December 29, 2004
Aggregate Your Favorite Web Logs and News Sources with Bloglines
Each day, like many people I know, I track several different websites ranging from friends, technology columnists and news sources. Originally, I had a list of bookmarks and every morning I would go through each site and see if any new information was posted. However, I recently found a site that allows me to aggregate all of this information into a single page, which greatly shortens the time needed to go through everything.
Bloglines is a free service that allows you to take XML feeds (typically RSS or RDF) from any website that offers them and track them all from a single page. For instance, the XML feed on this page (and many other blogs) is available from the link on the right side of the page that says "Syndicate this site (XML)". Bloglines is also smart enough to automatically use feeds from sources like LiveJournal, Blogger, and Yahoo! Groups based on user name or group name.
I can now track all of the syndicatable content I read from one source. I can also quickly see which sources have new content and which do not. Now, my original 10 minute morning process has been slashed to under 2 minutes. In addition, I can create clippings of all the articles I feel are interesting and want to save.
In case you are interested, here is a list of all the sites I currently frequent that are also syndicated:
Alex Albrecht - RDF
Justin Curtis - RDF
Sarah Lane - RDF
Chris Piers - RSS
Kevin Rose - RSS
Slashdot - RSS
Yahoo! News: Technology - RSS
Posted by Chuck at 10:12 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 27, 2004
So your Web Host doesn't offer Telnet access... Here's a solution.
I have been hosting chuckcaplan.com with iPowerWeb for almost 2 years. While I would not call them a phenomenal host, in general they are fine. And $8 a month for 2 gigs of space is not bad. If you are interested in using iPowerWeb, let me know so I can refer you.
One of the biggest issues I have had with iPowerWeb is that they do not offer shell access, meaning I cannot Telnet to the host in order to run standard Unix commands that would make maintaining my site easier, such as find, grep, mv, cp, rm, etc.
Fortunately, I came across CGI-Telnet by Rohitab Batra.
CGI-Telnet is a CGI script that allows you to execute commands on your web server. It is a useful tool if you don't have telnet access to your server.
I can now do almost any command via the CGI script that I could do with a Telnet client. The downside is that since it is a web client and not a real Telnet client, only simple request and response commands can be used, such as typical Unix commands. Any commands that require multiple lines of input, such as mysql and vi cannot be used. In addition, be aware that this script can do serious damage to your site if you do not know what you are doing. If you are unfamiliar with a specific command, research it before using it.
Still, I have found this script very useful in maintaining my site and would recommend it to anyone who needs Telnet access but whose site does not support it.
Posted by Chuck at 10:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 23, 2004
Suggest - A New Way to Google
Google Suggest was added to Google Labs on 12/9/04. Other graduates of Labs include Web Alerts, Google Deskbar, and Search by Location.
The Google Suggest homepage looks very similar to the Google homepage. However, when you type your search query, Suggest automatically tries to figure out what you are looking for and gives you example queries that might save you some typing time, much like Internet Explorer does when you type a URL you have already been to. It might also give you better suggestions on what to search for. This is a very interesting piece of technology and I recommend checking it out.
Underneath the hood, the bulk of the work is done with Javascript. Chris Justus does a pretty good job dissecting all the code.
Posted by Chuck at 10:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 22, 2004
Elf Rock
In the holiday spirit, Carol Maker from zefrank is an interesting flash animation that is kind of like a MIDI sequencer style piano roll with elf voices for notes. Fun (very fun, actually) and technologically interesting - what more can you want? Thanks to Sarah Lane for the link.
Posted by Chuck at 10:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 21, 2004
The Professional's Gateway to the World's Markets
My current broker of choice is Interactive Brokers. With the risk of this entry sounding too much like a sales pitch, here are the top 5 reasons:
5. Cheap Commissions - Since IB has direct access to the markets, commissions are much lower than a full-service broker. Trading 100 shares of stock typically costs about $1 per side. A full commissions list can be found here.
4. Trade Anywhere - The IB Trader's Workstation (TWS) is java-based, so it can be run on any system that supports Java. In addition, there is also trading via mobile phones, networks behind firewalls, and telephone-directed ordering (for a fee).
3. Trade Anything - Whether it is Futures in Sydney, Stocks in Tokyo, or Options in London, you can trade it with IB. While I am currently not trading any international securities, it is great to know that they are available. Keep in mind that you may have to pay data fees in order to trade in some markets and that each market has different trading requirements.
2. Trade Any Time - Even though your market of choice may be closed, there is always a market open somewhere in the world. With IB, you can participate in almost any world market at any time, as long as it is open for trading.
1. Application Program Interface Software
- IB currently has API Software available for Java, C++, ActiveX, and Excel DDI. You can use these socket-based API's to access market data, place orders, etc. I have set up a Wiki about the API here and there are also excellent discussion forums here and here. In addition, the API documentation can be found here.
What sold me, of course, is the API software. The idea of writing a completely automated program in Java to buy and sell securities is very intriguing to me. I am currently doing this in my spare time so if I all of a sudden stop writing about Java and start writing about the new Ferrari's I am constantly buying, you know it worked out.
There are some people, however, that IB is not for. The biggest group would be those that do not have sufficient knowledge of how the markets work. IB makes it very easy to trade in a variety of markets, but many of the specific options associated with those trades can be daunting. Make sure you know what you are doing before hand. In addition, those who want the advice of a financial advisor should probably stay away as well.
Still, if you feel that a direct access broker is for you and you want the ability to write programs that integrate with the markets, I highly recommend IB.
Posted by Chuck at 02:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 16, 2004
It's no Mavis Beacon, but it does the job...
JTypist is an interesting Java applet that teaches touch-typing through interactive exercises and tutorials. The program was originally written using the Curses library for terminal sessions but has since been rewritten for GUI's.
I like this program because new lessons and new keyboard layouts can be created via property files (They might want to update that to use XML at some point). One can even use this program to learn to type using a Dvorak layout instead of Qwerty. If you have never heard of Dvorak, you should read up on it. I do not know how to type on a Dvorak layout personally, but I find it interesting that there are more efficient typing layouts than Qwerty.
If you need to learn to type with more than two fingers, check out JTypist. Even if you know how to type, the source is freely available.
Posted by Chuck at 10:11 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 15, 2004
Cloudscape Contest
IBM and SourceForge are sponsoring a contest in which people download the Clouscape DB, use it in a Java program along with SQL to find a hidden word and submit that word in order to enter the contest. Ten winners will get iPods.
While I did write the program and enter the contest (kind of a neat exercise), I also figured out that the Cloudscape installation comes with a sample program that will allow anyone to run SQL on any Cloudscape database. Therefore, anyone can run a few lines of SQL in this sample program, figure out what the hidden word is and enter the contest without writing any Java code. I guess the whole point of the contest is to learn Cloudscape, so even if you entered the contest this way they still got their point across. It is interesting to me that IBM is pushing Cloudscape like this when it recently open sourced the whole project as Apache Derby.
IBM Cloudscape V10.0 is a pure, Open Source-based Java relational database management system that can be embedded in Java programs and used for online transaction processing (OLTP). A platform-independent, small-footprint (2MB) database, Cloudscape V10.0 integrates tightly with any Java-based solution.
Posted by Chuck at 08:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 14, 2004
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Thanks for contacting me. If you submitted a valid email address, I will be contacting you. Please click here to return to my Web Log.Posted by Chuck at 11:11 AM
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Posted by Chuck at 10:52 AM