Posted by nathan on Jul 29, 2005 in Uncategorized
Wired 13.08: We Are the Web The network is the computer. I am the geek. Ordinarily, I keep my geekness uncovers of Xperiment No. 8 however this has overlapped into my life in the very recent period of time, and thus I find it meaningful to share this all in my quasi-nightly report.
First of all, the Rss-Planet program is active and works wonderfully. I am really amazed at how quickly it all came together. In one short week, a huge flurry of emails and an expectional programmer in Germany willing to work on my idea has yielded this new program.
Basically, it sprung from my aquired notion that your desktop should be your browser, instead of your browser being a substitute desktop. Apparently Windows operators have the option of selecting active desktop which would go further towards advancing this notion.
I may have prevviously mentioned this porject when we started it, if not, I’ll tell you it comes from a program called Xplanet. Xplanet generates a desktop image, similiar to when you save a picture of Squeaky onto the desktop, of the planet Earth ( or any of the other planets in the solar system.)
My idea and thanks to Martin Doege for making it happen, is to put headlines from the news services onto this surface in relation to it’s geographic location. For example, the headline Banned Kenya minister to ’sue UK’ appears on the continent of Africa, with a marker for the city of Nariobi, which is the capital of Kenya.
Now, I got wrapped up in this project because of an idea. I contacted a programmer based upon teh language within which he had written another program. That language is Python. I just sent an email out as a ‘courtesy’ to inform him that I was going to be
looking at his opensource program and ripping out the parts I thought I needed to write my own program. I did not realize how much I needed to actually do.
I have only gone through seven or eight study modules and I thought I could write this sophistocated program. Nonetheless, I was prepared to spend a couple of months working on it. Not anymore. this is where my digital dream comes in.
See, during this whole process, Steph sent me an email saying she gets this discount on computers from work. I sent back a quick reply stating that I wanted to build a network in the house out of old PCs that gets all the Microsoft wiped off and install Linux and tons of open source programs, such as Open Office.org.
Now, Dad, before you get the wrong idea, this is not a holy mightyquest or crusade on my part against Microsoft. I learned how to use computers on basically microsoft equipment, especially when we were all getting email at prodigy accounts, like ev27yx@prodigy.com. (Incidentially there is only one return for prodigy.com in Google.) My basic reason to impliment this plan is economic.
I live in New York City. The trash that people throw out here could be shipped to a thrid world country and sold to people, or better yet given to people who don’t have anything. I am pretty sure I can collect a couple of PC boxes from the street. On a recent recycling night I saw five monitors within a five block radius of our house. (some of which I’m sure were in the trash for a reason.)
Then installing open source software that I can download for free will further reduce the amount of expenditures necessary to create a home network. I envision an Internal Network with a print server and possably an email exchange, and if I get lucky enoough our own server to host EckenrodeHouse.net [ nothing personal Steve, it would just be neat to be able to do that I think.]
See, I have fallen off the diving board. And this is where the Digital Dream gets going.
I want to set up a dummy terminal in EJ’s room. One that runs a program that is an educational environment. Teaches the Alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors as well as basic computer skills. I also see being able to write programs that continue past these skills and develop and build upon what she has learned. There can also be a music player so she can play music in her room. ( I really enjoyed my record player as a young boy, today music is stored on hard drives not pressed plastic platters with analog grooves that translate the sounds.)
With the advent of Digital Television, and I am speaking of the new roll out that will put video and video content on a standards based open source software, it is quickly becoming that our little magic window will be what indeed connects the world. We will superceed the boundaries of nations and with the participatory culture that exists on the web ( you read this, you respond to it, you are particiapting {and by the way, please us the comments function on this page, I look forward to them as much you you may look forward to reading these posts.}) large proprieatary corporations oneday may even be superceeded
Oh yes, I have a Digital Dream. A Dream of Utopia, a dream where we all are able to live our lives in complete connection with each other. A dream where our social circles extend beyond the geographic boundaries of nation and state. For me, this starts with learning a new skill and expanding my personal boundaries of creativity.
Posted by nathan on Jul 29, 2005 in Uncategorized
freshmeat.net: Project details for RSS-Planet This is really quite exciting. See I had this idea after doing some late night surfing. I had come acrosss a philosophy that your desktop should be your browser and not the other way around. this is a step in that direction.
This is the result of a week of emails back and forth between Martin and myself. He did all the programming and I did all the holding back! But the really exciting thing is that there is now a program in the whole that enables one to get a view of the world and see where the news is happening and make it all local.
So here it is, download yourself Xplanet and then hook up this bad boy and you will be amazed!!
Posted by nathan on Jul 29, 2005 in Uncategorized
freshmeat.net: Project details for RSS-Planet This is really quite exciting. See I had this idea after doing some late night surfing. I had come acrosss a philosophy that your desktop should be your browser and not the other way around. this is a step in that direction.
This is the result of a week of emails back and forth between Martin and myself. He did all the programming and I did all the holding back! But the really exciting thing is that there is now a program in the whole that enables one to get a view of the world and see where the news is happening and make it all local.
So here it is, download yourself Xplanet and then hook up this bad boy and you will be amazed!!
Posted by nathan on Jul 28, 2005 in Uncategorized
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Waving her rattle at the world, this little bub is happy today.
Posted by nathan on Jul 28, 2005 in Uncategorized
Participatory Culture Foundation - HYPE
I have been watching this to see where it will go. Once it is in beta and I have downloaded it, I will be testing this to see how it is. I wonder if there will be a way for my crappy old television to be able to see this image from my computer. I think that’s systemic on my side. You know I will be setting up my own channel as soon as I can, even though I have yet to actually put together a single episode of anything. Hmmm… I need to get that external harddrive!
Posted by nathan on Jul 28, 2005 in Uncategorized
Participatory Culture Foundation - HYPE
I have been watching this to see where it will go. Once it is in beta and I have downloaded it, I will be testing this to see how it is. I wonder if there will be a way for my crappy old television to be able to see this image from my computer. I think that’s systemic on my side. You know I will be setting up my own channel as soon as I can, even though I have yet to actually put together a single episode of anything. Hmmm… I need to get that external harddrive!
Posted by nathan on Jul 27, 2005 in Uncategorized
Good thing we got AC for the bedrooms. The baby would have fried like an egg otherwise. She would have been boiled like a potato, roasted like a ham, poached like an elephant, oops! Mixed metaphors with my smilies. I would not have left the house, except that the library called to say that the book I ordered on InterLibrary Loan had arrived today. I am such a Geek! I go to the library look around and say, “you guys don’t have the books I want. can you get them for me?” then they do, and I go and get it.
It’s a huge book and I have a month to go through it. I’m quite sure in a month I still will not be done with this book. There is just no way I can learn an entire programming language in a month. This book is bigger than Moby Dick, or Gone With the Wind. It takes me a month or more to watch the movie versions of those books! Oh well, at least it’s got a CD with it and I’ll be able to download the tutorial.
The little potato was drained just from the heat on the walk back ,plus I timed it so that we got back to the house about the tiume she takes an afternoon nap. I was planning to scrub the bathroom at that time, but I was too wiped out to even try to do anything at all. So I just had some water and did some more studying.
Around six o’clock the thunderstorm rolled in and the night was settled. We ordered chinese and watched a movie from netflicks. Now, I’m planning on curling up in bed with a nice book.
Posted by nathan on Jul 27, 2005 in Uncategorized
Wired News: Wiping Apple Off the Map
Oh come on! Do you really think that Microsoft is really going to say that they did indeed remove the Apple Building from the photographs? Sure they would have the technical know how to do it, they might even be daring enough to do it; thinking the whole time that noone will even notice nor will they say anything about it. Microsoft is alot like a High School Football Team ( that’s quite an ironic comparision isn’t it!), there maybe individual players on the team that have some actual intelligence, but as a whole they are just Big, Powerful and Dumb. They think that they are being crafty and slick with their little pranks, but the entire community knows who stole the Gilbert the Goat, the mascot from the rival school. “Oh! we didn’t notice that the building was missing from teh photographs!” I should believe that, right? “They must be old photographs!” Another rumor has it that Microsoft still has the Twin Towers on there picture of Lower Manhattan.
Posted by nathan on Jul 27, 2005 in Uncategorized
Wired News: Wiping Apple Off the Map
Oh come on! Do you really think that Microsoft is really going to say that they did indeed remove the Apple Building from the photographs? Sure they would have the technical know how to do it, they might even be daring enough to do it; thinking the whole time that noone will even notice nor will they say anything about it. Microsoft is alot like a High School Football Team ( that’s quite an ironic comparision isn’t it!), there maybe individual players on the team that have some actual intelligence, but as a whole they are just Big, Powerful and Dumb. They think that they are being crafty and slick with their little pranks, but the entire community knows who stole the Gilbert the Goat, the mascot from the rival school. “Oh! we didn’t notice that the building was missing from teh photographs!” I should believe that, right? “They must be old photographs!” Another rumor has it that Microsoft still has the Twin Towers on there picture of Lower Manhattan.
Posted by nathan on Jul 26, 2005 in Uncategorized
Squeaky was in a much better mood all day today. It helps when Daddy gets up at nine o’clock and has a bottle ready by half past. What really helps is changing the soaked nappy straight away. She is much more agreeable to any sort of plans which I may have for the day. And today was a special treat because she got an excursion in the morning to the pharmacy. She really likes the trips to the corner store.
She really likes trips period, especially in the Baby Björn. Her personal favorite is when she is facing out and watching the world. She loves looking at other people’s faces and smiling at them. It is such a great neighborhood for her. All the people here in the daytime are so friendly, it really doesn’t even seem like the same city!
The heat was hot today. Yup, that’s quite a sentence. It was hot, hot heat, but we found a way to stay cool. In fact, Our favorite Bubbalina was sleeping in the crib most of the afternoon. Which left me Lots of time to work with Martin on RSS-Planet. Or to read emails about how the program is developping is more accurate. Today, I recieved version 1.0 from him and was able to see sort of how it was all working. But honestly, my studies have not taken me anywhere near the concepts which he was using. It was still good to see and to study.
I will do some more studying tonight for a couple more hours and hopefully will gain greater understanding of how this stuff works. Anyways, it’s been quite a wonderful day! It really helps to have things organized. My little Hipster PDA is just fantastic for helping me to keep the house clean, EJ happy and my projects on track! I also have my Entourage programmed to remind me of important tasks and events. The better I am at getting stuff done the better I feel about my usage of the day!
