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How to Make an Atlatl Throwing Spear - A Make Magazine Weekend Project
By O'Reilly MediaNovember 7, 2009
Practicing the Art of Less - Web 2.0 Expo Co-chairs Jennifer Pahika and Brady Forrest on Minimalism
November 6, 2009
The Power of Less — "Practicing the art of less, whether it's agile development, minimalist business plans or spare graphic design, has had a momentum all its own during the rise of Web 2.0," write Jennifer Pahika and Brady Forrest in new O'Reilly Insights on Forbes.com. "But the art of less got a significant boost since economic conditions deteriorated, and less became the one thing we all had plenty of. In the best case scenarios, creative "power of less" responses to dramatic budget cuts have resulted in outcomes much better than the status quo, especially when technology was leveraged," add the chairs of the upcoming Web 2.0 Expo in NYC. See if you agree. Read more.
Why Speakers Earn $30,000 an Hour - Scott Berkun's Confessions--A Sneak Peek
November 6, 2009
"I know I'm paid for something that, in the grand scheme, is not Work." writes Scott Berkun in his new book, Confessions of a Public Speaker. In this free excerpt, Scott discusses speakers' fees, his and others, along with what's cool or not so hot about talking for a living. Scott adds: "The unspoken risk I run is having no salary. I have no pension. I have no extended contract guaranteeing me lecture gigs forever. This book could bomb or be destroyed in reviews, and my speaking career could come to an unfortunate and immediate end, which in the grand scheme of things would be OK." Read the entire excerpt now.
Will Google Wave Reinvent the Way We Communicate or Fall Flat? - Share Your Knowledge of Google Wave
November 6, 2009
Today in Answers, a user wants more info and less hype on Google Wave: "What's so revolutionary about Google Wave? Can somebody break down the features and benefits of the service in such a way as to convince the average user of its ability to change the way we communicate?" Join the conversation and share your knowledge or ask a question of your own in O'Reilly Answers.
Featured Ignite Video: Visualizing the US Senate by Social Graph - Ignite Presentation by Andrew Odewahn
By O'Reilly MediaNovember 6, 2009
Four short links: 6 November 2009 - Barcode Scanning, Downloadable Community Book, Gov Hack Day, Android Kludges
November 6, 2009
Red Laser -- "impossibly accurate barcode scanning". Uses Google Product Search to identify products that you scan using the camera on the phone. I remember Rael and I talking to Jeff Bezos about this years ago, before camphones had the resolution to decode barcodes. The future is here and it's $1.99 on the App Store. This and more in today's Four Short Links.
From O'Reilly Answers: Best Web Conferencing Software? - Our expert shares her experience in evaluating platforms
November 5, 2009
A user asks the O'Reilly Answers community for help in choosing the best hosted platform for web conferencing to provide online training. O'Reilly's Kathryn Barrett assists with a handy list of questions to ask yourself when evaluating web conference environments and urges the user to carefully examine what features he really needs. Do you have a recommendation? Share your knowledge or ask a question of your own in O'Reilly Answers.
Three Paradoxes of the Internet Age - Part Two
By Joshua-Michéle RossNovember 5, 2009
This gem from Whimsley makes the point - with extensive statistical modeling supporting the argument - that our algorithm-obsessed, long tail merchants are actually depleting the overall choice pool despite the fact that as individuals we may be experiencing a sense of more choice through recommendations engines. "Online merchants such as Amazon, iTunes and Netflix may stock more items than your local book, CD, or video store, but they are no friend to "niche culture". Internet sharing mechanisms such as YouTube and Google PageRank, which distil the clicks of millions of people into recommendations, may also be promoting an online monoculture."
Twitter Approval Matrix - October 2009
November 5, 2009
This is the fifth post for the Twitter Approval Matrix with data that spanned the month of October and different sources such as tweetsentiment.com, scraping archives, and observations. This month I received help from Joe Fernandez the CEO of Klout.com. Joe continues to provide some great 'hard' data that allowed me to better place more items on the grid this month. A quick refresher, the matrix shows four quadrants used to describe trends found on Twitter.
Posterous: The Copy-and-Post Revolution in (Micro) Blogging
November 5, 2009
A friend of mine, who has achieved repeated success in high-tech startup land, said that if you want to be successful, focus on segments where <10% of the crowd currently adopts the solution, and by virtue of dramatically simplifying the approach, you can toggle adoption rates to closer to 90%. Enter Posterous, a micro-blogging tool (it's free) that does a few things really well.
The Network By the Numbers
By Sarah SorensenNovember 5, 2009
We all know the network is everywhere. It's pervasiveness is what makes it the most endearing platform we have to address many of the issues we face today. Thanks to the convergence of increasingly affordable, powerful and mobile devices, access to the network has spread out and infiltrated parts of the globe that have typically remained impervious to previous technology advancements. There are some interesting numbers that I've heard recently that I wanted to highlight to articulate the scale and scope of today's network. Let's start with the fact there are close to 1.7 billion Internet users in the world representing almost one quarter of the world's population. Who are they and what are they doing?
Happening Tomorrow: Open Transportation Data in One Hour - A Free, Live Webcast with Chris Dempsey and Joshua Robin
By O'Reilly MediaNovember 4, 2009
Open Transportation Data in One Hour For many years, transportation agencies and authorities have given out thousands of free copies of paper maps and schedules. However, transportation agencies often resist sharing the data behind those maps and schedules. In July 2009, The Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and its agencies began opening data to application developers. This data has been used by smart, innovative software developers to build applications that benefit transportation users, travelers, and riders. This effort provides a window into the possibilities created by open data. This webcast will discuss why EOT decided to open its data, progress so far, and what possibilities exist as more information, including real-time data, is opened and shared. Attendance is limited, so register now! More Upcoming Webcasts: Tokyo Cabinet in One Hour Check out our Webcast page for on-demand videos of past webcasts and more upcoming live events!
Windows 7 Utilities/Troubleshooting Tools - Share Hacks, Ideas and Solutions About Windows 7 in Answers
November 4, 2009
Windows 7 ships with some really neat utilities to help you work with external accessories as well as troubleshoot problems. Here are some of the cool ones, including Projector Screen Selection, Problems Steps Recorder, Trouble Shooting Sleep Mode Problems, Windows Disk Image Burner and more from the new book Windows 7: Up and Running. Find out more about Windows 7 at O'Reilly Answers.
Three Paradoxes of the Internet Age - Part One
By Joshua-Michéle RossNovember 4, 2009
In the circles that I travel the Internet is often breathlessly embraced as the herald of all things good; the bringer of increased choice, personal empowerment, social harmony... and the list goes on. And yet, as with any powerful technology, the truth of its consequences eludes such a singular and happy narrative. More access to information doesn’t bring people together, often it isolates us.
Four short links: 4 November 2009 - Electronics Hacking FAQs, Speech-To-Text Democracy, Open Source Column Database, Massive Online Analysis
By Nat TorkingtonNovember 4, 2009
Democracy Live -- BBC launch searchable coverage of parliamentary discussion, using speech-to-text. One aspect we're particularly proud of is that we've managed to deliver good results for speech-to-text in Welsh, which, we're told, is unique. I think of this as the start of a They Work For You for video coverage. I'd love to be able to scale this to local government coverage, which is disappearing as local newspapers turn into delivery mechanisms for real estate advertisements. This and more in today's Four Short Links.
Following Lists - The Twitter Lists Feature is a Game Changer
By Brian AhierNovember 4, 2009
One of the interesting things about the new Lists feature is the expansion of the asymmetrical nature of relationships on Twitter. I use Twitter Lists to control the flow of the fire hose of my data streams into manageable list streams. But another important aspect is the ability to create lists composed of accounts I don't follow. This is radically changing relationships and the way we build communities on Twitter. As Mark Drapeau pointed out it will become more important which lists you are on than who is following you.
Using Flash Remoting for Authentication to your AFCS/Facebook AIR Application
November 4, 2009
If you have had an opportunity to look at the Adobe Flash Collaboration Service (AFCS) you could see that there is a huge opportunity to do interesting multi-user applications without needing to write all of the server side code. However there is the challenge of how do you control who comes into your application and what they are allowed to do. In addition, keeping your application credentials safe in case your SWF file was decompiled. So as the title suggests you can use a service like Facebook to take care of the users authentication and Flash Remoting for the application authentication.
Announcing O'Reilly Answers - Clever Hacks. Creative Ideas. Innovative Solutions.
November 4, 2009
We're launching the beta of O'Reilly Answers, and I'm inviting you to be part of it. In brief, O'Reilly Answers is a community site for sharing knowledge, asking questions, and providing answers that brings together our customers, authors, editors, conference speakers, and Foo (Friends of O'Reilly). O'Reilly is at the center of an amazing exchange of knowledge sharing and idea generation, and we want you to join us in changing the world by spreading the knowledge of innovators.
Featured Gov 2.0 Video: Technology, Transparency, and You
By O'Reilly MediaNovember 3, 2009
Games Top the Charts in the iPhone and Android App Markets
November 3, 2009
While it might be true that the number of Book apps is growing at a faster rate, Games continue to dominate the list of popular U.S. iTunes Apps. Games accounted for about a fifth of all iTunes apps over the past week†, but the category continued to have a disproportionate share of the Top 100 charts, accounting for 52% of the Top Grossing, 56% of the Top Paid, and 50% of the Top Free apps.
Four short links: 3 November 2009 - Electoral Cryptography, Dataless Airport Security, Visualising Transport Data, Mathematically Insecure Social Asymmetry
November 3, 2009
First Test for Election Cryptography (MIT Technology Review) -- The first government election to use a new cryptographic scheme that lets both voters and auditors check that votes were cast and recorded accurately will be held tomorrow in Takoma Park, MD. Founder of the company behind the technology is David Chaum, who ran the first electronic currency company in the 90s. That was ahead of its time (Internet faced a credibility problem, not a convenience problem), but his timing for this seems spot-on. (via timoreilly on Twitter)
Operating system expertise moves outward as programmers job-hop
By Andy OramNovember 3, 2009
I just held a reunion with people I worked with at a real-time and data acquisition computer vendor 20 years ago, and was interested to see how many ended up in another, related line of work.
5 Tips For Documenting Code
November 3, 2009
Advanced Flash Tactics or AFTs are techniques that come from deep within the Flash Art Of War, the oldest Flash military treatise in the world. In this AFT I will go over - 5 Tips for Documenting Code. Documenting code is not high on many people's lists of things todo. Most of the time it is boring, repetitive, and time consuming. If you want to get better at documenting your own code then this is the post for you. I have 5 simple rules to follow while coding to make the process easier.
What feature do you use most on your mobile phone?
By Rich TretolaNovember 3, 2009
With all of this talk lately about the Flash Player coming to mobile, I thought I would ask a very simple question. What feature do you use most on your mobile phone? Please take part in this poll.
Ignite Show: Andrew Hyde on the Posting Economy - Episode 36
By O'Reilly MediaNovember 2, 2009
Subscribe to this video podcast series via iTunes. Or, visit the O'Reilly Media area at iTunes to find other podcasts from O'Reilly.
Upcoming Webcasts: How to Effectively Utilize Microsoft Project 2010 with SharePoint 2010 - A Free, Live Webcast - Nov 3rd @ 10am PT
November 2, 2009
In this interactive presentation, you will learn how to: Effectively create a Microsoft Project Plan Create a SharePoint-based Project Management Information System (PMIS) Integrate Microsoft Project information with SharePoint Empower a project team to collaboratively share relevant information Build a project management dashboard in SharePoint Attendance is limited, so register now! More Upcoming Webcasts: Tokyo Cabinet in One Hour Open Transportation Data in One Hour Check out our Webcast page for on-demand videos of past webcasts and more upcoming live events!
Four short links: 2 November 2009 - Inside Botnets, Creating Choropleths, Privacy Simplified, Massively Machiavellian Online Social Gaming
November 2, 2009
Scamville: The Social Gaming Ecosystem of Hell (TechCrunch) -- Many of those games on Facebook that your friends play are evil. To get in-game money or objects, they'll let you take a survey but at the end you're signed up for crap you never wanted. This and more in today's Four Short Links.
The Emerging Twitter List Arms Race
November 2, 2009
I use Twitter a lot, but I was not among the very first to see the new Lists feature. I can now, though. And what I find much more interesting than actually using the feature myself is the fact that I woke up this morning to find that I was on dozens of other people's lists. (In fact, while I was writing this, I turned up on four more!) Even though the irony is that Twitter introduced lists about a year after I stopped wanting such a feature, I do think there is some value in having other people put me on their lists. Braggadocio. Forget about counting your number of followers, or how many retweets you get, those metrics have been blown out for a long time now. The new high fidelity for my vanity is the Twitter list.
Cool Pumpkin Carving Contest - Nancy Duarte, author of Slide:ology, created one, too!
October 30, 2009
"Every year, my company (Duarte Design) holds a pumpkin decorating contest--and we let our families, friends and clients pick the winners," explains Nancy Duarte, author of Slide:ology. "Of course, in the interest of fairness, I can't tell you which pumpkin is mine, but don't let that stop you from clicking here and seeing how a creative group of people unleash their talents on pumpkins, squashes and sundry gourds. And don't forget to vote by October 30--that's when the polls close in this election!" See now.
The Rise of Zombies Explained - Are Zombies Allegorical Representations of Our Fear
October 30, 2009
A Brief History of Zombies — "The atomic bombs that dropped on Japan in 1945 inspired movie director Ishiro Honda to give the world the big, bad, grey monster, born of irresponsible nuclear weapons tests that we know to this day as Godzilla," writes James Turner in a new O'Reilly Insights column on Forbes, "In the West, Godzilla's cautionary tale (and tail) never really took hold...Instead of giant irradiated monsters, our preferred poison has been flesh-eating zombies. Read more.
Do the Economics of Bandwidth Scale? - A Web 2.0 Summit '09 Video
By O'Reilly MediaOctober 30, 2009
Ride Safely at Night with This Easy to Make Bike Light - A MAKE Magazine Weekend Project
By O'Reilly MediaOctober 30, 2009
Four short links: 30 October 2009 - Three Minute Theses, Google Wave RPGs, Public Metadata, and The Finitely-Zoomable Natural World
October 30, 2009
The3is In Three -- PhD students must explain their thesis topic in three minutes and one Powerpoint slide. Winner had written on the last words of Shakespearean characters as they met unlikely ends. No video alas, but what a great idea for an Ignite! (via sciblogs) Google Wave: We Came, We Saw, We Played D&D (ArsTechnica) -- gamers using Wave to play RPGs. This can't be the killer app, however, because it is not pornographic. (via BoingBoing)
Participant Sensing - An Interview with Deborah Estrin
October 30, 2009
While the iPhone doesn’t ship nearly as much as its humbler brethren - the iPhone opened up many minds about the potential of phones to do a whole lot more than talk. In that regard it is a peek into the future. The iPhone is a rich portable computer with onboard sensors. Specifically, it is a location-aware (GPS), motion-aware (accelerometer),...
Navigating the Future: Take Me to Bob
October 30, 2009
Google has just announced a free turn-by-turn navigation app for Android 2.0 in the US (Radar post). Google Maps Navigation relies on Google's own mapping for routing you. As with many navigation devices you can search Business Listings. However, they are also including data not traditionally available to navigators. In the promo video Google demonstrates that you can ask to be taken to "The King Tut exhibit". GMN will determine that it's in Golden Gate Park and route you. This is "because it is connected to the internet it is using all of the latest information on the internet."
How to Effectively Utilize Microsoft Project 2010 with SharePoint 2010 - A Free, Live Webcast - Nov 3rd @ 10am PT
October 29, 2009
Microsoft Project is a project management tool widely used by project managers today. However, it can be a challenge for a project manager to share project information and collaborate with the project team with Microsoft Project alone. Microsoft SharePoint 2010 can complement Microsoft Project 2010 and address this gap. In this interactive presentation, you will learn how to: Effectively create a Microsoft Project Plan Create a SharePoint-based Project Management Information System (PMIS) Integrate Microsoft Project information with SharePoint Empower a project team to collaboratively share relevant information Build a project management dashboard in SharePoint Attendance is limited, so register now! More Upcoming Webcasts: Tokyo Cabinet in One Hour Open Transportation Data in One Hour Check out our Webcast page for on-demand videos of past webcasts and more upcoming live events!
Top Log FAIL
By Anton ChuvakinOctober 29, 2009
A recent Wal-Mart intrusion story inspired me to summarize the most egregious, reckless, painful, negligent, sad, idiotic examples of failures with logs and logging - "Top Log FAIL." I am pretty sure that esteemed readers of SysAdmin Blog would never, ever do anything of that sort.
Four short links: 29 October 2009 - Learning Programming, Functional Javascript, Controlling Firefox, Kicking Ass (with SSDs)
By Nat TorkingtonOctober 29, 2009
Anatomy of SSDs -- A teeth-rattlingly technical Linux Magazine article explaining the different types of SSDs (Solid State Disks--imagine a hard drive made of rapid-access Flash memory). Artur Bergman told me that installing an SSD drive in his MacBook Pro gave the greatest performance increase of any computer upgrade he'd performed since he went from no computer to one. This and more in today's Four Short Links.
Participation, participation, participation
By Rick JelliffeOctober 29, 2009
IBM marketing guy Rob Weir has half of a new series of blogs The Final OOXML Update up. Readers may be surprised that I agree with many of the points he makes, among them, the importance of a balance of interests, the need for continued participation and the need for followthrough on the BRM decisions.
Online Where 2.0: iPhone Sensors for Developers - Online Conference Happening December 3, 2009
October 29, 2009
It's difficult to make it to every conference and yet there are always new developments, technologies and issues during the off times. So we are trying something new. a series of Online Conferences that will happen through out the year. We just had a successful one on eBooks for our Tools of Change conference and now we are launching one for Where 2.0. On December 3rd please join me, Brian Jepson and 5 other speakers as we discuss and explore iPhone sensors at the first ever Online Where 2.0 on December 3rd.
Google Shrinks Another Market With Free Turn-By-Turn Navigation
By Brady ForrestOctober 29, 2009
Google has announced a free turn-by-turn navigation system for Android 2.0 phones such as the Droid. Read more about the features of Google Maps Navigation.
iPhone Killers, Blackberries and Chicken Parts
October 29, 2009
While a steady stream of so-called iPhone Killers are filtering into the market, Apple's momentum continues unabated. Inspired by his own experiences upgrading to the Blackberry Tour, the author ponders why so many solution providers confuse delivering a bunch of 'chicken parts' with producing an actual, living, breathing chicken. BlackBerry Storm, Palm Pre, the G2, and now Droid have all been touted as contenders to the mobile computing crown, yet the iPhone continues to kick butt.
The Personalized Medication Revolution - How Medicine Works May Depend on Your Genes
October 29, 2009
The Best Medications for Your Genes -- "For the first time since doctors began prescribing medications, we are beginning to understand why certain drugs work better, worse, or not at all for certain patients," writes James Turner, O'Reilly contributing editor. "This breakthrough is being made possible by the wealth of new genomic data that is generated every day." In a new O'Reilly Insights column, Turner explains why personalized pharmacology will benefit all of us. Read more.
Safari Books Online 6.0: A Cloud Library as an alternate model for ebooks
October 28, 2009
Most people thinking about ebooks are focused on creating an electronic recreation of print books. At O'Reilly, we've tried to focus not on the form of the book but on the job that it does for our customers. It teaches, it informs, it entertains. How might electronic publishing help us to advance those aims? Safari Books Online, our subscription based online library, was our answer. And it just got better. Safari Books Online 6.0, released yesterday, brings a new level of ease of use. Safari adopted a "cloud library" model rather than downloadable ebooks as its fundamental design metaphor. I thought it might be worthwhile to understand how we arrived at that decision, as well as some of the other lessons we’ve learned over what is now 22 years of ebook publishing experience.
Four short links: 28 October 2009 - Great Mail Feature, Speed Talks, Virtualisation History, Science Literacy
October 28, 2009
GMail Labs: Got The Wrong Bob? -- When's the last time you got an email from a stranger asking, "Are you sure you meant to send this to me?" and promptly realized that you didn't? GMail looks at the clusters of CCs you send and, if you normally send to Bob X but are trying to send it to Bob Y, asks you "did you mean Bob X?". This might be the best thing to happen to email since webmail and full-text search--it's ridiculous how little innovation is happening in email given how widely and heavily it is used. This and more in today's Four Short Links.
How the Network is Helping Women Be 'Architects of Change'
By Sarah SorensenOctober 28, 2009
I attended the Women's Conference 2009 today in Long Beach and listened in admiration to the many tales of triumph and hope that I heard throughout the day. One panel with Madeleine Albright, Amy Holmes, Valarie Jarrett and Claire Shipman discussed "How a Women's Nation Changes Everything." The world is certainly changing. And as women evolve their role, the network will continue to play its supporting part to help them find balance, take control and follow their dreams.
What sociologist Erving Goffman could tell us about social networking and Internet identity
October 28, 2009
I just finished Erving Goffman's classic sociological text, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. A friend told me to read this for an exploration into what "identity" means online, and I did find that the book offers some useful frameworks. It helps us understand the contradictory effects of presenting ourselves online, and identify the opportunities and dangers.
Universal Translators
October 28, 2009
Both DARPA and the U.S. Air Force are working on universal translators, a concept straight out of Star Trek. While government, science and the military work to eliminate a speech Tower of Babel, we (the information security community) have been busy creating our own new Tower of Babel. As fast as language barriers have been coming down, we have been erecting an encryption Tower of Babel.
Bonnie Biafore's Favorite New QuickBooks 2010 Features
By Sara PeytonOctober 27, 2009
According to Bonnie Biafore, author of QuickBooks 2010: The Missing Manual, QuickBooks 2010 doesn't introduce any earth-shattering enhancements. Yet, a few of its new features are handy and welcome timesavers. Read on for details about Bonnie's favorite new features in...
Defense Department Releases Open Source Memo
October 27, 2009
I've been holding my breath for so long waiting for this memo that I may not remember how to start breathing again, but here it is. The Department of Defense Deputy CIO Dave Wennergren has signed and released "Clarifying Guidance on Open Source Software."
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