Wednesday, August 25, 2004

VoIP And Cell Phones Eroding Traditional Telecoms [Slashdot:] 6:41:16 PM      Google It!.

Integrating digital libraries into scientific practice. Laura M. Bartolo and three co-authors, MatDL: Integrating Digital Libraries into Scientific Practice, Journal of Digital Information, August 23, 2004. Abstract: "Digital repositories can be catalysts for new knowledge by providing information space and tools to facilitate the work of students, educators, or scientists. The NSF NSDL Materials Digital Library (MatDL) is adapting existing open source 'tools', such as an image gallery and a version control system, to meet the needs of users within the materials science community. The tools are being modified to make submission to MatDL an easy step within a user's existing workflow and to avoid redundant effort. These satellite services provided by MatDL are intended to become an integral part of the user's 'laboratory or workspace'. The paper investigates whether digital repositories can expand their communities and collections by building tools that integrate a digital repository into researchers' workspaces. In the long term, it is anticipated that making submissions to MatDL an easy part of users' regular workflow will increase the likelihood that users will submit resources to the repository. Ultimately, the goal of integrating a repository into users' workspaces is to enhance the impact between research and education. Initial experience of providing these tools and responding to user feedback through MatDL is discussed." (Thanks to ResourceShelf.) [Open Access News] 2:56:33 PM      Google It!.

Connecting Devices With Wireless Grids [Slashdot:] this could be the infrastructure for ubiquitius computing -- BL 2:51:32 PM      Google It!.

China's 3G 'wonderchip' primed and ready. Sponsored by Beijing, nurtured in Sunnyvale [The Register] 2:46:57 PM      Google It!.

Wheat and chaff. Roy Tenant, Metadata's Bitter Harvest, Library Journal, July 15, 2004. Excerpt: "I recently conducted my first harvest. Not pulling in corn or wheat but bibliographic records. Before long I had nearly 100,000 of them on my laptop, all describing free online resources held by five different libraries. Using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) it was a breeze --anyone could do it with the right software, of which there is much to choose from. But I could hardly believe the results....It was a complete mess. This mess is neither caused nor prevented by the harvesting protocol (OAI-PMH) and the guidelines for its use. The OAI developers specifically created an infrastructure with both a low threshold (a low barrier to implementation and use) as well as a high ceiling (the opportunity to create much richer interactions among collaborating institutions). It was brilliant, but it also sets up problems if the collaborative community of users doesn't apply a set of common guidelines and practices." (Thanks to Charles W. Bailey, Jr.) [Open Access News] 2:42:31 PM      Google It!.

Distributed Proofreaders Posts 5,000th E-book [Slashdot:] 9:29:23 AM      Google It!.

Microsoft Leaves U.N. Standards Group [Slashdot:] 9:17:50 AM      Google It!.

Linksys, Netgear prep soho VoIP kit. Cheap calls and Wi-Fi [The Register] The beginning of the end for conventional telephone companies as this development allows for transparent replacement (except for the emergency services access part because this system is dependent on AC power - like cellphones it will not work in a blackout) -- BL 9:16:20 AM      Google It!.

'Marathon' mouse keeps running. A "marathon" mouse which can run twice as far as a normal mouse has been bred by scientists. [BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition] 9:11:30 AM      Google It!.

Sony details PlayStation Portable's chips. CPU, graphics and media engines, and more [The Register] 9:10:44 AM      Google It!.

Trend: Content Copyright, the Commons, and the C Generation - Eva Kaplan-Leiserson, Learning Circuits. Have you noticed? There’s a battle raging. On one side are commercial content producers who are fighting to keep electronic content a paid commodity. On the other side are those who believe that content is made to be shared, and that doing so benefits [Online Learning Update] 9:02:38 AM      Google It!.

Microsoft Found Guilty of Misleading Advertising [Slashdot:] 9:00:30 AM      Google It!.

Livewire: Beep! Beep! Ultra-Fast Broadband Is Here. LONDON (Reuters) - For Rainer Kinnunen, life has been a bit of a blur since he signed up for a superhigh-speed Internet service three years ago. [Reuters: Technology] 8:58:34 AM      Google It!.

In-Game Advertising Breaks Out [Slashdot:] 8:55:19 AM      Google It!.

Search interoperability for government info. The U.S. Categorization of Government Information (CGI) Working Group has released a Recommendation for Search Interoperability for public comment. Excerpt: "Because public access to government information is the basis of effective, accountable and transparent government, interoperability of government search facilities is essential. Adoption of a search service standard would serve the public interest by making government information more readily accessible through the diverse community of government information providers. Search interoperability also generates government-wide efficiencies: from increased information sharing, and from lowered costs for mechanisms needed to merge information from multiple government sources." Comments are due by September 27, 2004. [Open Access News] 8:53:56 AM      Google It!.