Friday, January 28, 2005

Smart Tools on Westlaw. West - Smart Tools on Westlaw West has introduced Smart Tools, a new Westlaw feature which offers alternative terms when yours seem out of context, related terms of art, and suggestions for misspelled words and acronyms. It will also suggest ways to broaden your search if your query retrieves fewer than ... [BoleyBlogs!] 5:02:03 PM    comment []  trackback []

Google Releases AdWords API Beta. Google late Thursday released a beta of an API, otherwise known as an application program interface, for its successful AdWords program. The API will allow developers to better manage campaigns on their own, as well as further innovate the delivery of Google's text-based search ads. [BetaNews.Com] 3:01:39 PM    comment []  trackback []

Google Launches API for Online Ads. Following reports of an upcoming release, Google formally introduces an AdWords API beta that lets advertisers and search-engine marketers access its ad system. [eWEEK Technology News] 11:53:51 AM    comment []  trackback []

XML.com: Hacking Open Office XML.com: Hacking Open Office - "If you are using any word processor or editor in a group situation, such as a technical writing team, or an office, then it will probably be in your interest to set up templates for authors to use to ensure consistency, reduce effort, and help automate conversation of documents between formats, such as building web pages from office documents. If you are also trying to store and manipulate content in XML but want to use a word processing environment for authoring, then well-crafted templates are even more important. In this article, I'm going to explore some of the ways that OpenOffice.org's Writer application (I'm using version 1.1.2 on Linux and 1.1.3 on Windows XP) is open to customization and configuration. I'll walk through some of the techniques I used to set up the first templates I built with the application in my quest for an interoperable, XHTML-ready system of templates and styles which will work across Microsoft Word and Writer." 11:51:06 AM    comment []  trackback []

CD Baby rewrite in Postgres and Ruby, Baby! CD Baby rewrite in Postgres and Ruby, Baby! Watch as CDBaby gets a totoal rewrite from the ground-up.  Good stuff. 10:42:18 AM    comment []  trackback []

connotea: bookmarks connotea: bookmarks:"This is Connotea, an experimental bookmarking service for scientists. Login, register, or find out more about Connotea. " Social bookmarking.  Sounds like it might be a good idea for legal academia, if there were any developers out there... 10:39:06 AM    comment []  trackback []

freshmeat.net: Project details for Podcatcher freshmeat.net: Project details for Podcatcher - "Podcatcher is a podcast download tool for the command line. It downloads subscribed podcasts and generates M3U or PLS playlists that can be fed into most MP3 player applications. Subscriptions are defined in OPML files. The cache directory can be constrained in size, in which case the oldest audio files from previous podcatching sessions are deleted first. " 10:27:40 AM    comment []  trackback []

Slashdot | MGM's DVD Class Action Settlement Slashdot | MGM's DVD Class Action Settlement MGM's DVD Class Action Settlement Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday January 28, @08:10AM from the loss-of-picture-quality dept. MrFreak writes "Apparently all of MGM's 'theatrical wide screen' DVD releases for the last few years have been the pan-scanned versions with the top and bottoms cut off. I checked this against my copy of CQ, and it's true. The list (PDF) of butchered movies includes almost every Woody Allen film, Silence of the Lambs, and Ghost World, just to name a few. If you own any of the eligible movies, you have until March 31 to either opt to exchange your copy for $7.10, or a new DVD from MGM, presumably in its proper aspect ratio." 10:26:59 AM    comment []  trackback []

MySQL installations targeted by Forbot worm variant - Computerworld MySQL installations targeted by Forbot worm variant - Computerworld - "A new wormlike threat spreading on the Internet targets computers running the MySQL open-source database software, and thousands of Windows machines running MySQL have already been infected, according to one security expert. " It targets Windows boxes and launches dictionary attackes against the 'root' account, gaining access on installations that allow remote 'root' access and have weak or non-existant 'root' passwords.  Wouldn't be anyone I know:) 10:23:28 AM    comment []  trackback []