I love love love Craigslist. Thanks to that site I just found and bought my first car, a 2002 Mercedes Benz C230 Coupe for $9,995 (sweeeeet).

But, have you ever been looking for something on Craigslist and just gotten annoyed by having to click on each link to see the item's photo? I have. Tonight I was looking for a couch to buy and after 15 minutes of clicking I decided there's got to be a better solution.

Thank goodness for the internets!

The solution is a site called listpic, which I found through the Google of mashups, Programmable Web.

The site is set up exactly like Craigslist, but when you get to your city's listing pages (ex: furniture in Phoenix), the page is filled with photos of items matching your search. It even has a slider for you to choose the size and number of photos to see (much like iPhoto).

(click for full size image)

If you're on Craigslist as often as I am, check this site out! It's a major time-saver.

Other Craigslist mashups I love:

• HousingMaps: mashes Craigslist rentals/housing lists with Google Maps
  
  
• Weekend treasure: Garage sales from Craigslist mashed with Google Maps (best to try this on Friday nights)

Are there any Craigslist mashups or tools you use? There aren't many, but I hope there will be more soon!

I think it's official: I'm done with Twitter. It was cool while it lasted (all of a month for me) but I am so much more hooked on Jaiku. Here's why:

• Comments for each post. I can't tell you how many times I've browsed the Twitter Public Timeline and wanted to respond to someone's tweet but couldn't. Unless I'm missing something, you have to be mutual friends with a person for them to see your response on your feed (you know, when people say "@so-and-so..."). I actually remember an instance where one person added their Twitter feed to Jaiku, and someone else could only respond to their tweet via the comments area in Jaiku!
  
  Also, I like how commenting becomes an ongoing conversation, like an organic, less-structured message board.
  
  
• Icons. They're pointless, yet I'm addicted. My favorite? The straightjacket. Although this one makes me laugh:  
  
  
• Feed Adding. As Leo Laporte has said, Jaiku is really about presence: not just what you're saying on Jaiku itself, but what you're Digging, blogging, listening to, or taking pictures of. It's your daily digital timeline all on one page, aka 'lifestreaming.'
  

So now that I'm done with Twitter, I need me some good Jaiku widgets, gadgets, plugins, and whatever else you geeks have got out there. Here are the one's I've found so far:

Jaiku Gadget for your Google Homepage... er, iGoogle
Install it at: http://code.google.com/p/jaikugadget/wiki/Installation

This one is pretty good. Honestly, the only reason I added it to my Google homepage was to get access to the extra icon set that you can't use from the Jaiku website. I wish I could make the size of it larger but other than that, thumbs up! 

Juhu - a Mac OSX client for Jaiku
Download it from: http://juhu-mac.blogspot.com/

If there's a web-based widget/gadget/plugin available for whatever it is I'm trying to do, I'll undoubtedly prefer that over downloading an app that I have to install on each computer. But for curiousity's sake I decided to download Juhu. It's pretty simple and the design looks sweet. You don't even need to add it to your dock because you can have it open when you turn on the computer and toggle 'hide' or 'show' via the tiny icon in the menu bar. 

Again, I wish I could make the screen larger. I can only see three people's posts in that tiny window! And scrolling is a pain, especially since there is no scrollbar. But you do get access to the extra icon set! I have faith this app will get better with time. PS: Don't be fooled by that 'X' in the top left corner. I had to go through the OSX Activity Monitor to make it close for good!

Jaiku posting widget for Mac OSX Dashboard
Download it from: http://www.exove.fi/blog/2007/04/24/jaiku-widget-for-mac-os-x/

This one is only meant for posting, not viewing. And you don't get access to any of the icons. But hey, it's good for sneaking a quick Jaiku post in behind your boss's back at work! (Not that I've done this... yet.)

Jaiku widget for IMified
Get it by adding one of the IMified contacts to your AIM, Yahoo, MSN, or GTalk/Jabber buddy list: http://www.imified.com

If you haven't heard of IMified you should try it out. It's like the newer, smarter cousin of SmarterChild. Via IM you get access to your Google Calendar, to-do lists, del.icio.us feed, and make posts to your Twitter, Blogger, WordPress, or Jaiku accounts - plus much much more. This could be especially handy for those of you who can access your IM client on your cellphone.

(image provided by SourceForge.net)

Jaiku Moblet for J2ME devices
More info at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mjaiku

Speaking of cellphones, this mobile app isn't ready yet, but if you've got a J2ME phone you just might want to keep your eye on its progress.

(image provided by https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/pjakubo2)

 
Sideku for Windows Vista Sidebar
Download it from: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/pjakubo2/www/sideku/index.html

I don't have Vista so I can't try this one out. Your reviews in the comments are appreciated.

Additional Jaiku tools:

• Jaiku Plugin for WordPress. Post Jaiku updates via your WordPress dashboard. http://www.douglaskarr.com/projects/jaiku-plugin/
  
  
• Jaiku Presence Badges. http://jaiku.com/settings/badge

So, is there a Jaiku tool that you use that I'm missing? Do you have a "wish list" of features you're looking for? Ready, set, comment!

EDIT: Petteri Koponen (one of the Jaiku co-founders) pointed me to another great Jaiku tools list on Digital Craig's blog. Check this site for a few things I've missed, including Anothr (somewhat similar to IMified), Nitwit (a desktop app), JaikuGrowler (adds Jaiku updates to Growl), Jaiku-Plazes Quicksilver Script, and Twaiku.

I'm sitting here trying to write and design an advertisement for our school district to be placed in a local business directory. What should the headline be? Who is the audience and what are they looking for in a school?

The answer is that I have no idea. Why? Because we've never done any research. I don't know what the parents and students think about our district. In other words, I don't know what our brand is.

Why do parents send their kids to our schools? Is it because of good SAT or AIMS scores? Is it because the parents know and trust the teachers? Or is it because they don't have the money to send them to private or charter schools? If they take their kids out of our schools, why and to what schools are they moving?

I've been at this district for almost 2 years and to still not know the district brand is frightening. I've been pushing to do market research since I got here, and still it has not been done. Why? I have no idea. We have $75,000 of marketing funds that will go unused this year. Luckily, we're still getting $120,000 again next year to start with. I'm amazed that the teachers haven't rioted since seeing that we get that much funding for marketing & recruitment.

One would think that the lack of good school marketing and PR is due to lack of funding. Not in our case. In our district it is because of a lack of marketing brains and a lack of good leadership and overall communication. Data-driven decision-making? Hah!

::sigh:: I guess I'll just make something up.