Atom #
Blogwise has just added its support to the Atom project.
In fact, I've already written support for Atom into the version 2 code. As many of you will know, it's my medium- to long-term goal to make the most of metadata when submitting blogs. In my humble opinion :) if the blog provides metadata in the form of RSS; RDF; Atom, etc any directories listing it should make maximum use of this information - otherwise, what's the point?
Anyway, the Atom project looks like a bloody good attempt to standardise the standards! Good luck to them.
Freeview #
Having just experienced Freeview (free UK digital TV) for the first time, this product is looking very tempting! Just look at the features...
Drunken Scrabble #
It looks like an ordinary game, but then you start looking at the words in detail and realise we weren't really adhering to the English language. Try and see how many mistakes you can find :-)
I'm really getting into Gallery although Simon has used MarginalHacks Album and it looks quite good.
Another one bites the dust #
Bugger. Onyx RSS has gone 404. The author's website is no more.
Onyx RSS is a very handy RSS parser for PHP, with no external requirements. I use it to read RSS feeds in Blogwise. Now it's disappeared I don't suppose there'll be any support for Atom :-(
Anybody know of any other similar scripts? If none are around I'm tempted to either write my own (eventually) or contact the Onyx author and ask to take control of it, although I'm not the most able of people to manage it time-wise it really plays a key part in Blogwise ergo I'd need to put some time into it anyway!
Spam Wars #
Microsoft are apparantly considering using memory-intensive puzzles to help fight spam. The principle being that for every email sent, the sender is required to use up a certain amount of their computer's time to prove that resources have been spent on that message.
The BBC report suggests that when the sender starts the email process, they'll be asked to solve a puzzle. Interestingly Microsoft have noticed that Moore's Law - which would mean that in a few years time the cost would be significantly less (as CPUs are faster) - can be avoided if they use memory transfers instead, since memory transaction speed grows at a lesser rate.
In the meantime, Freeserve employ an interesting tactic for their users. They automatically force all port 25 (SMTP) traffic through their own mail servers, so effectively all outgoing mail is logged. This caused me all sorts of problems when I was testing a remote server's SMTP but for the 99% of dial-up users this could generally be a useful move. I'm not sure precisely why they do it. Maybe they want/need to log all outgoing mail traffic, and any mail traffic originating from a Freeserve dial-up account can be accounted for.
Sounds quite sensible. Perhaps if all IP addresses using DHCP were forced to use their local ISP's SMTP server it would be much easier to find the origin of the spam - fixed IP addresses would have an owner (somebody would be paying for it somewhere), and dynamic addresses would be attached to a username at any particular time. But I doubt that's going to happen soon! There's always tunnelling too, but by the same system you'd be able to identify those computers that were breached. Wouldn't necessarily solve the spam problem (only stem it?) but would certainly help trace the source.
That gets me thinking - if Freeserve are routing all SMTP through their own server, and Microsoft reckon that a 10-20 second delay will mathematically throttle spam, what if Freeserve (and other ISPs) put a delay on the SMTP server themselves, and prevent multiple connections? Surely that would have a similar effect. Any mail then seen to go through Freeserve's servers (might need certification?) could then be given a more positive welcome in the recipient's inbox.
CSS Zen #
CSS Zen Garden shows us what's possible with some creativity and a lot of CSS (and presumably a lot of patience for buggy browser support). Thanks Dave2002.
More Bloody Exams #
Yes, it's that time again. I found out today I have all three exams in two days. E-Business Techniques is Friday 23rd Jan 9:30am, Scripting Languages is same day from 2:30pm. AI is the 24th at 9:30am and yes, that's a Saturday too.
I like the way my exams are very nicely consolidated, but I also am really not looking forward to that sort of intense, multiple-theme revision. Argh.
In other news apparantly all of Southampton University's exam papers will now be printed in Comic Sans. At first I thought this was a joke, but apparantly it's true. The University cite legibility as the reason for the font-swapping, but I'm sure these people would disagree with such use.
A Rant #
It's not often I hold a particularly strong view on something, and it's even less often I blog about it, but there is one thing when driving that really annoys the heck out of me. Cyclists who ride on the road when there is a perfectly good cycle track running parallel. Cycle routes are generally a good thing for both drivers and cyclists. For foreign readers I'm talking about paths/sidewalks that have been converted in some way to accommodate cyclists or specially built paths that might follow an alternative route to a common destination.
Actually it's the times where there's a track that run parallel to the roads that I'm particularly refering to. There's a prime example of this (as was encountered tonight, in fact) near my home. A road that runs between two residential areas (Peel Common and Stubbington). It's a 40mph road, quite narrow and curved, so passing a cyclist can be tricky and dangerous. It's also a busy road, is used by traffic going between Gosport and Southampton. A few years ago the path was resurfaced and widened for cyclists to share the path with pedestrians. Traffic lights were installed at either end of the road for cyclists to safely cross the road. Most cyclists (including myself when I used to cycle to Stubbington) use the track and it's quite a nice, safe route (field next to it, so no driveways or other hazards either).
So why, with this new route running parallel to the road, do a few cyclists continue to ride on the route oblivious to the risks they are putting theirselves, and other road users in? Is it because they are stubborn, ignorant or just lazy? Of course, they're perfectly entitled to use the road - cyclists have as much right to occupy the road as cars, horseriders and pedestrians - but this is missing the point. They're causing a danger and an obstruction that could otherwise be simply avoided if they used the route provided for them.
Comments please! But please, no 'you're just a snobby road user who thinks you own and have a right to the whole road' comments - they're not really useful to anybody and since I've cycled for years as well I'd like to think my thoughts are a bit less shallow than that!
Paperclip Diagnostics #
The trusty paperclip. Man's best friend. I've been having a minor fault on my car (Vauxhall Omega) for a while now. The ECU (computer, basically) will light up on the dashboard with a fault and sometimes the car will stall. If you take the car and a loaded wallet to your nearest Vauxhall garage, they'll diagnose it in return for lots of money. You can get it diagnosed with any garage that carries a small testing kit (about £50) too.
Today, I looked on Google and found this PDF that instructs you to put a paperclip between two pins in your car. The dashboard will then indicate, through a series of flashes and pauses, which fault(s) have been logged. Amazing and free!
Turns out that I have a high voltage on the oxygen sensor circuit. Google once again comes to the rescue; this means that there's too much oxygen in the system! Hooray, fixing can now commence.
The next stage would be a car that self-diagnoses itself, then repairs itself automatically - if the oxygen intake is too wide why can't it just close itself a bit, or am I being naive?