Donnerstag, 17. März 2005
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Google Launches Google Code

ibjhb writes "Google is at it again and has launched Google Code. It appears to be "Google's place for Open Source software". " Can't say that I'm surprised that our old friend (and former Slashdot Author) Chris DiBona is working on this one. They have links to several open source projects, as well as to Google API information. [gefunden bei Slashdot ...] 11:14:46 PM   trackback [] 
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Metcalfe's Gesetz widerlegt

pdp0x14 writes "Cnet News reports on a powerful refutation of Metcalfe's Law (that the value of a network goes up with n^2 in the number of members). The academic paper is available at Southwest Missouri State University. Basically, the thesis is that not all the links in a network are equally valuable, so Metcalfe's argument that everyone can connect to everyone (n(n-1)/2 links, roughly n^2) is irrelevant. The authors propose nlog(n) instead, a much smaller increase." [gefunden bei Slashdot ...] 9:05:19 PM   trackback [] 
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Datenrettung

http://www.datenretter.de/
http://www.datenrettung.de/
http://www.recoverylabs.net/
http://www.data-recovery.de/ 1:52:24 PM   trackback [] 
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Mythen über Suchmaschinen-Marketing

Popular Search Marketing Myths Debunked 1:08:26 PM   trackback [] 
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Handelsblatt Blogs von Korrespondenten

Handelsblatt global reporting 12:14:18 PM   trackback [] 
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Deutsche Bahn kriminalisiert Kunden

Etwas, das uns auch schon mal sehr ähnlich passiert ist. Der Zugbegleiter war Herr Klein. 10:51:30 AM   trackback [] 
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Handelsblatt im Blograusch

pic »Bloggen ist zurzeit ganz schwer in Mode - nicht einmal das bodenständige “Handelsblatt” kann sich dem Trend entziehen. Noch in dieser Woche wird die Düsseldorfer Wirtschaftszeitung nach Informationen von SPIEGEL ONLINE eine Plattform mit insgesamt 28 Korrespondentenblogs starten. Neben der normalen Berichterstattung sollen die Redakteure regelmäßig über ihre alltäglichen Erlebnisse schreiben, etwa über mailändische Espressokultur oder über die Bedeutung von Visitenkarten in China.« [mehr bei Spiegel Online]

Wenn man sich die Texte so ansieht, scheint es, als ob die armen Kollegen da draußen ächzend zusätzliche Textmengen stemmen müssten: »Günter Verheugen tippt mit dem Zeigefinger der linken Hand an die Stirn. „Das ist völlig verrückt”, sagt der EU-Industriekommissar. „Wir werden durch unsere eigene Haushaltsordnung zur Untätigkeit verdammt.” Was den Deutschen so erzürnt, sind die neuen Transparenzregeln der Europäischen Kommission.«

Trotzdem - es ist schön, daß die Korrespondenten nun auch »persönliche Ansichten« haben und darüber schreiben dürfen. Das noch bloglose SpOn giftet da ein wenig neidisch: »Aus der Redaktion ist zu hören, der Verlag wolle mit dem Superblog vor allem die Größe seines Korrespondentennetzes demonstrieren.« Also - wo liegen jetzt nochmal genau die Unterschiede zwischen Müll Blogs und Journallie? [gefunden bei Industrial Technology & Witchcraft ...] 10:44:18 AM   trackback [] 

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Google Pressesprecher Deutschland

= openBC = Stefan Keuchel 10:33:25 AM   trackback [] 
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Artikel im "journalist": Google sei mit uns

Der nachfolgende Artikel ist im "journalist", 3/2005, S. 48-49, erschienen.

Google sei mit uns

Suchmaschinen leiten zunehmend auch bei der Nachrichtensuche die Nutzerströme im Internet. Journalistische Regeln spielen bei Angeboten wie Google News kaum eine Rolle. Die traditionellen Medien können sich diesem Trend nicht entziehen.

Von Thomas Mrazek

Dass die populärste Suchmaschine der Welt als Lachnummer herhalten muss, passiert selten. Im September 2002 war es so. Google startete in den USA mit den Google News. Dieser so genannte News-Aggregator stellt aus ausgewählten Quellen eine ständig aktualisierte Nachrichtenauswahl zusammen. Die Auswahl basiert laut Google"ausschließlich auf Computeralgorithmen und ohne das Eingreifen von Menschen“. Bei einer Suchanfrage zur Bundestagswahl lieferte Google News damals Meldungen der iranischen Agentur IRNA und der "China Daily“ als wichtigste Nachrichtenquellen. Die Netzeitung höhnte: "Eigentlich ein schöner Beweis für die Unfähigkeit von Maschinen, sich als Journalisten zu betätigen. Diese virtuelle Absurdität macht schon wieder Spaß.“

Auf die Schadenfreude folgte Staunen. Google gelang es rasch, die gröbsten Schnitzer zu beheben. Mittlerweile gibt es den News-Service in mehr als 20 Ländern und seit Sommer 2003 auch in Deutschland. Das Angebot gehört zu den zehn meistgenutzten Nachrichtenplattformen im Internet. Auf den vorderen Plätzen befinden sich mit großem journalistischem Personalaufwand betriebene Seiten, etwa T-Online, Spiegel Online, Focus Online.

Für die deutsche Ausgabe von Google News werden 700 Seiten kontinuierlich durchsucht. Die Quellen reichen vom "Landboten“über das "Trostberger Tagblatt“, Spiegel Online, "Film Dienst“, Südtirol Online bis hin zu PR-Angeboten wie etwa bei bundesregierung.de. Auf der Übersichtsseite der Google News erscheinen die Überschriften, zum Teil die Anreißertexte und ab und zu verkleinerte Bilder. Durch die ständige Aktualisierung bietet die Seite für den Besucher stets ein anderes Bild. "So können Sie beobachten, wie verschiedene Nachrichtenunternehmen über den gleichen Sachverhalt berichten“, heißt es auf der Google-Seite. Die Auswahl werde ohne Bezug auf politische Standpunkte oder Ideologien getroffen. Welche Websites nun relevant sind welche nicht, basiere "auf vielen Faktoren, wie beispielsweise die Häufigkeit und die Websites, auf den die Beiträge anderen Stellen im Web angezeigt werden“.

Geheimniskrämerei
Wie und wann Nachrichten durch Google gewichtet und platziert werden, ist selbst für Nachrichtenprofis kaum zu erkennen. Der Chefredakteur des Internet-Angebots der Deutschen Welle (DW-World.de), Holger Hank, fühlt sich an die berühmte Coca Cola-Rezeptur erinnert: „Die Feinheiten des Googleschen Page-Rankings erscheinen geheim und rätselhaft.“ Die Einordnung seiner Website kann er nicht einschätzen: „Warum einmal eine Geschichte von uns zum Aufmacher wird und dann wieder nicht: Wer weiß das schon?“

Hank hält zudem den Themenmix im Vergleich zur amerikanischen Version oft für „etwas bizarr“: „Wichtige Nachrichten tauchen manchmal erst mit großer Verspätung auf der Seite auf – und dann auch nicht in der Top-Position.“ Auch Markus Beiler, Medienwissenschafler an der Universität Leipzig, moniert, dass die Nachrichtenauswahl "nicht transparent und intersubjektiv nachvollziehbar ist“. Beiler, der sich in seiner Promotion mit News-Search-Engines beschäftigt, befürchtet zudem eine "uniforme Berichterstattung“: "Die Selektions- und Rankingkriterien der Nachrichten-Suchmaschinen bevorzugen Meldungen von Nachrichtenangeboten, die ganz Ähnliches bringen wie die breite Masse.“ Dadurch könne etwa eine Lokalzeitung, die nur dpa-Meldungen übernehme und keine eigenen journalistischen Leistungen erbringe, "sehr hoch gerankt und dadurch von den Nutzern wahrgenommen werden.“

Fest verankert
Für die Münchner Journalistin Katja Riefler ist Google in Deutschland "innerhalb relativ kurzer Zeit zu einem Synonym für ‚Suche im Internet’“ geworden. Eine Suchmaschine anzuwählen, sei im Verhalten der Nutzer bereits fest verankert – wie die morgendliche Zeitungslektüre bei Zeitungslesern. Riefler, die Zeitungsverlage im Bereich neue Medien berät, hat bei Zeitungen in den USA eine "ziemliche Beunruhigung“ erkannt: "Google News und anderen Nachrichten-Aggregatoren kommt allein deshalb eine wachsende Bedeutung zu, weil die Nutzer die Suchmöglichkeiten auch zum Auffinden lokaler Nachrichten verwenden. Auch in Deutschland haben Suchmaschinen bereits lokale Suchmöglichkeiten im Beta-Test.“

Bei Google wird derzeit zwar nur an einem lokalen Branchenverzeichnis gearbeitet, doch der Suchprimus hat seine Schnelligkeit schon öfter bewiesen. Wer seine redaktionell erstellten Inhalte nicht frei anbiete, könne schnell ins Hintertreffen geraten, sagt Riefler: "Wenn etwa bei der Suche nach einem Mannheimer Thema keine Artikel des 'Mannheimer Morgens’ mehr angezeigt werden, weil diese nur Abonnenten zugänglich sind, dann besteht die Gefahr, dass das Medium als mögliche Quelle aus den Köpfen der Nutzer komplett verschwindet.“

Holger Hank sieht es ähnlich: „In den USA freuen sich die meisten News-Anbieter über die Abrufe via Google und Yahoo. Doch das gilt nur für die Sites, die ihre Artikel ohne Registrierung und Pay-per-View anbieten.“ Andererseits könnten die News-Portale in größere Abhängigkeit von Google News und ähnlichen Angeboten geraten: "Muss ich als Online-Anbieter einmal zahlen, um bei Google News vorne dabei zu sein?“ Der Pressesprecher von Google Deutschland, Stefan Keuchel, verneint diese Absicht: "Unser News-Service bleibt weiterhin weiterhin werbefrei“. Auch ein kostenpflichtiger Ausschnittdienst (Clipping-Service) sei nicht geplant.

Wichtigster Trend
Vorne dabei sein mit seiner Website möchte Michael Maier. Der Chefredakteur und Geschäftsführer der Berliner Netzeitung hält die automatische Erfassung von Nachrichten für "den wichtigsten Trend der sich derzeit im Internet-Journalismus abzeichnet.“ Die Leistung von Google News sei "fantastisch“. Die Suchmaschine diente Maier als Vorbild für die eigene News-Suche, die er seit den US-Wahlen unter newsimweb.netzeitung.de anbietet. "Dazu haben wir mehr als 300 Nachrichtenquellen kategorisiert und nach ihrer Wichtigkeit und Relevanz geordnet“, sagt Maier.

Sein Konzept hält er für das bessere: "Was mich bei Google News, bei aller Bewunderung der Technologie, stört: Es ist Kraut und Rüben in der Gewichtung. Algorithmen reichen nicht zur wirklichen Nachrichten-Bewertung aus.“ Mit dem zusätzlichen Angebot möchte Maier auf veränderte Wünsche der Leser reagieren: "Das Internet-Verhalten der Nutzer ist jetzt ein viel integrativeres; er liest nicht nur eine Seite, sondern er liest mehrer quer.“ Ängste, dass ihm Leser abhanden kommen könnten, hat er nicht: "Warum soll der Leser nicht den Hinweis erhalten, was der 'Spiegel’, die 'FAZ’ oder die Tagesschau zu einem Thema berichtet?“ Maier schätzt, dass sich die Zugriffszahlen seiner Website dadurch um 15 bis 20 Prozent gesteigert haben.

Mathias Müller von Blumencron, Chefredakteur von Spiegel Online, Deutschlands erfolgreichstem Online-Nachrichtenmagazin, ist noch zurückhaltend: "Die News-Suche der Netzeitung ist ein interessanter Ansatz, den wir aber erst mal nicht gehen werden.“

Andere Portale sehen in der Nachrichten-Suche ein attraktives Geschäftsfeld. Microsoft Deutschland testet noch seinen MSN Newsbot; Yahoo Deutschland startete im September 2004 mit 950 Quellen "die umfangreichste Nachrichtensuche in Deutschland“; web.de reihte sich im Dezember unter die Newsfinder.

Bei allen Angeboten entdeckt man immer wieder kleine Unzulänglichkeiten, unerklärbare Einordnungen oder nicht deutlich von journalistischen Inhalten getrennte PR-Mitteilungen. Diese Mängel sind technisch weitgehend lösbar; die Anbieter werden ihre Dienste bei zunehmendem Konkurrenzkampf weiter perfektionieren. Und die rasche Entwicklung wird die Anbieter journalistischer Inhalte dazu zwingen, ihre Angebote entsprechend auszurichten. Als Lachnummer werden die maschinell erzeugten Nachrichtenströme nicht mehr herhalten. [gefunden bei +++ netzjournalist +++ ...] 10:29:09 AM   trackback [] 

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Newsmashing

Webseiten mit Anmerkungen versehen und in dieser Form speichern.

Newsmashing - The new technique that will change blogging forever. By Paul Boutin 10:20:47 AM   trackback [] 

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NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3817

[gefunden bei SpaceRef Top Stories ...] 10:09:21 AM   trackback [] 
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NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3816

[gefunden bei SpaceRef Top Stories ...] 10:09:07 AM   trackback [] 
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Glitch strikes Mars rover instrument

Scientists have suspended use of a spectrometer on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity to investigate ... [gefunden bei spacetoday.net ...] 10:07:04 AM   trackback [] 
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iRights: Fragen zum digitalen Urheberrecht

Sind Privatkopierer Verbrecher? Macht sich strafbar, wer eine CD oder DVD kopiert? Oder sich den Film der Woche auf die ... [gefunden bei Metablocker ...] 8:30:11 AM   trackback [] 

  Dienstag, 15. März 2005
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Online poker - Wikipedia-Artikel

gegen die schrecklichen Kommentarspammer 10:19:33 PM   trackback [] 
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Werbung in Podcasts

In the early days of podcasting, Adam Curry (white male) and I (white male) would talk about how advertising would change when users had choice. We're already living in that age, with TiVO (who just did a deal with Comcast today, bravo) people can decide which ads they want to watch. But there's a story that goes with this. Please read. [gefunden bei Scripting News ...] 10:16:20 PM   trackback [] 
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'Online Poker' Googlebomb

Philipp Lenssen writes "The blogger community is fighting back, though in ways not everyone may like: they are Googlebombing the Wikipedia page on online poker for the phrase "online poker" to make it rank higher in search engines. "Online poker", along with "Viagra", "mortgage" and "debt", are keywords heavily represented in comment spam, which itself aims to boost the Google ranking for a particular site and phrase. The Wikipedia page is currently third in Google." [gefunden bei Slashdot ...] 10:03:32 PM   trackback [] 
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Mac mini in a Volkswagen

pyramis writes "Matt Turner has installed a MacMini into his Volkswagen as an integrated audio/video system. He's distributed the i/o ports around the cab for convenient access and installed a remote power button right into the dashboard. Cool pics of all of this, plus a detailed article on that cool power button." [gefunden bei Slashdot ...] 10:01:35 PM   trackback [] 
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Whirlwinds on Mars, From the Ground

Neil Halelamien writes "Back in 1999, satellite images were photographed of 5-mile-high whirlwinds streaking across the surface of Mars. A couple of months ago the Spirit rover got a close up view of whirlwind tracks, and this past week photographed a whirlwind in action (animation). It's thought that these dust devils may be responsible for the mystery power boost to the rovers' solar cells. Last year the rovers also spotted clouds and frost." [gefunden bei Slashdot ...] 10:00:54 PM   trackback [] 
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NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3815

[gefunden bei SpaceRef Top Stories ...] 9:57:38 PM   trackback [] 
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Wirbelwind staubte Spirit ab

Die Roveringenieure sind begeistert über einen freundlichen kleinen Putzteufel, der gerade zur rechten Zeit kam und Spirits Lebensdauer verlängert haben dürfte.

[gefunden bei Raumfahrer.net News ...] 9:55:57 PM   trackback [] 
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Webservices

Es sind wieder einmal die üblichen Verdächtigen, durch die die Innovation populär wird: Amazon, eBay, Google. Auf der Suche nach neuen Absatzmärkten abseits der eigenen Plattform kam ihnen eine nahe liegende Idee. Warum sich nur selbst den Kopf zerbrechen, wenn Millionen Internet-Nutzer das ebenso gut erledigen können.

Das Modell ist simpel. Jedermann kann eine Idee entwickeln, wie man die Produkte der Anbieter besser als bisher an den Käufer bringen kann. So fragt der Auktions-Multi: "Haben Sie eine Idee, wie man eBay auf eine völlig neue Art und Weise nutzen könnte? Haben Sie die nächste 'Killer-Applikation' für das Internet gebaut?"

Die Unternehmen bieten Hobby-Programmierern Zugang zu ihren riesigen Datenbanken. So entsteht eine hoffentlich fruchtbare Partnerschaft. Wenn durch die selbst gebastelte Applikation ein Kauf vermittelt wird, erhält der Autor eine Provision und das Unternehmen streicht die Gewinnmarge ein.

Webservices nennt sich das Prinzip. Dahinter verbirgt sich die Idee, Daten so zu strukturieren, dass sie von verschiedenen Programmen gelesen, verarbeitet und auf beliebige Weise dargestellt werden können. Bildlich gesprochen sollen Programme die Webservices so lesen können, wie ein Mensch eine Website. Das lange Zeit vorherrschende Problem war, dass ein Programm einen Datensatz in einer ganz bestimmten Form brauchte oder es erkannte nicht, welchem Zweck welche Zahlen dienten. XML (Extensible Markup Language) löste dieses Problem. XML ist die Grundlage für Auszeichnungssprachen. Diese trennen zwischen Art der Daten und ihrem Wert. Eine XML könnte, verkürzt dargestellt, so aussehen:

<buchladen>
<eintrag>
<titel>XML Grundkurs</titel>
<autor>Schmitz, Paul</autor>
<preis>19,95</preis>
</eintrag>
</buchladen>

Hat ein Unternehmen wie Amazon seine Datenbank so strukturiert, muss es den Entwicklern nur noch den genauen Aufbau mitteilen, zum Beispiel, das der Name des Buchs unter "<titel>" und nicht etwa unter "<name des buches>" zu finden ist. Diese Angaben werden durch kleine Programme, so genannte API (Application Programming Interface), zur Verfügung gestellt.

Aber nicht nur für riesige Unternehmen lohnt sich der Einsatz der Webservices. Im E-Business kann es zukünftig ein wertvolles Verhandlungsargument sein, dem Kunden die Möglichkeit zu bieten, sich Daten nach seinen eigenen Bedürfnissen zu organisieren.

Amazon für alle:
http://www.heise.de/tr/artikel/55085/0

So wird's bei Amazon gemacht:
http://www.aiplayground.org/artikel/amazon-data/

Und so bei Google:
http://www.aiplayground.org/artikel/google-apis/

Ebay erklärt seinen Webservice:
http://entwickler.ebay.de/geschaeftsvorteile.html

Mehr zu XML:
http://www.heise.de/tr/artikel/56485

[gefunden bei FAM] 9:32:12 PM   trackback [] 

  Montag, 14. März 2005
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Brückenseiten?

Oder Doorwaypages? Wozu sind solche Seiten da?

http://www.pauschalreisen-lastminute-mallorca.de/billigfluglinien.96826.html

http://www.akiju.de/kinderautositze.17617.html

http://www.lastminute-reisen-winterurlaub-skiurlaub-skireisen-hotels.de/weltreisen.132864.html

http://www.lastminute-reisen-winterurlaub-skiurlaub-skireisen-hotels.de/jugendherbergen.132944.html

http://www.lastminute-flug-1.de/reise.151455.html

http://www.bargeldkredit.de/kleinkredite.12112.html

http://www.reiseveranstalter-europa.de/kanaren.97931.html

http://www.reiseveranstalter-europa.de/mallorca.96049.html

http://www.privatkrankenversicherung-1.de/rentenversicherungen.56805.html

http://www.privatkrankenversicherung-1.de/berufsunfaehigkeitsversicherung.56770.html

http://www.eu-neukfz.de/autobatterie.31027.html

http://www.eu-neukfz.de/kfzsteuer.69776.html

http://www.sender-sms.de/logo.10213.html

http://www.automobil-chat.de/autokauf.40601.html

http://www.automobil-chat.de/autokauf.40542.html

http://www.fettsucht.de/darmspiegelung.15589.html

http://www.handy-online-shopping.de/handystrahlung.44379.html

http://www.golflotse.de/tee.86162.html

9:45:17 PM   trackback [] 
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Podcast.de

Das deutschsprachige Podcast-Portal - mit Podcasting-Verzeichnis, typischen Anwendungsfeldern und Produktionstipps. 3:44:32 PM   trackback [] 
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ad-free site

In den frühen Tagen des www war es ein Wettbewerbsvorteil, wenn eine Website keine Werbung enthielt. Durch Eintrag als Keyword konnte das in einigen Suchmaschinen als Suchkriterium berücksichtigt werden. Funktioniert das heute immer noch? Welche Suchmaschinen haben das berücksichtigt? Muss der Tag eine besondere Syntax haben? 11:06:46 AM   trackback [] 

  Sonntag, 13. März 2005
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E-Mail Archive in verschiedenen Programmen und Plattformen

heyitsjustme wants to know how you deal with old email. "I delete most of what I get but keep the stuff from friends and relations as an archive. Unfortunately I have these email archives from the late 80's through today in the form of macintosh, linux and windows mailboxes including AOL 1.0 mailboxes. What does everyone use to archive email across multiple platforms and non-standard mailbox formats? Is there an easy solution out there? Does anyone archive IM?" [gefunden bei Slashdot ...] 12:33:53 AM   trackback [] 

  Samstag, 12. März 2005
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New semester: Information Mapping 2

I decided to repeat a seminar from a couple of years ago: Information Mapping. This time I want to suggest two optional research topics that I think might be very intersting to work upon: the first is "60 years Hiroshima" and the second is "Deforestation".

I got interested in the Hiroshima topic last year when I accdidentally crossed a website of the "Children of the Manhatten Project". It kicked of a long web research that really totally amazed me.

The Deforestation topic is a tribute to two things: a) the famous Knowledge Navigator video by Apple and b) the software EarthBrowser which I recently obtained and which was improved with stunning high-res images of the earth surface. Here is are two samples - the second shows a zoom to the center of the first view:

Anyway I am convinced that both topics serve perfectly as context for exploring data visualization and information mapping experiments. Generally I am not sticking to topics like these, if students want to work on things to explore that have more appeal to them.

The course starts on March, 23rd. See course weblog. [gefunden bei owrede_log ...] 11:12:35 PM   trackback [] 

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SkypeIn in beta

SkypeIn
Skype’s PR peeps are blasting out press releases about how SkypeOut (which lets you use Skype’s VoIP software to make cheap calls to the regular phone lines) has finally reached one million users, but we’re way more interested in the more stealthy news that they’re testing a new beta which supports SkypeIn, which lets people with regular phone lines call you. A year of SkypeIn will set you back €30, and so far the only phone numbers you can score are from France, the UK, the US, and Hong Kong, but you don’t actually have to live in one of those countries to get one of those numbers and they do throw in a free subscription to Skype Voicemail. So let’s see…we can get one of those new EV-DO capable Pocket PC Phones (like the XV6600 or the Samsung SGH-i730—or even chance it with an EDGE-capable handset), sign up for both SkypeIn and SkypeOut, and then cut back to some barebones bucket of minutes? Sticking it to the Man might make paying through the nose for a data plan almost worth it.


[Thanks, Tim O.] [gefunden bei Engadget ...] 10:54:55 PM   trackback [] 

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HOW-TO: Make your own annotated multimedia Google map

Google map hack 1

One of the great things about Google maps is it has its roots in XML. To translate for the non-web developers out there, it basically means Google maps are user hackable. This how-to will show you how to make your own annotated Google map from your own GPS data. Plus, you’ll be able to tie in images and video to create an interactive multimedia map. We’ll walk you through the steps we took to generate an annotated map of a walk we took recently through our hometown, now that it’s actually starting to get warm enough to want to walk about!

Background

I saw this post by Jon Udell, in which he does a screencast of an annotated walking tour through Keene, NH. Screencast goodness aside, I wanted to figure out how he made the map and how to simplify the process so that the non-web geek could attempt it without too much trouble. The geekiest bit will be where we edit our XML file, but you can essentially think of it just like editing a plain old text file — it looks like garbledy-gook, but it’s not actually rocket science. If you’re new to web development or new to XML, don’t worry — we’ll walk you through it as best we can. Ready? Let’s dive in!


Materials

Getting started

Before we get in to how it’s done, let’s look at the results. Fire up Firefox and install the Greasemonkey Firefox plug-in that allows you to inject some dynamic behavior into viewed web pages; you’ll have to restart Firefox for it to take effect. Relaunch Firefox, and install the Google maps user annotation script by simply clicking right-clicking on the link (CTRL-click for one-button mouse Mac users) in this sentence and choosing “Install user scripts…” Then, load up the URL of our annotated Ithaca map in a new tab so you can switch back to this how-to easily. Click on the “Display Points” link, and you’ll zoom in to our annotated Ithaca walk.

Google map hacks 2

This map works like any other Google map, except for the fact that we’ve created it ourselves and added media to it. You can click on a waypoint to get more information, or generate driving directions to and from points as usual. When you click on one of our points, you’ll notice it will have either a picture or a movie link associated with it:

Google map hacks 3

The best way to follow the map tour is to right-click (CTRL-click Mac) and open the media file in a separate browser tab, because following a link and clicking the back button will break the script and revert the map back to its default state, from which you’ll have to click the “Display Points” link and start all over again. If you right-click the “movie” link in the above example, you’ll see a 30 second 360-degree video we took from the center of the Ithaca Commons. If you right-click on the “1 more” link it will open a tab with a Google query (”Ithaca Commons”) we’ve also linked to — you can add links to any URL on the web, not just your media files. Load up a waypoint with a “picture” link, right-click on it and you’ll see an image we shot at that location.

Now that we’ve seen what we’re about to create, let’s get started.

We’ll leave the finer details of collecting your media files and waypoints up to you — that’s the easy part. Just gather your GPS and camera and have at it, or take your images and geolocate them later using Geocode.com if you prefer that method. Similarly, we’ll let you handle the editing and preparation of your images and video files, and start in at the nitty-gritty stage.

You’ll need a place to host your media files and the XML file we’re going to create that specifies your map data. If you already have a Flickr account, you can host images there, and if you don’t have one, we highly recommend it as a value-added image hosting service. You can host up to 100 images for free, and link to them from elsewhere.

To host video, and to host our XML file, you’ll need access to a web server that allows you to FTP upload files. If you already have a web site or a blog that allows you to upload files, you’re set - you can upload all media and your XML there. Otherwise, there are still free web hosting services out there you can use in a pinch for making a few of these maps. Ye olde Angelfire is still kickin’ it as a free service with 20MB of space. Yes, you have to navigate a minefield of opt-out checkboxes to get there but it takes all of about five minutes to set up a free account and upload your XML file, which you can safely link to from Google maps without incurring the evil spector of the sponsored ads (we tested this to be sure!). You could host some images and video there, as well, if you’re only making one or a few maps. Or, ask around and get recommendations of other free web hosts — most are evil, but if you don’t give them any real metadata about yourself you should be able to emerge unscathed.

Now, you’ve made and uploaded your media files to wherever they may roam. You’ll need to know the fully-qualified URL of any media file you wish to link to, as well as your (coming next) XML file. That’s as good a sequeway as any — let’s dive in to the meat of this project: creating our XML file.

If you’ve seen HTML, XML looks pretty much the same: parameters surrounded by opening and closing tags. We’ll show you an example of how to make two different waypoints, one with an associated image and one with associated video, and show you the minimal rest of the document structure. You can download the following example waypoints file by right-clicking and saving it to disk, then modifying it to make your own map. It includes one waypoint with an associated image and one with an associated video, matching the first two stops on our Ithaca map.

Here’s what the entire XML file looks like with only one waypoint — all the stuff between the <location> tags defines the waypoint. The stuff before and after is just the “shell” of the entire document.

Google map hacks 4

You’ll want to download the sample file and replace the following parameters to match your own map settings:

Next, let’s zero in on what one waypoint looks like, and what changes you’ll need to make for each of your points:

Google map hacks 5

Here’s what you’ll need to edit for each waypoint:

To add another waypoint to the map, just cut and paste everything starting from the opening <location> tag until after the end of the closing </location> tag from your first waypoint, then modify the same bits of data as detailed in the list above for this new waypoint. The entire collection of waypoints lives sandwiched in between the opening bit of code:

Google map hacks 6

And the closing tiny bit of code:

Google map hacks 7

Still with me? That is the bulk of the magic behind the annotation. When you’ve finished stringing together all your waypoints and have nestled them between the opening and closing bits, save the resulting final file as your_map.xml or similar. Then, upload that XML file to whatever web host you’ve chosen. After this, you should be able to load up the following URL in your Greasemonkey-enabled Firefox browser:

http://maps.google.com/?loc=http://yourhost.com/path/to/your/files/yourmap.xml

Your URL is similar to ours (http://maps.google.com/?loc=

http://media.weblogsinc.com/common/videos/barb/googlemaps/ithaca_walk.xml) but replacing the URL after the ”?loc=” with your own XML file. It is the combination of Greasemonkey and the Google maps user annotation script that add this function to Firefox to feed an external XML file to Google maps — although there are other methods of achieving the same goal, this way is very simple.

Click the “Display Points” link and Google maps should zoom in to whatever you listed as your center point, as described above. Then, follow along on your own annotated map tour courtesy of Google maps.

Google map hacks 8

Going further

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what can be done with hacking Google maps. Work up a script to import and convert your GPS data automagically from the output of your GPS. If you’re handy with javascript, you can add all sorts of dynamic actions such as panning and following into your maps. Or, include your custom Google map on your own web page. You can get your custom maps working in other browsers besides Firefox, as well — we just chose the Greasemonkey method as being easy enough to do even if you’ve no experience with XML. For other ideas, try hunting around in the GoogleMapsHacking wiki.

And of course, don’t forget to post a link to your hacked Google map! [gefunden bei Engadget ...] 10:51:15 PM   trackback [] 

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HOW-TO: Use your Gmail account as a personal file server

Transfer

This is a fairly simple and useful trick to score yourself a gigabyte’s worth of free online file storage. If you already have a Gmail account, you can use it as a central file server that is accessible from anywhere you can access Gmail. If you don’t have a Gmail account… read on. We’re going to install a shell extension that will allow you to mount your Gmail account as a virtual drive on your desktop, so you can perform basic file manipulation operations without having to go through the web-based interface. Drag and drop, batch copy, create folders and delete files as you normally would in Windows Explorer, and be able to access your virtual drive from virtually anywhere.

There are some limitations and caveats associated with this how-to: Gmail doesn’t support files larger than 10MB, so you won’t be able to store large movie files or anything, but you wouldn’t be doing that anyway ‘cuz it’s illegal, right? Also, the Gmail drive shell extension only functions under Windows XP, but you’ll be able to access and download any of your files via any operating system and browser combination supported by Gmail.

Be advised that this trick is completely unsupported by the Google folk and so may cease functioning at any time — particularly following upgrades to the Gmail service. As far as we know this isn’t illegal (we actually read the EULA for you — that’s love, people), but we can’t guarantee Google won’t go all RIAA on us and crack down on this app, either, so use at your own risk.

Also, it goes without saying that none of you would dream of using something like this to shuttle around any illegally-obtained or un-DRM’d music, right? ‘Cuz that would make you a criminal, and we can’t advocate that. This is only for personal use storage of your, uh, extensive Powerpoint collection, k? Buckle in and let’s roll.

Ingredients

First up, download the Gmail Drive shell extension. The download page says you need to have Internet Explorer 5 or higher for installation; this just refers to the fact that Internet Explorer is infernally wed to Windows Explorer and you need a version of the Windows Explorer based on the IE5+ engine. If you’re running Windows XP you should be all set with this. No need to actually launch that browser — we wouldn’t conscionably recommend that to anyone.

Installation is as simple as running the Setup program. When the installer is finished running, it will tell you you can begin using Gmail Drive right away, but you may actually have to restart your machine before you can access the new drive. If you don’t see it in the list of locations under My Computer, just try restarting. Otherwise, you should be seeing Gmail Drive showing up just any regular storage device would:

Gmail drive icon

Double-click the Gmail Drive icon, and you will be prompted for your login information:

Gmail Drive login prompt


Enter your deets and Gmail Drive shell extension will happily enumerate your files and log you in:

Gmail drive logging in

If you already have files stored in your account from attachments you’ve received, etc., you will see them in the Explorer window after you’ve logged in. Otherwise, if you have no files or if you’ve just created your brand spankin’ new Gmail account, you’ll just see an empty Explorer window:

Empty Gmail Drive window

Let’s drag and drop some files into our new virtual drive. We’ll choose some image files that we shot ourselves because, as far as we know, it’s not illegal to copy these yet. Just open an Explorer window with some files you’d like to store on your new file server, select them, and drag and drop them into your Gmail Drive just as you would with any regular file transfer. You’ll get a dialogue window with an animation involving a cute little phone that for some reason is sending a letter — some tribute to ye olde modems of yore?

Gmail Drive file transfer

Regardless, it means Gmail Drive is whisking your files happily away and posting them to your Gmail account. When the transfer is finished, you’ll see icons for your files in your Gmail Drive:

Gmail Drive with files

Fabulous. Now — if you have another Windows XP machine you use regularly — your work PC, for example — you can just set up the Gmail Drive shell extension there and have Explorer-type file manipulation on that machine, as well. This could be a really handy solution for sharing files between your two locations. But since we already know how to use Gmail Drive, let’s take a look at what happens when we log in to our Gmail account from a regular old web browser.

Go to the Gmail login and enter your account information:

Gmail login

When you log in, you’ll see a number of new messages - one message per file you just uploaded. Messages corresponding to files that have been uploaded via Gmail Drive appear with a “GMAILFS” prefix in the header, following by the filename and the file size:

Gmail file view

Since we’ve uploaded images, we can view our photos right from within the Gmail interface:

Gmail message view

From here, we can forward the images on to friends, or download them to whatever machine we are on and have instant access to them at any time. Plus, we benefit from all the handy built-in features of Gmail itself; we can easily search for our files by name and tag them to organize them however we wish. All this from the installation of one simple and free utility.

So we know that a lot of you might find this handy, but you don’t happen to have a Gmail account. Well, it’s your lucky day, peeps, because we have a few invites to give away. Obviously we don’t have enough invites for everyone, but we’ll give them away on a first-come, first-served basis until they’re all gone. Just make sure you use a valid email address when you post your comment, because that’s where we’ll send the invite to, dig? Don’t say we never gave you anything. [gefunden bei Engadget ...] 10:43:13 PM   trackback [] 

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Skype to SMS

Skype SMS

The trickier part was getting it so a cellphone could send an SMS text message to a Skype user, but Connectotel has also worked it out so you can do the reverse, too (yeah, it’s already fairly easy to send an SMS from a PC). Basically you just add “smsgateway” to your user list, type in the number of the person you want to bother, and then enter your message and you’re good to go. [gefunden bei Engadget ...] 10:39:32 PM   trackback [] 

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How Paris Hilton got hacked?

Paris Hilton

We may have an easy answer for how someonw was able to break into Paris Hilton’s Sidekick account and grab her address book and emails. Turns out they didn’t hack into the server or guess her password. Rather, they guessed (correctly) that she wasn’t quite savvy enough to realize that everyone already knew what her answer would be to the secret question T-Mobile asks when you forget your password: “What is your favorite pet’s name?” Enter the correct answer and T-Mobile lets you reset the password to whatever you want. Yeah, we know that required some serious l33tness on the part of the hackers (hey, but if you’re so smart, why weren’t you logging into her account months ago?), but it was only yesterday that T-Mobile was even made aware of the, uh, vulnerability in Paris’s account and fixed things. [Via Waxy] 10:34:07 PM   trackback [] 

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AdSense Secrets

It's no Secret: I love AdSense. I talked about it at last year's Gnomedex, and I feel even better about AdSense now. If you didn't get a copy of today's USA Today, you'll have to picture a nice, juicy quote from yours truly splashed on the front of the Money section. I suppose if you're going to be in an international paper, that's the section to be in. There's an online version of the AdSense article as well, but it doesn't have the same impact.

There's an AdSense eBook out there that speaks the plain ol' truth, although its value is underestimated. I personally would have sold it for 10x as much, but that's because I know if you read it, you'll make 100x as much with AdSense as you are today. I've got a few more ideas I'm kicking around, including doing an AdSense afternoon seminar up here in Seattle. I'll keep you posted. Until then, read the eBook:
This is a real, recent screenshot of my AdSense stats page. With Google's permission, I'm able to reveal how much I'm making with AdSense. But they've asked me to keep details of my CPM and CTR private, so I have blacked them out in order to comply with Google's terms of service. I'm not a renegade and I value my relationship with Google too much!
And if you haven't yet signed up for Google AdSense yet, get going - sign up for Google AdSense now. [gefunden bei Chris Pirillo ...] 9:23:55 PM   trackback [] 
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Nofollow and Tags

According to one of the interviews we did at SES, nofollow isn't really going to work - largely because it targets dead sites. If once-living pages include the nofollow tag, eventually spammers might stop attacking all of us on the Web. Then, according to one of the panelists we saw, tagging is going to fall victim to spamming soon enough. I (honestly) believe that will happen. One day in the not-so-distant future, wikis will come under spam attack, too. It's all in the name of Search Engine linkage - so, who's to blame? The spammers are just exploiting weaknesses in the system. It's one reason I had to turn off live comments and trackbacks across Lockergnome's channels. I deal with enough spam in my inbox. My feeds, however, are still spam free - and will remain that way from now until the end of time. [gefunden bei Chris Pirillo ...] 9:12:40 PM   trackback [] 
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The Web Site Idea Generator

The world is completely incomplete without: They were probably all funded in 1997. Ideas courtesy of The Web Site Idea Generator. [gefunden bei Chris Pirillo ...] 9:08:44 PM   trackback [] 
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Madrid: Terrorism, the Internet and Democracy

UPDATED
From the International Summit on Democracy, Security and Terrorism in Madrid, my working group on terrorism and the Internet has come up with what amounts to a set of principles and suggestions. I'll post them below.

First, a special word of thanks to Martín Varsavsky, who spearheaded this conference and had a special interest in this working group, and to the group's moderators, Joi Ito and Marko Ahtissari. Martín is a remarkable man, a fabulously successful entrepreneur with a powerful sense of social responsibility and justice. Our group was a bit out of place, as Ethan Zuckerman notes (see Ethan's near-transcript if you're interested in the nitty-gritty; David Weinberger also took excellent notes), but I hope we got something useful done.

Keep in mind that this is a draft, the result of several days of work, not the Final Word. You can join this conversation more directly -- you can help edit the document to make it better -- by visiting the Global Voices wiki at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

The Infrastructure of Democracy
Strengthening the Open Internet for a Safer World
March 11, 2005

I. The Internet is a foundation of democratic society in the 21st century, because the core values of the Internet and democracy are so closely aligned.

1. The Internet is fundamentally about openness, participation, and freedom of expression for all -- increasing the diversity and reach of information and ideas.
2. The Internet allows people to communicate and collaborate across borders and belief systems.
3. The Internet unites families and cultures in diaspora; it connects people, helping them to form civil societies.
4. The Internet can foster economic development by connecting people to information and markets.
5. The Internet introduces new ideas and views to those who may be isolated and prone to political violence.
6. The Internet is neither above nor below the law. The same legal principles that apply in the physical world also apply to human activities conducted over the Internet.


II. Decentralized systems -- the power of many -- can combat decentralized foes.

 1. Terrorist networks are highly decentralized and distributed. A centralized effort by itself cannot effectively fight terrorism.
2. Terrorism is everyone's issue. The internet connects everyone. A connected citizenry is the best defense against terrorist propaganda.
3. As we saw in the aftermath of the March 11 bombing, response was spontaneous and rapid because the citizens were able to use the Internet to organize themselves.
4. As we are seeing in the distributed world of weblogs and other kinds of citizen media, truth emerges best in open conversation among people with divergent views.


III. The best response to abuses of openness is more openness.

 1. Open, transparent environments are more secure and more stable than closed, opaque ones.
2. While Internet services can be interrupted, the Internet as a global system is ultimately resilient to attacks, even sophisticated and widely distributed ones.
3. The connectedness of the Internet – people talking with people – counters the divisiveness terrorists are trying to create.
4. The openness of the Internet may be exploited by terrorists, but as with democratic governments, openness minimizes the likelihood of terrorist acts and enables effective responses to terrorism.


IV. Well-meaning regulation of the Internet in established democracies could threaten the development of emerging democracies.

 1. Terrorism cannot destroy the internet, but over-zealous legislation in response to terrorism could. Governments should consider mandating changes to core Internet functionality only with extraordinary caution.
2. Some government initiatives that look reasonable in fact violate the basic principles that have made the Internet a success.
3. For example, several interests have called for an end to anonymity. This would be highly unlikely to stop determined terrorists, but it would have a chilling effect on political activity and thereby reduce freedom and transparency. Limiting anonymity would have a cascading series of unintended results that would hurt freedom of expression, especially in countries seeking transition to democratic rule.


V. In conclusion we urge those gathered here in Madrid to:

 1. Embrace the open Internet as a foundation of 21st Century democracy, and a critical tool in the fight against terrorism.
2. Recognizing the Internet's value as a critical communications infrastructure, invest to strengthen it against attacks and recover quickly from damage.
3. Work to spread access more evenly, aggressively addressing the Digital Divide, and to provide Internet access for all.
4. To protect free speech and association, endorse the availability of anonymous communications for all.
5. Resist attempts at international governance of the Internet: It can introduce processes that have unintended effects and violate the bottom-up democratic nature of the Net. [gefunden bei Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc. ...] 9:06:09 PM   trackback [] 
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NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3814

[gefunden bei SpaceRef Top Stories ...] 12:06:11 PM   trackback [] 

  Freitag, 11. März 2005
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Der entschleierte Schleier des Titan

Nachdem der Cassini-Orbiter den Saturnmond Titan intensiv unter die Lupe genommen hat, präsentiert das Team des Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) eine erste Zwischenbilanz, aus der hervorgeht, dass Titan einst ein höchst dynamischer Himmelskörper war [gefunden bei Telepolis News (26.11.2004) ...] 11:34:06 PM   trackback [] 
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Blog - Der Begriff bürgert sich ein - seit 1999

Peter Merholz erinnert sich 11:26:52 PM   trackback [] 
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The First Blogger Died in 1794

On Scripting News this morning, Dave Winer nominates Harry Truman as the patron of bloggers.

I'd like to go a bit further back to find the patron saint of weblogging: Harbottle Dorr.

Dorr was writing a hyperlinked daily journal on current events two centuries before the technology existed:

On January 7, 1765, in the middle of the Stamp Act controversy, Boston shopkeeper Harbottle Dorr took the current issue of the Boston Evening-Post and commented on its contents in the margins. Every week thereafter, he collected one or both of the Evening-Post or the Boston Gazette, (sometimes adding a Boston Post-Boy & Advertiser) and continued expressing himself in the margins on the events, referring backward and forward in a maze of cross-references to other documents and stories relevant to the events reported in the news.

The final result 12 years later was an astonishing archive -- 3,280 pages of annotated newspapers, plus the appended documents and Dorr's own indexes to the four volumes he compiled. This entire unbroken run of annotated Boston newspapers will not only allow students of American history a unique look at the pre-Revolutionary era in New England, but will also provide insight into the thinking of citizen Dorr on the controversies and topics of the times.

An average citizen marking up the news every day with his own opinions and furiously cross-referencing his work, Dorr was a blogger. Reading about this collection makes me want to park myself at a microfilm reader for a few months to read this hypertext. So many questions: Was he a warblogger? Did he fisk people? Would he have objected to autolinking?

When Dorr died in 1794, his entire estate consisted of the four "newspaper books" that constituted his blog. They sold for 7 pounds and 10 shillings. [gefunden bei Workbench ...] 11:21:50 PM   trackback [] 

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A summary of the Google Toolbar controversy...

A summary of the Google Toolbar controversy from an article on Kuro5hin:

While Winer et al. have been attacking AutoLink, a number of people have been calmly debunking their arguments, often in amusing ways.

Can you guess which side the author's on? [gefunden bei Workbench ...] 11:21:03 PM   trackback [] 

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Reaction to Griffin Nomination

- Science Committee Democrats Welcome NASA Administrator Nominee
- Boehlert, Calvert Praise Nomination of Mike Griffin as NASA Administrator
- Space Foundation comments on nomination of Mike Griffin To be NASA administrator
- Griffin Good for Space Exploration, Says Planetary Society
- The Right Person at the Right Time - NSS applauds choice of Dr. Michael Griffin for NASA Administrator
- Rep. Weldon Statement on President Bush's Nomination of Michael Griffin for NASA Administrator
- Sen. Hutchison statement on NASA Administrator nomine
- Rep. Calvert Applaudes Nomination of Griffin as New NASA Administrator [gefunden bei NASA Watch ...] 11:19:16 PM   trackback [] 
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Podcasting by public broadcasters

Mike Janssen, the Associate Editor of the Current Newspaper, passes on this excellent list of broadcasters who podcast: | American Public Media: Future Tense | American Public Media: Weekend America | BBC: Fighting Talk | BBC: In Our Time ... [gefunden bei CyberJournalist.net ...] 11:10:48 PM   trackback [] 
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Social networks: All around the Net, but underused by news sites

By Daithí Ó hAnluain: Social networks continue to blossom online by appealing to people's deepest needs for connection. What promise do these technologies offer for news sites? [gefunden bei Online Journalism Review ...] 11:02:31 PM   trackback [] 
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Entschuldigungen und Gegendarstellungen ...

... amerikanischer Zeitungen in einem Weblog (Watchblog):

Regret The Error 10:54:38 PM   trackback [] 

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MdB Otto startet Weblog

Hurrah, endlich mal wieder eine kleine Innovation: Das Mitglied des Bundestags Hans-Joachim Otto (FDP) hat seit Anfang Februar einen eigenen ... [gefunden bei Metablocker ...] 10:48:02 PM   trackback [] 
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Blogging is good for your career

Cory Doctorow: The perfect antidote to those fired-for-blogging posts: Tim Bray explains why blogging is good for your career:

1. You have to get noticed to get promoted.
2. You have to get noticed to get hired.
3. It really impresses people when you say "Oh, I've written about that, just google for XXX and I'm on the top page" or "Oh, just google my name."
4. No matter how great you are, your career depends on communicating. The way to get better at anything, including communication, is by practicing. Blogging is good practice.
5. Bloggers are better-informed than non-bloggers. Knowing more is a career advantage.
6. Knowing more also means you're more likely to hear about interesting jobs coming open.
7. Networking is good for your career. Blogging is a good way to meet people.
8. If you're an engineer, blogging puts you in intimate contact with a worse-is-better 80/20 success story. Understanding this mode of technology adoption can only help you.
9. If you're in marketing, you'll need to understand how its rules are changing as a result of the current whirlwind, which nobody does, but bloggers are at least somewhat less baffled.
10. It's a lot harder to fire someone who has a public voice, because it will be noticed.

Link [gefunden bei Boing Boing ...] 10:39:48 PM   trackback [] 
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Euro software patents demystified

Cory Doctorow: The on-again/off-again European fight over software patents is confusing as hell -- what is the procedure here? What does the directive say? Why are software patents dangerous? This O'Reilly Network article brilliantly demystifies the process.

For example, article 4a of the Council document states that "A computer program as such cannot constitute a patentable invention. Accordingly, inventions involving computer programmes, whether expressed as source code, as object code or in any other form, which implement business, mathematical or other methods and do not produce any technical effects beyond the normal physical interactions between a program and the computer, network, or other programmable apparatus in which it is run shall not be patentable."

However, article 2a of their document defines the term "computer-implemented invention," which the document uses later to describe inventions that are patentable. It states that "'computer-implemented invention' means any invention the performance of which involves the use of a computer, computer network or other programmable apparatus, the invention having one or more features which are realised wholly or partly by means of a computer program or computer programs."

Confused? You should be. Some recitals in the proposal are phrased in such a way that they seem to indicate restrictions in patentability, while many of the legally binding provisions in the articles confirm the 30,000 software patents already approved by the European Patent Office and leave the door wide open for further patenting of software. The Parliament text of 2003 made the distinction close to watertight.

Link

(via /.) [gefunden bei Boing Boing ...] 10:38:07 PM   trackback [] 

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IBM Using iPod to boot Linux on PCs

Applejack writes "Looks like iPod fever has caught on to Big Blue. IBM has a yet unreleased iPod-based software for rescue, restore, and recovery of failed Windows PCs. I read this description of the software on Amit Singh's blog, whose group at IBM apparently created this stuff. If I understand this correctly (and I think I do), the iPod contains IBM's rescue software along with Linux. A crashed PC boots into Linux from the iPod, after which you get all kinds of rescue & restore functionality ... web browsing and all, even if the PC's drive is totally hosed. All this while the iPod keeps working normally as a music player as it would. The blog has pointers to further information, including a Windows Media demo of the thing. " Should be noted this is not iPod specific; USB devices will do. [gefunden bei Slashdot ...] 10:35:02 PM   trackback [] 
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Its Mike Griffin

Mike Griffin will be named as the next NASA Administrator on Monday.

White House Statement on the Nomination of Michael Griffin to be NASA Administrator

NASA personnel will be briefed by Fred Gregory at 3:30 PM EST this afternoon.

Editor's personal note:In 1993, during the redesign of Space Station Freedom, many of us felt that the books had been cooked by NASA HQ such that the SS Freedom configuration (Option B) was deliberately handicapped and that the other two options A (MSFC) and C (JSC) were given an unfair advantage. Hardly an apples to apples review. Mike Griffin, who led the Option B effort (headquartered at LaRC) wrote a letter for the record at one point, standing squarely on principle and pointing out the discrepancies and inequities in that review process. That letter received wide circulation - and Mike's NASA career suffered as a result. He was promoted to some pointless job by Dan Goldin and eventually left the agency. I can say from personal experience, that Mike Griffin has demonstrated personal integrity - and did so in a public way that was rather career adverse. I expect he will bring that same integrity to the job of NASA Administrator. As such, yes, at this point, I am biased in this regard. [gefunden bei NASA Watch ...] 10:25:25 PM   trackback [] 

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NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3813

[gefunden bei SpaceRef Top Stories ...] 10:20:46 PM   trackback [] 
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NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3812

[gefunden bei SpaceRef Top Stories ...] 10:16:28 PM   trackback [] 
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NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3811

[gefunden bei SpaceRef Top Stories ...] 10:16:15 PM   trackback [] 
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Russland plant riesige neue Rakete

Russland plant den Bau eines neuen Raketensystems mit dem bis zu 110 Tonnen Nutzlast transportiert werden können.

[gefunden bei Raumfahrer.net News ...] 10:15:48 PM   trackback [] 
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Organisation mit Tools für den Mac - MacDevCenter.com

6:57:53 PM   trackback [] 

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Weblog-Kolumne in der Frankfurter Rundschau

Jede Woche Mittwochs wird berichtet, welche Themen gerade besonders diskutiert werden in der Blogosphäre - also der Gesamtheit aller Weblogs. 6:30:22 PM   trackback [] 

  Mittwoch, 9. März 2005
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Giuliana Sgrena:»Das zerreißt mich«

Die italienische Journalistin und ZEIT-Mitarbeiterin Giuliana Sgrena spricht über ihren getöteten Befreier, ihre Kidnapper und die Vorwürfe gegen US-Soldaten [gefunden bei DIE ZEIT: Homepage ...] 11:10:28 AM   trackback [] 
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NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3810

[gefunden bei SpaceRef Top Stories ...] 12:27:54 AM   trackback [] 
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The Gates photo-album contest on Flickr

Cory Doctorow: Bob Stein writes,
The Institute for the Future of the Book and Flickr.com issued a call today for photos and stories documenting Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Gates Project in New York's Central Park. Using Flickr's unique photo-sharing platform, the Institute for the Future of the Book will gather pictures of the Gates from anyone and everyone who wants to contribute. The aim is to harness the creativity and insight of thousands to build a kind of collective memory machine - one that is designed not just for the moment, but as a lasting and definitive document of the Gates and our experience of them. "The photographs are a jumping off point for further exploration," says Ben Vershbow of the institute. "Ultimately, we are interested in collecting anything that can be shared over the web - film, audio, text - parodies and remixes."

While the photos and stories are being collected, the institute will encourage discussion and debate on how best to present the archives in hopes of finding new, unexpected ways to view and bring meaning to the content. The institute also welcomes the possibility of collaboration with designers, developers and web curators.

"This project is the beginning of a long-term exploration for us," says Bob Stein, director of the Institute. "Through this work, we are asking: how do we use social software to create works that are in the spirit of the web - i.e. free-form, ad hoc, always evolving, and driven by people's enthusiasm to share - but are also edited and shaped into something of lasting value? It is that tension - between frozen and fluid works - that we aim to explore. We are excited to see the ideas people will bring to the table."

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(Thanks, Bob!) [gefunden bei Boing Boing ...] 12:26:07 AM   trackback [] 



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