4R x T

Links for 2008-05-10 (del.icio.us)

May 10, 2008 · No Comments

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Disillusionment with Second Life

May 9, 2008 · No Comments

As I mentioned last month in a post on Hype Cycles, as long ago as last August people were suggesting that Second Life had entered the Trough of Disillusionment.  That is certainly true for me.  I haven’t been spending nearly as much time in SL this spring as last summer and fall.  (Part of that is due to a family matter.)  In addition, I’ve been extremely disappointed since I downloaded that latest viewer (1.19.1.4) a couple of weeks ago.  Objects are rezzing more slowly, and some of my clothing (and hair) hasn’t rezzed at all since then.

On May 1, I submitted a ticket about the issue, and I finally received a reply yesterday, May 8, informing me that there was a known bug with skirts rezzing, which was a problem with textures not attachments, and stating at the top, “We have solved your issue.”  Some solution!  There was no indication of when or how the bug would be fixed.

I would certainly be willing to explore another virtual world if there’s one out there that doesn’t have so many problems and runs in a web browser.

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Searchme

May 8, 2008 · No Comments

Searchme is a new search engine currently in a public beta stage.  According to the About page,

Searchme lets you see what you’re searching for.  As you start typing, categories appear that relate to your query.  Choose a category, and you’ll see pictures of web pages that answer your search.  You can review these pages quickly to find just the information you’re looking for, before you click through.

Here is the home page in the day and night themes:

Searchme Home Page Day ThemeSearchme Home Page Night Theme

When I typed in “crop circles,” before I even hit Enter, the following categories appeared below the input box:  ufos, astronomy, nonfiction, music, dvds, jewelry, online forums, and blogs.  There is also an option for searching all the categories.

Searchme Home Page with Keywords and Search Categories

Instead of a list of websites, you get pictures of the pages.  If you move your cursor over one of the pictures, information about the page pops up, and your search terms are highlighted.  You can use the scroll bar at the bottom of the page or the wheel on your mouse to move through the pages.

Searchme Results Page Visual

If you click on the arrow in the box at the bottom center, a list of the site will also appear.  You can move through the list using the scroll bar at the right.

Searchme Results Page Visual and Text

I think Searchme has a lot of promise.

→ No CommentsCategories: research · search engines

Links for 2008-05-05 (del.icio.us)

May 5, 2008 · No Comments

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Links for 2008-05-03 (del.icio.us)

May 3, 2008 · No Comments

  • An online library of free videos for learners everywhere - find resources to help you learn just about anything, meet people who make a difference in their communities, and even discover new parts of the world.

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Links for 2008-05-02 (del.icio.us)

May 2, 2008 · No Comments

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AllPlus

April 27, 2008 · 3 Comments

AllPlus, “The Universal Meta Search and Discovery Engine,” is a relatively new metacrawler that searches for websites, news, images, video, and blogs on Ask, Google, MSN Live, and Yahoo!  According to the developers, AllPlus “aims to identify and present the very best search results from the very best information sources on the Web.”  They “have developed and integrated powerful Natural Language Processing algorithms in query analysis and refinement, search strategy, relevancy ranking, focused drill-down and exploration of multi-dimensional information spaces.”

I was able to add AllPlus to the search engines in my IE 7 browser, so I’ve been using it a fair amount recently.  It’s finicky on occasion, but I like it a lot.

Unlike Live and Yahoo!, AllPlus has a clean home page:

AllPlus Home Page

For a test, I used the search terms crop circles.  After informing me that it was analyzing the topc 160 results, I got 115 hits.  The results page shows a Cluster Tree in a sidebar on the left, like the clusters you get when using Clusty, with options to show more or show all.  In the middle are the Web Results, including which search engine(s) had the website listed and, apparently, excluding any sponsored/paid results.  In separate boxes on the right are results for News, Images, Video, and Blogs, each with an option for showing more results:

AllPlus Results Page 1

 AllPlus Results Page 2

When you click on the Cluster Graph tab at the top of the left sidebar, a window like the following opens:

AllPlus Cluster Graph 1

You can use the slidebar at the bottom to select only clusters (terms) with a certain number of hits or more.  The image above shows all the clusters.  The one below shows clusters with seven or more results.

AllPlus Cluster Graph 2

You can move the clusters around to get a clearer view.  Here’s the first view of the cluster graph after it’s been moved.

AllPlus Cluster Graph 3

The Cluster Graph can also be “docked” on the original results page:

AllPlus Cluster Graph 4

If AllPlus just had thumbnails of the websites it brings back, it would be almost perfect.

→ 3 CommentsCategories: metacrawlers · research · search engines

Links for 2008-04-27 (del.icio.us)

April 27, 2008 · No Comments

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Feast of St. George on Renaissance Island (SL)

April 20, 2008 · No Comments

Feast of St. George
Renaissance Island
Sun. Apr. 27
1:00 to 4:00 p.m. PDT (SLT)
Dancing, jousting, feasting, and fireworks on the newly renovated island

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Hype Cycles

April 19, 2008 · 1 Comment

I ran across this term hype cycle for the first time in a column, “The XML Strategist,” in the April edition of Intercom, STC’s magazine.  The Gartner’s hype cycle looks like this one from Global PR Blog Week:

Gartner\'s hype cycle

When I first saw the image in the column, I started wondering where different technology I use is in the cycle.  In the following chart from a Gartner press release, it looks like Web 2.0 was peaking in 2006 and wikis were entering the trough of disillusionment.

 2006 Hype Cycle for Emergine Technologies

In August of 2007, Neville Hobson reported that according to Gartner’s research chief, Second Life was “moving into a phase of disillusionment.” 

→ 1 CommentCategories: IDT · instructional technology · second life · technology · trends · web 2.0 · wiki