Chantra

Open Source : 13 Excellent Tools for Web Designers

chantra — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:57:06 +0000

Open source applications and tools are a great alternative for web designers on a budget. Many open source tools have comparable features to the expensive applications, and are also free. This makes it possible possible for a web designer to have all the tools and applications needed to complete everyday tasks without even spending a cent. In this article you will find 13 of the best open source tools for web designers.

Text Editors

Aptana Studio

Aptana is a complete web development environment that combines powerful authoring tools for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, along with thousands of additional plugins created by the community.

KompoZer

KompoZer is a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing.

Notepad++

Notepad++ is a source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. It runs on Windows and is governed by a GPL License.

Firebug

Firebug is a plugin for Firefox that allows you to edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.

Quanta Plus

Quanta Plus is a highly stable and feature rich web development environment.

jEdit

jEdit is a cross platform text editor with hundreds of person-years of development behind it.

Graphics Applications

GIMP

GIMP is a versatile graphics manipulation package. It’s considered by many to be an excellent alternative to Photoshop.

Dia

Dia is a cross operating system diagram creation application.

Krita

Krita is a graphics application for everyone who wants to get creative with images.

Inkscape

Inkscape is a vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Adobe Illustrator.

FTP

FileZilla

FileZilla is probably the most popular ftp application. You can download a client or server version.

Cyberduck

Cyberduck is an FTP client built for the Mac.

WinSCP

WinSCP is an open source free SFTP client and FTP client for Windows.

Windows 7 Sins: The case against Microsoft and proprietary software

chantra — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:11:51 +0000

The new version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, Windows 7, has the same problem that Vista, XP, and all previous versions have had — it’s proprietary software. Users are not permitted to share or modify the Windows software, or examine how it works inside.

The fact that Windows 7 is proprietary means that Microsoft asserts legal control over its users through a combination of copyrights, contracts, and patents. Microsoft uses this power to abuse computer users. At windows7sins.org, the Free Software Foundation lists seven examples of abuse committed by Microsoft.

1. Poisoning education: Today, most children whose education involves computers are being taught to use one company’s product: Microsoft’s. Microsoft spends large sums on lobbyists and marketing to corrupt educational departments. An education using the power of computers should be a means to freedom and empowerment, not an avenue for one corporation to instill its monopoly.

2. Invading privacy: Microsoft uses software with backward names like Windows Genuine Advantage to inspect the contents of users’ hard drives. The licensing agreement users are required to accept before using Windows warns that Microsoft claims the right to do this without warning.

3. Monopoly behavior: Nearly every computer purchased has Windows pre-installed — but not by choice. Microsoft dictates requirements to hardware vendors, who will not offer PCs without Windows installed on them, despite many people asking for them. Even computers available with other operating systems like GNU/Linux pre-installed often had Windows on them first.

4. Lock-in: Microsoft regularly attempts to force updates on its users, by removing support for older versions of Windows and Office, and by inflating hardware requirements. For many people, this means having to throw away working computers just because they don’t meet the unnecessary requirements for the new Windows versions.

5. Abusing standards: Microsoft has attempted to block free standardization of document formats, because standards like OpenDocument Format would threaten the control they have now over users via proprietary Word formats. They have engaged in underhanded behavior, including bribing officials, in an attempt to stop such efforts.

6. Enforcing Digital Restrictions Management (DRM): With Windows Media Player, Microsoft works in collusion with the big media companies to build restrictions on copying and playing media into their operating system. For example, at the request of NBC, Microsoft was able to prevent Windows users from recording television shows that they have the legal right to record.

7. Threatening user security: Windows has a long history of security vulnerabilities, enabling the spread of viruses and allowing remote users to take over people’s computers for use in spam-sending botnets. Because the software is secret, all users are dependent on Microsoft to fix these problems — but Microsoft has its own security interests at heart, not those of its users.

You can help!

Free software operating systems like GNU/Linux can do the same jobs as Windows, but they encourage users to share, modify, and study the software as much as they want. This makes using a free software operating system the best way for users to escape Microsoft and avoid becoming victims of these seven sins. Software and computers will always have problems, but by using free software, users and their communities are empowered to fix problems for themselves and each other.

You can get more information about each of the sins and how to escape them at windows7sins.org. Please sign up there for campaign news and action alerts to help raise awareness about Microsoft’s abuses, the problems with Windows 7, and the importance of free software!

Twitter : 62 Ways to Use for Business

chantra — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:22:37 +0000

Most of you know that Twitter can be used for much more than just announcing what you ate for breakfast. Many of you already know Twitter’s value in business, but you can still take it further and use it to land gigs, market your business, grow your network and gain free publicity — all in 140 characters or less.

It’s true that Twitter is what you make of it. Some people publicize their daily activities, some make it about link love, some share quotes all day long. Smart people using Twitter for business mix it up. Here are 62 ways to use Twitter more effectively in your business.

Share Expertise to Build Credibility

Help others with problems.
Share tips related to your business and work-life balance.
Share photos (Twitpic makes it easy) of conferences, travel, products and other interesting finds.
Provide selected highlights from a conference or event.
Report industry, company, world and other news that’s related to your business, together with some commentary.
Link to articles and content posted elsewhere with a summary of why it’s valuable.
Post original thoughts on your topic, industry and business.

Grow Your Network

Ask about other locales so you can make the most of a trip, or meet up with Twitter friends.
Connect with friends from other social networks. Can you name one person who has only one social network account? (Grandparents on Facebook don’t count.)
Join industry and topic groups related to your business and career on sites likewww.twibes.com and www.wefollow.com.
Feed your Twitter tweets into other social networks like FriendFeed. (Although consider carefully before integrating your Twitter feed into other profiles, Like Facebook, as a stream of tweets can overwhelm your contacts.)
Combine your social media approach: when someone asks question in Twitter, respond briefly in Twitter with a link to another site with the detailed response.
Participate in Twitter chats related to your industry or business on a regular basis. Although you should beware that the stream of tweets from chats can overwhelm contacts that aren’t participating in the chat, so consider using a separate ID for chats.
Research prospects before meeting them. You can gain a lot of valuable information just from scanning their tweets, profile and contacts.
Discover trends. You can use Twitter search for this purpose. Mashable alsohas a list of tools that you can use for tracking trends on Twitter.
Network to find new clients or land a new job. Just be careful of making your tweets overly promotional, as that’s not appreciated by most twitter users
Stay in touch with friends and colleagues. You ever know when a friend of colleague might have a lead for you.
Get referrals.
Give referrals.
Ask questions.
Answer questions.
Recommend other Twitter users to your network including reasons to follow them — by sharing goodwill you will encourage others to reciprocate.
Use search feature to find topics, keywords and locations. Use hashtags or usernames to limit results to topics or responses mentioning a person. Dawn has some more tips on advanced Twitter search here.
Spread your tweets throughout the day, rather than posting the all at once, as people check Twitter at different times of the day. It’s always prime time on Twitter.
Look for connections related to a job you want.
Find vendors and contractors.

Marketing

If your site’s not working or you’re suffering from another problem, give updates on Twitter so customers know what’s going on.
Find experts to invite as a guest blogger on your blog or as speaker at your event.
Seek sponsors for a contest or program.
Hold a contest using Twitter: it can spread like wildfire. Squarespace’s iPhone contest made the trending topic list.
Use applications and tools like www.clickablenow.com andwww.twittercustomizer.com to enhance your Twitter background and profile.
Put together a virtual mastermind group.
Track conversations mentioning your name or your brand.
Respond to tweets talking about you and your brand.
Link to your content wisely and sparingly to avoid looking too promotional.
Do market research and gain knowledge with polls and surveys.
Share those survey and poll results.
Publish your Twitter ID on all marketing collateral, including business cards, email signature, email newsletters, web sites and brochures, so prospects can learn more about you.
Share what you’re doing so people learn about the type of work you do. Do this on occasion rather than all day long.
Avoid hard-sell tactics: focus on relationship building.
Write honest and valuable recommendations for your contacts on sources likeMr. Tweet.
Link to your presentations and videos.
Mention when you’re attending or speaking at an upcoming event.
Announce the publication of your newsletter’s latest issue, along with a brief description.
Post discounts, coupons and package deals.
Announce job openings to find qualified talent.

Do the Right (and Fun) Thing

Share information that is useful for prospective clients or employers to enhance your reputation.
Be nice even when you have a difference of opinion.
Save the “Thanks for following me,” “Thanks for the RT” or similar tweets for direct messages (DM).
Use Twitter often to improve, tighten and sharpen your writing.
Remember to laugh and have fun because it inspires you to innovate and be creative in your job.
Make your goals public to compel you to reach them.
Start your day strong: some people find Twitter interactions put them in a good mood.

Finally, Some Tips for Absolute Beginners

Read Twitter’s own Twitter 101 Guide and other Twitter articles.
Use keywords on your profile and a fun fact to earn trust, add personality and enable you to be found.
Dump the default Twitter avatar and use a photo of yourself or a suitable image.
Follow experts, companies, competitors and leaders in your industry.
Limit Twitter automation, because it comes across as phony.
Think quality not quantity.
Be authentic, genuine and real. In other words, be yourself.
Mix up the tweet types to include retweets (RT), @replies, original thoughts, and links to other people’s content (not just your own).
Don’t get overwhelmed by the number of contacts you have. Organize them into groups using third-party applications like Tweetdeck and Seesmic.

Entrepreneurs: Top 10 Social Networks Should Know

chantra — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:36:51 +0000

Here are the top 10 social networks for entrepreneurs. Each helps entrepreneurs succeed by providing them with the guidance, tools and resources they need to setup their company and gain exposure.

Have another social site to add to this list? Tell us about it in the comments.

1. Entrepreneur Connect

Entrepreneur Media, the company that produces Entrepreneur Magazine, started a social network over a year ago specifically for entrepreneurs and small business owners called Entrepreneur Connect. Like all social networks, you have the opportunity to create your own profile, explore the community, share ideas with other entrepreneurs and network. Unlike most social networks, this one frowns upon too much self-promotion and applauds idea sharing.

You can use this network to connect to service providers, suppliers, advisers and colleagues. Just like LinkedIn and Facebook (), there are professional groups that you can join or create. Another cool feature is that you’re able to start your own blog and possibly have it appear on the main page. This is similar to what Fast Company has done with their website.

2. PartnerUp

PartnerUp is a social network for entrepreneurs who are searching for people and resources for business opportunities. Anyone can join, but business partners, co-founders, executives and board members will get the most out of this one. In this network, you can ask or offer advice, find commercial real estate and find service providers like accountants and marketers for your business.

The big differentiator with this social network is the commercial real estate “MoveUpSM” program that serves entrepreneurs who have experienced a hard time trying to find office space for their business. They also have a Resource Directory that allows small and mid-sized businesses to advertise their services.

3. StartupNation

Most social networks neglect the content aspect that makes StartupNation so useful. With articles, forums, blogs, on-demand seminars, and podcasts, entrepreneurs will be better prepared for their ventures and have the resources required to make better business decisions.

There are a wide range of topics being discussed on StartupNation right now, including business planning, marketing and web-based business. The site also offers a series of competitions, such as a dorm-based 20 contest and an elevator pitch competition. If you’re an entrepreneur or hope to become one, this site is definitely one you can’t miss out on.

4. LinkedIn

It’s difficult to leave LinkedIn () off of any social networking list because it’s so useful for anyone who’s either searching for a job, is trying to network with like-minded individuals, or building a company. LinkedIn offers many resources for entrepreneurs, such as groups, including the very popular “On Startups” group that has over 54,000 members.

Entrepreneurs on LinkedIn should brand themselves properly so they can attract the right kind of business opportunities, and perform searches to find service providers or partners. As an entrepreneur, you should also be looking to participate in LinkedIn Answers, events and applications to spruce up your profile and become a valuable member to your community.

5. Biznik

This isn’t another LinkedIn clone. Instead, Biznik brands itself as a social network that “doesn’t suck.” The Biznik community is composed of freelancers, CEOs, and the self-employed. Like the other networks, this is a place for you to share ideas, instead of posting your resume. It is mandatory for all members to use their real names and provide real data, and Biznik editors actually review all profiles to ensure compliance with that policy. There are three levels of membership, including basic, active ($10 a month for an enhanced profile) and supporting ($24 a month for increased visibility).

6. Perfect Business

If you want to meet thousands of serious entrepreneurs, experts and investors from a variety of industries, then Perfect Business might be the perfect social network for you. The type of people you’ll find are potential business partners, potential clients and advisers. Additionally, the site has leading business partners like Entrepreneur and Virgin Money.

From business networking to a video center where you can learn from successful entrepreneurs, a business plan builder and even an investor center, you’ll have most of the resources you need to create or regenerate your business. There is a free basic membership and a gold membership that costs $29.99 per month.

7. Go BIG Network

The Go BIG Network embraces job seekers, in addition to funding sources, service providers and entrepreneurs. In this social network, you post requests for help, which are then routed to other people in the network that can answer your questions or support you. Members of this social network can search through profiles of other members, contact them or post a request (a classified ad) to talk about what they are looking for (such as a business partner). The profiles on this network are targeted and specific so it’s easy to find an investor in a particular region.

8. Cofoundr

The Cofoundr network is made up of idea makers, entrepreneurs, programmers, web designers, investors, freelancers and executives. The primary purpose of joining this network is to start a new web venture. Unlike most of the social networks already listed here, Cofoundr is a strictly private network, which means that you can’t view member profiles before you register for an account.

Membership requires having a valid university or work email address, which means high schools students and younger aren’t allowed. The first thing you have to do is sign up, then specify your abilities and the people you are trying to network with and finally, post your idea on the bulletin board or in the forum.

9. The Funded

The Funded is an online community of entrepreneurs who research, rate and review funding sources. Entrepreneurs can view and share terms sheets to assist each other in finding good investors, as well as discuss the inner workings of operating a business. General benefits of this site include viewing facts, reviews and commentary on funding resources, and accessing RSS feeds of the most recent public comments by members.

By joining the site, you have access to detailed fund profiles with specialty, reference investments, and investment criteria, in addition to accessing partner vCards that have full contact information of all partners at venture funds. In order to get any value out of this social network, you pretty much have to become a member.

10. Young Entrepreneur

If you’re young, entrepreneurial and socially active or just curious, then Young Entrepreneur is a great starting point for you. This community appears as a discussion forum, with topics such as e-commerce, search engine optimization, marketing, IT & Internet, and franchising. Aside from their main forum and threads, there is a popular blog and some great videos.

Journalism Students : Their 100 Best Blogs

chantra — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:38:12 +0000

Today’s journalism students are entering an industry that’s facing a crossroads. These days, newspapers and media in general are adapting and growing at a rapid pace, and it’s essential that students keep up, or they’ll be left in the dust. By reading these blogs, you can keep an ear to the ground on the latest developments that matter the most to journalism students.

General

These blogs offer general information to journalism students.

PoynterOnline: Read news and tips about writing, reporting, and more.
Common Sense Journalism: Doug Fisher’s blog offers a view of common sense journalism in new and old media.
The Editorialiste: Andrew Nusca offers his writing about media issues.
Lost Remote: Lost Remote discusses the future of TV and the business of journalism.
Institute for Analytic Journalism: This institute researches and develops non-traditional analytic methods and tools for journalism.
Innovation Journalism: Read this blog to learn about journalism, information, public affairs, and more on Innovation Journalism.
JOUR M02 Writing and Reporting for the Media: This class blog will help you learn about interviewing, gathering information, and more for writing and reporting.
Tony’s Journalism Blog: Read Tony’s blog to see the latest news stories in journalism.

Educators

Read these blogs to hear from journalism professors and other educators.

The Innovation Journalism Blog: David Nordfors leads the Innovation Journalism program at Stanford.
Bob Stepno: Read Bob Stepno’s to find explorations of personal and community journalism.
PressThink: Jay Rosen teaches journalism at NYU and writes the PressThink blog.
Columbia Journalism Review: This blog supports strong press and strong democracy.
Teaching Online Journalism: Read this blog to learn about teaching and learning online journalism.
Neiman Journalism Lab: The Neiman Journalism Lab is a blog about quality journalism in the Internet age from Harvard University.
Public Journalism Network: Leonard Witt is the Robert D. Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication at Kennesaw State University.
Campfire Journalism: Campfire Journalism shares tutorials and knowledge for teaching interactive storytelling.
Andy Dickinson: Read what Andy Dickinson has to say about online journalism, newspaper, video, and digital media.
JACC Blog: JACC Blog offers a discussion from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges.
WJEA Blog: The WJEA blog is a tool of the Washington Journalism Education Association.

Students

Check out these blogs to read the thoughts of other journalism students.

The Spectrum: This blog from NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute Urban Journalism Workshop shares views from urban teems.
Journo Student: Thoughts and Exploits: Find a discussion of magazines and more in this journalism student’s blog.
Online Journalism Lab: This blog is written by students at Whitworth University studying the changing world of online journalism.
Innovation in College Media: Read this blog for a group discussion on the future of social media.
Online Journalism Review: Read this blog, the work of OJR readers and journalism students from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism.
Jschool Student Blog: This blog is maintained by journalism students at Jschool: Journalism Education & Training, Australia.

New Media

Many blogs that are important to journalism students today reflect what’s happening in new media.

Journalism 2.0: Mark Briggs’ blog writes about journalism in the digital age.
Journalistopia: This blog is written for online journalists.
Contentious: Contentious shares Amy Gahran’s discussion on communication in the online age.
Mashable: Mashable offers a readable guide to social media.
Socialmedia.biz: Get social strategies and social news from this blog.
Online Journalism Blog: Read the Online Journalism Blog to get a look into the future of journalism.
MediaShift: MediaShift is a guide to the digital media revolution.
Ricochet: Here you’ll find a home for ideas on online news.
paidContent: This blog writes about the economic evolution of digital content.
New Media Bytes: Read New Media Bytes to learn about online journalism, web production, and more.
Publishing 2.0: Publishing 2.0 covers the revolution of media.
Reportr: Reportr offers a blog to help make sense of how media, society, and technology work together.
BeatBlogging: BeatBlogging works to push the practice of beat reporting.
Online Journalism Review: Online Journalism Review works to support good journalism and help journalists thrive in the Digital Now.
Technolo-J: With Technolo-J, you can get in touch with your technical side.
Eat Sleep Publish: Read thoughts on publishing’s future on Eat Sleep Publish.
Journerdism: Journerdism discusses online journalism, multimedia, social media, and more.
E-Media Tidbits: In this group blog, you’ll learn about the intersection of news and technology.
MediaMemo: Find news, analysis, and opinion about the digital revolution in this blog.
10,000 Words: 10,000 Words is a blog at the intersection of journalism and technology.
Center for Citizen Media: This blog encourages grassroots and citizen journalism.
Advancing the Story: Advancing the Story examines broadcast journalism as it relates to the multimedia world.
MediaShift Idea Lab: Read Idea Lab to learn about community news for the digital age.
CyberJournalist: Follow this blog for tips, news and commentary on using the Internet as a reporting tool.
The Journalism Iconoclast: The Journalism Iconoclast discusses new media journalism.
Interactive Narratives: Interactive Narratives showcases some of the best in multimedia journalism and storytelling.
MediaFile: MediaFile is a blog that shares the meeting of media and technology.

News

Check out these blogs that cover the news of covering the news.

Mediabistro: Mediabistro offers news, career, and community for media professionals.
A Capital Idea: Nicole Stockdale writes this copy editing blog about grammar and newspapers.
Journalism.org: This website will help you better understand news in the information age.
Editor & Publisher: Editor & Publisher is America’s oldest journal covering the newspaper industry.
Rhetorica: Read Rhetorica to find analysis and commentary about journalism, politics, and more.
Sans Serif: Get news, views, and more about the printing industry from Sans Serif.
Media Matters for America: Stay up to date on happenings in the media from Media Matters.
The Newspaper Guild: If you’re a communication worker, be sure to check out this blog.
Media Guardian: Find media news, commentary, and analysis from the UK on Media Guardian.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: This nonprofit shares developments in freedom of the press on this blog.
Mediaweek: Mediaweek is an official media news magazine.
Newspaper Death Watch: Newspaper Death Watch will keep you up to date on the decline of newspapers.
Topix Journalism: Topix updates journalism news from thousands of online sources.
Romenesko: Follow Jim Romenesko’s blog to get a daily dose of media industry news, commentary, and more.
Evolving Newsroom: This blog shares links and observations on news and journalism.
I Want Media: Find media news and resources from I Want Media.

Journalists

Get your news straight from the journalists on these blogs.

Howard Owens: Here you can read the personal blog of Howard Owens.
Mediascaper: Anthony Salveggi is a Tampa Bay area journalist who is interested in online communication and press issues.
Invisible Inkling: Ryan Sholin writes about work as a Director of News Innovation, and how the news business is changing.
Buzz Machine: Jeff Jarvis, associate professor and director of interactive journalism at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and author of What Would Google Do?, writes this blog about media and news.
Rob Curley: This Internet newsman writes about local news and the evolution of traditional media.
Abbey Anne: Abbey Anne’s blog discusses news, reviews, travels, and food.
DigiDave: DigiDave approaches journalism as a process, not a product.
Kelly Roche: Kelly Roche’s blog offers a look into the life of a journalist and producer.
Reflections of a Newsosaur: Read Alan Mutter’s blog to read the musings and warnings of a veteran media executive.
Steve Outing: Steve Outing shares musings on news in the Internet era.
One Man and His Blog: Adam Tinworth writes about bloggers, journalists, and “other media reptiles.”
yelvington: On this blog, Steve Yelvington is a lifelong journalist and media company strategist.
Adrian Monck: Adrian Monck writes this blog about how we inform ourselves and why we do it.
Lucas Grindley: Lucas Grindley’s blog explores the new way for journalism.
The Linchpen: Greg Linch shares his thoughts about online journalism and journalism education.
Jon Slattery: Jon Slattery is a freelance journalist from London, England.
Charlie Beckett: POLIS director Charlie Beckett offers comments on international journalism, media, and society on this blog.
Mastering Multimedia: Read musings from Colin Mulvany, a multimedia producer on this blog.
Meranda Writes: Meranda Watling is a young reporter who writes about K-12 education.
Jon Welsh’s These Digital Times: John Welsh’s blog helps explain digital media times.
Martin Stabe: Martin Stabe takes a UK-centric look at new media and online journalism.
Mathew Ingram: Mathew Ingram’s blog shares the intersection of media, technology, business, and the web.
Sean Blanda: Sean Blanda’s blog is all about what it’s like to be a young journalist, discussing all kinds of media.

Photojournalism

Read these blogs to see the unique perspective of photojournalists.

Multimedia Evangelist: In this blog, you’ll learn about changes in photography and photojournalism today.
Multimedia and Video Journalism: Find out what Robb Montgomery has to say about video journalism and multimedia.
Multimedia Shooter: Multimedia Shooter keeps track of important news for photojournalists so you don’t have to.
VideoJournalism: Cyndy Green’s blog asks you to think visually.
Photojournalism From a Student’s Eye: Learn about photojournalism by reading the blog of this photojournalism student.

Investigative Journalism

These blogs focus on investigative journalism.

The Centre for Investigative Journalism News Blog: Get the latest in investigative journalism from this blog.
Depth Reporting: Mark Schaver writes about computer-assisted and investigative reporting on Depth Reporting.
The Scoop: In The Scoop, you’ll learn about investigative and computer-assisted reporting from Derek Willis.
Help Me Investigate: Follow this blog to learn more about investigative journalism.

Twitter Visualizations : 6 Gorgeous

chantra — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:38:14 +0000

Ah, Twitter (). It’s impossible to get away from it; it seems that everyone stopped whatever they were doing B.T. (before Twitter) and switched to doing cool stuff for and around the service, and this includes data visualizations. In the past, we’ve profiled unique Twitter-related visualizations, but now we’re after sheer beauty. And that’s exactly what we’ve found; here are six gorgeous Twitter visualizations.

Know of a beautiful Twitter visualization? Let us know in the comments!

1. Social Collider

Although it’s a bit too slow for everyday usage and functions better as pure eye candy, Social Collider is actually quite an interesting tool. It tracks conversations based on users or topics on Twitter in the following way: if a tweet didn’t start a conversation, it just connects vertically to the next tweet. If it did, it connects to the next conversation horizontally. Depending on the user or topic you choose, it can be a visual treat or complete information overload (try “Mashable ()” for an example of that).

2. Just Landed

Just Landed is a beautiful geo-visualization of tweets containing the words “Just landed in…”. It finds the tweets containing the phrase, checks for the location they’ve landed in, and the location they were sent from, and shows all this on a 3D map of the world. For more information check out the author’s blog, blprnt.org.

3. Twistori

In its exploration of Twitter, Twistori goes back to basics: to what we love, hate, believe, think, feel and wish. It takes tweets containing those words and turns them into a beautiful stream of (mostly) positive Twitter thoughts. Feeling down or depressed? Tune into Twistori, turn on the “I Love” stream and you’ll feel better in no time.

4. Twitt3D

Twitt3D would have been much better looking if it weren’t for the shabby overall page design, but it’s still a very interesting visual tool. It lets you follow your tweets in 3D; after entering your Twitter username and password, you can use the arrow keys to navigate and the space bar to quickly change perspectives. Twitt3D’s usefulness is pretty much zero, but those still pining for the never-realized Gibsonesque 3D cyberspace will love it.

5. Goodnight Sweet Tweets

This sweet and simple visualization was built with Processing. It parses Twitter for tweets containing the strings “zzz” or “zzzz” and then animates them with some vector-based graphics. It’s nothing more than a visual gimmick, but it’s definitely a nice addition to the already visually impressive website.

6. Minsh

Ok, Minsh perhaps has some way to go before it gets truly beautiful, as this underwater 3D world based on Twitter could benefit from some more polished graphics, but the potential is there. Unfortunately, at this time you cannot sign up for Minsh as it’s not accepting new users before the new (alpha) version is released, but you can see what it’s about in the video.

Honorable mention – TweetWheel

Unfortunately, TweetWheel no longer exists (its domain, tweetwheel.com is now just a parked domain with a bunch of ads). However, it was one of the most beautiful Twitter visualizations out there, and Twitter app directory Twitdom still has an image of the tool in action.

Cheating Goes Digital

chantra — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:13:26 +0000

Cheating in the classroom is as old as the classroom itself. But teachers need to wise up to their students’ technological savvy. Peeking over their shoulders to glimpse responses on a classmate’s papers and coughing in tune with answers are old school. Today’s students are cheating by programming answers into their graphing calculators and beaming them to friends, texting answers to exam questions — or sending images of the answers — and recording cheat sheets and playing them back on their iPods during exams.

Cities at Sea’s Vision : Five Design

chantra — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:29:33 +0000

The Seasteading Institute, a self-described “society of ocean pioneers” has announced the winners of its first-ever 3-D design competition–five visions for floating a housing development the size of a small town on an ocean platform.

The Institute, founded by Patri Friedman, a 32-year-old former software engineer at Google, wants to make offshore living workable. With funding from a top-tier VC, the Institute eventually hopes to produce open-source blueprints usable by anyone intent on creating their own country. They’ve already produced a design for a $50 million platform.

But the current concepts aren’t intended to be built–rather, it’s an exercise to promote the concept–to visualize what a life offshore might be like. Here’s the five winners, culled from 41 entries:

“Swimming City” designed by 27-year-old Hungarian graphic designer Andras Gyorf, took the grand prize of $1,000. It’s the most traditional of the schemes. Step away the floating platform, and the design could easily be a mixed-use redevelopment of factory lofts in Dallas:

Minneapolis-based architecture grad student Emerson Stepp didn’t exactly present a new concept for society and government–which is, after all, the Seasteading Institute’s stated goal–but his design was good enough to win the Best Picture Award. Stepp’s “Oasis of the Sea” is a floating resort that would be the end point for a luxurious cruise:

But it’s worth noting that a similar town already exists, and it even has the same name: TheOasis of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s newest, and largest cruise ship, houses 5,400 people and has seven themed neighborhoods–watch a video of it here.

Brazilian architecture student Anthony Ling was cited for creating “the best sense of human influence or presence.” It has constantly reconfigurable housing units, and stilts, which allow green space underneath:

Judges called Marko Jarvela’s entry the “most visually appealing or enticing” of the lot. It would utilize passive building principles, but the weirdest part is its solar shields on both ends, which make the entire rig look like a sea-creature from a 1950’s sci-fi flick that just stumbled out of a murky lagoon:

The people’s choice award–which garnered the most votes from the public–went to Team 3DA, a group of 3-D designers based in Las Vegas. Their proposal is, naturally, the only one that could have been transplanted from the Las Vegas Strip. Sure it has greenhouses and energy systems to allow “total independence” but it also has a garishly lit central plaza, which makes it perfectly suited to drunken conventioneers:

Check out all the entries and runners up here. You can read more about the Seasteading Institute here.

BarCampKL 2009

chantra — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:08:06 +0000

Last weekend I had attended the BarCampKL 2009 @INTI College, Subang. It’s a great event and great presentors, topic raise from technical to social. Some topics I had attended : Travel 2.0, Get fund for your innovation and creative idea, the stingy web startup, Open Social, Browser War, Do we need a BM FireFox, Why some mutations are awesome for your company, from Geek to Chique, Corporate brands in social media…

And you can see the photos at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/barcampkl

and at: http://picasaweb.google.com/viirak/BarcampKL2009?feat=embedwebsite#

Khmer Language Linux Book

chantra — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:57:26 +0000

You can download sample chapter here…

It’s a 242 pages book in Khmer Language. Please see the table of content below:

Table of Content

ជំពូកទី ១ ៖ ការប្រើប្រាស់ និងកំណត់រចនាសម្ព័ន្ធបរិស្ថានផ្ទៃតុលីនុច

មេរៀនទី ១ ៖ ការប្រើប្រាស់ផ្ទៃតុ
មេរៀនទី ២ ៖ ការប្រើប្រាស់កម្មវិធីរបស់ខេឌីអ៊ី
មេរៀនទី ៣ ៖ ការកំណត់រចនាសម្ព័ន្ធផ្ទៃតុ KDE

ជំពូកទី ២ ៖ ប្រព័ន្ធលីនុច និងការដំឡើង

មេរៀនទី ៤ ៖ ប្រព័ន្ធប្រតិបត្តិការលីនុច
មេរៀនទី ៥ ៖ ការដំឡើងលីនុចអូផឹនស៊ូស៊ី
មេរៀនទី ៦ ៖ ការកំណត់រចនាសម្ព័ន្ធផ្នែករឹង
មេរៀនទី ៧ ៖ ការគ្រប់គ្រងកម្មវិធីក្នុងលីនុច
មេរៀនទី ៨ ៖ ការគ្រប់គ្រងអ្នកប្រើ និង ក្រុមតាមយ៉ាស

ជំពូកទី ៣ ៖ ការគ្រប់គ្រងប្រព័ន្ធតាមពាក្យបញ្ជា

មេរៀនទី ៩ ៖ សែល និងពាក្យបញ្ជា
មេរៀនទី ១០ ៖ សិទ្ធិ និងសុវត្ថិភាពឯកសារ

ជំពូកទី ៤ ៖ ការគ្រប់គ្រងបណ្ដាញលើលីនុច

មេរៀនទី ១១ ៖ បណ្ដាញកុំព្យូទ័រ និងការដំឡើង
មេរៀនទី ១២ ៖ ម៉ាស៊ីនបម្រើ DHCP

ជំពូកទី ៥ ៖ ការគ្រប់គ្រងកម្រិតខ្ពស់

មេរៀនទី ១៦ ៖ ការគ្រប់គ្រងកញ្ចប់កម្មវិធី
មេរៀនទី ១៧ ៖ ការគ្រប់គ្រងអ្នកប្រើ និងក្រុមតាមពាក្យបញ្ជា
មេរៀនទី ១៨ ៖ ការបម្រុងទុកទិន្នន័យ និងកំណត់ពេលប្រតិបត្តិការងារស្វ័យប្រវត្តិ
មេរៀនទី ១៩ ៖ ម៉ាស៊ីនបម្រើឯកសារ
មេរៀនទី ២០ ៖ ការបង្កើនសមត្ថភាពប្រព័ន្ធ