Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Thursday, October 31, 2002

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Ontology in a nutshell: "Here's a neat document by Fabien Gandon presenting the basics of ontologies in 32 slides, which I found in the 2002 KM Summer School review. An ontology is a logical theory that specifies a conceptualization by defining concepts and relationships between them. Ontologies are an important part of the Semantic Web. I've argued that informal hyperlinked ontologies can be used by people as a medium to share and reuse knowledge across disciplines." [Seb's Open Research]

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IBM adopts new $10bn tactic: "IBM chief executive Sam Palmisano said on Wednesday that his company planned to adopt a new focus on 'on-demand' computing - a flexible business model under which corporate clients pay only for the computing power they actually use." [BBC News | TECHNOLOGY]

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GraphicConverter 4.5 is available. This software package is an almost essential utility. It is essential if you don't have PhotoShop.

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Linux Finally Ready for Prime Time: "I've always considered Linux to be a fun toy for those of us with the time to play with something that challenges our little gray cells. But now, with Lindows 3.0 and SuSE Linux 8.1 releases looming, promising to make installation easier and boasting crossover compatibility with Windows, Linux may have finally broken through to the mainstream." [osOpinion]

What knowledge is -- Comment()
Personal knowledge: "My concepts and distinctions around the meaning, position, value and importance of knowledge are evolving as I gather information, engage in conversations and practice knowledge work. This is a journal of what knowledge is and means to me."

Personal knowledge publishing -- Comment()
Personal knowledge publishing and its uses in research: "I analyze an emerging form of knowledge sharing that I call personal knowledge publishing. Personal knowledge publishing has its roots in a practice known as "weblogging" that has been rapidly spreading on the World Wide Web over the last three years. It is a new form of communication that many expect will change the way people work and collaborate, especially in areas where knowledge and innovation play an important role."

Business Blogs -- Comment()
Using Blogs in Business: "This chapter explores another powerful way in which blogs can be used: in a business environment. There is great potential for business weblog use, from project-based team weblogs to the constant churn of content through a weblog on a corporate site. This chapter shows you different ways you can use weblogs in your business, and also examines the benefits of doing so."

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Babies undergo memory brain boost after age one: "Kagan explained to Reuters Health that the human brain starts a dramatic period of maturation between the ages of 8 and 12 months. The current findings suggest that this period of maturation is linked to long-term memory. Thirteen-month-olds, whose brains were relatively immature during their exposure to the events, were less able to recall them than older infants, whose brains had already gone through a period of rapid neurological growth at the time of exposure." [Reuters Health eLine]

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Apple Death Knell Counter: "Apple Has Been Declared Dead 9 Times Since February, 1997. ... It's been happening since the early 1980s, and still Apple, and its doomsayers, keep chugging along." (The Mac Observer via MyAppleMenu) [myapplemenu]

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Google is KM: "Adina Levin makes the case that a sufficiently usable search engine that has indexed a sufficiently text base — i.e., Google — in effect is a KM system." [JOHO the Blog]

iPod-related web sites -- Comment()
Here are some links to iPod-related web sites:

IDL for Mac OS X -- Comment()
IDL is an alternative to Matlab for doing numerical computations. Now IDL 5.6 is available for Mac OS X: "IDL, the Interactive Data Language, enables in-depth data analysis through industry-leading visualization. This easy to learn, cross-platform, application development software is relied on by analysts and engineers around the globe. IDL's interactive, high-level language can help you make discoveries and display your solution." There is also an FAQ for Mac OS X. The graphical interface is based on X11. The interface is based on the Motif libraries, so the look is quite different from Aqua.

Reviewing Mathematica 4.2 -- Comment()
In addtion to my review of Mathematica 4.2, there is now also a Mathematica 4.2 Software Review at IT-Enquirer. Here is the conclusion: "Mathematica 4.2 is probably the most complete mathematically based all-round programming environment available today." However, I am not convinced about the speed of Mathematica based on these tests. Compared to other choices Mathematica is simply not built for large-scale problem solving.