-
<blockquote> <p>Document-centric XML is simply a deep challenge that will take more time (and probably more of a commercial incentive) to tackle. For the time being, structured authoring managed the XML way is still implemented mainly by very large organizations: such an approach has “trickled down” from organizations the size of IBM to organizations the size of Adobe (which does, in fact, use DITA now), but there are not tool chains yet available that will bring it down much further. The failure of the W3C XML Schema Working Group to provide a functional specification supporting document-centric XML can hardly be underestimated.<p></p> As long as content is not easily authored in a semantically rich, structured fashion, the vision of the semantic web will remain an illusion. When and if document-centric XML gets more attention from standards bodies and software vendors, human communications will become far more efficient and effective.</p> </blockquote>via http://tinyurl.com/yjyvrqj
Archive for November, 2009
links for 2009-11-29
November 30, 2009links for 2009-11-27
November 28, 2009-
<blockquote>
<p>According to that discussion, the player is based on the <a href="http://www.nxp.com/applications/set_top_box/ip_stb/stb225/">STB225 set-top box platform</a> designed by NXP. At the center is a chip called the Nexperia Multi Format Source decoder PNX8935, which combines a 32-bit MIPS processor and a dedicated video decoder supporting multiple codecs, including H.264. The reference STB225 boards have SATA and USB capabilities. The Wi-Fi daughtercard in the Roku box uses up the USB header, but there are several other headers that have yet to be identified. Roku engineers say that the box uses <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDCP">HDCP</a> on the HDMI connection, which might limit its hackability.
</p><p>
On the software side, Roku has released the <a href="http://www.roku.com/community/gpl_nfp.php">source code</a> to all of the free software used inside the box, including the Linux environment and bootloader.
</p>
</blockquote>
links for 2009-11-26
November 27, 2009-
<blockquote>
The first thing I did was create a "<span style="font-weight: bold;">gvoice.py</span>" module with several helpful classes. These allow you to:<br><ol><li>Log in</li><li>Gather all Google Contacts into separate groups</li><li>Selectively narrow down the contacts in a group</li><li>Gather the phone numbers that you have entered </li><li>Send SMS messages</li><li>Place Calls</li></ol>I am by no means a seasoned Python developer, but what I have created works well for my purposes. I tried to make the classes as loosely coupled with the UI as possible in case I want to put a GUI around it sometime, but for now I am doing everything at the command line (which I often prefer).
</blockquote>
links for 2009-11-23
November 24, 2009-
<blockquote>
Energy expert Paul Scheckel and Kevin discussed ways to monitor energy usage around the house. The whole-house electrical monitoring system that uses the internet to provide a "dashboard" showing electrical usage is manufactured by:
eMonitor by PowerHouse Dynamics
<br />617-454-1011
</blockquote>
links for 2009-11-22
November 23, 2009-
I got Dad a Grace Internet Radio for his birthday and installed it last night. If he didn't enjoy Pandora so much I would have given up. It took more than an hour. Roku took five minutes.
-
<div>
I finished <i>How I Became a Famous Novelist</i> this morning.
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>
by Steve Hely
</li>
<ul>
<li>He writes for <i>30 Rock</i>.
</li>
<li>
He used to write for David Letterman.
</li>
</ul>
<li>
via Terry Gross
</li>
</ul>
Terry focused on Hely's parodies of various best selling genres. There is, in fact, a conflict within the first person protagonist between his cynicism and his non-cynical self. In the end Hely comes down on the site of (spoiler alert) earnestness. It speak to my own struggle against lazy cynicism. In the process there some legitimate discussion contrasting commercial and literary writing. There are views into how modern publishing works: selling a book, book tours, TV interviews, etc.
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112883759
</li>
<li>
http://books.google.com/books?id=Lv3vlzBoPi4C
</li><li>http://docs.google.com/View?id=accnfh3pfb3_897cztw9kf8</li>
</ul>
</div>
links for 2009-11-19
November 20, 2009-
via http://twitter.com/programmingjoy/status/5857692995
<blockquote>
<p>I decided to re-engineer it from the ground up. JPolite V2 is then a complete re-design from the ground up with nothing from V1 except for the look & feel. The code structure is much clearer which makes it easier for customization, as well as integration with other jQuery plugins.
</p>
<p>
A new feature that is now being tested with JPolite is called XDO (XML Data Object), which currently supports JSON objects only. The whole idea is based on some discussion around “Thin Server Architecture” and REST architecture style, that a browser client first construct the foundation of a web app with STATIC content (HTML, CSS and JavaScript) from a web server, and then exchange only DATA (XML, JSON, TXT) with the application server, which relieves the server from the burden of generating HTML markup. This feature is still experimental with lots enhancements expected.
</p>
</blockquote> -
<blockquote><p>…possible to glean certain patterns, and one that recurred as regularly as an urban legend was the one about how someone would move into a commune populated by sandal-wearing, peace-sign flashing flower children, and eventually discover that, underneath this facade, the guys who ran it were actually control freaks; and that, as living in a commune, where much lip service was paid to ideals of peace, love and harmony, had deprived them of normal, socially approved outlets for their control-freakdom, it tended to come out in other, invariably more sinister, ways.
</p><p>
Applying this to the case of Apple Computer will be left as an exercise for the reader, and not a very difficult exercise.
</p></blockquote>
from <i>In the Beginning was the Command Line</i> available at:
<pre>
<a href="http://bit.ly/ARlKe">http://artlung.com/smorgasborg/C_R_Y_P_T_O_N_O_M_I_C_O_N.shtml</a>
and
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/itbwtcl1">http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html</a>
</pre>
links for 2009-11-17
November 18, 2009links for 2009-11-15
November 16, 2009-
<pre>
Magnetism:
Electromagnetism:
An electric motor in 10 minutes
Fun with High Voltage
A 10 minute railgun
A 30 second motor
Listening to magnetism
Electrochemistry:
A plastic hydrogen bomb
Building your own solar battery
Building a Hydrogen Fuel Cell
Homemade Batteries
Collecting Chemical Elements
Radio:
A quick and simple radio
Building a radio in 10 minutes
Build a portable crystal radio
A radio out of household items
A simple AM transmitter
The Three-Penny Radio
Thermodynamics:
Aerodynamics:
A Bernoulli levitation ball
A Homemade Vacuum Pump
A Classic Propellor Toy
Light and optics:
Simple laser communicator
Make a solar hotdog cooker
A solar powered marshmallow roaster
Biology:
Extracting DNA in your kitchen
Mathematics:
Kaleidocycles
A Geodesic Dome
A Homemade Microgram Balance
Computers and Electronics:
A Computer Controlled Transmitter
A Free Space Laser Data Transmitter
Fun With Solderless Breadboards
A Simple 1 Watt Amplifier
</pre>
links for 2009-11-14
November 15, 2009-
<pre>
# Server programfrom socket import *
# Set the socket parameters
host = "localhost"
port = 21567
buf = 1024
addr = (host,port)# Create socket and bind to address
UDPSock = socket(AF_INET,SOCK_DGRAM)
UDPSock.bind(addr)# Receive messages
while 1:
data,addr = UDPSock.recvfrom(buf)
if not data:
print "Client has exited!"
break
else:
print "nReceived message '", data,"'"# Close socket
UDPSock.close()
</pre>
<hr>
<pre>
# Client programfrom socket import *
# Set the socket parameters
host = "localhost"
port = 21567
buf = 1024
addr = (host,port)# Create socket
UDPSock = socket(AF_INET,SOCK_DGRAM)def_msg = "===Enter message to send to server===";
print "n",def_msg# Send messages
while (1):
data = raw_input('>> ')
if not data:
break
else:
if(UDPSock.sendto(data,addr)):
print "Sending message '",data,"'….."# Close socket
UDPSock.close()
</pre>
links for 2009-11-13
November 14, 2009-
<blockquote>
Free Serial Port Monitor allows you to intercept, display and analyze all data exchanged between the Windows application and the serial device. It can be successfully used in application development, device driver or serial hardware development and offers the powerful platform for effective coding, testing and optimization.
</blockquote>
Talkabout 