Electron Microscope Gallery. MicroAngela's Electron Microscope Image Gallery. These are some great images, by Tina (Weatherby) Carvalho of the University of Hawaii. Shown here is very close-up view of gecko toes. Some species of geckos can cling to vertical surfaces, like walls and windows, because of the disk-shaped toepads which are covered with tiny brushlike projections which create intermolecular friction on surfaces. This micrograph shows these projections. These microscopic hairs create one of the strongest adhesiv...[MORE] [The J-Walk Blog] 
7:09:22 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Web Services: Buzzword or programming tool?

The Web Services panel here at AlwaysOn was more lively and entertaining than the preceding morning sessions. Ray Lane, freed from the need to defend anyone's interests, plied the needle skillfully and was helped along by some rather sophisticated heckling in the bigscreen chat window.

The remarks can be roughly separated into three threads, representing the semantic heat death that is engulfing the Web Services term:

• Web Services as an instance of the software-as-service vs. software-as-product vs. software-as-consulting debate.
• Web Services as a battleground for the open-source vs. proprietary software wars.
• Web Services as a catchword for a set of application integration technologies, centered on XML, SOAP and related standards.

I'll punt the first issue, defer the second until after the (explicitly) Open Source panel, and address the third:

Web Services in the integration standards sense is indeed a step ahead. We can quit fighting about fun issues like big- vs. little-end binary over the net, and just accept the overhead of squashing everything into marked up character streams. Cool, the world marches on. I can parse XML for arguments and metadata, instead of reading raw binary or ASCII armor.

But anyone thinking this really solves a deep standards problem is kidding themselves. We've getting a nice new surface syntax that takes away much of the ugliness of defining and late-binding interfaces across a network. The real work is - as always - in defining the semantics of the interface, and getting others to play the game your way. And the latter is just a new battleground for the platform wars. Behold, today's battle.

Amazon's external web services aside, my intelligence says the overwhelming use of Web Services standards today is within the firewall. It's mostly used for covering and integrating legacy apps. With the general hold on new enterprise software initiatives, there's not a lot of 'native' app building. So keep an eye on that open networked web services future, but right now, this looks like a programming tools market. [Due Diligence] 
6:39:06 PM      comment []   trackback []  



404 Not Found. I'd like to pause for a moment in tribute to a key innovation which made the Web possible, the 404 Not Found Error. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service: O'Reilly Network Weblogs] 
6:35:11 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Bad Boys II: Hacker without a clue [Ars Technica] 
4:08:53 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Get an RSS Feed From Google Search. Oh, boy, is this cool: Google Alert tracking service. Automatically search the web 24/7 Spotted on CyberJournalist.... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal] 
4:04:25 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Richard Tallent has a great article on the pros and cons of browser-based and smart client applications. [The Scobleizer Weblog] 
3:37:57 AM      comment []   trackback []  



SecurityFocus' Scott Granneman: "Blogs: Another Tool in the Security Pro's Toolkit." [The Scobleizer Weblog] 
3:37:20 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Slate: "Google isn't perfect." [The Scobleizer Weblog] 
3:32:49 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Windows users, please update your systems. We found a major security hole today. We've built a patch for it. If you leave the hole open, someone could come and take over your computer. Not good. I won't speak on behalf of the anthill here often, but sorry about that. We're working real hard to find these weaknesses in our systems and close them up. [The Scobleizer Weblog] 
3:31:59 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Oh, cool, there are some new SQL Blogs coming. I've LOVED Scott W's .NET Weblogs. I can't wait until I can hear all about Yukon (the next version of SQL Server). Awesome awesome awesome.

Now, we're just missing a couple of things: Longhorn Blogs and PDC Blogs! But, I hear that either Scott W or Mike Amundsen will do those. Our customers are the best. [The Scobleizer Weblog] 
3:22:15 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Marc 'Idea' Fest.

I like the way Marc Fest thinks.  He not only thinks about similar problems as I do, he also likes simple solutions.  His Quickbrowse.com is a simple idea with simple benefits: replace page-flipping browser tedium with quick scan down a single page.  OnlineHomeBase.com is another simple yet effective idea: server-side PostIt notes.  Thanks to Scott Loftesness for mentioning Marc.  I got a smile out of the deal.

[Don Park's Daily Habit] 
3:20:58 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Wired News: Upload a File, Go to Prison [Daypop Top 40] 
3:12:20 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Visually Triangulating on Musical Artists.

Thanks to Alf's amazing TouchGraph Audioscrobbler Browser, a dream of mine has come to life. I can now pick a number of bands that I like and find not just the sets of artists that relate to those bands individually, but also identify new artists who are in the intersection of these sets. Play around with it - it's great fun!

In the same vein: this and this.

[Seb's Open Research] 
2:53:35 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Top-notch newly discovered blogs.

A few great blogs have emerged in recent months, and I didn't get around to introducing them on Seb's Open Research. Here they are.

• Paul Resnick's Sabbatical Musings - First rate thinking about reputation systems, online economics, and social capital. Examples: these two posts on Global Organizing of Local Activity
• Richard Soderberg's Floating Atoll - Nuggets of wisdom on social software. Example: Lawmobs.
• Eugene Eric Kim's EEK Speaks - Enlightened discourse on collaboration processes and tools. Examples: this post on the possible link between synchronous communication and motivation (an a-ha moment for me), and Whining in Private.
• Dave Pollard's How to Save the World - mindful, visionary musings on the interaction between social nets and knowledge management, and the experience of being human. Example: Well, every friggin' post over there is worth reading. Just pick one at random.

[Seb's Open Research] 
2:52:20 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Jack, we hardly knew ye. Six Degrees of Jack Nicholson (Photoshop mastery). [Jeffrey Zeldman Presents: The Daily Report] 
2:50:16 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Passing the buck, or 25, to MacSurfer. As a firm believer in passing the buck, in a good way, I just paid $25 for a one-year subscription to Macsurfer's Headline News. The site is still free, but it is looking for support. Sounds familiar. [Mac Net Journal] 
2:39:08 AM      comment []   trackback []  



AO Reflections.

Settling in after some very intense days at the Always On Innovation Summit.  It was a great experience, excellent networking and a different use of Social Software for events.  Socialtext provided an integrated video/chat/wiki conference support system. 

During the first day, wifi was frustratingly spotty, so the bulk of its use was from remote participants.  High quality video streaming allowed people to listen, the BackChat allowed people to interact and the wiki to annotate.  Unfortunately the lack of in-room connectivity led to less wiki collaboration and public blog posting right at the time when it usually engenders wider participation.

But the real dynamic took hold on the second day, wifi enabled, where it became part of the program.  The Remote Posse and the people Blogging Always On really had an impact.  The BackChat was particularly vibrant, with in-room and remote participants (from as far away as Tokyo and the Netherlands) exchanging commentary.  A big font version of the chat program was projected on to the big screen, the feedback loop was complete: 

• BackChat participants kept the discussion relatively high brow.  They fact checked, posed questions, had side discussions that were pertainent and in general participate without denegrating into vulgarities or
• Moderators fielded questions from the chat, particularly with the open source panel
• Panel members interjected requests to respond to things on the chat and in general were kept in check from being to commercial, not revealing bias or ducking questions.
• One member of a panel noticed that people were paying more attention to the BackChat screen than the panel itself.

The golden moment was at the end of the show, when I had them project JoiTV.  We caught Joi in his underwear and the heckler became the hecklee.  Joi waved, we all waved back.  Some folks told me that was when something clicked with them about how large the room really was.  And many of the remote posse enjoyed a richer participation experience than they have had before.

You have to hand it to Tony for having the vision to run with an untested mix of video with our conference system.  You also have to hand it to him for having the grace to extend blogging passes.  I hope he has set a precedent for other events.

A bit on some of the folks there.   Chris took great photos.  Scott posted beyond the limits of connectivity. Jason had his camera phone (took a nice snapshot of me, Pete & Adina).  Ev wore a blogger shirt.  Dave left shortly to do other things.  Adina kept it real.  Esther is community.   Ramana gets information flow.  Richard gets biology.  Zack was fully on.  Edward is still settling in.  Keith is into real-time people.  Eric, Larry & Sergey still don't have a blog but that's okay.  Dan is our hero.

 

Chat with Google Founders (photo by Chris Gulker)

And remote posse awards go to Greg, Ed, Kevin & Joi.

[Ross Mayfield: On Blogging] 
2:32:59 AM      comment []   trackback []  



BGH erlaubt "Deep Linking" (heise) [STOP1984] 
2:30:22 AM      comment []   trackback []  



/opendir poetry. Simple and sweet, a sort of minimalist web/joke/poem/object. No Flash required, no high bandwidth required. (via Geisha) Link, Discuss [Boing Boing Blog] 
2:16:33 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Web Zen: Cartoon Zen. etch-a-sketch | flea toon | walmart | unh! project | drawn and quarterly | kevin cornell | edward gorey
web zen home, web zen store, Discuss (Thanks, Frank) [Boing Boing Blog] 
2:13:19 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Proximity und Kommunikationstools. Howard, thanks for that link. I was even able to figure out where to find the RSS -feed of his Livejournal blog. Paul Resn... [thomas n. burg | randgänge] 
1:24:49 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Meet Bink. Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) and consultant Steven Bink runs a site that provides the latest on Microsoft service packs, betas and other related matters. Here's an article about him and his site. [Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley] 
1:22:19 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Rafat Ali on nanopublishing in an interview of him in Wired News: "The great thing about doing everything so lean is that you are very flexible and fast, so you can mold your site to whatever trends are emerging." [Corante: Corante on Blogging] 
1:15:55 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Harvard now owns RSS. "The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School is the new keeper of the specification for a popular Web log tool. The Berkman Center took over ownership of the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) 2.0 specification this week after UserLand, a company owned by RSS 2.0 author David Winer, transferred the copyright to the center," reports CNet. Earlier this year, Berkman gave Winer a fellowship to help them get blogging.
[onlineblog.com] 
1:08:24 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Spam: The EU says "opt-in" only. From the Educause daily email letter:

"Describing spam as a global problem that will require global cooperation to address, the European Commission is calling on the United States to support strict measures to combat the growing tide of unsolicited e-mail. A tough anti-spam law goes into effect this fall in the European Union (EU), and the Commission this week introduced what it called the "second step" in the battle against spam. The EU estimates that one-third of all spam originates in the United States, meaning that cooperation with officials in the United States will be a necessary component to an EU anti-spam strategy. Unlike the opt-out approach apparently favored by the United States, however, European Commissioners are pushing for an opt-in strategy. Philippe Gerard, an official in the office of one European Commissioner, said the EU's pursuit of an opt-in approach would be hampered by an opt-out system in the United States. Gerard said U.S. officials tend to see only malicious or deceptive spam as damaging, whereas EU officials consider any unsolicited message a drain on resources." IDG, 15 July 2003

I think I concur; unless presented with a better contrarian argument. And the sooner. the better! [Harvey Kirkpatrick: itopik.com News] 
1:02:36 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Blinkenlights @ Chaos Communication Camp 2003. cavac writes "From 07.-10. August, we from the Chaos Computer Club have another Chaos Communication Camp. Please be sure to visit us at the BlinkenArea, a ... [Slashdot] 
12:35:16 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Instant Messaging Giveaway. An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft is planning on giving away $1000/hr randomly to users of the new MSN messenger. They are going to send instant messages ... [Slashdot] 
12:31:07 AM      comment []   trackback []  



iTunes AAC Encoding/Submission Service. Is iTunes now open to indies? [MacRumors] 
12:28:16 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Defend Your Castle. Defend your castle! Just in time for flash friday...Watch out, it's addictive :) [MetaFilter] 
12:14:43 AM      comment []   trackback []  



filter (n.) - c.1400, from M.L. filtrum. The Online Etymology Dictionary. I'll be spending most of my day here. [MetaFilter] 
12:13:19 AM      comment []   trackback []