Gregarius » May 21, 2008

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(166 unread)

May 21, 2008
23:01
Slugging to Work: Anonymous Ride-Sharing
» ‎ NPR Most Emailed: NPR Most Emailed Stories

If you've ever sat in rush-hour traffic, gazing longingly at the cars rushing by in the high-occupancy vehicle lanes, try doing something your parents warned you never to do: Hop in a car with a complete stranger behind the wheel.
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23:01
At Velvet Museum, Get in Touch with Kitsch
» ‎ NPR Most Emailed: NPR Most Emailed Stories

There are no velvet ropes at the Velveteria in Portland, Ore., where visitors can rub velvet — or velveteen — art, including portraits of Jesus, Elvis, Liberace and Michael Jackson.
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22:26
Idealware: Reviews and Articles about Internet and Email Tools
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

Idealware: Reviews and Articles about Internet and Email Tools

Permalink for 'Google_News___Online_campaigning/2008/05/21/Internet_key_to_Obama_victories___BBC_News'

21:09

Internet key to Obama victories - BBC News

» ‎ Google News - Online campaigning

20:21
Engravings of 17th Century Scotland
» ‎ ResearchBuzz

I do not sit around and say to myself, “Wow, I sure would like an online resource featuring engravings of 17th century Scotland,” but this is a nice site. John Slezer published his drawings in a book called “Theatrum Scotiae”, which has been turned into a Web site called “Slezer’s Scotland”. This Web site is [...]

20:05
Egypt: Egyptian Bloggers Union Formed
» ‎ Global Voices - Cyber-Activism

Egyptian blogger Shokeir [Ar] is surprised that an Egyptian Bloggers Union has been formed.

19:56
Technical Housekeeping
» ‎ Personal Democracy Forum

If you've had any problems accessing techPresident.com or Personal Democracy Forum today, our apologies: our servers were hit with a series of technical problems that briefly brought our sites down and are continuing to make them act a bit funky. Bear with us; things should be back to normal by the end of the day.

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19:47
Your Nonprofit Technology Community | NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

Your Nonprofit Technology Community | NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network
18:31
Non profit Technology Blog
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

a non-technical technology blog for people who are smart about OTHER things. I also write about new marketing technologies, like blogs, social networking sites, charity widgets, and video

17:51
Printcasting at Personalized Newspaper conference
» ‎ Everyone's Blog Posts - Printcasting

I'll be giving a quick presentation about Printcasting, followed by a panel discussion, at the Global Conference on the Individuated Newspaper in Denver, Colorado on June 26-27. It will be attended by a fascinating grouping of people and speakers who are all thinking big thoughts about how print can compete in a media landscape that is increasingly focused on niche audiences. Representatives from OCE, who have a new custom-print solution, will also be present. Thanks to Peter Vandevanter from MediaNews Group for the invitation.

16:53
IBEC: Projects
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

"...national study on the social, economic, personal, and professional value of free access to computers at public libraries."

16:52
Recent EveryBlock-themed conference keynote
» ‎ The EveryBlock Blog

EveryBlock was the focus of the opening keynote at a recent conference, and you can watch the video online.

Last week, I gave the opening keynote at the Where 2.0 Conference in California. My talk, which was for a slightly technical audience, focused on EveryBlock and some lessons we've learned while developing it.

If you're interested, you can watch the full keynote, including the question-and-answer session, below:

15:56
Bottom Line on the Dem Race
» ‎ ABC News Video: Top Videos

George Stephanopoulos discusses Obama and Clinton's options.

15:55
Wanted: Women to eat chocolate for a year
» ‎ Nancy White - Online Interaction

ME ME ME ME!!!! Darn, I wish I could have gotten in on this one….Wanted: Women to eat chocolate for a year - CNN.com. Poking my head up to say I have a string of unfinished blog posts but have not yet caught up from travel. So… settle for a chocolate story in the interim, eh?

15:38
John McCain Wouldn't Give the Telcos Immunity if He Were President
» ‎ Electronic Frontier Foundation

Breaking with President Bush and GOP Congressional leadership, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain said today through one of his representatives that he did not believe that Congress should immunize phone companies from liability for their participation in the NSA's warrantless wiretapping — at least not until Congress has held hearings to find out exactly what conduct was being immunized, and not until the phone companies admit to and apologize for their lawbreaking.

Threat Level's Ryan Singel reports from the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference:

As president, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain would not support immunity for the telecoms that aided the Bush administration's warrantless spying program, unless there were revealing Congressional hearings and heartfelt repentance from those telephone and internet companies, a campaign surrogate said Wednesday.

The remarks from Chuck Fish, a full-time lawyer for the McCain campaign and a Time Warner vice president, represent a big change on the issue for McCain, who voted in February to keep immunity in the Senate spying bill. Fish was careful to say, however, that he was answering a double hypothetical question — if McCain wins, and if the issue is still alive in 2009.

"First, we need to be explicit we are not talking about granting indulgences," Fish said, clarifying that he meant forgiveness must be matched with repentance.

"There would need to be hearings to find out what actually happened and what harms actually occurred," Fish said, adding that immunity would need to be coupled with clear rules to make sure private records would be protected in future.

EFF wishes more Republicans would recognize, as their Presidential nominee does, that immunity should not even be considered until Congress has made an extensive investigation into the particulars of the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program, and that immunity certainly shouldn't be granted if the phone companies refuse to admit to and apologize for their role in the NSA spying.

15:37
Dissecting What Went Wrong for Clinton
» ‎ NPR Most Emailed: NPR Most Emailed Stories

Sen. Hillary Clinton has gone from front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination to likely runner-up. Democratic strategists say her campaign wasn't flexible enough and failed to focus enough on the right message of "change."
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15:09
Biography Details the 'King of Comics'
» ‎ NPR Most Emailed: NPR Most Emailed Stories

In his new biography, Kirby: King of Comics, TV and comics writer Mark Evanier details the life and career of noted comic artist Jack Kirby, the co-creator of the Marvel Comics characters the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk and X-Men.
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14:57
Policy (and maybe some politics) Calendar and Upcoming Events: Week of 5/21/08
» ‎ Personal Democracy Forum

We'll maintain a calendar for "policy (and maybe some politics)" events and conferences. Upcoming events include Netsquared, a call for participants for MobileActive08 in South Africa and Community Wireless in DC. Keep up with the variety of events that touch upon the future of democracy and participatory governance.

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14:51
How Japan's Biggest BBS Keeps Things Simple
» ‎ Slashdot - Your Rights Online

zedsville points out an article at Wired proving that plenty of people (at least in Japan) are willing to brave BBS environments without all the fancy layers to screen out spam or online provocateurs: "It's a profile of Hiroyuki Nishimura, the man behind the Japanese site 2channel. Nishimura set up the simplistic BBS in 1999, when he was an exchange student in the USA. The site has no registration or web handles or moderating, no mechanisms to filter out flames and trollish behavior, and no mechanisms to help users find the most insightful comments and topics. But this ugly, lo-res site gets about 500 million pageviews a month. Nishimura doesn't police the contents of posts to his bulletin board, which has resulted in numerous libel claims. 'I used to show up in court,' he says. 'Then one day I overslept, and nothing happened. So I stopped going.' Nishimura has lost about 50 lawsuits and owes millions of dollars in penalties, which he has no intention of paying. 'If the verdict mandates deleting things, I'll do it,' he says. 'I just haven't complied with demands to pay money. Would a cell phone carrier feel responsible when somebody receives a threatening phone call?'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.

14:35
Development in Practice Vol.16 No 6
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - ict4d - ICTs for Development

dossier dedicado a la gestión del conocimiento en el ámbito del desarrollo

14:05
Orphan Works Update: Is the Legislation Fair to Copyright Holders?
» ‎ Electronic Frontier Foundation

As we pointed out in our deeplink and podcast on the issue, the Orphan Works legislation currently before Congress is stirring up all sorts of passions (and plenty of FUD). The debate continues this week-- with new contributions from two stalwart allies in the fight to reform copyright law.

Free Culture champion (and former EFF-board member) Larry Lessig has penned an op-ed for the New York Times opposing the bill. (log-in may be required) While he supports the principles behind the bill, he says it will create undue burden on copyright holders:

The proposed change is unfair because since 1978, the law has told creators that there was nothing they needed to do to protect their copyright. Many have relied on that promise. Likewise, the change is unfair to foreign copyright holders, who have little notice of arcane changes in Copyright Office procedures, and who will now find their copyrights vulnerable to willful infringement by Americans.

The change is also unwise, because for all this unfairness, it simply wouldn’t do much good. The uncertain standard of the bill doesn’t offer any efficient opportunity for libraries or archives to make older works available, because the cost of a “diligent effort” is not going to be cheap. The only beneficiaries would be the new class of “diligent effort” searchers who would be a drain on library budgets.

Instead, Lessig proposes a change long advocated by copyright reformers -- the reduction of the term of automatic copyright to 14 years, with an option to cheaply and easily renew the copyright after that time. A worthy goal -- but not likely to be achieved anytime soon, if ever, given the powerful interests that would oppose it.

Lessig's friend and comrade in the Free Culture wars Gigi Sohn at Public Knowledge has written a detailed riposte addressing each of Lessig's points:

First, the diligent effort framework for searches has been endorsed by all the major library and museum groups, as well as by smaller user groups like independent and documentary filmmakers. Contrary to what Larry believes, small and nonprofit institutional users do not want the government (in the guise of the Copyright Office) to define with specificity what a diligent effort is, because no two searches are alike.

. . .

[N]othing in the legislation is unfair to copyright holders. The purpose of the legislation is to match users with copyright holders and get the latter paid. If a copyright holder reappears after a user has done a diligent search, then the copyright holder is entitled to reasonable compensation. This is compensation that the copyright holder would likely never have obtained without orphan works relief, because the user would not have risked paying the huge damages provided by copyright law. Also, to the extent that photographers and other visual artists may be disadvantaged because the current text-based copyright registry system makes it difficult to find the proper owner of their works, the bills provide the exact relief Larry desires – a delay to the effective date of the law pending the development of a series of visual registries that will make searching for the owners of these works simple.

There is plenty of room for reasonable people to agree on these important questions. EFF strongly supports the Orphan Works legislation, while suggesting some changes such as requiring that any database of registered works be free to artists and copyright holders. We encourage people to read up on the issue and make up their own minds. If Orphan Works reform is an issue you believe in, contact your Congressperson now to support the legislation.

13:57
The Networking for Success Project " Blog Archive
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

The Networking for Success Project " Blog Archive

13:30
UK - Net downloads to get age ratings
» ‎ Quick Links

(BBC)
Age ratings for downloaded video content and video games are to be introduced in the UK. Overseen by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), the scheme will see certificates appear on websites, via set-top boxes and portable players. Disney, Warners and Fox have signed up to the scheme with other "key industry figures... poised to join the scheme". see also Censors go online to clean up murky world of digital videos (Times).

13:28
'An Orwellian step too far': Government database of all UK phone calls & emails
» ‎ PublicTechnology.Net News - UK

'An Orwellian step too far': Government database of all UK phone calls & emails
13:28
Government database of all UK phone calls & emails: massive archiving issues
» ‎ PublicTechnology.Net News - UK

Government database of all UK phone calls & emails: massive archiving issues
13:28
Government launches website to get kids' views on play
» ‎ PublicTechnology.Net News - UK

Government launches website to get kids' views on play
13:28
Fire Control Rooms: Scotland to examine technological impact on resilience
» ‎ PublicTechnology.Net News - UK

Fire Control Rooms: Scotland to examine technological impact on resilience
13:28
Nat'l School of Government to assist delivery of cross-departmental Public Service Agreements
» ‎ PublicTechnology.Net News - UK

Nat'l School of Government to assist delivery of cross-departmental Public Service Agreements
13:28
Higher Education Funding Council needs members for strategic advisory committees
» ‎ PublicTechnology.Net News - UK

Higher Education Funding Council needs members for strategic advisory committees
13:28
National Audit Office & HM Treasury work to drive forward the fight against fraud
» ‎ PublicTechnology.Net News - UK

National Audit Office & HM Treasury work to drive forward the fight against fraud
13:28
Mergers: EU approves proposed acquisition of Logix by Arrow Electronics
» ‎ PublicTechnology.Net News - UK

Mergers: EU approves proposed acquisition of Logix by Arrow Electronics
13:28
EU provides online database detailing 15000 cosmetics ingredients
» ‎ PublicTechnology.Net News - UK

EU provides online database detailing 15000 cosmetics ingredients

13:27
Google, la visita
» ‎ K-Government

Esta mañana hemos podido entrar en el cuartel general de Google en Mountain View. Hemos llegado sin problemas desde San Francisco a la sede de Google dónde nos estaba esperando Paul Asoyan que nos ha hecho de anfitrión por Googleplex. Desde luego no tiene nada que ver con lo que ...

13:27
Obama's Web Ads May Have Driven Big North Carolina Win
» ‎ ClickZ CyberStats

Obama barnstormed North Carolinians with Web ads in April, while McCain and Clinton ran relatively few display ads last month.

13:27
YouTube launches Citizen News channel
» ‎ CyberJournalist

YouTube has launched a Citizen News channel, to highlight some of the best news content on YouTube. … [visit site to read more]
13:27
Top news sites for April 2008
» ‎ CyberJournalist

Here are the top news sites in the U.S. for April 2008 according to Nielsen Online. … [visit site to read more]

13:27
Comment is free
» ‎ guardian.co.uk: Most viewed

Comment is free

13:27
Exploding star caught in the act
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Astronomers capture and record the first moments when a massive star blows itself apart.
13:27
SA leader orders army to deploy
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

South Africa's president approves the deployment of the army after recent attacks kill more than 20 foreigners.
13:27
'Witches' burnt to death in Kenya
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Eleven elderly people accused of being witches have been burned to death by a mob in Kenya, police say.
13:27
Pop mogul gets 25 years for fraud
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Lou Pearlman, who created Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, is sentenced to 25 years in prison for a $300m fraud.
13:27
Israel hit by Bible burning row
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Israel's Messianic Jews demand an inquiry into the burning of copies of the New Testament by Orthodox Jews.
13:27
Tibet and China: 7 questions
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Two leading academics look at both sides of the dispute over Tibet.
13:27
Why US is 'stuck' with Guantanamo Bay
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

The BBC's Paul Reynolds examines the reasons said to be holding up the closure of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay.
13:27
Israel-Syria confirm peace talks
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Israel and Syria say they are holding indirect, Turkish-mediated talks to reach a comprehensive peace agreement.
13:27
Day in pictures
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Some of the most striking images from around the world on 21 May 2008.
13:27
Biggest rodent 'shrinks in size'
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

The largest rodent ever recorded might not have been as big as has been suggested.

13:27
Denise Richards: Sperm e-mail ‘doctored’
» ‎ MSNBC.com: Most Viewed

It may be Hollywood’s messiest divorce — ever. In the latest battle between the estranged couple, Richards insists she never asked for her ex-husband Sheen's sperm, despite a document exclusively provided to NBC News which contains an e-mail that Sheen claims proves she asked him to father a third child via artificial insemination. During a live TODAY interview, Richards claimed that the e-mail was doctored.
13:27
Which hybrids make financial sense?
» ‎ MSNBC.com: Most Viewed

Which hybrids make financial sense?
13:27
Oil execs defend huge profits before Senate
» ‎ MSNBC.com: Most Viewed

Senators told oil executives Wednesday that high oil prices cannot be explained by supply and demand.

13:17
American to charge for 1st checked bag, cut flights (AP)
» ‎ Yahoo! News: Most Viewed

AP - American Airlines said Wednesday it plans to charge passengers $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and eliminate possibly thousands of jobs, as it grapples with record-high fuel prices.

13:03
Op-Ed Columnist: Imbalances of Power
» ‎ NYT > Most E-Mailed

It is hard to remember a time when more shifts in the global balance of power are happening at once — with so few in America’s favor.

13:00
Kennedy Back Home After Grim Diagnosis
» ‎ Most Popular Stories: CBSNews.com

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy left the hospital, one day after being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor that experts say is almost certainly fatal.

12:51
Knight Digital Training::Flash Techniques, and the Participatory Push by Current TV
» ‎ MediaShift

BERKELEY, CALIF. — The week-long training at UC Berkeley in multimedia has now moved to a new phase. After getting basic background on audio, video and photographic equipment, we went out into the field on our group’s assignment. My group, Team Gecko, went to visit Professor Robert Full to learn about the work he’s done in biomechanics. Full’s lab discovered the properties of gecko’s feet that allow the animals to stick onto slick surfaces without use of suction or adhesive. He then mimicked that stickiness in robots that could climb up walls.

So the seven of us descended into Full’s office, a press gaggle with a high-end videocamera, two audio recorders, a digital SLR and point-and-shoot camera, and lots of microphones. Often, Full would ask us what we wanted to do next, and we had to struggle to figure it out. We were like a team without a leader. The idea is that we have to work everything out together, and all of us get time doing video, audio, and photo capture and do interviews.

Sometimes, the journalist scrum was as entertaining as Full’s spiel about mimicking nature with new inventions. When we were observing one of the geckos in Full’s lab, we were packed into the room, recording one of the grad student/researcher’s every words.

But the good part about the gaggle was that we could each take turns with the equipment and try out things we didn’t know before. Even though it was at times a cumbersome process, we knew that we were gaining valuable experience and had more chances to capture all the video, audio and photos we might need.
Learning Basic Flash
Now we’re doing a basic training on Flash production with Jeremy Rue from UC Berkeley in the multimedia computer lab.

Jeremy Rue: Flash was started in 1986 to do web animations. And you’ll see that we’ll be making things move with Flash. It’s now evolved with a level of interactivity, so that things move when you push a button. It’s great for multimedia because it helps make your story more dynamic. You will recognize Flash with advertisements because a lot of ads use Flash to move around and annoy you.

Now, about 97% of computers can view Flash. Flash is on virtually all computers. It’s safe to know that if you do it in Flash, almost everyone can see it. And it works cross-platform, on Macs and PCs. When you build a website, you have to build it for every platform, every browser. Whenever you build something in Flash, you have to consider it as being in a locked container that Google can’t process well when it comes to finding it in search.

What’s Flash good for? Slide shows, movement, animation, video.

(Shows some examples of Flash)

(Now we’re using Flash Professional 8.)

If you’re working on a project, it’s automatically created in an .FLA file, which includes everything in a project. When you export a project, it is in a locked .swf file, that people can see but can’t change. It’s designed to be embedded in a web page. Tomorrow we’ll teach you how to use Dreamweaver and we’ll show you how to embed Flash in a web page. Then there’s the .FLV file that everyone uses online, including YouTube.

(Begin tutorial for Flash. Also taken from online tutorial.)

Each box is a different frame. How long is 20 frames? It depends on your frame rate. The timeline is frame-based. On the right is a library. So anything you import will go into the library, a photo or video. The “property inspector” is important, and tells you the properties of what you click on.

Today we’re going to make a simple slide show of four photos. And it’s pretty basic, with the photos fading in and out. It looks basic but we’re going to do it manually, and it’s going to seem like a lot of work and it is. Why do we teach this then? Because it’s important to understand how this works. There are other slide show programs that are easier, like SoundSlides.

To build a basic audio slideshow in Flash:

1. Import images.

2. Choose all photos in the stack.

3. Highlight and trash the empty Layer 1.

(Clicking on the dots on each layer lets you see the layer below each one.)

(“Eye” icon shows you all layers; “Lock” icon protects each layer.)

4. File > Save to save the slideshow so far.

In Flash, a symbol is a container. We will convert each of these photos into symbols. Flash can stretch a symbol out and do all kinds of things to it. Any Flash project you’ve seen on the web, when an image moves around, it’s in a symbol.

5. Choose a photo, and then go to Modify > Convert to Symbol, and then choose “Graphics” button and name the photo and hit OK. Do that for each photo.

We now want to create our timeline to fade up and down each image.

6. Click on 44th frame. Hold Shift and highlight all the keyframes in 44, covering all the pictures.

7. Insert > Timeline > Keyframe. Then choose frame 10, highlight all the layers, hit Insert > Timeline > Keyframe for each one.

8. Move the Play Head over to frame 1. Click on the first photo, and then select all four photos. In the Property Inspection, choose Color > Alpha and set it to 0. That way, the start of the slideshow will have a blank slate. Do the same for frame 44 to make the slideshow end in a blank white page as well.

9. To create the fade, you need the “tween.” In old cartoons, the apprentices would draw the in-between frames, the transitions for the cartoons. The main cartoonists would do the main drawings and let the apprentices do the transitions. Choose all photos in Frame 1, in the Property Inspector go to Tween > Motio

Gregarius » May 21, 2008

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