Thursday, June 10, 2004

Open Access To Scientific Literature: Can It Work? [Slashdot] 9:24:42 AM      Google It!.

Xandros Releases Open Circulation Edition [Slashdot] 9:20:08 AM      Google It!.

Reusable Learning site from NSDL/Eduworks. http://www.reusablelearning.org/index.asp?id=26 Based on a reference in a recent intro to learning objects I went back to a site I thought I new, but instead found this newly developed resource that the Eduworks folks produced for the NSDL. It is really worth spending some time on, for both newbies and old hands alike. The section on "Fostering Reusability in the NSDL" is very helpful, and the Reusability Framework is, I think, top notch and I would be surprised if I didn't start to see it show up more as a canonical reference. - SWL [EdTechPost] 9:04:56 AM      Google It!.

None of which Could *Possibly* Apply to Libraries, Too. The Internet Search on Mobile Race "IDC analyst Mr Keith Wayras expects 30 million people, or 17 per cent of US mobile subscribers, to use the web on phones in 2006,while currently in Japan about 44.8 million people, or 58 per cent of internet users, access the web on their mobile phones.Internet access will be available on most of the approx 600 million mobile phones expected to be sold worldwide this year.While it is already possible to run a Google search on phones, it is not always easy with websites built for desktop computers and not small-screened devices.This article says that "Google itself said in April that if it doesn't launch products that improve Web searches on handheld devices, it will fail to win a significant share of an increasingly important part of the online market."The article goes on to analyse Microsoft,Yahoo and AOL's moves in the internet search on mobile race. Google could change the wireless internet" [Smart Mobs] [The Shifted Librarian] 8:59:31 AM      Google It!.

For Wandering Tourists, Help From On High. Satellite-guided carts let visitors to San Francisco find their own way around the citys sights. By Tim Gnatek. [New York Times: Technology] 8:56:55 AM      Google It!.

Megapixel Phones Encroach on Digital Camera Turf. SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - Asia's top mobile phone makers are rolling out handsets equipped with cameras so advanced many consumers may come to the conclusion they don't need a separate digital camera any more. [Reuters: Technology] 8:54:38 AM      Google It!.

'Official' Pocket Loox 700 Wi-Fi PDA pic appears on web. Shipping in August, apparently By Tony Smith . [The Register] 8:47:20 AM      Google It!.

Teachers from Online Master's Program Having Greater Impact on Students, Study Shows. A commissioned study released today by Walden University, an online higher education institution, shows that teachers enrolled in its distance-learning reading and literacy master's degree program significantly improved their students' reading scores o [Online Learning Update] 8:43:30 AM      Google It!.

Bluetooth group preps 2.1Mbps spec. Same packet rate, bigger payloads By Tony Smith . [The Register] 8:42:26 AM      Google It!.

Microsoft is publishing security alerts via RSS 2.0. It's the perfect time to do this, the email channels are clogged, and the people who need to be alerted of security issues are exactly the kind of people who, in 2004, are likely to use an aggregator. There are still a few glitches to work out, but the feed is in pretty good shape, and can probably be used in most aggregators. Computerworld and Insecure.Org also have security feeds, providing triangulation. [Scripting News] 8:38:13 AM      .

WiFi Gone Wild [Slashdot] 8:36:23 AM      Google It!.

Can Dogs Speak? No, But They Understand, Study Says. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A clever border collie that can fetch at least 200 objects by name may be living proof that dogs truly understand human language, German scientists reported on Thursday. [Reuters: Science] 8:33:51 AM      Google It!.

FixYourOwnPrinter.com.  My decade-old LaserJet 4 recently developed a bad case of the dreaded "accordian paper jam" syndrome. It's been a workhorse. Maybe, I thought, I should just put it out to pasture. But I had a hunch that the process of getting it fixed would be interestingly different from the last time I had to do something like this. And sure enough, it was. I found several repair kits online, but zeroed in on FixYourOwnPrinter.com because their kit includes a video that illustrates the process. ... [Jon's Radio] 8:32:44 AM      Google It!.

Opera launches 250% go-faster for mobile phone browser. Proxy-based accelerator By John Lettice . [The Register] this approach to proxy based rendering could have other applications in making the web more accessible for persons with disabilities as well.  Essentially, it embraces the mobile phone as a thin client and uses the proxy server processing power to apprpriate advantage.  The open source course managment systems development could take note of this approach to broader the range of student platforms to embrace cellphone browsers as the target platform of the future -- BL 8:31:07 AM      Google It!.