Google Bibliography?

No, Google Bibliography is not a real product. I really wish it was though. I am currently starting to collect documents for my doctoral dissertation proposal and I keep running into the same issue over and over again, redundancy. I am absolutely fearful that my EndNote library is going to get squashed by any number of possible deaths. Call me paranoid, but when it comes to data, well...ok I guess I'm paranoid.

Large journal sources such as ACM already have a system for exporting to any number of citation storage packages, including the ever popular EndNote, here is the issue I have though, EndNote does a great job of keeping my references together, but does so in such an inelegant way. After 3 years of Gmail, 3 years of Google Docs, and access to a lot of these services on the fly via mobile, I came to rely on elegance of Google software, even more than that elegance, I rely on the cloud to store the most critical information as a backup device. The culmination of my academic career is more than "critical" to me.

What to do? I could just continue to use EndNote X3 which my university makes available to me for free. I then have the issue of storing my library, and all pdf articles associated with it in a central repository and "syncing" them. I use multiple computers for this process, so now I am almost tied to those little flash drives for my sync. Ug. I suppose I could "upload" my library files to Google Docs as a backup, but that again seems "inelegant". Why could I not have a solution where I can store, modify, read, relate, tag, and organize my citations in the cloud, as an integrated service with the apps I already rely on from Google?

What I want: I want a service which ties in to a document storage package like Google docs, can easily be updated like Google Bookmarks for Scholar searches, easily tagged (like all Google products). I want a Google citation database! In the cloud, massive storage, tags, easily searchable (search through the pdf uploads too), and linked to Google Talk for collaboration. I think this need fits right in the middle between Google Docs and Google Apps.

Please don't make me carry all my research and literature on a flash drive...please?

My Increasing Transition Away From Yahoo!

I would first like to say that I have been a Yahoo! user for over a decade. In terms of the internet that is an eternity. I started using yahoo search when the only browser truly available was Lynx (which I still use from time to time).

I attended the SES conference and expo in San Jose this weekend, and aside from not visiting a friend at TiVO, I had a great time, learned a lot and witnessed the ultimate corporate party.....The Google Dance 2007....

Without going into too much detail (Kimber I want my photo please), I learned about what type of sheer geniuses Google tends to hire. I consider myself pretty bright. I went to college at 15 for engineering (I went back to high school after learning that college wasn't for me yet), I have completed a BA and a MA and even managed to get published. I will get a PhD at some point as well. None of this compares with the outside of the box thinking and mentality of the standard employee of Google. After being really impressed with some of the things which Google has been spending time on lately (like the 700 MHz auction), I am more inclined to check out the newer technologies coming down the pipe from Google. This will lead us to Google Labs.

If you haven't been to Google Labs recently, take a peek over there. Check out the new ideas in search engine results. More over check out the Firefox extensions. If you add the kind of functionality of Firefox in general, the Google Toolbar, and the Google Toolbar API for custom buttons, I find myself needing the Yahoo! services less and less. Last night I exported all of my bookmarks, which I have collected over several years, out of Yahoo! and into Google. It was seamless and painless. With the addition of services like Plaxo (despite what ever controversy there may be), I am finding my internet life more and more integrated with my everyday needs.

I will be the first to say perhaps Google is in fact the new Borg, but unlike it's predecessor, it actually takes into account what I want and what I might need, instead of forcing something down my throat. I can accept a certain level of dissatisfaction if my needs are being met, as of yet though, I am not dissatisfied with the general nature of Google's Services (including Analytics) or their mentality towards their users, and my needs are being met and perhaps even predicted.