Month: September 2006

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MySQL Lets SleepyCat Lie

Open-source database maker MySQL AB has quietly dropped support for BerkeleyDB, the embeddable database Oracle Corp. acquired in February.From the current beta version of MySQL 5.1.12 going forward, MySQL will no longer allow BerkeleyDB to serve as one of its storage engines, according to a posting on MySQL’s Web site late last month.MySQL is one of the few databases that lets users choose among different engines to store data in a format best suited to their needs. The default engine, MYISAM, and InnoDB are seen as the most widely used by MySQL users.

MySQL drops support for BerkeleyDB

No surprises here. Now all that remains is to see what MySQL does about the InnoDB engine that is also now owned by Oracle

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Is Flash Getting VOIP Extentions?

And now Adobe Systems wants to replicate its success in video space in the Voice over the Internet (VoIP) arena, making it easy to embed voice into web applications. GigaOM has learnt of a secret start-up project currently being incubated by the $1.9 billion in annual sales software giant. Some members of this startup come from the Macromedia Breeze (now called Acrobat Connect Professional) conferencing group. (Breeze is a Flash based web-conferencing system, much like WebEx.) Though less than a year old, the start-up has started to attract some serious VoIP talent.

GigaOM » Flash In The VoIP Pan

Man, if htis is true, the implications for Classcaster could be incredible. I’ve really wanted to add the capabilty to record and podcast over the web in a reliable fashion. Right now I think that using Asterisk as the base for podcastiong would be a key, but recording SIP or any other VOIP over the web is not for the faint-hearted.

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Finally, An Ebook Reader I Can Actually Buy

The Illiad is an incredibly light and thin electronic book reader with a touchscreen and stylus. The resolution on the electronic paper screen is excellent. The hardware currently comes with the following interfaces: USB type A connector for USB memory stick, CF type II slot for memory extension or other applications, MMC slot for MMC memory cards, 3.5mm stereo audio jack for headset, WIFI 802.11g wireless LAN, and 10/100MB wired LAN. It has 128MB of internal memory for content, but will also be able to pull content from USB sticks, CF cards, MMC cards, and the internet. The full specs can be found here.

O’Reilly Radar > Illiad, a new ebook reader

I’m glad to see these things move out of vaporware.  FWIW, the Illiad reminds of the Fourteen40 ebook prototype I saw at AALS in January 06.

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Berkman Website Picks Up Journalism Award

The Knight-Batten Foundation awarded Global Voices Online, a citizen media project run by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, the Grand Prize for Innovations in Journalism.The Knight-Batten Awards spotlight the creative use of new information, ideas and technologies to involve citizens in public issues. They are administered by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism at the University of Maryland.

Global Voices Online is Awarded the Grand Prize for Innovations in Journalism from the Knight-Batten Foundation – Berkman Center for Internet & Society

I hadn’t heard of Global Voices Online until I saw this announcemnt. From the Global Voices about page:

Our global team of regional blogger-editors is working to find, aggregate
and track these conversations. Each day they link to 5-10 of the most
interesting blog posts from their regions in the “daily roundups”
section. A larger group of contributing bloggers is posting daily
features in in the left-hand Weblog section, shedding light on what
blogging communities in their countries have been talking about
recently.

There is a lot of information here and the site provides an interesting alternative source for news and information about what is going on around the world.

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Take Your Windows With You

Creating a portable computing environment is not that difficult: just copy the portable applications you want to a USB stick or other removable media, and you’re good to go. However, if you want to make your daily portable computing more effective, you have to solve at least two problems: managing portable applications and synchronising data between the USB stick and your computer.

NewsForge | Two nifty open source tools for portable Windows computing

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Even Deans Blog on Classcaster

DeanWuBlog – Dean Frank Wu of Wayne State University Law School has been gearing up for the new law school academic year with his own Classcaster blog. No podcasts yet, but we are hopeful. It is refreshing to here from a Dean directly on matters such as faculty appointments. I do hope that other Deans round and about take notice and cruise on over to Classcaster setup their own blogs.

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