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The Mentions module offers Twitter like functionality, recording all references to a user's username – using the [@username] or [@#uid] filter format – in all Nodes and Comments, providing a centralized page to track all mentions.
links for 2009-07-14
Neatx, an Open Source NX Server: Google Code You Can Use TODAY!
Last week, [Google] released the source code of [its[ own proof-of-concept implementation of an NX server, Neatx. Designed from scratch with flexibility and maintainability in mind, Neatx minimizes the number of involved processes and all code is split into several libraries. It is written in Python, with the exception of very few wrapper scripts in BASH and one program written in C for performance reasons. Neatx was also able to reuse some code from another Google Open Source project, Ganeti. The code still has some issues, but we’re confident interested developers will be able to fix them.
via Google Open Source Blog: Releasing Neatx, an Open Source NX Server.
This little announcement got buried in the tsunami of ChromeOS coverage. The really neat thing about Neatx is that is actually exists today. You can check the code out from SVN and use it right now.
RSS Isn’t Dead, People Just Don’t Get It
I’m sorry, but RSS feeds are way too slow. I know this first-hand. As part of my job here at TechCrunch, I monitor a lot of RSS feeds for breaking news. We also produce our own feed and I can see how quickly it propagates to various feed readers and feed-powered news aggregation services. The lag time between posting a story and seeing it pop up in the RSS feed is usually a few minutes, and then it can take another 10 to 15 minutes or so for it to appear in something like Google Reader.
via Speeding Up RSS .
The problem with this whole article is that it totally misses what RSS is and how it works. RSS is a data format, a very simple XML file. It isn’t slow or fast, it’s just a chunk of well-formated data. RSS feeds are produced by many systems at the very moment of publication. The feed for this very site will be updated as soon as I click the publish button. But the RSS feed is just an XML file. No speed is involved, just a file. Got it yet?
The lag the writer above seems to see is just a function of the systems that consume the RSS feeds and really has nothing to do with the RSS itself. As commonly implemented RSS is used as part of a ‘pull’ system. A remote client pulls the XML file periodically from the server. Servers and clients usually limit how often the files are pulled in order to conserve bandwidth. The idea behind RSS pull systems is that the client decides how often to poll servers for new updates. If you want faster updates, just crank up how often your client hits the server. Of course many servers will ban you if you try to update too often.
Now, I can easily imagine a system where the RSS feed is pushed out to known clients. Because the RSS specification is open and under a Creative Commons license and extensible through XML namespaces, it would just take a bit of design and programming to get RSS into shape and come up with a scheme that pushes out the updated RSS to a client that parses the XML into those stories we love. The client should be something lightweight and widgety. Once installed it needs to register with the server, giving its IP, and declare what feeds it wants pushed out. Then something new gets published and it gets sent right out to the client, queuing the update if the client is not available. As a bonus, the server can still dish out the very same RSS feed to any pull clients that want to consume it.
See nothing to it. RSS isn’t slow, it just isn’t doing what you want it to do, so go ahead and fix it.
links for 2009-07-09
Judge Holds IP Addresses Identify a Computer Not a Person
“In order for ‘personally identifiable information’ to be personally identifiable, it must identify a person. But an IP address identifies a computer,” U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones said in a written decision.
Jones issued the ruling in the context of a class-action lawsuit brought by consumers against Microsoft stemming from an update that automatically installed new anti-piracy software. In that case, which dates back to 2006, consumers alleged that Microsoft violated its user agreement by collecting IP addresses in the course of the updates. The consumers argued that Microsoft’s user agreement only allowed the company to collect information that does not personally identify users. Microsoft argued that IP addresses do not identify users because the addresses don’t include people’s names or addresses. The company also said that it did not combine IP addresses with other information that could link them to individuals.
via MediaPost Publications Court: IP Addresses Are Not ‘Personally Identifiable’ Information 07/07/2009.
Interesting decision. Of course it is fairly true. Since most IP addresses are doled out to consumers on a random rotating basis using DHCP, it would be easy to argue that a particular IP address does not “belong” to a particular person, so it is not a way of identifying them. In reality, IP addresses do stick around and often can be attached to a particular person. SOunds like a need for balance here.
links for 2009-07-08
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OpenPublish is a packaged distribution of the popular open source social publishing platform, Drupal, that has been tailored to the needs of today's online publishers. OpenPublish is ideal for the implementation of a variety of media outlets sites including magazines, newspapers, journals, trade publications, broadcast, wire service and membership publications.
Yawn, Google Chrome OS Finally Announced
The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.
via Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS.
So, take an open source operating system, build a new window manager, add a killer app to capture the hearts and minds of the multitudes. Hmm, sounds like Apple and OSX and iTunes. Of course this is different, its GOOGle!!! Anyway, I’ll really just wait to see it in real life. Blog posts are cheap.
links for 2009-07-07
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compares Lucene, zettair, sphinx, Xapian, SQLite
VLC 1.0.0 Hits the Streets, Now Play Anything With 1 Player
VideoLAN’s VLC media player, arguably the world’s best media player, hit version 0.9.9 in early April. Three months and more than 78 million downloads later, VideoLAN has announced VLC 1.0.0, or “Goldeneye.”
Your media will never be the same.
via VideoLAN releases VLC 1.0.0: Your media will never be the same | The Open Road – CNET News.
The download is here. I’ve been a fan of VLC for years and use it on Windows, Mac and Linux. This is a must for media fans.