This is Michael's blog on Twitters. A Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS, or through applications such as TwitterMobile, Tweetie, Twinkle, Twitterrific, Feedalizr, Facebook, and Twidget, a widget application. Four gateway numbers are currently available for SMS: short codes for the United States, Canada, and India, and a United Kingdom-based number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email. By September 2008, Twitter had 'well over 5 million visitors.'
Twitter messages may be tagged using hashtags, a word or phrase prefixed with a #, such as #beer. These are evisently hugely useful!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Wikis - EXTRA
This is Michael's blog on wikis, but further.
Science Museum - These objects are surrounded in history, and in this new interactive age, links to these objects can be uncovered over the internet. There is a memoirs link, where people who have seen or owned the object previously can write about them to a deeper level than just the facts. They can describe their value, importance to a community or anything archeologists cannot uncover. There is also the option of adding information about the object.
ThinkPads - As Linux is not as widely used as Windows or Mac OS X, there are not as many options available to Linux users and so an online community of these users is the perfect way to share software.
School of Architecture - Anything can be edited and it is really just for fun. Unlike wikipedia though, no one cares of you write complete rubbish. It also has links to other pages in the wiki and amusing stuff. It is a kind of Facebook/Wikipedia mix.
Science Museum - These objects are surrounded in history, and in this new interactive age, links to these objects can be uncovered over the internet. There is a memoirs link, where people who have seen or owned the object previously can write about them to a deeper level than just the facts. They can describe their value, importance to a community or anything archeologists cannot uncover. There is also the option of adding information about the object.
ThinkPads - As Linux is not as widely used as Windows or Mac OS X, there are not as many options available to Linux users and so an online community of these users is the perfect way to share software.
School of Architecture - Anything can be edited and it is really just for fun. Unlike wikipedia though, no one cares of you write complete rubbish. It also has links to other pages in the wiki and amusing stuff. It is a kind of Facebook/Wikipedia mix.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Wikis
This is Michael's blog about wikis. A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis. Wikis are used in business to provide intranet and Knowledge Management systems. Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work".
"Wiki" is a Hawaiian word for "fast". "Wiki Wiki" is a reduplication. "Wiki" can be expanded as "What I Know Is", but this is a backronym. WikiWikiWeb was the first site to be called a wiki. Ward Cunningham started developing WikiWikiWeb in 1994, and installed it on the Internet domain c2.com on March 25, 1995. It was named by Cunningham, who remembered a Honolulu International Airport counter employee telling him to take the "Wiki Wiki" shuttle bus that runs between the airport's terminals. According to Cunningham, "I chose wiki-wiki as an alliterative substitute for 'quick' and thereby avoided naming this stuff quick-web."
Cunningham was in part inspired by Apple's HyperCard. Apple had designed a system allowing users to create virtual "card stacks" supporting links among the various cards. Cunningham developed Vannevar Bush's ideas by allowing users to "comment on and change one another's text In the early 2000s, wikis were increasingly adopted in enterprise as collaborative software. Common uses included project communication, intranets, and documentation, initially for technical users. Today some companies use wikis as their only collaborative software and as a replacement for static intranets. There may be greater use of wikis behind firewalls than on the public Internet.
On March 15, 2007, wiki entered the online Oxford English Dictionary.
"Wiki" is a Hawaiian word for "fast". "Wiki Wiki" is a reduplication. "Wiki" can be expanded as "What I Know Is", but this is a backronym. WikiWikiWeb was the first site to be called a wiki. Ward Cunningham started developing WikiWikiWeb in 1994, and installed it on the Internet domain c2.com on March 25, 1995. It was named by Cunningham, who remembered a Honolulu International Airport counter employee telling him to take the "Wiki Wiki" shuttle bus that runs between the airport's terminals. According to Cunningham, "I chose wiki-wiki as an alliterative substitute for 'quick' and thereby avoided naming this stuff quick-web."
Cunningham was in part inspired by Apple's HyperCard. Apple had designed a system allowing users to create virtual "card stacks" supporting links among the various cards. Cunningham developed Vannevar Bush's ideas by allowing users to "comment on and change one another's text In the early 2000s, wikis were increasingly adopted in enterprise as collaborative software. Common uses included project communication, intranets, and documentation, initially for technical users. Today some companies use wikis as their only collaborative software and as a replacement for static intranets. There may be greater use of wikis behind firewalls than on the public Internet.
On March 15, 2007, wiki entered the online Oxford English Dictionary.
Google Earth
This is Michael's blog on Google Earth. Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic information program that was originally called Earth Viewer, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a company acquired by Google in 2004. It maps the earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe. It is available under three different licenses: Google Earth, a free version with limited functionality; Google Earth Plus (discontinued), which included additional features; and Google Earth Pro ($400 per year), which is intended for commercial use.
The product, renamed Google Earth in 2006, is currently available for use on personal computers running Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Mac OS X 10.3.9 and above, Linux (released on June 12, 2006), and FreeBSD. Google Earth is also available as a browser plugin (released on June 2, 2008) for Firefox, Safari 3, IE6, or IE7. It was also made available on the iPhone OS on October 27, 2008, as a free download from the App Store. In addition to releasing an updated Keyhole based client, Google also added the imagery from the Earth database to their web based mapping software. The release of Google Earth in mid 2006 to the public caused a more than tenfold increase in media coverage on virtual globes between 2006 and 2007, driving public interest in geospatial technologies and applications. Google Earth displays satellite images of varying resolution of the Earth's surface, allowing users to visually see things like cities and houses from a bird's eye view. The degree of resolution available is based somewhat on the points of interest and popularity, but most land (except for some islands) is covered in at least 15 meters of resolution Melbourne, Victoria, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Cambridge, Cambridgeshire include examples of the highest resolution, at 15 cm (6 inches). Google Earth allows users to search for addresses for some countries, enter coordinates, or simply use the mouse to browse to a location.
The product, renamed Google Earth in 2006, is currently available for use on personal computers running Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Mac OS X 10.3.9 and above, Linux (released on June 12, 2006), and FreeBSD. Google Earth is also available as a browser plugin (released on June 2, 2008) for Firefox, Safari 3, IE6, or IE7. It was also made available on the iPhone OS on October 27, 2008, as a free download from the App Store. In addition to releasing an updated Keyhole based client, Google also added the imagery from the Earth database to their web based mapping software. The release of Google Earth in mid 2006 to the public caused a more than tenfold increase in media coverage on virtual globes between 2006 and 2007, driving public interest in geospatial technologies and applications. Google Earth displays satellite images of varying resolution of the Earth's surface, allowing users to visually see things like cities and houses from a bird's eye view. The degree of resolution available is based somewhat on the points of interest and popularity, but most land (except for some islands) is covered in at least 15 meters of resolution Melbourne, Victoria, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Cambridge, Cambridgeshire include examples of the highest resolution, at 15 cm (6 inches). Google Earth allows users to search for addresses for some countries, enter coordinates, or simply use the mouse to browse to a location.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Michael's Blog.
This is Michael's blog on the life of Blogging.
December 1997: Jorn Barger starts a daily log of interesting Web links published in reverse chronological order, calling it Robot Wisdom WebLog. The term "Weblog" is soon generalized by other online publishers to include any page with frequent short posts in reverse chronological order.
1998: Open Diary becomes one of the first online tools to assist users in the publishing of online journals.
Spring 1999: Online journal author Peter Merholz takes Jorn Barger's word "weblog" and splits it into the phrase "We blog." Blog soon becomes shorthand for weblog.
1999: The development of RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. RSS makes it easier for people to subscribe to blog posts, as well as distribute them to other sites across the Internet, using tools such as the early news aggregator, Dave Winer's Radio UserLand.
2001: Big-name bloggers begin to emerge, including Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit.
2002: Bloggers focus their attention on comments made by Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) at a birthday party for Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) that appear to endorse segregation. After intense coverage in the blogosphere, the story spreads throughout the media, forcing Lott to resign his leadership position in the Senate.
2002: The launch of Technorati, one of the first blog search engines, making it possible for people to track blog conversations on a continuous basis.
2003: The creation of Audioblogger, which allowed users to record a voicemail over their phone and have it posted on their blog.
2003: Iranian Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi launches his own blog, well before many U.S. politicians catch on to the idea.
2003: Public radio host Christopher Lydon publishes mp3 audio files on a Web site, using an RSS feed developed by Dave Winer so people could subscribe to them.
2004: Ben Hammersley, in an article for the UK Guardian newspaper, describes the technique used by Lydon, Winer and others as "podcasting."
2004: Videographer Steve Garfield launches his video blog and declares 2004 "The Year of the Video Blog," more than a year before the birth of YouTube.
February 2004: The launch of Flickr, a photo-sharing community that helps popularize photo blogging.
2004: Bloggers play a major role in covering the presidential campaign and promoting presidential candidates, particularly Democratic candidate Howard Dean. A number of them are credentialed to participate in the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Dan Rather resigns following pressure from conservative bloggers who documented inconsistencies in a CBS story about President George W. Bush's military service record.
2005: Rebecca MacKinnon and Ethan Zuckerman of Harvard's Berkman Center launch Global Voices, an international network of bloggers aggregating local and regional news stories around the world that aren't being covered by mainstream media.
March 2005: Garrett M. Graff becomes the first blogger to receive credentials for the daily White House briefing.
2006: The launch of Twitter, one of the first "micro-blogging" communities that allows user to publish and receive short posts via the Web, text messaging and instant messaging.
2006: Research report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project estimates that 12 million U.S. adults publish their own blogs.
2007: Technorati reports it is tracking more than 112 million blogs worldwide.
December 1997: Jorn Barger starts a daily log of interesting Web links published in reverse chronological order, calling it Robot Wisdom WebLog. The term "Weblog" is soon generalized by other online publishers to include any page with frequent short posts in reverse chronological order.
1998: Open Diary becomes one of the first online tools to assist users in the publishing of online journals.
Spring 1999: Online journal author Peter Merholz takes Jorn Barger's word "weblog" and splits it into the phrase "We blog." Blog soon becomes shorthand for weblog.
1999: The development of RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. RSS makes it easier for people to subscribe to blog posts, as well as distribute them to other sites across the Internet, using tools such as the early news aggregator, Dave Winer's Radio UserLand.
2001: Big-name bloggers begin to emerge, including Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit.
2002: Bloggers focus their attention on comments made by Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) at a birthday party for Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) that appear to endorse segregation. After intense coverage in the blogosphere, the story spreads throughout the media, forcing Lott to resign his leadership position in the Senate.
2002: The launch of Technorati, one of the first blog search engines, making it possible for people to track blog conversations on a continuous basis.
2003: The creation of Audioblogger, which allowed users to record a voicemail over their phone and have it posted on their blog.
2003: Iranian Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi launches his own blog, well before many U.S. politicians catch on to the idea.
2003: Public radio host Christopher Lydon publishes mp3 audio files on a Web site, using an RSS feed developed by Dave Winer so people could subscribe to them.
2004: Ben Hammersley, in an article for the UK Guardian newspaper, describes the technique used by Lydon, Winer and others as "podcasting."
2004: Videographer Steve Garfield launches his video blog and declares 2004 "The Year of the Video Blog," more than a year before the birth of YouTube.
February 2004: The launch of Flickr, a photo-sharing community that helps popularize photo blogging.
2004: Bloggers play a major role in covering the presidential campaign and promoting presidential candidates, particularly Democratic candidate Howard Dean. A number of them are credentialed to participate in the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Dan Rather resigns following pressure from conservative bloggers who documented inconsistencies in a CBS story about President George W. Bush's military service record.
2005: Rebecca MacKinnon and Ethan Zuckerman of Harvard's Berkman Center launch Global Voices, an international network of bloggers aggregating local and regional news stories around the world that aren't being covered by mainstream media.
March 2005: Garrett M. Graff becomes the first blogger to receive credentials for the daily White House briefing.
2006: The launch of Twitter, one of the first "micro-blogging" communities that allows user to publish and receive short posts via the Web, text messaging and instant messaging.
2006: Research report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project estimates that 12 million U.S. adults publish their own blogs.
2007: Technorati reports it is tracking more than 112 million blogs worldwide.
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