“Birthed by the team that brought us the mobile social network Dodgeball (acquired by Google in 2005 and later shuttered), the location-based mobile startup serves a simple purpose: It lets an individual share his or her location with a group of friends.

Foursquare ventures beyond utility, however: It’s a virtual game in which participants earn badges for checking in at various locations; those that check in most become a venue’s “mayor.” By all accounts, this mechanism is as addictive as Twitter, Facebook or checking your e-mail on a BlackBerry.”

If you’re using Chrome, the open source Web browser by Google, you may want to check out the latest article from Josh Catone at Mashable. 6 Killer Google Chrome Extensions for Social Media Addicts lists popuar and useful plugins for using social media sites as well as lists some of the best places to find other extensions. Here are his recommended six extensions:

1. Gmail Checker
2. Chromed Bird
3. Twitter Ticker
4. Micro Last.fm
5. TPGoogleReader
6. Facebook Notification Checker

The November 15th issue of Library Journal gives a roundup of America’s Star Libraries - a national rating of public libraries. America’s Star Libraries rates 7,268 public libraries, identifying 258 “best” libraries. This is the second round of ratings in 2009. All rankings are based on 2007 data from the IMLS. This detailed report ranks libraries by:

• Circulation per Capita
• Vists per Capita
• Program Attendance per Capita
• Internet Use per Capita
• LJ Index Rating

1. Style for mobile
2. Resize images
3. Automatically detect mobile devices
4. Rethink navigation
5. Provide a clear path to the full site
6. Don’t break links
7. Measure the mobile audience

• Education Research, Practices, and Approaches
• Education Policy and Issues
• Leadership
• Science and Math
• Language Arts
• The Arts, Foreign Language, and Social Studies
• Technology
• Special Education, Early Education, and Child Development
• Higher Education and Online Education
• Variety of Educational Approaches and Specialized Topics

The Google Wave Info blog has published a quick list of commands for use in Google Wave with the Google Wave Cheat Sheet. This mega-list provides syntax definitions in the following categories:

• Search Cheat Sheet
• Status
• Participants
• Date Search
• Folders
• Attachments
• Tags
• Gadgets
• Expressions
• Phrases
• XML Search
• Wave ID
• Zero Inbox
• Saved Searches
• Filters
• Folders
• Language Filter

Paul Burgess at nettuts provides an extremely detailed step-by-step tutorial for How to Create a Photo Gallery using the Flickr API. If you’ve been considering ways to set up a slick photo gallery for your library’s digital image collection you’ll want to give this a read. Each of these sections includes screenshots and code snippets.

• Step 1 - Get a Flickr API key
• Step 2 - Download phpFlickr
• Step 3 - Basic Setup and Simple Configuration
• Step 4 - Building the Thumbnails Page
• Step 5 - Build a Page to Display Single Photos

Did you know that the New York Public Library has Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s slippers and Charles Dickens’s favorite letter-opener in its collection? Or that they have a special collection of 40,000 restaurant menus, dating from the 1850s to the present? Robin Finn at the New York Times has written an excellent article about some of the NYPL’s more interesting items in Secrets of the Stacks.

• Websites Teaching Blogging
• Blog Design Websites
• Website Optimization
• Make Money Online
• Blogs To Aspire To Be Like

The folks at Common Craft have created another of their “in Plain English” videos, explaining complex technologies in easy to understand terminology. This time they’ve tackled cloud computing.