Another XML gateway

JSTOR folks were here yesterday and told us they expect an xml gateway that will work with MetaLib to be available by the end of September. They are also developing APIs to work with institutional repositories. They specifically mentioned Fedora, I don't know about any other IR systems in their plans.

You knew it would happen eventually...

A librarian in CT is resisting FBI demands for records about patron reading habits.

Cruisin'

It occurs to me that Scrapple folks might be interested in the job ad I've blogged about over in my own blog. Librarian on a cruise ship... what a life!

MetaLib now works with Web of Science

We should now be able to configure MetaLib to search ISI's Web of Science. Best of all they are using and XML gateway.

Splogs

Interesting post about spam blogs at http://www.blogmaverick.com/entry/1234000870054492/

I found this page when looking at this entry:
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/20/1751209&from=rss

It said:

"Recently, Mark Cuban of Icerocket made the accusation that Blogger is by far the worst offender when it comes to Spam Blogs. Now Google Blogger is introducing Word Verification for user comments to prevent comment spam and another feature called Flag As Objectionable where users can report blogs with questionable content. Google appears to be listening."

Who's buying this stuff?

I'm I getting this right? Japanese police arrest people for selling items that were stolen in an online game?

SPAM on Scrapple--not a pretty sight

Seems we are starting to get SPAMMED. It's only the 2nd or 3rd time but I've decided g to change permissions so that only members of Scrapple can comment.

Sigh

Using SFX to create an RSS feed

Caveat: I'm about to be late for work so I have only skimmed this but this guy has an idea for using SFX data as a feed for and RSS. Sounds intriguing. Elliot, think this could be developed into a service for the portal? I will have to read more when I get to work.

Dewey Browser from OCLC

This is probably as old as the hills but I just saw it and loved it. The Dewey Browser. It looks as if they are using NetLibrary (owned by OCLC)as a database of titles cataloged in Dewey. They use colors to indicate broadly how many items are in each of the top 10 Dewey classes (0-9). You can drill down 3 levels (to 999) and they don't show any decimals.

We've got plenty of nuclear physicists who speak 16 or more languages and take shorthand, though

In a sidebar on the kinds of skills that are likely to be needed in the near term future of cancer research, New Scientist (9 April 2005, p. 51) quotes Edward Benz, president of the Dana-Farber Cancer institute in Boston thusly:

"People with very solid training in the physical sciences, in informatics and computer science, who also have a sophisticated understanding of biology of medicine are going to be in very short supply."

A Review of Google Scholar

Thanks to Andi Bartelsein for pointing out this article in Information Today. It's by Mick O'Leary and his bottom line is:

• OK if you are doing 'casual' research (e.g., your freshman writing paper)"It's a powerful and convenient tool, if you need a representative sample of research."
• If you are doing serious research it should be your last resort.
  

Nothing new to most Scrapple readers but it's a concise statement of the obvious, it provides a close look at GS search/sort capabilities and he makes some educated guesses about what, exactly, is in GS.

Figure this has any relation to the Apple shift to Intel?

Intel is reported to be bringing out a new chip design that will "emphasizes power efficiency and multitasking as much as raw speed." Intel also says they will be smaller and cooler.

I'll wait 'til they make one the size of a pencil eraser

David Pogue gives a glowing review to Ultra II SD Plus. With a name like that how could it be anything but fabulous?

It's a tiny memory card -- "smaller than a postage stamp" -- that plugs right into your computer's USB port. So you can download pictures to your computer without a USB cable and witout draining the power of your laptop.

Google halts; AAP yawns

NY Times reports today that Google is halting scanning of copyrighted works. They are giving publishers 'til Nov to tell Google which works they want protected from the Google scanning project.

AAP posts their response, 'Yeah, right-- now we have to explicitly list every book we want protected? Like that's going to make us any happier.'

I'm I the only one who thinks it's just a tiny bit funny that the guy in charge of GoogleScan is Adam Smith? I keep thinking that there ought to be a book entitled "An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of Google"

More on ads in RSS feeds

I have to admit that I couldn't make it all the way through this article but it seems that people who think about these things have a lot to say about the ins and outs of advertising on RSS feeds.

This could get me to go back to public transportation

When I lived in Boston I often took the T when going into the city. It was easy and conveniently located.

I haven't used the bus in Baltimore because, the couple of times I tried, it was difficult to figure out where the lines went and how often the buses came by. When I thought I knew the bus didn't come on time.

Now there is Next Bus that combines satellite technology and advanced computer modeling to track vehicles on their routes and predict when the bus will arrive at your stop. The shelters are equipped with signs that tell you when the next bus will arrive. Sort of like those great signs in the DC subway.

Google VS MSN-- comparing their maps

Google Maps and MSN's Earth Link are compared side by side on this page.

Google maps are clearer but MSN maps include more streets.

The MSN maps remind me of some old black and white films that have been colorized.

Konfabulator is sold

So I guess Yahoo now owns Konfabulator.

OK, I have to take back everything I said about Konfabulator (literally, I erased it.) I was just being a dunderhead. All is fine now.

I love having the phase of the moon show up on the screen. And I've got the analog clock because I really prefer that. The only other thing I have is the memory monitor.

The other flaws were very complimentary

I know, most people already heard about MicroSoft's announcement of the security flaws in Windows. But when I saw the Reuter's article on it the title for a blogpost on it flashed in my head and I couldn't resist. What is the deal with using quotes around critical? Did the lawyers demand it so MS wouldn't sue them for libel?

Spiders

Hello all,

A technical query.

We were getting a lot of spam to an unpublished e-mail address. The only instance we could find of it online is in a form. When you look at the source code, you can clearly see the group e-mail (such as group@blah.edu). Some one told me that there was no way this type of form could generate spam because the e-mail info is all server side (Cold Fusion). But if I can see it in the source code, can't the spiders too?

We've since changed the e-mail and the form, but it did get me wondering about it. Can you set up a form to that it displays the Library as the recipient, but hides the address so its not visible in the source code?

Susan