This is more for me than you :-)
IBM developerWorks has a good intro to Groovy. Didn't realize it used the Java syntax and APIs with little to no syntax changes.
Python has a nice CSV library.
This is nice. Through a collision of ideas, Adam Curry and Steve Gillmor, Curry created the iPodder, which checks for MP3 enclosures in an RSS feed and then downloads those MP3s and creates an iTunes playlist that can be copied on your iPod.
This is excellent for me since I spend 2 hrs/day in the car with my iPod.
Other ports of iPodder are listed by Curry
Windows #1
Windows #2
Linux
Also, so not to miss related activity, the iPodder is not far from the RSSTV syndication idea from Andrew Grumet, Chris Pirillo [clip], and others.
I've been beating my head against the wall trying to find the cause of the exception listed below. I'm working with JXTA and using the bcprov-jdk14.jar library from The Legion of the Bouncy Castle. The error occurs because CryptixProperties.setProperties(...) includes this code:
try { netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.revertPrivilege("UniversalPropertyRead"); }
catch (NoClassDefFoundError e) {}
The version of netscape.security.PrivilegeManager that was loaded by the JVM does not include a revertPrivilege(String s) method. I finally discovered that I had placed a copy of JdbcDomino.jar in the lib\ext folder of my JRE. This JAR included an older version of PrivilegeManager.
This was a painful reminder that as I develop apps I shouldn't make global changes to the JVM.
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.revertPrivilege(Ljava/lang/String;)V
at cryptix.CryptixProperties.setProperties(CryptixProperties.java:448)
at cryptix.CryptixProperties.
at cryptix.provider.Cryptix.getVersionAsDouble(Cryptix.java:115)
at cryptix.provider.Cryptix.
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Class.newInstance0(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Unknown Source)
at net.jxta.impl.membership.pse.PSEUtils.
at net.jxta.impl.membership.pse.PSEUtils.
at net.jxta.impl.peergroup.ConfigDialog.saveValues(ConfigDialog.java:2449)
at net.jxta.impl.peergroup.ConfigDialog.access$000(ConfigDialog.java:138)
at net.jxta.impl.peergroup.ConfigDialog$5.actionPerformed(ConfigDialog.java:1892)
I was listening to John Gage, Chief Scientist at Sun Microsystems via IT Conversations, and he describes software [clip] by Keyhole, Inc..
Unfortunately, the software is Windows only, but it is extremely cool and a little hard to describe. The Keyhole description is, "Keyhole LT is a software application that you download and install. It’s only 4MB, but with an annual Keyhole subscription, you can fly through 7+ Terabytes of Earth imagery and data – spinning, rotating, tilting, and zooming. Think magic carpet ride."
You specify any location on Earth (or Mars) and the software will take you there via satellite imagery. You have all the typical navigation features (zoom in/out, etc), and you can tilt the landscape so, for example, you can see the height of Mount Everest in comparison to the surrounding range. Some of the data has sub-meter resolution. I was able to see a man standing in the outfield of Busch Stadium in St. Loius. Very Cool. The data is stored on the Keyhole servers and streamed to your PC, so bandwidth is necessary.
Business 2.0 has a nice article on what Arthur van Hoff is doing with Tivo. I don't know much about Strangeberry, but I always thought they must be doing something cool because 2 years ago they had a Java implementation of Apple's Rendezvous protocol.
If you go to strangeberry.com, notice the page title...these guys are programmers.
Steve Gillmor does a good job connecting the dots between Google and Adam Bosworth. I'm not sure I've bought into the idea of universal client-side cache like Alchemy. For example, Bosworth makes the comment to Gillmor, "Given that it’s a cache of XML nodes...." Since when? How many sites are valid HTML? Few.
Now if you're considering Alchemy for a limited number of sites (e.g. GMail or an MS Office replacement), then that's a different story. It does seem useful in that category of the web that's applications...not just something to which you surf. (For more information on that topic see the Paradigm Shift.) I've got to admit Google has done some great client-side-like (or rich client) functionality with JavaScript in GMail. If it could be used off-line, that would be sweet.
So, I'm listening to the July 29, 2004 edition of Steve Gillmor and gang in which the guys ))) discuss ((( the integration of audio with blogs. I then notice this "clip" link on the IT Converstations site that does pretty much what Jon Udell describes. This is odd...why doesn't Doug Kaye tell these guys that he already has that feature...wait, is Jon Udell a super coder...))) yes (((. I shoot Jon a quick email to confirm, and being a nice guy (I don't even know the guy), he responds "Yep. I gave him the code to do it :-)"
Great work Doug and Jon.