Category Archives: Tech - Page 19

One thing leads to another

Posted by on November 14, 2005 Comments Off on One thing leads to another

Just to demonstrate how I can end up spending a lot of time on a fairly simple web inquiry, while I was researching that last blurb about Google Games I ended up on some sites with open source versions of more familiar games.

FreeCiv is one that I’ve seen before. It’s obviously a F/OSS implementation of “Sid Meir’s Civilization” game.

In a similar thread, Stratagus is a F/OSS clone of WarCraft, it was formally called FreeCraft.

The board game Risk has been recreated in software several times over the years but two F/OSS projects attempting this are Jrisk and JavaRisk.

Google Games

Posted by on November 14, 2005 Comments Off on Google Games

There are a lot of interesting games people have come up with for Google. Early on people were entering keywords to try and come up with the shortest string that would return only one result. Later people started posting lists of keywords and you would have to guess what site would come up. Now with the advent of Google Maps and the associated API people have re-created a “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” type spy-hunt geography-learning game called Brewster Jennings Protects America. Others have re-created the board game Risk. These are popping up so quickly that someone has already created a Wiki page for Google Maps games.

Telephone Collecting

Posted by on November 13, 2005 Comments Off on Telephone Collecting

I’ve got a couple of old thephones with real bells in them that I keep for nostalgic purposes but nothing like some of the folks at Telephone Collectors International do. One of the more recent projects a group of them has been working on is linking old electromechanical switching gear together via the Asterisk PBX software. The group calls itself CNET but I can imagine some trademark names with that. In any event they have a website up with some details about it, but be paitent the site loads quite slowly.

There’s also a Telephone Pioneers Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.

a year later: an overview of multiblog software options

Posted by on November 5, 2005 1 comment

Those who’ve been around for a while may remember my article on blogging software from last year. Actually I got (and continue to get) quite a bit of attention from that article including syndication from Lockergnome. The past year has been an interesting one in the blogosphere. As I predicted there was a lot of outrage about MovableType “going commercial” but at the same time the company has continued to grow including the purchase of LiveJournal. How can this be explained? What has happened since then? What’s going on with blogging software now?
Read more »

Cisco announces emergency communications integration system

Posted by on October 30, 2005 1 comment

This week both ComputerWorld and NetworkWorld carried the story about Cisco announcing their IPICS product. Unfortunatly, the headlines, if not the articles, are misleading or at least confusing in their description of the product.

Ever since September 11 there has been a big discussion in the emergency services community about the need for communications interoperability. Out of this discussion the APCO Project 25 standard for public safety digital voice systems emerged. The big downside is that this requires the (expensive) replacement of radio equipment in the service area. While many states have started statewide P25 programs (such as the ARMER project in Minnesota) full capabilities are still a long way off.

With the recent natural disasters there has been an increased awareness of the challenges faced by communications interoperability. My understanding of the Cisco product is that it is a server and gateway product designed not to create a new communications system (a la Project 25) but to tie existing Nextel talkgroups, cell phones, VoIP systems and radio systems together for emergency communications. Think of it like an autopatch on steroids. It’s certainly a big undertaking, especially when you consider how reliable and easy to use it needs to be in emergency situations. It’s pretty tough to explain the server going down and cutting off communications in these situations. It will be interesting to see how Cisco fares in the public safety market which is decidedly different from areas they’ve been in before. For more information on the IPICS system check out the Cisco product annoucement and get it straight from the horse’s mouth.

Ever wanted to run your own library?

Posted by on October 30, 2005 Comments Off on Ever wanted to run your own library?

Getting Integrated Library System (ILS) software is often an expensive and proprietary propisition. Koha is an open-source web-based ILS system designed for complete library systems with multiple branches, patron management, bar code printing and more. With releases dating back to 2000 this software has some stability and users behind it making it a good bet for libraries in need of an open or inexpensive ILS.

News Source for IT in Education

Posted by on October 30, 2005 Comments Off on News Source for IT in Education

Those who work in higher ed certainly are familiar with the Chronicle of Higher Education which is the trade paper du jour. You may be interested to know that the Chronicle also has a “Wired Campus Blog” which is devoted to technology news for educators and educational institutions.

Ungoliant and Shelob Protect Networks From Themselves

Posted by on October 30, 2005 Comments Off on Ungoliant and Shelob Protect Networks From Themselves

Last week IT professionals from the University of Indianapolis demonstrated their network virus detection and quarantine tool, called Shelob, at the Educause 2005 conference in Orlando, FL.

Shelob was designed to stem the rapid spread of network-propagated viruses by combining several existing protocols and services. This server-based management tool, capable of removing infected computers from the network, went into production in fall of 2004, monitoring all nonwireless traffic from resident halls, computer labs, and desktop computers.

My understanding is that the product, built on open source software, detects infections and automatically moves infected systems into a quarantine VLAN which points them towards a web page explaining the problem and how to fix it. The programs designers are working on gleaning up the project to make it usable by other instituions and groups through the Ungoliant project. Handouts from Educause and additional information are avilible at that site.

Satellite Imagery Virtual Globe

Posted by on October 29, 2005 Comments Off on Satellite Imagery Virtual Globe

It was brought to my attention that NASA has released a product that shares some similarities with the popular Google Earth program. While it doesn’t include the comprehensive mapping data fo Google Earth, World Wind does had some pretty cool features. For example, using GLOBE data you can superimpose weather information on the virtual globe, SVS data to watch storms develop or MODIS data to see where current natural world events are taking place. NASA World Wind is a fun and educational way to look at some of this cool (and free!) government data.

When the command line says it best

Posted by on October 29, 2005 Comments Off on When the command line says it best

Sometimes nothing beats a command line tool. Especialoly if you’re writing batch files it’d helpful to have a way to control your operating system from the command line. Microsoft has a list of the command line tools for Windows XP on their web site. If they won’t do you may want to check out the CMD/Command Prompt Tools for 32 bit Windows site which has a number of third party command line utilities.