The Love and Pain of the Radio News Aggregator I still use the Radio News Aggregator 'cos it's simple, it allows me to post directly from my aggregator and I take a while to change... but... after a week off there's just a ton of stuff that isn't there (for example, I only got one day-lot of scripting news stuff... and you'd think that'd work!) and added to the fact that I can't manipulate settings, file items (my blog shouldn't be my filing cabinet!) and should probably get a wider view of the world... Bloglines here I com From James Farmer's Radio Weblog on April 20, 2004 at 10:51 p.m..

Distracted...by TV I've been quite distracted over the past couple of months with interesting things happening in the broadband video world.  The "video industry" on the Internet is starting to emerge with great force and I'm excited to be focused on this area.  I will try and be regular in posting and sharing thoughts again. From Jeremy Allaire's Radio on April 20, 2004 at 10:47 p.m..

Stocks and Flows Part 3 Lee concludes his 'stocks and flows' series with another good posting: "In this final section of the series, I’m circling back to the basics of stocks and flows to help define the key points about each term in the context of more traditional websites..." [Common Craft - Online Community Strategies] From James Farmer's Radio Weblog on April 20, 2004 at 9:51 p.m..

Bush stumps for Patriot Act extension The president's road trip marks an escalation in the political wrangling over how to balance security and privacy while fending off terrorist threats. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 9:45 p.m..

Nextel's radio interference plan--a tough call The company's proposal to clear the way for police radios is running into potentially deal-killing static. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 9:45 p.m..

Red Hat seeks to reawaken SCO case The Linux company asks a judged to let its copyright-related suit go ahead, and not wait until a related case between IBM and SCO is resolved. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 9:45 p.m..

Eugene Eric Kim: A Manifesto for Collaborative Tools Eugene Eric Kim makes the case for developing a shared language for collaborative tools: A shared conceptual framework for collaborative software would provide a common vocabulary for thinking about and discussing these tools, and would also reveal opportunities for standardization. In order to create this framework, we need to identify the commonalities between different collaborative applications. This is ambitious but very important work. In a followup post on his weblog, Eu From Seb's Open Research on April 20, 2004 at 8:47 p.m..

FindWhat Integrates Miva Marketplace The paid search provider said the move makes it easier for online merchants to market their products -- but stands to benefit itself, as a result. From E-Commerce Guide on April 20, 2004 at 8:45 p.m..

UNSW Plan to Establish a Campus in Singapore The University of New South Wales will be the first foreign university to offer full campus facilities in Singapore, Mr Vaile said. UNSW's decision also highlights the growing export opportunities for Australian providers of education services in Singapore. Under the Singapore Australia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) which entered into force last July, Australian education providers can operate relatively freely in Singapore. From EdNA Online on April 20, 2004 at 8:45 p.m..

Broadband Boost for Rural and Remote Australia Regional and remote Australia will have better access to broadband services with $13.8 million of funding from the Australian Government's Coordinated Communications Infrastructure Fund (CCIF). These funds will provide better access and more affordable broadband services in rural, regional and remote Australia. Partners include, Northern Territory Government, Desert Knowledge Australia, Bachelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, and Amcom Telecommunications. From EdNA Online on April 20, 2004 at 8:45 p.m..

Funding for Schools for the 2005-2008 Funding Quadrennium: Discussion Paper The Australian Government Funding for Schools for the 2005-2008 Funding Quadrennium Discussion Paper details important aspects of the schools funding package for the 2005-2008 schools funding quadrennium, including: Australian Government policy and global funding for schools; Performance framework and strengthened accountability and reporting provisions; Australian Government Schools Programmes 2005-2008. From EdNA Online on April 20, 2004 at 8:45 p.m..

Collaboration at a Distance Michelle made a good point in an email. I'd overlooked the value of collaboration at a distance, because I really take it for granted now. I've been working with folks over the 'net for years, but much more intensely over the past year. The Learning Object Syndication with RSS presentation(s) (here and here) wouldn't have been possible without iChatAV, wikis, and weblogs. And the Pachyderm install would have cost a few orders of magnitude more without these tools (well, we really only used iChatAV/Trillian). The cost of travel between Calgary and California would have been From D'Arcy Norman's Learning Commons Weblog on April 20, 2004 at 8:45 p.m..

Two start-ups address application requirements Two software companies are aiming to improve application development by automatically creating visual simulations of the finished product, based on document language. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 8:45 p.m..

Glaser envisions digital tech for the taking RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser brushes off a recent rebuff from Apple and says incompatible piracy prevention tools threaten to turn off consumers. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 8:45 p.m..

Siebel Systems acquires Irish software company Seibel Systems will pay $70 million in cash for Eontec, which sells customer service applications for banks. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 8:45 p.m..

The Pachyderm Has a Pulse! Josh and I have been poking at the Pachyderm for the last few days, and have finally convinced it to do something other than stare blankly at us. Josh wrote some PHP script mojo to suck the Filemaker database (used to manage assets) into the SQL Server DB (used to author presentations). Works like a charm, once you know where the hidden landmines are. Like, say a field name has the wrong case. Or, say, records in one (and only one) table aren't actually saved when the rest of the database is (so they have to be manually re-entered every... From D'Arcy Norman's Learning Commons Weblog on April 20, 2004 at 7:45 p.m..

Court upholds sentence for Net fraud A federal appeals court rejects a defendant's request for a shorter prison term for running an illegal Internet pharmacy. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 7:45 p.m..

House scrutinizes spyware A hearing before the House could lead to legislation targeting the controversial breed of software. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 7:45 p.m..

Packager puts shareware into the big box French-based Avanquest helps independent developers make the jump from shareware obscurity to the bright lights of Wal-Mart. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 7:45 p.m..

Down the Memory Hole More revisionist history from the White House From The Gadflyer | All Feeds on April 20, 2004 at 6:51 p.m..

Powell to broadcasters: 'Evolve or die' The FCC chairman says developing communications technology such as Wi-Fi challenge traditional licensed broadcasters to keep up. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 6:45 p.m..

AOL opens its doors on e-mail A new feature will let subscribers access their e-mail through third-party applications such as Eudora and Microsoft's Outlook. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 6:45 p.m..

For some, new 'grid' group does not compute Intel, HP and others unveil a group to promote grid computing. But some wonder if another such organization makes sense, and so far, biggies IBM and Microsoft haven't signed on. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 6:45 p.m..

Salesforce IPO to raise up to $85 million The CRM software maker's initial public offering of 10 percent of the company's value is seen as a test of whether the market is ready to embrace new tech stocks again. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 6:45 p.m..

In Portugal After flying all night, I arrived at the York Hotel at 10:30 this morning. The hotel is beautiful: a thoroughly modern, elegant room in an old structure gained by climbing foliage-covered steps. I slept for a couple of hours and then went out to see a bit of the city before the taxi my hosts have arranged — thank you very much! — was scheduled to pick me up. I spent 1.25 hours stumbling onto banks, trying to find one that changes US dollars, and finally did. Then I steeled myself to try to find a cheese sandwich in... From Joho the Blog on April 20, 2004 at 5:49 p.m..

Lawyers Warned E-Voting Company of Violations Oakland Tribune: Diebold knew of legal risks. Attorneys for Diebold Election Systems Inc. warned in late November that its use of uncertified vote-counting software in Alameda County violated California election law and broke its $12.7 million contract with Alameda County. Soon after, a review of internal legal memos obtained by the Oakland Tribune shows Diebold's attorneys at the Los Angeles office of Jones Day realized the McKinney, Texas-based firm also faced a threat of criminal charges and exile f From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 5:45 p.m..

Gucci serves up Apple iPod a la mode Gucci creates a $195 case for the music player, joining fashion retailers in selling to owners looking for a hip--if costly--way to holster their iPod. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 5:45 p.m..

Former MP3.com archive finds online home Online music company GarageBand gains access to the huge archive of music by unsigned and independent bands that was once operated by MP3.com, and it will reopen the hosting service for musicians. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 4:45 p.m..

Cometa takes Toshiba hot spots on board The Wi-Fi hot-spot operator takes charge of Toshiba's SurfHere network, extending its U.S. reach and cementing its position as a wireless wholesaler. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 4:45 p.m..

Microsoft hires key rival from SuSE Linux The software giant enlists one of its key antagonists, the SuSE Linux salesman whose efforts led the city of Munich to adopt Linux and open-source software instead of Microsoft's products. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 4:45 p.m..

Linux backer jumps ship Microsoft hires the SuSE Linux salesman who got Munich to go open source instead of sticking with Windows. Also: Novell argues that open-source software will force Microsoft to innovate. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 4:45 p.m..

Australia's Most Populous State Bans Production Of GM Food Until 2006. Premier Bob Carr announces the ban on the production of GM food crops (such as canola, clover, mustard and field peas) until 2006 in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state. From ORGANIC (Ltd) on April 20, 2004 at 3:59 p.m..

EQing a guitar From AudioCourses Distance Learning Online Sound Engineering School- Forums on April 20, 2004 at 3:58 p.m..

Repeat After Me: 'I Will Not Repeat' At last week's Online Journalism Symposium at the University of Texas, Guillermo Franco Morales of El Tiempo in Colombia (who also teaches online journalism in that country) gave a presentation in which he criticized the amount of repetition found on news website headlines. Specifically, he cited a common problem with news home pages that use headline/deck or headline/blurb combinations to highlight "inside" articles. Here's a typical headline, spotted by Morales during his research, which From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 20, 2004 at 3:57 p.m..

LionShareWiki http://lionshare.its.psu.edu//cgi-bin/twiki/view Announced with no little fanfare at the end of last year, the Lionshare project has since been quietly chugging along. In addition to the above Wiki pages, which give some insight into what they are actually working on, you can follow the project's latest news through their RSS feed (another one to add to th From EdTechPost on April 20, 2004 at 3:55 p.m..

Neues Edu-Blog startet Das neueste Weblog der Fachhochschule St. Gallen startet am 21.4.2004: Soziale Räume. Daniel Fels, Dozent und Gemeinwesenarbeiter, führt Regie. Das Autoren-/Autorinnen-Team besteht aus acht Fachleuten aus der ganzen Schweiz. "Damit wird eine Plattform für die Diskussion über soziale Räume an der Schnittstelle von Sozialer Arbeit, Stadt- und Regionalentwicklung sowie Politik eröffnet", erklärt Fels. Zum Start gebe es einen exklusiven Beitrag zu geplanten Aenderungen des Krankenversicherungsgesetzes (Schweiz). Allerdings From Handakte WebLAWg on April 20, 2004 at 3:54 p.m..

BMJ mit RSS Das BMJ teilt heute mit: "vor kurzem konnten wir die Darstellung des BMJ im Internet, insbesondere im Hinblick auf die... From Handakte WebLAWg on April 20, 2004 at 3:54 p.m..

Narrativas no lineales En el MediaLab Madrid expone Santiago Ortiz su instalación El inventor de historias, que incluye la sugerente obra en red Esfera de las Relaciones. El grupo de investigación Hermenia de la UOC acaba de celebrar las jornadas Under Construction: Literaturas... From eCuaderno v.2.0 on April 20, 2004 at 3:54 p.m..

Theory and Practice Of Online Learning "In the seven weeks since its launch, more than 11,000 people have downloaded the online book, "Theory and Practice of Online Learning," Athabasca University's most recent contribution to online and distance education around the world. Edited by Drs. Terry Anderson... From Robin Good's Latest News on April 20, 2004 at 3:53 p.m..

Credit Cards Safer When Sound Enabled BeepCard is a technology company. They sell a sound authenticator for credit cards. The demo looks like a credit card -- an actual credit card that passes all the credit card specs for bendability and reliability and everything -- and... From Robin Good's Latest News on April 20, 2004 at 3:53 p.m..

White House Apprentice Somebody's getting the boot! From The Gadflyer | All Feeds on April 20, 2004 at 3:51 p.m..

The Magic of Images These comments about Camille Paglia's article "The Magic of Images: Word and Picture in a Media Age" in the electronic journal Arion are taken from the electronic release of the 4/20/2004 Chronicle of Higher Education. Both the article and the electronic journal  are worth perusing. Certainly any instructor or instructional designer must be concerned about the important role of images in facilitating instruction. (Arion articles are available in both html and pdf formats.) JH _____ A glance at the winter issue of "Arion": Teaching with images. Because higher educatio From EduResources--Higher Education Resources Online on April 20, 2004 at 3:48 p.m..

Sony revises earnings forecast The company raises its fiscal year-end estimates for revenue and profits. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 3:45 p.m..

Writing on the Brain This commentary on Alice W. Flaherty's The Midnight Disease asks the question: why do people write? Perhaps, the author suggests, it's a disease? Certainly the list of great writers has no shortage of manic and drug-addled basket cases. But this explanation, and the mysteries of neuroscience, don't offer any satisfying explanation of why it is that people write. The best the author of this article can come up with is that it is a passion. But this appeal to folk psychology is equally barren. So the answer may not have been found - but it's fun considering the quetion. By J From OLDaily on April 20, 2004 at 3:45 p.m..

Recording Industry Drops Amnesty Program for Online File-sharers The headlines have disappeared, only 1108 people signed up, and so the recording industry is disbanding its file sharing amnesty program and, as one commentator notes, "it's pretty clear that their main goal is to use the stick of litigation." By Alex Veiga, AP Wire, April 19, 2004 [Refer][Research][OLDaily on April 20, 2004 at 3:45 p.m..

Fundamental Issues With Open Source Software Development The five major issues outlined in this article correspond with my own experience, especially bad user interface, poor documentation. The other issues speak more to the functionality of the software: feature glut, programmer centered design, and blindness to good features in commercial software. But for me, the biggest issue so far has been software installation - more than half (more like three quarters) of my attempts at sofwtare installs fail on the first try, leaving me with an appointment with Google and some detective work before this plug-in, or that application, will run. Thanks to Rod From OLDaily on April 20, 2004 at 3:45 p.m..

Beyond Just School: Goa Project Tries to Ensure Children Actually Learn Interview with Marita Adam, the coordinator of this project run out of the health-focussed non-profit organisation Sangath in the Alto Porvorim locality in Goa. She says: "Almost one of every three children come to Sangath Centre with school problems. This project aims to help children with school problems -- academic and behavioral -- develop their full learning potential.... (Children can gain from achieving) success in small tasks and enjoy the fulfillment of having achieved them." By Frederick Noronha, Stephen's Web, April 20, 2004 [OLDaily on April 20, 2004 at 3:45 p.m..

Asking Citizens to be the Media Leonard Witt explains how "Citizens Can Improve Your Media Company". From Dan Gillmor's eJournal on April 20, 2004 at 2:47 p.m..

Novell touts Linux as force for innovation Open-source software will provide a competitive kick in the pants--rather than a fatal stroke--to makers of proprietary applications, according to a Novell executive. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 2:45 p.m..

EarthLink CEO gets big bonus During the same year the ISP lays off 25 per cent of its work force, Chief Executive Garry Betty takes home a bonus of $346,790--up 76 percent from the year before. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 2:45 p.m..

Sex.com, VeriSign settle domain name suit The agreement ends a protracted battle over the transfer of the stolen domain. From CNET News.com on April 20, 2004 at 2:45 p.m..

Open Source and Free Software Conference at U of T A conference entitled "Open Source and Free Software: Concepts, Controversies and Solutions" will be held Sunday, May 9, to Tuesday, May 11, at Convocation Hall, 31 King's College Circle, University of Toronto. I think what is neat about this conference... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Merging Blogs and E-Portfolios This blog is a bit of an experiment for me to see how blogging and the concept of e-portfolios can be merged. I have always been a big proponent of electronic-portfolios in assessment, but I think now that the blogging... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

TechLearning.com - Site of the Day If you are like me, I love to good educational sites, but like I said in an earlier post (i.e., theteacherlist.ca), I don't have the time to look a lot of the time. Here is a great site that lists... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Visual Thesaurus from Princeton Finally ... a thesaurus that works the way my brain works. Some of you may have seen this already, but I think this is really neat. http://www.visualthesaurus.com/online/index.html I am quite sure this is based on the original ThinkMap technology that's... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

U of Western Ontario and the Ignalium Linux Project A team of students at Western have become involved in both the development and distribution of Ignalium - an Enterprise level Linux system. I really like the idea of having more undergraduate students and Faculty members exposed to Open Source... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

CBC Archives I noticed this link mentioned a while back at a Rick's Café Canadien (from good friend Dr. Richard Schwier). This is a huge digital archive from the CBC. I just love this resource. Be sure to check out: http://archives.cbc.ca/ Also,... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Lessig's New Book Online While doing a little late night reading, I was just reminded (thanks Rick) of Lessig's new book. The new book, titled Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity will be... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Weblogs and Discourse This article by Oliver Wrede is a bit older (May 2003 - why does something less than a year old seem ancient when posted in a blog?) but I think it's certainly worth a read when considering blogs as tools... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Humanoid Robot Conducts Symphony The development in modern robotics is impressive. NewScientist reports that a 58 centimetre tall humanoid robot led a unique rendition of Beethoven's 5th symphony. You can see the full article here. Seeing it in action is pretty neat, and there... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

North Battleford School Division to Adopt Linux Thin Client A few years back, school divisions in North Battleford and Moose Jaw underwent a full-scale implementation of thin-client Sun Systems (Sun Rays). At the time, I was one of the researchers who worked with SIDRU (Saskatchewan Instructional Development and Research... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Introduction to Blogs and Blogging Here's a short, simple and straight-forward article on the concept of blogging, and blogs in regard to education. While it doesn't go very deep, this will be perfect to point someone to the next time I am asked "isn't a... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

The Price/Ownership of Keywords - e.g., Overture It's amazing to me of our dependency on the big search engines such as Google (still waiting for them to go public), Yahoo, MSN Search, etc. The undergraduate students I teach often don't seem to know how to research any... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

What are people searching for? I always find it amazing, and sometimes shocking, to see what people are searching for on the web. With the help of MetaSpy, I can see the most recent keyword searches in MetaCrawler. I could watch this for hours ...... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Linux Thin Client Revisited Back on the 04/04/04, I posted an article regarding the adoption of a Linux Thin Client system in North Battleford. Luckily, I got the attention of Rob Wall as he wrote an incredibly thoughtful response on my post to his... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Zen Gardener The CSS Zen Gardener site has been around since about the summer of 2003, but I think it's an inspiring site for those interested in learning CSS. The project was created by 25 year old web-design amateur (at the time),... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

NVU ¿Futura alternativa a Dreamweaver? Que el software libre se esta haciendo un hueco cada vez más importante en nuestros ordenadores, es algo que ya hace tiempo podemos constatar. Ahí tenemos el avance imparable de Linux en sistemas operativos, el Mozilla Firefox que se revela... From BlogDirect on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Mi página 23 Para el meme 23/5, el libro que me acompaña en la mochila... Nada menos que Juan Gelman en una entraga poética de madurez llamada "Valer la pena". Página 23, quinta frase: ... aclaran una noche que nunca será [...]... From BlogDirect on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Apple updates Powerbooks, iBooks Computer manufacturer Apple unveiled upgrades to all of its laptops yesterday, giving its 15 -inch and 17-inch PowerBooks G4 1.5 GHz PowerPC G4 processors. From Digital Media Europe - digital media news from across Europe on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Ukraine's UMC doubles subscriptions Ukrainian mobile operator UMC has seen subscription numbers increase by 97 per cent from their figures for 2003. From Digital Media Europe - digital media news from across Europe on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Swiss home internet use up eight per cent Some 60 per cent of Swiss citizens over 15 years old accessed the internet at some point last year up from 52 per cent in 2001. From Digital Media Europe - digital media news from across Europe on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Tele2 launches fixed-line in Hungary Swedish telco Tele2 has moved ahead with plans for Hungarian residential fixed-line services. From Digital Media Europe - digital media news from across Europe on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

MTS subscribers up to 20.3m The total number of MTS subscribers now exceeds the population of Australia. From Digital Media Europe - digital media news from across Europe on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Alcatel delivers Teliasonera IP service routing solution The Alcatel solution guarantees bandwidth to high priority applications, but allow any unused bandwidth to be shared between multiple service classes, reducing the cost of delivering service level agreements. From Digital Media Europe - digital media news from across Europe on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

British Library digitises sound archive The British Library is spending some €1.5m digitising its sound archive, which includes such gems as a live recording of Paul Robeson as Othello and of Florence Nightingale speaking - one of the first ever sound recordings. From Digital Media Europe - digital media news from across Europe on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Vtesse takes BT rates complaint to Commission UK ISP Vtesse has alleged that the UK incumbent telco benefits from a favourable agreement with the country's tax authority, allowing it to save some €1.5bn in taxes. From Digital Media Europe - digital media news from across Europe on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

HP delivers animation, restoration infrastructure to Warner Bros, Dreamworks HP's increased collaboration with Hollywood is yet another example of the company's moves towards making services in the realm of digital entertainment central to their business strategy. From Digital Media Europe - digital media news from across Europe on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Denmark top country for e-business - Economist Scandinavian countries have consolidated their advance in e-readiness, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's fifth annual e-readiness rankings, with Nordic nations taking four out of the five top spots in the survey. From Digital Media Europe - digital media news from across Europe on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Be a Freeporter! Tom Nicolai has posted slides and notes from his presentation on Enabling a Mobile News Publishing Community. It describes a system in which amateurs would use cameraphones to enable collaborative journalism: A web of trust is the basis for the news selection and filter mechanism of the network of Freeporters. This web can be implemented as a peer-to-peer network. Every node in this network is connected to other trusted no From unmediated on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

The Ultimate Service Experience While at ACCA's National Meeting this February in New Orleans, I had the opportunity to attend an excellent opening session. Keynote speaker Joe Calloway's message was strong and resonated very clearly, become a category of one. In other words, make your business so different that you're not just ahead of your competition, you have no competition! From Contracting Business Interactive on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

16 Ways to Make Your Print Marketing Shine If you'd like to build a more profitable service business, the place to start is with your marketing. From Contracting Business Interactive on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

A Star is Born by Valerie Stakes During the past several years, contractors have increasingly seen the value of having certified technicians on staff as a means to not only ensure their knowledge and experience, but to further assure customers that the best and brightest are working on their equipment. From Contracting Business Interactive on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Define Your Vision, Determine Your Future When the economy changed a few years ago, we at Mechanical Services of Central Florida saw how we could no longer thrive just being order-takers, and that great changes in our strategy and company culture were needed for our continued success. From Contracting Business Interactive on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

York International: 130 Years of Innovation York, Pennsylvania is a small city with a big history. Its founding is tied directly to the efforts of the family of Pennsylvania founder William Penn, and the city grew in importance as a frontier town, becoming an eventual haven to the Continental Congress in 1777. It was invaded by rebel forces during the Civil War. During the post-war reconstruction era six men came together to form the York Manufacturing Co. in 1874. From Contracting Business Interactive on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

Sensible Heat Ratios: What Happened? by Glenn C. Hourahan, PE and Karim Amrane, Ph D So here's the question with so much anecdotal field information today indicating that relative humidity control is a growing concern, how can the latent capability of today's equipment be the same as equipment from 10, 20, and 30 years ago? From Contracting Business Interactive on April 20, 2004 at 2:00 p.m..

13 SEER is Here, Now here's the rest of the story The Department of Energy is excited about the 30 percent increase in efficiency that a change from 10 to 13 SEER will bring on January 23, 2006. From Contracting Business Interactive on April 20, 2004 at 1:59 p.m..

Radiant for All Seasons by Mike Weil Founded in 1607, Santa Fe became a melting pot. It was accessed by the Mexicans and Spanish from the South via El Camino Real (or the Royal Road), and by Anglo-Saxon miners and trappers who trekked in from the North via the Santa Fe Trail. Caught in the middle were the Native Americans who were already living there. From Contracting Business Interactive on April 20, 2004 at 1:59 p.m..

Australia's Most Populous State Bans Production Of GM Food Until 2006. Premier Bob Carr announces the ban on the production of GM food crops (such as canola, clover, mustard and field peas) until 2006 in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state. From ORGANIC (Ltd) on April 20, 2004 at 1:59 p.m..

Renardus Renardus allows you to find Internet resources selected according to quality criteria and carefully described by Subject Gateways from several European countries. From Minneapolis Public Library - the LIST on April 20, 2004 at 1:59 p.m..

Summer Reading Program Track down summer fun at the library! Early bird registration begins May 14. From What's New at the Minneapolis Public Library on April 20, 2004 at 1:59 p.m..

Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality Here's an interesting initiative that popped up on my radar screen lately: Project Avalanche, a quasi-open source co-op. For a $30,000 yearly subscription, corporate members can donate their in-house software (including source code) and gain access to other member companies' donated software for free. Who's in on it Current subscribers include Best Buy, Medtronic and Cargill. The list is still currently pretty short. The low-down "Why were they writing such big checks to their software companies, but getting so little in return? Why were their in-house programming staffs writing From silentblue | Quantified on April 20, 2004 at 1:59 p.m..

DTS Swedish Radio Present World's First High Resolution Live Broadcast in From AudioCourses Distance Learning Online Sound Engineering School on April 20, 2004 at 1:59 p.m..

Har-Bal Fends Off The Hackers From AudioCourses Distance Learning Online Sound Engineering School on April 20, 2004 at 1:59 p.m..

Critical Noir: Valerie Simpson Exposed From AudioCourses Distance Learning Online Sound Engineering School on April 20, 2004 at 1:59 p.m..

Looking at drum mic kits From AudioCourses Distance Learning Online Sound Engineering School- Forums on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Build a home studio from Scratch From AudioCourses Distance Learning Online Sound Engineering School- Forums on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Pedal Trouble From AudioCourses Distance Learning Online Sound Engineering School- Forums on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Stress Responds to Magnetic Therapy Title: Stress Responds to Magnetic TherapyCategory: Health NewsCreated: 4/19/04Last Editorial Review: 4/19/04 From MedicineNet Daily News on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Don't Harvest Carpal Tunnel in Your Garden Title: Don't Harvest Carpal Tunnel in Your GardenCategory: Health NewsCreated: 4/19/04 1:58:00 AMLast Editorial Review: 4/19/04 1:58:27 AM From MedicineNet Daily News on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Home Care For the Aging: What You Need to Know Title: Home Care For the Aging: What You Need to KnowCategory: Health NewsCreated: 4/19/04 1:58:00 AMLast Editorial Review: 4/19/04 1:58:27 AM From MedicineNet Daily News on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Buyers' Review - Web Conferencing Tools (22 Apr) Are you looking into the purchase of a web conferencing system? Robin Good will be reviewing a number of web conferencing, live presentation and real-time collaboration tools on Thursday, April 22nd at 12:00 EST (1:00 PM Atlantic). Kolabora Live is free, but you will have to pay to view the recorded presentation. I won't be able to attend, so I would appreciate any comments on this presentation. Many thanks to Robin for offering this to the buyer/user community. From jarche.com - Improving Organizational Performance on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

RSS for Educators Resource A complete how-to Word document from Will Richardson. This is an essential step by step guide for those wanting to introduce blogs and RSS into their teaching. An excellent local example of school blogging is from northern New Brunswick's Haut-Madawaska learning centre (in French). From jarche.com - Improving Organizational Performance on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Wikis becoming mainstream Via Seth Godin is this reference to EditMe, which is a commercially supported wiki service. Most wiki software is open source, and can be a pain for non-programmers (like me). EditMe offers hosting, support and a better interface for a reasonable fee of $5 to $25 per month. I was involved in a recent healthcare project that used a wiki, and the learning curve was a bit steep for some people. EditMe seems to be an easier tool to From jarche.com - Improving Organizational Performance on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

WWW.howtoons.org Howtoons are one-page cartoons showing 5-to-15 year-old kids "How To" build things. Each illustrated episode is a stand-alone fun adventure accessible to all, including the pre-literate. Our Howtoons are designed to encourage children to be active participants in discovering the... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Brain Implants Stephen Downes states "I get so tired of having to hit the keys on my keyboard; I want one of these. Also, it would be nice to have a place to store my memories " This article brings so many... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

A break... 150 day entry and exit system Easter has just passed. As you notice by the lack of posting within the blog I was on vacation. A vacation where my wife told me that I must leave my "satan in a box" (my laptop) at home. We... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Museum of Tolerance The Museum of Tolerance is a high tech, hands-on experiential museum that focuses on two central themes through unique interactive exhibits: the dynamics of racism and prejudice in America and the history of the Holocaust - the ultimate example of... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Hate on the internet The wonder of the Internet has been tarnished by hundreds of Web sites that spew hate. Using the Net, hatemongers can now reach into the room of any child who has a home computer. Their sites are often deceptive. Many... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Wired News Hate Sites Bad Recruiting Tools Online hate is as much a part of the Web as e-commerce, porn sites, and portals. From neo-Nazis and skinheads to the Ku Klux Klan, almost every hate group in America has its own website. Wired News: Hate Sites Bad... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Ebay is Dangerous My daughter has been begging me for weeks to get her a "Professor Coldheart" - a toy from the Care Bears cartoons. Problem is, they don't sell him. It is a revived cartoon from the early 80's. They have come out with some newer merchandise, but not with a new version of Coldheart. So, where do you go when you are loking for something hard to find? You got it, ebay ;). So, I wander over there and end up... From Cause I Like to Hear Myself Talk on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Webmaster Block Yet again I am pounding my head into a wall with webmaster's block. For those not in an Internet field, think writer's block, only one that gets people trying to design or write content for a website. I have a new site that should have already launched. All the content is ready, backend scripting is done - but I cannot settle on a DAMN DESIGN for the thing. So, I torture myself - creating template after template and hating them... From Cause I Like to Hear Myself Talk on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

New Business Cards I needed a new set of business cards. I had a set done long ago, but my darling daughter decided to color on the entire box of them one day. I don't use them much and never replaced them. Then in February I had a conference to attend and needed them desperately and designed them myself and had them printed by a printer. Well, lets just say when I say I am creatively impaired, I MEAN IT. LOL. They did... From Cause I Like to Hear Myself Talk on April 20, 2004 at 1:58 p.m..

Extended News Desks Flourish Los Angeles Times Extended News Desk editor Mike Young spoke at the Western Knight Center for Special Journalism seminar in Los Angeles last week about the paper's successes and challenges in handling its version of the "continuous news desk." The extended news desk is the editing structure that several news organizations have adopted, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Knight Ridder -- a specialized desk to move stories and breaking stories several times per day rather than on one newspaper deadline per day. The obvious successes are tho From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 20, 2004 at 1:57 p.m..

Weintraub on Blogging One of the most successful journalist bloggers, Dan Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee, offered insight on his achievements to attendees at the Western Knight Center's "Business of Online Journalism" seminar late last week. His triumph with this form of journalistic exchange can easily be attributed to the enthusiasm he brings to the process. "If journalism is the first draft of history," he said, "then the blog is the note pad that leads to it."Many asked Weintraub's advice on how to encourage reporters t From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 20, 2004 at 1:57 p.m..

Disasters in China No Longer Covered Up Shocking pictures of 150,000 fleeing citizens of Chongqing and of fire brigades in action dominated the state media on Saturday, as people ran away from the scene of a chlorine gas disaster. Chinese media have been known for their reluctance -- to put it mildly -- to report about major accidents and disasters when they could get away with it. Because of the Internet, Chinese citizens now can read about these incidents in their own m From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 20, 2004 at 1:57 p.m..

China: 300,000 Webloggers and Counting China, only two years after the blogging trend took off, has some 300,000 webloggers and the number is going up very fast, said Isaac Mao of CNBlog.org during the Shanghai leg of the BloggerCon conference over the weekend. Their influence is still rather limited, the meeting reluctantly conceded. "I expect a tipping point in a few years time when we have 1 million webloggers," Mao said. The development style of the Chinese blogosphere is rather different from, say, the successful one in Iran, where From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 20, 2004 at 1:57 p.m..

Broadband Internet Access Surges Another Pew Internet and American Life report released today says that 55 percent of all U.S. Internet users have broadband access either at home or at work. Home access has grown 60 percent since last year because of a surge of DSL (digital phone line) sign-ups.Newspapers take note: If you're wondering where that elusive under-35 market is going, here's a clue. More than half of college-educated Americans under 35 have broadband access at home. From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 20, 2004 at 1:57 p.m..

An Update on Two Controversial Web Writers Lately I've been writing here about Mark Morford's troubles at SFGate.com (website of the San Francisco Chronicle), and expressing admiration for Ana Marie Cox's Wonkette D.C. gossip blog (published by new-media upstart Gawker Media). I find them to be notable and worth covering because they both push the envelope about what's acceptable, and offer online some content that you'll probably never find in print. A quick update: 1.) Morford has resumed writing his column after five weeks' suspension fol From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 20, 2004 at 1:57 p.m..

True Community Journalism Ahead? Every year, Iowa State University has an event called Veisha. Some years it can get out of hand; this year it turned into a riot. The Iowa State Daily wrote an article about it, and what struck me as most interesting were the comments from students at the scene posted to the message forum at the bottom of the story. While the article gave a 50,000-foot view of what happened, the - From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 20, 2004 at 1:57 p.m..

The Knowledge of Everybody For a long time I have been fascinated by Wikipedia, which was started by (among others) the tireless Erik Moeller. More than 250,000 articles have been submitted to this huge encyclopedia as of today and the quality appears to grow in similar waves. For newspapers there is the very interesting Current Events page which lends itself for easy linking and support for this open-source knowledge project. There's no imm From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 20, 2004 at 1:57 p.m..

Cyber Church I was browsing Slashdot today and encountered a link to a rather interesting article: The virtual church. I've been interested in rhetoric and religion for quite some time, and find this idea fascinating. I think what makes this project more intriguing than other religious sites and forums is that the "Church of Fools" is a serious effort to bring "the church experience" online, with synchronuous web-preaching, graphical pews, and so on. The graphics look rather cartoonish--apparently other efforts to make electronic ch From Kairosnews - A Weblog for Discussing Rhetoric, Technology and Pedagogy on April 20, 2004 at 1:57 p.m..

No Easy Solutions to Adware/Spyware says FTC Well, looks like the FTC didn't have much luck brainstorming solutions to the growing ADWARE/SPYWARE problem plaguing almost all networked Windows computers. They did point out that some of the biggest problems may be poorly written state laws regulating spyware that actually make ANTI-adware and spyware products illegal...Geez. How big is the problem? McAfee Security manager Bryson Gordon, whose company sells the McAfee AntiSpyware utility, says his company detected fewer than 2 million adware or spy From Kairosnews - A Weblog for Discussing Rhetoric, Technology and Pedagogy on April 20, 2004 at 1:57 p.m..

CETIS on Eduplone Here's a useful commentary about Eduplone by Wilbert Kraan of CETIS. Similar to Graham Blacker's recent article ATutor IMS Content Export Wilbert's article describes how Knowledge Objects can be exported from Eduplone as IMS compliant packages. From Auricle on April 20, 2004 at 1:56 p.m..

Scots want re-engineering and transformation not more content OK! The Scottish joint FE/HE E-Learning Working Group report was published in July 2003. How the Scots intend to implement the recommendations of the report is described in Circular letter HE/09/04 - 5 March 2004. If you want 'factoids' and 'micro-commentary' read on. From Auricle on April 20, 2004 at 1:56 p.m..

eBeam me up Scotty - Drat, the lights have gone out! Asynchronous technologies undoubtedly make a major contribution to the e-learning armoury but sometimes synchronous solutions are required. One such solution, the electronic whiteboard has stimulated some interest amongst some of our faculty. But problems arose from a totally unexpected quarter. From Auricle on April 20, 2004 at 1:56 p.m..

Back Back from Moscow. It may be worth adding to your travel list. And if you wait for a couple of years I'll finish my PhD, go back home and will be able to provide personalised guided tours to bloggers :) Btw, just to let you know: not all Russians drink vodka (and even those who drink rarely do it for breakfast :), it's not so scary and corrupted as you may think watching TV, we do have hot summers and not always snow, of From Mathemagenic on April 20, 2004 at 1:56 p.m..

The high cost of not finding information: Reinventing is more fun than reusing The high cost of not finding information by Susan Feldman (via Michael Fioritto):