Monthly Archives: March 2008

WordPress 2.5 Out, MaisonBisson Upgraded

March 30, 2008 – 1:38 am

WordPress 2.5 is out (and the WordPress site got a facelift), and I’ve already upgraded MaisonBisson using SVN. The changes are exciting, and seem to reflect a tradition that’s developing in WordPress of delivering some really revolutionary features in the x.5 release.
The loss of file-based object caching was a bit of a problem, as my [...]

By Casey | Posted in Technology | Comments (2)



Make Your Own Sign

March 28, 2008 – 12:04 pm

I had fun with the signs in Taiwan (jet powered baby stroller and men’s bathroom signs, for example), but why travel around the world for these things when you can make them at home?
Create warning signs, protest signs, church signs, library catalog cards, or whatever.

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches | Comments (1)

Tibet Open Letter and other innovative uses of WordPress

March 27, 2008 – 10:13 pm

All Things Digital is interesting. Parents would say My Baby Our Baby.com is a little more important. But Tibet Open Letter is as real as the violence.
Two things to note: all of them are based on WordPress, and those who discuss Tibet probably risk being listed by the Chinese government as a trouble maker.

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches | Comments (0)

Evil Google

March 27, 2008 – 12:53 pm

Aaron Swartz’s Bubble City, Chapter 8:
He sent the report to his superior and wandered off for a bit to dwell on the power he had as a faceless person deep inside an office park in Mountain View to know every detail of another person’s life. He wondered what it would be like if he came [...]

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches, Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (0)

Interesting WordPress Plugins

March 27, 2008 – 6:45 am

WP Contact Manager turns WordPress into a contact manager. It’s a combination of theme and plugins (including Custom Write Panel) that allows you to enter and manage contacts as blog posts (familiar, eh?). Use Members Only to secure access.
TDO Mini Forms ?allows you to add highly customisable forms to your website that allows non-registered [...]

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches, Technology | Comments (0)



Best Restaurant In Taipei

March 23, 2008 – 12:19 am

I ate here. It’s every bit as good as the review suggests. Seb’s description and photos tell more, I’ll post my own photos soon. Update: posted.
Short story: there’s a restaurant in Australia with a three month waiting list, but a Sydney Morning Herald reporter says the restaurant I ate at is its equal or better, [...]

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches, Style, Fashion and Food | Comments (0)

Google PageRank Is/Is Not/Is All Machine Generated

March 17, 2008 – 10:49 am

Google’s always been in the awkward position of claiming that PageRank is algorithmic, not editorial, while also explaining that they’re constantly adjusting their algorithms to ensure that PageRank reflects editorial judgments of quality. Here’s a peek inside the machine.

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches, Libraries & Networked Information, Technology | Comments (1)

Zach Houston’s Poem Store

March 15, 2008 – 5:51 am

Walking north on Valencia I heard the characteristic snap snap snap of an old manual typewriter’s hammers striking paper on the platen.
I was more than a bit curious about who might still use such a classic machine even before its operator called out to ask if I wanted to buy a poem. Still, it’d [...]

By Casey | Posted in Photoblog, Travel | Comments (0)

No Mo W

March 14, 2008 – 2:04 pm

Stolen from Jessamyn’s photostream.

By Casey | Posted in Photoblog, Politics & Controversy, Questionable...funny. Pointless. | Comments (0)

Where The Previews Are

March 14, 2008 – 6:11 am

I announced yesterday Scriblio’s integration of Google’s new book viewability API that links to full text, previews, or additional book information (depending on copyright status and publisher foresight). Now that it’s live with Plymouth’s full catalog, I spent a moment browsing the collection and taking note of what books had what.
I get no preview for [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (0)

Scriblio Integrates Google Book Search Links

March 13, 2008 – 1:56 pm

(crossposted at Scriblio.net)
Using the newly released book viewability API in Google Book Search, Plymouth State University’s Lamson Library and Learning Commons is one of the first libraries to move beyond simply listing their books online and open them up to reading and searching via the web.
Take a look at how this works with books [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (2)

Great Name, But Is It Any Good?

March 11, 2008 – 11:32 am

?Spork? is a great name for a restaurant, but is it any good? Yelp says it is, but most of the reviews mention the burger, putting me in the position of having to review the reviewers and wonder if a hamburger person can recommend a restaurant to a vegetarian. Not that I am a vegetarian [...]

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches, Style, Fashion and Food | Comments (0)

Geographic Tweeting

March 10, 2008 – 7:42 pm

twittervision and twittermap show new tweets wherever they appear on the map, TwitterWhere let’s you follow tweets at a specific location, and Ask500People has nothing to do with Twitter but does show you global opinion. Live. While you watch (so they say, anyway).

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches, Technology | Comments (0)

Warming

March 10, 2008 – 4:49 am

If this doesn’t warm your heart, check to see that it’s not made of stone.

By Casey | Posted in Books, Movies, Music, Dispatches, Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (0)

Netflix for Audio Books

March 10, 2008 – 4:23 am

Netflix for audio books: Simply Audiobooks. Though it makes me wonder why we don’t say ?like a library for audiobooks where they send you the stuff you want.?

By Casey | Posted in Books, Movies, Music, Dispatches, Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (1)