Tuesday, March 16, 2004

EarthClock. EarthClock I wish I had written this one. When PythonCard was first getting started I wrote the worldclock sample, which fetches images from the time.gov server. EarthClock uses a similar strategy, but is so much cooler. How much cooler, well just look at this... EarthClock supports views from different locations around the globe, weather satellite images, as well as just about any other image that you can fetch from a web site, plus it is skinnable for a variety of effects and different clock styles. I love the nighttime views with the lights from the cities. There is a standalone Windows installer for anyone with a Windows machine, Win98 or higher, you don't need anything else. If you aren't using the standalone installer, EarthClock requires wxPython and the Python Imaging Library (PIL). If you fetch EarthClock from cvs be aware that the Clock.py file was missing as of March 16, 2004 and some of the other files are out-of-date, so I recommend just using the .zip in the file downloads section if you want the source. ShapedWindows aren't supported by wxPython on GTK yet, but they do work on Windows and the Mac. [Kevin Altis' Weblog] 2:09:33 PM      Google It!.

650 million cameraphones a year. Alan Reiter points to a research report suggesting that 150 million camera-enabled mobile phones will be sold this year, growing to 650 million by 2008. At that point, there will be something like a billion people sending photos and video back and forth among mobile devices. And people are wondering what all that Internet capacity will be used for? [Werblog] 9:51:57 AM      Google It!.

Talk Your Way Out of Trouble. Using a headset microphone and voice-recognition software to control the onscreen action, Konami's Lifeline seeks to increase players' immersion in the game world. It succeeds, but not in the ways you might think. A review by Chris Kohler. [Wired News] "Lifeline is thus a unique step toward deeper player immersion in the game world, but not simply because of the technology. It's because although Rio is the main character, "you" are not Rio -- "you" are another survivor, trapped in the security room of the space station, who is watching Rio on the security monitors and giving her advice. So in real life you're sitting in a chair with a headset on, holding a controller and watching a monitor, while "you" in the game does the exact same thing." -- this is an important step forward in application/educational software. --BL 9:50:22 AM      Google It!.

Honey, I Shrunk the URL. Among Web savants, TinyURL.com has become an indispensable tool for shortening unwieldy URLs before dispatching them in e-mails or IMs. They have a fanatical unicyclist to thank for the site. By Katie Dean. [Wired News] 9:45:52 AM      Google It!.

RAND Report Implies Changes for Workplace Learning Professionals - Learning Circuits. A new report from RAND Corporation finds that slower workforce growth, technological changes, and economic globalization will have powerful effects on the U.S. workplace in this century. The report, "The 21st Century at Work: Forces Shaping the Future [Online Learning Update] -- very comprehensive report and forcast --BL 9:43:58 AM      Google It!.

Why provide OA to books?. The Ludwig von Mises Institute publishes priced, printed books, and for many of them provides free online full-text. Jeffrey Tucker, the Institute's Editorial Vice President, wrote a March 12 note for the Institute blog to explain, Why We Put Books Online. Excerpt: "As a non-profit dedicated to getting the word out about Austrian economics, and serving as many people in the world who are interested in learning, it only makes sense that we pursue every viable means of doing so. To have the means of providing something as powerful as [these books] for free and not doing so would amount to deliberately withholding the product pending payment from people who may or may not have the means of providing it. That prospect has to make every nonprofit that cares about its mission somewhat squeamish. So we gladly offer these texts at no charge simply because we believe that this is part of our core mission. If that sounds implausibly high-minded, there are other considerations at work. There was much confusion in the early days of the web about whether online viewing would displace books. It didn't happen. In fact, the broad development of the web as a vehicle for commercial search and delivery has actually led to a boom in books sales, both new and used. Also, experience suggests that online and offline books are different goods that serve different purposes (quick reference versus deep reading; quote checking versus extended study; etc.)....All of this means that one does not (necessarily) cut into ones sales by offering the book online for free. In fact, by showing people what is inside the book, it is possible to increase sales of the offline book." (Thanks to Kimmo Kuusela.) [Open Access News] 7:39:54 AM      Google It!.

HP Shipping Turbolinux HP in Asia [Slashdot] 7:36:14 AM      Google It!.