Eric Maynard: radio useful misc

Thu, 17 Oct 2002 12:43:42 GMT

...useless misc is moving! I'm sorry for all the confusion this may end up creating, but I'm moving UM from Radio to my own server. This will allow me to control amy blogs I create all from a single tool and websserver. The new address is: http://www.emaynard.org/uselessmisc/ RSS feed can be found at: http://www.emaynard.org/uselessmisc/index.rdf I'm still tweaking the templates, but the conversion to the new site is now complete. See you there!

Wed, 16 Oct 2002 22:54:14 GMT

A test title to post to MT

The section above should be grabbed as a title for this entry by MT. This will get around the irritating problem with R8's fixed input boxes that stretch my web page.

Wed, 16 Oct 2002 22:41:02 GMT

Test post to Useless Misc on emaynard.org

Wed, 12 Jun 2002 03:03:21 GMT

I've been looking for an easy way to incorporate my category RSS on my blogs home page and I think now I may have them answer. I want to do something very similar to what l.m. orchard has done at the 0xdecafbad wiki site.

I could probably do this with Radio's Most Recent Posting Macro with the category parameter, but RSSDisplay appears to give you that same functionality in any CMS.

Tue, 04 Jun 2002 00:08:07 GMT

Hmm... Blogroll macro (using NiF OPML) works on the Desktop Website Homepage, how about the Website Homepage.

YEP! Like a charm.

What do you know...CSS classes even work like expect them to. Watch-out, I'm on a roll now!

Mon, 03 Jun 2002 23:53:52 GMT

OK, I'm a member of the Neighborhood (for whatever that's worth) so now I should be so BOLD.

Tue, 28 May 2002 23:16:37 GMT

"At that point, though, I'd seriously consider making it its own tool! (Besides which, I'd like to write another news aggregator engine that scanned, you know, not all at once and whatnot. And didn't double-decode.)"

Marc comptemplates some ideas to improve on Radio's News Aggregator by creating a new engine or perhaps improving Kit's built-in news aggregator functions.

Sun, 28 Apr 2002 13:00:15 GMT

"I find myself using weblogs as a great sources of information. Although they are personal opinions, they're also good filters on certain topics. I regularly visit a collection of weblogs that together cover the span of my interests. Each weblog filters out the relevant information from the web and hands them to me in handy format. Anybody who read David Gelernter's book "Mirror Worlds" (see a small review here) must recognize the similarities with what Gelernter calls "the trellis". The trellis is a dataflow architecture, a little like a stack of filters so that the users at the topic are not bothered by the massive amounts of small details but are able to get the information they need. With weblogs these filters are actual humans, and they are way better at sorting information than any piece of software. The way Radio Userland offers users the oppertunity to subscribe to eachothers weblogs (and automatically incorporate the other's writings) is an excellent example of the similarities. I built my own trellis out of the weblogs on the topics I'm interested in. These weblogs in turn might use other weblogs etc. In my eyes this is a very powerfull idea and that is why I'm a big proponent of weblogs...
but...I have the feeling we can do more for users."
Unfortunately, I am too much of an NT (non-techie) to understand what the heck Berco is talking about throughout the rest of his rant, but it seems like a wonderful experiment. Take a look at 2blog. (from Daypop Top 40)" [via "steven"]

Oh...I get it. Actually, I've thought of this concept myself at an extremely high level. (Not to steal any of Berco's thunder on the idea.) I'm searching for the post to my weblog on the subject. (hmmm....no luck)

Anyways, I originally conceived the concept as a 'portable device' contaning your blog software and data. Portable meaning anything capable of storing both the application and the data and being accessible from a widely different number of devices. Berco improves this concept to include as well other services based applications (~ GoogleAPI searching). Even better yet, appearing to be somthing of a programmer, Berco's also got a working prototype.

With Bero's setup you carry your applications & data on a Disk on a Key (a glorified USB memory chip) and plug-in the chip to any USB compliant device and presto - access to the services stored on the chip running in it's own device independent (relatively speaking) web service based application.

It's kind of like being able to carry around the hard drive that contains your copy of Radio and then plugging it to any PC you want and being able to access the software from that PC. That's actually a very crude look at it though. The real power of this concept is that the portability of the data itself. Not just the device that it's on.

Exciting stuff!

Fri, 26 Apr 2002 23:22:01 GMT

I need a xManilaBloggerBridge-like tool that hooks into Radio categories but posts via email instead of the usual options. I know there is a builtin Frontier verb that email(ifies) a string just like you see at the Y! Groups Radio Userland site. But how do I get from post to email through a given category?

There has to be a way to add this to the functionality of the bridge. That way Radio will take on the functionality similar to "NIF" and allow me to email a discussion group (or any email address) *and* send a copy to my blog as well.

I know there are 3rd party products like http://www.bloglet.com, but what I want is the capability built right into Radio.

Thu, 25 Apr 2002 12:28:38 GMT

"Colin Faulkingham: "The DGWS server is a lot like a Group Weblog but structured more like an actual Discussion Group."" [via ScriptingNews]

This sounds kind of what you might need if you like the collaborative aspects of weblogging, but need the structure of a DG. I can think of several uses...basically anything that isn't strictly time-based could use this. Almost Wiki-like in a sense. Very Wiki-like.

Thu, 25 Apr 2002 11:53:59 GMT

"4/24/02; 10:03:33 AM by DW

It's time to review how enclosures work. Matt Goyer asks some questions on the Radio-Dev list.
- Is automatic downloading of enclosures on by default?
  - They are disabled by default. (See radio.init, search for user.radio.prefs.enclosures.flDownloadsEnabled.)
- I subscribed to my company's feed (http://radio.weblogs.com/0104001/rss.xml) which has a MP3 enclosure in it and received that enclosure twice. I've also received the same enclosure multiple times from Adam Curry's feed.
Locations
- user.radio.prefs.enclosures
- radio.init
- RSS Enclosures prefs page
- radio.aggregator.downloadEnclosures

Looks like Dave is revisting RSS Enclosures at the request of Matt from "EMWeblog" on double downloading issue. I can't offer much here. I have to trick my copy of Radio into downloads, since I'm on a dial-up behind a proxy, it makes things a bit tricky as far as automated D/Ls are concerned. That's all about to change...soon. Satellite Broadband...so cool.

Anyways...I think Dave should consider making the D/L setiings a bit more flexible. The x hours after midnight thing may have made sense back in the stone-age (2 years ago) of pre-broadband critical mass. But today, it should be a matter of when ever we choose to allow Radio to perform the D/Ls.

Tue, 23 Apr 2002 02:46:06 GMT

Added PicoSearch to the site so I could find things. Thanks to "jenny" for the referal.

Mon, 15 Apr 2002 03:39:14 GMT

"Notes on Radio Customization This is the page where I try to note all of the changes I've made to Radio Userland in customizing it for my purposes. " [via "scripting"]

Good collection of links realting to customizing Radio.

PS - I do this myself (or as best i can) on my weblog channel radio useful misc.

Mon, 15 Apr 2002 01:06:21 GMT

Myelin: "This is a web server, written completely in Python, that implements the xmlStorageSystem protocol used by Radio UserLand, a popular weblog tool.

This could definitely have some potential. Even appears to contain parts of RCS's functionality. Something else I've never considered, but I sure is possible with some amount of programming, is the ability for non-Radio blog tools to utilize the xmlStorage system. XML-RPC ??? Food for thought.

Sun, 14 Apr 2002 11:55:35 GMT

>>> Loose ends

...However, the cool thing about Google making it's search results available to web applications available to web applications is the trend that it starts. How long before we have a MSN, AOL or Jabber API that will allow other people to not only link to your website, but list your current online status on their page? For example, I'm going to be in Boston next weekend, how cool would it be if I could push out that message using an IM client, which pushes out to my website the message "Mike's in Boston", which is then picked up through an API to every site that links to my website, so the link would look something like "Mike's Blog (Mike's in Boston)" where the Mike's Blog link takes you to my blog, and the "Mike's in Boston" part takes you to an IM API page where you can see more details about my status, send me an instant message, or I can leave other details about how to reach me, or not reach me while I'm in Boston. Call it the ultimate in "presence", people can know your online status without ever having to come to your site, or look you up on the IM client. I can also leave in my information a message that says "Won't be updating the blog until I return." so everyone who spots a link to my site will know that until the "Mike's in Boston" status changes, there's nothing new on the site. It saves them clicks. And just think of the corporate application of such an API! You could publish everyone's status to an intranet page and the status could be updated as often as it needed to be by using any available internet connection and an IM client. <<< [Life of a One Man IT Department]

Instant Outlining is a something of a start on this concept. It exists in addition to your main blog feed, though I'm certain there is (and most likely will be) a way to incorporate it into your main channel. Radio only for the moment though I'm certain that will change as well.

Fri, 12 Apr 2002 00:29:50 GMT

4/11/02; 9:31:16 AM by DW -- Description Filter callbacks for RSS

http://radio.userland.com/descriptionFilterCallbacks

Cool! - I could see getting some mileage out of this.

Thu, 11 Apr 2002 02:43:54 GMT

Notebark - a pretty basic freeware Win outliner

Simple features - Easy to use
Export to text or HTML
NO XML / OPML support - phoohy
- I'm contacting the author perhaps some $$$ will persuade

Tue, 09 Apr 2002 20:16:21 GMT

I do like the outline mode of thinking - I guess it is kind of natural to me

Short blurbs - bare minimal to commicate concept
Relies on hierarchal representation of information to convey meaning though

Looks like the latest outliner macro PostTo Weblog works.

Sun, 07 Apr 2002 23:49:09 GMT

"New Radio feature: shortcuts. I updated Radio by right clicking on the Radio icon in the tray and selecting"update Radio.root" I then went into prefs and enabled shortcuts. I then went into the new menu items called"shortcuts" and put some items in. This is the best way to include stories and major posts in a weblog. Very often you post an item that refers to previous writing you have done, this is a great way to shortcut the process (very similar to automated footnotes). I am also putting in the weblog links for the people I reference often. That way, when I type Dave in quotes (ex: Dave Winer ) or bomb in quotes (ex: ) the link to scripting news or the bomb graphic shows up."

Local shortcuts are live (after updating) in Radio. The auto-generation of Titled post and stories was something of a surprise, but a welcom feature all the same.

Sun, 07 Apr 2002 02:06:35 GMT

"Google is working on a SOAP-based API. We've already verified that Frontier and Radio work with it. I'm not sure how much more I can say about this at this time."

This sounds like it could be interesting. Radio and Google communication. But, what does it mean to the average Joe like myself?

Sat, 06 Apr 2002 18:40:44 GMT

"Following the tradition of showing screen shots of work in progress, here's a snap of the user interface of the new shortcuts stuff I'm doing for Radio. And a new tradition, you can follow the work on my outline. We move quickly and we do it openly. It's a zig to the patent-based software industry's zag. As we invent, the "lab notebook" is open. Other developers can see what we do and how we do it."

Looks like Dave is putting an interface to editing the Glossary locally. This is really such a nice feature - your own personal Smart Tags.

Tue, 02 Apr 2002 12:32:23 GMT

"It opens in situ, expanding within the current context of the outline. Transcluding content in this way is a long-overdue feature of the Web. What's especially stunning, though, is that the feature is here woven into an authoring tool that aims to replace email as the primary mode of communication in closely-knit collaborative teams. "

I believe I may finally be getting my head around this Instant Outlining thing that Userland has unleashed. I agree that it sounds (at least in theory) like it could be a replacement for email. It combines some of the better aspects of instant messaging with email in a structured and persistant format. I think the persistant part is especially attractive. Maybe even more so than the instant aspect.

But as indicated by even Dave himself, the interface is crude. Hopefully someone will grab the ball, run with it (since IO is open) and create a simple interface. This interface would make the technology accessible enough where I could recommend it (without fear of '...you want me to what?') to friends or better yet, co-workers who don't use "Radio".

I'm sure there are probably a handful or so busy on this at the moment in one fashion or another. Hopefully, one of them will capitalize on the IM models out there already and find a way to leverage that as a instant outlining interface as well.

Mon, 01 Apr 2002 00:14:42 GMT

In order to use the Title and Link capabilties with my current Theme I was forced to change the settings of the input boxes from default size of 85 to 65 in order to keep all the right sideabar elements from being shifted beyond the right side of the screen. I'll need to keep this change in mind when doing future upgrades.

If you're having similar troubles, the settings can be found in the Radio.root database under system.verbs.builtins.radio.macros.weblogPostForm.

Expand the section marked "bundle //add title and link" and you'll see the exposed html code which renders the edit box and Title/Link input fields.

Sat, 30 Mar 2002 01:35:58 GMT

Radio UserLand : New macro: radio.macros.recentTitledBlogPosts: - installed and hopefully happy at work!

Test	10/16/02
RadioExpress in a new window	10/11/02
Tide (1999)	10/9/02
Run Lola Run (1998)	10/9/02
Dell's PDA specs revealed	10/9/02
Movable Type 2.5 released	10/9/02
Idoru	10/8/02
The World Is My Oyster	10/8/02
Blogrolling.com	10/8/02
Erehwon Notebook - Domesticity - by Doug Miller	10/8/02
A Beautiful Mind	10/8/02
Feed Filtered Google News Into Your Aggregator.	10/8/02
Beautiful Mind, A (2001)	10/6/02
The Pillow Book (1997)	10/6/02
Affliction (1997)	10/6/02
Permanent Midnight (1998)	9/27/02
All Tomorrow's Parties	9/16/02
Bit by the geocaching bug	9/4/02
Mulholland Dr. (2001)	8/30/02
onfocus.com : free to the public	8/27/02
It's a boy!	8/27/02
Historical Fiction - My favorite genre	8/26/02
The Dears	8/26/02
Emergence	8/26/02
The Shifted Librarian Returns - Almost	8/20/02
The Old-Folks Home for Books	8/20/02
John Robb's Radio Weblog	8/20/02
In the mood for some tunes	8/14/02
Eunice Sim, Stronger Than Some.	8/7/02
IFCTV.com > What's on IFC > Dinner for Five >	8/7/02
More on myRadio aggregator	8/3/02
Plan B	7/31/02
Ziff Davis Is Said to Plan a Bankruptcy	7/30/02
Writing != Typing	7/29/02
myRadio Aggregator	7/28/02
More site updates	7/28/02
Freeflow Conspiracy - United.	7/27/02
Radio CSS Theme	7/22/02
webgraphics : weblog : Trying the Wiki Way	7/22/02
CSS for Radio	7/22/02
Vacation days...	7/18/02
nf0's Life : Hep 0.1.1	7/18/02
Tape (2001)	7/15/02
BlogAmp	7/13/02
nf0's Life : myMediaList.com	7/12/02
nf0's Life : A Linux user goes back	7/12/02
Counting Crows	7/10/02
ieSpell Followup	7/10/02
ieSpell - F**kin A Man	7/9/02
Beth Orton : Daybreaker	7/9/02
Mind Viruses	7/7/02

Fri, 29 Mar 2002 13:26:45 GMT

>>> I'm still waiting for this whole Instant Outlining mind bomb to go off in my head. I'm missing a piece of the puzzle or I've taken a wrong turn in the maze or something. Maybe this is one of those things where I just have to try it to understand it. I am especially confused about the whole project management/communication angle. How would it fit into my portal project at SLS?

Collected reading on this topic:

Some thoughts on Instant Outlining from Adam Curry
Jon Udell's first essay on Instant Outlining
Jeremiah Rogers' first essay on Instant Outlining
Radio's Outliner

I feel like the kid who can't quite figure out her multiplication tables, waiting for the light bulb moment. <<< [via The Shifted Librarian]

Jenny comptemplates the use of IO - doing the same myself. Thinking of usages similar in concept to wiki's like reading groups, focus groups, or possibly study groups. I'm also curious how others will work out delivering this to non-Radio users.