Remixing how we use the Open Source desktop
“To understand how to design for proper integration, you need to first explore what people actually use their computers for. Aside from recreational use, the majority of businesses users, and those who actually work on their computers all utilise them within the concept of a project. Within this context, you find users who mentally hook together different applications with the intention of satisfying criteria to achieve a project or goal. This can be demonstrated with a simple use case.“
Document converter for Web applications
Servoo.net. Document converter for Web applications
“ServOO allows publishing large, structured and complex documents on the web easily. It converts documents prepared in a word-processor into XHTML for publication on the web. ServOO is based on OpenOffice.org so support many usual formats, for instance rtf, doc, sxw.“
Get RSS Feeds on Your Cisco IP Phone
freshmeat.net: Project details for RSS2Cisco
“RSS2Cisco is a server-side script that will convert RSS feeds into Cisco’s IP phone XML format for use as a service.“
In PERL. Displays feeds on the LCD of Cisco IP phones.
Open Source Methods Make the World Go Round
Slashdot | Open Source Methods Useful Way Beyond Software
“Former head of policy at the British Prime Minister’s office, Geoff Mulgan, has co-authored a paper on uses of Open Source methods in arenas far beyond the normal Sourceforge universe. The paper is jointly written with Tom Steinberg, head of UK civic hacking fraternity mySociety and explores the use of open source methods to improve academic peer review, drafting of legislation and even media regulation.“
Interestingly enough, this is a position that CALI holds and it is reflected in this year’s conference theme.
Open Law Review ‘Bad’ List Removed
Open Access Law: Open Law Reviews
“The left column has changed. Details on why soon…“
Over at Open Access Law, Dan Hunter has removed the listing of ‘Good and Bad Law Reviews‘
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I would wonder if it is just a layout issue as alluded to earlier,or if he is getting heat from some of the ‘Bad Law Reviews’? FWIW, I agree with Dan that Law reviews should be more open with access to their articles. I guess we’ll just wait and see.
Google Saves User Search History
Google service compiles users’ search history | IDGNS | News | 2005-04-20 | By Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service
“To assist users in looking for previously found, but now misplaced, Web site links, Google will introduce on Wednesday a new service that logs users’ Web search queries on www.google.com and the results they click on.“
Sux0r: RSS aggregator with Bayesian filtering
freshmeat.net: Project details for sux0r
“sux0r is a Bayesian filtering RSS aggregator. Users classify news under different categories, and after gathering enough data, the computer will be able to automatically pick out interesting news.“
Neat concept, just the news I want to see. I’m going to try it out. I wonder if it generates its own RSS feed of selected items?
NBC Analyst Admits Taking Payola
BetaNews | NBC Analyst Admits Receiving Tech Payola
“Details of a payola scheme by NBC tech analyst Cory Greenberg surfaced Wednesday, in which he was receiving upwards of $15,000 a piece from technology companies to positively promote their products on NBC’s Today Show. The news underscores an emerging trend of questionable review practices, both online and off.“
Opera 8 Launched
Opera 8 released
“Often overlooked in the browser wars, the Norwegian browser Opera has served as an alternative for those dissatisfied with more popular alternatives from Microsoft, the Mozilla Foundation, or Apple. Opera Software today launched Opera 8 for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and a public beta of Opera 8 for Mac OS X.“
Where Have Portals Gone?
Portals Fostering Open-Source Success
“If you go to the open-source development site sourceforge.net and search on the term “portal,” you’ll get hundreds of hits. In fact, you could reasonably argue that, when it comes to open-source enterprise applications, portals have been the biggest success story.In addition to being highly effective and capable on their own, open-source portals have served to demonstrate the effectiveness of other open-source technologies, especially the MySQL database and the PHP scripting language. This is clearly illustrated in probably the most popular open-source portal application, PHP-Nuke (www.phpnuke.org), which is easily customized and includes pretty much any feature you would want from a portal, including content and document management, forums, chat, and blogging. PHP-Nuke has spawned additional open-source portals, including PostNuke (www.postnuke.com).“
Looks like Open Source is the place to g oif you’re looking for portal software. Once a buzz word, portals have quietly become the norm for site development in many areas. I suspect aht blogs and such will follow a similar path.