Sunday, October 06, 2002

I have my instant outliner going again. Radio users can subscribe using the OPML coffee mug on DHRB. The new thing is that notification happens via instant messaging, not polling. And there's something really new in there. A remote procedure invocation protocol. They are not remote procedure calls because they don't return values and are asynchronous. But you can pass parameters, complex ones, using the encoding of XML-RPC. It's the loop-close on the work we did in Keystone with the Jabber folk last August. Works with AIM too. We're bootstrapping on the Radio-Dev mail list. [Scripting News] [Dave Winer: Radio UserLand] 8:10:38 AM    comment []

On Piloting Palm.. Finished Piloting Palm last night. Great book. Well-written and fascinating. Most of the time, I make a point of reading non-business-related books when I go to bed in order to fall asleep. Otherwise, the brain just keeps going. I broke that rule this week and suffered many late nights. But it was enjoyable—and inspiring. Though I've had a couple Palms and never used them consistently, I'm certainly tempted to get one again, after reading this book. Or, rather, a Handspring, since that's where the heros of our story—and the real soul behind the Palm phenomenon—now reside. I'm very curious about the Treo, since the book ends with that possibly being the Next Big Thing. One funny anecdote: Accused of stealing ideas, Bill Gates angrily defended Mirosoft's actions at a roundtable with reporters in San Jose, California, and repeated Microsoft's public line: Palm PC was merely descriptive; it wouldn't confuse anyone. Any suggestion to the contrary was "beyond bizarre." (After his appearance, Gates left the room—and accidentally left behind his palmtop. To the amusement of the assembled media, Gates's assistant rushed back into the room, saying that she had to retrieve "Bill's PalmPilot.") If you're interested in Silicon Valley workings, starting companies, inventing things, or tech gadgets, highly recommended. [evhead] 8:07:58 AM    comment []

Scientists Sequence Genomes of Malarial Parasite and Mosquito [Scientific American] 8:03:30 AM    comment []

Michael Wilson reviews outlining tools:  Inspiration, Mind Map Pro, and Tinderbox. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] 7:51:54 AM    comment []

Thinkblank. Javascript code that links in posts made in your weblog with the similar links in other weblogs. It uses MIT's blogdex as a means of aggregation. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] 7:47:59 AM    comment []