Wonderful Thoughts A weblog about latest news and reveiws on technology,science,computing,software and autoblog. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 1 839

Articles from Wonderful Thoughts

Podcasting for museums 2007-10-09 06:03:11 The report from Brooklands in particular seemed to concentrate almost exclusively on using podcasting as a (viral) marketing tool.  Hello, what about simply getting decent, re-usable content out there and letting the marketing angle worry about itself? Personally, I’d have liked to have seen more focus during the day on user-generated content - surely the spiritual home of podcasting - and the use of open content licences and how these things can be employed to provide richer and more engaging experiences for museum visitors.  User-generated content was discussed a little in the final discussion session - but there seemed to be some confusion about the risks of hosting this kind of material on a museum’s own Web site.  Well duh… user-generated content doesn’t have to live on your Web site - that’s the whole point of Web 2.0.  Give people a tag and let them put the content wherever they like.  As a nice example of this, Jane Burton ...

DCMI Scholarly Communications Community launched 2007-10-08 02:00:10 Mentioning the Eprints DCAP reminds me that I should draw attention to the fact that DCMI has recently launched a "Scholarly Communications Community" as a focus for work in that area: The DCMI Scholarly Communications Community is a forum for individuals and organisations to exchange information, knowledge and general discussion on issues relating to using Dublin Core for describing research papers, scholarly texts, data objects and other resources created and used within scholarly communications. This includes providing a forum for discussion around the Eprints Application Profile, also known as the Scholarly Works Application Profile (SWAP) and for other existing and future application profiles created to describe items of scholarly communication. The group is co-ordinated by Julie Allinson from the University of York and Rosemary Russell from UKOLN, and as usual for DCMI communities, participation is open to anyone who wishes to subscribe to the mailing list and join in ...

Talladega Bites … For Some 2007-10-07 23:25:12 OK, this has to be brief. After a long evening with the relatives and a yummy turkey dinner (it is Thanksgiving after all), as well as long drive home, I’m beat. Congratulations to Jeff Gordon on his victory. He pulled the move of the race by jumping out of line right in front of Tony Stewart. I would have much rather have seen Tony win his first ‘Dega race, but I have no problem with Jeffy pulling into Victory Lane (with a tank full of gas) because he deserved that victory with the way he handled himself on the track today.Was it just me, or did Tony seem a little ‘jumpy’ out there with his rookie-like moves on the track? I dunno, he just seemed to be either thinking too much, or trying too hard. Over the last 30 laps he just didn’t seem to be ’settled’ on the track. What do you think?Speaking of rookies, Jacques finished on the lead lap and didn’t bother anyone out there today. Chase contender Kevin Harvick finished just in front of him ...

Usage Board membership 2007-10-07 20:57:22 After six years of sterling service (and long weekends holed up in library meeting rooms arguing about the relationships of "creators" and "contributors", and which properties take literals as values), Andy stepped down as a member of the DCMI Usage Board after their meeting in Barcelona in March. And Stuart Sutton from the University of Washington has also stepped from the UB after their recent meeting at DC-2007 in Singapore. Andy and Stuart were both members of the Usage Board since its inception in 2001, and have made substantial contributions to its work over that period, and I’m sure their input will be sorely missed. And without remotely wishing to suggest that I can fill such shoes, I’m pleased to report that I’ve been invited to become a member of the UB. I’ve attended a few UB meetings as a "guest" in the past (and probably interjected from the sidelines far more than it’s polite for a "guest" to do!), so I ...

Introducing Aggregated Content Network 2007-10-07 04:30:16 Aggregated Content Network aims to allow users to browse content from over a huge range of websites showcasing a wealth of information to them be it news, blogging, movies, sports or whatever. It will allow you to find the best content on the web in one place. Aggregated Content Network aims to allow websites to showcase their content to a huge number of users driving traffic eventually to the best news. Aggregated Content Network is my baby which did not come out of a womb but out of my desire to do something unique that delivers more value to both users as well as website owners. My next baby will be for bloggers and I am hoping you can be part of it. If you do want to add your site to the Bloggers Mashup you can do so by visiting Bloggers Mashup and add your site there. It is an exciting thing for me and I would like you to be a part of it. Technorati tags: aggregated content, venture, bollywood mashup, mashup, bloggers mashup Copyright © 2007 Techie Buzz. All rights reserve ...

Ashley Judd Is Coming To NASCAR, and She Is Bringing Her Husband, Whatshisname, With Her 2007-10-06 16:50:48 OK, I’m going overboard on this a bit, but can you blame me? This is Ashley Judd we are talking about here. No, no, no, she isn’t driving a car in NASCAR’s top series next year, but she will be on top of her husband’s pit box.Her husband is the 2007 Indy 500 winner, and newly crowned IRL Champion, Dario Franchitti. He is Scottish by the way. I know, with a name like Franchitti you would think he was Italian or something.Dario announced this week that he will be racing full-time in NASCAR’s top division next year for the Chip Ganassi/Felix Sabatis organization. His teammates will be non-other than fellow former open-wheeler Juan Montoya, and 2nd year man Reed Sorenson. Out of a ride will be David Stremme. As of right now Stremme is rumoured to be considered as the new driver for the 10 car for next year, but he isn’t the only one, Patrick Carpentier is also rumoured to be a candidate for the 10 car too. We’ll just have to wait and see what happe ...

Comparing car insurance 2007-10-06 13:06:41 It’s amazing how fast one year flies. The time has come for us to renew our car insurance. With all the different car insurance companies out there , it’s quite a headache going through the individual sites and trying to get the cheapest quotes. It’s amazing how much information we have to fill up. I wasted a lot of time, going through the individual sites one by one and having to fill up all the same information again and again. I finally got to know about the Go compare car insurance site, where I can compare insurance quotes from all of the leading insurers for free. This car insurance comparison service enables you to get a quote in four easy steps. You begin by entering your details. The best policy is indicated by their unique five star rating system. This process saves us time - we can at a glance see the best policies that best match our requirements. Their site mentions that they are independent insurance comparison specialists, not insurance brokers, thus ...

Google releases stand-alone desktop widget engine 2007-10-05 22:01:09 Google Desktop widgets can now be embedded in your iGoogle personal start page. This new functionality adds OS-level functionality such as CPU utilization, currently playing tracks in iTunes, or a battery indicator inside a Web interface. Google Desktop 5.5 is now available in a widget-only version for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista to bridge the desktop and Web worlds. The decoupling of Google Desktop Sidebar puts its desktop widget platform in direct competition with Windows Vista Sidebar and Konfabulator. Google can use its widget platform as a beachhead onto the desktop and later encourage its users to enable more Google Desktop features such as search and personalization. (Disclosure: Google is a sponsor of my upcoming widget conference, Widget Summit.) From:Niall Kennedy’s Weblog ... Google

Nissan unveils the Pivo 2 2007-10-05 18:51:44 Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., unveiled the Pivo 2, an advanced electric concept car yesterday. The car will debut at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show. It is powered by an advanced Compact Lithium-ion Batteries and featuring a unique rotating cabin - meaning no reverse gear required. Pivo 2 employs a ‘by-wire’ technologies for braking and steering. Each of the four wheels are powered by Nissan’s advanced electric In-wheel 3D Motor and can turn through 90 degrees to allow Pivo 2 to drive sideways as well as forward. Pivo 2 will be on display at the Nissan Ginza Gallery in Tokyo, for an exclusive public sneak preview ahead of the Motor Show. Venue: The Nissan Ginza Gallery5-8-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, TokyoDates: Oct. 13, 2007 (Sat) to Oct. 14, 2007 (Sun)Time: 10:00-20:00 Check out the PIVO 2 Website for more information. From:Auto Blog - Auto Lah ...

NMC Survey on Educators’ Use of Second Life 2007-10-05 11:07:51 Sent out to members of the NMC, our in-world educational community, and the Second Life Educators Listserv (SLED) in May 2007, the survey represents the interests, activities, and demographics of more than 200 educators. Overall, the results reflect the highly social interaction of Second Life and how educators have formed and contribute to a vibrant community in this virtual world space. They publish a summary analysis and also include an appendix which lists the full content of the replies to the "open-ended questions". I suspect the documents will provide not only a useful source of empirical data, but also hours (well, OK, minutes, then) of amusement and/or winces of recognition. The comments on positive and negative experiences of SL seem to cover pretty much the whole spectrum. A: this is a depressing question From:eFoundations ...

Facebook usage 2007-10-05 08:58:27 There’s an interesting visual summary on the Compete blog about what users spend their time doing on Facebook (14 million people interacted with Facebook Applications in August) - no, "pratting about" isn’t one of the categories! From:eFoundations ...

Shared wi-fi 2007-10-05 08:16:49 The UK Guardian reports that BT is encouraging its customers to share their broadband (Share your wi-fi in return for free access abroad, BT tells customers).  I’m not totally convinced by how well this will work in practice - why would I want wi-fi access in a residential street somewhere in Europe? - though it is quite a neat idea if they can pull it off. There are technical issues as well.  In my house for example, a fairly substantial bath stone terrace building constructed at the beginning of the last century, you have to be standing in my garden to get any chance of a signal.  Generally I can only work on wireless from inside the house. At the other end of the spectrum, O’Reilly Radar reports: WiFi: Record Range Now 382 KM.  Not in my house it isn’t! From:eFoundations ...

Widget Summit schedule complete 2007-10-05 02:26:02 The Widget Summit schedule is now complete, and I am pretty happy with the results. My goal for the conference is to provide two days of intensive education about the current state of the widget industry and share best practices with the many new publishers entering the space. This year’s conference spans two days, October 15-16, covering both the business and implementation of widgets. I will share some of my speaker notes before the conference, but first let’s take a look at some of the overarching themes of Widget Summit. Mobile We’ll have the heads of third party widget development for both Nokia S60 and Apple iPhone on stage talking about new ways developers can create rich applications for smartphones. Yes, Apple does have a small team dedicated to independent software developers on the iPhone. We’ll also have University of Maryland professor Ben Bederson sharing his many years of experience designing for mobile displays and interfaces. Monetization Implem ...

Somalia: Possibly more complex than Nigeria 2007-10-04 15:53:35 In The Know: Situation In Nigeria Seems Pretty Complex When writing about thin media coverage of African issues in American media, I’ve largely focused on the closing of foreign news bureaus, the difficulty of getting deeper news insights from news agency sources, etc. But given how much American news media consists of talking heads pontificating on current events, it’s wonderful to think about what the average blowhard would do with the excellent question: “What’s going to happen to Nigerian oil?” While it’s not news that Mogadishu isn’t a safe place for anyone to be, the increasing violence in Puntland and Somaliland is catching some people off guard. These nothern regions of Somalia have been relatively peaceful in recent years, escaping much of the chaos of the south. Somaliland declared itself independent in 1991 and has been seeking recognition as an independent state from the international community, with little success, using the border ...

Updated snapshot of Second Life usage in UK HE and FE now available 2007-10-04 14:33:20 An update to the July snapshot of UK HE and FE usage of Second Life is now available.  This new report, again carried out by John Kirriemuir, is the second in a series of reports that we have asked John to undertake over the next year or so.  It provides an update to the report first published in July, primarily to include a number of activities that were missing from the original. The remaining reports in the series (due for publication in March 2008 and September 2008) are intended to examine the impact that use of Second Life is having on teaching and learning.  By commissioning a series of reports we hope to begin to build a picture of how Second Life is being adopted by the HE and FE community in the UK and whether that adoption is making a positive contribution to the delivery of learning. From:eFoundations ...