bioneural.net » Quicklinks

iPhone ringtone for homesick Kiwis

Bruce — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:17:07 +0000

Thanks to the kind folk at Kiwibank, and in preparation for the imminent official arrival of the iPhone in New Zealand, Kiwis can now set a whistled version of God Defend New Zealand as their ringtone. You can download it or preview it here. I've also updated my Kiwi icons iPhone wallpaper set to include a kiwifruit and koru.

Web developer widgets

Bruce — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:42:29 +0000

From bioneural.net:

Mac-based web developers may yet find a use for Dashboard. SeeSS is a CSS property reference detailing inheritance, CSS compliance, Safari support, possible and default values, examples, plus an informative description [screenshot]. PHP Function Reference provides offline access to the PHP manual, a cheat sheet, and an interactive date formatter [screenshot].

RDF v microformats v meta headers

Bruce — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:24:49 +0000

From bioneural.net:

I've had a hard time "getting" RDF (e.g. how it differs from XML), but this article helps give it context. The semantic web is being built simultaneously from the bottom up and top down. Typifying the bottom-up approach, RDF content is machine-readable at the outset; powerful but complex (with several advantages over microformats), RDF is all about inter-operability. Top-down approaches introduce "metadata sprinkling" to existing content, simple but limiting by comparison e.g. microformats (using CSS class attributes as in hCard), or meta elements (meta tags such as those for geo-discovery). Both approaches are valid, but RDF is hard whereas microformats help "the rest of us" contribute to the semantic web. There may be a collision ahead, however, between microformats and RDFa (sprinklings of RDF embedded in existing XHTML).

Support the Open Share Icon Project

Bruce — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:14:17 +0000

From bioneural.net:

A backlash in the face of threats from ShareThis.com/ Nextumi Inc., owners of the trademarked Share Icon originally promoted as "generic", has prompted creation of the Open Share Icon Project—a free, open, community-driven alternative. The Share Icon has become synonymous with the commercial ShareThis brand & widget (registration terms) & even the "Classic" plugin requires publishers to actively opt-out of "sharing" their data to the ShareThis service. The working design of the new open icon features cupped hands passing/ receiving an item ("pass it on") as well as an eye reference ("look at this").

I don't want any Safari!

Bruce — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:50:05 +0000

From bioneural.net:

Installation of software you didn't actively choose to install is malware. I'm referring to Apple's recent decision to force Safari 3.1 on hapless Windows users via Software Update. How can you "update" a product that isn't installed? Wife: Have you got anything without Safari? This is bad form Apple. At least Ars consider this browser a much-improved and stable "true competitor".

FeedDemon gets the Geotag Icon too

Bruce — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:04:09 +0000

From bioneural.net:

FeedDemon, purportedly the most popular Windows-based feed reader, automatically detects geotagged feed items. Form version 2.6.1b1 it uses the Geotag Icon as a visual identifier for plotting the location, "hidden" in metadata, via Google Maps. FeedDemon has lots of other great features, including synchronisation with NewsGator Online which I use when travelling (in conjunction with NetNewsWire on the Mac).

Share Icon site updated

Bruce — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:37:58 +0000

From bioneural.net:

Alex King has announced a re-design of the Share Icon Project website, adding a showcase along similar lines to that added to the Geotag Icon Project some days earlier. The Share Icon was inspired by the Feed Icon and OPML Icon. The new Geotag Icon, likewise related conceptually and visually, is not listed as a peer but is nevertheless enjoying a strong show of early developer and user support reflecting its obvious utility.

Microsoft Silverlight takes on Flash

Bruce — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:41:16 +0000

From bioneural.net:

Microsoft Silverlight is a proprietary cross-browser, almost cross-platform (not yet Linux), and cross-device (WM6 & Symbian only) plug-in vaguely tasked with "delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web." The developer tools (Windows or Mac) output interactive text, bitmap images, vector graphics, animations, and video (WMV)/ audio (WMA and MP3) playback, in competition primarily with Flash. The plug-in is free (v2 is currently in beta) & curiously you can download the Getting started video in QuickTime for iPod! More here.

iBox now at version 2

Bruce — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:02:21 +0000

From bioneural.net:

A customised version of iBox is used extensively on bioneural.net (e.g. the Flickr photocast here) and iBegin have just released version 2. This free JavaScript lets you display automatically scaling images, external documents, or embedded containers in an overlay dialog without needing to reload the page. iBox has gained some weight since v1.2.1 (2006) but remains compact compared to other Lightbox-alike solutions and just as simple to use, now boasting wider browser support and new plug-in capabilities (e.g. for embedding YouTube videos). In most cases it degrades gracefully when JavaScript is disabled (it won't display hidden inline containers; JavaScript is required to play YouTube videos).

iCab now sports the Geotag Icon

Bruce — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:29:58 +0000

From bioneural.net:

iCab—the Internet taxi for your Mac—now sports the Geotag Icon. Alexander Clauss' latest beta (4.0.1b39) enables the status bar Geotag Icon when metadata tags are detected in the page being viewed, generating a pop-up that will plot the geotagged location using Google Maps. iCab has a number of other noteworthy features, including full compatibility with the WYSIWYG editor in WordPress (unlike Safari or Firefox as of this writing). David has some screen captures on his site.