get to the websites I want to to check the updates.  It's very convenient,"said Jason.

Librarian at Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Courtney Lewis is also fond of the RSS feeds.

"RSS feeds are one of the best things to use on the internet, " said Lewis.  As a librarian, Lewis uses RSS feeds to gain updates from the databases used in the library for research.

Lewis also added, "It's the best thing since sliced bread."


 

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Facebook- A great tool to connect with family and friends

Facebook, which was created and launched by Mark Zuckerburg in February of 2004, serves as a great tool to connect with family and friends, near, or far.  As of July 2010, over 500 million people across the globe are using Facebook. From Ireland, to New Zealand, Australia, Spain, and so on, Facebook is a universal success and connection tool between people all around the world.  Whether it's creating statuses, posting on a friends wall, uploading photos, or instant messaging, there are lots of ways through facebook to keep in touch and show what you've been up to.  


Many students here at Wyoming Seminary use facebook to talk with friends who are in different countries over our long holiday breaks.  Students like Alisa Oh '12 of Korea enjoys keeping in touch with her friends using Facebook over the holidays.  "Facebook is a great way to stay in contact with my friends over break.  It is hard to use a phone in Korea to call into other countries, so the easiest way is to message my friends over Facebook."  


Facebook is also a great tool for students like Fran Domiano '12 of Old Forge, who can stay in touch with her sister while she is away at college.  "Facebook helps me connect with my sister, Katrina, who is gone away to school. We can instant message each other, write on each others walls and inbox eachother! I can even record a video on her wall and she can do the same, so its like we are talking to eachother face to face!"

All in all, Facebook is widely used around the globe, and is a great tool to keep in touch with your friends and family.