Dave Winer has a great post on RSS and also detailed info on the workings behind it, the elements tags it uses and also a roadmap of extending RSS.
The page also has some useful links to Validators, How to’s, Utilities, Modules and also shared code.
RSS is the acronym for Really Simple Syndication. ::: http://backend.userland.com/rss
Topic plug-ins (More like this from others)
I came across the creating Interoperable Data. This topic has some interesting areas that allows for content to be transmitted across the internet.
The first post I came across was this one by David Raynes where he commented on the idea of “More like this from others”. After reading a bit more about it I came across this post by Six Apart which toyed and commented more on the idea.
Ben Hammersley has built a plug-in which uses Trackback and RSS well.
http://www.benhammersley.com/archives/003371.html
Nasa releases last 10min of handheld video from Columbia
Handheld video of the space shuttle Columbia’s last minutes has been released by NASA. More can be read here ::: http://www.smh.com.au and http://abcnews.go.com
Microsoft to reveal Windows source code to China
CNet comments on a recent move by Microsoft to reveal it’s Windows source code following the need to find the inner workings of software for primary security concerns.
The nature of this, makes you wonder of the possible concerns over software security and opened back doors, particularly when windows has recently been affected by malicious virus attacks to it’s software products.
The more interesting point of this, is the whole open source debate and more particularly the Chinese military & governments previously stated preferences to Linux open source.
More can be found here ::: http://news.com.com/2100-1007-990526.html?tag=fd_top
Daypop searches by Word Bursts
Daypop has a useful series of search engines which both search for keywords and links, but also by “Word Bursts” which I commented on last week and was published in New Scientist.
The ability to search by word bursts allows you the chance to look at areas of particular interest, without relating it necessarily by links or hits etc. It is an interesting way of searching and will definetly be an area which will be commented more in the future. ::: http://www.daypop.com/
CNet reviews of alternative new search engines.
Here are some other interesting search tools out there:
WiseNut: www.wisenut.com
Teoma: www.teoma.com
Vivisimo: www.vivisimo.com
Daypop: www.daypop.com
Mamma: www.mamma.com
Blooma the Email software to remove clutter
I came across this article while reading Brad Choates article. It comments on a new e-mail software “Blooma” which is currently Free in Beta and helps remove clutter in emails.
More can be found here: http://www.bloomba.com/prodinfo.html
Referal link using Waxy Links
I came across this post in Waxy.org on a referal type script called Waxy Links v0.05. This script lets you add referal urls and associate them with a post. The article is dated last June ::: http://www.waxy.org/archive/2002/06/29/waxy_bac.shtml
I also came across this MT forum post on a David Raynes plug-in which grabs additional data from a trackback, such as title, link, and excerpt/description :::
http://www.movabletype.org/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?s=3e03b2d00201ffff;act=ST;f=20;t=11945 and http://mt-plugins.org/archives/entry/pingedurl.php
Blocking spam bots from accessing your site
Mark Pilgrim comments on a technical post on how to block spam automated robots and spiders from accessing your site & content and eating your bandwidth. He comments on how some grab whatever they want leave and do so without respecting the Robot Exclusion Standard which has been in affect for almost 10 years. ::: http://diveintomark.org
Instinctive behaviour of children attributed to creative thinking
An interesting article on BBC News titled “What made Darwin a creative thinker” which comments on how instinctive behaviour can be attributed on having older brothers and sisters.
A study of 120,000 people concluded that the instinctive behaviour adopted by younger children to help get them noticed can stay with them for life.
More at the BBC science site ::: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2400447.stm
John Saila comments on new Google products
John Saila comments on some of the new services which will be provided by the search giant Google including two services the company?s is testing,
1. the Google Viewer – which lets you view search results as slideshow web pages (which is awesome) and
2. Google WebQuotes.
More can be found here ::: http://www.saila.com/columns/rants/021212.shtml
Differences between DIV and SPAN
I recently went back and re-read an article which explained the differences between the <SPAN> and <DIV> tags in HTML.
One thing I seemed to forget was that when using the <DIV> tag it consequently breaks paragraphs. The tag predominantly acts as a paragraph start/end and while you can have paragraphs within a <DIV> you can’t have a <DIV> inside a paragraph.
The primary attributes of the <DIV> tag are:
align (left|center|right|justify)
style
name
More info can be found here: http://webdesign.about.com/library/weekly/aa011000a.htm
Netscape DevEdge gets redesigned with Accessibility in mind
The Netscape Developer website DevEdge, which has been around for as long as I can remember, has been redesigned with an emphasis on Accessibility and standards compliance.
The site contains a useful tool where it is possible to increase the size on all fonts/typefaces in the page. This tool serves as an advantage to users with visual impairments and it created using styles. It is great to finally see things such as this online. ::: http://devedge.netscape.com/viewsource/2003/devedge-redesign/
IE fails in new W3C CSS homepage
Web Standards.org comments on the new W3C CSS homepage which funnily enough does support IE. The page has been coded to be CSS compliant and consequently this causes a problem with IE. The site uses a CSS property which does not work in Internet Explorer in Windows. ::: http://webstandards.org/buzz/archive/2003_02.html#a000138
New version of Movable Type 2.63
A new version of Movable type is released. This new version is predominantly a bug fix version than any new enhanced feature. More can be found here: www.movabletype.org
Differences between ISSN and ISBN
What is the difference between ISSN and ISBN ?
ISSN are assigned to serial publications; ISBN are assigned to monographs (“books”). An ISSN can be assigned to a series of monographs as such; and an ISBN will be assigned to each separate book of the series.
ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number.
More information can be found at The ISBN system website. ::: http://www.isbn.spk-berlin.de/