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Ma.gnolia as a del.icio.us alternative

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 06:34:11 +0000

(Programming hint. If you’ve used the JSON approach with del.icio.us to read your bookmarks, the equivalent magic incantation with Ma.gnolia should contain http://ma.gnolia.com/json/mirrord/people/USERNAME )

Don’t get me started on weird period-ized names.

As I’ve written about previously, social bookmarking hasn’t advanced a whole lot. Frankly, I don’t care a whole lot about the social aspect beyond maybe keeping an eye on the links of a few friends who I know turn up interesting stuff. However, I’ve found that keeping my bookmarks in the Cloud rather than in my browser works well for me. Doing a daily link post with some short commentary also fits my style and workflow better than doing a lot of short posts does.

commentary [UPDATE: It took about three days, but the import of my del.icio.us links finally completed.]

The one big downside that I’ve run into so far is that, although Ma.gnolia claims to import from del.icio.us, it’s not clear the import works–at least for large bookmark collections. I fired off the import two days ago and, while it claims to be in process, it hasn’t completed yet. I probably won’t use the service if I can’t, in practice, move my bookmarks over.

My latest experiment is with Ma.gnolia.com. It’s pretty, but probably its biggest advantage in my book is that it doesn’t truncate the description (i.e. the comment or excerpt that I enter) like del.icio.us does. Although del.icio.us’s limited character count does encourage a certain twitter-ish brevity, which is probably good discipline for me, I do find it annoying. You also don’t get to see what is actually being truncated until you save it.

Ma.gnolia.com has its own application programming interface (API) to interact with the service. However, it also supports an API and other access methods that mirror those in de.licio.us. Thus, with minor (but hard to figure out from the documentation) modifications, I was able to use the same javascript that I use to generate my daily link post from del.icio.us with Ma.gnolia.

Panasonic unveils first Micro Four Thirds camera

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:07:56 +0000

The G1 and its supporting accessories will be available in November. Though pricing has not yet been set, Panasonic says the G1 with the 15-45mm lens should cost less than $800.

There are a couple potential downsides, however, when sizing up the G1 against dSLR competitors. Autofocus performance, for one. The G1 uses contrast AF, compared with phase-detect AF in dSLRs (though dSLRs with Live View generally use contrast AF in that mode). Contrast AF can be slower than phase detection, and not very efficient in low light, which is, well, low contrast. The G1 includes a Quick AF option, which doesn’t wait for you to press the shutter button before it starts focusing; if it’s like most continuous-focusing mechanisms, I suspect it will be a bit annoying.

Another drawback is its lack of an optical viewfinder. The G1 uses an EVF; a very nice 1.4 million dot EVF with 100 percent scene coverage, but an EVF nonetheless. They usually black out or freeze just after shooting, which can definitely sully the dSLR-like experience you probably want to have with this camera. Also, no movie capture in the G1; Panasonic plans to ship a model with movie capabilities next year.

While it’s too soon to tell whether it’ll be good, or popular, or both, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 does seem to be one of the more interesting camera announcements this year–and that’s saying a lot, given how many innovative midrange and high-end dSLRs we’ve seen (and still have yet to see). The first non-dSLR camera to offer the flexibility of interchangeable lenses, at the very least the G1 promises to shake up the enthusiast compact market now dominated by models like the Canon PowerShot G9.

On Sale Now: $499.00 – $799.99
View the latest prices for Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 (black)

Unlike dSLRs, though, this one will come in colors: two-tone black and blue, and black and red, in addition to the more sedate solid black.

(Credit:
Panasonic)

At launch, Panasonic will offer two lenses for the G1, both with optical image stabilization: the Lumix G Vario f3.5-5.6 14-45mm (28-90mm equivalent) and the Lumix G Vario f4-5.6 45-200mm (90-400mm equivalent). Though Leica lenses are likely in the Micro Four Thirds future, these are Panasonic lenses. Panasonic will also offer a converter which will allow you to mount standard Four Thirds lenses on the G1, but AF will only function if the lenses support contrast AF.

(Credit:
Panasonic)

On Sale Now: $532.14 – $799.77
View the latest prices for Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 (blue)

(Credit:
Panasonic)

The following products are available:

On Sale Now: $599.95 – $799.77
View the latest prices for Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 (red)

With the G1 specifically, and the Micro Four Thirds standard in general, Panasonic hopes to attract those users who want the advantages of interchangeable lenses and the power of a dSLR, but in a more compact camera. And to a certain extent, the G1′s specs read like those of an entry-level dSLR, including a 12-megapixel Live MOS chip with the same expanded photosite design of the sensor in the Lumix DMC-LX3) and continuous-shooting speed of 3fps for an unlimited number of JPEGs and seven raw.

Panasonic will include a Micro Four Thirds lens adapter.

In the few minutes I had to hold it, it felt very comfortable and well made, with a metal lens mount that you rarely find in the cheap dSLRs. Plus it’s definitely smaller than most dSLRs. Another big attraction will be the 3-inch, 460,000-dot flip-and-twist LCD. It will offer a full complement of manual and semimanual features as well as the automatic and semiautomatic capabilities common to all current Panasonic’s, like Intelligent Auto mode. There’s also a mode in which you can preview changes to settings like aperture and shutter speed, to gauge the effects in advance.

Planting the seeds of change in rural Colombia

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:24:32 +0000

To compound the technical challenges, the lone server at the school is broken, meaning that the majority of the computers in the lab–and the only ones from this decade–lack Word and the rest of the Office suite that Microsoft has donated. Instead, students using those computers write their documents in WordPad.

The computers themselves are obsolete by U.S. standards, many donated by a government program that provides refurbished computers to the country’s schools. Of the 14 computers from that program, only nine still work. The city has just one technician to serve the entire municipality.

Leaders in this community say more resources are badly needed. The cornerstone of their education is the project for the 10th and 11th graders in which they study their particular crop and its challenges and then grow and market it. But because they don’t have enough land, the exercise is just a demonstration. If the school could acquire a nearby farm it could turn its effort into a profitable operation that could improve the lives of many of the area’s families.

“You can go a few kilometers and find one with even less infrastructure,” Ayala said. Indeed, the principal of another school in the region said his school lacks Internet access entirely, with kids forced to walk two hours to get to the nearest Internet cafe that charges $2 an hour and then walk two hours back.

Students outside their school, the Instituto Educativa Nucleo Escolar Rural-Corinto.

“The model of sustainability has not been established,” said Orlando Ayala, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential program, which provides software and training to various efforts around the globe, including the computer lab here.

The local education secretary noted that just 10 percent to 20 percent of students graduate, leaving a whole lot to turn to illicit actions.

On the computer front, school officials dream of a one-to-one computing project, or at least more computers in the lab to give students more access to the PCs. When Ayala went to talk with one of the students, she was less than eager to chat. She gets only one hour a week in the lab and had a handwritten report she needed to finish typing.
“She was like, ‘Go away’,” Ayala said.

Instituto Educativa Nucleo Escolar Rural-Corinto students work in the computer lab.

CORINTO, Colombia–The small rural town of Corinto is trying to stake out a new role for itself, but the challenges are significant.

The effort to have the students research and grow crops is tied to a broader program by Vallenpaz to a help those in Corinto make their crops more profitable. By greater planning and working in collectives, farmers can see a return several times than what they might otherwise get. The students at the school are seeing firsthand the role computers and the Internet can play in aiding that.

While one brother cares for a family of his own and another carries sacks of coffee on his back, Diana feels she has an opportunity to bring a better life to her family. “My family, they are giving me all the support to develop myself. I want to show them they have not lost their investment and they can count on me. ”

During the 10th and 11th grades, students at Instituto Educativa Nucleo Escolar Rural-Corinto work on a specific project aimed at demonstrating the power of growing the right crops in the right way. Students use computers to research crops like red beans and tomatoes, to learn about organic fertilizers, and to study ways to combat insects. They plan a schedule for their crops and make reports on their progress.

“The school has taught me how to grow a crop and to handle a computer.” –Diana, an 11th grader in Corinto

The need for technology here is huge. In this rural agricultural community, technology can make the difference between barely making a living and improving one’s life. More importantly, for those youths that don’t see a future, there are two bad options: move to a city or join with the guerrillas.

Nor is it the case that this school is at the bottom of the pyramid when it comes to technology.

The school works hand in hand with a program called Vallenpaz that aims to offer those in rural communities enough hope and opportunity that they don’t see the need to either move to a city or join with a rebel group.

And they do this all on a handful of HP and IBM computers that, in some cases, are only a few years younger than they are. The school gets its limited Internet access through a program sponsored by the national ministry of education. The government has been gradually cutting the amount of Internet access it gives to the school, first from 24 hours a day to eight hours a day. At this point, the school gets just two hours a day–and even that is scheduled to go away in October.

Diana, an 11th grader, noted that her two brothers were not able to finish school, while she has had the opportunity to learn much about growing crops.
“It was a dream to study in this (school),” she said. “The school has taught me how to grow a crop and to handle a computer.”

But to many of the students that attend this school, even a modest chance to use computers is a great opportunity.

And of course, better Internet access is also needed. Although Corinto is just 50 kilometers from Cali, the school’s limited Internet access is pokey even by dial-up standards. It can take 10 or 20 minutes to load a single page.

At the crossroads of guerrilla-held territory and with a budget a quarter of the size of what it needs, the town is still known best for the quality of its marijuana. It is a place that the armed groups see as sympathetic to the army and government, and that mainstream Colombia thinks of as in the hands of the armed groups. But by investing in its local school, the city hopes to change both reality and perception.

Click here to read all of the stories in The Borders of Computing series.

Apple, Psystar agree to dispute resolution process

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:20:34 +0000

Psystar's Open Computer, the source of the legal dispute between the clone vendor and Apple.

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET News)

ADR, as it is known, is a way to bypass the costly legal process as well as keep the outcome private, which is one of Apple’s favorite words. I downloaded the document in question from the U.S. District Court of Northern California’s Web site (click here for PDF), and it says that Apple and Psystar have agreed to three portions of the ADR process: non-binding arbitration, early neutral evaluation, and mediation. The parties have agreed to hold their sessions by January 31, 2009.

The Mac Observer turned up a court filing from earlier this month in the Apple-Psystar case noting that the two parties have agreed to participate in the Alternative Dispute Resolution process. As you may recall, Apple sued Psystar earlier this year for copyright infringement after Psystar began selling low-cost Open Computers with
Mac OS X preinstalled. Psystar then countersued Apple on antitrust grounds.

Apple and Psystar have agreed to pursue a mediated settlement to their legal dispute over Psystar’s Open Computers.

And Apple may very well not want to concede in a public courtroom that Psystar has a chance of proving its antitrust claim that the relevant market for this case is Mac OS computers, rather than just personal computers in general. That could hurt Apple in other antitrust cases it’s facing regarding iTunes and the iPhone.

It’s not exactly clear what Apple and Psystar are thinking with the decision to choose this path. If Apple loses the case, and Psystar is allowed to continue selling Mac OS-based Open Computers, it won’t really matter if the outcome is kept private, since the availability of Open Computers will tell the tale. If Psystar is forced to stop selling Open Computers with Mac OS, we’ll likewise notice that.

Psystar has never appeared to have a ton of resources to use on its behalf, despite hiring a big-time Silicon Valley law firm to represent it against Apple. So it might very well be interested in a cheaper method of resolving the dispute, especially if Apple has the upper hand.

The lazy person’s guide to geo sites

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:38:39 +0000

What I really want, though, is a geo-enabled Yelp, both on my desktop browser and in my mobile phone. Yelp has all the location data I could possibly want; it just doesn’t have a very good location-focused interface, or the capability to auto-locate me when I am on my mobile phone.

Being lazy, I favor the geo-focused sites that don’t require that I do any work. Everyblock (review) wins the lazy-geo award from me: It scans local news sources and public records and shows me what’s happening in my ‘hood. My participation with the site consists solely of entering my address. Outside.in (news) has a similar function, but its user interface is less clear.

It’s entertaining to see all these new geo-focused sites trying to build out their social networks and their databases of local content. There’s still a huge disconnect between the sites that make data entry easy and the ones that do a good job of helping you find what and who you are looking for.

At least one geo site has a CEO who’s aware that you can grow your audience more by giving users a lot before you ask them to give anything to the site. Platial’s CEO, Diann Eisnor, recently relaunched her site with a new reader-focused interface, replacing a previous design that appeared to be made more for contributors. Platial, unfortunately, doesn’t have the rich data set of reviews that Yelp does, but it does a better job of displaying Yelp-like content. We can hope for a partnership.

Everyblock gathers hyper-local news and info.

Platial's new UI is great for browsing local info, but it needs a richer reviews database.

It’s when the
iPhone app store opens up next month that we’re really going to see geo-focused reviews sites and networks take off. Despite its lack of GPS (so far), a core component of the iPhone is location reporting (using a combination of Wi-Fi router mapping and cell tower triangulation). All of the Web 2.0 geo execs I’ve talked to are working on iPhone apps; many will be available on day one of the app store opening.

The personal location-reporting sites (Loopt, Brightkite, Whrrl, etc.) require a change in behavior: I have to tell these apps who my friends are and where I am to get them to work right. Integration with existing social nets should help these products take off, but until people start hooking these apps into their network profiles, they are going to languish.

HP to buy LeftHand Networks

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:38:30 +0000

The all-cash deal is expected to close in the first quarter of HP’s fiscal year 2009. LeftHand will be integrated into the StorageWorks division of HP’s Technology Solutions Group.

Privately held LeftHand will fill out HP’s virtualization offerings as the tech giant targets midsize companies and corporate branch offices trying to keep costs under control as their data storage needs expand.

Founded in 1999, Boulder, Colo.-based LeftHand has had a particular focus on iSCSI storage area network (SAN) technology. It has 215 employees.

Hewlett-Packard announced on Wednesday that it intends to buy storage specialist LeftHand Networks for $360 million.

More on Vista’s image problems

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:44:35 +0000

The company has taken a step in the right direction in announcing that Windows 7 won’t make any major architectural changes (less veggies), but they need to make sure that their entree is appetizing and that the dessert is top-notch.

Brooks acknowledged Apple’s impact and said the “sleeping giant” had woken up and hinted at the company’s forthcoming $300 million multiyear marketing push.

He goes on to talk about the company’s missteps, admitting its marketing muscle had gotten a bit “flabby.”

The company also launched a program that offers free support to small businesses willing to make the move to Vista.

Microsoft Windows marketing executive Brad Brooks told those attending Microsoft’s partner conference on Tuesday that the company is trying to put a different face on the 18-month-old operating system.

Microsoft’s launched-but-not-yet-ready compatibility tool isn’t the only stab the company made Tuesday to help resuscitate
Windows Vista’s tarnished image.

Although Vista has some tasty treats, like better photo handling and built-in desktop search, its new features haven’t exactly taken the world by storm. I doubt I’m saying anything the Windows team hasn’t already realized–but the next time they come out with a new OS, they would be well-served to have three or four drool-inducing features that motivate people to get a new PC or upgrade their old one.

But the second issue, which is beyond the image problem, is what I’d call the operating system’s dessert-to-vegetable ratio. Many of Vista’s changes are under the hood. They were necessary things like improved security, a new graphics engine and driver model. Those are like veggies. You have to eat them, but you are going to have a tough time getting people to flock to the table.

“Today, we’re making a statement,” Brooks said. “We’re drawing a line right here on this stage that we’re going to do things differently going forward. We’re going to tell our story–our story, the real Windows Vista story.”

From my perspective, Vista faces two major issues. Clearly, there is the image problem. For the last 18 months, Vista has been getting poor press, and the loudest marketing has been the negative stuff coming from Apple.

Drobo finally gets networks

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:31:08 +0000

The DroboShare mounted under a Drobo storage device

DroboShare is almost there. For the price, it should have pre-n Wi-Fi built in, as well. I mean come on, this is basically a gigabit NIC, USB 2.0 chip and a little firmware to translate four drive formats. That ain’t $200. And it should have a more elegant way to connect to the Drobo than a USB jumper cable. But like Apple, Sonos, and B&O, the Drobo folks are trying to harvest a cult, not a value-aware consumer.

The Drobo storage device has always intrigued me as a backup server that is smarter and more flexible than the RAID box you would typically cobble together with an old PC. But without network ability it seemed like half a product: powerful storage logic shackled to lame connectivity. That’s largely been fixed with the launch of DroboShare, a companion piece for the Drobo server that allows it to be network-attached.

If you are sophisticated enough to appreciate the qualities of Drobo architecture you should also crave networked storage, so I imagine DroboShare will be a hit. For now, my home-built RAID boxes are working very well.

DroboShare is a pricey add-on at $199, but it has gigabit Ethernet and is compatible with NTFS, HFS+, EXT3, and FAT32 file architectures, the last a nice addition we lamented the absence of in our original review. Support for a maximum 8TB capacity can be accomplished today by using two separate Drobo units loaded with four 1TB drives each and connecting both to a single DroboShare.

(Credit: Data Robotics Inc.)

Microsoft’s telescope looks beyond space

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:57:51 +0000

(Credit:
Ina Fried/CNET News.com)

I’ll have a variety of other postings from my tour through TechFest that will go up either later Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. Later this week, I’ll also have a video interview with Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer.

The software uses a new Microsoft “visual experience engine” to gather and stitch together images from multiple data sets as well as allow a variety of users to author their own guided tour. While space was a good area to try out the technology, principal researcher Curtis Wong notes that it’s not the final frontier for the visual experience engine.

The technology has lived inside Microsoft’s research group, but is moving on to one or more product groups within the company, though Wong said he couldn’t give more details.

“It’s a core one to start with,” he said, but noted that the idea of sharing a guided tour through a digital experience will have broader uses.

REDMOND, Wash.–One of the key things in Microsoft’s new WorldWide Telescope software has nothing to do with space.

And, like many of the reporters at TechFest, I’m on a flight Tuesday night to Las Vegas to start posting bright and early Wednesday morning from the Mix 08 show.

Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope software offers several different ways to look at the heavens, including the Hydrogen Alpha view.

Report iPhone grabs 32 percent of smartphone prof

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:25:17 +0000

“Apple has the potential to become a de-facto standard of sorts in the consumer smartphone market, much like it became in the portable media player market with iPods, due in large part to its first mover advantage and tight software and hardware integration,” said Sacconaghi, in the AllThingsD post.

According to Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi, who was quoted in an AllThingsD post, Apple managed to take 32 percent of the overall profits for the smartphone market. Sacconaghi also said in a research note to clients that Apple achieved that percentage of profit while only accounting for 8 percent of the industry’s revenue, according to the report.

Sacconaghi goes on to talk about the advantages Apple has in the smartphone market, particularly the ecosystem it has developed in the App Store over the past year. Apple said in mid-July that it had 65,000 apps in the store and users had downloaded more than 1.5 billion apps in the first year the store was operational.

Apple’s
iPhone may not have the largest share of the smartphone market, but it certainly grabbed a hefty piece of the profits.

The iPhone’s popularity is evident in the company’s quarterly earnings posted on July 21. Apple reported selling 5.2 million iPhones, a 626 percent increase over the same period last year.

The integration is something that Apple has lauded as an advantage it has over its competition for many. From the days of the
Mac and applications like iPhoto and iMovie, to the
iPod’s integration with iTunes and the music store, Apple has always tried to give users a simple way to interact with its hardware and software.