 Wednesday, February 12, 2003
FOAF
"The newsreader NewsMonster has the ability to use Friend of a Friend data. It also provides for export to PDA's and reads all versions of RSS. Interesting, I'll have to download it and play with it a bit when I have some time.
As for FOAF, I think the idea has some potential uses. However, as I understand it, FOAF metadata should be stored as a separate file. I'd like the ability to place it in the HEAD section of a document, as well as pointing to another file." [Catalogablog]
This is what I'm talking about! I really believe that RSS news aggregators are a much better way to keep up with your favorite sites on the go, especially on small devices. The overhead is much less, even in a 3G or WiFi environment. I'm snowed under at work for the next week, but I really want to try NewsMonster on my Clie!
20 Days Without a PC
"What impact does technology have on your life? A PC World editor challenges a writer to give up the computer, email and the Internet for 20 days. Taking up the challenge, the writer not only lives through it -- all the while "miss[ing] Google, MapQuest, and spelling checking" -- he learns how the PC controlled him, in ways he had not realized. Read what happened during a visit to the library:
(From Day 16) 'I hunt for the card catalog, but it's not there. Turns out the library has replaced it with PCs that access an interlibrary network. I ask the reference librarian to look up a few books for me, since, um, I'm not much good at computers. She's happy to oblige. I ask if I can call the reference desk later for a car price. 'Sure,' she says. 'Try asking us anything.' An uneasy moment of silence passes while I imagine a thousand things I will never ask a librarian.' " [TVC Alert]
Think Again
"If you're thinking of buying any wireless gear that uses 802.11g, think again. Incompatibility between different manufacturers wireless cards and base stations is apparently a big problem since the final standards haven't been ratified (and won't be until later this year). That hasn't stopped everyone from jumping the gun a bit and releasing equipment that adheres only to the draft standards and so isn't guaranteed to be interoperable. Read" [Gizmodo]
"For 80s buffs looking to recall the heyday of the brain, the beauty, the jock, and the rebel, Universal Studios has introduced a line of shirts inspired by Brat Pack flicks The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles - 'two classics that teens still love today,' notes Universal marketing's Tim Rothwell. Emblazoned with such images as Anthony Michael Hall pleading with Molly Ringwald, 'Can I borrow your underpants for ten minutes?' the tops (at Hot Topic stores and hottopic.com, $19) have attracted nostalgia-loving celebs such as Juliette Lewis and Brooke Burke. Next up: Back to the Future shirts. Go, McFly!" [Entertainment Weekly, 2/14/03 issue, p.18]
Hot Topic also has shirts for Farmer Ted, Alf, and The Goonies, plus Simpsons thongs, Thundercats Floor Mats, and other fun items.
David Bigwood is tracking David Janes' efforts to jumpstart a viable weblog metadata initiative. Double the Davids, double the potential!
"I am proposing a core set of weblog metadata, based primarily on Dublin Core elements. Since other weblog metadata efforts are stalled or fractured, I'm trying to pull everything together with (hopefully) well written specs, functioning software, and web pages.
I need your feedback. I want to start integrating this into Janes' Blogosphere ASAP, so that everyone who is marking up their blogs for integration is using some sort of standard we can all use." [Janes' Blogosphere]
Jeb Bush Winces at Price Tag on State History
"It took 150 years to build the collection in the State Library. Jeb Bush, the self-styled "Education Governor," may destroy it in a few weeks.
Housing and maintaining the library costs around $5-million a year. According to Bush, Florida just can't afford it. If the governor gets his way, the library will close. The library's archivists and curators will be fired. The 1-million books and documents that tell the story of Florida from the arrival of Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513 to the disputed presidential election of 2000, will be packed up and sent away....
The attack on the library would be absurd if it weren't so crass. At first, Bush apparatchiks said the library would be transferred to Florida State University. Not that there would be any extra money, or staff, or a building. It sounded like they just figured to grab a bunch of boxes at the liquor store, gather up the books and papers, throw them in the back of the SUV and leave them on the steps of Robert Manning Strozier Library for FSU to care for....
The library is the memory of Florida. The library is the treasure house of our heritage. If we lose it, we will never get it back -- not at any price." [The St. Petersburg Times, via LISNews.com]
Michael Pate notes that "the Florida Historical Society has placed a petition online in order to save the Florida State Library," and Morgan Wilson is trying to figure out if public libraries are essential services in Minnesota.
Kate is home today and she just called to say that Oprah is featuring TiVos on her show! Apparently Oprah has one, and she loves it (I don't know if she called it "God's machine"), citing its ease of us since she is "technology-challenged." Apparently everyone in the audience got a TiVo, too. Here's the summary of today's show from her web site:
"Jewelry, food, cars, cleaners...what's the very best? It's our first-ever mac-and-cheese taste test! What's the 'so hot' car voted best for women? You'll see! Then, Oprah puts TiVo to the test! We'll stop at nothing to find you the best of everything!"
You can also watch the preview trailer for today's show from that link. Could this be a PVR tipping point?
Price Shock! [The University of Queensland Library]
"Want to learn some hair-raising facts about your library?... be prepared to be shocked!" [Library Link of the Day]
I've seen this site before, but I'm not sure I've ever linked to it here. It's a good reminder of one of the major issues facing libraries. Although it's mostly academic and special libraries that subscribe to these kinds of titles, the larger issue affects us all, especially at a time when elected officials are cutting our budgets.
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