Create an Olympics Medal Map using Google Spreadsheets

This is a very detailed "How-to" blog post which takes the reader step-by-step through the creation of a "HeatMap". This is the sort of visual presentation that shows "heat" (color intesity) using some data points connected to physical locations - like countries, in this case - as the source. The post describes taking data from the web, putting the data into a useful form and then creating the map using spreadsheet gadgets. Very well done - except that the author did not provide a link to the underlying spreadsheet example for readers to use as a starting point.

Site:	OUseful.Info, the blog...
Page/Post:	Create an olympics medal map using a spreadsheet
Spreadsheet:	spreadsheet link not provided

A spreadsheet list of Google Products

Here's a spreadsheet listing a compiled list of "all" google products (maybe not all - not guarantees - but the list is really pretty comprehensive). It's got some interesting attributes about each product listed, like whether it's new or not, and links to related videos and twitter accounts. Quite interesting - maybe even useful. (this, of course, is not sponsored by, recommended by or supported in any way by Google).

Page/Post:	Go2me page with spreadsheet embedded
Spreadsheet:	Google Products List
Spreadsheet:	version you can copy

Online Seating Charts - for teachers, by a teacher

Daniel Rezac - a Google Certified Teacher - posted an example of a seating chart he did for his school on his "Adventures in Ed Tech" blog - along with a video which explains the process of creating one for yourself. Seems like an innovative way to keep yet another one of those many (many!) pieces of information that a teacher needs in an easy to manage - and more fun - form.

Site:	drezac - Adventures in Ed Tech
Page/Post:	Google Apps in the Class: Creating Online Seating Charts
Spreadsheet:	Seating Chart Spreadsheet

Farm Town is the original Farming game? and spreadsheet?

Looks like I should give fair time to what appears to be the original farming simulation game - Farm Town (also on Facebook). Lots of resources and blogs focused on this game - including this blog I found which linked to another really detailed data spreadsheet... so here's that one. You make the choice on which one you like best!

Site:	Farm Town Here Blog
Page/Post:	What is best to plant?
Spreadsheet:	Farm Town data sheet

Farmville is apparently a game of data analysis

If you play FarmVille on Facebook, you've probably already seen this - but apparently it offers tremendous value to those playing the game who want to optimize their farming results. I'm not familiar enough with the details of the game to tell more here - except that this spreadsheet has information on Seeds, Trees, Animals, Buildings, Decorations, Ribbons, Expansion, Vehicles and Crop Images. Wow.

Site:	Steven Loi's Blog
Page/Post:	ROI analysis on Framville
Spreadsheet:	Farmville Data

Videos from TED conference all listed in a spreadsheet

The official (I think) TED group on facebook has a link to a published spreadsheet listing all the TED talk videos. This makes it quite easy to quickly find and watch the ones which seem interesting from their name or the speaker name. There are even separate sheets sorting the list by conference and by speaker. It even lists the duration, which is useful.

Site:	Facebook Ted Page
Spreadsheet:	List of all Ted Talks

Newspaper Website Visitor Trends

The Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University posted an analysis of the top 15 newspaper websites. While they have many really interesting charts, they also posted the underlying data in a spreadsheet, which includes, for each of the top 30 sites, for 2007 and 2008, the monthly unique visitors and time spent per visit. Wow - great data (if it's right - which, of course, this blog cannot confirm).

Site:	Nieman Journalism Lab
Page/Post:	Top 15 Newspaper Sites
Spreadsheet:	Newspaper Site Stats '07-'08

Tracking, Charting (then twittering) a Hamster's Stamina

SpookyPeanut (aka Henry) posted a link on twitter which caught my eye (well, my search, anyway)... He's apparently found a way to monitor his hamster's wheel - and has charted it using a Google spreadsheet. As he described it: "showing off my geeky side again". Nothing useful here, actually, but interesting that the Technical Director of this animated rodent film would post a spreadsheet about a pet rodent. ;)

Site:	SpookyPeanut
Spreadsheet Chart:	Stamina of a Hamster

Home Prices by US Metro area

Healthcare Economist published a very useful spreadsheet of home prices and rankings by metropolitan area. It includes multi-year trends, by US region and broken into Single-family homes and Condominiums. I guess I should go searching to see if this "Healthcare Economist" ever actually talks about Healthcare ;)
(of course, as with every post here, we can't guarantee the information is right)...

Site:	Healthcare Economist
Page/Post:	Cost of Living II: Home Prices
Spreadsheet:	Home Prices by metro area

Picking a US State of residence using the tax rates as criteria

Jason Shafrin, author of the Healthcare Economist blog, provides some really interesting information to help you pick which State you might want to live in using the Tax burden as criteria. He published a State-by-State Tax Burden spreadsheet to help guide you understand all the tax rates which might impact you as a resident - not just income tax rates.

Site:	Healthcare Economist
Page/Post:	Cost of Living I: State Taxes
Spreadsheet:	State Tax Rates & Rankings

Travelling adoptive parents need to be prepared

5 by Faith is a blog covering a "journey of adopting a baby girl from Ethiopia". As you can imagine (or maybe as you've experienced), new babies require planning - and when you add in the legal and logistical steps of adoption - well, let's just say it's lucky that the end reward is so huge. Thanks to 5byFaith for keeping all the planning they went through in spreadsheets loaded with information. (You might get some other ideas by visiting 5byFaith's other Blog or her Etsy Store)

Site:	5 by Faith (blog)
Spreadsheet:	Travel Tips, Hints (9 tabs!)
Spreadsheet:	Packing List (12 tab sample)

Watching stocks on a Spreadsheet

Here's a spreadsheet which follows selected stocks from a given point in time, up to the current, updated price - to give an "unrealized gain or loss" calculation based on some theoretical number of shares purchased. It's very simple. The way this spreadsheet was populated as you see it, was from using the Google Finance stock screener - a very useful tool which lets you identify stocks which meet certain criteria which you can easily set. Oh - I almost forgot to mention - the stock prices in this spreadsheet update automatically using the GoogleFinance function of Google spreadsheets... sweet.

Site:	JRsays (my blog)
Page/Post:	Stock Screening
Spreadsheet:	Stock Screen Spreadsheet (preview)
Spreadsheet:	get your own copy (on click, you'll get a copy put in your Docs list)