My technology week in review ending 2010.01.31

My summary of interesting URLs from last week, including stories related to:

  • SQL and DB2 - Customer feedback on DB2 LUW v9.7
  • Software development - Joomla, Perl tutorials, ProjectZero, Software Carpentry
  • Web tools and standards - CSS and SVG
  • AI, Robots, and the Singularity - Living with Robots
  • Articles I commented on - what our dishwasher knows
  • TED talks - lots!

And for those of you on Twitter, the stories relate to: @robintransition @zurb @ProjectZero

Adding a cache to your scripts that read HTML files

I'm a big fan of Perl, but seem to use it for just one reason these days: reading and processing various HTML files out on the web (ie writing a spider). The LWP Perl modules makes this easy, and can honor robots.txt automatically. I've found, though, especially during development, that I don't want to access the live web page again and again as I develop the rest of the script. This is even more relevant for HTML pages that take a long time to return, or when I'm developing the script offline, or without intranet access.

My solution? Adding some HTML cache code in my object that can save a copy of the HTML locally the first time it is accessed, then automatically use that file each subsequent run.

My technology week in review ending 2010.01.24

I've found it very useful to use Delicious to keep track of the interesting tech stories I find each week, but I'm worried about overwhelming this blog with these updates. It HAS forced me to add other postings as well, which is good...

For the time being I'll continue posting these summaries, but would love any sort of feedback you might have in the comments! This week includes stories related to:

And for those of you on Twitter, the stories relate to: @jeffdavis_co @edbrill and
@zzgavin

3 TED videos to help understand India on the world stage

TED video player
I'm a huge fan of TED talks - bite-size videos from the experts on technology, entertainment, and design. I found the following three videos do a wonderful job describing India from three different perspectives - like three blind men describing the same elephant in three very different ways. Hans Rosling provides a compelling analysis of the numbers, Shashi Tharoor describes India's growing "soft power" throughout the world, and Devdutt Pattanaik takes a third perspective altogether.

My technology week in review ending 2010.01.17

My summary of interesting URLs from last week, including stories related to:

And for those of you on Twitter, the stories relate to: @cdibona @merlyn

My technology week in review ending 2010.01.10

A busy week of interesting URLs, including stories related to:

And for those of you on Twitter, the stories relate to: @oracle_ace @JazzDotNet @TEDchris @ShashiTharoor @emmanueljal @pheinberg

Review of the Green Science Dynamo Torch from 4M

Dynamo Torch review thumbnail
We were wandering through the Royal Ontario Museum gift shop, and saw the 4M Green Science Dynamo Torch. It wasn't too expensive, and our 8 year old wanted to check it out, so why not? We managed to get it assembled and working, which is more than I was expecting, really. It is a chance for kids to have at least some hands-on experience with wires, motors, and gears. Here are a few photos of the process and a bit of a review

My technology week in review ending 2010.01.03

Happy New Year! Here is a summary of URLs I found interesting through the end of last year, including stories related to:

And for those of you on Twitter, the stories relate to: @jeresig @elijahmanor @RedWolves
I haven't posted a lot of original content here lately - crazy busy at work, the holidays, and other assorted excuses, but I have some projects on the go that should result in some blog postings.

My technology week in review ending 2009.12.04

My summary of interesting URLs from last week, including stories related to:

My technology week in review ending 2009.11.27

My summary of interesting URLs from last week, including stories related to:

And for those of you on Twitter, the stories relate to: @IBMDesign @umairh @drkiki @ethanLP

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