Contents tagged with Innovation
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Intelligent Hardware Modularity: An Overview
What is Intelligent Modularity?
Consumer electronics that are intelligently modular allow the user to use all or some of the devices in concert quickly and easily.Principles
The following principles indicate the attributes of a ecosystem of devices that are intelligently modular.- Minimalist Connection Hardware
- Each device should strive to connect to its partner devices without any additional hardware (e.g. cables, adapters,, etc). Direct connections or wireless connections are best.
- Transitive Connections
- Devices should be able to link in serial. For instance if a headset can connect to a phone, and a phone can connect to a computer, then connecting the phone to the computer should also connect that phone to the headset.
- Transitive Power
- Powering any one device should power all other hard-connected devices.
- Rugged Connections
- If any collection of devices are physically connected to each other they should be done in such a way that it is possible to carry them as a single unit. Exposed edges should be avoided in order to prevent the possibility of shearing off a partner device when the collective brushes against an object.
- Adaptable Interfaces
- The physical connection designs should allow for future devices to use them. Ideally this should also mean that other devices and other vendors can take advantage of the physical interfaces. For instance, if a laptop has physical slot for a mobile phone, that slot should be designed in an intelligent way such that other phones or in, in the future, WLAN receivers could be used rather than the recommended mobile phone.
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Killer Web Services App: Bus Monster
I love this guy: http://www.busmonster.com/technical.html
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The Case for Real Syndication
The problem with web log syndication formats is that they are rarely used for syndication. When a friend of mine first attempted to sell blogging to me his sales pitch included a description of RSS XML feeds. The analogy he used was that of the Associated Press news wire. He said that just like the news wire other blog writers can use the RSS feeds of other blogs to bolster their blog's content. It turns out that although this may theoretically be technical possible and simple it is not a common practice. Rather most amateur online publishers (bloggers) simply link to other online publications.
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PayPal.Net
A recent Weblogs.asp.net post heralded the release of PayPal's new ASP.Net SDK. They also expose many of their features as web services.
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View RSS or possibly xCalendar in Outlook 2003
There is an interesting article on MSDN entitled “Custom Calendar Providers for Outlook 2003” which contains a hidden gem: a way to integrate RSS with a Calendar view in Outlook 2003.
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Free MapPoint Web Service Access for 1 Year
The MapPoint web service is offering a free 1 year subscription to MSDN subscribers.
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xCalendar
Ray Ozzie of Groove points out a great idea in his September 2003 entry: xCal. An XML equivalent to iCal that is supported by Outlook and behaves like RSS.
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Too Many Credit Cards
I love this.