Wiki in a Browser Page

I find wiki's a really cool idea. If you are not familiar with them they are essentially a way of creating web pages using a very simple markup language, so simple that anyone can edit a wiki page, even if you know nothing about HTML. The whole idea behind wiki's is to make it easier for people to create and edit web pages. The other benefit of wikis that creating links between pages is all based on creating a wiki link with the name of the new page, that is it. Well now on the meat of this article, enter GTDTiddlyWiki. GTDTiddlyWiki is an implementation of TiddlyWiki that allows you to create and edit a web page that is stored completely in your browser. Yes that is right none of the information is stored on the server, which allows you to edit a TiddlyWiki page even without a connection to a server. In fact it does not work by connecting to a server at all. TiddlyWiki works by using CSS and Javascript to save and manipulate the page contents and then save them in the file for future reference. The GTDTiddlyWiki implements the “Getting Things Done” concept a personal productivity method by David Allen. Have a go for yourself.

Links
GTD Tiddlywiki
TiddlyWiki
Getting Things Done Book

OASIS SOA Reference Model

OASIS has formed a Technical Committee to develop a Service Oriented Architecture Reference Model. The purpose of this Reference Model is ensure that the term SOA is used consistently by all software vendors. The Reference Model is to encourage the different specialisations under developed while providing a common understanding.

Links
Oasis SOA Reference Model TC

Posted by Egon Kuster at 07:17 PM

XML Cover Pages: SOA Links

The XML Cover Pages has a great links pages for all things about Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). SOA is the newest framework/architecture/concept on the block and is being pushed by all the big middleware software providers. SOA is nothing new, the concepts have been around for many years; however, with the advent of web services and XML the true ubiquitous service environment is actually possible. What makes this possible is the lowest common denominator, web services, not the most elegant or best performing option for system communication but it does provide a common communication mechanism for ALL systems.

Links
SOA Links Page

Posted by Egon Kuster at 07:08 PM

May 12, 2005

Customise Google News

I have just noticed that Google News is allowing users to customise the news displayed on the page. They have previously allowed users to select news pages that are for different regions but this new page allows users to customise each section on the main page with the location, number of stories and which section to display. Have a go for yourself. There is even a share your customised page via a link at the bottom of the page.

Links
Google News

Posted by Egon Kuster at 08:28 PM | Comments (0)

Error Handling in a Web Page using AJAX

I will start this quick blog stating that I really hate the term AJAX, which is just a marketing term some person has thought up to refer to the use of the Javascript XMLHTTPRequest object. However I do have to agree that it is much easier to just refer to AJAX rather than describe what you mean all the time. Well anyway, enough ranting. Here is a quick article on XML.com about using AJAX for error reporting in a web page. This articles also provides a good quick overview of the AJAX concept, well worth a read if you are into developing web pages and want to quickly communicate back to the server.

Links
Error Reporting with AJAX

Posted by Egon Kuster at 06:13 PM

May 03, 2005

O'Neill's H2 solar backpack

This has got to be the coolest looking Solar Powered / iPod integrated backpack I have seen. Developed by O'Neill the same snowbording company that integrated iPod controls into the sleeve of a snow board jacket. I wonder how much it costs?

Links
O'Neill's H2 solar backpack

Posted by Egon Kuster at 07:48 PM

May 01, 2005

Desktop Manager in Tiger

Well I have a copy of OSX Tiger and I am pretty happy with it. All my programs ran with no problems except Desktop Manager, although I knew prior to updating that this was a problem. There is a fix though, as there is a beta version that works in tiger and can be downloaded here.

Links
Desktop Manager Home Page

Posted by Egon Kuster at 11:04 PM

HD DVD DRM Article

One of my friends has put together this article that discusses the problems behind HD DVD, the new standard for High Definition DVD video discs. The article is reasonably long but does provide a good overview of the issues and links to relevant articles. As I am a developer and wish to sell the products that I create I can understand why DRM exists but from the sounds of it the new DRM on HD DVD will make HD DVD less accessible, which is less than favourable. If HD DVD will not be available on computers, as suggested in the article, it will severely hamper the distribution of HD DVD and a majority of content producers and users will stick with the original DVD format. The other big problem that I can see if DRM gets in the way of using the product flexibly (ie on a large variety of devices that currently exist or are developed in the future) then users will start to turn more to other means (ie illegal downloads) and therefore resulting in the incorrect effect of forcing users towards illegal means.

Links
HD DVD DRM Article

Posted by Egon Kuster at 07:38 PM