Episode 4 - Tech 2005

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Hello, Welcome to Ourtech Technology Podcast - Episode 4 "Where basic information comes easy". Pardon for not coming up with a podcast last week as I was unwell, but in this episode I am going to make it up for the last week. Actually this would have been my 5th Episode.Well in this episode we are going to flip through year 2005 which brought some interesting and innovative web technologies and thus changed the face of internet completely. 2005 has been a crucial year for primarily helping us all connect,work,interact with the Web and eachother better, thanks to Web 2.0. RSS, Blogging, Ajax, Delicious, Wikipedia... w'll talk a little more in depth on these topics and other worth mentioning moments / technologies which took place in 2005. And ofcourse there's gadget speak and oven fresh news to keep you productive.So stayed tuned..........and see you in Tech 2006 with Ourtech.God bless you all !!

Following are the links discussed in the podcast regarding Web 2.0 and other technologies:

1) Tech Speak:

A) RSS
RSS means (Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based format for distributing and aggregating Web content …(such as news headlines).There are RSS readers whihc you can download or create a customizable personal start page to get your RSS feeds with google or yahoo.
http://my.yahoo.com/s/about/rss/ or http://www.google.co.in/ig?hl=en

RSS Readers - These are all free rss readers which you can download and install, I personally use feedreader which is quite good
http://www.rssreader.com
http://www.feedreader.com
http://www.pluck.com
http://www.bradsoft.com/download/index.asp for ( Feed Demon)
( Please note feed demon is not free, it's a trial version )

What you need to do ?
It's really simple. Download the software. Click Add feed and add the RSS feed in the reader. You will find the RSS feed on the respective website you want the news from. You can add as many feeds you want.
The RSS feed will look something this - http://www.internetnews.com/icom_includes/feeds/inews/xml_front-10.xml
or http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_tech.rss

The same goes for downloading a Podcast. You can download eg: Ourtech Technology Podcast directly from this website or copy paste the RSS feed of this podcast in special programs to download and subscribe to this podcast automatically. Let me also add that podcast was introduced in late 2004, but has gained incredible acceptance and momentem in 2005 giving birth to various business idea's and tons of mp3 players - ipod family ( ipod is usually associated with podcast because, ipod was introduced before podcast was introduced and hence everyone thinks ipod=podcast, but the fact is that you can listen or see a podcast in any mp3 player supporting mp3 format and specific video formats) , creative zen family, iriver, sony network walkman to name a few. And now with video podcast and other media joining the party, it just gets better.
Software to download podcast-
itunes -http://www.apple.com/itunes/,
juice ( formerly iPodder) http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/index.php
doppler - http://www.dopplerradio.net/
Some podcast search websites-
www.podcastingnews.com , www.podcastalley.com , www.podcastdirectory ,
www.thefeeddirectory.com

B) Blogs - There are two types of blogs one is "news blog" and second is "personal blog".For personal blogs www.blogger.com , www.wordpress.com , www.typepad.com are good to start with. For news blogs just type in "top 10 blogging websites" in any serach engine and you should be on your way.

C) AJAX - Ajax, is a web development technique for creating interactive web applications.
using a combination of XHTML, Javascript and XML. Ajax is not a technology in itself, but a term that refers to the use of a group of technologies together.
Following are some AJAX applications which are worth trying out.
http://www.protopage.com/v2
This is a customizable personal start page. You can add in your RSS feeds here too.Similar to this is http://www.pageflakes.com but it's works only in IE. These apps are worth a look.
http://www.gchart.com/index.php
Time Convertor
http://ajax.parish.ath.cx/translator
Nice little language Translator
http://www.kiko.com/
It's basic but cute little online calender
http://dojotoolkit.org
Dojo is a open source javascript toolkit that helps you build serious applications in less time.

API - Application Program Interface. It's basicaly a interface developed by third party developers which existing applications or computer systems allow to integrate within itself. AJAX offers these capabilities.

Open Source Software - means a software you can modify or add you own thing. Open Source Softwares are free and thus it allows you to modify them, as long as the software is licensed under an open-source license.There are tons of open source software available for offline or online use, for every field and purpose namely web browser, office applications, RSS/atom readers, firewall, instant messengers etc .
http://www.openoffice.org/
OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
This is wonderful software for recording and editing sounds. I use it for recording and editing my podcast and I can vouch for it. It's so easy and yet powerful.
http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Home.2.0.html
Blender software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback.
http://www.feedreader.com/
This is an easy RSS reader. I have mentioned this in RSS section.
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
This is an excellent and fast browser. I guess it's popularity will vouch for itself.

D) http://del.icio.us is a social bookmarking and social software web service for storing and sharing web bookmarks.Tags are used here to find objects or organize objects. Similarly you can try www.wink.com.

E) www.flickr.com is a digital photo sharing website with the help of tagging extensively. Same goes for www.textamerica.com

F) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page multilingual web based free content encyclopedia. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone having access to browser and internet connection.

2) Gadget Speak:

www.gotvoice.com is a free service that allows you to access your voicemail over the internet from anywhere.

I have mentioned www.dojotoolkit.org and www.protopage.com/v2 earlier.

www.dragdropsitecreator.com is billed as "first AJAX based site builder. It is intented for primarily web hosting companies, so that they can allow the clients to build entire websites in the browser itself.

www.rollyo.com gives the power to create your own searh engine without the need of progamming. Similarly check out www.swicki.eurekster.com and www.scoopgo.com

3) Oven fresh news:

a) A christmas island frigate bird named lydia recently made a non-stop journey of just over 26 days and covering nearly 2,500 miles across indonesian volcanoes and some of asia's busiest shipping lanes - in search of food for her baby. The trip, tracked with a global positioning device (GPS) by scientists at Christmas Island National Park, is by far the longest known non-stop journey by one of these critically endangered seabirds.

b) Mozilla is calling all independent filmmakers looking for their first big break. The open-source software maker launched the Firefox Flicks Ad Contest, which requires submissions of 30-second ads from anyone and everyone. Mozilla has seen over 10 million Web users adopt Firefox 1.5 in less than one month since its release.

c) If you have an iPod or any mp3 player, you might be interested in the new research. In order to keep your ears functioning at top capacity, you’ll need to keep these guidelines in mind-
Northwestern University audiologist advises that to keep “ear-healthy” people using iPods or other portable listening devices with headphones should follow the “60 percent, 60 minute” rule. This basically says that listeners can use these devices for up to 60 minutes daily if they limit their volume to 60% of maximum. If users are willing to listen at less than 60% of full volume, they may listen longer.”

So for now Happy and Safe Listening and Wish you all a very Happy and A Properous 2006..