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HTC debuts widgets for Sense-equipped Android phones

Engadget.com - Thu, 2009-12-17 14:49

HTC was already in the Android software game by virtue of the fact that it drops a fully-customized UI and widget suite on some of its models, but this is new: they've migrated over to the Market. Now, what'd be insanely awesome here is if you could, say, buy Sense for $9.99 and install it on any Android device, but yeah, not so much -- what we've actually got here is a four-pack of free widgets that are compatible with the Hero and Droid Eris. Dice, Today in History, Tip Calculator, and Battery are each downloadable individually; none are particularly exciting or different than what's already available in the Market, but they've all got that famous HTC high style and the exclusivity of knowing that Motorola, Acer, Samsung, and Huawei riffraff can't use them. All four are available now.

HTC debuts widgets for Sense-equipped Android phones originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Categories: Tech: General Technology

Made a map that shows museums with art featured on the web site. http://www.artbible.info/art/museums/ Pretty cool, imho :)

MW on the web - Thu, 2009-12-17 14:33

Made a map that shows museums with art featured on the web site. http://www.artbible.info/art/museums/ Pretty cool, imho :)

Categories: MW conference stuff

Second Fuse UI video shows wild, dynamically lit 3D interface

Engadget.com - Thu, 2009-12-17 14:23

We only got the briefest of glimpses at the new UI approach in Synaptics' collaborative Fuse concept handset, and now TAT (The Astonishing Tribe, the folks behind the original Android UI), has posted a brief clip that gives a better idea of the full UI. It's pretty wild, with some sort of rendering engine that really emphasizes depth, lighting and motion. We're not sure it's the most usable UI on the planet, but it's certainly one of the oddest we've witnessed. Check it out in motion after the break.

Continue reading Second Fuse UI video shows wild, dynamically lit 3D interface

Second Fuse UI video shows wild, dynamically lit 3D interface originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Categories: Tech: General Technology

The effect of the global economic recession on Canada's creative economy in 2009

MW on the web - Thu, 2009-12-17 14:19

Dec 2009

Categories: MW conference stuff

Web : Visit the Museum of Soviet Calculators ... [http://bit.ly/5uk4GT]

MW on the web - Thu, 2009-12-17 14:18

Web : Visit the Museum of Soviet Calculators ... [http://bit.ly/5uk4GT]

Categories: MW conference stuff

Snowshoe Club

Archives Blogs (aggregator) - Thu, 2009-12-17 14:06

Geo. M. Fairchild, Jr., President of the Oritani Snowshoe Club of New York,
in the woods of his seignorial estate, Deschambault, Canada.

Walter McClintock, Return to camp on snowshoe trail, evening

Snow shoe – card for Merriam Webster Dictionary

Categories: Related: Archives + Libraries

RT @mariekeguy: Anyone in the Leicester area tomorrow & have a Web 2 case study for museums/libraries they can present? Just been let down.

MW on the web - Thu, 2009-12-17 14:04

RT @mariekeguy: Anyone in the Leicester area tomorrow & have a Web 2 case study for museums/libraries they can present? Just been let down.

Categories: MW conference stuff

Formulas, Pictures and Sports Drinks: The Pauling Chalkboard, Part III

Archives Blogs (aggregator) - Thu, 2009-12-17 14:01

Linus Pauling, 1985.

(Part 3 of 3)

While much of the real estate on Linus Pauling’s chalkboard is consumed by lists of names, a number of additional annotations, when examined, prove to be of keen interest.

Metabolic Profiling

On the right side of the board, below the last column of names, is the following text:

NSF – Mol. Str. 21 Mar.

Library 3000 21 Mar.

Aging – NIH Nutrition

American Cancer Society – Dr. Neville

Sample Bank

Mass Spectrometer

Muscular Dystrophy

Aging Patterns in mice

This particular sample of notes relates to the metabolic profiling program carried out for some time at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. As mentioned in part II of this series, a large number of names on the board were involved with the metabolic profiling program, and this particular column of text ties many of the names together. Pauling was working with numerous people from diverse backgrounds and professions. He was in contact with researchers at, among other organizations, the Institute on Aging and the American Cancer Society.

The words “sample bank” refer to urine and blood samples that were to be kept refrigerated for, potentially, decades, and ultimately to be analyzed by mass spectrometry. This particular undertaking was very ambitious, and could have provided a great deal of material for practical study. Unfortunately, the chronically underfunded Institute had trouble with their refrigeration units, and the project was eventually abandoned. (Despite the setbacks, some results of this program of research, headed by Pauling and Arthur Robinson, can be found in articles published at Stanford University as well as in certain of the Institute’s early news releases.)

A New Sports Drink

Another interesting bit of text can be found towards the lower right hand corner of the board:

C + glycine

dextrose

The text is likely the basic outline of a carbonated “sports drink” being worked on by the Institute in the 1980s. The drink was to be infused with vitamins, and the Institute was developing acids that would provide alternative sweeteners. Production and research eventually halted, but it is interesting to think about what may have resulted from a successfully marketed “Paulingaide.”

Vitamin C, Cancer and Heart Disease

The following words, located in the upper right portion of the column ark, have perhaps the most basic and relevant connections to Pauling’s work.

Ascorbate

stimulates

Production of Lymphocytes

The order simply implies that ascorbate, or vitamin C, stimulates the production of lymphocytes, the major cellular components of the body’s immune system. Several studies have shown that increased levels of ascorbate generally correlate with increased levels of lymphocyte production. If nothing else, this is the most centrally relevant theme of Pauling’s work with vitamin C, and the fact that it maintained such a substantial place on his overcrowded board underlines the significance that he himself placed upon it.

In the middle of the board towards its top, is the diagram of a mystery molecule that was crafted by Pauling. Mention of the molecule (given the name “2-azido-5,8-dihydroxy-1,3,4,5,7,9,9b-heptaazaphenalene”) appeared in an article titled “A Prized Collection: Pauling Memorabilia,” published in Chemical and Engineering News in August 2000.

The board's "mystery molecule."

In a 1977 interview, Pauling was asked about his chalkboard and, in particular, about the mystery molecule.  He reponded

I had an idea in the field of organic chemistry about 40 years ago. It involved this unusual compound. Benzine has a six-membered ring of carbon atoms and this compound has three six-membered rings consisting of six carbon atoms and seven nitrogen atoms and then it has these hydroxyl groups attached. It is known that the similar substance with only one ring can be made into certain derivatives that have anti-cancer activity. And I thought that this substance with only three rings might well operate in the same way and that we should study it.

In other words, Pauling was still actively contemplating an idea that had occurred to him 40 years prior – an idea that managed to stay on his chalkboard through his death in 1994. Indeed the mystery molecule exemplifies the function of Pauling’s chalkboard, not only as a mnemonic device, but as a place holder for people and ideas that span decades.

Left of the mystery molecule towards the top of the board, one finds a series of words written one above the other. The seemingly haphazard placement of the words diverts attention from their historical significance in terms of the latter portion of Linus Pauling’s life.

LDL

Cholesterol

Lipoprotein a

The words almost certainly refer to research that Pauling began supporting in conjunction with a German physician named Matthias Rath, which investigated the possibility of a link between vitamin C and heart disease. Over the final years of his life, Pauling spoke of the relationship between vitamin C and heart disease in much the same way that he talked about vitamin C in terms of colds and cancer.

This writing was likely one of the last times that Pauling touched chalk to his board, as his collaboration with Rath did not develop until the early 1990s. The three words both acknowledge and hide the significance of the interaction between Rath and Pauling – a mercurial relationship for much of its duration.

Sandbox

Beneath an ark of name columns, adorned with the mystery molecule at its pinnacle, is a half-circle filled with pictures, figures and chemistry formulas. This area is likely where Pauling exercised the least concern for preservation, and it is supposed that this area of the board was used to aide in his discussions with visitors to his office. The space likely represents over two decades of personal interactions between Pauling and others, a spot on the board where he could explain theories and manifest abstract ideas. In essence, this half circle is where Pauling used the board in a more traditional sense – writing and erasing as suited his needs.

Linus Pauling’s chalkboard is covered in historical significance. It functioned as an important tool for a very busy man, and has preserved a telling aspect of both the history of the Linus Pauling Institute and the character of Pauling himself, in part reflecting the organization of his consciousness.

To be sure, the board is merely a fragment of Linus Pauling and his research, but it is unique and intriguing in a very personal sense. The names, pictures and diagrams on the board all represent important aspects of Pauling’s professional life. Not only does it make a valuable contribution to a room dedicated to the man’s work, it preserves the living memory of Pauling by displaying an intimate demonstration of his method.

Pauling's chalkboard, as preserved in the OSU Libraries Special Collections.

Categories: Related: Archives + Libraries

Anyone in the Leicester area tomorrow and have a Web 2 case study for museums/libraries they can present? Just been let down.

MW on the web - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:58

Anyone in the Leicester area tomorrow and have a Web 2 case study for museums/libraries they can present? Just been let down.

Categories: MW conference stuff

AT&T to offer 'incentives' to customers willing to limit data usage

Engadget.com - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:55

AT&T exec #1: You know, our network's really getting slammed with all these people using their unlimited data plans to download things and do stuff online all the time. Any ideas how we can fix it?

AT&T exec #2: We could put out more WiFi hotspots. People seem to use those. Sometimes.

AT&T exec #1: Sure, but that's not going to make a dent in places like New York City. I mean, have you used an iPhone there?

AT&T exec #2: We have these things called MicroCells that people can use at home, if they live in North Carolina. Maybe more people could use those?

AT&T exec #1: Yeah, that's good. But people like to use their cellphones outside their house too. What happens then?

AT&T exec #2: Well, what if we offered customers incentives to use less data?

AT&T exec #1: Now you're talking! What sort of incentives could get them to do that?

AT&T exec #2: Hmm....

Well, readers, are there any incentives that would get you to use less data? Feel free to offer your suggestions for AT&T in the comments below. And don't worry about actually paying more for data (yet, anyway), as AT&T 's Ralph de la Vega is now saying that "we have not made any decision to implement tiered pricing," which is a slight backtrack from previous hints to the contrary.

AT&T to offer 'incentives' to customers willing to limit data usage originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Categories: Tech: General Technology

Broadband Stimulus Engine Cranks Up in North Georgia

nptech tag feed from Technorati - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:50

Funding from the BTOP stimulus program is beginning to trickle out to the states

Categories: Tech: NP-Tech

New Special Collections Suite to Open January 19

Archives Blogs (aggregator) - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:46

UTSA Libraries are proud to announce the opening of a new suite to house the university’s Special Collections. The newly renovated space, located on the fourth floor of the John Peace Library, features a spacious reading room, a collections storage room with museum-quality environmental standards, and office space for staff. Once open, the Special Collections suite will have expanded hours to serve the UTSA campus.

The current space for Special Collections on the second floor of JPL will be temporarily closed January 4-18, 2010 while the collection is moved. During this time no in-person appointments will be accepted, as Special Collections staff will be involved with preparing for the move. We hope you will come see us in our new location when the reading room opens on Tuesday January 19, 2010. In the meantime, whet your appetite with images of items from the collection in gallery or slideshow views.

Updates regarding the move and new spring semester hours will be posted on the Special Collections Website.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Categories: Related: Archives + Libraries

RT DrBlack: Please comfort bletchleypark also me present our bpark paper at mw2010 in Denver: justgivingSueBlack !

MW on the web - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:45

RT DrBlack: Please comfort bletchleypark also me present our bpark paper at mw2010 in Denver: justgivingSueBlack !

Categories: MW conference stuff

Virtually JODConverter I

Archives Blogs (aggregator) - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:32

Virtual appliances are all the rage these days. No, I'm not talking about cookers that never turn up or washing machines in SecondLife (with thanks to Pete J & apologies for the content of SecondLife!), but rather small, self-contained, often single function, virtual servers. There are a load of them made available by Turnkey Linux, who take the Long Term Support edition of Ubuntu Server (Hardy), bolt on some extra software - the Apache Web Server for example - and ship the whole thing in a ready to run package, adding a rather natty Web-based admin client on the way.

Why bother? Well, we've committed to a virtual architecture and one of the things we gain is the ability to add and remove appliances as the need arises - meeting the changing needs of the Digital Asset Management System at any point - and so having a few appliances we can throw up at the drop of the hat (someone phones and says "I need to do a huge deposit of items and I need to do it yesterday, can you handle the extra load?") will be very useful. (There are other gains too - mostly the consolidation of space and energy use - you'll find lots on all
that out there in Web land!)

That said, you might just want to run JODConverter on your desktop machine. If you do, this'll help too. Just make the virtual appliance and run it on your desktop and use NAT & port mapping to connect to it. Voila! You're own personal copy of JODCoverter as Web service! :-)

Back in 2008 on the Google Code home of JODConverter some folks seem to have suggested a virtual appliance with JODConverter & OpenOffice would be a Good Thing(tm) :-). About a week ago, quite independently, we also decided it would be a Good Thing(tm) and I set about making it and, inspite of this preamble, is what I really wanted to write about! :-)

So, here are the simple steps I took to make a JODCoverter Virtual Appliance. Note that I used JODConverter 2.2.2, which seems more stable than 3 at the moment.

Preliminaries

1) Get yourself some virtualization software - I use VirtualBox.

2) (Optional, but I'll assume you did) Create, or reuse, a regular desktop VM (I used a standard Xubuntu install) - MON1 - and attach it to an internal (virtual) network on NIC0 (and useful to attach another NIC to the world via NAT too). Also add to this folder share with the host (your desktop PC). This will be handy later for moving isos, patches, etc. into and out of the virtual world.

3) Create a new (small) VM and install a Turnkey appliance of choice - I'll call this JOD1.
I used Turnkey's Tomcat but you might be trying to do something different. :-) I opted for a small and simple configuration (512MB RAM, 1 x 2GB disk and nothing fancy). Remember that appliances don't have fancy "desktops" so graphics capability isn't really a requirement! :-)

4) (Optional, see 2) Attach JOD1 to the same internal network as MON1 (the VM created in step 3).
We do this so that you can check open ports on JOD1, test if JODConverter is running, OpenOffice service is up, etc.

5) Start both machines.

You should now have a running Tomcat VM & a method of seeing it - open a browser in the test machine and try JOD1's IP (port 80). You should see the Web admin interface & if you don't check all the network connections and that JOD1 started OK, and such.

Now would probably be a good time to change the Web admin password!

Continued

Categories: Related: Archives + Libraries

still space in @sebchan 's workshop on social media metrics @ Museums and the Web 2010 #mw2010 but not for long! http://bit.ly/8yoLGx

MW on the web - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:28

still space in @sebchan 's workshop on social media metrics @ Museums and the Web 2010 #mw2010 but not for long! http://bit.ly/8yoLGx

Categories: MW conference stuff

RT @rossparry Museums in a Digital Age. 43 chapters > 50 authors 25 years of museum computing. http://bit.ly/miada we're in good company!

MW on the web - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:25

RT @rossparry Museums in a Digital Age. 43 chapters > 50 authors 25 years of museum computing. http://bit.ly/miada we're in good company!

Categories: MW conference stuff

Yahoo! Publicizes German Portal With Nazi Slogan

nptech tag feed from Technorati - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:23

Yahoo Germany published a new homepage. Their press office sent a message that quotes the Nazi slogan "To each his own".

Categories: Tech: NP-Tech

Back on the chain gang

Musematic (MCN) - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:17

I see that my most recent post was late October 2009.  I apologize.  There is a good reason for this, or at least I am hoping you will think it is a good reason, or agree to give me the benefit of the doubt.

In mid-August my position as Director of New Media Initiatives of the Cleveland Museum of Art was eliminated.  And, because I was, at the time, the only employee of the Department of New Media, this meant the elimination of a program that I had, under the direction of then CIO Leonard Steinbach, founded and nurtured for almost a decade.  Although I know that the decision to eliminate a position made by the director and administration of an institution is not meant to be taken personally, particularly during tough economic times, it is hard, as the “eliminated one” not to take the decision to heart.

So….I spent some time soul-searching, trying to decide what I was going to do in this next phase of my career.  During this period of extreme navel-gazing I really didn’t have anything to say that I thought was blog-worthy.  And to be honest, I’m still trying to determine how my role as a Musematic blogger might change in the future.

Like the Grinch standing up on the top of Mount Crumpit I puzzled,

’til my puzzler was sore. Then I thought of something I hadn’t thought of before!  Maybe losing my job doesn’t mean that I’m poor.  It just means that my choices are different, less sure!”

So, with that in mind. I asked myself a few questions.

Did I do the best I could with the tools (money, manpower and time) I’d been given?  Yes, I think I did.

Am I proud of the work accomplished by a talented group of people (vendors, volunteers, student interns, and  museum employees alike) under my watch?  Yes, I am?

During the decade that the New Media Department existed at the CMA, all of the projects for which I had both the resources and the authority for completing, were completed on time and on budget.  That’s something.

Do I still feel like I have something to give back to the community?  Damn straight I do.

And like Chrissie Hynde says:

I’m back in the fight, back on the train,  back on the chain gang.

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Categories: Museum [Tech] Blogs + Stuff

BlackBerry email down / delayed in North America (update)

Engadget.com - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:17

Gonna be a long day for BlackBerry users: RIM's confirmed to multiple outlets that its BIS servers are acting up and that email services are being delayed -- and we're actually hearing that they're just down, period. BlackBerry Messenger still works, though, so you can still BBM your BFF or whatever the kids do nowadays. No word on service restoration, but we'll update you when we find out.

P.S.- That's two months in a row with significant BIS problems -- what's up with that, RIM?

Update: ... and we're back!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

BlackBerry email down / delayed in North America (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Categories: Tech: General Technology

“Abmahnungen treffen meißt auf ebenso breite wie unreflektierte Ablehnung”

Archives Blogs (aggregator) - Thu, 2009-12-17 13:12

Mus man weiter lesen?

http://www.peter-kehl.de/2009/12/16/wie-man-abmahnungen-vermeidet/

Categories: Related: Archives + Libraries