Don has written up notes of our Dunbar Grammar School Extreme Learning (XL) Project brainstorming session of Thursday. Thanks Don. Looking forward to the project.

Seth knows a bit about Conversant ;-) His latest teaser: Examples of Multiple RSS Feeds.

Categorisation of my own posts on DJ is something that I've neglected for far too long but must remedy. Seth's way of generating multiple RSS feeds is just too cool not to emulate.

The Doc Searls Weblog : Read and creep

Dave points to Wes pointing to an Intel-AOL Joint Statement that expresses a complete sell-out by Intel to AOL and the entertainment industry.

I pointed to the same thing on March 30, when I found that same statement had been submitted (in .pdf form) as a response to the Judiary Committee's request for "progress reports." There are other reports from industry types. They're all creepy. I suggest reading them...

Seth suggested that I check out Brent's Thursday bonus beta app: WeblogWatcher over at inessential.com as he thought I'd be interested in the screen-shot as well as the app ;-)

There aren't any crashing bugs I know of, but there are some more features I want to implement - filters and favorites, sorting, Help book, etc. Is so totally beta it doest even have a web page yet.

It reads the changes XML file from Weblogs.com, so you can see which weblogs have updated recently.

Brent's looking for an icon for the app and I'd bequeath my caricature but perhaps something along the lines of an 'eye' icon would be better B-)

via Brent's ranchero.com - Tailoring Java Applications for Mac OS X

This Technical Note describes techniques and methods that Java developers on Mac OS X can employ to provide a "complete Macintosh experience" in their Java applications on Mac OS X. It is also intended for Java developers from other platforms looking to bring their existing applications to Mac OS X as flawlessly as possible.

Family and personal news often go unreported on Duncan's Jotter. This should not be construed as evidence that I don't have a life ;-) It's just natural Scottish shyness! I'm making an exception about the special evening we spent with some of our oldest friends Irene and Archie, Andrea and Glyn, and their families on Saturday. They came to our house for a 'pot-luck'supper where we each contributed a course for our meal. We had a great time.

I guess the real reason I'm mentioning this is the fact that Glyn and Andrea are well 'kent' (scots for known) photographers and Glyn's website is just getting off the ground. So if you want to go and and see some examples of great photographs rather than time-lapse snaps of an office being tidied ;-) then check out http://www.glynsatterley.com bearing in mind that it's still work in progress and there are many more images (and larger versions of the thumbnails) to be uploaded over the coming months.

Interesting - Syndic8.com - Feed Info for Duncan's Jotter.

I was delighted to watch - on TV and not in person alas - the Monaco Grand Prix and see Coulthard end his victory drought

David Coulthard has won his first Formula One race for more than a year with a superb drive at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Scot held off a late-race challenge from world champion Michael Schumacher to win his first race since last year's Austrian event.

via CamWorld - XBox Economics

The XBox hardware has been estimated to cost Microsoft $320 to $400 to build in 2001. They have been selling the box for $299, and this month they have dropped the price to $199 to keep up with Nintendo and Sony. Even after six months of cost reduction, they may still be losing $100 on each XBox sale. Nobody knows how much Microsoft is really losing, but they have confirmed that they are selling the hardware at a loss. Will they really be able to make up all of these losses with software sales?

via Brian - Consensus at Lawyerpoint: Hollywood Wants to Plug the "Analog Hole"

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed the "Content Protection Status Report" with the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, laying out its plan to remake the technology world to suit its own ends. The report calls for regulation of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), generic computing components found in scientific, medical and entertainment devices. Under its proposal, every ADC will be controlled by a "cop-chip" that will shut it down if it is asked to assist in converting copyrighted material -- your cellphone would refuse to transmit your voice if you wandered too close to the copyrighted music coming from your stereo.

The report shows that this ADC regulation is part of a larger agenda. The first piece of that agenda, a mandate that would give Hollywood a veto over digital television technology, is weeks away from coming to fruition. Hollywood also proposes a radical redesign of the Internet to assist in controlling the distribution of copyrighted works.

This three-part agenda -- controlling digital media devices, controlling analog converters, controlling the Internet -- is a frightening peek at Hollywood's vision of the future.

Please make sure you go and read the whole article. It makes chilling reading. My students, in particular, should be greatly concerned as this will directly impinge on their future professional careers. The consequences of these proposals being adopted are just too awful to contemplate. A wee thought experiment: imagine if the (equivalent) of these proposals had been in place fifty years ago. Do you think we would have had the innovation and consumer products we now currently enjoy? Would the Intentent have ever got out of the research labs?

To quote Brian - "Holy Shit!"

WeblogsInEducation(at)SchoolBlogs.com : The Holy Grail

Discussing the pros and cons of various software may been a pleasant time-filler but it should never become a quest for the edublogging 'Holy Grail'. That will only lead to a lack of application on the educational frontline. As some commentators have pointed out, teachers are not interested in the intricacies of the software itself. They want to see what it delivers in terms of teaching and learning. They will been convinced by a body of evidence that weblogging might be worthwhile for classroom use. The conviction among teachers that it may be worthwhile will be converted into classroom implementation not by perfect software, but by blogging educators who are willing to exert an influence in their own environments. The revolution is not software driven but rather led by educators who are comfortable with their own choices of imperfect software and who will provide a positive sphere of influence for those around them.

Amen. Perfectly put. A thought provoking article that deserves to be read by everyone with an interest in the use of weblogs (and content management systems) in education. The paragraph after the one cited above can be summed up as 'use what you know and are comfortable with'. It looks like I'll be involved in a project at the local school in September under the auspice of Extreme Learning (XL) and since I'm most comfortable with Conversant that is what I'm suggesting the school use.

WeblogsInEducation(at)SchoolBlogs.com : The Next Step

Outsiders complain about the teaching profession being resistant to new developments. However, I think teachers are just numb' to change. They are so used to hearing the latest 'theory' or the latest decree prescribed from the educational establishment, that they are automatically sceptical of even the best new ideas. Consequently, teachers will not be convinced by words alone when it comes to the potential of weblogging in education.

It looks like my nephew Tim has beaten me to www.smeed.net ;-) What you might call a minimal web presence!

Some of my work colleagues nipped out to see the Queen on here walkabout in Glasgow. Would you like to work with any of these people ;-)?

via hbwt - MacCentral | One school's cost of going Wintel

Jon Udell: Conversant and the art of the press release

Conversant, by the way, is interesting in ways that are orthogonal to Radio. It's a server-based product, not a desktop product, and is useful for all the reasons that any featureful and scriptable groupware-and-document-management system is. So now that I've got the story straight...congratulations, Seth!

Derek has a new toy - powazek » log » it's here. I'm envious. One of those would look good on my empty desk doncha think ;-)?

Big Brother is back on the box. The viewing public get to nominate the first two contenders for eviction next Friday. It's an absolute certainty that Jade will get one of the nominations. She's sooooo annoying!! Even when the cameras are on the others you can hear her whiny voice droning on in the background. She never stops. Ugh! Seems I'm not the only that thinks so since she's currently lying last in popularity in the online poll.

Bringing rapid-fire photos to digicams - Tech News - CNET.com

NuCore's design allows images to be processed much more rapidly, meaning the user can squeeze off many more photos of quick-moving subjects. The first still camera to use the company's signal processors--the Lumix DMC-F7 from Panasonic--can shoot five frames a second. Typical digital cameras need up to a few seconds between shots.