Techstreams

You can blog from Windows Live writer!

Anand Mallaya — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:53:00 +0000

This is actually a test as well as info. You can now blog from Windows Live Writer, a blogging platform for Windows. You can save locally, can post to most of the popular blogging platform with xmlrpc support post draft to blog etc. One draw back I figured out is that it can not download wordpress free account theme. So you can’t see how your post actually looks in the blog while offline.

Some good editing features are : inserting table, map etc.

Technorati Tags: blogging,Windows,Live Writer,blog,tool,editor

Videos on Semantic Web and Linked data

Anand Mallaya — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 05:53:05 +0000

TED talks – Tim Berners Lee On the Next Web

TED -Talks – Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide

TED Talks – Hans Rosling on HIV: New facts and stunning data visuals – A use-case of Linkeddata

Tim Berners lee talking about at Gov 2.0 Expo 2010

The Semantic Web of Data Tim Berners-Lee

practical semantic web – creating a catalog of Linked data

Anand Mallaya — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 07:25:23 +0000

Today I am going to work on creating a semantic web document. I am going to make a catalog of linked data datasets listed under linkeddata.org. Here is the list I am going to publish in RDF.

choose the correct vocabulary – there are different generic vocabularies like Dublin Core, FOAF etc and specialized vocabulary like Dcat, Void etc. for creating catalogs. Dcat is designed for government data catalogs, so I choose VoID vocabulary, which is designed for single dataset provider. It uses generic vocabularies lke FOAF and DC as well.
Select suitable tools - Tools to edit the RDF document. There are plenty of them ,in this case and RDF editor, like the Rhodonite tool for RDF editing and browsing. But I couldn’t understand it well because of poor documentation and help. So I chose an online VoID editor from DERI Galway. Though the result is in Turtle format, there are tools to convert turtle document to RDF/XML format. Like this one online : RDF Validator/converter rdfabout.com
Creating the semantic grpah – first I am going to choose a dataset and add it to my catalog. To start with, I chose CrunchBase entry listed in linkeddata.org. Go to VoID editor and add the following details in it

Dataset URI: http://cb.semsol.org/

Dataset Homepage URI: http://cb.semsol.org/

Dataset Name: Crunchbase

Dataset Description: RDFized Crunchbase entries

Example Resource: http://cb.semsol.org/company/yahoo

Dataset Topic : business, database

Vocabulary URI: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns# , http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#, http://cb.semsol.org/ns#

Publisher : http://semsol.com

SPARQL endpoint : http://cb.semsol.org/sparql

Now the dataset entry for cruchbase dataset is ready in VoID vocabulary, in the right side textarea. It is in Turtle notation.

@prefix rdf: .

@prefix rdfs: .

@prefix foaf: .

@prefix dcterms: .

@prefix void: .

@prefix : <#> .

## your dataset

rdf:type void:Dataset ;

foaf:homepage ;

dcterms:title “Crunchbase” ;

dcterms:description “RDFized Crunchbase entries” ;

dcterms:publisher ;

void:sparqlEndpoint ;

void:vocabulary ;

void:exampleResource ;

dcterms:subject ;

dcterms:subject .

@prefix rdf: .@prefix rdfs: .@prefix foaf: .@prefix dcterms: .@prefix void: .@prefix : <#> .
## your dataset rdf:type void:Dataset ; foaf:homepage ; dcterms:title “Crunchbase” ; dcterms:description “RDFized Crunchbase entries” ; dcterms:publisher ; void:sparqlEndpoint ; void:vocabulary ; void:vocabulary ; void:vocabulary ; void:exampleResource ; dcterms:subject ; dcterms:subject .

Convert in to RDF/XML file(serialize) – copy the dataset details in turtle notation and go to RDF/XML converter tool. And paste the turtle notated content there and select input format as N-Triples/Turtle, and click validate. The result is given below.

xmlns:rdf=”http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#”
xmlns:dcterms=”http://purl.org/dc/terms/”>

Crunchbase
RDFized Crunchbase entries

Now repeat the above process and create entries for all the datasets listed in the Linkeddata.org.
Combine the RDF entries in to a single file, no need to copy all the tags but starting from only
something like

xmlns:rdf=”http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#”
xmlns:dcterms=”http://purl.org/dc/terms/”>

…
…

….
….

…
…
And the catalog is ready in RDF/XML with all the datasets added. Save it as a file with extension .rdf like Linked_data_catalog.rdf. Now the machine can understand (if programmed wisely) to some extend what data are available there to convert in to meaningful information and then to knowledge.
You can find the catalog here: Linkeddata datasets catalog(note: not yet ready, comeback later )

10 exciting Science/Technology events of 2009

Anand Mallaya — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:22:26 +0000

This is a list of 10 exciting events of 2009 related to Science/Technology.

1.Google Chrome OS announced (Tech)

Google announced its entry in to the Operating System world with its Chrome OS. A straight display of their ambition to challenge Microsoft and Apple. Google’s entry to cloud computing.

2.Large Hadron Collider revived (Science/Tech)

The biggest experiment in the history of human civilization revived after initial set backs. Conducting experiments setting record on fastest paricle acceleration

3. Launch of WolframAlpha (Tech)

An unconventional but still mysterious concept called computational knowledge engine dubbed WolframAlpha is a promise of technology and a new way to deal with the web of data.

4. Robot does science experiment(Tech)

A break through in Artificial Intelligence. A robot, called Adam, successfully conducted scientific experiment and discovered scientific knowledge for the first time. Another promise of technology. BBC news article

5. Indus valley script decoded(Science/Tech)

Using pattern recognition technologies, researchers were able to identify language like patterns in one of the earliest writing system of human civilization. Wired.com article

6. Chandrayan Mission (Science/Tech)

India successfully launched its prestigious indigenously developed moon mission.

7. Water found on Moon(Science/Tech)

Convincing evidence of presence of water on moon discovered by equipments mounted on the Chandtrayaan mission and again by LCROSS mission by NASA.

8. Evidence of Dark matter(Science)

Dark matter detected in scientific experiments. Gurdian news

9. Nuclear battery(Science/Tech)

Tiny nuclear batteries were demonstrated by scientists. BBC news article

10. Ice found on Mars(Science)

The Phoenix Mars Lander of NASA came up with evidence for water ice on Mars polar region. Space.com report

This list is my personal compilation. There may be more significant events that are not included. Please feel free to share your events.

Semantic Web bookmarks collection

Anand Mallaya — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:27:52 +0000

Semantic Web

Twine – Organize, Share, Discover Information Around Your Interests | Twine
W3C Semantic Web Section
jaanix – tune the web
microformats.org
SemanticHacker
wiki.dbpedia.org : About
JavaScript Visual Wordnet
Distributed Object Computing Research Group Overview
SenseBot – semantic search engine that finds sense on the Web
Cognition :: Giving Technologies New Meaning
ProgrammableWeb – Mashups, APIs, and the Web as Platform
Planning a Semantic Web site
SPARQL Calendar Demo: Step-by-step Example – TechnicaLee Speaking
The Twitter Times: semanticwebnews

A for Amazon, B for Best buy – A to Z for Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo and Bing

Anand Mallaya — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 06:21:01 +0000

Internet have changed our lives for sure. We learned A for Apple when we were kids. And in Google age it all changed. Let us look at how different they are from the ideal ‘A for Apple’ construct. These are from the first entry of auto search assist suggestions from top search engines.

According to Google.com

A for Amazon

B for best buy

C for Craigslist

D for dictionary

E for ebay

F for Facebook

G for Gmail

H for Hotmail

I for IMDB

J for Jet blue

K for Kohls

L for lowes

M for mapquest

N for Netflix

O for Old Navy

P for Pandora

Q for quotes

R for realtor.com

S for southwest airlines

T for target

U for Usps

V for Verizon wireless

W for Walmart

X for Xm radio

Y for youtube

Z for zillow

According to Yahoo.com

A for Amazon

B for best buy

C for Craigslist

D for dictionary

E for ebay

F for Facebook

G for Google

H for Hotmail

I for Ikea

J for Jobs

K for Kmart

L for lyrics

M for myspace

N for Netflix

O for Orbitz

P for People search

Q for qvc

R for recipes

S for southwest airlines

T for target

U for Ups

V for Verizon wireless

W for Weather

X for Xbox 360

Y for youtube

Z for zip codes

According to Wikipedia

A for Animal

B for Brazil

C for Canada

D for Department of France

E for England

H for Hispanic (U.S. Census)

I for India

J for Japan

K for Km²(square kilometer)

L for List of sovereign states

M for marriage

N Native American(U.S. Sensus)

O for Ontario

P for Poland

Q for quebec

R for Race and ethnicity in the United States Census

S for spain

T for the Newyork Times

U for United States

V for village

W for World War II

X for Xbox 360

Y for Yale University

Z for Zip code

According to Bing

A for AOL

B for Bank of America

C for Craigslist

D for dictionary

E for ebay

F for facebook

G for Google

H for Hotmail

I for irs

J for jcpenney

K for kohls

L for lowes

M for myspace

N for netflix

O for office depot

P for pogo

Q for qvc

R for runescape

S for sears

T for target

U for USPS

V for verizon

W for yahoo.com (weird)

X for XM radio

Y for yahoo

Z for zip codes

140 character Twitter mystery – the answer

Anand Mallaya — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:21:50 +0000

In the previous post we have looked at anatomy of a tweet to find answers to the 140 character mystery. It quite nagged me for a while. My geek mind was losing to find an explanation. Today I found a solution. It has nothing to do with the twitter protocols probably, but some thing simpler. Twitter was created with a goal of a simple interface for near-real time communication. With a ubiquitous access to the service.

They gave all kind of user interfaces, like a web based one for web browser users, APIs for web application developers- so that developers can create applications easily, and for mobile phones through text messages.

Guess what? Now you may have got a clue.

The text message or SMS was a protocol initially designed to optimally use the telephony based GSM mobile technology. The key idea for SMS was to use this telephony-optimized system and to transport messages on the signaling paths needed to control the telephony traffic during time periods when no signaling traffic existed. The message length was limited by the signalling protocol used at that time. Initially it was 128 bytes and later changed to 140 bytes length.

Now Twitters’ designers may have also targetted text message users, the most widely used data application on the planet.

SMS user stats

Hence my answer.

To find the real answer we need to contact Twitter engineers..

Phew I will get a good sleep today :p

Anatomy of a tweet – 140 character mystery

Anand Mallaya — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:47:09 +0000

Everybody tweets now-a-days. Even cats tweet(@sockongton). A tweet is a burst of 140 characters from all those interesting ‘characters’ around the globe, describing ‘what they are are doing’. I wonder why just 140 characters. why not 130 or 150. So I started digging and the search lead me to check the technical anatomy of a tweet. And it gave some interesting facts about twitter. I will put the tweet anatomy examination report.

Number of charactr in a tweet is 140
Total content length(XHR request) when a tweet is 140 exactly(maximum length) – 262
Minimum content length(XHR request) when a tweet is one char long – 107
Meaning XHR header content length is 106 byte- a constant

So I checked for an answer with twitter API response

We can check a users’ status using User/show API – http://twitter.com/users/show.xml?screen_name=anandcv

The response is an xml file( given below is the response of my user id @anandcv when my last tweet was 140 char long)

Twitter user/show API respone

Ther response got an interesting field in the status – false.

Probably a remainder of early implementation, which allowed more than 140 characters. Currently twitter web interface allows only 140 chars.

The other fields are

– the time stamp
– the unique message id
– the tweet itself
– source of the tweet (from web or other tools etc..)
– Replying to some tweet?
- Replying to somebody user id?
false – favorited?
– screen name of the user.

No clues yet. The search continues…

Zii StemCell computing revisited- Plazma and Android power

Anand Mallaya — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:20:34 +0000

Some time back we have seen the mystery of the Zii StemCell computing being unravelled. After that many were wondering what Creative is up to with the chips. Now they have come back with Zii EGG Handheld StemCell Computer that Supports the Plaszma OS or Android™ OS . Good move !. Android hmmm!

The platform boasts multi-gesture touch display(cool!) , Text-to-speech Feature, Hardware GPS Receiver, Wifi, 32GB of internal memory and up to 32GB of external memory, Bluetooth, USB 2.0 and accelrometer.
They are heard of iPhone. No 3G? shame! Check dictionary for competence. Get USB 3.0 dudes.

Plazma OS, based on the linux 2.6 kernel is said to show some gimmicks like 3D grphics (‘ in a battery powered small handheld’), advanced media and communication capabilities. But they say it is not a phone but a computer! in 108 gms. Hmmm! I wonder.

Also support a Zii optimized Android OS. Supposedly to harness the power of the StemCell computing technology of the ZMS-05 processor.

Added value – bulk prize of 199$ per piece price tag plus lot of development support and market ready design.

Gonna rock or bust?! Its all about the all-knowing crowd and the economy.

Twitter – the dawn of the real-time web

Anand Mallaya — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:45:42 +0000

Twitter.com is omnipresent in the web. Since its inception in 2006, in a short time span Twitter has grown to such a magnitude that Google got scared. The reason – collaboration and real-time. The incredible combination resulted in phenomenal popularity. The service is very simple and useful and became omnipresent in the web.

image source: Google trends

If google discovered the power of data, Twitter discovered the real-time. In this fast world real-time means a lot. And data is powered by the evergrowing crowds. The API(Application Programming Interface) supported by twitter offered the data open to the technical community. And that proved just right thing to do. The data was used in a very creative ways.

From stock trading (Stocktwits) and real estate(TweetLister) to diet and exercise(Twackit), twitter found a long list of applications.

And twitter is attracting a large number of famous people from celebrities, writers and millionaires to politicians and leaders, all finds time to tweet.

Let us wait and see what wonders Twitter will bring in forecoming days.

Techstreams

You can blog from Windows Live writer!

Videos on Semantic Web and Linked data

practical semantic web – creating a catalog of Linked data

10 exciting Science/Technology events of 2009

1.Google Chrome OS announced (Tech)

2.Large Hadron Collider revived (Science/Tech)

3. Launch of WolframAlpha (Tech)

4. Robot does science experiment(Tech)

5. Indus valley script decoded(Science/Tech)

6. Chandrayan Mission (Science/Tech)

7. Water found on Moon(Science/Tech)

8. Evidence of Dark matter(Science)

9. Nuclear battery(Science/Tech)

10. Ice found on Mars(Science)

Semantic Web bookmarks collection

Semantic Web

Data sources

Articles

Tools

Tutorials

SPARQL

Companies

Sites

A for Amazon, B for Best buy – A to Z for Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo and Bing

According to Google.com

According to Yahoo.com

According to Wikipedia

According to Bing

140 character Twitter mystery – the answer

Anatomy of a tweet – 140 character mystery

Zii StemCell computing revisited- Plazma and Android power

Twitter – the dawn of the real-time web