# posts

title: Hello World
body:
  Well, I got myself this brand new website :)\r
  \r
  Although it's still under construction, I'm already loving it! I just need a personal blog and I used this to test <a href='http://pungi.sourceforge.net'>Pungi</a>'s database relations features.\r
  \r
  Tomorrow I will add the projects and links.\r
  \r
  More news coming up soon.\r


title: DRM-PT.info
body:
  This is one of the web's most talked subjects. IMHO, due to this guy Steve Jobs. Together with <a href='http://mindboosternoori.blogspot.com/' target=_blank> Mind Booster Noori</a> and <a href='http://ansol.org/' target=_blank> ANSOL</a>, I've made a website to alert the portuguese people for this problem. You can visit it at <a href='http://www.drm-pt.info/' target=_blank>http://www.drm-pt.info/</a>.\r
  \r
  If you're not portuguese, you can also get more information in <a href='http://www.defectivebydesign.org/' target=_blank>http://www.defectivebydesign.org/</a>


title: Carom3d
body:
  Lately, I've been playing this game a lot. Since I'm addicted to real billiards, and I'm too lazy to go outside, I've installed this great game.\r
  \r
  It has a lot of game types (Card Game, 8-Ball,9-ball,Rotate,3-ball, etc) and rooms. The amazing idea behind this apart from the online playing is making it a RPG. \r
  \r
  You have online credits (chalk) and you can buy skills, effects, characters, skins, even some add-ons to your own game blog.\r
  \r
  Check it out and see how they turned a simple game into a addictive RPG:\r
  \r
  <a href='http://www.carom3d.com/' target=_blank>http://www.carom3d.com/</a>


title: Today's projects
body:
  Today I started a little project of mine: A simple RSS aggregator. It is wanted to have a tray icon that twinks when new feeds arrive, and has a firefox-like menu that allows me to see the headers and click in them to go to the given link. It already loads and saves OPML and Reads the RSS itself.\r
  \r
  Although everyone says that VB.net is a language for n00bs (and I kinda agree), I like and use it due to it's Ultra-RAD hability. I dont want to spend much time in this nor make a perfect, amazing and big application. So VS allows me to create the controls and forms that would take too much time with WX. The language is also simple and I am used to it.\r
  \r
  Hope to give news about this soon.\r
  \r
  \r
  Another thing I am into is making my own tagging system (as digg) and include it in my website. And maybe adding a Firefox/Flock (yes, I'm using <a href='http://www.flock.com' targe=_blank>Flock</a> now) to easy add any site.\r
  \r
  \r
  Yet another thing I am planning is to set up a event like <a href='http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortugal' targe=_blank>BarCamp</a> or <a href='http://www.tecnonov.net' targe=_blank>Tecnonov</a> more directed to the web. If you have any Idea, just comment here, or contact me.


title: FeedBox
body:
  Feedbox is a project of my partner at <a href='http://blog.ideias3.com' target=_blank>ideias3</a>, <a href='http://www.sergiosantos.info' target=_blank>S&#233;rgio Santos</a>. It is a kind of RSS aggregator with rating, but can also be avaiable in a box to use at your own website (future feature). \r
  \r
  Check it out at <a href='http://feedbox.ideias3.com' target=_blank>http://feedbox.ideias3.com</a>.\r
  \r
  \r
  In the meanwhile, I'm am working on Ideias3's main website. News coming up soon.


title: Tags
body:
  I've just finished my own tagging system.\r
  \r
  It's very very simple and I like it :) The main reason I made it was to test Pungi's relation N-N capabilities.\r
  \r
  When I got time, I'll add more links for you to check.


title: Smoking
body:
  (in Portuguese)\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://ruimoura.net/blog/2007/03/01/nova-legislacao-sobre-o-tabaco/\">Rui Moura - Nova legislação sobre o tabaco</a>\r
  \r
  Concordo perfeitamente com o que o Rui disse, no entanto sou mais extremista e acho que o tabaco devia ser pro&#237;bido mesmo em espa&#231;os abertos. As pessoas n&#227;o ganham nada em fumar e s&#243; estragam o nosso lindo planeta :(


title: Revista Programar 7
body:
  (in portuguese because the mag is in portuguese)\r
  \r
  Saiu a <a href='http://www.revista-programar.info/front/edition/7' target=_blank>7&#170; Edi&#231;&#227;o</a> da <a href='http://www.revistaprogramar.info' target=_blank>Revista Programar</a>.


title: Take Off
body:
  I am now planning a portuguese event about inovation in the new technologies. \r
  \r
  It will be in the 28th of April in my hometown Coimbra.\r
  \r
  \r
  Details: <a href='http://takeoff.ideias3.com' target=_blank>http://takeoff.ideias3.com</a>\r
  \r
  \r
  Just a little note: I hate contact forms :/ they often dont work and dont allow people to send an email for more than one person. Is it too hard for bloggers to show their email address protected from phishing?\r
  \r
  And there are also those that dont have contact form nor email address :S\r
  \r


title: Yet another day
body:
  Take off (or TOYS - Take Off Your Shirt, as S&#233;rgio insists to call it) is going well with lot of interesting presentations. However I am having some trouble hosting in due to the support of my University Department. Nothing I can't handle.\r
  \r
  Another topic: Free Software. I am having a few arguments about Free Software. I believe software should be paid. They say you should only pay for servides. Well, coding a software is a servide. And you also buy another products outside informatics. I dont quite understand... I like windows more than linux. I don't see the point why I should move to linux. Of course I dont pay for windows. It's too expensive for what it costs, but I like it. OSS people: If you want everyone to have Linux, try to pay crackers to stop hacking Vista. People will automaticly change.\r
  \r
  \r
  To finish, I'm sad today-- Society is some f*cking shit! I dont agree with almost anything is done or thought. Maybe it's me.... maybe it's everyone. \r
  \r


title: News
body:
  I haven't posted in a while because I've been having a lot to do. I am working on a few projects I'm telling you later when they're done.\r
  \r
  In some of them I'm using script.aculo.us and I'm loving it. AJAX made easy. When I get some free time, I'll redesign this page to include some wicked effects.\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://takeoff.ideias3.com\">Take off</a> preparation is going nice and we have all the presentations needed. We jsut lack one sponsor. Also I've just ordered a surprise for all the attendants.\r
  \r
  My partner at ideias3, S&#233;rgio, lauched today is new site <a href=\"http://sergiosantos.info\">SergioSantos.info</a>, so take a look around and subscribe it.


title: Holiday
body:
  Today I skipped classes (the ones I usually go :P) and I dont feel like doing anything. I hope in the afternoon I code or design something. ATM I have a few paid projects going on and I have to hurry up. Thanksfully next week will the easter holidays. I dont agree with this religion holidays, but I linda like it.\r
  \r
  \r
  I've just made <a href=\"http://friends.imagini.net/vdna.php?uid=158135-190e&srv=iwebcl4\">my visual profile</a>. Its an interesting thing to do.\r
  \r
  For portuguese people, I've seen this service I will use very soon: <a href=\"http://www.chocotelegram.com.pt/\">ChocoTelegram</a>. Valentine's day's past but it isn't a bad to time to suprise anyone ;)\r


title: Alcides Fonseca
body:
  For those of you who care, I haven't post in a few days because I've been busy with <a href=\"http://takeoff.ideias3.com\">Take Off</a>. \r
  \r
  I am now starting to work with <a href=\"http://moodle.org\">moodle</a>, a great e-Learning tool. I'm using it in the University and I will set up one for a enterprise who will give training to their team. I believe it will be a challenging and wonderful experience.\r
  \r
  \r
  In another area: eMarketing, I am planning going to the <a href=\"http://www.e-mkt.pt\">e-mkt</a>, the first Portuguese meeting exclusively about eMarketing. I am looking for someone in Coimbra that also is thinking about going. If you do, contact me.


title: Beta's sucks
body:
  You all know I am a great fan of OpenSource software. Almost all of my code is opensource (except from comercial ones). However I use Windows for a bunch of reasons: PHC is windows only (and has a LTP1 key verification) and it runs Macromedia Fireworks and Notepad++, the tools I work with. I am now testing Mac OS x86 (yeah, I know it's buggy and os X only rulles with mac hardware, that's why when apple decides to upgrade macbook I will get one).\r
  \r
  Everyone I know uses Thunderbird as a email client, but I preffer Windows Live Mail Desktop (beta). Correction: preffered. yesterday the email database corrupted and I lost all my emails, and a important part of my work (and takeoff organization) there. I will just hangout until my web-based ajax client is done. It is part of my next big project. News soon.\r
  \r


title: Taking Off (almost)
body:
  Here am I, finishing all the 1001 things I have to do before Take Off. Midnight was also the deadline for a school project and I had to buy some stuff two hours ago. It's not hard to set up an event like this, but it takes much of your time and patience.\r
  \r
  I just hope everything works fine tomorrow.\r
  \r
  See you there.


title: Took Off
body:
  My legs hurt, my head burns, but I have a big smile on my face.\r
  \r
  Take Off went just fine! Wonderful speeches (apart from MS vs Opensource war), fantastic feedback from the public, and there was no major problem.\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://blog.ideias3.com/main/show/15\">a few lines about it in ideias3 blog</a>


title: Online Communties Map
body:
  <a href=\"http://xkcd.com/c256.html\"><img src=\"http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/online_communities.png\" alt=\"Online Communities\" /></a>


title: More Than a Thousand Gig
body:
  Yesterday Me, Khan and a bunch of friends from high school went to <a href=\"http://morethanathousand.com\" target=\"_blank\">MTAT</a> concert in Via Latina.\r
  \r
  I liked quite much <a href=\"http://myspace.com/mycubicemotion\" target=\"_blank\">My Cubic Emotion</a>, who did the opening. Gotta listen it's albuns.\r
  \r
  When it came to MTAT themselves, it was just awsome. The crowd was longly waiting for it. Titles like \"You have been sleeping and yes, this is an hospital\", \"Hollow\" \"None of us will see heaven\" just drive me mad.\r
  \r
  Unfortunelly I could stay to see \"Die Princess, Die\", but I will for sure listen to them soon since they're from Coimbra.\r
  \r
  Positive note: A tshirt model was sold out before the place was filled with people.\r
  \r
  Negative note: Bad timming for the gig, since it was Serenata Day, as only a few missed it to see MTAT. The sound quality of the place wasn't very good too.\r
  \r
  \r
  Just love it!


title: Web2.0 video by Wollzelle
body:
  <object type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" data=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/topeBoB-ApQ\" width=\"400\" height=\"326\">\r
  <param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/topeBoB-ApQ\" />\r
  <param name=\"FlashVars\" value=\"playerMode=embedded\" /></object>\r
  \r
  \r
  source: <a href=\"http://ts.wollzelle.com/2007/5/8/web-2-0\">Wollzelle</a>


title: General Music API
body:
  Ok, I assume everyone knows Last.FM and audioScrobbler ( the software that tells Last.FM what you are hearing to.)\r
  \r
  After <a href=\"http://takeoff.ideias3.com\" target=\"_blank\">Take Off</a>, I've been in touch with Jo&#227;o Carvalho, Project Manager of <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com\" target=\"_blank\">PalcoPrincipal</a> and among other things, we've been talking about a similar software but with extra capabilities. There is a small problem though: there are a lot of players and each one has its own way of exporting \"Now Playing\" info. A plugin is needed in almost all of them.\r
  \r
  Wouldn't be nice if there is a standart for exporting in XML the library and currently playing music? It's frustrating to have to code a plugin for each player and, in the end, there will be always unsupported ones.


title: I am more social
body:
  In this evening I've been updating my website adding some sections related to social networking services {links:'del.icio.us',photos:'flickr';twitter: true;music:'lastfm'}. I believe you can know me better with all this stuff.\r
  \r
  I also changed the font to a more readable one. Hope it fits your screen and eyes.\r
  \r
  Have fun ;)


title: WALLRIGHT
body:
  <a href=\"http://lexdesign.org\" target=\"_blank\">Lex</a> linked me today this project from <a href=\"http://www.ua.pt\" target=\"_blank\">UA</a> students.\r
  \r
  At first sight <a href=\"http://www.wallright.com/\" target=\"_blank\">WallRight</a> seems to be just a flash version of paint, but if you dive deeply into the site you'll see that is a colaborative painting (other people's paint will have their IP on real time drawing) and it's actually being painted on a wall! (Check the gallery!). And things like colors and temperature matter!\r
  \r
  \r
  Thumbs up Diana, Fl&#225;via, Jo&#227;o, Lu&#237;s and Nuno! 


title: Playing with OSes
body:
  Two (or more) weeks ago I've installed Mac OS X86 ( Yeah, I know all that stuff you are going to say) with everything working fine except for USB (includes wireless network) and Audio.\r
  \r
  Today I had the brilliant idea to install the new Ubuntu. I had two disks following:\r
  \r
  Samsung 300 GB:\r
   - 1 partition with vista (not working btw) - bootable\r
   - 1 partition with XP (that I used)\r
   - 1 partition Fat32 for storage\r
  \r
  Hitachi 40 GB:\r
   - Mac OS X86 (without audio and usb)\r
  \r
  Ok, I inserted Ubuntu CD and installed it over the Vista partition. It all went ok. I tried to boot from the 300Gb disk and nothing... weird. Neither Ubuntu, nor Grub, nor XP...\r
  \r
  Next: If I ruined all the OSes so what will I do? Try to install again x86 :P This time the installation went ok and I was expecting the usb and audio to work fine but when I boot from the 40GB CD grub appears and Ubuntu loads...\r
  \r
  Conclusion: Grub installed on the wrong partition :/ It didn't even asked me! ( I remove a lot the 40Gb harddrive...\r
  \r
  \r
  I've settled myself in Ubunto since I want to work in a Linux environment for a while, but I can't change my screen resolution to more than 1024x768 (that sucks for me). Does anyone knows how to fix this? I've installed the drivers ubuntu suggested me... \r
  Another Thing I am working on is to add Windows XP and Mac OS X86 into grub... A GUI would be nice for this :/


title: Soccer 2.0
body:
  In <a href=\"http://www.sapo.pt\" target=\"_blank\">SAPO</a> homepage, I saw a link to <a href=\"http://fcp.blogs.sapo.pt/\" target=\"_blank\">FCP Blog</a> and even I don't take much attention to soccer ( I really don't like the trillions spend on such a sport ) I gave it a look and I was amazed by the widget the <a href=\"http://www.fcporto.pt\" target=\"_blank\">F.C.P.</a> made so its fans could have their results on their blog and they advertised some of their services.\r
  \r
  Regarding my interesting experiences with OSes, after some help from linux experts, I couldn't boot from XP, Mac OS X86 still can't recognize my LAN board nor Wi-Fi adapter and Linux only supports 1024x768 maximum and no wireless. As I need XP to work, I'll move back and probably try to reinstall mac OS X86 just for fun. Cant wait for new macbook and macbook pro to be released!\r
  \r


title: Just a small post
body:
  ... to celebrate Starwars 30th birthday:\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://www.applegeeks.com/lite/index.php?aglitecomic=2006-06-02\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://www.applegeeks.com/lite/strips/aglite14.jpg\" /></a>


title: DRM-PT takes action
body:
  Just a short note between my two non-stopping projects. <a href=\"http://mindboosternoori.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\">Marcos Marado</a> and a few people gathered in Vasco da Gama to inform people about <a href=\"http://www.drm-pt.info\" target=\"_blank\">DRM</a> ( The occasion was the release of Disney's Pirates of Caribbeans.\r
  \r
  You can see more in portuguese at <a href=\"http://blog.softwarelivre.sapo.pt/2007/05/26/relatorio-do-protesto-contra-o-drm/\" target=\"_blank\">Software Live</a>.\r
  \r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VKZcfohlt8\" target=\"_blank\">Video</a>\r
  \r
  \r
  \r
  Just another note: my HTC TyTN has been ordered :)


title: Pop up polémico volta a julgamento
body:
  Chegou-me via <a href=\"http://blog.karlus.net/archives/2007/04/27/1709/\" target=\"_blank\">IM bot do Destakes</a> isto:\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://sol.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Tecnologia/Interior.aspx?content_id=38565\" target=\"_blank\">Pop-up pol&#233;mico volta a julgamento</a>\r
  \r
  E quantos filhos v&#234;em a pornografia no computador dos pais? E ser&#225; que nunca aconteceu a ningu&#233;m estar a navegar num site de conte&#250;dos normais e aparece um pop-up porque o webmaster decidiu come&#231;ar a ganhar uns trocos? E as images dos livros de Estudo do Meio?\r
  \r
  Adoro ver os tribunais ocupados com estes casos...


title: Trivialities
body:
  <p>Since I&#8217;m getting a PocketPC I&#8217;m enthusiastic about it. Having a S200 at home makes even more.</p>

  <p>In fact I am posting this from it (damn qwerty-less PDAs) from the new posting backend I&#8217;ve just made.</p>

  <p>I am thinking about making some changes here. The backend sucks big time and a new layout would be nice. and there are the <strong>wtf-8</strong> issues.</p>

  <p>Note for Python lovers (should be a pizza flavour): <a href=\"http://cheeseshop.python.org/pypi/textile\">PyTextile</a> rocks. Just import pytextile and new=textile(old) and there you go :)</p>


title: New Layout
body:
  <a href=\"http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=testeym6.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/519/testeym6.th.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us\" style=\"float: left; margin:10px;\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p>My website was a bit ugly so I started to make a new layout. It&#8217;s kinda weird this one, but I think makes this more readable.  Other pages moved to the sides so you have all the information in the front page.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Now the website is heavier and confused to mobile browsers, so when I got time, I&#8217;ll do a mobile version.</p\r
  \r
  <p>I also added a <a href=\"http://microformats.org\">hCard</a>. If you use operator or other extension to read microformats, you can use that information.</p>


title: Black Eyed Peas Parody By...
body:
  <p>&#8230;Alanis Morisette! That&#8217;s right, the canadian girl made this video to show how women are seen just as sexual objects, thanks to the image given by some &#8220;show girls&#8221;.</p>

  <embed src=\"http://imgs.sapo.pt/sapovideo/swf/flvplayer-sapo.swf?file=http://rd3.videos.sapo.pt/sirUZldFIddggOKKpQEb/mov/1\" width=\"400\" height=\"325\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\"></embed>

  <p>For those of you who know <a href=\"http://gomo.blogs.sapo.pt/\">Gomo</a>, this news came from <a href=\"http://gomo.blogs.sapo.pt/7354.html\" title=\"sapo\">his blog</a></p>


title: Twitter Mobile
body:
  <p>According to <a href=\"http://www.sergiosantos.info\">Sérgio</a>, I&#8217;m  addicted to <a href=\"http://www.twitter.com/alcides\" target=\"_blank\">twitter</a>. I think it&#8217;s no big deal, but thanks to that, I made my first Windows Mobile application.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>It is not a fully twitter client, because it uses the <a href=\"http://m.twitter.com\" target=\"_blank\">m.twitter.com</a> inside the browser, but has notifications and I think it has all the basic needs to twit in your Pocket PC devide.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>You can <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/public/Projects/csharp/mobiletwitter.cab\">give it a try</a> but remember is only a alpha version. Feedback is appreciated.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Soon I will make a less <em>webby</em> version of Mobile Twitter.</p>


title: Twittering to save the world
body:
  <p>Today I came across <a href=\"http://www.liveearth.org/\">Live Earth</a> through twitter. This guys are <a href=\"http://twitter.com/LiveEarth070707\">twittering</a> short ways of helping the environment by changing some little routines in your live.</p>

  <p>I am already a follower of <a href=\"http://twitter.com/LiveEarth070707\">LiveEarth070707</a> and I strongly advice you to follow too.</p>

  <p>If you don&#8217;t know <a href=\"http://www.twitter.com\">twitter</a>, it&#8217;s a micro-blogging tool in which you&#8217;re supposed to answer to the question &#8220;What are you doing?&#8221;. It works by <span class=\"caps\">SMS</span>, Web, Instant Messenging, Desktop apps and in <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/39\">Windows Mobile too</a></p>


title: RSS is back
body:
  <p>This blog&#8217;s <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> feed is now back on line.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Now it&#8217;s hosted at <a href=\"http://www.feedburner.com/\">Feedburner</a> for me to have a better idea of those who follow my adventures. I have also added a <a href=\"http://google.com/analytics\">analytics</a> code for the same purpose.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Subscribe \r
  <a href=\"http://feeds.feedburner.com/alcides\">http://feeds.feedburner.com/alcides</a> Now </p>


title: Just a kid with his brand new toy
body:
  <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/7330397@N03/556344279/\"><img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1206/556344279_fa7e77905b.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"HTC TyTN\" style=\"margin:10px;float:right; width:175px;height:230px\"/></a><br />Today my <a href=\"http://www.europe.htc.com/products/htctytn.html\">HTC TyTN</a> arrived. It's in my opinion the best Pocket PC around,  only lacks the GPS feature (what sucks since the chip is already in its motherboard, but an internal antenna is missing).\r
  \r
  <p>I took a few pictures of me opening my new gadget that will allow me to forget to study while developing cool apps for Windows Mobile.</p>\r
  \r
  \r
  <p>I was happy when I found out that in the box, a screen protector, a leather pouch and a Ndrive CD with it's software were included (check flickr photos). \r
  </p>\r
  \r
  <p> I found interesting that there are 4 ways of controling the device. 1st: from the touch screen. 2nd: from the arrows and buttons below the screen. 3rd: From the scroll and button in the side of the phone. 4th: throught the keyboard that's \"inside\" it.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>The first thing I didn't quite like it, but I already knew, was the proprietary headset. I know that to work also as a microphone, it couldn't be just a mini-jack plug, but I would like to connect it directy to speaker... Too bad. Hope I don't loose the headset..</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I&#8217;ll keep in touch :)</p>


title: S.E.O. Tips and Tricks
body:
  <h2>Introduction</h2><p>\r
  A few small companies have been asking me how to increase their website visits, so I decided to write something explaining the basics of <span class=\"caps\">SEO</span> and some tricks I use.</p>\r
  \r
  <h2>Where do visitors come from?</h2>\r
  <p>\r
  This is an easy one! They usually mostly from three sources: <br />\r
  # Advertising ( Paper flyers, Outdoors, Contact cards, emails, sms&#8217;s, etc )<br />\r
  # Links from other websites, usually from the same area<br />\r
  # Search Engines</p>\r
  \r
  <h2>What can I do to make people navigate to my website?</h2>\r
  <p>If people arrive you page through those different sources, you should explore each one the most you can.</p>\r
  \r
  <h3>Advertising</h3>\r
  <p>This one is obvious, you should make sure your site address is written (and correct!) on each paper your company prints. Even on receipts or invoices, you should print it on a side or footer. Most of the times the best form to display it it&#8217;s just www.company.com, because for non-geeks the http:// is not useful and often confuses people.</p>\r
  \r
  <h3>Links</h3><p>\r
  Contact companies you work with, or websites with content related to yours, and ask if they can include your site in their link area. Offer yourself to do the same as a reward, or even a small banner on your page. It will prove to be one of the best solutions for you to get some guests on your page.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Other viable option is <a href=\"https://adwords.google.com/\">adwords</a>,  system where pages with google ads and content related to you, show your link. This will make the work by itself in most cases. Just find out if the prices are affordable to you.</p>\r
  \r
  <h3>SEO?</h3><p>\r
  <a href=\"http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156431\"><img src=\"http://www.classiccarpartsfinder.com/images/pie.gif\" alt=\"Search Engine Ratings\" style=\"float:right;margin:10px;\" /></a><br />\r
  <span class=\"caps\">SEO</span> stands for <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization\">Search Engine Optimization</a> and it refers to the art of making you website more visible to the public, and the one that matters most to you.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>As you can see by looking at the pie, google is the search engine most used, and that&#8217;s the one you should worry the most, although most of the browsers work  almost the same way. If your business is local, then you should check for the most used search engine in your area.</p>\r
  \r
  <h3>How do Search Engine Work?</h3><p>\r
  First thing in the <span class=\"caps\">SEO</span>, is to know how search engine works. Search Engine Companies have <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_crawler\">webcrawlers</a> running in their servers. These are programs that navigate through websites and add each link they found to their database to check later. They usually save other information we will discuss later.</p>\r
  \r
  <h3>How does the Search Engine know what my content is? Does it know how to read?</h3><p>\r
  Well, for now the short answer is no. But you can teach him what your content are. First of all, make sure your code <a href=\"http://validator.w3.org/\">validates</a>, this will make sure the crawler reads you page.  Now, the page should have some special information in it&#8217;s <a href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_head.asp\">head tag</a>. You can change this using a text editor or the code tab from your <span class=\"caps\">WYSIWYG</span> editor. First, you should choose a title, that describes in a short way your page, so people will click it when seeing it as a result from their search.</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"code\">\r
  &lt;title&gt;Article about Search Engine Optimization&lt;/title&gt;\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>Then, define the language your page is written in:</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"code\">\r
  &lt;meta http-equiv=&quot;content-language&quot; content=&quot;en-US&quot; /&gt;\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>Afterwards, you should make sure you define the keywords and description you want search engines to associate to your page:</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"code\">\r
  &lt;meta name=&quot;keywords&quot; content=&quot;search engine optimization google keywords links first result adwords adsense tips tricks&quot; /&gt;<br />\r
  &lt;meta name=&quot;description&quot; content=&quot;An article about how search engine works and how can you benefict from it&quot; /&gt;\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>For last, there are some instructions you can give to the crawlers. <span class=\"caps\">INDEX</span> means the robot should add the current page to it&#8217;s database and <span class=\"caps\">FOLLOW</span> says he should follow the links in that page. Here are some examples for you to understand. Notice that the first is probably the one you should want.</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"code\">\r
  &lt;meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index,follow\"&gt;<br />\r
  &lt;meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex,follow\"&gt;<br />\r
  &lt;meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index,nofollow\"&gt;<br />\r
  &lt;meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex,nofollow\"&gt;\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <h3>Why my website isn&#8217;t shown first when searching for some keyword?</h3><p>\r
  Google works with a <a href=\"http://www.google.com/technology/\">PageRank algorithm</a>.  Each link to a website increases by one the rank of the linked page. The page better ranked with that keywords is shown first in the results page. In order to be the first result, your page has to be linked from a lot of other pages. This is why the Links section we saw above is so important.</p>\r
  \r
  <h2>Some tips and tricks</h2><p>\r
  Usually, webdesigners are the ones looking for this information, and there are a few tips for them:</p>\r
  \r
  <p><strong>Have a development blog!</strong><br />\r
  This is important since when you post about a website of yours, you add one link to it, increasing the page rank we talked about early. In addiction you can provide some information to another developers and this will be useful to the community.</p>\r
  \r
  <p><strong>Create a web of links</strong><br />\r
  Imagine you have 3 clients. If you added  in each one, two links for the others. This will also increase each one page rank. But if their contente is not related? Doesn&#8217;t matter, just add the style &#8220;display:none;&#8221; and visitors won&#8217;t see it while crawlers will. Now imagine this with a hundreds of websites, this would increase each one page rank in hundreds minus one. In this case I suggest you to use some server-side scripting to get the link list from your central page (PHP, <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET, Python, Ruby, Perl, etc) I might post a code example regarding this later.</p>\r
  \r
  <h2>Conclusion</h2><p>\r
  Well I think that&#8217;s it. Hope this suits you and help you page to be number one in the search engine result :) If you have any suggestion or doubt, just comment below ;)</p>


title: WTF-8 problems
body:
  <p>As you might have noticed, I&#8217;ve been revamping my website in the last days.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>One of the major problems was to deal with the usual stuff developers hate (including me) that <a href=\"http://sergiosantos.info\">S&#233;rgio</a> likes to call <strong>wtf-8</strong>: encoding issues.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>We have a <a href=\"http://www.dreamhost.com\">DreamHost</a> account and the <a href=\"http://www.python.com\">python</a> we run there is <span class=\"caps\">ASCII</span>. So all the website output was <span class=\"caps\">ISO</span>-8859&#8211;1 but the content from the feeds ( using <a href=\"http://feedparser.org\">feedparser</a> btw) were utf-8. After a few tries, I finally managed to get it right.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>First I tried <a href=\"http://chardet.feedparser.org/\">chardet</a> to detect the encoding and then use encode and decode functions like this:</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"code\">\r
  import chardet<br />\r
  for line in page.output().split(\"\
  \"):<br />\r
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;try:<br />\r
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;it = chardet.detect(line)<br />\r
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;print line.decode(it['encoding']).encode('utf-8')<br />\r
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;except:<br />\r
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;print line</div>\r
  \r
  <p>But this turned out not to be a good solution, because reading the feed I had to convert it to a useful encode, and I couldn&#8217;t encode into <span class=\"caps\">UTF</span>-8 a <span class=\"caps\">UTF</span>-8 string. So I looked for a better and easy solution and, guess what, I found it. When reading the <span class=\"caps\">UTF</span>-8 feed, I had just to use</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"code\">\r
  title=str(entry['title'].encode('ascii', 'xmlcharrefreplace'))\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>This will convert any character that can&#8217;t be converted to ascii into it&#8217;s <span class=\"caps\">XML</span> Character Referente code. Problem solved.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>One thing I also found and I&#8217;m looking forward to add to <strong>Pungi</strong> is a <span class=\"caps\">HTML</span> tidy wrapper for Python. <a href=\"http://utidylib.berlios.de/\">uTidylib</a> or <a href=\"http://www.lemburg.com/files/python/mxTidy.html\">mxTidy</a>. However I couldn&#8217;t make any of them work on DreamHosting hosting yet. If you had, feel free to help me :)</p>


title: StarWars MashUps
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://pipes.yahoo.com/\">Y! Pipes</a>, <a href=\"http://www.popfly.com/\">MS Popfly</a> and many others are giving users the power to mix content from their sources and produce their own results.</p>

  <p>Well, <a href=\"http://www.starwars.com\">StarWars</a> isn&#8217;t getting old and it&#8217;s refreshing its look from time to time. Now, after the <a href=\"http://starwarsblog.wordpress.com/\">blog</a>,  they&#8217;ve come up with <a href=\"http://mashup.starwars.com/\">Star Wars MashUps</a>, where you can mix video, images and music from both your PC and classic StarWars content and add the special effects Lucas has always provided us.</p>

  <p>Checkout the cool short movies made and do your own ;)</p>


title: Good design, bad webdesign
body:
  <img src=\"http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/1021768/2/istockphoto_1021768_3d_glasses.jpg\" class=\"ilust\" alt=\"3d glasses\" style=\"float:right;width:170px;height:126px;margin:10px;border:solid  #73880A 3px;\" />\r
  I've been a <a href=\"http://www.dandywarhols.com/\" target=\"_blank\">The Dandy Warhols</a> fan for a long time. A few days ago I was checking their website and I was amazed by the designed used. It made me wish I had one of those 3d glasses so I could see the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy\" target=\"_blank\">stereoscopy effect</a>.\r
  \r
  <p>I think it was a great idea to make the website design like this, so it would stand out from the rest of websites. Mainly bands pick up good artists to make their website, because they like their visual art. However designers tend to be bad web designers. They lack the geekness needed for professional websites. In my work, I&#8217;ve dealt with designers that are good in traditional paper design, but when it comes down to the web, they just lack some skills.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>If you notice the Dandy's website, although it has <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> and validates the code. It&#8217;s still displayed <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/7330397@N03/582380853/\">inside tables and iframes</a>. This sucks when viewing the page in small screen devices like <a href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/microsoftprograms/iemobile.mspx\">IE mobile</a>, Opera <a href=\"www.opera.com/products/mobile/\">Mobile</a> and <a href=\"http://www.operamini.com/\">Mini</a> (<a href=\"http://www.operamini.com/demo/\">which you can test here</a>). Web designers should know this stuff and how to get around that.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I gave Dandy Warhol's Website example as i could give a lot of them, and you probably know it by yourself. In my work I&#8217;ve dealed with a lot of designers, and when they &#8220;draw&#8221; something, they don&#8217;t even think how it would be displayed, if it&#8217;s even possible to do those effects, if it will run on mobile devices, if it would be accessible to disabled people and so on&#8230; It&#8217;s terrible to work with them if you can&#8217;t change the design and you know it&#8217;s bad.</p>


title: Eventos no PalcoPrincipal
body:
  <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/eventosBandas/index\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1158/600403896_b6815077cf.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"Eventos PalcoPrincipal\" style=\"float:right;margin:10px;border:0;\" /></a>

  <p>Finalmente j&#225; n&#227;o poder&#227;o dizer &#8220;Ah, perdi aquele concerto! Gostava tanto de ter ido, mas s&#243; soube hoje!&#8221;. O <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com\">Palco Principal</a> lan&#231;ou ontem ainda em fase beta, a sua p&#225;gina de eventos, que re&#250;ne os concertos de todas as bandas registadas e tamb&#233;m concursos, demonstra&#231;&#245;es, workshops e outros eventos que mere&#231;am destaque.</p>

  <p>Na minha opini&#227;o o site est&#225; bastante us&#225;vel com um calend&#225;rio ao topo para ver os eventos que existem em cada dia. Existe tamb&#233;m uma tag cloud para restringir os eventos por zonas. No meu caso, foi s&#243; procurar coimbra que &#233; uma cidade mais ou menos grande e clicar l&#225;. Assim vi <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/eventosBandas/index/cidade/Coimbra\">todos os eventos que est&#227;o para acontecer aqui ao lado</a>.</p>

  <p>Outra das coisas que me deixou mesmo contente, foi o facto de existir um feed <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> e um calend&#225;rio <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICalendar\">iCalendar</a> para podermos estar sempre a par de tudo usando o nosso software de prefer&#234;ncia. E gostei ainda mais quando vi ambos dispon&#237;veis para cada zona, o que &#233;  bastante interessante para mim, que quando estiver sem nada para fazer, vejo no <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span> os concertos aqui ao lado.</p>

  <p>Em conversa com o Jo&#227;o Carvalho, o gestor do projecto, foi falada a op&#231;&#227;o de disponibilizar os eventos num formato <a href=\"http://microformats.org/wiki/hcalendar\">hCalendar</a> que permitir&#225; a quem tem software que leia microformats (<a href=\"https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4106\">Operator</a>, <a href=\"https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2240\">Tails Export</a>, ou brevemente o Firefox3), adicionar apenas um evento a que tencione existir. Fica para breve esta altera&#231;&#227;o e muitas outras.</p>


title: MusIM - Mobile Tagging in a Museum
body:
  <div style=\"float:right;margin:10px;\"><object type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" data=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=68745&amp;doc=musim-presentation3601\" width=\"425\" height=\"348\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=68745&amp;doc=musim-presentation3601\" /></object></div>\r
  \r
  <p>Yesterday I attended a <b>Workshop about Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems</b> that took place at <a href=\"http://www.dei.uc.pt\"><span class=\"caps\">DEI</span></a>. It was a very interesting experience, so in the next days I will post about some presentations that delighted me, starting today.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>The first one was given by <a href=\"http://www.dei.uc.pt/~martal/\">Marta Figueiredo</a> and <a href=\"http://www.dei.uc.pt/~coelho/\">Andr&#233; Teixeira</a> (who I will be working with  in the next months). Despite being the youngest presenting their project, they had the courage to make a live demo.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Before presenting the project itself, they talked about Mobile Tagging, how it&#8217;s already being used in Japan and its possibilities. Imagine yourself reading a magazine and want to go to a website written there with a long address. Wouldn&#8217;t it be simpler to take a photo with your <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span> or mobile phone, and view it?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Marta and Andr&#233; applied this concept to a museum where there were <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datamatrix\">datamatrix codes</a> associated with every painting. This allowed visitors using a <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span> to take a photo of the code, and see more information about the artwork. It worked together with the floor plant of the museum, so people could know where they were, and the whereabouts of they favorite painting. It worked just fine with a mobile client and a server containing all the data accessible by WiFi. They also added voting and commenting possibilities that were shown in the demo.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I&#8217;m looking forward to see more solutions and innovations using Mobile Tagging, either barcodes, datamatrix or <span class=\"caps\">RFID</span>.</p>


title: APDSI vai apresentar estudo sobre DRM
body:
  <p>Gest&#227;o de Direitos Digitais (GDD)</p>\r
  \r
  <p>A <span class=\"caps\">APDSI</span> vai apresentar no pr&#243;ximo dia 28 de Junho o Estudo &#8220;Gest&#227;o de Direitos Digitais (GDD)&#8221;. A sess&#227;o decorre pelas 18 horas no &#193;trio da Casa do Futuro da Funda&#231;&#227;o Portuguesa das Comunica&#231;&#245;es. [15&#8211;06-2007]</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.apdsi.pt/main.php?srvacr=pages_43&amp;mode=public&amp;template=frontoffice&amp;layout=layout&amp;id_page=145\">http://www.apdsi.pt/main.php?srvacr=pages_43&amp;mode=public&amp;template=frontoffice&amp;layout=layout&amp;id_page=145</a></p>\r
  \r
  <p>Para ter a certeza que o estudo apresentado corresponde a realidade e ser&#225; de proveito p&#250;blico, pedimos aos interessados que se inscrevam para estar presentes.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Poder&#227;o ter mais informa&#231;&#245;es no site <span class=\"caps\">DRM</span>-pt:</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://drm-pt.info/moin/28Junho2007Lisboa\">http://drm-pt.info/moin/28Junho2007Lisboa</a></p>\r
  \r
  <p>Infelizmente por n&#227;o ser de Lisboa, n&#227;o poderei estar presente, mas espero que haja interessados para defender os direitos dos consumidores.</p>


title: ejaki
body:
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1105/623219018_987a576efe_o.gif\" alt=\"ejaki logo prototype\" style=\"margin:10px;float:right;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Since <a href=\"http://takeoff.ideias3.com\">Take Off</a> I&#8217;ve been interested in the <a href=\"http://takeoff.ideias3.com/apresentacoes/ejaki.pdf\">ejaki project</a>, a sharing platform regarding Points of Interest. It relies on the basis that each user will add their favorite places to the ejaki network and rate it. From that moment on, it will be available for everyone online, that can also vote or comment the ejaki. At this moment, only Windows Mobile software is being developed, but will soon be available to another devices.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I believe it will be useful when going to another city or even another country where you want to know, for instance, what&#8217;s the best bar to go out at night, or even the best restaurant, or the best hotel&#8230; Based on people&#8217;s actual experiences, than travel agency&#8217;s opinion.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>A few weeks ago I applied for a scholarship in this project and I was chosen. As a result, I&#8217;ll be working at <a href=\"http://cisuc.dei.uc.pt/\">CISUC</a> for the next two months and I will be posting here the results of that experience. If you are interested in this subject, feel free to contact me.</p>


title: Smoking pt II
body:
  <img src=\"http://digital.ist.utl.pt/images/245_proibido_fumar.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float:right; margin: 10px; border: 3px solid rgb(115, 136, 10);\" />

  <p>J&#225; tinha <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/15\">postado sobre este assunto</a> h&#225; uns tempos e parece que h&#225; novidades relativamente ao assunto. Desta vez soube pelo blog do <a href=\"http://home.iscte.pt/~cjcs/blog/?p=163\">Carlos Serr&#227;o</a>, que o governo j&#225; n&#227;o vai proibir o consumo de tabaco nos espa&#231;os com menos de 100 m&#178;, mas vai deixar isso ao crit&#233;rio dos donos dos estabelecimentos.</p>

  <p>Quem me conhece j&#225; sabe que sou anti-tabaco, tanto que nem fumo, nem suporto estar com algu&#233;m a fumar ao meu lado ou em s&#237;tios cheios de fumo (nomeadamente bares e discotecas). Na altura quando soube desta mudan&#231;a da lei fiquei muito contente, e com esperan&#231;a que no futuro fosse ainda mais restricto o consumo de tabaco.</p>

  <p>Agora essas minhas esperan&#231;as v&#227;o por &#225;gua abaixa porque n&#227;o estou a ver nenhum dono de um bar ou afins, em que 90% da clientela fuma e sobretudo naqueles locais, a proibir o consumo de tabaco. Mais um fiasco da autoria do Governo. &#201; por estas e outras raz&#245;es que me quero meter na pol&#237;tica.</p>


title: OpenSearch
body:
  <p>I&#8217;ve been trying <a href=\"http://tinderbox.flock.com/builds/trunk_sulfur/\">Sulfur</a>, the next release of <a href=\"http://www.flock.com\">Flock Browser</a>. The interface is a lot different from the stable version (that I mainly use) but one of those changes I liked was the detection of search engines.</p>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1299/631976542_f98ba6c789.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"Sulfur Search Engine Detection\" style=\"margin:10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>This will make adding a search engine as easy as subscribing a <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> feed, what is great. Currently Firefox2 and IE7 (among others) already have this support, but isn&#8217;t as clear as Sulfur&#8217;s. It is based on the <a href=\"http://www.opensearch.org/\">OpenSearch</a> specifications, a standard for search engine. For the moment, its design consists in three parts: The <span class=\"caps\">XML</span> spec of the search engine, the OpenSearch <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> feed for results and OpenSearch Aggregators to display those results.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>For the moment, only the first part is widely spread, and so I decided to add it also to my website. First I created the <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/opensearch_desc.xml\"><span class=\"caps\">XML</span> file</a> containing the icon location and the uri string for the search. In my case, as I am lazy, I used google custom search with adsense, so I could earn some bucks (as if someone will ever use it!)</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Then, in the &lt;head&gt; tag, I just added:</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"code\">\r
  &lt;link rel=&quot;search&quot; type=&quot;application/opensearchdescription+xml&quot; href=&quot;/opensearch_desc.xml&quot; title=&quot;Search Alcides Fonseca&quot; /&gt;\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>As easy as this, so go ahead and add the OpenSearch description for you website search.</p>


title: Death Note review
body:
  <p>I&#8217;ve always been a fan of anime since I was a kid, and more recently I started to revive that spirit. I am now the webmaster and admin of <a href=\"http://www.anime-p2pt.com\">anime-p2pt</a>, one of the greatest Portuguese anime community. In the beginning of the year, I stopped to see anime, but I continued to follow Death Note as it was being released.</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"hreview\" id=\"hreview-One-of-the-best-anime-I-ever-seen\">\r
    <h2 class=\"summary\">One of the best anime I ever seen</h2>\r
    <abbr class=\"dtreviewed\" title=\"20070628T2119\">Jun 28, 2007</abbr>  by \r
    <span class=\"reviewer vcard\">\r
      <span class=\"fn\">Alcides Fonseca</span>\r
    </span>\r
    <span class=\"type\" style=\"display: none;\">product</span>\r
    <img alt=\"photo of 'Death Note'\" src=\"http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/1372/dnyq8.jpg\" class=\"photo\" style=\"float:right; margin: 10px;\" />\r
    <div class=\"item\">\r
      <a class=\"fn url\" href=\"http://anidb.info/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&amp;aid=4563\">Death Note</a>\r
    </div>\r
    <blockquote class=\"description\">\r
      <p>\r
        <abbr title=\"5\" class=\"rating\">&#x2605;&#x2605;&#x2605;&#x2605;&#x2605;</abbr> Death Note is the story of Yagami Light, an brilliant student that is somehow bored of the world he lives him. Feeling the same way, a Shinigami (Death God) drops his Death Note into the humans world. But this is no ordinary notebook, the owner has the power to kill someone by writing  his name while having him in mind.\r
      </p>\r
      <p>Light takes the notebook laid on the floor and reading its rules, realizes that he has the power to create a perfect world. From that moment on, he writes everyday names of criminals in the Death Note and starting his mass murdering.</p>\r
      <p>People start to realize this and some think of him as Kira, the God who will save the world from its rotness. However others feel it's a crime against humanity and the greatest detective of all time is called to solve this case.</p>\r
      <p>No one knows him, or know where he lives, or even know its real name. He answers by the alias of \"L\".</p>\r
      <p>L and Light both want the other one death, but how will L find out who is this mysterious Kira that kills everyone like magic? Or will Light find out L's real name, so he can kill him and continue his task to clean the world?</p>\r
      <p>This was one of the best animes I ever saw. Despite being very busy in the latest times, this was the only anime I've saw. It was frustrating to wait one week until the next episode. The tension was in every episode and the argument is brilliant!  Starting from the point I described, a lot of tactics are used, more characters are introduced, most of them happen to die, and the end is unpredictable.</p>\r
      <p>Apart from the story, the other two things I appreciate in animes is the drawing and the soundtrack. As for the drawing and painting, they're very mature and dark, as the theme presented. From the middle to the end, they tend to be less perfect and more emotive, but I guess that's the way the story also goes.</p>\r
      <p>As for the <a href=\"http://nipponsei.minglong.org/index.php?section=Tracker&amp;search=death+note\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Get Death Note OST\">soundtrack</a>, it is simply wonderful. The first part is based on instrumental sounds, from <a href=\"http://www.lastfm.pt/music/Yoshihisa+Hirano+and+Hideki+Taniuchi\" target=\"_blank\">Yoshihisa Hirano and Hideki Taniuchi</a>, and the vibrating opening and ending by <a href=\"http://www.lastfm.pt/music/Nitemare\" target=\"_blank\">Nitemare</a>. As for the second part, <a href=\"http://www.lastfm.pt/music/Taniuchi+Hideki\" target=\"_blank\">Taniuchi Hideki</a> authored the instrumental music and <a href=\"http://www.lastfm.pt/music/Maximum+the+Hormone\" target=\"_blank\">Maximum The Hormone</a> played the opening and ending. This last band was a great finding for me since I'm a fan of both j-rock and hardcore, and made me get their full album, Buiiki Kaesu and I just loved.</p>\r
      <p>One final note: After episode 11, please take a look at the <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Death-Note-Last-Action-Movie/dp/B000P1SBBO\" target=\"_blank\">Live-Action of Death Note</a>. It is very interesting since the story is a lot different from the anime one, but the end is the same.\r
  </p>\r
    </blockquote>\r
    <span class=\"version\" style=\"display: none;\">0.3</span>\r
  </div>


title: Environment-aware Mobility
body:
  <div style=\"float:right;margin:10px;\">\r
  <object type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" data=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=71811&amp;doc=vitor-jesus-uminho-wsmu074333\" width=\"425\" height=\"348\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=71811&amp;doc=vitor-jesus-uminho-wsmu074333\" /></object>\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>Continuing with the presentations from <a href=\"https://www.dei.uc.pt/weboncampus/event/dataEvent.do?elementId=402&amp;tipo=historico\"><span class=\"caps\">WMSU</span></a>, this one is about how networking can and should be mobile.</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.vitorjesus.com\">Vitor Jesus</a> started to show how the current networking is far from perfect. One good example of that most wireless technologies don&#8217;t work while you are moving or when you move from one Access Point to another. Another limitation is that wireless networks are limited to about 1km, so the connectivity is very limited.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>In a near future (2012?) he believes that different technologies can complement each other and that services will allow you to move from cell to cell and your session will be real-time tranfered without losing any data. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX\">WiMax</a> will be largely used while WiFi will be avaiable mostly in Malls and other closed buildings. In a farer future, people won&#8217;t pay for coverage, only for some extra services, terminals and networks will be more inteligent and together with sensors will raise your <strong>Quality of Experience</strong>. This last one will be user-centric and is the subject of Vitor and Rui Aguiar&#8217;s work.</p>


title: Tra-la-lyrics
body:
  <p>O nome &#233; giro, n&#227;o &#233;? Fui eu que o sugeri ao meu amigo (e professor) <a href=\"http://student.dei.uc.pt/~hroliv/\">Hugo Oliveira</a> para o projecto da tese de mestrado, que consiste em associar a uma certa melodia, uma letra gerada automaticamente de uma base de dados.</p>

  <p>O projecto para j&#225; ainda n&#227;o est&#225; completamente acabado, mas agradecia que <a href=\"http://student.dei.uc.pt/~hroliv/trala/\">ajudassem e preenchessem um inqu&#233;rito sobre musicas geradas pela aplica&#231;&#227;o</a>. Demora menos de 15 minutos, e n&#227;o se esque&#231;am de ouvir cada m&#250;sica, que acho que v&#227;o gostar.</p>

  <p>No final poder&#227;o aceder ao paper que foi entregue para a apresenta&#231;&#227;o no <a href=\"http://www.doc.gold.ac.uk/isms/CC07/\">International Joint Workshop on Computational Creativity</a></p>


title: Indoors location estimation
body:
  <div style=\"float:right;margin:10px;\">\r
  <object type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" data=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=72229&amp;doc=wsmu07-location-estimation-algorithm4334\" width=\"425\" height=\"348\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=72229&amp;doc=wsmu07-location-estimation-algorithm4334\" /></object>\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p><span class=\"caps\">GPS</span> systems are being used more and more by home users and therefore new problems are being raisen. One of <span class=\"caps\">GPS</span> problems is that it doesn&#8217;t work under a roof. Therefore another means of calculating your position indoors are in need.</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://immi.inesc-id.pt/person.php?person_id=14\">Pedro Sousa</a> and <a href=\"http://immi.inesc-id.pt/person.php?person_id=1\">Joaquim Jorge</a> are developing an algorithm to calculate the probability of being somewhere in the building. Their system only relies on several APs located around the building. It needs 3 AP or more, so this system won&#8217;t be used in small houses, but in large buildings like university or large companies facilities. </p>\r
  \r
  <p>For now the system is giving great results ( Average error &#8804; 6 meters in 88% of cases ) but they are still working in order to improve it.</p>


title: Simple Python RSS aggregator
body:
  <p>Finally today I revamped <a href=\"http://www.ideias3.com\">ideias3</a> homepage. It now has a simple page featuring a simple aggregator of this, <a href=\"http://sergiosantos.info\">sergio</a> and ideias3 blogs. It was written in <a href=\"http://python.org\">Python</a> with a experimental version of <strong>pungi</strong> and using <a href=\"http://feedparser.org\">universal feedparser</a> to get the info from the <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> feeds, and <a href=\"http://chardet.feedparser.org/\">chardet</a> to solve encoding problems. This one also uses a sorter I found out <a href=\"http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/67106\">here</a> instead of traditional bubblesort with auxiliar lists I used to use.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>In a near future I&#8217;m thinking of creating a full aggregator to use in a project of mine, I will talk about soon.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Source code follows.</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"code\"><pre>\r
  #!/usr/bin/python\r
  \r
  from pungi import *\r
  import feedparser\r
  import sorter\r
  \r
  \r
  page=Page('ideias3.html')\r
  	\r
  # IDEIAS3\r
  \r
  posts = []\r
  authors=[&quot;Ideias3&quot;,&quot;Alcides&quot;,&quot;Sérgio&quot;]\r
  feeds=[&quot;http://blog.ideias3.com/main/rss&quot;,&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/alcides&quot;,&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/sergiosantos&quot;]\r
  \r
  for feed in feeds:\r
  	d = feedparser.parse(feed)\r
  	for entry in d['entries'][:min(8,len(d['entries']))]:\r
  		title=str(entry['title'].encode('ascii', 'xmlcharrefreplace'))\r
  		link=str(entry['links'][0]['href'])\r
  		if 'updated_parsed' in entry.keys():\r
  			date=entry['updated_parsed']\r
  		else:\r
  			date=(0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0)\r
  		author=authors[feeds.index(feed)]\r
  		posts.append({'title':title,'link':link,'date':date,&quot;author&quot;:author})\r
  \r
  sorter.sort(posts, 'date')\r
  posts.reverse()\r
  \r
  body=&quot;&lt;ul&gt;&quot;\r
  for entry in posts[:min(15,len(posts))]:\r
  	body+=&quot;&lt;li&gt;&lt;div class='author'&gt;&quot;+entry['author']+&quot;:&lt;/div&gt; &lt;a href='&quot;+entry['link']+&quot;' target='_blank'&gt;&quot;+entry['title']+&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;\
  &quot;\r
  body+=&quot;&lt;/ul&gt;&quot;\r
  \r
  \r
  \r
  page.add_tag('body',body )\r
  \r
  print start_output()\r
  \r
  import chardet\r
  final=&quot;&quot;\r
  for line in body.split(&quot;\
  &quot;):\r
  	try:\r
  		it = chardet.detect(line)\r
  		final+= line.replace(&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;,&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;).decode(it['encoding']).encode('utf-8')\r
  	except:\r
  		final+= line.replace(&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;,&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;)\r
  \r
  page.add_tag('body',final)\r
  print page.output()\r
  </pre>\r
  </div>


title: AmI Space - Intelligent House Remote Control
body:
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1035/698663305_c7274b55ae.jpg?v=0\" style=\"float:right; margin:10px; border: 3px solid rgb(115, 136, 10);\" />\r
  \r
  <p>This is the last <a href=\"https://www.dei.uc.pt/weboncampus/event/dataEvent.do?elementId=402&amp;tipo=historico\"><span class=\"caps\">WSMU</span></a> presentation I will blog about and, in my humble opinion, it was the best one. I enjoyed both the content as the style presentation, very web2.0-presentation-style full of sweet pictures.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Each day, more and more gadgets are coming up and your living room is becoming more and more a media center. Plasma screens, stereo controller, gaming consoles, home servers, portable media players, dvd players, apple tv, maybe surface(?) and many more are there and <span class=\"caps\">NOT</span> working together.</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://immi.inesc-id.pt/person.php?person_id=13\">Pedro Pinto</a> is developing a platform to create a &#8220;remote control&#8221; that controls most of the electronic devices. The challenge is making it universal for all the devices. In order to archive that, semantic services are used making way for future innovations that can take over our living room.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>For more information regarding this project, you can download the <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/dump/WSMU07-AmISpace.pdf\">presentation <span class=\"caps\">PDF</span></a>.</p>


title: Internet Explorer 8 alpha
body:
  <p>As every single webdeveloper that doesn&#8217;t work for M$, I hate internet explorer and the fact that doesn&#8217;t follow standards and rendering changes a lot between versions. Well, here are a few news regarding version 8:</p>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://www.laneros.com/showthread.php?t=96809\"><img src=\"http://www.pplware.com/wp-content/images/imagem_ie8_01_small.jpg\" style=\"margin: 10px; float: left; width: 250px; height: 210px; border:0;\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <ul class=\"content\">\r
  <li>Office 2007-like interface (SUCKS!)</li>\r
  <li>Full support for <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span>, <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span> e <span class=\"caps\">CSS</span> (Is this new?)</li>\r
  <li> Microformats ( Thank god something new and useful! But wait&#8230; microformats or some proprietary Microformat$? With M$ we never know&#8230;)</li>\r
  <li>Customizable Interface (Let&#8217;s see what this means&#8230; Skins maybe?)</li \r
  <li> w3c compliance (This is great news, and will be very nice if everyone had to upgrade to IE8, even if they&#8217;re not original copies!)</li>\r
  </ul>\r
  \r
  <p>Well, just a &#8220;let&#8217;s keep up with firefox features&#8221; new version. Microsoft is going down more and more&#8230;</p>\r
  \r
  <p>(<a href=\"http://www.laneros.com/showthread.php?t=96809\">src</a>)</p>


title: Microsoft Deepfish
body:
  <img src=\"http://labs.live.com/Deepfish/dfblogs/content/binary/Logo_Deepfish_Thumbnail.png\" style=\"float:right; margin:10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Following my last post, this one will also be about Microsoft Browsers. However this one is for mobile devices. As a Windows Mobile 5 user, when surfing the web I get all freaked out because a lot of websites aren&#8217;t rendering properly on the PocketIE (most because of frames, flash and image-based layouts btw). Well microsoft is getting ready the solution for these problems: <a href=\"http://labs.live.com/Deepfish/\">Microsoft Deepfish</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Deepfish is a Windows Mobile browser in which content is displayed as in a desktop one, and then you can zoom, pan and cue map for quick navigation and browsing. It will also have new interesting features like ActiveX controls, <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span>, cookies, Javascript, and <span class=\"caps\">HTTP</span> <span class=\"caps\">POST</span> that will make webdevelopers like me truly happy.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>After reading this, you surely are thinking the same I did: Microsoft is putting a full browser into mobile devices just like apple did with Safari for the iPhone and copying the same navigation style. I bet in a near future multi-touch <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span> running WM6 will be released.</p>


title: Google Web Solutions
body:
  <p>In the last days I&#8217;ve been using Outlook 2007 because it is the only decent app that syncs perfectly with my PocketPC. In my opinion, it is kind of heavy, I dont like the interface pretty much, and I dont have POP3 sync with the <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span>. I also wanted a web-based version to see in the lab computer. Then I decided I would change to Google Mail, Google Calendar and Google Reader because they had a web mobile interface that worked pretty fine in PocketIE. Said goodbye to Flock (we spend wonderful time together&#8230;) and installed Firefox 2.0 and the basic addons.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>First thing I noticed in Google Mail and Reader was that &#8220;Google design&#8221; I really hate. Solution: Installed <a href=\"https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/2108\">Stylish</a> and then some skins to make it usable to me. Then I noticed Greasemonkey also had the same skins, so I changed the plugin, and now I have the theming + some hacks in one pluggin.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Google is the number one big company when coming to Web Apps, but as they did with Google Desktop, GTalk or GMail mobile ( btw <span class=\"caps\">JAVA</span>, so it sucks on Windows Mobile), they should get a desktop application where we had Calendar, Reader, Mail, and maybe others, all together and syncing with the mobile versions( and no, I can&#8217;t use POP3 with most of clients, because I have a few other accounts in gmail, and it answers always through the default address).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I am working on a web-based application that will have all the things I use in my department (webmail, sftp, calendar, news, etc) all together, and then I will abandon google stuff, that I dont like using much :/</p>\r
  \r
  <p>\r
  <b>EDIT:</b> I have tried <a href=\"http://code.google.com/p/pyrfeed/\" target=\"_blank\">pyRfeed</a> and after a few hacking, it worked. Not very nice now, but I'll keep an eye on it in the future.\r
  </p>


title: Multi-Touch fashionable
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-touch\">Multi-Touching</a> is being very fashionable this days. Although this technology is already 25 years old (That&#8217;s true!), It&#8217;s only being now sold to the end-public. Past year it was <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcKqyn-gUbY&amp;mode=related&amp;search=\">presented</a> at <a href=\"http://www.ted.com\"><span class=\"caps\">TED</span></a> by <a href=\"http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/\">Jeff Han</a> and it was there that it took the attention from the big companies.</p>\r
  \r
  <center><img src=\"http://www.techbits.com.br/img/ext/iphone.png\" style=\"height: 200px; width:250px;\"  alt=\"iPh0ne\" /><img src=\"http://specials.rediff.com/money/2007/jun/01sld5.jpg\" style=\"height: 200px; width:270px;\"  alt=\"Microsoft Surface\" /></center>\r
  \r
  <p>In the January, Apple announces the iPh0ne [1] that would have a multi-touch screen where you could use special movements to zoom in and out, slide across, etc&#8230; In may, Microsoft replies, launching the <a href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/surface\">Surface</a>, a living-room centered table, with a multi-touch screen on the top. When Apple bet on the pocked device, Microsoft went for a big and expensive device (Wouldn&#8217;t they had the skills to make the technology smaller?). For the time being, Apple&#8217;s phones are being sold out everyday while I don&#8217;t hear anymore about surface.</p>\r
  \r
  <center><img src=\"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/59/Reactable002.jpg/250px-Reactable002.jpg\"  alt=\"ReacTable\" /><img src=\"http://www.jazzmutant.com/images/photo1.jpg\"  alt=\"Lemur\" /></center>\r
  \r
  <p>Also this year, <a href=\"http://mtg.upf.es/reactable/\">ReacTable</a> mas presented to many people, when Bj&#246;rk used in the live presentation of her last album, Volta. This project has been going on since 2003 and depending on the moves given, it produces music or sound effects. Also in the music area, <a href=\"http://www.jazzmutant.com/lemur_overview.php\">Lemur</a> is already being sold to the public.</p>\r
  \r
  <center><img src=\"http://citywall.org/images/people-in-front-of-display.jpg\" alt=\"CityWall\" style=\"height:200px; width: 360px;\" /></center>\r
  \r
  <p>There is also another art form of multi-touching that can be seen in Helsinki. It&#8217;s called <a href=\"http://citywall.org/pages/about\">CityWall</a> and acts as a collaborative and playful interface for the everchanging media landscape of the city. It gathers information regarding the city in Flickr and Youtube, so everyone can have their content displayed there. Another impressive device is <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaKehq6qsdY&amp;mode=related&amp;search=\">iBar</a>, maybe the largest multi-touch screen made so far!</p>\r
  \r
  <center><img src=\"http://www.istartedsomething.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/stevehodgestouchlaptop.jpg\" alt=\"Microsoft Multi-Touch Laptop\" /><img src=\"http://images.macrumors.com/article/2007/07/05/mmouse_300.png\" alt=\"Microsoft Multi-Touch Laptop\" /></center>\r
  \r
  <p>As for the future, Microsoft is researching a <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulwA3n8AYM0\">multi-touch laptop</a> [2] and seems that Apple patented the <a href=\"http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/07/05/apple_may_extend_multi_touch_to_computer_mice.html\">multi-touch mouse</a>.<br />\r
  Let&#8217;s see and wait.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>[1] I wont right the name in the right form because I dont want to be a part of the hype. In my opinion, the product has this new things ( Multi-touch, Full-safari on the thing, Pretty design user-oriented) but there are things that dont make sense for such a promising produt like no copy+past (this one is simply stupid! Even the first nokia symbian had it!), 3G and a <span class=\"caps\">SDK</span>. That&#8217;s why between and iPh0ne and my TyTN, I&#8217;d still keep my <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>[2] Quoting  his first words: &#8221;...It&#8217;s a completely new technology we&#8217;ve been developing here..&#8221;</p>


title: OOXML para Tótós
body:
  <center> <a href=\"http://www.noooxml.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Not Portuguese?</a></center>\r
  \r
  <p>Quem tem estado atento a blogosfera nos &#250;ltimos tempos, tem notado que t&#234;m sido publicados uns poucos de posts relativos ao <span class=\"caps\">OOXML</span> e a um abaixo assinado. Como &#233; normal, muitos dos que reparei estavam escritos em geek&#234;s (linguagem de geeks) e nem toda a gente percebeu aquilo bem. Para esses vai aqui uma breve explica&#231;&#227;o do problema:</p>\r
  \r
  <p>A Microsoft com o seu Office 2007, come&#231;ou a usar um novo tipo de ficheiros (os documentos Word em vez de doc, passaram a ser o docx e igual para os outros). Isto na esperan&#231;a do novo formato Office Open <span class=\"caps\">XML</span> ser usado como standard nos documentos do g&#233;nero. No entanto j&#225; existe um, o <span class=\"caps\">ODF</span> (OpenDocument Format) que j&#225; &#233; usado em v&#225;rios softwares e &#233; completamente aberto.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Fazendo uma analogia, de momento &#233; usado o metro(ODF), e h&#225; v&#225;rias r&#233;guas padr&#227;o (OpenOffice, KOffice, AbiWord, StarOffice, etc&#8230;) gr&#225;tis e <a href=\"http://ansol.org/filosofia/softwarelivre.pt.html\">livres</a>, mas a microsoft tem uma r&#233;gua (MS Office) em que n&#227;o usa o metro, mas uma medida propriet&#225;ria deles em que n&#227;o disponibilizam totalmente a defini&#231;&#227;o da medida.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Quando j&#225; existe o metro, qual o sentido de optar por uma medida esquisita e propriet&#225;ria? Ou seja, se j&#225; existe o <span class=\"caps\">ODF</span>, um formato totalmente livre, porqu&#234; mudar para o <span class=\"caps\">OOXML</span> que est&#225; apenas na m&#227;o de uma empresa?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>A Microsoft est&#225; a pressionar os &#243;rg&#227;os de certifica&#231;&#227;o do mundo para aceitar o novo formato. No entanto os utilizadores t&#234;m uma palavra a dizer. Est&#225; a ser organizado um abaixo assinado para ser apresentado. J&#225; assinaram <span style=\"font-size:30px\"><script type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"http://widgets.ideias3.com/ooxmlpt.js\"></script></span> pessoas, esperamos contar com a sua.</p>\r
  \r
  <p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http://www.petitiononline.com/OOXMLPT/\"><span style=\"font-size:25px\">Peti&#231;&#227;o online</span></a></p>


title: Blackle
body:
  <img src=\"http://blackle.com/logo.jpg\" alt=\"blackle\" style=\"float: right; margin: 10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Following <a href=\"http://www.liveearth.org/\">LiveEarth&#8217;s</a> spirit, I will talk about the environment friendly search engine. No it&#8217;s not a completely new revolutionary search engine with complex algorithms, It&#8217;s just google washed up!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>A  monitor spends 74 watts average to display a white page while only 59 watts are spent to show a black page. Following this principle, <a href=\"http://ecoiron.blogspot.com/2007/01/black-google-would-save-3000-megawatts.html\">Mark Ontkush posted that a Black Google would save 750 Megawatt-hours a year</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>So go ahead, save our beautiful planet, just by changing your default homepage/search engine to <a href=\"http://www.blackle.com\">Blackle</a></p>\r
  \r
  <p>(note: I already suggested them to add <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/56\">OpenSearch</a> so it could be easier for people to add it to their browser)</p>


title: Barcamp Coimbra
body:
  <img src=\"http://barcamppt.pbwiki.com/f/barCampCoimbra.png\" style=\"float:right; margin:10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>A <a href=\"http://www.webreakstuff.com\">WeBreakStuff</a> est&#225; a organizar mais uma edi&#231;&#227;o do <a href=\"http://www.barcamp.org/BarCampPortugal2007\">Barcamp</a>, uma reuni&#227;o de v&#225;rias pessoas num esp&#237;rito de partilha de ideias e tecnologias com apresenta&#231;&#245;es, workshops e demos. Podem ver o <a href=\"http://barcamppt.pbwiki.com/BarcampPortugal2006\">wiki do ano anterior</a> para ter uma ideia melhor daquilo em que consiste.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Eu j&#225; reservei o meu lugar, e talvez apresente uma demonstra&#231;&#227;o do ejaki que nessa altura j&#225; deve estar pronta. Por isso se tiverem PDAs e <span class=\"caps\">GPS</span>, fa&#231;am o favor de os levar ;)</p>


title: Projecto Colibri 2.6
body:
  <a href=\"http://www.projectocolibri.com\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2126/logo5fr6.png\" alt=\"Projecto Colibri\" style=\"float:right; margin:10px; height:\" /></a>\r
  Desde o lan&#231;amento da vers&#227;o 2 que tenho acompanhado o <a href=\"http://www.projectocolibri.com\" target=\"_blank\">Projecto Colibri</a> e fui convidado para fazer o site oficial. Ontem foi lan&#231;ada a vers&#227;o 2.6 com v&#225;rias melhorias e aproveitei para dar outro estilo ao site.\r
  \r
  <p>Quanto a nova vers&#227;o, entre melhorias a n&#237;vel de pesquisa e pequenas altera&#231;&#245;es, adiciona um m&#243;dulo de gest&#227;o documental (com drag and drop) e outro de gest&#227;o banc&#225;ria. E pelo que sei, mais integra&#231;&#245;es est&#227;o na forja.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>O Colibri foi desenvolvido usando Java e a base de dados Postgres (embora possa ser usada outra), pelo que funciona tanto em Windows como Linux e MacOS X. Apesar de n&#227;o ser OpenSource, o software &#233; gratuito e poder&#225; esclarecer as suas d&#250;vidas no f&#243;rum do site oficial. Tamb&#233;m agradecemos sugest&#245;es para melhorar o produto.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Se tem uma pequena empresa, sugiro vivamente este programa para gerir a sua factura&#231;&#227;o e as coisas b&#225;sicas. Se necessitar de algum m&#243;dulo personalizado, poder&#225; sempre contactar os respons&#225;veis para uma proposta.</p>


title: Remote Control
body:
  <p>After <a href=\"http://www.winamp.com\">Winamp</a>, <a href=\"http://www.songbirdnest.com/\">SongBird</a> and <a href=\"http://www.musikcube.com/\">MusikCube</a> I am now using Windows Media Player. You may be thinking why do I use it when it&#8217;s so heavy and microsofty. Well, I use it to Sync with my TyTN and it&#8217;s one cent coin sized microSD card. But then again, this sync is not really a sync. <span class=\"caps\">WMP</span> checks how much space is left and we can send musics there. They are copied even if they already are in the device. One-way sync sucks!</p>

  <p>Next, I like to lie down a <s>little</s> lot in the sofa listening to music and watching <s>morangos com a&#231;&#250;car</s> tv. Well, due to my enormous playlist, most of the time I wanna skip songs (no I dont like to make different playlists) and I don&#8217;t like to take my wireless keyboard with me to the sofa.</p>

  <p>So I&#8217;ve looked for <span class=\"caps\">WMP</span> remote control programs for my TyTN, but I haven&#8217;t found any freeware and nice to use. These are the times I love to be a developer :) First I tried to control it from Python using <a href=\"http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-win32/2005-August/003626.html\">this</a> but it would only read things from <span class=\"caps\">WMP</span>, not to perform actions.</p>

  <p>Next, I thought about creating a webservice and then a PocketPC application to consume it. I did it (and can get you the code if you want), but it wouldn&#8217;t run in my <span class=\"caps\">IIS</span>. Next try: did a <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET website to control the <span class=\"caps\">WMP</span> remotly, worked fine but when running on my <span class=\"caps\">IIS</span> didn&#8217;t worked again. Damn <span class=\"caps\">IIS</span>! I removed it and reinstalled, but no good. Looked for any hack or something, and no results. I tried to <a href=\"http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/12/ServiceStation/default.aspx\">run <span class=\"caps\">ASMX</span> without <span class=\"caps\">IIS</span></a> but didn&#8217;t worked either. Next try: <a href=\"http://weblogs.asp.net/israelio/archive/2005/09/11/424852.aspx\">Mod_AspDotNet</a> and this time the application was running, but not affecting <span class=\"caps\">WMP</span>.</p>

  <p>Finally I managed to have it running. How? I compiled a command-line executable (like remotecontrol.exe next/play/stop/previous) and I created a python web script to call it depending on the link clicked. It runs on <a href=\"http://python.pastebin.com/f6ca44f62\">my own Python <span class=\"caps\">CGI</span> Server</a> and I access it from the <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span> using PocketIE. I hoped a WirelessLAN solution would be quicker but it takes almost 30 seconds to perform a page query. My webserver responds quickly, the wireless network is fast and PocketIE works fines with internet pages. Maybe one day I&#8217;ll find out more.</p>


title: Some improvements
body:
  <p>In the last days, I&#8217;ve been changing some stuff in this blog. As requested by some users, I made a <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> feed for comments, so you can be warned when new comments are made. It was also meant to work with <a href=\"http://bloppy.info\">Bloppy</a>, but there is some weird thing going on, I will correct with <a href=\"http://mywheel.net\">M&#225;rio Lopes</a>, it&#8217;s author.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I&#8217;ve also added <a href=\"http://www.gravatar.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Gravatars</a> to the comments. For those who don&#8217;t know what it is, it&#8217;s simply a 80&#215;80px avatar that is associated with your email address and used in a lot of blog systems. As in the official website, there was <span class=\"caps\">PHP</span>, <span class=\"caps\">PERL</span>, ColdFusion and <span class=\"caps\">JAVA</span> implementation, but no Python, here it goes:</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"code\">\r
  _url_encre = re.compile(r\"[^A-Za-z0-9_.!~*()-]\")<br />_url_decre = re.compile(r\"%([0-9A-Fa-f]{2})\")<br />_html_encre = re.compile(\"[&<>\\\"'+]\")<br />_html_encodes = { \"&\": \"&amp;\", \"<\": \"&lt;\", \">\": \"&gt;\", \"\\\"\": \"&quot;\",\"'\": \"&#39;\", \"+\": \"&#43;\" }<br /><br />def url_encode(raw):<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;if not isinstance(raw, unicode):<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;raw = str(raw)<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;return re.sub(_url_encre, lambda m: \"%%%02X\" % ord(m.group(0)), raw)<br /><br />\r
  def gravatar(email,size='80',rating='R',default=''):<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;import md5<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;gr=md5.new(email)<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;return &quot;http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=&quot; + str(gr.hexdigest()) + &quot;&amp;amp;size=&quot; + str(size) + &quot;&amp;amp;rating=&quot; + str(rating) + &quot;&amp;amp;default=&quot; + url_encode(str(default))\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>And this code is part of my Pungi webmicroframework I think I might release in September. Let's see how it goes.</p>\r
  <p>Yet regarding Gravatars, I was thinking of adding it to ejaki, but the fact that an API is not available for creating gravatars is taking that idea out of my mind. Who knows, with Gravatar v2...</p>\r
  \r
  \r
  <p>Note: I&#8217;ve been victim of a slow internet connection for this weekend. I blame <a href=\"http://acesso.sapo.pt\"><span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span></a> and hope it will be restored as soon as possible :/</p>


title: Make your blog profitable
body:
  <p>Since <a href=\"http://fraglider.oninet.pt/aow/kd/\">Age of Wizards Kingdoms</a>, I&#8217;ve been using <a href=\"http://google.com/adsense\">Google Adsense</a> for displaying publicity and earning some bucks. Well, for now I have google ads in that game for over an year and in the last month, I&#8217;ve added them to my other websites. <span class=\"caps\">ATM</span>, I have 26 dollars, that suck for the page hits and clicks I had for now. And I dislike the fact that they only pay us when you achieve $100. I have to get another system!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>As a blog, most of my readers use <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> and not the website itself, so I had to get some <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> ads. Google&#8217;s <a href=\"http://www.feedburner.com\">Feedburner</a> has this advertising program, but it is invite-only, so my little web log had no chance. <a href=\"http://www.text-link-ads.com/?ref=94905\">Text Link Ads</a> sounded nice, and they pay through PayPal! (great to buy domains!). I&#8217;ve submitted my website for approval almost one month ago, but I did had no answer. I decided today to contact them in order to find out what was happening. 10 minutes later, I had the email confirming it and another from the technical support explaining the rest of the process: I had to install the code, and one week later I will have ads selected by them.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>When getting the code, I could choose from <span class=\"caps\">PHP</span>, <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>, <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET, Ruby on Rails, <span class=\"caps\">JSP</span> and <span class=\"caps\">PERL</span> code, or even pluggins for various blogging systems (WordPress, Blogger, Drupal, MovableType, etc). Well, my blog is handwritten in Python. Bad luck! Fortunately  I&#8217;m a nice coder and did <a href=\"http://python.pastebin.com/f15c918ff\">this helper</a> that you can use when working with Python.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Now I have to wait one week for it, but from people who use it, it&#8217;s very nice. In about one month I will post about my earnings. If you are\r
  interested in getting this too, please use <a href=\"http://www.text-link-ads.com/?ref=94905\">my referral link</a> and get $100 in free links.</p>


title: Windows not that bad!
body:
  <p>After <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/67\">some</a> <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/71\">posts</a> ranting about Microsoft, in this one I will defend them. First of all, I don&#8217;t like <a href=\"http://blog.ideias3.com/main/show/18\">Microsoft Policies</a> ( as I don&#8217;t like <a href=\"http://www.google-watch.org/bigbro.html\">Google&#8217;s</a>), but as a real company, it has <a href=\"http://www.fabiopedrosa.info/2007/06/06/microsoft-seadragon/\">some</a> <a href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/gaming/productdetails.aspx?pid=087\">very</a> <a href=\"http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/default.aspx\">good</a> <a href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsxp/default.mspx\">products</a> as well as <a href=\"http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/asp.net/default.aspx\">bad</a> <a href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/default.mspx\">ones</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>As for windows, all my live I&#8217;ve heard people saying it sucks and so on. Well, I don&#8217;t quite agree and for the record, when I say &#8220;windows&#8221;, I mean v3.1, 98SE and XP, not those unstable versions like ME and that so-called Vista windows. As for this versions (I only used this ones) I only had <span class=\"caps\">BSOD</span> when connection some weird hardware (like my webcam or my old external cd drive), but for the time it was awesome. I didn&#8217;t even bother me at the time. With Windows XP, the only crashes I have are <a href=\"http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/\">Firefox</a> ones (Opensource btw).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>When compared to Linux, it has this huge advantage: Everything has drivers for Windows! ( <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/31\">linux don&#8217;t</a> ) Yeah, I know Linux is opensource and so, but for non-coders there is not much difference, and os X is a great OS and it&#8217;s not opensource. Yet regarding Linux, I don&#8217;t need to compile anything, and if I do some software with a <a href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/en-us/management/msi_faq.mspx\"><span class=\"caps\">MSI</span></a>, it will install perfectly on any windows computer. Only if Linux had a standard for folders&#8230;.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>When compared to os X, there are two things I don&#8217;t agree with. First, <a href=\"http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/getamac/apple-getamac-fat_480x376.mov\">Macs run out-of-the-box</a>. Yes, but windows do too. If you buy a standard PC, almost all the times (unfortunately) it comes with Windows installed, ready to work. Shop technicians install it together with the drivers just how Apple does. The second thing is that os X is so cool because you don&#8217;t need an <a href=\"http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/getamac_ads1/viruses_480x376.mov\">antivirus or antispyware or anti-malware or so</a>. Well, with windows you also don&#8217;t need them. For an year now I am running Windows without any anti-virus nor anti-spyware and I&#8217;m happy. (Tip for windows users attacked by virus: Change to some trusted pr0n sites).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Well, I like my Windows where no terminal is needed :)</p>


title: My selection of comics
body:
  <p>I am part of that generation that doesn&#8217;t read newspapers, we read <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span>. I have currently 109 feeds subscribed (some of them aggregators) and just like a newspaper, I have the comic section. Here is the list, if you are looking for some:</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Portuguese:</p><p>\r
  <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/hipertonia/\">Hipertonia</a> &#8211; Well, it&#8217;s not really a comic strip, but I believe it is the perfect section for it.<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://aduplapersonalidade.blogspot.com/\">A Dupla Personalidade</a> &#8211; Two wonderful sticks living inside some strip.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>English:</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.applegeeks.com/lite/\">AppleGeeks lite</a> &#8211; Stories of Hawk, a mac and boobies addicted.<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://blaugh.com/\">Blaugh</a> &#8211; The (Un)Official Comic of the Blogosphere! (name says it all)<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://cad-comic.com/comic.php\">Ctrl+Alt+Del</a> &#8211; Meet Ethan, the greatest gamer of them all. PS: He has a x-box robot :O<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://feeds.feedburner.com/tapestrydilbert\">Dilbert</a> &#8211; Who doesn&#8217;t know this humble citizen of cubicland?<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://www.duelinganalogs.com/\">Dueling Analogs</a> &#8211; One more gaming comic. Includes sex fetishes with Super Mario and a dwarf.<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://www.little-gamers.com/\">Little Gamers</a> &#8211; The comic with the coolest drawing. Specially the iMac :P<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://www.ok-cancel.com/\">OK/Cancel</a> &#8211; Comic about interface usability and designing. Too bad they have pause it.<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic\">Penny Arcade!</a> &#8211; Yet another gaming comic.<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php\"><span class=\"caps\">PHD</span> Comics</a> &#8211; This one is about the insightful journey of becoming a <span class=\"caps\">PHD</span>.<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/index.html\">The Joy Of Tech</a> &#8211; I believe this one also has an expressive name :)<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://www.questionablecontent.net/\">Questionable Content</a> &#8211; I do love soaps. I confess.<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://www.wulffmorgenthaler.com/strip.aspx\">Wulff and Morgenthaler</a> &#8211; Insane one-panel daily comic.<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://xkcd.com/\">xkcd</a> &#8211; I believe this one should be nominee for the Science Nobel. <span class=\"caps\">REALLY</span>! and It&#8217;s useful when studying maths, physics and computing!<br />\r
  <a href=\"http://www.arcamax.com/zits\">Zits</a> &#8211; The typical teenager you probably know already.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Hope you like some :)</p>


title: One (more) good reason to twitter!
body:
  <p>Twitter has become one of the greatest services of the Web2.0. More and more users are using it to share thoughts with each other on a simple way. From your browser, jabber, mobile phone or even some desktop applications you could update your status and see your friends messages.</p>\r
  \r
  <center><img src=\"http://www.twittermsn.com/content/style/img/logomsn.gif\" alt=\" TwitterMSN \" /></center>\r
  \r
  <p>Well now there is a simpler way for those who happen to use <span class=\"caps\">MSN</span> messenger. Yet in beta state (as almost every web2.0 app) <a href=\"http://www.twittermsn.com/\">TwitterMSN</a> is becoming very popular, and if you don&#8217;t use twitter yet, just go to <a href=\"http://www.twitter.com\">http://www.twitter.com</a>, create an account, <a href=\"http://twitter.com/alcides\">add me</a> and add to your Windows Live Messenger <strong><a href=\"mailto:msn@twittermsn.com\">msn@twittermsn.com</a></strong> and write your status. I&#8217;ll be waiting for it, and from then on you&#8217;ll receive my updates too ;)</p>


title: Feedback do Debate Parlamentar
body:
  <img src=\"http://tv.rtp.pt/EPG/imagens/13800_nacao_grande.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float:right; margin: 10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Hoje de manh&#227;, ap&#243;s ter ficado de f&#233;rias, liguei a televis&#227;o na <a href=\"http://rtp2.rtp.pt/\">rtp2</a> e, interessado no presente e no futuro do governo da nossa na&#231;&#227;o, assisti ao debate parlamentar agendo para hoje. Fiquei cada vez mais desiludido com os nossos representantes no parlamento. Saliento duas coisas que me deixaram preocupado. A primeira foi que o Sr. Primeiro Ministro ap&#243;s &#224;s interven&#231;&#245;es da oposi&#231;&#227;o que lhe levantaram perguntas concretas, conseguiu n&#227;o responder, e ir para outros campos, chegando a insultar os pr&#243;prios intervenientes. A segunda foi exactamente estas guerras partid&#225;rias que me incomodam. Eles andam a dizer mal uns dos outros e o Senhor Presidente da Mesa n&#227;o modera o debate! Como n&#227;o sou de me conformar, optei por fazer o que recomendo que fa&#231;am sempre que assistirem a uma situa&#231;&#227;o do g&#233;nero, e enviei um email para o Senhor Doutor Jaime Gama, que passo a citar:</p>\r
  \r
  <div style=\"margin: 25px; font-size: 1.2em; font-family:Georgia,\"Century Ghotic\",sans-serif;\">\r
  Exmo Sr. Dr. Jaime Gama\r
  \r
  <p>Venho por este meio expressar a minha indigna&#231;&#227;o pelo que vi acontecer no debate parlamentar desta manh&#227;. Na maior parte das interven&#231;&#245;es dos Senhores Deputados foram feitos v&#225;rios ataques a partidos, e mesmo a outros deputados ali presentes. Saliento especialmente a discuss&#227;o entre o Senhor Primeiro Ministro Jos&#233; S&#243;crates e o Presidente do Grupo Parlamentar do <span class=\"caps\">PCP</span> Bernardino Soares, relativamente a protestos de militantes do <span class=\"caps\">PCP</span> em congressos e reuni&#245;es do Partido Socialista. Acredito que estes assuntos interpartid&#225;rios dever&#227;o ser resolvidos, para evitar hostilidades, mas decerto que concorda comigo que um debate parlamentar n&#227;o &#233; o sitio adequado para o fazer. Debater o futuro do pa&#237;s e apresentar propostas para melhorar a situa&#231;&#227;o do pa&#237;s parece-me ser um melhor aproveitamento do tempo dos Senhores Deputados. Como Presidente da Mesa da Assembleia da Rep&#250;blica, pe&#231;o-lhe que em situa&#231;&#245;es do g&#233;nero intervenha e cinja o debate aos temas da ordem do dia ou do interesse p&#250;blico.<br />\r
  	Aproveito este email para lhe sugerir outra coisa. Como dever&#225; ter notado, os n&#237;veis de absten&#231;&#227;o t&#234;m vindo a aumentar nos &#250;ltimos anos, o que revela que o povo portugu&#234;s est&#225; cada vez menos ligado &#224; pol&#237;tica. Como Presidente da Assembleia da Rep&#250;blica, sugeria que fossem promovidas sess&#245;es abertas em que os deputados de cada c&#237;rculo eleitoral estariam dispostos para ouvir a popula&#231;&#227;o nos v&#225;rios munic&#237;pios do c&#237;rculo por onde foram eleitos. Penso que assim se far&#225; uma melhor democracia atrav&#233;s da representatividade do eleitorado e se incutir&#225; nas pessoas um maior esp&#237;rito c&#237;vico.<br />\r
  	Pe&#231;o desde j&#225; desculpa pelo tempo que lhe ocupei e espero ver estas situa&#231;&#245;es corrigidas.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Atentamente</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Alcides Fonseca<br />\r
  </div></p>\r
  \r
  <p>A sugest&#227;o que apresentei foi no sentido que acredito que os deputados s&#227;o eleitos para representar a vontade dos eleitores e n&#227;o as vontades do seu partido. &#201; claro que ao votar, escolhemos aqueles que perten&#231;am ao partido cujas ideias se identifiquem melhor com as nossas, mas mesmo assim ao final de dois anos e meio de governo, a situa&#231;&#227;o mudou-se muito e as propostas da campanha j&#225; foram h&#225; muito esquecidas (baixa dos impostos, 150 00 empregos, etc&#8230;). Espero que ao menos algu&#233;m do seu gabinete se d&#234; ao trabalho de ler e lhe falar neste assunto.</p>


title: PythonLovers.com
body:
  <a href=\"http://pythonlovers.com\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/8035/plij1.th.jpg\" border=\"0\" style=\"float:right; margin: 10px;\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p>I&#8217;ve been skipping posting in the last days because I&#8217;ve been working on a few projects. One of them is now working online and you can see it at <a href=\"http://pythonlovers.com\"><a href=\"http://pythonlovers.com\">http://pythonlovers.com</a></a>. It&#8217;s an python-related aggregator <i>(handcoded)</i> and there already some writers I have invited. If you care about python, you should subscribe this feed in which you&#8217;ll learn something useful for sure.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>If you have a blog and you post about python (not necessarily python-only), please mail me ;)</p>


title: Python Infrequently Answered Questions
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAQ\">FAQs have been around since 1647</a> and everybody recognizes it&#8217;s worth. Although today they are reached from search engines, They serve their purpose quite well. When you have a doubt, you google for it and most probably you&#8217;ll find the answer since someone asked it already.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Well, today I&#8217;ll present you another kind of format that is also useful, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrequently_Asked_Questions\">the Infrequently Answered Questions</a> (IAQ). After checking Wikipedia, in which is said <span class=\"caps\">IAQ</span> are used as jokes, I&#8217;ve read a real one: <a href=\"http://www.norvig.com/python-iaq.html\">Python <span class=\"caps\">IAQ</span></a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>It comes very handy when you&#8217;re exploring the obscure paths of Python language. This <span class=\"caps\">IAQ</span> answers some things that most of the people don&#8217;t know about. I suggest you read it and bookmark it, because if you work with Python, it might become handy in the future.</p>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://www.dailycal.org/images/art/09.26.nordvig.DANA.jpg\" alt=\"Peter Nordvig Picture\" style=\"float: right; height:203px; width: 285px; margin-left: 20px\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Python <span class=\"caps\">IAQ</span> was written by <a href=\"http://norvig.com\">Peter Norvig</a>, Director of Research of Google and was head of the Computational Sciences Division at <span class=\"caps\">NASA</span> Research Center. He&#8217;s been a researcher in the area of Artificial Intelligence and a code guru in Python, Java, Lisp and he was even one of the creators of <a href=\"http://jscheme.sourceforge.net/jscheme/main.html\">JScheme</a>. He is also known for <a href=\"http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/\">his presentation</a>, a satire about bad presentations (reminds me of one of the same type titled &#8220;How to prepare good presentations&#8221; I gave in my class last year).</p>


title: Code Monkeys with Tamarin
body:
  <p>Some years ago, the Internet users were amazed by the power of <a href=\"http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about/\">Flash</a> and now the world is stumbling upon this new  <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)\"><span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span></a> thing making web pages even more user friendly (and fast!). Another new technologies are also being released like <a href=\"http://silverlight.net/\">Silverlight</a> and <a href=\"http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/air/\"><span class=\"caps\">AIR</span></a> and some others are being prepared, like <a href=\"http://www.sun.com/software/javafx/index.jsp\">JaxaFX</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <div style=\"float: right; margin: 15px; text-align: center;\"><img src=\"http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/128658130_59483d0447_m.jpg\" alt=\"Code Monkey\" /><br />\r
  Photo by <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jawboneradio/\">Len Peralta</a>\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>Well, with new standards getting ready like <a href=\"http://www.w3.org/html/wg/html5/\"><span class=\"caps\">HTML</span> 5.0</a> and <a href=\"http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/\"><span class=\"caps\">XHTML</span> 2.0</a>, I believe a new generation of client-side scripting will emerge. The projects I feel the most promising are the ones related with the <a href=\"http://wiki.mozilla.org/Tamarin\">Tamarin Virtual Machine</a>. For those who don&#8217;t know, this is the result of <a href=\"http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200611/110706Mozilla.html\">the contribution Adobe made</a>, giving Mozilla the source code of Action-Script Virtual Machine. Joining the best of two worlds, Tamarin will have support for both JavaScript and ActionScript.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>The first subproject, <a href=\"http://wiki.mozilla.org/JavaScript:ActionMonkey\">Action Monkey</a> will integrate Tamarin with <a href=\"http://www.mozilla.org/js/spidermonkey/\">SpiderMonkey</a> (the Mozilla&#8217;s C implementation of JavaScript). The second, <a href=\"http://wiki.mozilla.org/Tamarin:ScreamingMonkey\">ScreamingMonkey</a> will allow the Tamarin to be run on other browsers, like IE what means portability of the code. The third, <a href=\"http://wiki.mozilla.org/Tamarin:IronMonkey\">IronMonkey</a> will allow Tamarin mapping through <a href=\"http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=IronPython\">IronPython</a> and <a href=\"http://www.iunknown.com/2007/07/a-first-look-at.html\">IronRuby</a>. Regarding this last one, as an OpenSource foundation, Mozilla should be using Python and Ruby rather than Microsoft&#8217;s ones.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>All of this will be released with SpiderMonkey and Firefox next year. Can&#8217;t wait to try and make some nice looking applications with it :)</p>


title: OpenID - The one login to rule them all
body:
  <div style=\"float:right; margin:10px; text-align: center;\"><img src=\"http://farm1.static.flickr.com/135/355232758_4689237613_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" /><br />\r
  Photo by <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazyneighborlady/\">P. A. M.</a>\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>Everyone who uses the Internet has this problem: So many login protected websites and so many different username/password combinations used. A long time ago, people used txt&#8217;s to keep their passwords, but with current browsers they keep it for you. But it&#8217;s still a pain when you&#8217;re not on your computer or you format or even change browsers. What if there was only one login system for every website?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Well, <a href=\"http://openid.net/\">OpenID</a> solves that problem. You can login in any website that supports this system (and that number is increasing) only with your OpenID url (ex: alcides.myopenid.com). As this is an open system, you are not stuck with some company, like you are with Microsoft if you use <a href=\"http://winliveid.spaces.live.com/\">Live ID</a>. There are a few OpenID servers and you can even have your own. And even if a server goes offline, there is a solution for it: use your own website as your OpenID. Mine is alcidesfonseca.com and to have that, I just had to add this lines to the head tag in my homepage:</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"code\">\r
  &lt;link rel=&quot;openid.server&quot; href=&quot;http://www.myopenid.com/server&quot;&gt;<br />\r
  &lt;link rel=&quot;openid.delegate&quot; href=&quot;http://alcides.myopenid.com/&quot;&gt;\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  \r
  \r
  <p>If someday I stop using MyOpenID.com and start using another, I just have to change those lines. Simple and secure :)</p>\r
  \r
  \r
  <div style=\"float:left; margin:10px;text-align: center;\"><img src=\"http://farm1.static.flickr.com/95/235404704_bbd53f1c90_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" /><br />\r
  Photo by <a href=\"http://flickr.com/photos/8pril/\">April Joy</a>\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>If you haven&#8217;t started using OpenID, I strongly suggest that you take a look at <a href=\"http://simonwillison.net\">Simon Willison&#8217;s</a> screencast on <a href=\"http://simonwillison.net/2006/openid-screencast/\">How to use OpenID</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>If you own a website with login/password, think about the possibility of adding OpenID support for your users. Here is a list of plugins for <span class=\"caps\">CMS</span> that you can use:</p>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,2590/Itemid,35/\" target=\"_blank\">Joomla</a><br />\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://verselogic.net/projects/wordpress/wordpress-openid-plugin/\" target=\"_blank\">Wordpress</a><br />\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://www.openidenabled.com/software/drupal\" target=\"_blank\">Drupal</a><br />\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://svn.wikimedia.org/viewvc/mediawiki/trunk/extensions/OpenID/\" target=\"_blank\">MediaWiki</a><br />\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://moinmoin.wikiwikiweb.de/FeatureRequests/OpenIDSupport\" target=\"_blank\">MoinMoin</a> (needs some hacking)<br />\r
  \r
  <p>Of if you need to code your own, <a href=\"http://openid.net/wiki/index.php/Libraries\">here are some libraries to help you out</a>. In a near future, when adding OpenID support for my blog, I will post and How-to add support for Python applications.</p>


title: I don't get Java...
body:
  <div style=\"float: right; margin: 10px; text-align: center;\"><img src=\"http://amedias.org/img/java_vs_rails_books.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:200px; height: 165px;\" /><br />Java vs Ruby book comparison</div>\r
  \r
  <p>Seriously, I don't! I know everyone uses it, but I really think it's overrated. Java people come to me like \"Java is very nice because it works on all OSs the same way\". Well, on this <a href=\"http://fabiopedrosa.info\" target=\"_blank\">Fábio</a> has <a href=\"javascript: alert('Saying that Java is nice because it works on all OS\\'s is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.');\">a really nice quote</a>. I believe Python and Ruby are nice alternatives because they both run on a \"virtual machine\" (the interpreter) and best of all, they're dynamic! That is really programmer-friendly and more productive.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Well, you might say you want something more low-level. If this is the case, then it's because performance does matter. Then You should use C or C++ and make it OS specific. Or if only a part of it must be low-level, you can <a href=\"http://docs.python.org/api/api.html\" target=\"_blank\">extend Python with C code</a>. Oh, and check <a href=\"http://www.biolawcom.de/files/member/1/blog/583/speed.png\" target=\"_blank\">this chart</a>!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Right now, the only target program that I will possible do in Java is J2ME, the Java for your mobile phone. Because it's the only engine that runs on most of current phones.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Well, you can say that if I don't understand Java, I wouldn't understand C# too. Well I do, both C# and Visual Basic are languages nice to work with. Not that I like them, but I really LOVE Visual Studio and how easy it is to make some program. And it's language number one when making stuff for Windows Mobile. With Iron<span></span>Python and IronRuby, I hope this changes and these new languages will replace C# and VB (No, I don't see future for VBx, maybe I'm wrong...)</p>\r
  \r
  <p>So, if you do use Java, please tell me why you do it (my guess is that you just can't afford the time to learn some other language so well as you know Java).</p>


title: Descobertas no PalcoPrincipal
body:
  <p>J&#225; <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/51\">aqui</a> tenho falado do <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com\">PalcoPrincipal</a>,  um projecto que vou acompanhando desde que o conheci no <a href=\"http://blog.ideias3.com/main/show/16\">Take Off</a>. Hoje falo aqui de bandas e m&#250;sicas que descobri neste portal e comunidade musical.</p>\r
  <br /><br />\r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/grampositivo\">Gram Positivo</a> &#8211; <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/index/song/MzA%3D\">Feel so fine</a></p>\r
  \r
  <object width=\"315\" height=\"120\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/embed/song/MzA=\"><param name=\"scale\" value=\"noscale\" /><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><embed src=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/embed/song/MzA=\" width=\"315\" height=\"120\"  scale=\"noscale\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\"></embed></object>\r
  \r
  <p>Eu sempre gostei de v&#225;rios tipos de m&#250;sica, desde opera, cl&#225;ssica at&#233; ao Hardcore e J-Pop, mas nunca me interessei pelo Funk. Ao navegar &#8220;ao calhas&#8221; no Palco, descobri esta m&#250;sica que simplesmente adorei! Suave e animada, j&#225; est&#225; na minha playlist e espero que venham a Coimbra tocar brevemente! Se gostarem, vejam as outras m&#250;sicas da banda.</p>\r
  <br /><br />\r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/gota\">Gota</a> &#8211; <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/index/song/NTc2\">O que tens na alma?</a></p>\r
  \r
  <object width=\"315\" height=\"120\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/embed/song/NTc2\"><param name=\"scale\" value=\"noscale\" /><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><embed src=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/embed/song/NTc2\" width=\"315\" height=\"120\"  scale=\"noscale\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\"></embed></object>\r
  \r
  <p>Na verdade, esta m&#250;sica n&#227;o foi uma descoberta, mas uma redescoberta. Eu tinha a sensa&#231;&#227;o que j&#225; a conhecia, mas n&#227;o sabia de onde at&#233; que o <a href=\"http://hipertonia.blogspot.com\">Diogo Laginha</a> me disse que era dos Morangos. Um <span class=\"caps\">POP</span> totalmente normal, mas n&#227;o deixa de ter harmonia esta m&#250;sica. Se gostarem, saibam que j&#225; t&#234;m um disco &#224; venda nas FNACs!</p>\r
  <br /><br />\r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/blindfold\">Blindfold</a> &#8211; <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/index/song/MTQ0Mg%3D%3D\">Fallling wor(l)ds</a></p>\r
  \r
  <object width=\"315\" height=\"120\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/embed/song/MTQ0Mg==\"><param name=\"scale\" value=\"noscale\" /><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><embed src=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/embed/song/MTQ0Mg==\" width=\"315\" height=\"120\"  scale=\"noscale\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\"></embed></object>\r
  \r
  <p>Esta bem tem uma sonoridade entre o rock e o metal que nunca tinha visto, mas me lembrou de bandas como os Korn e at&#233; Limp Bizkit que j&#225; n&#227;o ou&#231;o h&#225; muito tempo. Recomendo vivamente a quem gostar de sons s&#243;brios e mais pesados.</p>\r
  <br /><br />\r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/revolotion\">Revolotion</a> &#8211; <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/index/song/NTc5\">Someone Will Shine</a></p>\r
  \r
  <object width=\"315\" height=\"120\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/embed/song/NTc5\"><param name=\"scale\" value=\"noscale\" /><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><embed src=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/embed/song/NTc5\" width=\"315\" height=\"120\"  scale=\"noscale\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\"></embed></object>\r
  \r
  <p>Se eu mandasse nos Morangos, adiciona esta &#224; playlist da pr&#243;xima s&#233;rie. Um PopRock simples e bom de se ouvir. Nem sei como &#233; que ainda ningu&#233;m os descobriu e levou a uma editora.</p>\r
  <br /><br />\r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/chauffeurnavarrus\">Chauffeur Navarrus</a> &#8211; <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/index/song/NDMyMQ%3D%3D\">Maldi&#231;&#227;o Edit</a></p>\r
  \r
  <object width=\"315\" height=\"120\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/embed/song/NDMyMQ==\"><param name=\"scale\" value=\"noscale\" /><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><embed src=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/song/embed/song/NDMyMQ==\" width=\"315\" height=\"120\"  scale=\"noscale\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\"></embed></object>\r
  \r
  <p>Com o Jazz normalmente sou muito esquisito, mas esta banda com um nome bastante interessante foi aprovada. Cantado em portugu&#234;s e com uma combina&#231;&#227;o dos v&#225;rios instrumentos que nos d&#225; um resultado fascinante, &#233; uma das raz&#245;es por que agrade&#231;o a exist&#234;ncia do PalcoPrincipal.</p>\r
  <br /><br />\r
  <p>Bem, esta foi a minha selec&#231;&#227;o das melhores m&#250;sicas que descobri no <a href=\"http://palcoprincipal.com\">PalcoPrincipal</a>, que dificilmente encontraria noutros s&#237;tios. Desafio-vos a se registarem e irem descobrindo novas bandas, quer pela <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com/main/browse\">navega&#231;&#227;o</a>, quer pelas bandas amigas de cada banda ou pelas sugest&#245;es dadas pelo pr&#243;prio sistema e escrevam, como eu fiz, nos vossos sites/blogs. Caso n&#227;o tenham um, o PalcoPrincipal fornece um a cada utilizador e a cada banda. E pelo que sei ir&#227;o ter novidades para breve&#8230;</p>


title: Chamada a empreendedores
body:
  <p>Tem uma ideia de neg&#243;cio em que realmente acredita, mas falta-lhe um suporte financeiro para o explorar?</p>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://audax.tv/Portals/0/audax_logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float:right; margin-left: 10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Pois bem, se essa &#233; a sua situa&#231;&#227;o, soube h&#225; minutos de uma iniciativa da <a href=\"http://rtp2.rtp.pt\">rtp2</a> e do <a href=\"http://www.iscte.pt/\"><span class=\"caps\">ISCTE</span></a>, chama-se <a href=\"http://audax.tv/\"><span class=\"caps\">AUDAX</span> &#8211; Neg&#243;cios &#224; Prova</a> e &#233; um concurso de televis&#227;o em que atrav&#233;s da elabora&#231;&#227;o de planos de neg&#243;cio e da sua apresenta&#231;&#227;o, vir&#225; a ser atribu&#237;do um apoio financeiro no valor de &#128; 50.000 para lan&#231;amento da empresa.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Ap&#243;s a inscri&#231;&#227;o realizada no <a href=\"http://audax.tv/\">site</a>, ir&#225; haver uma selec&#231;&#227;o dos projectos do j&#250;ri e ser&#227;o seleccionados 30 projectos (+3 suplentes). Depois em 10 programas, ser&#227;o apresentados os projectos 3 a 3, pelo l&#237;der de cada equipa e ser&#227;o avaliados por um j&#250;ri, para passar &#224; final&#237;ssima. Ser&#227;o avaliados os seguintes factores:<br />\r
  <ul><br />\r
  <li>Car&#225;cter inovador do projecto, independentemente do seu sector de actividade;</li><br />\r
  <li>Viabilidade econ&#243;mica e financeira do projecto;</li><br />\r
  <li>Grau de motiva&#231;&#227;o e capacidade do l&#237;der e da sua equipa para criar e desenvolver a empresa;</li><br />\r
  <li>Qualidade das compet&#234;ncias dos membros da equipa de promotores, bem como a adequa&#231;&#227;o dos seus CV&#146;s ao projecto e o seu envolvimento nos mesmos;</li><br />\r
  <li>Estado do eventual registo de patentes ou dos direitos de propriedade intelectual indispens&#225;veis ao neg&#243;cio;</li><br />\r
  <li>Competitividade comercial expect&#225;vel;</li><br />\r
  <li>Contribui&#231;&#227;o para o desenvolvimento sustent&#225;vel do pa&#237;s (ao n&#237;vel ambiental, coes&#227;o social e econ&#243;mico);</li><br />\r
  <li>Resist&#234;ncia da ideia face a altera&#231;&#245;es do contexto (plano de conting&#234;ncia);</li><br />\r
  <li>Capacidade de comunica&#231;&#227;o dos promotores e sua adapta&#231;&#227;o ao ambiente de televis&#227;o.</li><br />\r
  </ul></p>\r
  \r
  <p>Apesar de n&#227;o estar interessado em participar, estou bastante ansioso por ver o que os jovens empreendedores de Portugal est&#227;o a pensar fazer. Gostei mesmo deste programa de televis&#227;o (que como todos os bons, passam na rtp2), tanto pelo apoio &#224; melhor iniciativa, como &#224; divulga&#231;&#227;o das outras todas.</p>\r
  \r
  <p><b>Edit:</b> Depois de uma not&#237;cia t&#227;o boa, vi logo a publicidade ao programa da TVI dos noivos, a porcaria de um reality show com mostra de talentos em que o pr&#233;mio &#233; 100.000 euros, o dobro!</p>


title: Thoughts on Python 3000
body:
  <p>I&#8217;ve been reading about Python 3000 either in <a href=\"http://www.artima.com/weblogs/index.jsp?blogger=guido\">Guido&#8217;s blog</a> and all around the web. There are some features I like to see implemented, but mostly I don&#8217;t like the course the language is taking.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Among the features I look forward to use, there are the <a href=\"http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3115/\">Metaclasses</a>, <a href=\"http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3106/\">Revamped Dictionary methods</a>, <a href=\"http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3108/\">Module renaming</a> and <a href=\"http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3120/\"><span class=\"caps\">UTF</span>-8 as default encoding</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>There are a few more that I think it gives cohesion to the language, like <a href=\"http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3107/\">function annotations</a> (useful for pydoc), <a href=\"http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3101/\">new string formatting</a> and <a href=\"http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3105/\">making print a function</a>, but I don&#8217;t like them. I&#8217;ve loved python for being simple, and easy to write and read. This changes are making Python a more &#8220;closed&#8221; language with the feeling of &#8220;There is only one way to write things&#8221; that I kinda like. But I really like Ruby&#8217;s &#8220;function_name parameter1, parameter2&#8221; and making all functions callable like that. I mean, if Python hates braces, why does Python can't loose the parenthesis too?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>There are other things that are important for me and could be implemented in 3k version. First, the possibility to change core classes. Being a <span class=\"caps\">OOP</span> language, makes sense to be able to add methods to the string class for example, so I can call &#8220;string example&#8221;.send_to_friend(). Some other functions like len() and str() should also be available as methods ( instead of __len__() and then use the function).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>One last thing I really miss in Python is a module management system like gems, that could work like ubuntu&#8217;s apt-get and have a <span class=\"caps\">GUI</span>. I know there is the egg system, but in my opinion is quite weak compared with those. Oh, and a default DB adapter (to make DB-API v2 a real standard).</p>


title: BUZZwords
body:
  <a href=\"http://Buzz.ideias3.com\"><img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1167/1063927795_6a390b49d3.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"BUZZwords\" style=\"float:right; margin: 10px\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p>In the between of my paid projects, I managed to get a time to work on my Pungi ultramicrowebframework. Thanks to <a href=\"http://mariz.org/\">Nuno Mariz</a> and <a href=\"http://mariz.org/blog/2007/jun/08/simple-wsgi-middleware-dispatcher/\">his dispatcher</a> I managed to get it working on a <span class=\"caps\">MVC</span> way that is so hype right now.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I like to develop my frameworks while doing some project that uses it, so I can evaluate it&#8217;s strengths and weaknesses better. So I started on an idea that haven&#8217;t left my head until then: How much hype does a word have?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>With services like <a href=\"http://del.icio.us\">Del.icio.us</a>, <a href=\"http://technorati.com\">Technorati</a>, <a href=\"http://flickr.com\">Flickr</a> and so many others, information is being tagged and available for everyone. Well, <a href=\"http://buzz.ideias3.com\">BUZZwords</a> just gets the results from that word in all of those services, and applies my special formula (not quite just summing them all :P) and returns the hype value for that word.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I later made the page more pretty and added the bars that can make the information more readable at first sight. However there is still a todo: Make a page for each word with it&#8217;s evolution through time and the top results from the services used. Oh, and I&#8217;m thinking of adding another services, but for example Digg doesn&#8217;t uses tags, but I can still perform a search for a word. Would that be a reliable value to consider?</p>


title: Twitter and Pownce Updater
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-blogging\">Microblogging</a> is becoming more and more used by people in this new <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Web\">Social Web</a>. <a href=\"http://www.twitter.com\">Twitter</a> arrived and made millions of fans. It was such a success they had <a href=\"http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000838.html\">problems escalating</a>. Taking advantage of that downtimes, <a href=\"http://www.jaiku.com\">Jaiku</a> got many users to switch over to them, giving them more features. <span class=\"caps\">IMO</span>, jaiku is my personal aggregator, not a microblogging service. I sticked to twitter, but had its feed in my jaiku webpage. Only if the feed was updated more frequently&#8230;</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Some time ago Kevin Rose, the kid from <a href=\"http://www.digg.com\">Digg</a>, and his team (including <a href=\"http://pownce.com/leahculver/\">my dream girl</a>) came up with this microblogging system with Messages, Files, Links and Events that I find very interesting. Only one disadvantage: It only works from the web or the <span class=\"caps\">AIR</span> app that cannot be minimized to tray. Thankfully <a href=\"http://blog.pownce.com/2007/07/25/coming-soon-the-pownce-public-api/\">they are getting a public <span class=\"caps\">API</span> avaiable soon</a>. In the meanwhile, some guys <a href=\"http://phaedo.cx/archives/2007/07/17/pypownce-project-on-google-code/\">managed to hack the <span class=\"caps\">API</span> used by the desktop app and made a python module</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Well, using this and <a href=\"http://code.google.com/p/python-twitter/\">Python-Twitter</a>, I made a small script that updates both your Twitter and Pownce status at the same time. And a plus: if you enter a url in the message, it will add it as a link in Pownce ;)</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/public/Projects/python/twitter_and_pownce_updater.zip\">Give it a try</a> and comment with feedback please. If it has some success, I&#8217;ll probably do some graphical interface, a jabber/msn bot and in the future add the combined list from both your Twitter and Pownce friends.</p>


title: WebMaps
body:
  <p>Before putting my hands in the ejaki project, the previous version of the website was pretty old-fashion but used Google Maps <span class=\"caps\">API</span>. Wow I though, but then I saw it was only used to get thumbnails for each ejaki (Point of Interest). Well, in my opinion, the map should be the center of the website, just like it is on the mobile app, since Geography is the background of our shared information.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>First I had to evaluate the existing APIs: <a href=\"http://www.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/index.html\">Google Maps</a> was indeed good, proved by the fact it is the most used, and includes features like GeoCoder, remote <span class=\"caps\">GML</span> overlays, traffic and driving directions. This should be useful features to add in the future for our application.</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://developer.yahoo.com/maps/ajax/index.html\">Yahoo Maps <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span></a> (Flash was not an option) was pretty good, with almost all the features as Google&#8217;s but with integration with <a href=\"http://pipes.yahoo.com/\">Y! Pipes</a> and <a href=\"http://georss.org/\">GeoRSS</a>. This extras were not relevant since we intend to use only our database (in which other information can be added).</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://dev.live.com/virtualearth/sdk/\">Microsoft&#8217;s Virtual Earth</a> shown to be a really nice platform. Microsoft is known by being left behind in the web2.0 age, but this one is from far the most powerful engine. Since 3d visualization, &#8220;Birds eye&#8221;, powerful information finder, and all the features from both Yahoo&#8217;s and Google&#8217;s APIs. But there as a downside that matters. Since this is a scientific research project, we don&#8217;t like to use proprietary formats, and Microsoft is known for that. We wouldn&#8217;t like the possibility of in the future their <span class=\"caps\">API</span> would only work on IE.</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.openlayers.org/\">Open Layers</a> is a free and opensource library, a project of the <a href=\"http://www.openlayers.org/OSGeo_wTag.png\">Open Source Geospatial Foundation</a>. As an opensource alternative it would be nice to use and foment it, but it&#8217;s too poor for now. No Satellite view, no geocoding and nothing that would make it more useful for our users. Maybe in the future in another project&#8230;</p>\r
  \r
  <p>As so, we sticked to Google Maps since it had the basics and some extras that might be useful in the future. Later working with it, I found out it was really nice, but one function was missing: To set the zoom depending on the geocoding answer, and so <a href=\"http://pastebin.com/f25d7ed1a\">here you have it for free</a> ;)</p>


title: MOSH - Nokia Social Network
body:
  <div style=\"float:right; margin:10px; background-color: #000000;\"><img src=\"http://nds2.static.mosh.nokia.com/img/cmn/hdr_logo.gif\" alt=\"MOSH\" /></div>

  <p><a href=\"http://www.nokia.com\">Nokia</a> has released the beta (even in that is very web2.0!) of their social network targeting mobile phone users. It allows everyone to share their audio files, images, videos ,documents applications and games from (almost) any phone! With a nice and simple look that everybody feels in love with, it is a very attractive website for you to spend your time. And better, since it&#8217;s targeting mobile phones, there is the website version for your mobile phone and even a app for you to take <span class=\"caps\">MOSH</span> along with you for everywhere.</p>

  <p>I really think that this is a huge step towards the web2.0 everywhere. While social web users are people that spend most of they time in the Internet, now it will embrace people who don&#8217;t have that time, but keep attached to their mobiles phones. Web2.0 buzzword &#8220;mobility&#8221; has just gained another value.</p>

  <p>Nokia has innovated in two other points. First, it allows contents for other brands, that might make it more universal and bring new customers to Nokia. Another point is the fact Nokia made it possible to share applications, games and images that are a income source for Mobile Operators and some niche companies (Like <a href=\"http://www.jamster.com/\">Jamba</a>). This might be an issue in the future (as it was in the past when Symbian phones appeared) but I believe this is the right path.</p>

  <p>I hope this website goes live soon so I can get some pretty nice content for my TyTN.</p>


title: ejaki Status
body:
  <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/7330397@N03/1234248853/\" title=\"\"><img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1047/1234248853_04448b595d_m.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" alt=\"ejaki web\" style=\"float: right; margin-left:10px; border:0\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p>As I&#8217;ve already posted here, I&#8217;ve been working the last two months on the ejaki project. I was assigned to make its web interface and I have it working already.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>The previous website was very ugly and the ejaki data displaying was only a list of ejakis with a small google maps thumbnail for each one. It was running in <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET (SQL server as database) and was using .NET authentication methods.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>It was my first time working with <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.net (I&#8217;ve only worked with classic <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span> a few years ago) and I didn&#8217;t like quite much the webcontrols and the way things were organized. A <span class=\"caps\">RAD</span> <span class=\"caps\">MVC</span> platform for <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET is what I really wanted, but <a href=\"http://midgard.zi-yu.com/\">Midgard</a> wasn&#8217;t ready yet.</p>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/7330397@N03/1234250047/\" title=\"\"><img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1374/1234250047_ef92d65c1f_m.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" alt=\"ejaki web new\" style=\"float: left; margin-right:10px; border:0\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p>I decided to remake the website all from scratch. The database was changed not to use that heavy .NET authentication modules and to add some extra information. As for javascript, I chose <a href=\"http://www.prototypejs.org/\">Prototype</a> + <a href=\"http://script.aculo.us/\">Script.aculo.us</a> + <a href=\"http://pastebin.com/f39685fb3\">MyPrototype</a> and it was the first time I&#8217;ve seen it being used with <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET. It works the same way as in ruby, py<b></b>thon or <span class=\"caps\">PHP</span>, you just have to make a ashx file (Generic Handler) with the response you want to load with <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span> methods.  I found the <span class=\"caps\">MASTER</span> and partial page system pretty weak for some stuff I wanted to do.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>In the new website I tried a different approach. Being the data mainly geographical, the map is now the center of the website, and everything works around it. This may raise issues with browsers not compatible with Google Maps <span class=\"caps\">API</span> and Mobile Devices (a target platform). So in the future, a mobile website will probably be done.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>As for now, I&#8217;ve revamping the Windows Mobile software so it looks more cool to use. If you&#8217;re attending <a href=\"http://www.barcamp.org/BarCampPortugal2007\">Barcamp Portugal</a>, I&#8217;ll be making a short presentation with a demo, so if you do have a <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span> with <span class=\"caps\">GPS</span>, please don&#8217;t forget it ;)</p>


title: Prenda de Anos do Sapo
body:
  <p>Recebido por <span class=\"caps\">SMS</span> h&#225; 1 minuto:</p>

  <div class=code>
  PARAB&#201;NS: em Setembro faz anos que &#233; nosso cliente SAPO! Para comemorar oferecemos-lhe 2 GB extra de Tr&#224;fego Internacional durante o pr&#242;ximo mes. Aproveite!
  </div>

  <p>Que gesto simp&#225;tico da parte do <span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span>! E calha bem que em outubro vou mudar de casa e de <span class=\"caps\">ISP</span> para a Clix :)</p>


title: BarCampPortugal dia 1
body:
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1176/1294387589_423a0a7411_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float:right; margin: 10px\" />\r
  Eu gosto tanto do meu departamento, que hoje fui l&#225; almo&#231;ar. N&#227;o por n&#227;o ter um sitio melhor para almo&#231;ar, mas ainda tinha coisas de ultima hora para adicionar ao ejaki. Depois, foi-se juntando malta no &#225;trio at&#233; fazermos uma sess&#227;o de \"inform&#225;ticos an&#243;nimos\" em que cada um se apresentou resumidamente. Foi interessante ouvir algumas pessoas dizer \"Ol&#225;, eu sou o ... e n&#227;o tenho nada a haver com a inform&#225;tica\", o que revela que afinal este tipo de eventos n&#227;o &#233; s&#243; focado em geekzisses, mas em ideias e afins.\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1331/1295201910_a50100a113_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float:left; margin: 10px\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Depois o <a href=\"http://whythehype.com/\">Gordito Cabeludo</a>, da <a href=\"http://barcamp.org/f/webreakstuff.png\">WeBreakStuff</a> apresentou o BarCamp: o conceito, de <a href=\"http://barcamp.org/BarCampSanFrancisco\">onde veio a ideia</a> de organizarem uma coisa destas, da <a href=\"http://barcamp.org/BarCampPortugal\">edi&#231;&#227;o do ano passado</a> e dos <a href=\"http://waveweb2.com/\">patrocinadores</a> <a href=\"http://safira.pt/\">muito</a> <a href=\"http://www.delta-cafes.pt\">fixes</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1399/1295253910_04e64f347e_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float:right; margin: 10px\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Logo de seguida, a primeira apresenta&#231;&#227;o da manh&#227;, pela voz (obviamente nortenha) do <a href=\"http://sufixo.com/raw\">Francisco Cabrita</a> sobre como faz para tirar o melhor partido das 19 horas em que est&#225; acordado. Falou um pouco do GTDs e coisas do g&#233;nero para melhorar a produtividade, mas focou-se no slide que tem a frente da secret&#225;ria dele que podem ver na imagem. Cada palavra/express&#227;o representa um sentido que ele tem de seguir e que nos foi explicando. Pessoalmente, concordei com alguns, outros nem tanto. Mas como ele pr&#243;prio referiu, era uma coisa pessoal e que podia variar de pessoa para pessoa. Fiquei tamb&#233;m interessado em come&#231;ar a medir a minha vida com o <a href=\"http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/\">nike+</a> visto depois de ter deixado a minha longa carreira no basquetebol, o desporto e capaz de me fazer falta. Quem sabe umas corridinhas, como o Francisco faz.</p>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1022/1296169794_b063a3777a_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float:left; margin: 10px\" />\r
  \r
  <p>A seguir foi o <a href=\"http://createdeliver.com/brainstorm/2007/07/23/halfbaked-no-barcamp/\">HalfBaked.com</a> em que fomos atirando palavras aleat&#243;rias com que depois cada grupo de mais ou menos 8 pessoas ia escolher duas, adicionar o &#8221;.com&#8221; no final e fazer uma empresa a partir disso. &#192; boa javardice portuguesa, as palavras foram mesmo parvas, o que levou a que as ideias tamb&#233;m fossem muito&#8230; fora da realidade. Desde <a href=\"http://spamlota.com\">Spams vingativos</a> a <a href=\"http://www.cenasdepesca.com\">Peixes com RFIDs comest&#237;veis</a>, houve de tudo. Gostaria aqui de mencionar a &#250;nica ideia realista apresent&#225;vel pela <a href=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1068/1302183665_5db2c1390f_m.jpg\">equipa</a> do <a href=\"http://mindboosternoori.blogspot.com\">Marcos Marado</a>, e que sinceramente n&#227;o sei porque &#233; que ainda ningu&#233;m fez isto: Uma imobili&#225;ria online, baseada no Google Maps. As capacidades de busca desta ferramenta, superam em muito outras que <a href=\"http://casa.iol.pt/\">existem</a> <a href=\"http://www.expressoimobiliario.clix.pt/\">por</a> <a href=\"http://casa.sapo.pt/\">a&#237;</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <div style=\"float:right; margin: 10px\"><object type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" data=\"http://s3.amazonaws.com/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=101670&amp;doc=ejaki4344\" width=\"425\" height=\"348\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://s3.amazonaws.com/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=101670&amp;doc=ejaki4344\" /></object></div>\r
  \r
  <p>Para terminar as apresenta&#231;&#245;es, l&#225; fui eu para o palco falar do <a href=\"http://www.ejaki.com\">ejaki</a>, o projecto em que eu estive a trabalhar nos &#250;ltimos dois meses, abordando tanto o desenvolvimento do site e da escolha das tecnologias a usar, como do design da aplica&#231;&#227;o para <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span> e dos v&#225;rios desafios que as interfaces m&#243;veis nos colocam. Ficou tamb&#233;m uma lista de caminhos que queremos seguir e o desafio para contribu&#237;rem com ideias, voluntariando-se para testar ou mesmo para desenvolver.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Finalmente fomos jantar &#224; p&#225;la da <a href=\"http://waveweb2.com/\">WaveWeb</a> e depois, por cansa&#231;o, vim para casa. Como sempre estes eventos, e sobretudo as refei&#231;&#245;es s&#227;o importantes para conhecer mais pessoas a trabalhar na mesma &#225;rea que n&#243;s, trocar ideias, ver o que os outros andam a &#8220;tramar&#8221; e aprender coisas novas. Infelizmente n&#227;o consegui resolver o meu problema de por Python a correr em Fast-CGI no Apache em ambiente Windows, pelo que n&#227;o poderei dar o workshop que tinha pensado. Fica para uma pr&#243;xima vez.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>( Fotos da autoria do <a href=\"http://blog.centopeia.com/\">Pedro Cust&#243;dio</a> e do <a href=\"http://zone41.info\">Ricardo Bernardo</a>. <a href=\"http://flickr.com/search/?q=barcamp+coimbra\">Para mais, consultar o Flickr</a> )</p>


title: Embrace the flow
body:
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1041/1301472647_e984124b47_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: right; margin: 10px\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Come&#231;ou bem o segundo dia do <a href=\"http://www.barcamp.org/BarCampPortugal2007\">BarCamp</a> com v&#225;rias propostas de apresenta&#231;&#227;o por post-its como se pode ver na imagem. Chegou ao ponto de da parte da tarde se ter de fazer apresenta&#231;&#245;es em paralelo, pelo que irei separar as apresenta&#231;&#245;es a que assisti em posts dedicados a cada uma e com as minhas reflex&#245;es sobre elas.</p>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1071/1302864598_be80849425_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin: 10px\" />\r
  Ao bom estilo do improviso do BarCamp, o <a href=\"http://blog.centopeia.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Pedro Cust&#243;dio</a> chegou-se a frente com uma apresenta&#231;&#227;o totalmente improvisada a partir de <a href=\"http://blog.centopeia.com/2007/03/04/embrace-the-flow/\" target=\"_blank\">um post dele</a>. Baseado na apresenta&#231;&#227;o de <a href=\"http://www.thatvoodooyoudo.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Janette Girod</a> no BarCamp London sobre <a href=\"http://www.thatvoodooyoudo.com/flow/\" target=\"_blank\">Finding Flow</a>, ele falou da sua experi&#234;ncia seguindo alguns m&#233;todos para aumentar a sua produtividade. O principal era organizar o dia em ciclos de 1 hora em que 48 minutos eram totalmente dedicados a resolver tarefas (sendo que os projectos eram separados em v&#225;rias tarefas) e depois 12 minutos para fazer uma pausa. Est&#225; provado que este sistema (embora os valores podem ser ajustados, ele pr&#243;prio os ajustou a si pr&#243;prio) aumenta a capacidade de concentra&#231;&#227;o no tempo de trabalho. O Pedro chegou mesmo ao ponto de utilizar um software desenvolvido para bloquear o teclado por causa dos problemas de pulso para se for&#231;ar a usar aquela metodologia. Ao que parece teve bons resultados, juntamente com outras t&#233;cnicas como consultar o email a certas alturas do dia marcadas.\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1279/1302233623_2fb0b2d5ff_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: right; margin: 10px\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Enquanto estudante e webdeveloper freelancer n&#227;o necessito de ter grande produtividade. Normalmente organizo o meu dia para descansar (e em per&#237;odo de aulas ir passear ao Departamento) e a noite fa&#231;o o c&#243;digo at&#233; me cansar. Como tenho uma produtividade bastante alta no tempo que programo, n&#227;o tenho tido problemas com deadlines. Mas acho uma coisa curiosa: sendo o &#8220;Flow&#8221; o estado de esp&#237;rito em que alcan&#231;amos a nossa maior produtividade, abstraindo-nos do resto (e o Pedro at&#233; comparou aos desportistas), eu tenho o meu Flow de programa&#231;&#227;o bastante diferente do meu Flow de desporto. Tendo jogado basquetbol durante 8 anos, sempre que estava em jogo, o meu estado de esp&#237;rito mudava completamente. Desde uma respira&#231;&#227;o e pulsa&#231;&#227;o totalmente diferentes, a vis&#227;o tamb&#233;m mudava atingindo um foco diferente e o tempo passava muito lentamente! 10 segundos no basquet &#233; uma eternidade. Quanto ao Flow de c&#243;digo, o tempo passa muito mais r&#225;pido e consigo abstrair-me totalmente do resto, pelo que gostava de ouvir uma explica&#231;&#227;o sobre como a mesma pessoa pode ter dois Flows diferentes.</p>


title: História e Futuro do Planeta Geek
body:
  <p>O <a href=\"http://gamito.blogs.sapo.pt/\">M&#225;rio Gamito</a> (que aproveitou o dia para terminar o seu blog) come&#231;ou a apresenta&#231;&#227;o por dar um breve curr&#237;culo, o que me espantou um pouco. Todos os outros oradores apresentaram-se somente com o nome e em alguns casos as emrresas em que trabalhavam actualmente, e com backgrounds bem mais interessantes que ele, pelo que foi um ind&#237;cio da qualidade da apresenta&#231;&#227;o.</p>

  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1200/1302864610_8971d2498d_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin: 10px\" />

  <p>Falou muito do surgimento do <a href=\"http://planetgeek.org/\">planet geek</a> e do seu paralelismo com o asterisco, mais tarde <a href=\"http://prt.sc\">Prt.sc</a> /(Disclaimer: onde eu sou agregado com gosto). Eu achei isto escusado, e se ele quisesse explicar as suas diverg&#234;ncias e &#8220;esclarecer&#8221; situa&#231;&#245;es penso que escolheu o momento errado. Realmente poderia ter-se integrado melhor no Barcamp e falar realmente da experi&#234;ncia, dos desafios, da tecnologia, etc&#8230;  Quanto ao projectos futuros n&#227;o podia revelar nenhuma para &#225;lem de uma poss&#237;vel altera&#231;&#227;o do dominio, fez-me pensar que o t&#237;tulo poderia ser melhorado.</p>

  <p>Quanto a estas hist&#243;rias de planetas, tou completamente desligado nisso e o meu tempo &#233; demasiado precioso, pelo que estou agregado num planeta que me d&#225; a projecto que pretendo pelo p&#250;blico alvo e pelos <a href=\"http://www.prt.sc/members/\">outros agregados</a> de qualidade.</p>


title: Consultor Autarquico - Why The Failure?
body:
  <p>V&#237;tor Oliveira &#233; um empreendedor que aproveitou estar no BarCamp para falar de um projecto seu que n&#227;o deu certo. S&#243; esta atitude fez-me t&#234;-lo em alta considera&#231;&#227;o, pois &#233; t&#237;pico uma pessoa tentar esconder os seus insucessos, mas neste caso ele aproveitou para partilhar com todos, e assim pudermos aprender com isso.</p>

  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1029/1303021492_1e916bdc4d_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: right; margin: 10px\" />

  <p>A ideia era simples: Fornecer &#224;s junta de freguesias as ferramentas para resolver muitos dos seus problemas. Desde consultadoria tanto a n&#237;vel de gest&#227;o como de legisla&#231;&#227;o at&#233; outras ferramentas estavam dispon&#237;veis online no <a href=\"http://www.consultorautarquico.com/\">Portal Consultor Aut&#225;rquico</a>. O V&#237;tor lan&#231;ou ao desafio a plateia para tentar adivinhar porque tinha falhado o projecto e atrav&#233;s das respostas foi falando da experi&#234;ncia e do que foi fazendo.</p>

  <p>A principal conclus&#227;o a que cheguei era que ter neg&#243;cios com o estado &#233; bastante complicado. Apesar da ideia ter sido vendida a Presidentes da Junta, n&#227;o era aprovado na assembleia. Um dos barcampers deu uma pista que convencendo os funcion&#225;rios que de aquilo &#233; uma boa ferramenta, poderia ter-se chegado a uma aprova&#231;&#227;o na assembleia. Fica a dica ;)</p>


title: SEO - uma abordagem suave
body:
  <p>Para al&#233;m do jantar, a <a href=\"http://www.waveweb2.com\">waveweb</a>, pela pessoa do Pedro Barata ainda nos presenteou com uma apresenta&#231;&#227;o sobre <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/44\">uma &#225;rea do meu interesse</a> : Search Engine Optimization. Gostei da sequ&#234;ncia dos conte&#250;dos da apresenta&#231;&#227;o, come&#231;ando primeiro pela necessidade que as empresas t&#234;m em que o seu site apare&#231;a primeiro nos resultados dos motores de busca, depois do <a href=\"http://www.google.com/technology/\">PageRank</a> e como ele funciona.</p>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1039/1303218594_1048fa85d1_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: right; margin:10px\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Falou tamb&#233;m sobre como atrav&#233;s das metatags, title, headers e footers melhorar a indexa&#231;&#227;o pelos motores de busca. Aqui as keywords escolhidas desempenham um papel importante. Foi por esse motivo que ele lan&#231;ou o projecto <a href=\"http://gimme-keywords.com/\">GimmeKeywords</a> em que quem quiser pode submeter o seu site, e ele ir&#225; responder-lhe com as keywords ideais para inserir no c&#243;digo. Tamb&#233;m fiquei admirado com este projecto, pois normalmente uma empresa aproveitava esta tecnologia para si pr&#243;pria, ou no m&#225;ximo, vendia a outra. <i>Way to go WaveWeb!</i></p>\r
  \r
  <p>Falou tamb&#233;m da import&#226;ncia essencial do conte&#250;do, dos links de outros sites para o nosso e da qualidade (= pagerank de quem linka) desses links. Falou tamb&#233;m de uma t&#233;cnica que &#233; bastante question&#225;vel na minha opini&#227;o: colocar links para sites da concorr&#234;ncia. Claro que isto indica que &#8220;n&#227;o temos medo da concorr&#234;ncia&#8221; mas muitas empresas podem n&#227;o querer fazer isso por quest&#245;es de pol&#237;tica. E de facto, isto pode aumentar (em certas situa&#231;&#245;es) a qualidade do site, mas de facto n&#227;o optimiza o site para motores de busca. Pelo contr&#225;rio, ao linkar-mos a concorr&#234;ncia estamos a contribuir para que o PageRank deles aumente e apare&#231;a antes do nosso.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Gostaria de ouvir mais opini&#245;es relativamente a este assunto, visto ter sido a &#250;nica coisa em que discordei das &#250;teis ajudas que o Pedro nos proporcionou.</p>


title: Flex Development
body:
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1117/1303606149_463aa85812_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: right; margin:10px\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Depois do almo&#231;o oferecido gentilmente pela <a href=\"http://safira.pt\">Safira</a>, o <a href=\"http://morgadinho.com\">Nuno Morgadinho</a> falou-nos um pouco sobre <a href=\"http://flex.org/\">Flex</a>, uma framework para ActionScript para construir <span class=\"caps\">RIA</span>&#8216;s. Como podem ver pelos <a href=\"http://www.morgadinho.org/blog/flex_devel_barcamp07.pdf\">slides</a>, tem a vantagem de o mesmo bin&#225;rio ser multi-plataforma (o Flash tem 90% de penetra&#231;&#227;o no mercado, segundo a Adobe) e de funcionar tanto na web, como na nova plataforma <a href=\"http://www.adobe.com/go/apollo\"><span class=\"caps\">AIR</span></a>. Foram tamb&#233;m mostradas outras vantagens, mas a que achei mais interessante &#233; o facto de optimizar a rela&#231;&#227;o entre developers e designers, visto que desde sempre que estes &#250;ltimos t&#234;m escolhido o flash como ferramenta de elei&#231;&#227;o.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>O Nuno mostrou-nos tamb&#233;m v&#225;rios exemplos de aplica&#231;&#245;es flex e como se constru&#237;a uma interface com o Flex Builder. Gostei muito do <a href=\"http://papervision3d.org\">PaperVision</a>, que possibilitava criar efeitos 3D bastante realistas, mas o que realmente me fez apaixonar foi o <a href=\"http://www.cove.org/ape\"><span class=\"caps\">APE</span></a>, um motor de f&#237;sica ideal para desenvolver jogos. S&#243; este facto me fez querer experimentar o Flex na constru&#231;&#227;o de um jogo, que <a href=\"http://fraglider.oninet.pt/aow/\">sempre</a> foi uma coisa que me interessou.</p>


title: Usabilidade em RIAs
body:
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1216/1311333148_47176aa367_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: right; margin: 10px\" />

  <p>Bruno Figueiredo da <a href=\"http://www.usabilidade.org/\"><span class=\"caps\">APPU</span></a> apresentou-nos o tema <a href=\"http://www.usabilidade.org/Usabilidade%20em%20RIA.pdf\">Usabilidade em RIAs</a> de uma forma bastante interessante: Em vez de falar da teoria como j&#225; vi muitos fazer, em quase tudo o que falou, mostrava um pequeno screencast com um exemplo do mundo real, tanto bons como errados. Assim foi f&#225;cil para o p&#250;blico entender perfeitamente o que ele queria mostrar e ainda criar uma opini&#227;o dos websites em causa, e aprender com os seus erros ou qualidades.</p>

  <p>Como webdesigner/developer, tomei notas de algumas das regras que achei fundamentais implementar: <br />
  <ul><br />
  <li>Fazer interfaces tanto para utilizadores iniciados como avan&#231;ados, por exemplo usar teclas de atalho (ctrl+B) ou ent&#227;o ter um bot&#227;o ou menu para o efeito (Bot&#227;o para bold)</li><br />
  <li>Dar sempre ao utilizador feedback das ac&#231;&#245;es que toma. &#201; um caso frequente quando se usa <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span>, n&#227;o dar resposta vis&#237;vel ao utilizador tanto de sucesso, como do erro. J&#225; me aconteceu enviar informa&#231;&#227;o num pedido <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span> e pensar que est&#225; no servidor, mas afinal deu um erro 500.</li><br />
  <li>Adicionar op&#231;&#227;o de <i>undo</i>. Quantas vezes numa aplica&#231;&#227;o web n&#227;o desejaram retroceder a &#250;ltima ac&#231;&#227;o?</li><br />
  <li>Seguir padr&#245;es. Se os utilizadores est&#227;o habituados a um certo modo de realizar uma op&#231;&#227;o noutras aplica&#231;&#245;es (quer web, quer desktop), ao usarmos o mesmo meio, estamos a facilitar a vida ao utilizador.</li><br />
  <li>Ser bastante espec&#237;fico quanto aos erros que ocorrem, para o utilizador corrijir-los mais facilmente.</li><br />
  </ul></p>


title: CodeIgniter => OncologiaPediátrica.org
body:
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1085/1310452267_c3d6a974ac_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: right; margin:10px\" />

  <p>A maneira de apresentar a framework <a href=\"http://codeigniter.com/\">CodeIgniter</a> do <a href=\"http://revolutionsolution.blogspot.com/\">Joaquim Rendeiro</a> foi bastante interessante. Para al&#233;m de falar da framework em si, mostrou tamb&#233;m como a aplicou a um projecto seu <a href=\"http://www.oncologiapediatrica.org/\">OncologiaPedri&#225;trica</a>.</p>

  <p>O CodeIgniter, para quem n&#227;o sabe, &#233; uma framework <span class=\"caps\">MVC</span> para <span class=\"caps\">PHP</span> e pelo que me apercebi, bastante f&#225;cil de come&#231;ar a usar. Arrastar para uma pasta, mudar as configura&#231;&#245;es, e come&#231;ar a escrever a aplica&#231;&#227;o. Ele explicou o modelo <span class=\"caps\">MVC</span> e como funcionava cada componente a n&#237;vel da framework.</p>

  <p>O CodeIgniter foi escolhido pois era um projecto com alguma informa&#231;&#227;o para mostrar, e havia pouco tempo para a desenvolver (como &#233; costume) por apenas um developer. Foram apontados alguns defeitos como o pseudo-ActiveRecord que n&#227;o abstrai correctamente as bases de dados e as respectivas rela&#231;&#245;es. E o scaffold tamb&#233;m &#233; tempor&#225;rio, n&#227;o gerando vistas nem controladores como em Rails.</p>

  <p>Uma solu&#231;&#227;o usada foi o SuperModel que &#233; semelhante ao Scaffold, mas muito mais completo a n&#237;vel de verifica&#231;&#227;o e gera&#231;&#227;o de vistas. Esta, entre outras, permitiram que o website fosse desenvolvido numa semana, e j&#225; esteja no ar com imenso sucesso.</p>


title: OpenID, um kick-start
body:
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1230/1304400497_4d3df39e14_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: right; margin:10px\" />

  <p>Uma das apresenta&#231;&#245;es mais esperadas do dia era do <a href=\"http://createdeliver.com\">Fred Oliveira</a> sobre <a href=\"http://openid.net/\">OpenID</a>. Come&#231;ou por nos falar da ideia e fez uma pequena demo de como usar OpenID do ponto de vista do utilizador. Isto levou a plateia a levantar problemas sobre o sistema que ainda n&#227;o est&#227;o bem resolvidas. Falou-se da integra&#231;&#227;o com browsers que &#233; um must para os utilizadores come&#231;arem a aderir, da necessidade de n&#243;s (developers, bloggers, utilizadores da web2.0) comecemos a usar e a divulgar a quem n&#227;o conhece.</p>

  <p>De facto o OpenID n&#227;o est&#225; preparado para o p&#250;blico geral. Como disse a <a href=\"http://jonasnuts.blogs.sapo.pt/\">Maria Jo&#227;o Nogueira</a>, &#8220;as pessoas v&#227;o olhar e perguntar que raio &#233; aquele caracol ali em cima&#8221;. Mesmo o site oficial <a href=\"http://openid.net/\">openid.net</a> deveria ser mais explicito e apelativo para que as pessoas se sintam interessadas em utilizar aquilo, mostrar confian&#231;a e ao mesmo tempo n&#227;o ser um texto demasiado grande. Uma das coisas que acho que ainda falha, &#233; o facto de quem n&#227;o usa o seu pr&#243;prio dom&#237;nio como OpenID n&#227;o possa mudar de provider, sem perder todas as suas contas.</p>

  <p>Para quem est&#225; a desenvolver sites de momento, uma boa pr&#225;tica &#233; implementar openID, mas possibilitar o registo/login tradicionais. Infelizmente o workshop n&#227;o abrangeu desenvolvimento de sites usando OpenID, mas &#233; umas &#225;rea que tenciono abordar no futuro.</p>


title: Leveraging AWS for cheap and reliable hosting
body:
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1134/1312516625_64b66ef7cc.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: right; margin:10px\" />

  <p>J&#225; no final do dia, numa apresenta&#231;&#227;o para os poucos resistentes, o Tiago Macedo, da <a href=\"http://www.webreakstuff.com\">WeBreakStuff</a> falou-nos um pouco dos servi&#231;os da Amazon. A hist&#243;ria surgiu quando a Amazon descobriu que tinha um enorme datacenter Tier 1 sem estar ocupado, ent&#227;o desenvolver um plano para o por a render. O que temos de momento s&#227;o estes dois servi&#231;os: o EC2 e o S3. Come&#231;ando pelo &#250;ltimo &#233; um sistema de alojamento de ficheiros por buckets ilimitado e pago por cada pedido. O Carlos da <a href=\"http://www.waveweb2.com\">WaveWeb</a> partilhou connosco que reduziu os custos do alojamento de fotos de 300 euros mensais para quase nada.</p>

  <p>Relativamente ao EC2, &#233; um sistema de virtual machine on demand baseado no sistema <a href=\"http://fr.sun.com/sunnews/events/2007/mar/techdays/presentations/td-virtualization.pdf\">Xen Hipervision</a>. No entanto uma coisa de notar &#233; que as m&#225;quinas n&#227;o t&#234;m mem&#243;ria persistente, pelo que sempre que reiniciam, perdem tudo o que t&#234;m no disco de 160gigas. Neste caso &#233; necess&#225;rio usar o S3 para alojar os backups, mas n&#227;o h&#225; altera&#231;&#227;o de custos pois o tr&#225;fego entre o EC2 e o S3 &#233; gr&#225;tis.</p>

  <p>De facto o S3 &#233; uma solu&#231;&#227;o muito barata, mas o EC2 pode tornar-se um pouco mais cara, pois de momento &#233; necess&#225;rio ter algu&#233;m a administrar as m&#225;quinas ou ent&#227;o contratar um um servi&#231;o que inclua administra&#231;&#227;o como o Tiago referiu. No entanto &#233; uma boa solu&#231;&#227;o para servi&#231;os que tenham uma varia&#231;&#227;o muito grande de utiliza&#231;&#227;o.</p>

  <p>Foi esta a &#250;ltima apresenta&#231;&#227;o do BarCamp e mais uma vez queria agradecer &#224; <a href=\"http://www.webreakstuff.com\">organiza&#231;&#227;o</a>, aos patrocinadores, a toda a malta que teve a coragem de se levantar e fazer uma apresenta&#231;&#227;o. A todos os que l&#225; estiveram, t&#234;m a&#237; em cima o meu contacto e tenho a certeza que h&#225; milhares de assuntos em que podemos trocar ideias. Quanto aos que n&#227;o foram e est&#227;o a ler as minhas reviews, considerem clicar ali no &#8220;Buy me a drink&#8221; ;)</p>


title: Brazil fights Piracy the right way!
body:
  <img src=\"http://bloghnjosephbachir.org/files/images/piratedvd.png\" style=\"float: right; margin: 10px;\" alt=\"\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Everybody knows how Brazil government is adopting opensource software and, once again, they do the thing the right way. Instead of filling stuff with <a href=\"http://www.defectivebydesign.org/\"><span class=\"caps\">DRM</span></a> <a href=\"http://www.drm-pt.info\">(PT)</a> or by <a href=\"http://thepiratebay.org/legal\">threating trackers</a>, they are investing on the education. I came across <a href=\"http://sobredesign.wordpress.com/2007/09/06/concurso-criatividade-no-combate-a-pirataria/\">this post</a> where they are offering about 560 euros for the winner of a contest of flash presentations, article, photograph, TV ad, etc in order to appeal for people&#8217;s conscience.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I think this is the way of fighting piracy. People should be taught since their kids in school and at home what&#8217;s right and what&#8217;s wrong. If I don&#8217;t steal something from a shop, why should I steal someone&#8217;s music or video or book? It&#8217;s a product just like some shoes or mp3 player that you couldn&#8217;t possibly think of stealing. Not because you can&#8217;t (I believe stealing is pretty easy this days) but because it&#8217;s not accepted.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Think again if you are downloading this mp3 music. You&#8217;ll probably like it, and you want the artist to compose more for sure. If you don&#8217;t pay him, he won&#8217;t make a living out of music and probably stop publishing his music. So go to a music store (even if online) and buy it, just like you&#8217;d buy some piece of clothe. And what about going to see that movie to cinema? or even renting it to see at home with friends? Not that expensive, and will provide you the same or even better experience.</p>


title: GeoAdvertising
body:
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1350/1345411547_aaba7dd0ff.jpg\" alt=\"GeoAdvertising Mockups\" style=\"float: right; margin: 10px\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Context-driven advertising is becoming widely popular, proved by the Adsense&#8217;s success. Two days ago, while talking to <a href=\"https://www.ipn.pt/si/pessoas/listaunidadespessoa.do?idpessoa=179\">Tiago Serra</a> about how to get money from google maps mashups, I thought about a advertising system, just like Adsense, but georeferenced. Publishers would charge their GeoAds account with credits and then add their ads to the system with their coordinates. Mashup owners would add a little code to their website (compatible with GoogleMaps, LiveEarth and YahooMaps) and from then on, all the ads would be seen in their application. And for each user click, the credit changes from the advertiser to the publisher (can be traded later for real world money).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>But this system will only work fine if adopted by a large number of online geo-based services in order to show advertisers this is really a good way of publicize businesses just like local outdoors. So if you own a <i>GeoMashup</i>, feel free to contact me and share some ideas about GeoAdvertising.</p>


title: Captchas
body:
  <p>Lately I&#8217;ve been spammed a lot in this blog, so I decided I had to implement some kind of captcha, a way of checking if it is a real person submitting that form. <a href=\"http://www.tonsai.de/blog-english/2007/craziest-captchas-on-the-web/\">Here you can check some wicked examples</a>. Through <a href=\"http://sergiosantos.info/\">S&#233;rgio</a> I learned about reCaptcha, a project that uses captchas to complement <span class=\"caps\">OCR</span> programs. You can read more about this in his <a href=\"http://sergiosantos.info/2007/5/recaptcha\">post</a>.</p>

  <p>I was having some issues trying to implement it, when <a href=\"http://twitter.com/BrunoFigueiredo\">Bruno Figueiredo</a> told me about Negative Captchas. I googled it and I found out that was a pretty nice system. I added a &lt;input name=&quot;email&quot; value=&quot;&quot; /&gt; hidden with <span class=\"caps\">CSS</span> and changed the email field to &#8220;email_alt&#8221;. Bots fill all the fields for default, so if the email field has some content, it was a bot since users can&#8217;t see it. Easy and users won&#8217;t notice.</p>

  <p>However, the <b>negative captcha</b> technique has a downside: Spammers can make custom bots to spam the system, but since this is a not-so-popular weblog I&#8217;ll take that chance.</p>

  <p>Oh and a small time-waster:</p>

  <embed src=\"http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1771556\" quality=\"best\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\"></embed>


title: PocketIE vs DeepFish
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/64\">2 months ago I introduced Microsoft DeepFish</a>, the new browser for Windows Mobile devices, still in beta. Thanks to <a href=\"http://fabiopedrosa.info\">F&#225;bio</a> I was able to try that version in my <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/43\">TyTN</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Once you navigate to a website, the first thing you&#8217;ll see, is a overall image of the website. Like a resized screenshot of the desktop browser. Then you have to zoom to the part that interests you. To read some text, you&#8217;ll have to scroll both horizontal and vertically, what just sucks! And regarding the menus, it requires various clicks for something basic. One thing I really enjoyed was the scrolling drag of the page.</p>\r
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1001/1359568031_4eb7310a63.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"\" style=\"margin:10px;\" />\r
  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1299/1360457516_af7946fd26.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"\" style=\"margin:10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Pocket IE is the traditional browser that renders the content for the <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span> resolution. Almost all the websites fit the window and you only need scrolling vertically, which is very good while reading text (and the <span class=\"caps\">TYTN</span> scroolwheel is just marvelous!). The left button has also the most probable action you&#8217;ll take (favorites or back, depending on the situation) and that makes the navigation truly easy and fluid.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>When on my <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span> I visit almost only blogs, twitter, gmail, google reader (ok, and flickr once in a while), so I&#8217;ll keep using PocketIE that gives me exactly the kind of presentation I want for the content I visit. I guess Microsoft is on the wrong path here.</p>


title: Microsoft Student Partner
body:
  <p>Ontem surgiu-me um convite para ser <a href=\"http://student-partners.com/\">Microsoft Student Partner</a> pelo <a href=\"http://student-partners.com/members/miguelvicente.aspx\">Miguel Vicente</a>, com quem passei cerca de hora e meia ao telefone sobre o assunto.</p>

  <p>Para quem n&#227;o sabe o <span class=\"caps\">MSP</span> &#233; um programa em que a Microsoft apoia certos alunos, dando-lhes certas vantagens (como forma&#231;&#227;o, todo o software MS, acesso a eventos, e muito mais) acreditando que possam ser uma mais valia para o resto da comunidade estudantil. Quem melhor que &#8220;clientes&#8221; satisfeitos, para  cativar outros clientes? ;)</p>

  <p>Para come&#231;ar devo dizer que n&#227;o sou um &#8220;mslover&#8221;. H&#225; coisas na Microsoft, quer a n&#237;vel de produtos como de filosofia, com que concordo e outras com que discordo, mas no geral acho-a uma empresa com que me identifico. Como alguns de voc&#234;s j&#225; sabem, sou a favor do software propriet&#225;rio (e tamb&#233;m do opensource em certas situa&#231;&#245;es. Sou capaz escrever um post dedicado a este assunto em breve) e a Microsoft desde sempre que tem impulsionado a tecnologia no seu todo e creio que tenho muito a aprender com a empresa.</p>

  <p>Tinha, erradamente, na ideia que ao ser <span class=\"caps\">MSP</span> teria de me cingir a tecnologias MS, coisa que n&#227;o concordo, mas pelos vistos n&#227;o &#233; nada assim. Claro que se &#233; fomentado a usar tecnologias MS, atrav&#233;s de workshops, por exemplo, mas considero isso uma vantagem. Tamb&#233;m gostava de ver a <span class=\"caps\">SUN</span>, a Apple e outras empresas do g&#233;nero a ter o mesmo tipo de iniciativas. Continua nos meus planos comprar agora um  macbook e experimentar o mundo apple, mas no meu desktop (workstation) vou manter o Windows que acaba por me ser essencial a n&#237;vel de testes e de desenvolvimento na plataforma .NET. O grupo de MSPs de Portugal parece que se d&#225; muito bem e incentiva esta troca de ideias.</p>

  <p>&#201; por estes motivos que vou aceitar ser <span class=\"caps\">MSP</span> e espero n&#227;o s&#243; trazer-vos novidades do mundo Microsoft, mas tamb&#233;m para contribuir com as minhas ideias para melhorar a rela&#231;&#227;o com os estudantes.</p>


title: On Passively Multiplayer Online Game
body:
  <p>This post came up from an interesting chat with <a href=\"http://del.icio.us/alcidesfonseca/jdl\">Jo&#227;o Diogo</a> (I&#8217;m sure one day I&#8217;ll write about him) where he asked me about Passively Multiplayer Online Games (PMOG).</p>

  <p>Well, for those who don&#8217;t know this concept (as I didn&#8217;t), it&#8217;s the possibility to play a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_game\"><span class=\"caps\">RPG</span></a> just by surfing the web. It will build you a profile based on your browser history. This is the basic concept, but I&#8217;m sure there are plenty of details yet to be defined.</p>

  <p>For now there is a Firefox plugin based Game called <a href=\"http://bud.com/\"><span class=\"caps\">BUD</span></a> but it is offline at this moment, so I couldn&#8217;t give it a try. However you can read a Mozilla Developer <a href=\"http://cesarmoco.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/pmog/\">opinion on this</a>.</p>

  <p>Personally, I am not excited by this and I don&#8217;t even believe this will have any success. More and more, people like the Internet because they like to create their own content: Their blogs, their flickr pages, their twitts, etc. Well this means the thing that makes the Internet interesting is the possibility to be active, not passive as this gaming concept promotes.</p>

  <p>There is also another thing: Internet people tend to be lazy. Maybe that&#8217;s just the profile of people who use the web: it&#8217;s the fastest and <i>workless</i> way of doing things. So, they like to focus on things. They like to read one blog then another, when they are watching youtube movies, they don&#8217;t do anything else, etc&#8230; (ok, 1337 people do multi-tasking, but they are not the majority) This kind of games requires your attention while you are doing some other thing (reading/interacting in a webpage). I believe that will not captivate players.</p>

  <p>There is also another thing I don&#8217;t quite believe in <span class=\"caps\">PMOG</span>: the unlimited freedom you have to play. For instance, <a href=\"http://www.wizards.com/dnd/\">DnD</a> is a game where you have an enormous freedom to play (which in my opinion makes it an amazing game) but is only played by a small percentage of <span class=\"caps\">RPG</span> gamers. The rest chooses to play World of Warcraft, Guild Wars and that kind of games where the rules are well defined. Maybe is the laziness again: people like to be limited to a sort of actions where the chose is quite fast and easy.</p>

  <p>Well, let&#8217;s see how these games go, and see if my predictions were right or not.</p>


title: Twitter Notes
body:
  <img src=\"http://twitternotes.com/images/logo.png\" />

  <p>In a world where <span class=\"caps\">GTD</span> matters to everyone, <a href=\"http://sergiosantos.info\">S&#233;rgio</a> came up with an idea: Why wouldn&#8217;t we use twitter to record some notes? Since you have twitter in almost every platform (mobile phone, <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span>, desktop (windows,mac,linux), web, you name it!) it is a good way of posting messages from anywhere and use the <span class=\"caps\">API</span> to organize them.</p>

  <p>That&#8217;s what he did the last week. Started a Rails project, added <a href=\"http://twitter4r.rubyforge.org/\">Twitter4r</a> and a bunch of pluggins and coded a <s>bit</s> lot. As for me, I just made the design and artwork. The layout was based on twitter&#8217;s since twitternotes users are used to it.</p>

  <p>So, go ahead to <a href=\"http://www.twitternotes.com\">http://www.twitternotes.com</a> and login. Then use your favorite twitter client and post something like <span class=\"code\">+ i have to tell everyone about <strong>twitternotes</strong></span> and that&#8217;s it! And you will even tag that message with &#8220;twitternotes&#8221;. Simpler is impossible!</p>


title: Solar Power for PCs?
body:
  <p>Disclaimer: My father owns a <a href=\"http://soltotal.pt/\">company</a> that produces and sells Solar Panels, so I know pretty much what I am talking about.</p>

  <p>Via <a href=\"http://lms.ispgaya.pt/?id=905\">Lu&#237;s Silva&#8217;s Blog</a> I found out that Dell and Lenovo are adding solar powered adapters for their laptops. This is not a bad news, since the system is quite efficient since the energy produced by the cell as DC, is not converted to AC as usual.</p>

  <p>But one thing most people don&#8217;t know is that solar cells are not ecological as everyone thinks. The energy that takes to build one solar cell (even in mass-production) is higher than the energy that that cell produces in its whole life. So why it is produced? Well, there are distant places where it is cheaper to use solar cells than to pay for electric companies to connect it to the electrical network. If you have a country house far from towns, and you only need to power some bulbs, a refrigerator and a small television, you should choose this solution. Otherwise you should use the traditional cable electricity.</p>

  <p>I should mention another use for the Solar Energy that is high efficient: Solar Panels. This are the ones that my father produces and are truly ecological. They just use the sun rays to heat the water. It has a initial investment that pays for itself in 1&#8211;3 three years (depending on the use). If you want to help the environment and reduce some bills, this is the right choice for you.</p>


title: Suggestions for Google
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/65\">As mentioned before</a>, I started to use Google Reader and Mail a while ago and now I have a few ideias for Google to implement:</p>

  <p>First of all, why not a optional external <span class=\"caps\">CSS</span> file for all my account of google. It would affect my google reader, mail, iGoogle, etc&#8230; This matters to power users who chose (as I did) google apps because they access it from various devices. And it wouldn&#8217;t cost a thing! Yeah, I use <a href=\"https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748\">GreaseMonkey</a> but when I use computers that are not mine, it sucks. I don&#8217;t like google&#8217;s design, it&#8217;s too white and blue&#8230;</p>

  <p>I use Google Talk (in which webcam support is missed a lot) and I love the notifications for mail, but I would like to delete and mark as read right there, because only from reading the title, most times I already know what I should do with it.</p>

  <p>Other of the things that I do really miss is a GReader and GMail desktop. Everything would be smoother and much faster running from the OS. I think Google is too ahead of real users, those who aren&#8217;t ready to move everything into the browser. In this aspect Microsoft is being slower keeping desktop apps like Windows Live Mail and Writer.</p>

  <p>Just some ideas from someone who has been using Google apps almost every hour.</p>


title: Flickr Coverflow
body:
  <p>Apple did had a great vision <a href=\"http://www.steelskies.com/coverflow/\">buying</a> <a href=\"http://www.apple.com/itunes/jukebox/coverflow.html\">Coverflow</a> from <a href=\"http://www.steelskies.com/\">SteelSkies</a>. It is impressive and very user-friendly for managing images. Now imagine this for Flickr Images! <a href=\"http://flickr.1stein.org/flickrflow/FlickrFlow.html\">Here you go&#8230;</a> &#8220;Wooow&#8230;&#8221; you say.</p>

  <p>Well I had this idea a while ago and I tried to do it with Javascript. I used my favorite JS library <a href=\"http://prototypejs.org\">Prototype</a> and as I don&#8217;t have much free time, I used <a href=\"http://www.netzgesta.de/reflex/\">Reflex.js</a> for the coverflow effect.</p>

  <p>I then wrote a simple Python cgi file to fetch the images from you flickr account and a javascript file to go through them. Nothing special. You might want to check out <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/coverflow/\">the final result</a>.</p>

  <p>Well, I believe this can be improvable, maybe making it easy to access other photos than yours (if you know the <span class=\"caps\">API</span> is pretty simple) and add more than 3 photos (reflex.js limitation) so we can experience full effect (this might be a little more complex). I am also using the thumbnails from flickr because I want them to be fixe-size square, but using Python ou <span class=\"caps\">PHP</span>+GD, we could make it work using larger images.</p>

  <p>If you feel like working on this, talk to me and feel free to use the <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/projects/46\">source code</a> for any purpose.</p>


title: O hi5 subiu na minha consideração
body:
  <p>Na altura em que as redes sociais se estavam a erguer, o hi5 teve um sucesso estrondoso em Portugal gra&#231;as aos convites autom&#225;ticos para os contactos do hotmail/msn. Essa rede cresceu imenso tanto no nosso pa&#237;s como no Equador, Costa Rica, El Salvador e Guatemala, onde &#233; a principal rede social. Isto fez com que h&#225; uns tempos, <a href=\"http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/22/social-networking-site-hi5-takes-20million/\">recebessem $2.000.000</a>.</p>

  <p>Ao que parece esse dinheiro foi bem investido, porque a rede social j&#225; adicionou in&#250;meras features desde que eu cancelei a minha conta. Desde v&#237;deo a m&#250;sica, com &#225;lbum de recortes e uma interface mais personaliz&#225;vel e us&#225;vel (e <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span>) surpreendeu-me realmente.</p>

  <p>Mas a coisa que me fez escrever este post foi <a href=\"http://www.hi5networks.com/blog/2007/08/enunciate-powers-hi5-api-server.html\">a not&#237;cia</a> de que est&#225; dispon&#237;vel uma <a href=\"http://api.hi5.com/\"><span class=\"caps\">API</span> ainda em beta</a> baseada no <a href=\"http://enunciate.codehaus.org/\">Enunciate</a>. Disponibilizar estas informa&#231;&#227;o foi uma coisa boa no meu entender, desde que se fa&#231;am as devias limita&#231;&#245;es para n&#227;o ser usado para phishing. Est&#227;o cada vez mais realmente web2.0!</p>


title: Homenagem a Aquilino Ribeiro
body:
  <p>Nunca liguei a essas coisas do Pante&#227;o nem nada disso. Para mim a verdadeira homenagem &#233; inclu&#237;-lo nos Programas Escolares. Dando aos alunos a oportunidade de ler as suas obras &#233; que o estamos a imortalizar.</p>

  <p>De facto, gostaria de sugerir a todos que saibam ler, quer tenham acabado de o aprender, quer j&#225; nem se lembrem de o fazer, a ler o Romance da Raposa. E acreditem que vos vai fazer pensar, apesar de ser uma f&#225;bula para crian&#231;as. E se gostarem, continuem a ler a sua obra.</p>


title: Blog upgraded
body:
  <p>No, I haven&#8217;t upgraded this blog&#8217;s engine to wordpress vX.X.X, simply because it does not run on wordpress, nor blogger, nor any other engine. It was coded by me using my microframework pungi. It now supports tagging (using pungi N-N relations) and blog posts are now archived by date.</p>

  <p>For those who don&#8217;t understand a word of Portuguese, there is now a <a href=\"http://feeds.feedburner.com/alcidesfonseca/en\">feed containing english-only posts</a>, so feel free to change or subscribe it.</p>

  <img src=\"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1157/1424196455_e9f8b3ce3d.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"\" />

  <p>Apart from the design changes, I added more <a href=\"http://microformats.org/\">microformats</a>, this time <a href=\"http://microformats.org/wiki/xfn\"><span class=\"caps\">XFN</span></a> (XHTML friends network so I can use this website as my portable social network (besides the already implemented <a href=\"http://openid.net\">openID</a>). If you are interested in learning about this, try to run this website address under <a href=\"http://xfngraph.sourceforge.net/webstart/xfngraph.jnlp\"><span class=\"caps\">XFN</span> Graph</a>.</p>


title: OpenID vs LiveID
body:
  <p>Microsoft has been using their Passport, now <a href=\"https://accountservices.passport.net/ppnetworkhome.srf?vv=500&amp;lc=2070\">Windows Live ID</a> since Hotmail become popular, and a lot (and when I say a lot, I mean A <span class=\"caps\">LOT</span>!) of Internet users do use it.</p>

  <p>Recently, Microsoft has released the <a href=\"http://dev.live.com/liveid/\">Windows Live ID Client/Web Authentication <span class=\"caps\">SDK</span></a> that allows users to base their authentication systems on Windows Live ID. This is a great solution for a single sign-on, but all the authentication is relied to Microsoft. Most users won&#8217;t find this a problem, but other will.</p>

  <p>Well, there is a more open solution to this problem: <a href=\"http://openid.net\">OpenID</a>. I&#8217;ve <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/83\">wrote about this before</a> but now, I have an idea for a new project and I wanted to hear some feedback.</p>

  <p>I know that <a href=\"http://www.identityblog.com/?p=668\">Microsoft has been working together with OpenID</a> to improve the system and make both systems compatible, but I can imagine a quick way of making live ID work as an OpenID: I&#8217;m thinking of making my own OpenID provider that uses Windows Live ID as a authentication. Yeah, it will re-delegate the authentication, and probably will take more time, but it will use the authentication you already have (thinking about liveID users).</p>

  <p>I wonder if you have any suggestions, or are interested in helping out :)</p>


title: Clix a entrar na web2.0?
body:
  <p>H&#225; um bom tempo atr&#225;s os portugueses tinham como principais portais o <a href=\"http://www.sapo.pt\"><span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span></a>, o <a href=\"http://www.iol.pt\"><span class=\"caps\">IOL</span></a>, o <a href=\"http://www.clix.pt\">Clix</a> e o <a href=\"http://www.terravista.pt\">Terr&#225;vista</a>. Este &#250;ltimo sobrevivia do tempo em que era o &#250;nico site portugu&#234;s a oferecer alojamento gr&#225;tis, e onde por acaso eu fiz o meu primeiro site! O <span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span> evolu&#237;a do direct&#243;rio/motor de busca que era e ao ser adquirido pelo grupo Portugal Telecom, passou a entrar no mercado dos ISPs, onde se lan&#231;aram a Clix e a <span class=\"caps\">IOL</span> (quem n&#227;o se lembra de jogar ao disco com os cds da Clix&#8230;)</p>

  <p>O Terr&#225;vista foi morrendo, na minha opini&#227;o por n&#227;o fazer acordos com fontes informativas como os outros fizeram. O <span class=\"caps\">IOL</span>, aquando da aquisi&#231;&#227;o do grupo Media Capital, perdeu os sites das r&#225;dios do grupo para a Clix, o que fez com que perdesse bastante popularidade juntamente com o facto do servi&#231;o <span class=\"caps\">ISP</span> ter acabado (Mas parece que agora <a href=\"http://www.blogs.iol.pt/\">j&#225; tem blogs!</a>). O <span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span>? Bem, esse tem-se mantido na <a href=\"http://sapo.blogs.sapo.pt/\">crista da onda</a>.</p>

  <p>Quanto ao Clix, a meu ver, depende dos clientes de <span class=\"caps\">ISP</span> que ficam com o portal como homepage, dos acessos do Expresso, P&#250;blico, Exame Inform&#225;tica e Vis&#227;o, e dos ouvintes das R&#225;dios da Media Capital ( Comercial, Cidade, Best Rock, <span class=\"caps\">RCP</span>, etc). Quanto ao Cotonete, penso que o boooom j&#225; foi quando estava no <span class=\"caps\">IOL</span>.</p>

  <p>Mas &#250;ltimamente o Clix apostou em certas &#225;reas e algo me diz que est&#225; a entrar na web2.0, tal como o <span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span> j&#225; o fez h&#225; muito bom tempo. Primeiro lan&#231;ou <a href=\"http://opera.clix.pt/\">uma vers&#227;o do Opera para eles</a>, o que considero uma boa aposta sobretudo para os home users e a integra&#231;&#227;o com os conte&#250;dos do portal! Agora recentemente incluiu na sua rede o <a href=\"http://mingle.clix.pt/\">Mingle</a>, uma rede social em flash, cujo p&#250;blico alvo me parecem os putos, e o <a href=\"http://palcoprincipal.clix.pt/\">Palco Principal</a> que &#233; tamb&#233;m uma rede social, mas dedicada &#224; m&#250;sica e que eu sugiro vivamente.</p>

  <p>No entanto, penso que ainda faltam &#224; Clix v&#225;rios servi&#231;os e quem sabe uma autentica&#231;&#227;o igual para todos os sites da rede (e baseada em OpenID). Para os pr&#243;ximos tempos, prevejo um blogs.clix.pt, mas &#233; capaz de ser s&#243; ideia minha. Veremos.</p>


title: Exposé on Linux
body:
  <p>Mac is that awesome thing when it comes to usability. For those with a lot of windows opened, <a href=\"http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/expose/\">expos&#233;</a> comes very handy!</p>

  <p>This semester I am attending OS, and therefore I must work on Linux environment. I can&#8217;t get ubuntu to work with my graphic board so that I can reach 1280&#215;1024 (and in my 19&#8217;&#8217; screen less than that sucks!), so I installed <a href=\"http://www.vmware.com/download/player/\">VMware Player</a> and <a href=\"http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/1037\">Ubuntu 7.04</a> and guess what? works pretty fine with 1280 :O</p>

  <p>Back to this post&#8217;s subject, I managed to easily have an expos&#233; working on the linux environment. Just <div class=\"code\">sudo apt-get install skippy</div> and then add it to the starting programs, and that&#8217;s it :) Press F11 and then use your cursor or arrow keys. Pretty simple hein? I wish all the software was this simple on Linux&#8230;</p>


title: Aqua Timez - Alones
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/rwruoy77e-E\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/rwruoy77e-E\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"></embed></object>


title: On Silverlight and Blend
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://fupeg.blogspot.com/\">Michael</a> wrote about <a href=\"http://fupeg.blogspot.com/2007/09/no-silverlight-for-you.html\">how Silverlight is meant for designers</a>. In fact, you should read it before you continue.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I believe Microsoft thinks software should be developed in team. It doesn&#8217;t matter if it is a pair or a big company with thousands of people working on that product. If you want to produce some good software, you need people to work on its different sides ( programming, design, database, etc&#8230;). More and more, the user interface is becoming a lot more important in software development. Microsoft is answering this demand with Expression Blend, a great tool for designers to implement good interfaces. It might be harder for a hardcore programmer to catch up with all its power, but it is possible! I took a look around Blend Expression and it was pretty familiar to me.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Regarding Silverlight as a <span class=\"caps\">RIA</span> platform, I believe it will not be as used as Flash unless they come up with true 3D functionalities. Designers are used to Flash and if they don&#8217;t see any advantage, they won&#8217;t change! Maybe that&#8217;s why Microsoft doesn&#8217;t see Silverlight targeting the web. And on the desktop, .NET+Silverlight+WPF+... can&#8217;t be compared to <span class=\"caps\">AIR</span>+Flash&#8230;</p>\r
  \r
  <p>And by the way, if you are in Portugal, Expression European Designer Tour is coming up October, 24 and you can see some details in <a href=\"http://filipefreitas.net/blog/?p=561\" target=\"_blank\">Filipe Freitas blog</a>.</p>


title: Adobe \"Thermo\" - a new IDE for designers
body:
  <p>Adobe is betting real hard on RIAs now. After Flex and <span class=\"caps\">AIR</span>, they are getting &#8220;Thermo&#8221; ready. Thermo is a &#8220;rich internet application design tool&#8221;. It&#8217;s kind of a Flex, but for designers. It&#8217;s pretty much graphical based (so that designers don&#8217;t need to code one single line) and integrates perfectly with Photoshop, Fireworks and the rest of the CS3. This might be a enormous advantage for Thermo to be chosen instead of Microsoft Expression Web.</p>\r
  <p align=\"center\">\r
  <a href=\"http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/thermo-draw.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/thermo-draw.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"284\" alt=\"\" /></a></p>\r
  \r
  <p>But if you&#8217;re thinking it&#8217;s a designer-only tool, you&#8217;re wrong! Thermo&#8217;s code-view is actually the full Flex Builder application, so programmers can have fun with this tool almost as much as designers.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>You can read more about Thermo in <a href=\"http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/adobe_thermo_ria_design_tool.php\">Read/Write Web</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Being a big fan of graphical designing of applications, like Visual Basic and so, I can&#8217;t wait to try this new <span class=\"caps\">IDE</span>. I don&#8217;t quite like using Flash, but I believe gorgeous applications will come out from this in no time!</p>


title: Torneios WiiTour
body:
  <embed src=\"http://imgs.sapo.pt/sapovideo/swf/flvplayer-sapo.swf?file=http://rd3.videos.sapo.pt/BrjwYYN3etOOBvWhvESC/mov/1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" height=\"325\" width=\"400\">

  <p>Mais informa&#231;&#245;es no <a href=\"http://wiitour.org/\">blog oficial</a>. Se gostam de jogar Wii e acham que chegam ao p&#243;dium, acompanhem o blog e inscrevam-se mal seja poss&#237;vel ;)</p>


title: My view on proprietary vs opensource software
body:
  <p>Everyone knows I&#8217;m not a fundamentalist and I&#8217;ve been contributing to Opensource. I believe both OpenSource and Proprietary Software should co-exist. However I do not believe in Free Software (as described by Richard Stallman), he thinks all software should provide the users the freedom to use it, to edit it and to share it.</p>

  <p>Well, let&#8217;s imagine I own a software house and I make this applications with this incredible algorithm. I spent one year paying for developers to study and come up with my product. I would want to make it profitable, so I have to sell it as a closed-source product. If someone needs this special feature, or improvement, I would be happily to sell a special version to them. That&#8217;s the way of making enough money to cover for the investment. If I had released it in opensource, I could have saved 75% of the time with external help from other programmers, but I wouldn&#8217;t make enough money, because some other company that had better implementation in the market would sell the service of setting up my application, and custom modifications. I wouldn&#8217;t like that.</p>

  <p>Let&#8217;s make this analogy: when you go to the restaurant, you pay for the meal you have. Let&#8217;s imagine ti was a OpenSource Restaurant. You would choose from the menu, enter in the kitchen, see them cooking your meal, change the ingredients if you want. You might want to chop something for yourself, for example. You would pay just for the time it took for the cookers to prepare it, eat and take the recipe with you back home. Well this doesn&#8217;t happen. If this fancy restaurant has this fabulous dish and it&#8217;s the reason everyone goes there, they wouldn&#8217;t share the recipe with no other restaurant. Same happens with software code.</p>

  <p>However I do believe in OpenSource in some situations: In education, mainly in the informatics field: you need to know how some kind of software works, and OpenSource gives you that power, which is very important when you are learning something that program has. And if OpenSource software exists already, why not use it? It&#8217;s a good deal software for free.</p>

  <p>But if you demand a good support, you should think twice. Imagine a program that does something very specific this one guy has ever coded, and only a bunch of people use it. You need it for your enterprise, and you install it. Well if it has a bug and the developer has retired or has this awesome job and don&#8217;t care about it anymore? Hiring a company to guarantee the software quality wouldn&#8217;t sound so bad after all.</p>

  <p>Another example where Free Software might probably fail: games. If games were opensource, the best players would be programmers that read the code (or change it) and hack into it, not those with gaming skills. The good thing about games is the difficulty it has to go to the next level. If it&#8217;s as easy as to change one number in the source code, It would not be fun as it is. But what about game platforms, they can be opensource right?</p>

  <p>Yes, I believe opensource platforms are better than closed ones, because they allow people who program on top of it to know how it works better and use it&#8217;s full potential. Guess what, seems like Microsoft thought the same and <a href=\"http://www.fabiopedrosa.info/2007/10/03/net-framework-source-code-to-be-released/\">they are sharing .NET source code</a>!</p>

  <p>Well this is my opinion on this issue, and I&#8217;m glad Microsoft is thinking in the same way. It makes me really happy about going tomorrow to the Microsoft Student Partner Program Launch Event as one of them :)</p>


title: Apocalyptica & Sandra Nasic - Path
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/X0_aZXI-3uY\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/X0_aZXI-3uY\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"></embed></object>

  <p>God, I love this song and I <span class=\"caps\">LOVE</span> this woman!</p>

  <p>Yes, you are right, I am now posting occasionally some video clips of tracks that are important to me somehow. Consider it as public service :)</p>


title: MSP launch event
body:
  <p>Na &#250;ltima quinta-feira estive na Microsoft no lan&#231;amento do programa <span class=\"caps\">MSP</span> deste ano. <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/108\">J&#225; aqui falei do projecto</a> e realmente achei o dia muito enriquecedor. Come&#231;amos por ouvir umas apresenta&#231;&#245;es do V&#237;tor Santos e do Miguel Vicente sobre o programa, como ia funcionar e o que esperar dele. Depois ouvimos uma apresenta&#231;&#227;o do Bruno Gon&#231;alves, dos Recursos Humanos, sobre os Valores Microsoft, e n&#227;o, n&#227;o mencionava Opensource nem Software Propriet&#225;rio. Eram valores bem superiores.</p>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://flickr.com/photos/9439701@N02/1496387309/in/set-72157602283237844\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2054/1496387309_a02981d90f_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p>Tivemos tamb&#233;m ainda a experi&#234;ncia dos MSPs do ano passado, transmitida sobretudo por <a href=\"ftp://ftp.ua.pt/incoming/MSPLaunch/MSP.mp4\">um filme do Ricardo Calejo</a>. Gostava de salientar o &#8220;Eu fa&#231;o a diferen&#231;a&#8221;, um fim de semana na praia de Matosinhos, com jogos de futebol, escola de surf, concurso de fotografia, e mais importante: uma limpeza da praia. Os lucros foram doados &#224; <a href=\"http://www.casadocaminho.pt/\">Associa&#231;&#227;o Casa do Caminho</a>. Podem ver mais informa&#231;&#245;es sobre o evento no <a href=\"http://weblogs.pontonetpt.com/calejo/posts/17634.aspx\">blog do Calejo</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://flickr.com/photos/9439701@N02/1496432951/in/set-72157602283237844/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2044/1496432951_6d08ebcec6_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p>Depois tivemos um almo&#231;o oferecido pela organiza&#231;&#227;o, no sitio mais original poss&#237;vel! Foi muito bom e deu para trocar ideias com v&#225;rias pessoas, incluindo malta que trabalha mesmo na Microsoft! Depois volt&#225;mos ao audit&#243;rio e fizemos as nossas apresenta&#231;&#245;es pessoais. Foi bastante interessante ver que havia pessoas de v&#225;rias &#225;reas, e com interesses completamente diferentes, mas muito interessantes. Com a aposta da Microsoft na suite Expression, tivemos direito este ano a v&#225;rios MSPs na &#225;rea de design, o que para mim &#233; muito bom, para me ajudarem onde me falta o toque criativo. At&#233; MSPs que defendiam OpenSource ali estavam!</p>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://flickr.com/photos/9439701@N02/1497355498/in/set-72157602283237844/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2289/1497355498_7da5181ca9_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p>Depois tivemos uma apresenta&#231;&#227;o do Vítor Santos sobre o Concurso Imagine Cup em que incentivava a inova&#231;&#227;o e eu acho sinceramente que qualquer pessoa deva concorrer. Uma coisa que achei curiosa, foi que a Microsoft n&#227;o faz publicidade muito activa sobre este concurso pois nas categorias de software, &#233; necess&#225;rio usar tecnologias Microsoft. Acho que mesmo assim &#233; uma &#243;ptima iniciativa e devia ser mais divulgada.</p>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://flickr.com/photos/9439701@N02/1497355498/in/set-72157602283237844/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2339/1497361204_94350aaeb2_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p>Como o dinheiro para as nossas actividades tem de vir de algum lado, este ano tivemos como patrocinadores do programa a XBox360. Como tal tivemos direito a uma apresenta&#231;&#227;o de tr&#234;s meninas de marketing. Para mim foi o momento baixo do dia, pois n&#227;o abordaram o p&#250;blico como deveriam, dando a ideia que ir&#237;amos ter de fazer marketing para as nossas universidades. No final o Miguel l&#225; explicou que n&#227;o era isso, e simplesmente queriam a nossa ajuda para dar a conhecer a XBox ao p&#250;blico, pois acreditam que n&#227;o tem sucesso porque n&#227;o &#233; experimentada. Ajuda essa puramente opcional, mas que pode ser recompensada com pr&#233;mios. Tamb&#233;m achei piada a frase de uma delas &#8220;N&#243;s adoramos a concorr&#234;ncia, ali&#225;s, nos detestamos mesmo o monop&#243;lio&#8221;.</p>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://flickr.com/photos/9439701@N02/1497364016/in/set-72157602283237844/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2006/1497364016_230ad2754e_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p>Finalmente tivemos a apresenta&#231;&#227;o do <a href=\"http://blog.deepdivein.net/\">Pedro Rosa</a> sobre tecnologias Microsoft, nomeadamente .NET 3.5 fazendo v&#225;rias demonstra&#231;&#245;es das capacidades do Visual Studio. D&#225; gosto ouvir falar disto por quem realmente gosta e sabe do que fala.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Finalmente fomos todos jantar juntos (sim, <span class=\"caps\">MSP</span> n&#227;o &#233; s&#243; trabalhar :P) e de volta a Coimbra. Uma experi&#234;ncia enriquecedora, sobretudo pelos contactos. Mais fotos no <a href=\"http://flickr.com/photos/9439701@N02/sets/72157602283237844/\">Flickr do Calejo</a>.</p>


title: Universities: Join the Web2.0!
body:
  <p>Universities are know for their scientific researching and for being the firsts to touch the future. Unfortunately, I don&#8217;t see this much in Portugal. In spite of many universities are adopting Moodle, just because they need to do remote teaching, not because they are getting into the true e-Learning, where just like in web2.0, the process is focused in the user (student in this case). It&#8217;s also one of the Bolonha Process main pedagogic ideas. This is pretty far from happening, at least in my university.</p>

  <p>Simple things like blogs about some subject in some course would make students more interested and make them learn more about it. Social networks would also be very interesting gathering students from all over the world focusing on some specific subject. Reading <a href=\"http://fourstarters.com/2007/10/06/fowa-talk-use-openid-beyond-authentication/\">Four Starters blog</a> I found out a pretty cool idea: &#8220;you could use your student card to get discount at a cinema, an OpenID from your university would show that you are a student.&#8221; And maybe login into that universities social network.</p>

  <p>Some time ago, <a href=\"http://sergiosantos.info\">S&#233;rgio</a>, <a href=\"http://fabiopedrosa.info\">F&#225;bio</a> and I had this project to make this social network for our department including <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span> webmail and feed reader (we don&#8217;t have such) and also get users to exchange interests and ideas. Unfortunately they weren&#8217;t very convinced with our project and we let it go. They don&#8217;t see the advantages in the new web&#8230;</p>


title: OpenID relaunched!
body:
  <p>One of the things we most criticize in <a href=\"http://openid.net/\">OpenID</a> in  <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/102\">Fred's Barcamp Presentation</a> was the fact that the <a href=\"http://openid.net/\">official website</a> was too heavy in information, and not very attractive for <i>non-techies</i>. <a href=\"http://kveton.com/blog/\">Kventon</a> (well spelled!) and <a href=\"http://daveman692.livejournal.com/\">David Recordon</a> did an awesome job revamping <a href=\"http://openid.net/\">the website</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>It not also makes OpenID pretty, as also makes people want to use them and make services implement it (or so I hope!). In my opinion it&#8217;s a great step to bring OpenID to the regular internet user. There is only one thing missing in my opinion: multi-language. If I want to make a OpenID powered service here in Portugal, no way everyone would go and read the website if it is in English. OpenID guys, with <a href=\"http://simonwillison.net/2007/Sep/25/david/\">France Telecom</a> and soon other international companies adopting OpenID, please think about translating the website. I would gladly help in the Portuguese one :)</p>


title: GIMP UI Redesign
body:
  <p>I&#8217;ve always been a great fan of <a href=\"http://www.adobe.com/products/fireworks/\">Fireworks</a> because of its simplicity. Adobe Photoshop is a lot more powerful, but it is a bit less intuitive. I&#8217;ve also tried <a href=\"http://gimp.org\"><span class=\"caps\">GIMP</span></a>, but I have given up just for the interface I just don&#8217;t like. It remembers me of the old Photoshop style with a lot of windows. It is just not easy for me to work with it, and I&#8217;m glad <a href=\"http://gui.gimp.org/\"><span class=\"caps\">GIMP</span> team noticed this</a> and <a href=\"http://gimp-brainstorm.blogspot.com/\">they are brainstorming</a> for the new UI.</p>

  <p>In my opinion they should implement the MX style, one window with all the stuff. Canvas in the middle and optional toolbars on the side. As a webdesigner, I want to take full advantage of my screen-resolution, so if possible, I&#8217;d like the toolbars to auto-hide so I can see my project in 1:1 zoom. For old-school <span class=\"caps\">GIMP</span> users, making the toolbox to float around too would be a nice thing.</p>

  <p>Another good thing that I would be nice to see is a nice integration with webdesigning tools like bluefish, ajunta, eclipse, etc</p>

  <p>Well this are just my basic ideas, and probably I will send an email to gimp.brainstorm at gmail.com with &#8220;GIMP&#8221; as subject and an imaging showing my ideal graphic tool. If you do have nice thoughts on this, feel free to contribute too. Good ideas will be posted on the <a href=\"http://gimp-brainstorm.blogspot.com/\">brainstorming blog</a>. Opensource UI design :)</p>


title: Yellow W Van - O que eu penso é o que falo
body:
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title: What is Google up to?
body:
  <p>A small rant: No, this is not yet another post saying that <a href=\"http://www.tuzworld.com/2007/10/09/goolge-just-acquired-jaiku/\">Google just bought Jaiku</a> and asking why haven&#8217;t they bought <a href=\"http://twitter.com\">Twitter</a>. I&#8217;ve seen hundreds of posts like this in the last day and only one or two really commented it. Maybe I should refilter my subscription list.</p>

  <p>Now to the point: Google is taking over our world step by step. First searching, then advertising, e-mail and now news-reading and who knows what <a href=\"http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/10/09/google-and-multiverse-to-announce-virtual-worlds-built-on-google/\">can be next</a>?<br />
  Today while reading my feeds, I saw <a href=\"http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/10/google-online-desktop.html\">this mockup</a> that really impressed me:</p>

  <a href=\"http://bp3.blogger.com/_ZaGO7GjCqAI/RwoHrDsvOFI/AAAAAAAAFYw/0EAmWSqGHyA/s1600-h/googleedesktop.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">
  <img src=\"http://bp3.blogger.com/_ZaGO7GjCqAI/RwoHrDsvOGI/AAAAAAAAFY4/jgYVmHso1OI/s640/googleedesktop-small.png\" height=\"200\" width=\"300\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" /></a>

  <p>This is <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/114\">what I have requested</a>! Just a simple OS (yes, Linux based will be O.K.) not for mobile (and why not too?), but for desktop where it could integrate all it&#8217;s services. Is it hard to do? Well <a href=\"http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSWEN153820071008\">Google stocks crossed $600</a> so money is not their problem. They have 13,786 full-time employees and a lot of them are genius. So why are they not launching fantastic applications? I mean, they do, but that&#8217;s not as much as I would expect from some big company like them. Things are not that hard, there are user demands for new stuff, so why is Google waiting for?</p>

  <p>Any thoughts on this?</p>


title: A Teoria dos Portugueses
body:
  <p>Hoje na aula de Sistemas Operativos, o meu professor abordou o facto de quando acabarmos o curso (Engenharia Inform&#225;tica) nos depararmos com uma feroz competi&#231;&#227;o a n&#237;vel global. Cada vez mais entram no mercados licenciados indianos e chineses que s&#227;o 10 vezes mais baratos que um portugu&#234;s, por exemplo. Temos ent&#227;o de nos diferenciar pela qualidade. Uma empresa pode ir ao <a href=\"http://www.rentacoder.com/\">Rent a Coder</a> pedir um trabalho a um indiano que o faz ao pre&#231;o da chuva. Mas se quiser qualidade vem aqui ao portugu&#234;s e paga bom pre&#231;o.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Ora eu a semana passada ouvi exactamente a mesma coisa pelo V&#237;tor Santos, no <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/129\" target=\"_blank\">lançamento do programa MSP</a>, quando apresentava o concurso <a href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/portugal/imaginecup/default.mspx\">ImagineCUP</a> e dizia que era uma &#243;ptima oportunidade para mostrarmos ao mundo que somos mesmo bons no que fazemos. Fazendo a compara&#231;&#227;o com a Teoria dos B&#250;lgaros (em que um ganhou, mesmo n&#227;o sendo da Bulg&#225;ria e ficaram conhecidos todos como sendo bons programadores) que precisamos de nos destacar nestes concursos para darmos alguma reputa&#231;&#227;o ao nosso pa&#237;s. Mesmo quem n&#227;o gosta da Microsoft ou deste senhor em particular tem de admitir que &#233; verdade. De facto este concurso exige que sejam usadas, para al&#233;m da imagina&#231;&#227;o que &#233; fundamental,  tecnologias Microsoft (que eu at&#233; gosto bastante), mas para aqueles que n&#227;o sentirem assim tanta afinidade existem outros concurso a n&#237;vel global que poder&#227;o apostar, como o <a href=\"http://www.google.com/codejam/\">Google CodeJam</a>, o <a href=\"http://www.topcoder.com/\">TopCoder</a>, <a href=\"http://icpc.baylor.edu/icpc/\"><span class=\"caps\">ACM</span>-ICPC</a> ou o <a href=\"http://www.computer.org/portal/site/ieeecs/menuitem.c5efb9b8ade9096b8a9ca0108bcd45f3/index.jsp?&amp;pName=ieeecs_level1&amp;path=ieeecs/education/csidc&amp;file=index.xml&amp;xsl=generic.xsl&amp;;jsessionid=HMpSLYVfs41Nqt33STlz8tHzrh2TtnnyMpB4ppwQhL137v1WRJqf!12176645\"><span class=\"caps\">IEEE</span> <span class=\"caps\">CSIDC</span></a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Se acham que fazem programas de topo, n&#227;o perdem nada em concorrer. Para n&#227;o falar nos fant&#225;sticos pr&#233;mios que oferecem!</p>


title: Waribashi
body:
  <p>Foi lan&#231;ada no passado dia 6 nas Fnacs do Colombo e do Chiado a revista online <a href=\"http://www.waribashi.pt/\">Waribashi</a>. Centrada na cultura japonesa, aborda &#225;reas como o Manga, Anime, Gastronomia, Pessoas, Origami e at&#233; tem uma sec&#231;&#227;o &#8220;Do It Yourself&#8221;!</p>

  <p>Estive a ler o primeiro n&#250;mero e &#233; uma revista com conte&#250;dos e design de grande qualidade! Sugiro vivamente a quem se interessa por esta cultura como eu e mesmo a quem desconhece. &#201; sempre uma boa altura para descobrir. Outra das coisas que reparei &#233; que &#233; feita sobretudo por volunt&#225;rios, o que espero que n&#227;o signifique que deixe de ser publicada. Gostaria muito de a poder seguir nos pr&#243;ximos tempos!</p>


title: Playful IAs
body:
  <p>This is the title of <a href=\"http://leapfrog.nl/blog/about/\">Kars Alfrink</a>&#8216;s <a href=\"http://leapfrog.nl/blog/archives/2007/09/25/playful-ias-slides-for-my-euro-ia-summit-2007-talk/\">presentation</a>  at <a href=\"http://www.euroia.org/\">the Euro IA Summit 2007</a>. Unfortunately I wasn&#8217;t there and I only read the <a href=\"http://leapfrog.nl/presentations/playful_ias_kars_alfrink_euro_ia_summit_2007.pdf\">slides with transcript</a>, but I enjoyed it a lot.</p>

  <p>Kars defends that desktop web applications can be compared a lot with games and that they can be developed in order to be more playful. He complains that most applications out there are designed to fulfill the goals that they are pointed, and not to provide some fun to users while doing it. By learning some gaming techniques, developers might do some interesting applications, not thinking about its purpose, but about its experience.</p>

  <p>One good example of this, is the <a href=\"http://www.discoapp.com/\">Disco</a>, a disc burning software for the Mac. This application actually smokes while you are burning your CD and you can interact with it by moving the window around or blowing into the mic.</p>

  <p>Take a good look at his presentation and next time you do some application (as I will), think of the IA as a game that is meant to be fun! And share your results of course :)</p>


title: Microsoft in London on Startups and Web2.0
body:
  <p>Early this month, <a href=\"http://adactio.com/\">Jeremy Keith</a> posted about a <a href=\"http://adactio.com/journal/1351/\">invite-only gathering Microsoft threw in London</a>. Jeremy shows a critic look on this event that was really enjoyable! You should really read it.</p>

  <p>The post includes notes of the presentations he attended, including Lars Lindstedt, researcher at Microsoft, Brent Hoberman, <span class=\"caps\">CEO</span> of <a href=\"http://lastminute.com\">lastminute.com</a> and Steve Balmer himself. Apart from this, there was a Silverlight demo that included mashups with Virtual Earth and Flickr. Seadragon and Photosynth were also shown. Microsoft is really trying hard to get to the web2.0 guys.</p>

  <p>At the end there was also a interesting discussion <br />
  <a href=\"http://indexventures.com/\">Saul Klein</a>, <a href=\"http://makinggrain.com/\">Ben Way</a> and <a href=\"http://mydeo.com/\">Cary Marsh</a>, moderated by <a href=\"http://carsonsystems.com/\">Ryan Carson</a> that you can read in his post too.</p>

  <p>Microsoft has now realized Web2.0 huge success and that are (now) small companies that are making the difference (apart from Google). They want to be the platform on which startups build their web applications (IIS, <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET, Silverlight, ...) but <a href=\"http://www.venturecake.com/web-20-is-built-on-open-source/\">seems to be failing</a>. Let&#8217;s see if the take any action in order to provide better solutions that are available by OpenSource tools.</p>


title: Zero 7 - Destiny
body:
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title: Teaching how to code in schools...
body:
  <p>Over the years Microsoft has done this great marketing that makes (almost) everyone to use their tools, mainly because (almost) all computers ship with Windows pre-installed (<a href=\"http://www.assismatica.pt/\">Assism&#225;tica</a> is starting to sell computers with Ubuntu in Portugal) and &#8220;simple users&#8221; do not know any other alternative.</p>

  <p>In this context, I support actions that take opensource (or not) alternatives to some places, like schools (<a href=\"http://wiki.ansol.org/ProjectoEscolaLivre\">PT</a>) that show people that there are some free (and open) alternatives too. Although I think some Microsoft software is better, I believe each user should make their own decision and to do that, they should know all options. About this, <a href=\"http://tecnonov.net/\">Tecnonov</a> is having its second edition this year and it will be a nice event to show people other options.</p>

  <p>A few days ago I saw another perspective to solve this problem: <a href=\"http://tommorris.org/blog/2007/10/11\">Tom Morris</a> thinks that teaching people how to code they will value more OpenSource alternatives and also help them in their own life with structure thinking. Well I had this idea that management student should learn relational databases since that really helps them organizing stuff. I am happy that someone thought something similar, but taking it farther to programming itself. And he mentions Python, Ruby or other dynamic language to be chosen.</p>

  <p>I&#8217;m not sure how possible this is, but I&#8217;m sure some it would help some people. Any thoughts on this one?</p>


title: Japanese media more restricted
body:
  <p>I&#8217;ve always admired Japanese studios for allowing animes to be translated and distributed in foreign countries by teams of fans (Fansubbers)as long as they have &#8220;not been licensed for domestic release in their country of distribution&#8221;.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>This time, the news are not so good. With pressure from the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC), the Japanese Government is <a href=\"http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-09-25/japan-plans-to-toughen-copyright-law-on-downloads\">tightening laws</a> on the sharing of copyrighted media. As long as it is for private use, it will keep legal to download files. However uploading copyrighted media will be prosecuted. And just like other entities, <span class=\"caps\">JASRAC</span> has also contacted Google to increase they&#8217;re anti-piracy measures on youtube.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>The number of cases of fansubs that do not stop when its licensed is growing and a Japanese studio <a href=\"http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-09-28/gonzo-halts-romeo-juliet-fansub-with-funimation's-help\">has   been brought into a fight</a>. Same is also happening in the manga scene where <a href=\"http://www.anime-ni.co.uk/?p=670\">MangaNovel and Toshiba</a> are setting up a way of fighting scanlators (teams that translate manga).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Being a great fan of anime, and watching all of it through fansubs, both english and <a href=\"http://anime-p2pt.com/e107_plugins/FansubDB/fansubs.php\">portuguese</a>, I&#8217;m afraid of the path this thing is going. I think that fansubs should follow the basic rule that gives them the permission to release their work, but in a global world like this, I am affected by an American fansub that stopped when here in Portugal it isn&#8217;t licensed yet and no one translates it. That&#8217;s why I think is very important to support our fansubs!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Btw, <a href=\"http://www.anipop.org/\">Anipop</a> is happening between 28th and 30th this month in Lisbon. Don&#8217;t miss it!</p>


title: Generic web2.0 app plans
body:
  <p>Web applications are borning everyday and in somehow the process to launch them seems very similar, so from what I&#8217;ve seen, I&#8217;ve written my plans for a generic web2.0 application:<br /><br /></p>\r
  \r
  <ul class=\"spaced\">\r
  <li><b>The Idea</b> - Yeah, I know it sucks, but you'll need that. Really, you cant skip this step!</li>\r
  <li><b>The Blog</b> - Before you start to do anything, start a blog where you post any idea. The first posts will have no comments, but with a little SEO magic, you'll get there. Don't forget to post updates frequently.</li>\r
  <li><b>The development</b> - This is the boring part of the task, but people say that making it with a small team makes it kinda fun. If I were you I'd use <a href=\"http://www.djangoproject.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Django</a> or <a href=\"http://www.rubyonrails.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Rails</a> because they come with some buzz. Ok, and they are pretty awesome frameworks too.</li>\r
  <li><b><a href=\"http://www.microformats.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Microformats</a></b> - Make sure people can use your content in other ways than predicted. Don't forget to include <a href=\"http://www.microformats.org/wiki/xfn\" target=\"_blank\">XFN</a> (portable social networks) since all web2.0 applications have a social network included.</li>\r
  <li><b><a href=\"http://openid.net/\" target=\"_blank\">OpenID</a></b> - Yes, this is the future of \"Login/Logout/Sign up\" and means less stuff to handle on your side, and will make users happy. If you are targeting a non-tech public, you should enable traditional authentication and make it work as a OpenID provider.</li>\r
  <li><b><a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/57\" target=\"_blank\">OpenSearch</a></b> - Many forget this, but I find it very important, since it integrates your site search with browsers (for example). It will help users to remember them can search for stuff in your application</li>\r
  <li><b>Public API</b> - Provide everyone access to their data through Webservices or REST. It will also allow developers to do their mashups and desktop applications that will give you more buzz! And happiness to users!</li>\r
  <li><b>Design</b> - KISS. Soft gradients and round corners. Personally I dont like corners too round. Oh, and use <a href=\"http://www.famfamfam.com/\" target=\"_blank\">famfamfam</a> icons :P</li>\r
  <li><b>Go Beta!</b> - Doesn't matter if your product is ready, you should launch in beta. In one way, it is kind of cool to have that badge, but in another you can have bugs or even scaling. It's a good policy. Have in mind using private invites, so you don't have a boom of accesses. </li>\r
  <li><b>Talk to TechCrunch</b> - You will need to buy better hosting soon, so you talk to <a href=\"http://www.techcrunch.com/\" target=\"_blank\">TechCrunch</a> to post about you and from them on everyone will use your website.</li>\r
  <li><b>Sell to Google</b> - Google will approach you and you will sell it. You will then live happy ever after in the Bahamas (or not!).</li>\r
  </ul>\r
  \r
  <p>That&#8217;s it! Pretty simple, hein? Missed something? Go ahead and comment about it :)</p>


title: Acessibilidade Web
body:
  <p>Do outro lado do Atl&#226;ntico, na terra do tio Sam, h&#225; <a href=\"http://www.news.com/Blind-patrons-sue-Target-for-site-inaccessibility/2100-1030_3-6038123.html?tag=nefd.top\">um caso em tribunal</a> que poder&#225; mudar o futuro da acessibilidade web. Um cego processou a empresa Target pelo seu website n&#227;o ter atributos <span class=\"caps\">ALT</span> nas imagens e teclas de acesso para permitir a sua navega&#231;&#227;o por ele pr&#243;prio. Um juiz aceitou em tribunal o caso e estamos a espera de novos seguimentos.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>De facto faz pensar se n&#227;o ser&#225; ilegal discriminar as pessoas com algumas limita&#231;&#245;es, quando existem standards para o fazer correctamente. Pessoalmente acho que n&#227;o deveria ser ilegal, visto que cada autor do site faz o site para o p&#250;blico alvo que entender. Acho de bom senso faz&#234;-lo at&#233; porque nem custa nada, e sofro bastante com isto quando navego no meu <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Claro que se esta situa&#231;&#227;o acontecesse c&#225; em Portugal, estavam os webdesigners todos tramados, tirando uns ou outros que sabem fazer sites. Aqueles que fazem sites flash-based, com tabelas, spacers em gif,  IE-only, etc&#8230; estariam em maus len&#231;ois, o que at&#233; gostava de ver, para que se esmerassem no seu trabalho.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Ainda nesta &#225;rea fiquei surpreendido quando a <a href=\"http://www.vanessanobre.com\">Vanessa</a> me disse que no curso de Novas Tecnologias da Informa&#231;&#227;o, na Universidade de Aveiro, incluem acessibilidade, usabilidade e standards nos programas do plano curricular.</p>


title: Pop!Tech
body:
  <p>I&#8217;ve already <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/66\">talked</a> about one <a href=\"http://www.ted.com\"><span class=\"caps\">TED</span></a> presentation. Well, today I&#8217;m talking about another conference network of the same kind. <a href=\"http://www.poptech.com\">Pop!Tech</a> shares the same purpose as <span class=\"caps\">TED</span>: to spread extraordinary ideas through remarkable people that have the power to change the world.</p>

  <div class=\"quote\">

  <p>Every October, in the beautiful seaside village of Camden, Maine, at the height of the fall foliage season, there is a one-of-a-kind conference called Pop!Tech.</p>

  <p>Held in a beautifully restored, 19th-century opera house, this three-day summit explores the cutting-edge ideas, emerging technologies and new forces of change that are shaping our collective future. The conference brings together 500 visionary thinkers in the sciences, technology, business, design, the arts, education, government and culture.</p>

  </div>

  <p>I am following the <a href=\"http://www.poptech.com/popcasts\">Pop!Casts</a> provided by Yahoo and I am delighted with the presentations I heard. I suggest you take a look and hear a couple of them.</p>


title: The Sword and Laser
body:
  <p>I am a avid reader, before I fall asleep, I always read a bit unless I really like the book and then I read it all in a row. No they aren&#8217;t computer-related books, they&#8217;re mostly fantasy books but once in a while I take a look around one off-theme. Tolkien, Julliet Marillier, Homero make my evenings worth it!</p>

  <p>Some time ago, <a href=\"http://pownce.com/veronica/\">Veronica</a> suggested in Pownce to create a fantasy &amp; sci-fi book club. I just loved the and idea, and more the fact that people are using this services to create this kind o connections on shared interests. Even the name was decided on Pownce!</p>

  <p>Today the first book was released for discussion in the official blog <a href=\"http://swordandlaser.com\">SwordAndLaser.com</a> but the discussion is happening on <a href=\"http://swordandlaser.ning.com/\">its Ning Social Network</a>.</p>

  <p>If you are a fan of Fantasy or Sci-fi books, why don&#8217;t you join us?</p>


title: Fitacola - Medo
body:
  <object width=\"340\" height=\"289\" id=\"player\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0\" align=\"middle\"> <param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://cdn.last.fm/videoplayer/33/VideoPlayer.swf\" /> <param name=\"menu\" value=\"false\" /> <param name=\"quality\" value=\"high\" /> <param name=\"bgcolor\" value=\"#000000\" /> <param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" /> <param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"embed=true&amp;creator=Fitacola&amp;title=Medo&amp;uniqueName=Medo&amp;albumArt=http://cdn.last.fm/coverart/130x130/3333526-456278460.jpg&amp;album=Rebobina+e+Pensa&amp;duration=147&amp;image=http://panther3.last.fm/storable/videocap/36094/0/original.jpg&amp;FSSupport=true\" /> <embed src=\"http://cdn.last.fm/videoplayer/33/VideoPlayer.swf\" menu=\"false\" quality=\"high\" bgcolor=\"#000000\" width=\"340\" height=\"289\" name=\"player\" align=\"middle\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" flashvars=\"embed=true&amp;creator=Fitacola&amp;title=Medo&amp;uniqueName=Medo&amp;albumArt=http://cdn.last.fm/coverart/130x130/3333526-456278460.jpg&amp;album=Rebobina+e+Pensa&amp;duration=147&amp;image=http://panther3.last.fm/storable/videocap/36094/0/original.jpg&amp;FSSupport=true\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" pluginspage=\"http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer\" /> </object>

  <p>Desta vez &#233; uma banda minha amiga que ir&#225; tocar na Latada. Tamb&#233;m fiquei contente ao saber que no <a href=\"http://nei.dei.uc.pt/2007/10/18/cartaz-bandas-latada-2007/\">cartaz</a> est&#225; uma banda que j&#225; queria ver h&#225; um tempo, os <a href=\"http://palcoprincipal.clix.pt/chauffeurnavarrus\">Chauffeur Navarrus</a>. Can&#8217;t wait!</p>


title: TechED 2007, here I go!
body:
  <p>Thanks to the <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/tag/msp\"><span class=\"caps\">MSP</span></a> program I will be attending <a href=\"http://www.mseventseurope.com/teched/07/developers/Content/Pages/Default.aspx\">Microsoft TechEd Developers 2007</a> from 5 to 9 of November in Barcelona, Spain.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Microsoft&#8217;s European biggest conference will join over 4000 developers and presentations are organized in the following areas:<br />\r
  <ul><br />\r
  <li>Architecture</li><br />\r
  <li>Business Intelligence</li><br />\r
  <li>Database Development</li><br />\r
  <li>Designer</li><br />\r
  <li>Infrastructure for Developers</li><br />\r
  <li>Mobile &amp; Embedded</li><br />\r
  <li>Office System</li><br />\r
  <li>Security</li><br />\r
  <li><span class=\"caps\">SOA</span> and Business Processes</li><br />\r
  <li>Tools &amp; Languages</li><br />\r
  <li>Unified Communications</li><br />\r
  <li>Web Development</li><br />\r
  <li>Windows and Frameworks</li><br />\r
  </ul></p>\r
  \r
  <p>I am very enthusiastic about this, since is the first international event I am attending and I am very interested in both the technical subjects as also the people behind it. And I will have the company of another four MSPs: <a href=\"http://susie-v.spaces.live.com/blog/\">Susana</a>, <a href=\"http://brunomiguelsilva.blogspot.com/\">Bruno</a>, <a href=\"http://weblogs.pontonetpt.com/asousa/\">Andr&#233;</a> and <a href=\"http://nelsoncorreia.spaces.live.com/\">Nelson</a>. I will keep you posted on TechEd ;)</p>


title: All of Ads
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://carlosserrao.allofads.com/\">Carlos Serr&#227;o</a> <a href=\"http://carlosserrao.allofads.com/index.php/novo-projecto/\">announced today</a> his latest project, a directory of video ads that are spread around services like Youtube, Metacafe, etc&#8230; It&#8217;s called <a href=\"http://www.allofads.com/\">All of Ads</a>, its still in embryonic state and has some interesting ideas that soon will be implemented.</p>

  <p>As a great fan of good advertisements, I find this an interesting project to follow and a nice way to gather inspiration for several stuff. This kind of ads seems to be the next generation of advertising, since it has everything to have success on the web and looks like <a href=\"http://adsense.blogspot.com/2006/05/introducing-video-ads.html\">Google has spotted that</a>.</p>


title: O futuro dos documentos digitais
body:
  <a href=\"http://bp1.blogger.com/_njrwS4W_T5Q/RxpXPlgLe8I/AAAAAAAAAD4/5s9la2qtZL0/s1600-h/Convite_ODF.jpg\"><img  src=\"http://bp1.blogger.com/_njrwS4W_T5Q/RxpXPlgLe8I/AAAAAAAAAD4/5s9la2qtZL0/s400/Convite_ODF.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p>(<a href=\"http://abretesw.blogspot.com/2007/10/o-futuro-dos-docuemntos-digitais.html\">Post original</a>)</p>\r
  \r
  <p>N&#227;o seria interessante a Microsoft estar presente para (tentar) defender o seu <span class=\"caps\">OOXML</span> ou ent&#227;o aprender alguma coisa? Tamb&#233;m seria interessante trazer algu&#233;m da Adobe para ver se tamb&#233;m alinhavam numa de abrir os formatos.</p>


title: TrackMania Nations
body:
  <p>For those of you who don&#8217;t know, <a href=\"http://www.trackmanianations.com/\">TrackmaniaNations</a> is a spin-off of the original <a href=\"http://www.trackmania.com/\">Trackmania</a> game, but targeting the e-Sports community. This point has really made the difference and that&#8217;s what made it a great success.</p>

  <p>Instead of a simple race with high detailed graphics, the French studio <a href=\"http://www.nadeo.com/\">Nadeo</a> thought of a different gameplay, where F1-like cars would race in a stadium with wacky tracks featuring jumps, loopings, wallrides and other incredible stunts! Nadeo has also introduced a track editor that has contributed for their great success, since online servers have almost only custom tracks and some were even created specifically for tournaments.</p>

  <center><img src=\"http://www.friday-night-gaming.com/images/trackmanianations/trackmanianations1_small.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></center>

  <p>I&#8217;ve been a fan of TrackMania Nations when it came out, but now I started to play again with some colleagues when pausing from school work. It is now kinda frustrating when having one the 10 best national players competing with you. It makes me want for this new game mode that differs from time-attack and rounds: a game mode where you win by having more point when the time is up. Crossing the line would give you some points, but you would also gain more by doing some tricks and stunts that TrackMania already recognizes!</p>


title: At the Drive-In - One Armed Scissor
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/caEYU9_hAlo\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/caEYU9_hAlo\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"></embed></object>

  <p>I chose this <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caEYU9_hAlo\">video</a> because you can see Cedric making his really cool salsa-like weird dance. Oh boy, I just love this band!</p>


title: Microblogging Revisited
body:
  <p>I&#8217;ve already <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/89\">posted a bit on this matter</a>, but web2.0 isn&#8217;t static and things evolve. Here&#8217;s how I see the scene now:</p>\r
  \r
  <ul>\r
  <li><a href=\"http://www.twitter.com\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter</a>: THE microblogging</li>\r
  <li><a href=\"http://www.jaiku.com\" target=\"_blank\">Jaiku</a>: personal aggregator</li>\r
  <li><a href=\"http://www.pownce.com\" target=\"_blank\">Pownce</a>: twitter with steroids</li>\r
  <li><a href=\"http://www.tumblr.com\" target=\"_blank\">Tumblr</a>: miniblogging</li>\r
  </ul>\r
  \r
  <p>But things are changing! Starting by Twitter, it has stalled in my opinion, in their basic concept: only microblogging. When all other services are getting into images, videos, links, musics, quotes, you name it, Twitter spend their efforts in stabling their service (and at <a href=\"http://www.twitternotes.com\">TwitterNotes</a> we still get a lot of errors from Twitter!).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Jaiku <a href=\"http://www.jaiku.com/blog/2007/10/09/were-joining-google/\">has recently been acquired by Google</a> and I guess it will have to do with the rumored gPhone! If so, Jaiku&#8217;s success will be proportional to gPhone&#8217;s.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Pownce hasn&#8217;t released the <span class=\"caps\">API</span> yet, but <a href=\"http://pownce.com/leahculver/notes/862538/\">they&#8217;re still working on new features</a>. I guess if they had better applications (I don&#8217;t use the <span class=\"caps\">AIR</span> one because it doesn&#8217;t minimize to tray!) it would be a nice service to use within small teams.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Tumblr seems <a href=\"http://blog.davidville.com/2007/04/27/tumbling-towards-2-0/\">to be reaching version 2.0</a>.  More features <span class=\"caps\">AND</span> dead-simple go pretty good together.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>A few days ago, <a href=\"http://technofetishist.info/\">Tiago</a> introduced me <a href=\"http://www.soup.io/\">Soup.io</a>, another microblogging service that joins all of the others together. It seemed to me that it doesn&#8217;t bring anything new, but looked nice and it&#8217;s a nice way of having everything together. A Scrapbook as they say.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Moments ago, I was discussing with <a href=\"http://asourceofinspiration.com\">Armando</a> about what platform would be &#8220;the chosen one&#8221; or at least how would this ones evolve. He believes that Tumblr will be the more used within sometime, but I have my doubts. Everyone (Ok, geeks and web2.0 people) is already using Twitter, have their profiles and network there. It will be hard to change everyone to a new service if the difference is not notorious, and at this is moment I don&#8217;t believe it is.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>We also discussed whether it would be nice for Twitter to do trackbacks to blog posts since nowadays more and more people are using twitter to comment blogs. I usually only link it, I comment there is it is small or if I can make a nice big post out of that, I&#8217;d blog about it. But what about miniblogging (as I call tumblr and soup.io), they might deserve a trackback&#8230; What do you think?</p>


title: Sons de Palco #2
body:
  <p>O <a href=\"http://palcoprincipal.clix.pt\">PalcoPrincipal</a> lan&#231;ou hoje a sua <a href=\"http://palcoprincipal.clix.pt/main/compilacao_2#\" target=\"_blank\">segunda compila&#231;&#227;o</a> que inclu&#237; uma m&#250;sica de cada banda que esteve em destaque nos &#250;ltimos meses.</p>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://palcoprincipal.clix.pt/main/compilacao_2#\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://palcoprincipal.clix.pt/images/compilacao_2/capa_comp_2_tini.gif\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 7px;\"/></a>\r
  \r
  <p>Bandas presentes no &#225;lbum:<br />\r
  <ul>\r
   <li>Blumen</li>\r
   <li>Clinger</li>\r
   <li>Light</li>\r
   <li>Luis e Lata</li>\r
   <li>Miosotis</li>\r
   <li>Phazer</li>\r
   <li>The Unplayable Sofa Guitar</li>\r
  </ul>\r
  \r
  <p style=\"clear: both; margin-top:7px;\">&#201; uma &#243;ptima amostra da m&#250;sica de qualidade que se faz por estas bandas!</p>


title: SAPO Spot
body:
  <p>Hoje, na sec&#231;&#227;o &#8220;I had this coming!&#8221;, o <a href=\"http://www.sapo.pt\"><span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span></a> <a href=\"http://tsetse.blogs.sapo.pt/13639.html\">lan&#231;ou</a> o <a href=\"http://spot.sapo.pt\">Spot</a>, a nova rede social. De inovadora n&#227;o tem nada, &#233; apenas um hi5 bem feito como ele deveria ter sido desde in&#237;cio. Uma coisa simples e que permita aos utilizadores associarem-se.</p>

  <p>No entanto o facto de ser do <span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span> tr&#225;s algumas (e importantes) vantagens: integra&#231;&#227;o com os outros servi&#231;os do <span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span>, como <a href=\"http://blogs.sapo.pt\">blogs</a>, <a href=\"http://fotos.sapo.pt\">fotos</a>, <a href=\"http://tags.sapo.pt\">tags</a> e <a href=\"http://videos.sapo.pt\">v&#237;deos</a>. Interessante foi tamb&#233;m o Sapo (web)Messenger que incorporaram na &#225;rea de cada um!</p>

  <p>Mais uma coisa que despertou o meu interesse foi o facto de o Sapo ter tido a coragem, como muitos n&#227;o t&#234;m, de inclu&#237;r outros servi&#231;os (concorrentes) nos profiles, nomeadamente o Flickr, o Youtube e o Blogger! &#201; de louvar esta atitude! Deixam ainda um espa&#231;o para um outro feed, que no <a href=\"http://alcides.spot.sapo.pt\">meu perfil</a> foi o deste blog.</p>

  <p>Estou bastante intrigado para saber como se vai sair este novo projecto da malta batr&#225;quia, visto que a maior parte dos utilizadores j&#225; utiliza o hi5 (onde por acaso o <span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span> &#233; o motor de busca para Portugal) e custa-me ver as vantagens que apresenta para o utilizador comum (=MSN+mail+hi5+google). No entanto se tiver sucesso, este ir&#225;-se espalhar aos outros servi&#231;os. E como ser&#225; que ir&#227;o divulgar isto?</p>


title: Associação Escolas Livres
body:
  <p>O <a href=\"http://www.escolaslivres.org/\">Escolas Livres</a> &#233; um projecto que pretende divulgar e promover a adop&#231;&#227;o de software livre nas escolas portuguesas. Os seus membros partem de comunidades como o Ubuntu-PT ou a <span class=\"caps\">ANSOL</span>. No entanto t&#234;m sentido a falta de ter personalidade jur&#237;dica (Eu j&#225; passei por isto v&#225;rias vezes e realmente &#233; complicado!) e decidiram ent&#227;o criar uma associa&#231;&#227;o para esse fim.</p>

  <p>Como uma associa&#231;&#227;o envolve gastos no processo de legaliza&#231;&#227;o, optou-se por pedir uma quota anual de 10 euros a 75 pessoas. N&#227;o custa muito e sempre s&#227;o bem aproveitados!</p>

  <p>Se estiverem interessados, vejam mais informa&#231;&#245;es no <a href=\"http://www.escolaslivres.org/?q=node/32\">site oficial</a> e colaborem, quer com os 10 euros, quer com ajudas posteriores no contacto com escolas ou outras tarefas necess&#225;rias.</p>


title: The Mars Volta - Televators
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/6bJIQNo34hY\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/6bJIQNo34hY\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>

  <p><a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bJIQNo34hY\">The Mars Volta &#8211; Televators</a></p>


title: Alcides in Wonderland of Second Life
body:
  <p>When I knew about <a href=\"http://secondlife.com\">Second Life</a> I was very interested in the subject, but since I learned about its limits and way of working, I lost interest and thought it was uninteresting. But as I don&#8217;t criticize something I don&#8217;t know, I decided to download the &#8220;game&#8221;, create a avatar and give it a try.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>So I&#8217;m logged in. A pretty hardcore guy. After some appearance hacks and no real effect, I was flying around the tutorial island&#8230; After some seconds I was driving around my Segway over some rats. That was exciting! for only 1 minute&#8230; It was time to do something productive.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Teleported myself to the <a href=\"http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sapo/134/159/38\"><span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span> island</a> where I caught the end of <a href=\"http://gwynethllewelyn.net/\">Gwyneth Llewelyn</a> presentation on <a href=\"http://codebits.blogs.sapo.pt/6264.html\"><span class=\"caps\">LSL</span> coding</a>. Pretty boring for the newbie there that went for a superman flight inside and around the building. God, I missed Lois Lane&#8217;s hand on mine.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>That takes me to the next obvious step: <span class=\"caps\">SEX</span>! I read about <a href=\"http://sixhat.net/2007/10/04/sexo-no-second-life/\">sex on SL</a> and I wanted to give it a try. Searched for &#8220;sex&#8221; in mature places, a few teleports until I found some nice place and wandered around trying to convince girls to have sex with me. No luck at all, maybe next time. But I saw how the thing worked: Some animation balls where you could assume some position (with movement) and if the other person assumes the position next to yours, you&#8217;re having sex with him or her. Not creative at all and so I&#8217;m not as interested in trying as I was.</p>\r
  \r
  <p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/7330397@N03/1751581239/\" title=\"Photo Sharing\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2368/1751581239_1826e80452_m.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"184\" alt=\"Snapshot_002\" /></a></p>\r
  \r
  <p>Finally I chatted a bit with the sexy girl on the picture, Cali Zimminy, that was pretty interesting and told me that what kept her coming to SL was the friends she met there. In fact, I see it more as a 3D <span class=\"caps\">IRC</span> than a game. I found the 3d art pretty weak comparing to games I am used to play. I don&#8217;t see much interested in the content there is and honestly I rather have some old-school chat through <span class=\"caps\">MSN</span> or Jabber than using Second Life. But once in a while I may want to do something more exquisite and then I will teleport myself to my Second Life.</p>


title: David Fonseca e The Gift @ Latada2007
body:
  <p>Por Coimbra, como bem chamam a cidade dos estudantes, est&#225; a decorrer a <a href=\"http://www.latada2007.com/\">Festa da Latas</a> (Latada <i>for short</i>). Como sou anti-praxe, esta &#233; das coisas com que eu n&#227;o concordo mas j&#225; que existe, aproveito o que h&#225; bom nela. Conclus&#227;o: j&#225; c&#225; canta o bilhete geral para entrar no recinto e assistir aos <a href=\"http://latada2007.emcoimbra.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/cartaz_bandas_dias.jpg\">concertos</a> que, para al&#233;m das barracas das comidas, s&#227;o a &#250;nica coisa que me interessa.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Tenho tamb&#233;m de tirar o chap&#233;u &#224; organiza&#231;&#227;o que est&#225; a organizar um concurso de bandas que abrem cada noite com um concerto de meia hora e o grupo vencedor vai dar um concerto completo na &#250;ltima noite! Os finalistas s&#227;o: Sideways, Mindweep, A raiz, Prana, Fitacola, Antius e Daphaz. Passo j&#225; a informa&#231;&#227;o que afinal os Fitacola n&#227;o v&#227;o actuar porque o Chico (baterista) foi recentemente operado e n&#227;o pode actuar.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Ora eu ontem cheguei a tempo apenas dos <a href=\"http://myspace.com/mindweep\">Mindweep</a> e gostei bastante da m&#250;sica apesar da voz n&#227;o ser do meu agrado. Fiquei tamb&#233;m com a ideia que poderia ser algum problema de configura&#231;&#227;o da linha do microfone, mas n&#227;o sou perito no assunto.</p>\r
  \r
  <p align=\"center\"><img src=\"http://www.acabra.net/latada07/ngest/fotos/f07490/sabadodavid.jpg\" alt=\"David Fonseca em Palco\" /></p>\r
  \r
  <p>A seguir actuou o senhor <a href=\"http://davidfonseca.com\">David Fonseca</a> que j&#225; nos tendo habituado a <a href=\"http://sic.sapo.pt/online/noticias/cartaz/20071009+Dreams+in+Colour.htm\">coisas assim giras da web</a> me mostrou que tamb&#233;m faz coisas giras no palco. O ponto extraordin&#225;rio da noite foi quando cantou com uma l&#226;mpada na m&#227;o, dando um efeito espectacular com uma coisa t&#227;o simples. Gostei tamb&#233;m do alinhamento do concerto, tocando tanto m&#250;sicas do novo &#225;lbum como sucessos como &#8220;The 80&#8217;s&#8221;(Que se fosse lan&#231;ado a n&#237;vel mundial acredito que teria enorme sucesso!) ou mesmo m&#250;sicas do tempo dos Silence Four em que a multid&#227;o cantou toda em coro. Adorei pelo facto de ter sido o &#250;nico artista que eu vi ao vivo que estava a mostrar tirar mesmo gozo de cada momento em que tocava!</p>\r
  \r
  <p align=\"center\"><img src=\"http://www.acabra.net/latada07/ngest/fotos/f07490/sabadogift.jpg\" alt=\"The Gift em Palco\" width=\"375\" height=\"250\" /></p>\r
  \r
  <p>Depois foi a vez dos <a href=\"http://thegift.pt\">The Gift</a> subirem ao palco. Apesar de j&#225; os ter visto na Queima das Fitas do ano passado, gostei imenso do concerto embora n&#227;o estivessem ao n&#237;vel do David Fonseca. E desta vez tocaram o &#8220;OK, do you want something simple&#8221;, a primeira m&#250;sica deles que conheci e adorei. Incrivelmente o que mais gostei foi da fatiota com que a S&#243;nia se apresentou. Tinha assim um ar nip&#243;nico que sempre me fascinou e estava bem de acordo com o penteado. Vinham tamb&#233;m acompanhados do Tiago Dias dos Room 75 que tocou uma panóplia de instrumentos!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Bem, vamos ver como correm o resto dos dias, mas dificilmente ser&#227;o melhores que este!</p>


title: FeedSync
body:
  <p>Since I <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/65\">moved from Flock to Google Reader</a> I felt the need for a desktop solution to read my feeds. I&#8217;ve tried <a href=\"http://code.google.com/p/pyrfeed/\">pyRfeed</a> but since then there was no real evolution in the project. I know I could read GoogleReader&#8217;s <a href=\"http://www.google.com/reader/atom/user/10457207058934817946/state/com.google/reading-list\">reading list <span class=\"caps\">ATOM</span></a> but if I use it in some desktop feed reader, it doesn&#8217;t sync with Google Reader so I can read it n my mobile.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Last week I was thinking of making my own feedreader web.based that supports syncing with another desktop feedreader. Just like <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAP\"><span class=\"caps\">IMAP</span></a> works for email, this new protocol would work for Feeds. It would allow client readers to mark as read/unread, to flag (or star) items and even manage subscribing feeds. If it works, maybe I will have success making popular feed readers adopt it.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>So if you are interested in this subject and want to help, you have my contacts on the top-right of the page.</p>


title: Ript, the desktop notebook
body:
  <p>I <a href=\"http://blogs.msdn.com/frankarr/archive/2007/10/30/wonderful-wpf-app-ript.aspx\">came across</a> <a href=\"http://www.ript.com/\">Ript</a>, a simple yet very cool small application that may look like (yet another) <span class=\"caps\">GTD</span>, but is only a place where you can drop stuff.</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.ript.com/images/gerry_pages/furniture_for_mining_tent.jpg\"><img src=\"http://www.ript.com/images/gerry_pages/furniture_for_mining_tent.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"325\" alt=\"\" /></a></p>\r
  \r
  <p>As you can see in the picture, it&#8217;s perfect for planing stuff like shopping, classes, works, whatever&#8230; I believe this could be awesome if it worked collaboratively over the web, but for now it works pretty good for single-player.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Although it has some wild effects (as it&#8217;s based on <a href=\"http://wpf.netfx3.com/\"><span class=\"caps\">WPF</span></a>), I guess I&#8217;ll just stick to Flock&#8217;s Web Clipboard as it&#8217;s good enough for my daily annotations.</p>


title: Skype Phone
body:
  <p>The <a href=\"http://three.co.uk\">3 carrier</a> has announced the SkypePhone, a 3G mobile phone that comes already with a integrated skype client. And calls between Skype users are free! And it really means free since &#8220;3 won&#146;t charge you for the data access for <span class=\"caps\">VOIP</span> calls&#8221;! You can read more on this on <a href=\"http://dalelane.co.uk/blog/?p=203\">Dale Lane&#8217;s blog</a>.</p>

  <p>I know you can <a href=\"http://www.skype.com/download/skype/mobile/\">already have skype on your phone</a>, but for most of end-users it is simpler to buy a phone where it already comes installed and configured.</p>

  <p>After <a href=\"http://www.mad4mobilephones.co.uk/news/811/\">the removal of <span class=\"caps\">VOIP</span> service on the N95</a>, I believe operators are taking the right path towards the ubiquitous web. They shouldn&#8217;t block alternatives like <span class=\"caps\">VOIP</span>, they should encourage them and increase the value of their natural services.</p>

  <p>I hope to see Skype launching the phone all around Europe including Portugal where I know a lot of people that would buy it the first minute it comes out. And seems like the battle for the mobile market has begun. First the iPhone, now the SkypePhone and in <a href=\"http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119369951717475558.html?mod=mktw\">the next two weeks</a> Google Phone!</p>


title: I kicked Scott Adams in his nuts!
body:
  <p>Yes, that&#8217;s true! I kicked <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Adams\">Scott Adams</a> himself in his nuts! Repeatedly! Read more for (disgusting) details.</p>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/926/covereh6.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin:10px; margin-left: 0px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>For those of you who live in some other dimension, Scott is the author of the famous <a href=\"http://dilbert.com/\">Dilbert Comic</a> (which <abbr title=\"By The Way\">btw</abbr> I subscribe). He is now selling his latest book: <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591841852?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=dilbertcom-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1591841852\">Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!</a> that is not, as you may think, yet another compilation of Dilbert&#8217;s strips, but rather a collection of his best posts in <a href=\"http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/\">his blog</a> where he makes funny comments on what happens in the world of business (among some other random stuff).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>To promote his new book, apart from the traditional book-signing, Scott decided to do <a href=\"http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/10/kick-me-in-the-.html\">a Q&amp;A at Second Life</a>. Last night as I was awake at the time and had SL installed, why not? I teleported myself and I found right in from of me Scott&#8217;s avatar (that he made from pictures of himself). The session was quite nice with some interesting questions (like <i>Which is more dangerous: dilbert with a machine gun, dogbert with a garrote, or catbert with a “request denied” rubber stamp?</i>) and trivia about the comic and animated series. And guess what? A movie is coming up!!!</p>\r
  \r
  <p align=\"center\">If you are interested, you can <a href=\"http://gdayworld.thepodcastnetwork.com/2007/10/31/scott-adams-qa-in-sl/\">read the transcript</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>In the end there was a session where you could go up on stage and kick Scott around. I tried some stuff like punching, slapping, but what I found most interesting was kicking him in his FamilyJewels, so I did it over 5 times in a row! Thanks Mr Adams for that pleasure!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I liked the session pretty much (disregarding the fact that I was almost sleeping in from of the pc)! Not that I prefer this kind of presentations more than I like <abbr title=\"Real Life\">RL</abbr>&#8216;s but  if it&#8217;s impossible to be there, SL is good enough. And it can provide some amusement <span class=\"caps\">IRC</span> couldn&#8217;t do!</p>


title: Sandra Nasic - Name of My Baby
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/oTRcOJ_fkCE\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/oTRcOJ_fkCE\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://sandranasic.com\">She</a> is back!</p>


title: Linking Back
body:
  <p>With this popular stuff called blogs, new posts are coming up every millisecond and <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/archives/2007/10\">one</a> post gives birth to <a href=\"http://www.lmjabreu.com/176/son-of-what-is-google-up-to/\">another</a> and by the end of the day you got a post about another post that comments yet another post that cites someone else in the blogosphere.</p>

  <p>To connect this dots there were created <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linkback\">linkbacks</a> that is basically a way of telling a post his has a new child. That I know of there are 3 kinds of linkbacks: <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trackback\">Trackback</a>, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingback\">Pingback</a> and <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refback\">Refback</a>.</p>

  <p>Pingback and Trackback are both notifications systems where the linking post tells the linked one &#8220;Hey, I am you son!&#8221; and Pingback is more secure because he does the <span class=\"caps\">DNA</span> exam to be sure (he scans the linking post to see if it really has the link) so that prevents spam, a <a href=\"http://www.antseyeview.com/archives/001653.html\">real issue</a> with Trackback.</p>

  <p>As for Refback, it is the black sheep of the family since what he does is record the people who visit your posts and then guesses that they came from a post. They have to be really smart to do this, but generally they are worst than track or pingback, but don&#8217;t need some implementation of some awkward protocol.</p>

  <p>While people who use Wordpress, Blogger, Movable Type and so on don&#8217;t need to worry about this since the software already has that installed, some really weird people that code their own weblog system (I&#8217;m referring to myself!) have to learn this stuff and if they want to notify people who they link to, they have to code it themselves.</p>

  <p>So last night I did it! And now every time I post, I send both trackbacks and pingbacks to every link in the post, just to be sure. In order to accomplish this, I used <a href=\"http://www.postneo.com/2003/01/30/tblib-010-released\">Matt Croydon&#8217;s</a> <a href=\"http://postneo.com/projects/tblib/\">Trackback Library</a> and <a href=\"http://mathieu.fenniak.net/python-pingback-library/\">Mathieu Fenniak&#146;s Pingback library</a> both in Python with some custom modifications by me to be more an automated process.</p>

  <p>Now I can find the fathers of my posts, but I don&#8217;t know who my children are&#8230; I already started recording the referers, but from what I can see it&#8217;s kinda messy and I will probably implement pingbacks in a near future.</p>


title: Create your own social network!
body:
  <p>Until now, if you wanted to create a social network for your self, the answer was almost certainly <a href=\"http://ning.com\">Ning</a>. Today there are over 115,000 networks there and it&#8217;s growing.</p>

  <p>When it was launched, October 4th 2005, it was a revolutionary idea that <a href=\"http://blog.webreakstuff.com\">Fred</a> best-described in <a href=\"http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/10/04/ning-launches/\">TechCrunch</a>:</p>

  <div class=\"quote\">
  It means anyone can now get their ideas out there and build a project (some people would call it a mash-up) in a few clicks, with no developer experience. And if you are a developer, you can pop under the hood and change it to your liking, no questions asked.
  </div>

  <p>In the recent past, every time a web2.0 service is launched, some opensource alternative is also released. Well, yesterday I found an <a href=\"http://www.netmag.co.uk/zine/open-source/build-a-social-network\">interesting article</a> in the <a href=\"http://www.netmag.co.uk/\">.net magazine</a> where it lets you host your own social network. It&#8217;s easy to do, you&#8217;ll just need a <span class=\"caps\">PHP</span>+MySQL server but that&#8217;s what it gives you the power over Ning. You can change it around the way you like and add or remove more features, and so on.</p>

  <p>I don&#8217;t believe this is a Ning-killer since the average Joe doesn&#8217;t have a hosting account, nor time to set it up and hack around. He&#8217;ll just go over to Ning, create a social network and play around with the theme editor. And users of multiple networks will share their Ning ID!</p>


title: ASP.NET MVC
body:
  <p>Well, all this time <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET has been forgotten for real. Ruby on Rails, Django, Symphony and many others implemented something developers just loved: <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model-view-controller\"><span class=\"caps\">MVC</span></a>. As Django&#8217;s co-creator <a href=\"http://www.holovaty.com/\">Adrian</a> noticed in <a href=\"http://www.djangoproject.com/snakesandrubies/\">Snakes and Rubies</a> (and RoR&#8217;s <a href=\"http://www.loudthinking.com/\">David</a> agreed) is that the <span class=\"caps\">MVC</span> pattern has the obvious advantage of having both webdesigners and developers working on the same project only on the stuff that matters to them.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>When <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/92\">I tried to do something cool using <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET</a>, it just didn&#8217;t fit my needs. It wasn&#8217;t <span class=\"caps\">MVC</span> nor had the <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span> support I could have from rails, for example. I wished Microsoft (or anyone) had this awesome <span class=\"caps\">MVC</span> framework!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Well, they have answered my prays: <a href=\"http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/about.aspx\">Scott Guthrie</a> <a href=\"http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/10/14/asp-net-mvc-framework.aspx\">announced in his blog</a> that yet this year the <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET <span class=\"caps\">MVC</span> Framework will be released and in the first half of next years it will be launched as a <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET feature. I can&#8217;t say I&#8217;m not happy about this (obvious) decision to move <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET into the <span class=\"caps\">MVC</span> pattern! But somehow I just feel like Microsoft is always a step behind in this new web2.0 age.</p>


title: TechEd 2007 Day -1
body:
  <p>As <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/147\">I wrote before</a>, this week I will be at Microsoft&#8217;s <a href=\"http://msevents.com/teched/developers\">TechEd for developers</a> in Barcelona for this whole week! You should expect daily updates on both the personal side and also on the topics focused on the talks I will attend.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>This adventure started yesterday when Miguel and <a href=\"http://susie-v.mobile.spaces.live.com/\">Susana</a> caught me up at Coimbra and we drove to Alcoba&#231;a, Miguel&#8217;s hometown where we hung out in some nice small cafes and played some Chinese shadows on the Monestary. Late that night we continued our trip to the TechEd to Lisbon where we crashed at Miguel&#8217;s. This morning we woke up really early (so almost no sleep, and I slept on the floor, something I really missed and I recomend you all to try! It&#8217;s good for your spine and backs!).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>We met there the other MSPs with who we will be sharing the trip: <a href=\"http://adsx.spaces.msn.com\">Andr&#233;</a>(who drunk beer as breakfast), <a href=\"http://brunomiguelsilva.blogspot.com\">Bruno</a> and <a href=\"http://nelsoncorreia.spaces.live.com\">Nelson</a>. Moments later we also met the guys from the <abbr title=\"Microsoft Language Development Center\"><span class=\"caps\">MLDC</span></abbr> who shown to be really cool and will be sharing the flight and hotel with us. The time to fly had come and in my way to the gate I found <a href=\"http://joaomoreno.com\">Jo&#227;o</a>, who will be attending <a href=\"http://berlin.web2expo.com/\">Web2.0 Berlim</a> where I also wanted to be. Unfortunately no cool company offered me that trip&#8230;</p>\r
  \r
  <p>The flight was short and okay and some minutes later we found ourselves in the hotel checking in(that appears to be in the opposite side of Barcelona where TechEd is being held). We then decided to take a random walk around the city. Barcelona&#8217;s public transportation system is pretty good and in one bus we found ourselves in the Diagonal. From there we walked to the Ramblas, a nice street where there were a lot of small shops and cultural animation. People playing <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/brunomiguelsilva/1871601370/\">statues</a>, <a href=\"http://picasaweb.google.com/susie.vilaca/Mspptteched2007VisitaABarcelonaNoFimDeSemana/photo#5129311137517922162\">grinch</a> or even <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/brunomiguelsilva/1870780909/\">famous people</a> gathered a circle of people from the crowd (when I write crowd, you should read thousands of people walking by the streets!). One thing that I also noticed about one year and an half ago when I passed through Barcelona was the fact that the cultural variety is enormous and it makes you want to interview everyone you meet and learn their story.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>After lunch we went to Starbucks, a shop where I always wanted to visit (since there aren&#8217;t any in Portugal), and there are at least three here! Unfortunately the WiFi was not free as it is in the <span class=\"caps\">USA</span> and one thing I found interesting is that you need a security code to access the bathrooms that is given in your ticked only when you buy something! After that we continued walking and we saw a lot of architectonic monuments by Gaudi which I intent to revisit tomorrow together with more monuments.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>One thing that made my day worth it was the books I found on this statue that I guessed to be <a href=\"http://www.bookcrossing.com\">book crossing</a>, and they really were! I took one, in English, that I wanted to read since I was a kid, a true classic: &#8220;The Treasure Island&#8221; by Robert Louis Stevenson. It was lucky to found a bookcrossing (we don&#8217;t find this in Coimbra) and a English book and one I wanted to read! We also found other books around town. It seems that the IV Encuentro Bookcrossing is happening here until 4th November. I find this concept interesting and I will contribute once I go back home.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>It was a extasing day both the anxiety and the excitement from being here and having a great time with such cool people. I also thank Microsoft (and the Student Partner) for giving me this opportunity to visit such a nice place and be part of this great conference. Other companies should follow their example and give this kind of opportunities to students!</p>


title: TechEd 2007 Day 0
body:
  <p>This sunday was spent visiting the city. Instead of a short tour in the touristic bus, we decided to walk and use Barcelona&#8217;s public transportation system (metro every 3 minutes!). In the metro ads, I found out that another event was happening here: The manga festival! And I found a Ichigo Cosplay leaving the metro! I wish I could be there!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>We visited a lot of monuments like the olimpic village, industrial park, sagrada fam&#237;lia, the &#8220;Spanish people&#8221;, park de Montjuic, and a lot of stuff. You should follow our photos (links soon). I noticed a lot of art stuff around, so if you have interest for this, you should visit this city.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>We also tried to hack macdonalds wifi with no success for now while Miguel and Nelson went to FCBarcelona&#8217;s match.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Just a short note about a long day that I loved!</p>


title: TechEd 2007 Day 1
body:
  <a name=\"keynote\" id=\"keynote\"></a>\r
  <h3>Keynote</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>TechEd started today with a keynote by S. Somasegar, Corporate Vice President of the Developer Division of Microsoft. He focused that in the next year, MS will focus on getting designers and developers working together. Another good thing they want to work on is the community. He wanted every developer that asks a question on the forums to have a question in matters of hours of two day maximum. Good news in this area: Microsoft is launching a wiki for users to contribute for documentation and a code gallery so you can share your code samples. Looks like Redmond has been learning from opensource&#8217;s documentation.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>He also talked about technologies starting with the Visual Studio 2008 that, apart from features like <span class=\"caps\">LINQ</span>, includes built-in support for <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span> and Javascript as well (intellisense!) and it is possible to debug it on both Firefox and IE. Other thing it was cool to see was <span class=\"caps\">WPF</span> 3D stuff running inside Microsoft Office that might be useful for a lot of companies.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>It was shown a video showing that Microsoft is using Visual Studio 2008 tools to build the release of visual Studio itself. They showed like it was some fantastic and innovating step, but perl6 and pypy are examples of that (at least!). However it was a good prove that it worked with a large company like Microsoft, so it was a kind of test.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Regarding partners (to which the event is targeting), they are allowing them to see the source code of the Visual Studio <span class=\"caps\">IDE</span> (with a non disclosure agreement) and allowing them to develop using VS to non-Microsoft platforms (Mono?). I wonder when will this come to the general public&#8230;</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Dan Fernandez did this awesome demos of the power of Visual Studio! First he opened the <span class=\"caps\">IDE</span> with World of Warcraft inside it, then he visually added a dialog and then he coded in <span class=\"caps\">LUA</span> and guess what? Visual Studio had intellisense for that language! He then played some WoW to test what he had coded. And afterwards he even opened emails and blogs inside WoW, so you don&#8217;t have to leave it!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Moments after, when targeting the enthusiastic users, he revealed the VS support for Popfly, including a special explorer that allows you to drag and drop your Popfly project and even your friends&#8217;. And by the way, Popfly is sooo mcuh cooler than Y! pipes! Mainly because it&#8217;s silverlighted.</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"Together Developer and Designer\" id=\"Together Developer and Designer\"></a>\r
  <h3>Together Developer and Designer</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>The session starting by knowing the differences between the work of a developer and of a designer. Only about 5% of the audience was a designer, but it&#8217;s nice they&#8217;re coming up to this kind of events. They showed us their project: the French Euronews player that looked nice indeed! They showed us then the 5 possible scenarios for developing a simple video player concept. There were a lot of solutions to get the Expression Design design and the Visual Studio code together. The &#8220;Integrator&#8221; used was Blend and they showed us a lot of techniques. From the &#8220;quick and dirty&#8221; button on top with opacity 0, to templates and brushes they showed a lot possible solutions, the advantages and disadvantages. For me it&#8217;s pretty clear that this is a area not yet mature and I hope to see Expression 2 and VS 10 working perfectly fine!</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"Building Great Web Experiences with Silverlight 1.0\" id=\"Building Great Web Experiences with Silverlight 1.0\"></a>\r
  <h3>Building Great Web Experiences with Silverlight 1.0</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>Silverlight 1.0 has no managed code yet, so everything must be created using declarative language <span class=\"caps\">XAML</span> and event handlers with Javascript. Well the session was pretty much the basics of this. Creating a rectangle in <span class=\"caps\">XAML</span> and giving it some live with transforms and mouse events. The presenter was quite nice, but the content of the session was too superficial. I also had the idea that everything he did, I could do with javascript + canvas element in <span class=\"caps\">HTML</span>. The advantage of Silverlight that is the video and multimedia wasn&#8217;t shown.</p>


title: TechEd 2007 Day 2
body:
  <a name=\"IronPython and Dynamic Languages on .NET\" id=\"IronPython and Dynamic Languages on .NET\"></a>\r
  <h3>IronPython and Dynamic Languages on .NET</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>After spending more time in getting from the hotel to the event than getting from Lisbon to Barcelona and losing the first session slot, I attended Mahesh Prakriya&#8217;s presentation on the Dynamic Languages .NET supports, focusing IronPython (being my language of choice for now!).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>He started to introduce Dynamic Languages that have no strict definition, it&#8217;s kind of a intuitive thing developers know how to distinguish, but is about types, being interactive, metaprogramming, etc&#8230; but is <span class=\"caps\">NOT</span> about typed vars as many may think! Well, IronPython is the implementation of the Python language on the .NET framework, but still supporting (almost) all the standard modules. He showed us a bit of its internals and it&#8217;s based on &#8220;how do I do this?&#8221; and learns it, so it has never to research it again. That&#8217;s maybe why IronPython is the fastest implementation of Python (even over CPython and Jython)!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>The session had a lot of simple demos that showed how the language has a <span class=\"caps\">REAL</span> integration with the framework. First he imported MSAgent (That little merlin 3d guy you might know from Microsoft Office) and made him wave, think and move. He also created this form and made it inkable (he was using a tablet) and a minute after it was reading what he had wrote (using Microsoft Speech). All of this in a dozen of lines and on the fly! Makes you rethink about C#, doesn&#8217;t it?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>What about tools? Well it will be available a <span class=\"caps\">SDK</span> for IronPython (no out-of-the-box, sorry&#8230;) for both VS2005 and VS2008. It will generate Winforms and <span class=\"caps\">WPF</span> (2008 only) code, that is a great advantage! If you want more on this you can check <a href=\"http://blogs.msdn.com/aaronmar\">Aaron&#8217;s blog</a>. Another thing that is really interesting is debugging that is pretty difficult in standard python (that means you&#8217;re only using print statements). VS allows you to use breakpoints, check the stack and variable spaces! It even includes a console for your interactive plays! And guess what I am really missing when working outside VS? Intellisense! Python with everything I love!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Let&#8217;s get back to demos! This time guess what? <span class=\"caps\">XNA</span>! That&#8217;s right, pretty cooler than PyGame in my humble opinion! With some short code, we added asteroids to the default demo in the <span class=\"caps\">SDK</span>! Unfortunately, it will only run on Windows and not on Xbox360&#8230; Yet! Another demo was using Microsoft Robotics, that with a simples form, controlled the robot via bluetooth and all in IronPython!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>In the end, we had the experience of a real developer, Michael Foord, that developed a kind of Excel software with a console and a code area where PowerUsers could develop their own stuff. Was pretty good the example that this kind of language is being really used and not only as some proof of concept or for some kids to play around. Really enjoyed the session in its whole!</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"Why Software Sucks?\" id=\"Why Software Sucks?\"></a>\r
  <h3>Why Software Sucks?</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>David Platt really knows how to get you focused on his talk. For 45 minutes he talked about what it&#8217;s wrong with software development right now! People who build software are pretty different from those who use it and this tend to generate some conflicts. In general, users don&#8217;t want this or that feature, don&#8217;t want it to use the latest technology, but to just do the job! He showed a kind of examples that software didn&#8217;t helped people and may be improved to solve people&#8217;s problems.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>He gave us some advices: Adding a &#8220;virgin&#8221; to the design team, based on the idea that &#8220;blindness improves your vision&#8221;; Breaking the convention, but only when its really needed; Don&#8217;t letting edge cases complicate the mainstream; Instrumenting&#8212;carefully.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Pretty astonishing presentation and I hope to hear him soon! And maybe read his book with the same title.</p>\r
  \r
  \r
  <a name=\"Improvements in Visual Studio 2008 and .NET compact Framework 3.5 for Windows Mobile developers.\" id=\"Improvements in Visual Studio 2008 and .NET compact Framework 3.5 for Windows Mobile developers.\"></a>\r
  <h3>Improvements in Visual Studio 2008 and .NET compact Framework 3.5 for Windows Mobile developers.</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>This presentation was a roadmap over the new stuff Microsoft is launching right now that affects Windows Mobile development! Visual Studio 2008 is coming really soon and .Net compact framework has reached its 3.5 version! 3.5 is about distributed and data aplications! Despite not having real performance improvements, it has far more capabilities! It includes 90% of System.Net and System.Data, <span class=\"caps\">LINQ</span> and <span class=\"caps\">WCF</span>!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>You can have a few <span class=\"caps\">LINQ</span> stuff, <span class=\"caps\">XML</span> and datasets, but unfortunately no Linq2SQL due to the limitation of <span class=\"caps\">RAM</span> in mobile devices! Some stuff that users asked for are included in this version, just like sound APIs, compression and device security and certificate managers. From the tools point of view, it includes unit testing and the 3.0 version of the emulator that can be used together with the Managed CoreCon framework to create different emulator controlled environments! Pretty cool stuff that I liked a lot!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>A traditional issue with mobile computing is the wireless connectivity. If you have a <span class=\"caps\">GPRS</span> or 3G connection, each time you change your cell to another access point, the connection brokes and a new IP is given. To solve the problem connecting applications with webservices, we now have ActiveSync with a Exchange server over email (using <span class=\"caps\">SOAP</span>). In my opinion this is just a work around, not a real solution that I might agree with Vitor Santos that is IPv6. But is that time now?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I found out another cool stuff is that there are already asp.net server pages running on mobile that is quite an impressive thing, but not pretty much usable. A cool website to check when I get back home is <a href=\"http://OpenNETCF.org\">OpenNETCF.org</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"Microsoft Student Partner Presentation\" id=\"Microsoft Student Partner Presentation\"></a>\r
  <p>Microsoft Student Partner Presentation</p>\r
  \r
  <p>As a <span class=\"caps\">MSP</span> I had to skip the normal presentations to attend an interesting one with all the MSPs in <span class=\"caps\">EMEA</span> that were in the conference. The program managers did their usual talks that I&#8217;m not a fan of and then included some testimonials from MVPs and guys who did the internship in Redmond. I really like to learn from them!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>In the second half of the session, They invited a panel of (the best) speakers in the events to answer some of our questions. It was pretty cool to listen to them about stuff that matters to us (and also joking aroung!). I got to know that Mahesh thinks that in the near future Dynamic Languages will be more and more used by .NET developers and a language with future may be the one with the best of Python and Ruby together.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>After that I&#8217;ve talked to David Platt and Rob Miles that I find very inspiring and shared some thoughts with me on the future of technology. I&#8217;d like to highlight that Platt believes that Computer Science and Engineering are breaking apart. As engineering not being science, but what technology can do to solve real live problems, it is strongly important to pass that idea to students.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Later we all gone to bowling, a nice way of socializing with other students, program managers and, guess what, some speakers! It was nice to meet students from all around Europe and learn stuff that is going on there. I also had the pleasure to know Jennifer, the responsible for the program all over the world and she is indeed a enthusiastic person that I loved to met! And she listened to my suggestions and thoughts on the presentation! It&#8217;s really good to know they care about what you think!</p>


title: Dia Mundial da Usabilidade
body:
  <p>J&#225; aqui tenho falado e acho que todos sabemos a import&#226;ncia que a usabilidade tem na nossa vida. Como tal a associa&#231;&#227;o portuguesa de profissionais da usabilidade lan&#231;ou hoje, para comemorar o dia mundial da usabilidade, o <a href=\"http://dificildeusar.usabilidade.org\">dif&#237;cil de usar</a>. &#201; um projecto bastante interessante e &#250;til tendo em conta que eles tratam de comunicar as empresas respons&#225;veis as falhas que qualquer um de n&#243;s pode reportar que tornam o uso de algo complicado.</p>

  <p>E a altura de denunciarem o que vos diicultao quotidiano! Aproveitem ;)</p>


title: TechEd 2007 Day 3
body:
  <a name=\"Improving Software Safety and Reliability – Applying Ergonomics to the User Interface\" id=\"Improving Software Safety and Reliability – Applying Ergonomics to the User Interface\"></a>\r
  <h3>Improving Software Safety and Reliability &#8211; Applying Ergonomics to the User Interface</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>Chad Hower made this traditional usability presentation where he went through a lot of examples where bad design has lead to some minor and major problems. One thing that he focused is that one simple click every hour in a large company, when summed all up together, the time/money thrown away is too big.</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"Building Fun, Cool Applications with Popfly\" id=\"Building Fun, Cool Applications with Popfly\"></a>\r
  <h3>Building Fun, Cool Applications with Popfly</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>I had tried Yahoo Pipes a while ago and I didn&#8217;t find it easy enough for simple users to use it. Well, Dan Fernandez did a demo how to make widgets and gadgets (isn&#8217;t it the same thing after all?) with Popfly and integrate it in your space. I found the interface (built on silverlight) pretty cool and intuitive, but the notion of blocks and how they should connect to each other is too easy for me and too complicated for regular users. I find it however a good step in bringing the power of programming and semantics to them, but is only the beginning of a great path.</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"Communities? Can they really help my business, my day-to-day job, and my career?\" id=\"Communities? Can they really help my business, my day-to-day job, and my career?\"></a>\r
  <h3>Communities? Can they really help my business, my day-to-day job, and my career?</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>Bart Martens has been working for a long time as a manager of a big IT community and has help several others to start and grow up. He focused the importance of sharing knowledge and taking the opportunity that communities give you to get a fast answer to some common problems.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Although I find him a great person, I guess the presentation wasn&#8217;t particularly well done in the perspective of making geek IT guys to gather more and take advantage of that. He focused a bit on managing communities, but only a few in the audience even participated on those.</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"A developer diary on implementing Windows CardSpace\" id=\"A  developer diary on implementing Windows CardSpace\"></a>\r
  <h3>A developer diary on implementing Windows CardSpace</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>Dominick Baier did a great presentation on a subject that matters to me: Identity 2.0 focusing (of course, this is a MS event) on cardspace technology. Cardspace works a wallet where you have your cards you need to sign in your services. He showed a bit how to make a small web application that used Cardspace as login. However, as he suggested, you can&#8217;t make this direct transition. You have to support both Cardspace and traditional login/password system. Well, I guess I already heard this one for OpenID.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>At the end of the session, I talked to <a href=\"http://blogs.msdn.com/vbertocci/\">Vittorio Bertocci</a> about this and as cardspace is user-centric and openID is based on independent providers. At the end he agreed that for now the best authentication for my blog, forum, website or something with a &#8220;normal&#8221; level of security is OpenID. He also mentioned something I wanted to build that is alreay done on <a href=\"https://www.signon.com/\">signon.com</a>. Another thing I think cardspace lacks is the capability of loading a card from a server location (protected of course!).</p>\r
  \r
  \r
  \r
  <a name=\"Silverlight, ASP.net and web services in IronPython and IronRuby\" id=\"Silverlight, ASP.net and web services in IronPython and IronRuby\"></a>\r
  <h3>Silverlight, <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.net and web services in IronPython and IronRuby</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>Following latest presentation, Mahesh this time focused the development of websites using IronPython. First we had a silverlight presentation made using IronPython to add handlers to <span class=\"caps\">XAML</span> parts. Then we created a <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET project but instead of C# or VB.net, we used IronPython (Ruby is now available for download) and it really makes your life simpler! C# guys, please try IronPython or Ruby for a week and then you&#8217;ll change for sure!</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"Understanding Software + Services\" id=\"Understanding Software + Services\"></a>\r
  <h3>Understanding Software + Services</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>David Chappell shared with us his vision on the close future on the informatics. He believes software will leave single-tenant (where they are local and expensive) to multi-tenant (in the cloud and cheaper due to flexibility of shared resources). He also raised this question that it&#8217;s to me the main issue in this transition: What about trust?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Single-tenant has the major advantage that you develop for only one platform that you&#8217;ll manage for sure. It gives you more control of the environment where it will run and also it will be easier to change or add features. Users are in the need for fast updates of the product is this is the answer for that. The dynamic capacity is the key for this change that decreases the costs of software. For example, the Christmas shopping boom may be handled dynamically.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>There are already some examples like EC2 (computing), S3 (storage), salesforce and dynamics (CRM applications) and a lot more. He focused a bit on Microsoft that is moving gradually with Dynamics being hosted on premises, partner hosted or Microsoft hosted (Dynamics Live).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>He also highlighted Salesforce.com, a <span class=\"caps\">CRM</span> that is now <abbr title=\"Software as a Service\">SaaS</abbr>.</p>


title: TechEd 2007 Day 4
body:
  <a name=\"Opening up Windows Live Data & Protocols\" id=\"Opening up Windows Live Data & Protocols\"></a>\r
  <h3>Opening up Windows Live Data &amp; Protocols</h3>\r
  \r
  <p align=\"center\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/1916670189_ec149d25ed_m.jpg\" /></p>\r
  \r
  <p>Windows live is now releasing some APIs, for now IM control and Presence messenger, Windows Live Contacts and Windows Live Spaces Photos. They are also offering developers free Silverlight Streaming at 1.4 TB per second. Wow!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>They also revealed some more numbers, as the 2 billions of photos there are in Windows Live Spaces, and they want people to start to move from Flickr to there. Yeah, right&#8230;</p>\r
  \r
  <p>There is a WebDAV support for Photos that is very cool for desktop applications, but when it comes to webservers, you must stream what you get from the <span class=\"caps\">API</span>. It sucks in terms of memory and bandwidth limits! I wish a <span class=\"caps\">REST</span> approach was also used&#8230;</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Windows Live Photo Gallery had both Windows Live Spaces and Flickr support that is a really nice thing, it shows that they-re not afraid of the competition and I haven&#8217;t found the trick that is making them so confident in their product!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>There is also a <span class=\"caps\">API</span> for getting (and modifying) Windows Live Contacts in a way that social networks like Hi5 and so stop asking for our live credentials to import our friends contacts. However they made the allow panel with such an hard security (like warnings and stuff) that makes users suspicious about services (and forget if you have no <span class=\"caps\">SSL</span>!). I believe this is a issue they should think of, but not as much as they did! It will make people not to do mashups as they want them to do!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>There are also weird Terms of Service that you should check up, one of the things is that if you allow sign up you must have a revoke link! Pretty good hein?</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"The next release of ASP.NET\" id=\"The next release of ASP.NET\"></a>\r
  <h3>The next release of ASP.NET</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>This session sucked pretty much. Matt Gibs just announced stuff that already had been spoken of in other presentations. First, Astoria, the new project that serves webservices as a RESTful <span class=\"caps\">API</span>. Pretty thing, but should already be done for a long time, just like <span class=\"caps\">MVC</span> framework! There have been others for years and only now Microsoft got in this web2.0 thing following Rail&#8217;s innovation. At least it supports both static and dynamic languages, so it wouldn&#8217;t surprise me to see a &#8220;IronRails&#8221; coming up really soon. Another thing they copied from it was the Scaffolding. Yes, now <span class=\"caps\">ASP</span>.NET also has dynamic data controls, the Scaffold from Rails.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>There are also real new stuff: you can interact Silverlight controls, that is pretty hard in Flash+other language. Another good thing is the history control so that users don&#8217;t blow everything up when using the back button on the browser.</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"Blogging Panel\" id=\"Blogging Panel\"></a>\r
  <h3>Blogging Panel</h3>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://blogs.msdn.com/tommer/\">Tom Mertens</a> gathered up <a href=\"http://blogs.msdn.com/clemensv/\">Clemens Vasters</a>, <a href=\"www.lowendahl.net/\">Patrick Lowendahl</a>, <a href=\"www.u2u.info/blogs/patrick\">Patrick Tisseghem</a> and <a href=\"http://www.tomrafteryit.net/\">Tom Raftery</a> on stage to talk about blogs.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Well, I have been to a few discussion panels about blogs and I don&#8217;t ever see the point on discussing it. In the end I don&#8217;t learn anything new and everyone agrees on pretty much the same thing. This one was no exception&#8230; Maybe their target were developers who don&#8217;t blog, but those wouldn&#8217;t be there in the first place.</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"Building Applications using the Identity Metasystem Security Model\" id=\"Building Applications using the Identity Metasystem Security Model\"></a>\r
  <h3>Building Applications using the Identity Metasystem Security Model</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>Vittorio really knows about this stuff. It was a Q&amp;A session where the audience asked about some problems implementing this kind of security model (and using CardSpace) and some issues it might raise. I really learned a lot about security models on this session. If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of his presentations, don&#8217;t miss it!</p>\r
  \r
  <a name=\"SOAP/WS-* and REST: Complementary Communication Styles\" id=\"SOAP/WS-* and REST: Complementary Communication Styles\"></a>\r
  <h3>SOAP/WS-* and REST: Complementary Communication Styles</h3>\r
  \r
  <p>First there were the WS-* over the <span class=\"caps\">SOAP</span> Protocol, and everyone was happy. Then, the RESTafarians came up presenting this new simple way of using webservices over the web using its standard. The beauty of <span class=\"caps\">REST</span> stands in the syntax used, that is the <span class=\"caps\">HTTP</span> itself. Using <span class=\"caps\">HEAD</span>, <span class=\"caps\">POST</span>, <span class=\"caps\">PUT</span>, <span class=\"caps\">GET</span> and <span class=\"caps\">DELETE</span> associated with the <span class=\"caps\">URI</span> and everything is in place.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Well David Chappel believes that the battle between the two should end and they should be both used when needed. <span class=\"caps\">REST</span> guys are more younger and inexperienced in corporate business than he is, and so he defends that a corporate level it&#8217;s pretty hard to implement everything in <span class=\"caps\">REST</span>, specially synchronization between various services, and <span class=\"caps\">SOAP</span> will still be used for more complex systems.</p>


title: The Dandy Warhols - We used to be friends
body:
  <p align=\"center\"><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/A3FXQViwGlk&amp;rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/A3FXQViwGlk&amp;rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object></p>

  <p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3FXQViwGlk\">We used to be friends</a></p>


title: TechEd 2007 Wrap-up
body:
  <p>This last week was quite exciting! I didn&#8217;t have much time to post stuff as I wanted, most of the times it was from my TyTn, others from a borrowed-for-one-minute laptop. I also haven&#8217;t included photos so the posts might be hard to read, but if you are interested, you can check <a href=\"http://flickr.com/photos/tags/mspptteched2007/\">Flickr</a> or <a href=\"http://picasaweb.google.com/susie.vilaca/\">PicasaWeb</a>. This post contains my impressions and conclusions of this week that was pretty remarkable.</p>\r
  \r
  <h3>About the city</h3>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2257/1870774567_b7407b11de_s.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top:10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Barcelona is a pretty nice city, with a lot of monuments, especially Gaudi&#8217;s art and lots of gardens. Metros every 3 minutes and <a href=\"http://lh6.google.com/susie.vilaca/Ry75LqY15uI/AAAAAAAAAFM/On6cSJB8CPE/s144/DSC04027.JPG\">Starbucks</a> every corner astonished me! There was also a great cultural variety and that special people at <a href=\"http://picasaweb.google.com/susie.vilaca/Mspptteched2007VisitaABarcelonaNoFimDeSemana/photo#5129311163287725954\">Ramblas</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"clear\"></div>\r
  \r
  <h3>About the guys</h3>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2197/1916597399_fde2a868db_s.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top:10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>They were amazing company (excluding the fact they didn&#8217;t want me to return&#8212;) and pretty interesting folks! There was the <a href=\"http://flickr.com/photos/brunomiguelsilva/1886205266/\">goodies girl</a>, the <a href=\"http://flickr.com/photos/brunomiguelsilva/1899506621/\">always-on-the-pc geek</a>, the <a href=\"http://picasaweb.google.com/susie.vilaca/Mspptteched2007VisitaABarcelonaNoFimDeSemana/photo#5129313233461963938\">pervert</a> , the <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/brunomiguelsilva/1900353402/\">Responsible guy</a> and the <a href=\"http://picasaweb.google.com/susie.vilaca/Mspptteched2007VisitaABarcelonaNoFimDeSemana/photo#5129314865549537714\">girly socks fetishist</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"clear\"></div>\r
  \r
  <h3>About the event</h3>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2112/1886201446_803c3a301e_s.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top:10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>Microsoft did in fact organized a pretty good event! No logistic problems, there was a lot of sessions at the same time, so I always went to those I like the most and in every slot, a <span class=\"caps\">HTC</span> touch was offered. Too bad I wasn&#8217;t one of the lucky ones!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>The presentations were pretty good and they were managing them according to our feedback. They did thought about the &#8220;users&#8221;! They also brought independent speakers (from dev, blogging and communities). They didn&#8217;t brought from the competition, but thinking again, it wouldn&#8217;t be such a good idea, as I have experienced.</p>\r
  \r
  <h3>About Microsoft</h3>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2139/1886192766_230947e29b_s.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top:10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>From TechEd I notice that Microsoft is really improving and upgrading into this Web2.0 age. Open APIs for live services! Popfly&#8217;s mashups for everyone! <span class=\"caps\">REST</span>, <span class=\"caps\">MVC</span> pattern, ActiveRecord, History support for <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span> and a bunch of things that developers want to use. They are also worried about Firefox and Safari support!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>From what I learned from the experts they are also starting to worry about non-office end users (I might write about this soon) and worried about the <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/137\">experience they are giving the user</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <h3>About the After Event</h3>\r
  \r
  <img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2045/1899512441_83ed93aaae_s.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top:10px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>One of the highlights of the event for me was the two nights we went out. The first one with all the MSPs from the <span class=\"caps\">EMEA</span> and with some speakers and Microsoft staff. We went bowling and as we didn&#8217;t care too much about it, we learned a lot about other countries with each others. The second night was with <a href=\"http://flickr.com/photos/brunomiguelsilva/1918416992/\">all the Portugueses there</a> and I met very interesting people and even from Coimbra!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I really want to thank Microsoft for giving us this opportunity to improve both technical and personal experience. There aren&#8217;t that many companies offering this trips!</p>


title: MicroID - Small Decentralized Verifiable Identity
body:
  <p>I&#8217;ve talked about <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/83\">OpenID</a>, <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/172\">CardSpace</a>, <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/120\">LiveID</a> and now I now came across <a href=\"http://microid.org/\">MicroID</a>. It is not some single-sign-on service or a way of authenticating yourself, but a simple and tiny way of claiming some content.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>It is a simple mechanism: you encrypt two <span class=\"caps\">URI</span> ( usually your email address and the website of the service you&#8217;re using) and re-encrypt the concatenation of the two hashes. Then you display it as <span class=\"code\">mailto+http:sha1:ca94387152e8ea62fee73c45c4bae79e54543485</span> and it&#8217;s ready to be claimed! Pretty hard? Well, you can always use the <a href=\"http://microid.org/code\">libraries available</a> for Python, PHP, C#, Java and Perl.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>This may sound a bit geeky and with no real life purpose, but in a world where social networks are popping up everyday, and you need some portability, this is pretty handy. One good example of the use of this technology is <a href=\"http://claimid.com/\">ClaimID</a>, a online identity manager (openID enabled) that uses MicroID to check claims from the services you add to your profile, like <a href=\"http://ma.gnolia.com\">Ma.gnolia</a>, <a href=\"http://wink.com\">Wink.com</a>, <a href=\"http://jyte.com\">Jyte.com</a>, <a href=\"http://del.icio.us\">del.icio.us</a>, <a href=\"http://last.fm\">last.fm</a> and a lot more.</p>


title: Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce you the Android!
body:
  <p>Usually I do not post about something that everyone is talking about, I usually wait until things settle down to make my point about it, but this time I couldn't resist.</p>\r
  \r
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/1FJHYqE0RDg&amp;rel=1&amp;border=0\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/1FJHYqE0RDg&amp;rel=1&amp;border=0\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>\r
  \r
  <p>First thing I noticed and you too probably, is that the <a href=\"http://code.google.com/android/index.html\">Android</a>, Google&#8217;s OpenSource Platform, offers the <span class=\"caps\">GUI</span>, browser and maps pretty much like the iPhone. They probably have planned it, so that the AvantGarde of the Web2.0 and Gadgeteers spend their money on the iPhone, and months later the so rumored gPhone comes out with a look-alike OS, but running on every device. Of course it lacks multi-touch and Apple&#8217;s design, but you have the freedom of choosing any operator you like and also it&#8217;s an open platform.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Apple lost my (and for sure other&#8217;s) respect when they closed the iPhone for 3rd party applications. They basically killed the change for the iPhone to be <span class=\"caps\">REALLY</span> used. Of course there is a <span class=\"caps\">SDK</span> coming up on February (until then, I will be making my own applications on my Windows Mobile and now, Android&#8230;) and I won&#8217;t be surprised if it comes out that the iPhone runs Android applications (as they both are <span class=\"caps\">UNIX</span> based (iPhone runs on MacOS and Android on Linux) and Android has support for a accelerometer&#8230; Oh, and both have a webkit based browser&#8230;</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Google has made the right choice launching it: first to the developers so they are part of the final product and giving away $10M for the best ones! Nokia had a <a href=\"http://www.mobilerules.org/\">contest on this</a> and Microsoft runs several small competitions for mobile applications and Apple&#8230; hmmm, nevermind. Although  we don&#8217;t have real devices yet (like <a href=\"www.openmoko.org/\">OpenMoko</a> is selling), you have a pretty fine emulator (yes, I have tested it) that gives you a perfect idea of what it is with a real device. I look forward to test this and have it running on my Windows Mobile. Of course a lot of apps are lacking and I don&#8217;t know what will be shipping the official Google version, since they have it all in the web!</p>


title: Break the \"Web2.0 design\" concept!
body:
  <p>Open up the websites of your favorite web2.0 applications or social networks. Take only one second looking at each. Finally you&#8217;ll probably take the conclusion that there are design patterns in all of them. The squared corners, the reflection, gradients, badges, you name it&#8230; And every new <i>web2.0site</i> that comes up has this proven-to-work design. But this is not innovative in any way, is it?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Elliot Jay Stocks has a pretty awesome presentation on this called <a href=\"http://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/archive/2007/destroy-the-web-20-look-future-of-web-design-new-york/\">Destroy the web2.0 look</a>  that he gave at <a href=\"http://www.futureofwebdesign.com/\">Future of Web Design</a>. If you are a webdesigner, this is a must-read! If you are not, well&#8230; read it anyway!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I strongly agree with Elliot, since I&#8217;m tired of seeing all these websites look the same. If they want to have their own identity and not yet another web service, they have to engineer their own design. Web2.0 is not about that gradients or squared corners, it&#8217;s about focusing the web on the users and the relations between them (in my humble opinion). Of course there are several things that come from this, one of them being the simpleness of the design, so that the content is not obfuscated. But there are unlimited ways of achieving that, you just have to let your inner artist do his thing.</p>


title: Nova lei sobre as rádios
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://www.blog.nonsensebb.com/2007/11/13/nova-lei-da-radio/\">Soube pelo Dextro</a> que foi aprovada recentemente uma lei que obriga a que as r&#225;dios nacionais passem uma certa percentagem que pode ir at&#233; 60% de m&#250;sica portuguesa e ainda 35% de m&#250;sica com menos de 1 ano.</p>

  <p>Em rela&#231;&#227;o aos 35% de m&#250;sica recente n&#227;o vejo raz&#227;o para a imposi&#231;&#227;o, pois cada r&#225;dio deveria ter o direito a escolher a m&#250;sica que passa, independentemente da data do lan&#231;amento. N&#227;o vejo r&#225;dios como a Antena 2 ou a M80 a introduzir nas suas playlists m&#250;sicas com menos de um ano. Algo me diz que o que v&#227;o fazer &#233; passar interpreta&#231;&#245;es recentes das m&#250;sicas de sempre e voltamos ao mesmo.</p>

  <p>Em rela&#231;&#227;o &#224; m&#250;sica portuguesa, acho bem que se promova os artistas nacionais como h&#225; r&#225;dios como a <a href=\"http://bestrock.clix.pt/\">Best Rock</a> e a <a href=\"http://antena3.rtp.pt\">Antena3</a> a fazer. Mas acho que este nacionalismo &#233; uma coisa que se tem de incutir e n&#227;o de obrigar! E claro que se as r&#225;dios n&#227;o passarem m&#250;sicas portuguesas, n&#227;o h&#225; impedimentos para n&#227;o a ouvir, com as v&#225;rias alternativas que temos online.</p>

  <p>Aproveito para deixar aqui uma recomenda&#231;&#227;o que o Noori me deixou para frequentar <a href=\"http://atrompa.blogspot.com/\">A Trompa</a>, um blog sobre m&#250;sica portuguesa e, imaginem s&#243;, at&#233; tem <a href=\"http://atrompa.blogspot.com/search/label/livre%20tr%C3%A2nsito\">uma compila&#231;&#227;o</a>.</p>


title: More Than a Thousand - Things that make me breath
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/ak2ph39ttyI&amp;rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/ak2ph39ttyI&amp;rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object><br />\r
  <center>\r
  <a href=\"http://youtube.com/watch?v=ak2ph39ttyI\">More Than a Thousand - Things that make me breath</a>\r
  </center>


title: Jennifer Government: NationStates
body:
  <div class=\"quote\">
  <p>Welcome to paradise! The world is run by American corporations (except for a few deluded holdouts like the French); taxes are illegal; employees take the last names of the companies they work for; the Police and the NRA are publicly-traded security firms; and the U.S. government only investigates crimes it can bill for.</p>
  <p>Hack Nike is a Merchandising Officer who discovers an all-new way to sell sneakers. Buy Mitsui is a stockbroker with a death-wish. Billy NRA is finding out that life in a private army isn't all snappy uniforms and code names. And Jennifer Government, a legendary agent with a barcode tattoo, is the consumer watchdog from hell.</p>
  </div>

  <p><a href=\"http://www.maxbarry.com/jennifergovernment/\">Jennifer Government</a> is a novel by <a href=\"http://www.maxbarry.com/\">Max Barry</a> about politics, consumerism, greed and how people survive in the between. It is in my &#8220;to read&#8221; list yet. So why do I mention it? Because it inspired a game, <a href=\"http://nationstates.net\">NationStates</a>, that is now the daily talk between me and <a href=\"http://hipertonia.blogspot.com\">the guys</a>.</p>

  <p>It&#8217;s not a web-based <span class=\"caps\">MMORPG</span> as you should be expecting (if you are looking for one, check <a href=\"http://aow.fraglider.pt\">this one</a>!) but a politics game. You are the ruler of a nation you create and you have two issues per day that you have to either dismiss or choose one advice. Pretty simple, hein? But the issues are pretty hard to solve since, just like in real life, one option may benefit the people&#8217;s freedom, the other your economy and you may even have a third one that you can&#8217;t predict its consequences.</p>

  <p>And if you want, you can also have external politics, since there is the &#8220;United Nations&#8221; that has its own political system, and depends on other players/nations to decide rules that apply to everyone in it. You can even vote for delegates or be one yourself.</p>

  <p>So, if you are interested in knowing how your own politics will do to a nation, this is a pretty cool way of finding out!</p>


title: AJAX: Usability versus Accessibility
body:
  <p>Two of the <a href=\"http://kosmar.de/wp-content/web20map.png\">Web2.0 buzzwords</a> are Accessibility and Usability. They both should be implemented in the websites of this new age of web. Now another buzzword, this one technical: <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span>. This technique to update only some parts of the website without reloading it all has allowed developers to increase the usability of their websites making them faster and improving the user interface to make them resemble desktop applications.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>But at what cost? Most of this websites are not correctly loaded on mobile phones or <i>javascriptless </i> browsers. But there are a few that do the <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span> degradation well or pick the easy way (my favorite) and create a basic <span class=\"caps\">HTML</span> version. I believe this last one is more effective because the user interface using Javascript with <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span> has a different structure than simple <span class=\"caps\">HTML</span> and they should be made independently.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>But for those who don&#8217;t like making another full website for the minority of browsers, there is now a framework for injecting &#8220;accessibility using <span class=\"caps\">AJAX</span> techniques&#8221;. It&#8217;s called <a href=\"http://code.google.com/p/google-axsjax/\">AxsJAX</a>, it is being opensourced by Google (It is being used on Google Reader) and you can find out more about this on <a href=\"http://ifacethoughts.net/2007/11/18/ajax-for-accessibility/\">ifacethoughts</a>.</p>


title: Desabafo sobre a mediocridade
body:
  <p>Dia sim, dia n&#227;o, l&#225; chego a casa todo frustrado, aborrecido com a mediocridade das pessoas com quem convivo no dia a dia. Por um lado, talvez seja culpa minha (de ser t&#227;o <a href=\"http://www.successful-blog.com/1/how-smart-people-can-be-so-dense-difficult-and-frustrating/\"><s>smart</s> Dense, Difficult, and Frustrating</a>), mas concordo perfeitamente com o <a href=\"http://inospito.wordpress.com/2007/11/14/diferenciacao-aplicada-a-pessoas/\">In&#243;spito</a> em como as pessoas est&#227;o cada vez mais iguais. Noto nos meus colegas que tudo quer tirar o curso com notas n&#227;o muito m&#225;s, ir bebendo uns copos pelo caminho e depois arranjar um emprego jeitoso para subir na vida.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Noto isto a n&#237;vel da Universidade de Coimbra, e pelo que tenho falado com malta de outros lados, acontece por todo o lado. Por exemplo no meu curso, Engenharia Inform&#225;tica, a maioria nunca programou uma linha de c&#243;digo que n&#227;o fosse para um trabalho. E muitos nem sabem o que &#233; um <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> feed! (Mas provavelmente sabem qual os requisitos m&#237;nimos de gr&#225;fica para o &#250;ltimo <span class=\"caps\">FPS</span> que saiu para o mercado).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Acho que &#233; necess&#225;rio as pessoas quererem diferenciar-se e apostarem em certas &#225;reas e em projectos pessoais! &#201; certo que <a href=\"http://nunojob.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/ensino-superior-e-a-criatividade/\">o Ensino Superior n&#227;o incentiva &#224; Criatividade</a> (at&#233; pelo contr&#225;rio, eu tenho sentido na pele que dificulta a quem quer fazer alguma coisa de diferente!), mas uma pessoa n&#227;o pode estar &#224; espera que fa&#231;am tudo por ela. Existem in&#250;meras oportunidades, e mesmo que n&#227;o existissem, podemos sempre cri&#225;-las! &#201; tudo uma quest&#227;o de imagina&#231;&#227;o e for&#231;a de vontade.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Depois &#233; normal que esta mediocridade afecte o <a href=\"http://bpedro.wevel.com/archives/2007/11/o_estado_do_emp.html\">empreendedorismo em Portugal</a> e n&#227;o haja o n&#250;mero de startups que h&#225; noutros pa&#237;ses, por exemplo. Acho sinceramente que a mentalidade portuguesa n&#227;o est&#225; orientada &#224; inova&#231;&#227;o, mas &#224; normaliza&#231;&#227;o. E isto &#233; aquilo que me entristece.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Felizmente existem a&#237; muito <i>bright people</i> que tenho o prazer de conhecer e de saber que est&#227;o a fazer alguma coisa para mudar esta situa&#231;&#227;o e cada vez mais os aplaudo!</p>


title: The Future of Reading
body:
  <p>Yesterday Steven Levy published on Newsweek an article about <a href=\"http://www.newsweek.com/id/70983/output/print\">The Future of Reading</a> based on the opinion of Jeff Bezos, Amazon&#8217;s <span class=\"caps\">CEO</span>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p align=\"center\"><img src=\"http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/75/bookszl9.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></p>\r
  \r
  <p>In the pre-dot-com-bubble, Jeff believed on a worldwide online bookstore. He brought his vision to the  real world, and today we have Amazon, as he has billions of dollars in his bank account. Pretty fair. Now he believes this is the time to change to <b>books 2.0</b> (or the so called e-books). From my researching, the first e-book can be traced as far back as 1946, but only in mid-90s companies tried to sell them. I remember back in 2000 everyone was talking that e-books were going to be the future along with Pocket PCs. Microsoft Reader and Adobe <span class=\"caps\">PDF</span> e-books were so promising, but 7 years later I only see some e-books being shared on P2P networks by those who don&#8217;t want to pay writers.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>But if someone can successfully launch e-books, it&#8217;s Bezos. Everyone buys books from Amazon and they are in position to demand e-books from publishers. But how will they make consumers change ideas? I believe they should do to books the same as Apple did with music back when they introduced the iPod. Everyone was attached to the physical format of the CDs, just like we are to books, but the advantages of the MP3 were no match for most people. Everyone now downloads musics from the Amazon of music: the iTunes Music Store and move a few to the device. The same will happen to books. Bezos has already thought on the device for reading e-books: it&#8217;s called Kindle and has being developed since 2004. Of course I don&#8217;t believe this will be the revolutionary  bookreader, but a simple prototype. The real one will be much more appealing to users.</p>\r
  \r
  <p align=\"center\"><img src=\"http://www.mobileread.com/upload/news/2006-09/amazoneink.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></p>\r
  \r
  <p>But do I real believe books will be replaced? I still have my doubts&#8230; I&#8217;m an avid reader and I do value the physical experience of reading page by page and most of all, having them on my shelves. I need to know that they are there and I do own them. But that&#8217;s me, someone who loves fantasy and sci-fi books. But as for daily feeds, and technical books I sure read them on the computer. The interactiveness and, above all, the Ctrl+F make me use my computer for my reading. But that&#8217;s me.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>The average Joe doesn&#8217;t read so much (in Portugal almost nobody reads, but I know it&#8217;s not that bad everywhere else) and the  e-book will be a nice way of improve those statistics. When I went to Barcelona, one thing that amazed me was the book vending machine! A lot of people read books in the metro in the everyday commuting to work. For those people, the e-book with a Amazon online bookstore was a pretty nice innovation. And they could just go to the nearest Starbucks and download a new romance, just like you could download a music.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>The crucial factor will be price. E-books will be a lot cheaper than physical books of course, and this will make young people pick the electronic version rather than the traditional one. And they are who will decide the future technologies. Of course the real lovers would still want to buy books, and there will be always those available (maybe more expensive?!) just like you can still go the a <span class=\"caps\">FNAC</span> store and buy a few CDs.</p>


title: O Backstage do Palco Principal
body:
  <p>H&#225; uns tempos conheci o <a href=\"http://palcoprincipal.clix.pt/user/trindade\" target=\"_blank\">Pedro Trindade</a> e queria fazer-lhe uma carrada de perguntas, e aproveitei para fazer uma entrevista, n&#227;o que me ache um jornalista, mas porque acho que as respostas seriam interessantes para outras pessoas.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>O Pedro &#233; o respons&#225;vel pela tecnologia e desenvolvimento do <a href=\"http://www.palcoprincipal.com\">Palco Principal</a>, do qual j&#225; aqui falei, e tirou o curso de engenharia electrot&#233;cnica e de computadores ao mesmo tempo que trabalha como freelancer. Teve ainda uma pequena passagem pelas telecomunica&#231;&#245;es da <span class=\"caps\">EDP</span>, antes de se dedicar a full-time no Palco Principal.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Conta-nos um pouco da tua entrada no Palco Principal e do estado em que estava.</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">\r
  Fui um dos fundadores do Palco Principal. Comecei a trabalhar no desenvolvimento do Palco Principal quando este era ainda Homestudio. \r
  Para quem n&#227;o conhece, o Homestudio era um servi&#231;o de divulga&#231;&#227;o de bandas independentes, criado em 2000, que permitia &#224;s bandas o upload de uma foto, escrever uma apresenta&#231;&#227;o, colocar m&#250;sicas para download, coment&#225;rios, etc.. \r
  A ideia era migrar o Homestudio para uma plataforma moderna e torn&#225;-lo numa aplica&#231;&#227;o &#147;web2.0&#148;.\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>No in&#237;cio do projecto, tomaram em considera&#231;&#227;o o sucesso que poderia alcan&#231;ar, ou foram fazendo &#224; medida? E t&#234;m tido dificuldades em escalar, agora que o n&#250;mero de utilizadores j&#225; passa os 13000?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">\r
  Sim, n&#243;s perdemos algum tempo a tentar escolher uma plataforma de maneira que fosse f&#225;cil no futuro escalar a aplica&#231;&#227;o. \r
  Escolhemos a Framework de PHP Symfony que pela sua arquitectura nos permite muita flexibilidade. Neste momento o Palco Principal ainda &#147;cabe&#148; numa &#250;nica m&#225;quina, mas o limite est&#225; prestes a ser atingido&#133;\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>A quem est&#225; agora a come&#231;ar o seu projecto para a web, o que aconselhas a avaliar na escolha da plataforma ou tecnologia?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">\r
  Existe sempre muita discuss&#227;o quando se fala em plataformas e tecnologias. Penso que a escolha deve depender dos recursos e conhecimentos dispon&#237;veis para cada caso. \r
  Neste momento as plataformas mais conhecidas est&#227;o praticamente ao mesmo n&#237;vel. \r
  Dito isto, quero dizer que na minha opini&#227;o pessoal, se eu tenho classes PHP dispon&#237;veis para praticamente todos os problemas, se &#233; relativamente f&#225;cil encontrar developers para PHP e se tenho dispon&#237;vel uma framework poderosa como o Symfony, parece-me &#243;bvia a decis&#227;o a tomar.\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>O facto de ser centrado numa comunidade, em que pontos tem ajudado no crescimento do Palco, e em que momentos tem dificultado o mesmo?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">\r
  A comunidade tem-nos permitido crescer pela for&#231;a da divulga&#231;&#227;o &#147;boca-a-boca&#148;, ainda n&#227;o foi feito qualquer investimento em publicidade. \r
  O facto do sistema se centrar no utilizador, fazendo valer a opini&#227;o e tend&#234;ncias da maioria, pode ser ben&#233;fico, no entanto, essa auto-regula&#231;&#227;o pode n&#227;o funcionar de forma eficaz com universos (ainda) pequenos como o nosso, em que a comunidade regular (com mais de 4 visitas semanais) anda &#224; volta de 26000 pessoas. \r
  Pequenos desvios nos comportamentos habituais dos utilizadores fazem-se sentir bastante e podem ter alguns efeitos indesejados. \r
  A ideia &#233; complementar o sistema com mecanismos de regula&#231;&#227;o autom&#225;tica, apoiados de forma indirecta por vari&#225;veis que me&#231;am o comportamento dos utilizadores.\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>A n&#237;vel de rela&#231;&#227;o com empresas, t&#234;m sentido que ser uma empresa centrada numa comunidade vos tem dificultado em alguma medida?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">\r
  Na minha opini&#227;o acho que as empresas est&#227;o, lentamente, a come&#231;ar a aperceber-se do potencial destes novos mercados e modelos de neg&#243;cio.\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>Tenho notado que o Palco Principal est&#225; em constante evolu&#231;&#227;o. Poderias partilhar connosco onde vais buscar as ideias para as novas features? Ou t&#234;m algum plano tra&#231;ado a m&#233;dio prazo?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">\r
  Sim, existe um plano a m&#233;dio prazo, claro que n&#227;o &#233; nada r&#237;gido, se nos aparece uma ideia que achamos que teria interesse implementar rapidamente, interrompemos o plano. Tentamos estar atentos ao melhor que est&#225; a ser feito no Mundo e tirar da&#237; ideias. \r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>J&#225; agora, como te mantens actualizado sobre o mundo da tecnologia que se movimenta &#224; velocidade da luz?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">\r
  Bem, eu &#147;perco&#148; cerca de uma hora por dia no Google Reader. Devo ter mais de 100 feeds subscritas (incluindo a tua), penso que &#233; a melhor maneira, se n&#227;o a &#250;nica, de nos mantermos ao corrente do que se passa.\r
  </div>\r
  \r
  <p>Para terminar, como v&#234;s o futuro do palco principal no dia a dia dos portugueses daqui a 1 ano?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">\r
  &#201; dif&#237;cil falar nisso sem revelar planos futuros. Seguramente um Palco Principal menos centrado no seu site, explorando alternativas que permitam uma melhor divulga&#231;&#227;o \r
  dos projectos musicais...\r
  </div>


title: Sorry Tumbleloggers
body:
  <p>My <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/152\">last post</a> on <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/tag/microblogging\">microblogging</a> mentioned Tumblelogs and that a lot of <a href=\"http://catarino.soup.io/\">people</a> <a href=\"http://technofetishist.info/\">are</a> <a href=\"http://www.armandoalves.com/log/\">starting</a> to use them instead of traditional blogs because they can share more types of content in a easier way.</p>

  <p>I&#8217;m sorry to disappoint you, my friends, but I won&#8217;t be subscribing your tumblelogs. I subscribe a lot of stuff and I just don&#8217;t have the time to go through all the <s>junk</s> stuff you log. I do believe they might be useful for you, but I don&#8217;t see other people following yours. Ok, unless they have too much free time!</p>

  <p>I value traditional blogs a lot since I get a lot of content from it, specially opinions and cool links. That&#8217;s right, if I want to highlight some link or picture or video or any other thing that really matters to me, I blog it and that&#8217;s it. If you don&#8217;t want to give you the trouble for that: a) Install <a href=\"http://flock.com\">Flock</a>, makes blogging everything much easier and please do write something about it, or else it will be a tumblelog running on a blog. b) del.icio.us it tagged as &#8220;for:alcidesfonseca&#8221;.</p>

  <p>Oh, and when writing this, I found out that Veronica Belmont has <a href=\"http://www.veronicabelmont.com/2007/11/i-dont-like-tumblr/\">the exact same opinion</a> on this!</p>


title: Gorillaz - Feel Good inc
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/2fJQajIxJ0o&amp;rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/2fJQajIxJ0o&amp;rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>

  <center><a href=\"http://youtube.com/watch?v=2fJQajIxJ0o\">Gorillaz - Feel Good inc</a></center>


title: OpenSocialexa!
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/\">OpenSocial</a> is the new fashion among Social Networks. Well, <a href=\"http://9idiots.com\">S&#233;rgio</a> (who I will be working with in the next few months) decided to make both a <a href=\"http://opensocialexa.com/\">statistics tool</a> for you OpenSocial Widget (or whatever you call it) and also a <a href=\"http://opensocialexa.com/top/\">directory of them</a> all in one.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I do really like that a universal widget system is built, but I was kinda hoping it was based on NetVibes&#8217; <a href=\"http://dev.netvibes.com/\"><span class=\"caps\">UWA</span></a> that were even compatible with iGoogle&#8230; But looks like the Big Brother needs to own everything.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>And I already see this OpenSocial widgets <a href=\"http://www.taostudent.com/?p=63\">running on the Android</a> coming up!</p>


title: Democracia...
body:
  <p>Eu desde o 10&#186; ano que sempre me meti em listas para associa&#231;&#245;es de estudantes. Umas vezes ganhei, outras perdi, mas cheguei mesmo a Presidente no meu &#250;ltimo ano na secund&#225;ria. N&#227;o por regalias (como faltas justificadas ou fases especiais para exames) at&#233; porque nunca usufru&#237; disso, mas por gosto e vontade em fazer melhor.</p>

  <p>Ora este ano para a <a href=\"http://dg.aac.uc.pt/\">Direc&#231;&#227;o Geral da Associa&#231;&#227;o Acad&#233;mica de Coimbra</a> (respons&#225;vel por representar 18 228 alunos, v&#225;rios edif&#237;cios, manter as <a href=\"http://dg.aac.uc.pt/?section=submodule&amp;sub=display&amp;submodule_id=156\">25 sec&#231;&#245;es desportivas</a>, <a href=\"http://dg.aac.uc.pt/?section=submodule&amp;sub=display&amp;submodule_id=157\">15 sec&#231;&#245;es culturais</a> e muito mais!) uma das listas que se candidatou para al&#233;m de n&#227;o apresentar nenhum plano concreto, apresentou flyers parvos onde listava o que N&#195;O ia cumprir, a sua organiza&#231;&#227;o era em pelouros tentando fazer piadas com os nomes, e slogans sem nexo nenhum.</p>

  <p>Eu acho de mau tom estas brincadeiras, porque s&#243; demonstram que n&#227;o d&#227;o qualquer valor &#224; democracia, nem &#224; associa&#231;&#227;o em causa (mas depois na altura da queima das fitas v&#227;o se lembrar dela para tentar arranjar convites &#224; p&#225;la&#8230;). Se se candidatam &#233; porque acham que t&#234;m capacidade de fazer melhor, coisa que nem se mostram interessados em fazer&#8230; Isto realmente ofende a quem participa nestas coisas por gosto e tenta melhorar o sistema acad&#233;mico. Sinceramente gostava que eles ganhassem, para depois enterrarem aquilo tudo e ficarem na consci&#234;ncia que n&#227;o deviam ter brincado com uma coisa t&#227;o s&#233;ria. Mas pronto, ainda bem que a maior parte das pessoas tem consci&#234;ncia e vota numa das listas que apresenta planos para melhorar.</p>

  <p>E isto extende-se &#224; pol&#237;tica em geral. Toda a gente diz mal dos pol&#237;ticos, mas gra&#231;as &#224; maravilha com que vivemos que se chama <a href=\"http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracia\">Democracia</a>, &#233; a maioria dos portugueses que os escolhe. E quem n&#227;o estiver de acordo com nenhum, pode votar em branco, ou ent&#227;o o que eu recomendo, que se sabe o que &#233; melhor para o pa&#237;s que forme um partido (ou se junte a um existente) e se candidate para aplicar as suas ideias. Afinal &#233; essa a liberdade que temos!</p>


title: Buy Nothing Day
body:
  <p>Xmas is coming up and stores are marketing it sooner and sooner each year. I don&#8217;t like the you-have-to-buy-gifts-to-everyone thing, I&#8217;m more of a give-gifts-whenever-you-feel-like-it guy since I came out with cooler presents when I do not have to get it than in that specific date.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Well, it seems like I&#8217;m not the only one against this consumerist state of mind going on this time of the year, and it appears that <a href=\"http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/\"><span class=\"caps\">BUY</span> <span class=\"caps\">NOTHING</span> <span class=\"caps\">DAY</span></a> is a pretty cool initiative to make people think of their need for buying. I not a big fan of <span class=\"caps\">SOMETHING</span> <span class=\"caps\">DAY</span>, like the Car Free Day, but this time I&#8217;m going up for it, and I encourage you to do the same.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Of course I know our economy and people&#8217;s jobs depend on commerce, but I don&#8217;t thing one day will harm them so much&#8230; and if people learn how to buy only what they need instead of superfluous stuff, it will be a big lesson.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Now, a small challenge: Today (24th November) not only is the <a href=\"http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/\">International Buy Nothing Day</a> as is also my 19th birthday (not that I am proud of...) and I am expecting a gift from you. And remember what day is today!</p>


title: Gym Class Heroes - Shell Shock
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/l7ubFpr9AAI&amp;rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/l7ubFpr9AAI&amp;rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7ubFpr9AAI\">This</a> is the hiphop I like, not like that Portuguese pimp sounds. And <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IB5vmVsi1A\">check it out</a> where this song came from!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Regarding <span class=\"caps\">TMNT</span>, it was the movie I liked the most this year until now, It might look weird, but I&#8217;m that kiddo that likes comic stuff and sci-fi, and Ninja Turtles are a great example of those two together. Oh and the soundtrack is awesome! Not only this track.</p>


title: Keyboard versus Pen
body:
  <p>Unlike a lot of colleagues, I don&#8217;t carry a pen or a pencil anymore. I only take my <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span> to school everyday and it works for me&#8230; except that routine of signing the presence control. So you are right, in the last months all I have handwritten was my name and my student card number (and my ID number occasionally). I do all my writing on the computer and I take notes, manage my calendar and contacts on my <span class=\"caps\">PDA</span> with its keyboard. And in a few months I will be using a <span class=\"caps\">RFID</span> card that will allow me not to borrow a pen anymore. So why did I learn to handwrite?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>There are <a href=\"http://www.laptop.org/\">computers for children</a> at a very low cost and schools could even provide computers to students, like the <a href=\"http://eeepc.asus.com/en/\"><span class=\"caps\">EEE</span> pc</a> targeting kids and at a very low price with all they need, not like that <a href=\"http://educacaocor-de-rosa.blogspot.com/2007/08/portteis-150-euros-faam-as-contas.html\">dirty business</a> we have in Portugal for students and teachers to have <a href=\"http://www.tmn.pt/portal/site/tmn/menuitem.0143d3546741f79ae8f48210751056a0/?vgnextoid=8823eb8b16c23110VgnVCM1000005401650aRCRD\">standard laptops</a> for <a href=\"http://dn.sapo.pt/2007/07/25/economia/tmn_da_mil_portateis.html\">150 euros</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>But on the other hand, mobile devices such as PDAs, UMPCs and Tablet pcs already have handwriting                                           support and are improving in order to make writing on it as easy as using a piece of paper, but without killing a tree for it.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>So what do you thing? Kids in a near future will learn how to write in their keyboards and forget how to draw by hand that beautiful letters we have? Or it will be still taught, used for note-taking tasks on tablets and keyboards will be only used to long tasks?</p>


title: iPhone, gPhone e agora o nPhone!
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://www.mktonline.net/index.php?cat=1&amp;item=10920\">Primeiro telem&#243;vel nacional</a></p>

  <p>Wooooooow&#8230; Portugal anda a evoluir e j&#225; fez um telem&#243;vel! A empresa em quest&#227;o &#233; a <a href=\"http://www.ndriveweb.com\">NDrive</a> conhecida pelas suas solu&#231;&#245;es de navega&#231;&#227;o. Depois de dispositivos <span class=\"caps\">GPS</span>, e de Pocket PCs da <span class=\"caps\">HTC</span> e Mio, decidiram lan&#231;ar eles pr&#243;prios o <a href=\"http://www.ndriveweb.com/products/product/32/\">NDrive S300</a>.</p>

  <p>Este dispositivo, j&#225; apelidado de NPhone, &#233; um Pocket PC tradicional com Windows Mobile 6, <span class=\"caps\">GPS</span> integrado, teclado virtual, bluetooth, camera, e essas coisas todas que j&#225; esper&#225;vamos. E caracter&#237;sticas inovadoras? S&#243; o facto de ser anunciado como &#8220;o primeiro telem&#243;vel portugu&#234;s&#8221;, o que nos enche de orgulho. Orgulho esse que &#233; engolido quando se l&#234; que &#233; produzido na China&#8230;</p>

  <p>Mas mesmo assim &#233; muito saber que um produto portugu&#234;s vai ser entrar no mercado internacional. E em terras lusas &#233; livre de operador!</p>


title: The Blue Beanie and the Standardistas' Parade
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5500494189\">Douglas Vos</a> said it:</p>

  <div class=\"quote\">Monday, November 26, 2007 is the day thousands of Standardistas (people who support web standards) will wear a Blue Beanie to show their support for accessible, semantic web content. &#133; Don a Blue Beanie and snap a photo. Then on November 26, switch your profile picture in Facebook and post your photo to the <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/groups/bluebeanieday2007/\">Blue Beanie Day group at Flickr</a>.</div>

  <p>Ok, so we people who believe in Standards should wear a <s>ugly</s> blue beanie and put a photo in Flickr. Ok, I believe in standards but I do not believe this is going to help, I&#8217;m sorry but I don&#8217;t. But if instead of hanging around with a blue thing on our heads, we would change our websites or applications or whatever to support standards correctly? Or if your work already follows all the imaginable standards, why not do some charity work and help other websites to reach that level? Or even change a large website that has not the W3C word in it.</p>

  <p>(via <a href=\"http://www.zeldman.com/2007/11/19/blue-beanie-day/\">Jeffrey Zeldman</a>)</p>


title: Two relevant events
body:
  <div class=\"vevent\">\r
   <a class=\"url\" href=\"http://letras.mondeguinho.com/\">http://letras.mondeguinho.com/</a> \r
    <span class=\"summary\">Letras em Fam&#237;lia</span>: \r
    <abbr class=\"dtstart\" title=\"2007-12-01\">December 1</abbr>-<abbr class=\"dtend\" title=\"2007-10-02\">2</abbr>,\r
   in <span class=\"location\">Coimbra, Portugal</span>\r
   </div>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"vevent\">\r
   <a class=\"url\" href=\"http://www.offf.ws/\">http://www.offf.ws/</a> \r
    <span class=\"summary\"> OFFF Lisbon 2008</span>: \r
    <abbr class=\"dtstart\" title=\"2008-03-08\">March 8</abbr>-<abbr class=\"dtend\" title=\"2008-03-10\">10</abbr>,\r
   in <span class=\"location\">Lisbon, Portugal</span>\r
   </div>


title: Laptop para as aulas
body:
  <p>Tendo em conta <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/150\">a actividade</a> que mais desenvolvemos durante as aulas, se calhar em vez do Macbook preto (com 2Gb de mem&#243;ria) devia ter comprado a fant&#225;stica pe&#231;a de hardware que d&#225; pelo nome de xbox 360p:</p>

  <a href=\"http://tonyvirtual.blogspot.com/2007/11/xbox-laptop.html\"><img src=\"http://bp0.blogger.com/_tW0D_jgB6MA/R0xZLb0dpyI/AAAAAAAAAV0/_D-28zihgDo/s400/Picture+3.png\" alt=\"\" /></a>


title: The Cranberries - Promises
body:
  <object type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" data=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/YYtT3TujD7o&amp;rel=1\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/YYtT3TujD7o&amp;rel=1\" /></object>

  <p><a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYtT3TujD7o\">This</a> is one of the musics of my childhood. It still rocks today!</p>


title: Odette Toulemonde
body:
  <img src=\"http://sercultur.sapo.pt/images/filmes/liceoesdefelicidade_f.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\"/>\r
  \r
  <p>A convite de uma amiga voltei ao cinema, que j&#225; n&#227;o visitava h&#225; muito, um pouco por falta de filmes interessantes. Fui mais pela companhia e nem sabia o filme que ia ver, mas tive uma surpresa bastante agrad&#225;vel. <a href=\"http://cinema.sapo.pt/filmes/6264.html\">O filme</a> era bastante divertido e tomava caminhos inesperados. Para saberem mais sobre a hist&#243;ria, o sapo oferece-vos <a href=\"http://videos.sapo.pt/nyyUuTFuCR6DGVFTQP7z\">o trailer</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Eu sou bastante esquisito quando toca a cinema franc&#234;s. Normalmente apanho enormes secas, mas h&#225; uns poucos que s&#227;o os que me proporcionam as surpresas mais agrad&#225;veis. J&#225; ando pelos cabelos por com&#233;dias rom&#226;nticas, filmes de ac&#231;&#227;o (die hard&#8217;s e afins), filmes de teenagers e outros estere&#243;tipos que n&#227;o s&#227;o nada de especiais. Este filme, &#224; semelhan&#231;a de <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8_Women\">8 femmes</a> que tamb&#233;m recomendo, tem um estilo bastante peculiar (um pouco semelhante ao de <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A9lie\">O Fabuloso Destino de Am&#233;lie Poulain</a>) e que realmente d&#225; gosto de maneiras diferentes.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>&#201; um dos poucos filmes que valem os 4,40 euros que damos para entrar naquelas salas e portanto, recomendo vivamente a todos.</p>


title: A Praxe...
body:
  <p>Soube pela minha m&#227;e que deu entrada hoje no hospital onde ela trabalha um rapaz da <a href=\"http://www.esac.pt/\">agr&#225;ria</a> que durante a praxe, se atirou para uma fossa (como lhe foi dito para fazer) e, felizmente n&#227;o morreu, mas por causa de um problema na medula vai ficar tetrapl&#233;gico.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Esta n&#227;o &#233; a primeira e, infelizmente, nem ser&#225; a &#250;ltima vez que acontecem coisas destas e nem vou falar nas <i>casualites</i> da Queima e muito menos nas gravidezes indesejadas. Deixo uma mensagem para os caloiros: Voc&#234;s s&#227;o pessoas com c&#233;rebro e n&#227;o bestas como os doutores vos querem fazer pensar que s&#227;o! Se gostam da praxe e alinhar nas brincadeiras aproveitem, mas vejam sempre o limite. Aproveito e deixo tamb&#233;m uma mensagem aos senhores doutores: Pensem primeiro no sentido da praxe, de integrar os caloiros antes de qualquer praxe. Pela experi&#234;ncia que tenho, isto raramente acontece.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>J&#225; oi&#231;o as vozes de contesta&#231;&#227;o dizerem &#8220;Ah, isso foi um idiota qualquer e a praxe n&#227;o &#233; assim, &#233; uma coisa muito mais leve e tal&#8230;.&#8220; Eu n&#227;o disse que eram todos assim, mas &#233; um facto que estes casos acontecem (podem n&#227;o ser t&#227;o extremos) e penso que j&#225; t&#234;m todos idade para terem ju&#237;zo (tanto doutores como caloiros).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Eu c&#225; n&#227;o sou a favor da praxe. Acho que n&#227;o faz sentido nenhum essas tretas que eles fazem de praxar os caloiros. Querem fazer os caloiros unirem-se atrav&#233;s do medo que t&#234;m dos doutores, dizem eles&#8230; Penso que h&#225; maneiras bem mais inteligentes de integrar os caloiros e que eu tento praticar. N&#227;o &#233; preciso p&#244;-los de quatro na relva&#8230; Considero isso uma coisa inaceit&#225;vel, mas se eles alinham, isso &#233; l&#225; com eles.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>A praxe do meu departamento n&#227;o &#233; nada como no resto da Universidade de Coimbra e muito menos como na Agr&#225;ria, acontece no primeiro dia e no jantar de curso e depois s&#243; quando algu&#233;m se lembra de vir trajado. Pois, o traje&#8230; A ideia de uniformes para n&#227;o haver distin&#231;&#227;o entre os ricos e os pobres&#8230; Quando um traje &#233; caro e ainda por cima &#233; todo formal (camisa, colete, gravata e sapatos&#8230;) n&#227;o d&#225; vontade nenhuma de o comprar. Prefiro as minhas roupas confort&#225;veis e que cada pessoa tenha o seu estilo. &#201; bom a diferencia&#231;&#227;o!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Outra das coisas que n&#227;o concordo &#233; o facto de ter uma hierarquia consoante o n&#250;mero de matr&#237;culas. N&#227;o &#233; por cr&#233;ditos feitos ou pelo ano em que andam, &#233; pelo n&#250;mero de matr&#237;culas e o Chefe daquela seita estudantil &#233; o Dux, um tipo com mais de 10 matr&#237;culas que ainda por cima tem um ordenado mais ou menos duvidoso da Associa&#231;&#227;o Acad&#233;mica por ser Dux&#8230; Felizmente com as prescri&#231;&#245;es isto vai acabar.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Esta &#233; s&#243; a minha opini&#227;o sobre a Praxe, se n&#227;o concordam e at&#233; gostam, tudo bem, mas tenham cabecinha para n&#227;o acontecerem mais casos destes por favor.</p>


title: APLM and Particls
body:
  <p>Web2.0 has brought a great amount of data and people have the need to gather the ones that matter for them in order to consume. For now, you can have all the info in netvibes (or other widget system), you can have them all in your <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> reader (since all the information cames up in <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> nowadays), but it is a pain for those who have a lot of interests to catch-up with everything happening on the web. People came up with a lot of <a href=\"http://www.google.pt/search?q=feed+reading+GTD\">complex <span class=\"caps\">GTD</span> ideas</a> to make it possible. As for me, I just read blogs through Google Reader and for all the rest (twitter, photos, videos&#8230;) I use Flock, which is a great social browser.</p>

  <p>There is now a format that joins all this information with a level of interest for you. It&#8217;s called <a href=\"http://www.apml.org/\"><span class=\"caps\">APML</span></a> and it stands for Attention Profiling Mark-up Language, that work as a <span class=\"caps\">OPML</span> not only for feeds, but also for other data and gives them a attention value for tags. It&#8217;s the Web2.0 Folksonomy in its best shape!</p>

  <p>But of course all this standards don&#8217;t mean a thing if there aren&#8217;t uses for them. You can check <a href=\"http://www.apml.org/geeks/usecases/\">some examples of <span class=\"caps\">APML</span> usage</a> as I did. One of the tools that interested me was <a href=\"http://www.particls.com/\">Particls</a>, one cool sidebar that shows content that is relevant for me (you can set it up by using tags and adding your own feeds). It also orders news by the interest they have to you. It&#8217;s definitely a anti-GTD application, but might be useful for you if you are a journalist or you activity needs you to be in constant track of some themes.</p>


title: The Pillows - Ride On Shooting Star
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/j9rrVZIlpJA&amp;rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/j9rrVZIlpJA&amp;rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>

  <p>Great <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9rrVZIlpJA\">Song</a>, great <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLCL\">anime</a> and great <a href=\"http://nipponsei.minglong.org/index.php?section=Tracker&amp;search=FLCL\">soundtrack</a>.</p>


title: 24 hours of macbook
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alcidesfonseca/2084219671/\"><span class=\"caps\">WTF</span> is this ugly box?</a></p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alcidesfonseca/2084221433/\">Oh, there is a cute box after all!</a></p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alcidesfonseca/2085003588/\">So big ?!</a> <font size=\"1\">(yeah, I do find a 13&#8217;&#8217; big, that&#8217;s why macbook pro was not an option)</font></p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alcidesfonseca/2085000964/\">Booting up :)</a></p>\r
  \r
  <p>It had a nice presentation for those who aren&#8217;t familiar with computers, but I just wanted to skip it all to go and play with the new machine! After writing some stuff: &#8220;Where is the f*cking home? and end? and PgDn and PgUp?&#8221; Yeah, I see you all laughing, but I am a freaking new switcher! &#8220;Oh, so they skipped Delete too?&#8221; (I now find that it is a good choice. Read up to the end to learn why).</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Okay, I have a brand new MacBook black with 2GB (I&#8217;m not stupid) and what do I do with it? <span class=\"caps\">GAMES</span>! Ok, Chess is not really a game :( So I ended up setting up the machine to my taste. A <a href=\"http://pixelgirlpresents.com/images/desktops/Scott_Jackson/big-bear1680x1050.jpg\">cool wallpaper</a>, 4 spaces (Thanks a lot, Mr. Guy-who-stuffed-this-into-Leopard), added schoolbus timetable to my dashboard ( Webclip just makes it soooo damn easy!), Applications folder as a stack and the 3d dock shrinked a bit.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Yeah, I named almost all the leopard features (No external HD, so no TimeMachine), but that&#8217;s what I noticed the most that was a lot better than windows. I am really amused by this experience. I understand a bit why old Mac Users don&#8217;t like Spaces that much. I believe I can use the Expos&#233; in almost the same way as I use Spaces, but having those effects is a bit cooler.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Then it was the time to some external stuff: (no links, sorry. But you may use google as I did)</p>\r
  \r
  <p>AdiumX &#8211; Google Talk + Jabber + <span class=\"caps\">MSN</span><br />\r
  CyberDuck &#8211; <span class=\"caps\">FTP</span> client<br />\r
  DeskLikr &#8211; Change background from Flickr (Not working in Leopard, but it will sit there until update)<br />\r
  Eclipse &#8211; Not that I like Java :(<br />\r
  iGTD &#8211; I have to try this, but since there is no proper tool to sync with my Windows Mobile, I don&#8217;t expect much from it<br />\r
  InsomniaX &#8211; Avoids sleeping when closing my macbook<br />\r
  iWork08 &#8211; Will I change from Office to this?<br />\r
  LiquidMac and MacSaber &#8211; just for show off<br />\r
  Quinn &#8211; gotta have some game, right? Tetris is cool everyday.<br />\r
  Skitch &#8211; A web2.0 print screen tool? we&#8217;ll see&#8230;<br />\r
  Sync!Sync!Sync! &#8211; Great tool for backups (Also described ahead)<br />\r
  SyncMate &#8211; To sync with my <span class=\"caps\">HTC</span> TyTN, but it is not working :( Waiting for newer version (Will try Missing Sync&#8230;.)<br />\r
  Textmate &#8211; My favorite <span class=\"caps\">IDE</span> second to Notepd++ (for now&#8230;)<br />\r
  Transmission &#8211; Torrent client<br />\r
  UnRarX &#8211; <s>Win</s>RaR for the Mac<br />\r
  VMWare Fusion &#8211; To run Windows on one Space.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>It is pretty cool to have one space filled with a Windows Virtual Machine. I just love VMWare! And I also imported my desktop Ubuntu virtual machine too! Too bad that I cannot play TrackMania Nations on this Macbook :( But it will make me work more :)</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I already had two problems using the mac. The first one was connecting to eduroam (university <span class=\"caps\">LAN</span>). Leopard doesn&#8217;t support it and the Solution was to use Tiger&#8217;s application to connect to networks. This seems ridiculous (luckly a friend had Tiger near me) but it amazing that it worked!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>The second problem (and this might be my fault) was that I wanted to sync daily some folders between the macbook and my desktop. Googled it, no easy solution. Twittered it, a lot of cygwin+rsync weird solutions (why use linux solutions between Windows and OS X?), and then decided to dive into the Mac World and launched Automator. Tried to download Sync Folders Action (0.9 and 1.0) and none of them worked. Luckily I found Sync!Sync!Sync in Apple&#8217;s website. It allows me to schedule backups, and it also had synchronization. Cool! I set all up, with some folders I wanted, and puff! I got all deleted. Seems like I don&#8217;t have the same definition of synchronization as everyone else! What I wanted was what they call &#8220;Both ways&#8221;. So what is sync after all? And I lost all my school work (only one was important) and some random stuff (some of them important). Lesson learned: Backup backups!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Anyway, it is now working and I am a proud macbook user. And I am waiting for some suggestions!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>And for those who were lost like me:<br />\r
  Home: cmd+< <br /> End: cmd+> <br />\r
  Delete: fn+<-</p>


title: Programming love and hate
body:
  <p>Tom Morris <a href=\"http://tommorris.org/blog/2007/12/05#When:19:18:24\">posted</a> about showing your love or hate about a particular language. He referred to <a href=\"http://twitter.com/dansimard\">Dan Simard&#8217;s</a> project called <a href=\"http://ihatephp.net\">ihatephp.net</a> where you can add <span class=\"caps\">PHP</span> hate messages through twitter. I guess a <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/84\">Java hate</a> would be necessary too.</p>

  <p>But not all are about hate. There are people who do <a href=\"http://xkcd.com/353/\">believe</a> their language is divine and want to spread the word. I guess I may try to add this to <a href=\"http://pythonlovers.com\">PythonLovers</a> (that is really needing a redesign) and see what comes around.</p>

  <p>If you are interested in this task, please let me know ;)</p>


title: TwitterNotes: Mashup of the Day
body:
  <p>Congratulations <a href=\"http://sergiosantos.info\">S&#233;rgio</a>!</p>

  <p><a href=\"http://twitternotes.com\">TwitterNotes</a> has won the <a href=\"http://mashupawards.com/twitternotes/\">Mashup of the Day</a> award. It was judged by its Uniqueness, Creativity, User Experience, Utility and Content. Haven&#8217;t you tried yet?</p>

  <p>Now a word about our sponsor. I wouldn&#8217;t normally do this, but since our sponsor is not some <s>evil</s> company, but rather a nice music project. You can visit <a href=\"http://www.reverbnation.com/merankorii\">the website</a>, listen and download all the songs! Quite an interesting sponsor, hein?</p>

  <p>Oh, and I found about <a href=\"http://mashupchallenge.com/\">Mashup Challenge</a> a competition that encourages people to develop new web experiences using content APIs already around. Prizes range from Wii to iPod Touch, and 50% off in a Media Temple hosting account for life! Hurry up, since this ends 31 this month!</p>


title: As we speak...
body:
  <p>Parece que as <a href=\"http://blogs.sapo.pt\">alternativas</a> n&#227;o s&#227;o t&#227;o <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alcidesfonseca/2091718071/\">fi&#225;veis</a> quanto <a href=\"http://jonasnuts.blogs.sapo.pt/137274.html\">isso</a>.</p>

  <p>Mas pronto, sempre &#233; o &#250;nico servi&#231;o a s&#233;rio de blogs a n&#237;vel nacional.</p>


title: Yoshihisa Hirano and Hideki Taniuchi - L's Theme
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/IftP4TdLdDA&amp;rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/IftP4TdLdDA&amp;rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>

  <p>This <span class=\"caps\">OST</span> is what I hear when I&#8217;m studying. Pretty relaxing and energetic at the same time.</p>

  <p>And here is <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/57\">my review of the anime</a>.</p>


title: 3D web coming up?
body:
  <p>This post was inspired by Aral Bakan&#8217;s <a href=\"http://aralbalkan.com/1099\">web&#8217;08 predictions: the rise of RIAs and the 3D web</a>. It&#8217;s a nice writing on what may change in the web next year.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>For a long time I am expecting web to gain one more dimension. It&#8217;s the natural evolution: at first you have one dimension (this one would be linear text, like telnet), then the two dimension (hypertext) came along and everyone was dazzled. Although hypertext has a <a href=\"http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/\">long road ahead</a>, I believe we should be jumping now to the next step.</p>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://blog.papervision3d.org/\">Papervision3D</a> is offering a pretty good solution in the present. I know of examples where it is being used and it will make other websites look pretty common. But I believe we can go farther in this 3D web. With the computer power we have at home nowadays, it&#8217;s not hard to launch a 3D browser. A 3D canvas with objects with x,y,z coordinates would allow whole new experiences in websites.</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">Wait a moment, that's Second Life!</div>\r
  \r
  <p>Ok, it may look the same at first, but it&#8217;s not. Lindenlabs own the world, and by definition no one owns the Internet. For the good and for the bad, Internet browsing is a anonymous task. Of course you can login in which sites you want, but you can have the freedom to be anonymous and SecondLife doesn&#8217;t allow you that. You should also be able to own your own webserver and give what content do you want to, without any rules (but in a standard extensible language, like tHTML). And SL is trying to simulate the real world there, while the 3D websites would be far more abstract (of course a lot of people will emulate the real physics) and allow innovative experiences.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>SL is however a good study-case for this 3D ambient. Not everyone seems comfortable with it and it serves only some purposes, mainly playful. When it comes to productivity, I believe 2D is simpler and straightforward. This 3D context should have come first in the Desktop, and we have not one popular example. I am not talking about Compiz&#8217;s cube effect, but more about a <a href=\"http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/131\">BumpTop</a> experience.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Is this a bad omen for the 3D internet? Or the new possibilities will overcome that lack of productivity? I look forward to hear new opinions on this subject.</p>


title: Tecnonov 2008
body:
  <div class=\"vevent\">
  O <abbr title=\"Tecnonov 2008\" class=\"summary\">Tecnonov</abbr> tem a sua segunda edi&#231;&#227;o agendada para dia <abbr class=\"dtstart dtend\" title=\"2008-02-02\">2 de Fevereiro</abbr> no <span class=\"location\">Fnac de Coimbra</span> &#224; semelhan&#231;a do ano passado.
  </div>

  <p>Estive presente na primeira edi&#231;&#227;o e gostei muito das apresenta&#231;&#245;es e sobretudo do esp&#237;rito que deixou em <a href=\"http://ideias3.com\">n&#243;s</a> que nos levou posteriormente a organizar o <a href=\"http://takeoff.ideias3.com\">take off</a>. Espero que este ano venham apresenta&#231;&#245;es t&#227;o ou mais interessantes, e que se alcance melhor o p&#250;blico n&#227;o-t&#233;cnico, algo que na minha modesta opini&#227;o, poderia ter sido melhor alcan&#231;ado o ano passado. Mas o local &#233; uma boa escolha para o efeito.</p>

  <p>&#201; um evento a que recomendo que v&#227;o at&#233; porque podem ter a sorte de eu vos pagar um cafezito, quem sabe&#8230; Para novidades sobre o evento, podem seguir o <a href=\"http://twitter.com/tecnonov\">twitter tecnonov</a> e  quem estiver j&#225; com ideias de aparecer, inscreva-se na <a href=\"http://tecnonov.crowdvine.com/\">rede social</a> destinada ao evento.</p>


title: Frase do dia
body:
  <p>&#8230; dita pelo meu avô, de quase 90 anos:</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">O dinheiro que eles andam a gastar naquela cimeira dava para matar a fome a muitas crian&#231;as l&#225; de &#193;frica.</div>\r
  \r
  <p>Realmente, pelo que sei, nestas reuni&#245;es de estado s&#227;o luxos atr&#225;s de luxos, quando um dos problemas que pretendem corrigir &#233; a pobreza.</p>


title: Three Portuguese design references
body:
  <p>Whenever I have some work that envolves design, I usually have to find some source of inspiration. I usually <a href=\"http://del.icio.us/alcidesfonseca/design\">bookmark</a> websites that have unusual or interesting design. Appart from blogs, I also follow the work from some companies. Three of them follow, and all from Portugal.</p>\r
  \r
  <h3>SenteDesign</h3>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://sentedesign.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://sentedesign.com/back/sentedesign_backstage0179.jpg\" alt=\"SenteDesign\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://sentedesign.com\">SenteDesign</a> is a design &amp; communication company based in Aveiro. They do photography, illustration, corporative image, video, advertising,  webdesign, you name it. For examples of their work, check out their portfolio. You should also check their <a href=\"http://sentedesign.com/backstage.htm\">backstage</a>, a company fotolog, and their <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=sentetube\">sentetube</a>, where they keep their videos.</p>\r
  \r
  <h3>Burocratik</h3>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://burocratik.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://www.burocratik.com/images/buroteam.jpg\" alt=\"Burocratik\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://burocratik.com/\">This one</a> is from my hometown, Coimbra. This design and multimedia studio has some pretty good work in <a href=\"http://www.burocratik.com/webdesign.php?var2=L1\">webdesign</a>, <a href=\"http://www.burocratik.com/design?var2=L2\">branding</a>, <a href=\"http://www.burocratik.com/design?var2=L4\">illustration</a>, just to name a few. I follow them mainly through <a href=\"http://blog.burocratik.com/\">their blog</a> that is a almost daily inspiration source.</p>\r
  \r
  <h3>WigWag</h3>\r
  \r
  <a href=\"http://wigwag.pt/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://wigwag.pt/projects/wigwag/img/banner_grass.jpg\" alt=\"WigWag\" /></a>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://wigwag.pt\">The last one</a>, from Algarve, is also a marketing/branding/design company, but what I love the most is their webdesign. <a href=\"http://wigwag.pt/portfolio\">The sites they build</a> have a very clean and simple design, but leaves a pretty good impression on the visitor. They also have a passion on mac&#8217;s and that will surprise everyone anytime soon!</p>


title: The FingerTrips - Mr. Freddy
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/vRFaU-q-244&amp;rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/vRFaU-q-244&amp;rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>

  <p><a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRFaU-q-244\">Video</a> quality is shitty, I know&#8230;. But there are <a href=\"http://www.lastfm.pt/music/The+Fingertrips\">free mp3 at last.fm</a>. I highly recomend <a href=\"http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/11528716/Guilt.mp3\">Guilt</a>!</p>


title: Tengu Tengu Tengu
body:
  <img src=\"http://www.tengutengutengu.com/img/Tengu-main.jpg\" alt=\"\" />

  <div class=\"quote\">Dear Friends,

  <p>I am happy to let you know that everyone&#8217;s favourite <span class=\"caps\">USB</span> sound reactive character &#8211; <a href=\"http://www.tengutengutengu.com/\">Tengu</a> &#8211; is now released in the EU!</p>

  <p>We have put together a website where you can see photos of Tengu, information about the development and also videos of Tengu in action. There&#8217;s also a link on the site to some of the youTube videos created by Tengu owners in Japan and the US; we hope that as many people as possible will make a little video showing Tengu in action (we&#8217;ll be delighted to add them to the site if you email us a link).</p>

  <p>Tengu makes a wonderful Christmas gift for friends, colleagues or even yourself. He doesn&#8217;t require any software on the host computer (just a <span class=\"caps\">USB</span> port), so there&#8217;s no problem with different operating systems.</p>

  <p>Tengu can be purchased for &#163;24.99 (+p&amp;p) from <a href=\"http://www.TenguTenguTengu.com\">http://www.TenguTenguTengu.com</a> and we&#8217;ll ship anywhere in Europe (people in the US and Japan can see where to order in their country on the site). </div></p>

  <p>Must resist this consumerism temptation that flows around every Xmas. But if anyone feels I&#8217;m some lonely geek, feel free to offer me some emotional <span class=\"caps\">LED</span>-powered companion.</p>


title: Web as a Game
body:
  <img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2361/2100043113_e77b893e89.jpg?v=0\" alt=\"\" />

  <p>Following my last post on <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/137\">Playful IAs</a>, I found an interesting book on how social websites are games (or almost). Websites like Digg, Youtube and Facebook (the case studies) are built so they are not only useful, but also entertaining.</p>

  <p>Some social networks work almost as a mmorpg where users have ranks, manage relationships, set trends, etc&#8230; And you can have the feeling of winning or losing too. Have this in mind the next time you use of this websites.</p>

  <p>I recall <a href=\"http://marconsilva.spaces.live.com/\">Marco</a>, in his Game Design presentation, saying that games must be addictive to be successful. Not addictive in a sickness order, but leaving a feeling in the player that he will want to play that game later on, or even buy the sequel. That&#8217;s exactly what web developers want for their sites. Visitors are wanted regular, that&#8217;s what generates statistics (for advertising purposes) and the community you need and target.</p>

  <p>The book is <a href=\"http://www.lulu.com/content/1269306\">available for free</a> and it is a great learning tool to improve your website in order to be more fun. The author has also started a <a href=\"http://webasagame.blogspot.com/\">blog</a> that I have already subscribed.</p>


title: Is WiMax already coming?
body:
  <p>For those who haven&#8217;t heard of WiMax yet, it&#8217;s a broadband internet access everywhere. Not that weak connection you have on you mobile phones or those express card/PCMCIA modems you have. While those only give you 14Mbps download and 6Mbps for upload (that are totally virtual. If you get to half of that, you&#8217;re very lucky!), WiMax allows you to have up to 70Mbps up and down when near the access point, but you have a real value of 10Mbps 10km away, which in my opinion is pretty good, but insufficient in 10 years. But we are in the right path.</p>

  <p>There are already <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Deployed_WiMAX_networks\">a few companies offering WiMax services</a>, but in very small areas (remember WiMax is supposed to be global) and there are already a lot of ISPs owning licenses, but no great effort yet. Well, Sprint is <a href=\"http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/12/11/sprint.wimax.this.week/\">&#8216;soft-launching&#8217;</a> a intel-based WiMax network in downtown Baltimore, Chicago and Washington DC. Still small areas, but being Sprint the third largest telco in the <span class=\"caps\">USA</span>, I believe they have the power to really spread WiMax over the country. Europe and Asia will follow.</p>

  <p>Back in the <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/tag/wsmu\"><span class=\"caps\">WSMU</span></a> I heard this technology will only be spread by 2012, which I now disagree strongly. In one/two years, there will be express cards (or whatever will be used for the same purpose) and mobile phones/UMPCs will come already with WiMax support. So the revolution is happening quite soon.</p>


title: OpenID em Portugal
body:
  <p>Lembro-me da <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/102\">&#250;ltima vez que discutimos isto</a> e que na altura o openid.net era geek-only e para todos os outros era simplesmente um caracol laranja. Entretanto <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/131\">j&#225; est&#225; mais bonitinho</a> e h&#225; cada vez <a href=\"http://wiki.openid.net/Public_OpenID_providers\">mais providers</a>, at&#233; mesmo a France Telecom <a href=\"http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ft_openid.php\">alinhou nesta onda</a>. E na Est&#243;nia, h&#225; um openid associado a cada BI electr&#243;nico, e v&#227;o suportar os cart&#245;es belgas, finlandeses, espanh&#243;is e&#8230; Portugueses! Ou seja, para ter um openID associado ao novo <a href=\"http://www.cartaodocidadao.pt/\">Cart&#227;o do Cidad&#227;o</a>, tenho de recorrer &#224; Est&#243;nia?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Ontem estive com o Ricardo (aka Mr. <a href=\"http://zone41.info\">Zone41</a>) a instalar e acomodar o plugin <a href=\"http://willnorris.com/projects/wp-openid\">wp-openid</a> no blog dele. Facilita bastante a vida, porque dei permiss&#227;o uma vez para utilizar o meu openID no blog dele, e agora &#233; s&#243; escrever o coment&#225;rio e OK, o <a href=\"https://pip.verisignlabs.com/seatbelt.do\">Seatbelt</a> trata do resto. E o mais giro &#233; que serve para me logar numa data de outros sites.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Com isto, fico a pensar que com um suporte híbrido (tradicional e openID em simult&#226;neo) j&#225; chegou a altura para come&#231;ar a implementar isto nos sites e blogs dos so-called &#8220;early adopters&#8221;, ou seja, a malta geek ou com gosto por estas coisinhas.  Por isso se tiverem um blog Wordpress, n&#227;o custa nada suportar tamb&#233;m openID! Instalem o plugin que mal n&#227;o faz (se tiverem d&#250;vidas, falem comigo) e come&#231;em tamb&#233;m a usar! Para quem tem outra coisa (como sistemas homebrew como eu) tamb&#233;m tem direito a suporte ;)</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Quando a providers, existem uma data deles, basta escolher da <a href=\"http://wiki.openid.net/Public_OpenID_providers\">lista</a>. Recomendo os dois que uso: o <a href=\"http://claimID.com\">ClaimID</a> que tamb&#233;m junta toda a vossa informa&#231;&#227;o numa p&#225;gina, e o <a href=\"http://myopenid.com\">MyOpenId</a>, o pioneiro e que ainda presta um servi&#231;o muito bom. E agora a surpresa: Quem tiver um mail no Sapo, pode tamb&#233;m ter conta OpenID associada. basta ir a <a href=\"http://openid.sapo.pt/\">openid.sapo.pt</a> e escolher um username. Aviso que o servi&#231;o &#233; experimental, mas &#233; um bom avan&#231;o para o OpenId em Portugal. Ficam tamb&#233;m umas dicas para a malta que est&#225; a trabalhar nisto: para &#225;lem do tema assapado e do texto explicativo do openid, que decerto que j&#225; est&#225; planeado, sugiro vivamente encurtar o endere&#231;o openId de cada pessoa. A ideia &#233; ter uma coisa curta que se prefira usar a um username/password. openid.sapo.pt/user/alcides &#233; enorme para mim! Tirar o user do meio ajudava bastante ;) Ah, e a página de identidade é um pouco pobrezinha. Últimos posts do blog, fotos, tags e quem sabe até o link para o profile do Spot...</p>


title: Stay at Home Servers
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://www.stayathomeserver.com/book.aspx\">Stay at Home Servers&#8217; book</a> is one of the most brilliant pieces of advertising I came across lately. Do click an read the flash-based book!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I already hear the voices: &#8220;Now they are brainwashing kids to get their parents to buy them the server , right in your faces!&#8221;. This ad is targeting end-users without geek skills, not the kids themselves&#8230; But it true they can see it and get the wrong impression. But I believe kids are smart enough not to buy it.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>A small note: Flash? Where&#8217;s that so incredible Silverlight? Not even in <a href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx\">Microsoft websites?</a> And I bet the guy who did the design stuff used a mac! <a href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/demo/index.html\">Can you spot the iPhone?</a></p>\r
  \r
  <p>Regarding the product itself, I am not a believer. Why would I buy one more <a href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/buy.mspx\">big fat box</a>, just to be connected? I have my desktop backing up the notebook&#8217;s file. I can access my files from school through <span class=\"caps\">FTP</span>. Why would I need that HomeServer? I am doing fine with my Windows XP desktop.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>What I believe is more of a Apple mini/tv server. A media center that has a nice storage capacity serving as a backup for everyone (would be used mostly for storing movies and series, I bet), a well designed media player (to be seen in televisions), a smart and cute browser, bluetooth to sync mobile devices on the fly, and even some games. Not that hardcore games like Halo (MS has Xbox for that), but some casual games wouldn&#8217;t hurt anyone. Even the iPod has them!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>This would be the &#8220;home server&#8221; I&#8217;d buy my family this Xmas. Ok, ok that I would make my dad buy&#8230; It would be really useful and meaningful.</p>


title: Eitetsu Hayashi & Kaoru Wada - UNLIMITED
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/hgzqMN3DyEs&amp;rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/hgzqMN3DyEs&amp;rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>\r
  \r
  <p><a href=\"http://en.youtube.com/watch?v=hgzqMN3DyEs\">Mais</a> uma boa <span class=\"caps\">OST</span> de um fant&#225;stico Anime. Recomendo vivamente e para os cin&#233;filos mais exacerbados, h&#225; o filme <a href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/\">Seven Samurai</a> do mestre Akira Kurosawa (no qual este anime foi inspirado) que admito que foi demasiado forte para mim. Mas todos concordam que &#233; um dos melhores cl&#225;ssicos do cinema japon&#234;s.</p>


title: Encontro-te no Metro
body:
  <center><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2090290906/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2105/2090290906_f424423141.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a></center>\r
  \r
  <p>Na &#250;ltima sexta-feira o <a href=\"http://www.metrodoporto.pt/\">Metro do Porto</a> comemorou o seu quinto anivers&#225;rio, e integrado nas festividades encontrou-se o projecto <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/\">Encontro-te no Metro</a>. Ora aqui o <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/tag/reporter\">vosso rep&#243;rter favorito</a> foi entrevistar <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/dulcemdd\">Dulce Daniel</a>, do 1&#186; ano de Mestrado em Design da Imagem, uma das autoras do registo fotogr&#225;fico.</p>\r
  \r
  <center><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2090292808/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2077/2090292808_d69db3571e.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a></center>\r
  \r
  <p>Podias-nos explicar brevemente em que consiste o <strong>Encontro-te no Metro</strong>?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">Bem, o projecto foi inicialmente inclu&#237;do num convite &#224; Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto pela Metro do Porto em que os alunos tinham de apresentar projectos para a comemora&#231;&#227;o do 5&#186; aniversario do metro. Assim, apresent&#225;mos este projecto, que tinha como base dar a voz aos utilizadores e deixar que estes pudessem exprimir os seus sentimentos e desejos. Isto porque no fundo s&#227;o eles o elemento fundamental destes 5 anos.</div>\r
  \r
  <center><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2090280072/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2058/2090280072_4f8afab783.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a></center>\r
  \r
  <p>Ent&#227;o existiu algum sistema de selec&#231;&#227;o?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">Sim, s&#243; no meu mestrado julgo que foram 15 propostas e de toda a faculdade cerca de 100. Penso que apenas 2 foram selecionados.</div>\r
  \r
  <center><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2089481129/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2007/2089481129_0686374cf5.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a></center>\r
  \r
  <p>Podias ent&#227;o contar-nos como surgiu a ideia?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">No in&#237;cio a dificuldade foi escolher o trabalho. Tivemos v&#225;rias ideias e tivemos que optar, mas todas elas procuravam focar as pessoas, os utentes e de alguma forma permitir que fossem eles o elemento chave de liga&#231;&#227;o. Escolhemos este por ser o mais vi&#225;vel em termos de realiza&#231;&#227;o, face ao escasso tempo dispon&#237;vel. Inicialmente queriamos criar um desdobr&#225;vel com v&#225;rios textos (que os utilizadores poderiam escolher) para serem fotografados e tamb&#233;m uma area onde pudessem escrever a sua pr&#243;pria mensagem. Mas existia um problema. As pessoas t&#234;m pouco tempo. Quando est&#227;o no metro, nas suas desloca&#231;&#245;es, n&#227;o t&#234;m muita paci&#234;ncia. Por isso tinha de ser algo mais simples. Assim cri&#225;mos uma listagem de mensagens, imprimimos o texto em folhas A4 e com uma pequena apresent&#225;vamos a listagem aos utentes, eles escolhiam e n&#243;s fotograf&#225;vamos. Assim tornou-se muito mais f&#225;cil para todos!</div>\r
  \r
  <center><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2089486931/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2098/2089486931_0514c58158.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a></center>\r
  \r
  <p>O que me leva a perguntar como era constitu&#237;do o grupo, e como se organizaram?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">Somos 6 pessoas: a Alda, a M&#233;cia, a Marta, a Joana, a S&#243;nia e eu. Numa primeira fase, tivemos de criar as frases. Cada uma dava ideias para conseguirmos uma lista abrangente. Depois dividiamo-nos em grupos de 2 ou 3 para ir tirar fotos (t&#237;nhamos v&#225;rias copias das frases). Fotograf&#225;mos durante 3 dias! Os grupos de 2 funcionaram bem porque uma de n&#243;s ficava com as folhas\r
  e a outra fotografava. Depois de termos as fotos todas tivemos que dividir tarefas porque o trabalho ia ser apresentado em 3 formatos (um site, mural em vinil e v&#237;deo para a tv do metro). Assim, nos dias que se seguiram dividimos o trabalho entre n&#243;s para conseguir ter tudo pronto. Estivemos at&#233; a fazer um site pr&#243;prio, mas a Metro do Porto sugeriu algo como um blog e eu lembrei-me logo do flickr!</div>\r
  \r
  <center><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2089503159/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2319/2089503159_45cd4e93e8.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a></center>\r
  \r
  <p>Qual foi a fotografia que mais te marcou? E porqu&#234;?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">Essa &#233; dif&#237;cil! Tenho v&#225;rias, por v&#225;rias raz&#245;es, mas vou tentar escolher uma... Eu adoro <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2089503159/\" target=\"_blank\">esta</a>! Acho que se n&#227;o tivessem as frases consegu&#237;amos perceber na mesma.</div>\r
  \r
  <center><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2089513899/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2024/2089513899_ec7a09c7e1.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a></center>\r
  \r
  <p>J&#225; agora, n&#227;o tiveram receio que os patr&#245;es vissem as <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2089513899/\">fotos</a> dos <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2090268860/\">seus</a> <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2089513899/\">empregados</a> com a frase &#8220;Odeio o meu emprego&#8221;?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">Tivemos algum, mas acho que quando uma pessoa decide assumir assim que n&#227;o gosta do trabalho, o patr&#227;o por aquela altura tamb&#233;m j&#225; deve desconfiar, n&#227;o &#233;?</div>\r
  \r
  <center><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2090246006/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2127/2090246006_f7336e44f3.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a></center>\r
  \r
  <p>J&#225; agora, qual a tua rela&#231;&#227;o com o Metro?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">Eu sou suspeita em tudo o que toca ao metro, porque o adoro\r
  simplesmente! Todo o conceito, o funcionamento e principalemente a forma como revolucionou, da melhor forma poss&#237;vel, a vida das pessoas no Porto. Ele funciona muito bem. N&#227;o &#233; um el&#233;ctrico como muitos gostam de frisar, &#233; um metro misto, de superf&#237;cie e subterr&#226;neo, que cobre grande parte das necessidades das pessoas aqui. ainda estamos &#224; espera que a rede aumente mas para j&#225; &#233; muito bom!</div>\r
  \r
  <center><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2089457693/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2064/2089457693_157e2eb11f.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a></center>\r
  \r
  <p>Para terminar, queres acrescentar alguma coisa?</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">S&#243; talvez que a Metro do Porto esteve sempre muito pronta a ajudar, e adoraram o trabalho (ainda bem para n&#243;s)!</div>\r
  \r
  <center><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/encontrotenometro/2089517835/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2248/2089517835_390bcab0a9.jpg\" alt=\"\" /></a></center>


title: Governos e a religião
body:
  <p><a href=\"http://mywheel.net/blogpt/index.php/2007/12/17/esta-o-ateismo-a-tornar-se-uma-religiao/\">Est&#225; o ate&#237;smo a tornar-se uma religi&#227;o?</a></p>

  <p>Sinceramente n&#227;o sei. &#201; capaz de haver pessoas a lev&#225;-lo ao extremo, mas h&#225; tamb&#233;m as outras que simplesmente ignoram.</p>

  <p>Eu c&#225; sou da segunda leva. Tudo o que tem a haver com religi&#227;o, eu simplesmente desligo. Mas h&#225; uma coisa que n&#227;o suporto, &#233; o governo ter certas atitudes relacionadas com a religi&#227;o.</p>

  <p>Tendo em conta que no passado a maioria do pa&#237;s era cat&#243;lico, e como tal o governo suportava-a, mas isso hoje em dia j&#225; n&#227;o &#233; verdade e, <a href=\"http://pt.wikisource.org/wiki/Lei_da_Separa%C3%A7%C3%A3o_da_Igreja_e_do_Estado_em_Portugal\">pelo que encontrei</a>, datado de 1991:</p>

  <div class=\"quote\">A partir da publica&#231;&#227;o do presente decreto com for&#231;a de lei, a religi&#227;o cat&#243;lica apost&#243;lica romana deixa de ser a religi&#227;o do Estado e todas as igrejas ou confiss&#245;es religiosas s&#227;o igualmente autorizadas, como leg&#237;timas agremia&#231;&#245;es particulares, desde que n&#227;o ofendam a moral p&#250;blica nem os princ&#237;pios do direito pol&#237;tico portugu&#234;s.</div>

  <p>&#211;ptimo, ent&#227;o em Portugal n&#227;o h&#225; uma religi&#227;o oficial. Nem &#233; dado suporte a qualquer uma (nem financeiro). &#211;ptimo! Ent&#227;o se faz favor algu&#233;m me explique os feriados cat&#243;licos. &#201; que n&#227;o percebo mesmo!</p>

  <p>Tudo bem que as pessoas s&#227;o livres de praticar a religi&#227;o que bem entenderem, mas fa&#231;am-no fora do hor&#225;rio de trabalho. Os feriados n&#227;o t&#234;m sentido nenhum, principalmente porque hoje em dia a maior parte das pessoas j&#225; n&#227;o &#233; praticante activo da religi&#227;o cat&#243;lica, como era antes. Arrisco-me a dizer que muitos nem sabem o nome de alguns feriados religiosos.</p>

  <p>Senhores do Governo, tirem l&#225; esses feriados que diminuem o Produto Interno Bruto.</p>


title: The useful Knol! Or big G's envy...
body:
  <p>Going back a few weeks ago, in a middle of a &#8220;Alcides, help me on this computer-related matter&#8221; conversion with a non-geek friend:</p>

  <div class=\"quote\">Alcides, even if I asked you the meaning of life, you would tell me to google it, wouldn't you?</div>

  <p>To which I replied:</p>

  <div class=\"quote\">Actually no, I believe Wikipedia has a nice article on that subject.</div>

  <p>That&#8217;s it! Big G is number one on the internet. Thanks to Firefox (and other tools), Google is the default page for a lot of folks out there! And number one engine search that I believe is more used than the address bar itself (more on this in the near future)! But how many searches you did in the past week had a Wikipedia page as the first or second result? A lot I bet!</p>

  <p>Envy is not a good thing, but people with money need to multiply it and do whatever it takes to expand themselves into what consumers want. Back in 95, when I first used the internet, it was for searching stuff to my schoolworks. It&#8217;s still its main purpose for many people. So Google has to own that domain, and Wikipedia has gone too far already! So, let&#8217;s spend $1.000.000.(put as many zeros as you want).000 and get professionals to do better content! Users will prefer our database! And luckily they will click on our adsenses that will make us earn $9.999.999.(put as many nines as you want).999!</p>

  <p>Smart move, but will the people that already are used to free and without ads wikipedia change to something that provides more quality and has some advertising? I guess no. And most wikipedia articles are already written by guys who know the subject!</p>

  <p>It&#8217;s sad that Google appears to be that WeSupportOpenSource guys, but when it comes to opensource content they are not that open!</p>

  <p>Oh, and this time I&#8217;m proud of being Portuguese. Our little google, <a href=\"http://www.sapo.pt\"><span class=\"caps\">SAPO</span></a> <a href=\"http://saber.sapo.pt\">has already done something like this</a>. Too bad I don&#8217;t think any of them will be useful&#8230;</p>

  <p>More on this <a href=\"http://pauloquerido.net/2007/12/knol-hype-cool\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://blog.karlus.net/archives/2007/12/17/1838/\">here</a>.</p>


title: START - Prémio Nacional de Empreendedorismo
body:
  <p>No caminho de casa para a escola/trabalho pensas muito sobre um projecto? Uma ideia para abrir uma empresa sozinho, ou com uns amigos? Mas &#233; tudo uma ideia para te entreter no caminho, e claro que nunca ir&#225;s lan&#231;ar-te nisso, porque envolvia apostar muito dinheiro e a tua carreira, n&#227;o &#233;?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>N&#195;O, N&#195;O &#201;! Tens uma ideia porreira e uma poss&#237;vel equipa interessante?, aproveita-a e concorre ao <a href=\"http://www.premiostart.com/pne2008/Funcionamento.aspx\"><span class=\"caps\">START</span></a>!</p>\r
  \r
  <p><b>O que &#233; o START?</b> &#201; um pr&#233;mio nacional que ir&#225; ser atribu&#237;do a v&#225;rias equipas com os seus projectos inovadores. Se &#233;s empreendedor, concorre que n&#227;o perdes nada! Para a primeira meta (10 de Mar&#231;o) precisas apenas dos CVs da equipa e de um sum&#225;rio executivo at&#233; 750 palavras. Depois esperas at&#233; seres aprovado para a fase seguinte :)</p>\r
  \r
  <p><b>Muito f&#225;cil, mas o que &#233; que ganho com isso?</b> O vencedor leva para casa 50.000&#128; para o capital social, 12.000&#128; no saldo do 93, 100.000&#128; para instalar um software porreiro da OutSystems, um curso de gest&#227;o de startups para cada membro da equipa e uns amiguinhos no BPI.</p>\r
  \r
  <p><b>Mas as hip&#243;teses de ganhar s&#227;o remotas!</b> Nem mais! Com toda a gente a pensar assim, vais concorrer e n&#227;o ter quase concorr&#234;ncia! Mas mesmo que haja e alguns sejam melhores que tu, se ficares entre os 8 primeiros ganhas 3600&#128; no 93, o curso de startups e mais uns brindes.</p> \r
  \r
  <p><b>Mas com as tuas dicas, toda a gente vai participar!!!</b> Viva o empreendedorismo em Portugal! Mas para n&#227;o desanimarem as 20 melhores equipas ganham o curso &#224; mesma e mais um software novo para se organizarem.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Bora l&#225; fazer a composi&#231;&#227;o de 750 palavras para descrever a ideia que andam a magicar h&#225; meses e que poder&#225; desta vez tornar-se realidade!</p>


title: Econatal
body:
  <img src=\"http://bp2.blogger.com/_fQMGh65s6R0/R2LUDto8cBI/AAAAAAAAAfA/N4zEgk4HBtg/s320/econatal_banner_333x480.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\"/>\r
  \r
  <p>J&#225; falei do <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/190\">Buy Nothing Day</a> e venho hoje propor-vos outra pr&#225;tica anti-consumista.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Saltem ali ao lado at&#233; ao site do <a href=\"http://gaia.org.pt/econatal/\">EcoNatal</a> (n&#227;o, n&#227;o &#233; o Ecoponto onde se p&#245;e o Natal&#8230; Ok, piada &#224; <a href=\"http://hipertonia.blogspot.com\">Hipertonia</a>, esque&#231;am!) e informem.se um pouco.</p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">O EcoNatal &#233; uma forma alternativa de festejar o Natal, onde o importante n&#227;o &#233; o valor econ&#243;mico do que se oferece, o importante &#233; oferecer de forma muito especial: dar um pouco de ti, dar uma prenda ecol&#243;gica, dar ajudando em vez de destruindo!</div>\r
  \r
  <p>Uma ideia muito engra&#231;ada e se n&#227;o t&#234;m imagina&#231;&#227;o para algo mais do que ir ao centro comercial e comprar um produto que esteja nos cat&#225;logos todos que recebem, d&#234;em uma voltinha ao dito site, que encontram de certeza dicas de como encontrar um presente engra&#231;ado sem gastar os tost&#245;es que tanto vos custam a gastar.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Parab&#233;ns &#224; minha querida <a href=\"http://alwaysandalways.blogspot.com/\">V&#226;nia</a> e ao <a href=\"http://gaia.org.pt/\"><span class=\"caps\">GAIA</span></a> pela iniciativa!</p>


title: Back to the Future
body:
  <img src=\"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/52/Back_to_the_future.jpg/200px-Back_to_the_future.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\" />

  <p>I have just finished watching the Back to the Future Trilogy and I was really amazed for something they started even before I was born! It is just a classic that I won&#8217;t forgive anyone who doesn&#8217;t watch it!</p>

  <p>One thing that made me thinking was the way they predicted the future in 2015. A lot of things we already have, or even better, but things like flying cars or the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoverboard\">hoverboard</a>, which I dreamed when I was a kid are still far from our crafts.</p>

  <p>As for the screens, we already achieve it with projectors, and even better with the <a href=\"http://blog.fotolia.com/us/archive/000440.html\">flexible plastic LCDs</a>. As for the wicked phone-glasses, we have 3G phones and bluetooth ears, that I believe is better than that. We already have the <a href=\"http://www.gadgetell.com/2005/11/scrolling-led-hat/\">hat with leds</a> and <a href=\"http://www.fingerprintdoorlocks.com/\">fingerprint door locks</a>! We almost have <a href=\"http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/11/rise-reebok-pump-2-0-rise/\">self-adapted shoes</a> but self-cleaning jackets are still to come.</p>

  <p>Is any current scifi movie up to those predictions? I guess not, but we&#8217;ll see. And I can&#8217;t wait to get back to 2015 to check if it was all true!</p>


title: A hacker's xmas gift list
body:
  <p>They say xmas is not about gifts, but about spirituality and love and so. Everybody knows this is not true. And being still a boy, I want this xmas the best toy a hacker could get: a wiimote. Yes, the wiimote only. Unfortunately, I wouldn&#8217;t give the wii much use anyway.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>And this xmas season, I also wanna ask for some personal hacking time. Here are a few of my projects:</p>\r
  \r
  <ul>\r
  <li>Playing with the wiimote (specially <a href=\"http://ajaxian.com/archives/the-wii-remote-api-now-your-userbase-is-four\">this</a> and some IronPython <span class=\"caps\">XNA</span> games!)</li>\r
  <li>Since <a href=\"http://blog.eltima.com/2007/11/resume-missing-sync-with-new-synchronization-tool-for-mac.html\">SyncMate</a> and <a href=\"http://www.markspace.com/missingsync_windowsmobile.php\">MissingSync</a> do not work with my Leopard Macbook and WM6 Tytn, hack a way to use airsync to manually sync them.</li>\r
  <li>Since my <a href=\"http://codesorcery.net/pukka/\">Pukka</a> trial is expiring, I&#8217;m planing on doing a clone in Python.</li>\r
  <li>Revamp PythonLovers website</li>\r
  <li>Make a small openid&#8217;ed last lists app</li>\r
  <li>Work on <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/159\">my feed sync protocol</a></li>\r
  <li>Learn <a href=\"http://inamidst.com/pluvo/\">Pluvo</a></li>\r
  <li>Use Windows Live Contacts API to export my MSN contacts to a microformated html page, and then opensource the code.</li>\r
  </ul>\r
  \r
  <p>If you are interested in any or even want to help me, drop something in the comments box ;)</p>


title: Mães, não estraguem o Natal das vossas crianças...
body:
  <p>&#8230; obrigando-as a comer Bacalhau no jantar da consoada. Se acham que &#233; tradi&#231;&#227;o e querem-na seguir tudo bem, mas n&#227;o obriguem as crian&#231;as (incluo-me neste grupo) a ter de comer algo que n&#227;o gostam (certamente h&#225; dados estat&#237;sticos sobre isto!) num dia que devia ser para comemorar (n&#227;o &#233; isso que &#233; suposto?). Eu sinceramente n&#227;o me podia estar mais nas tintas para estas tradi&#231;&#245;es. N&#227;o ganho nada com isso, nem percebo o seu sentido. Claro que os mais velhos querem seguir a tradi&#231;&#227;o &#8220;porque &#233; isso que faz a nossa cultura&#8221; mas a crian&#231;ada est&#225;-se nas tintas para isso. A maior parte das que eu conhe&#231;o n&#227;o &#233; crist&#227;, e se diz &#8220;Oh meu Deus!&#8221; e &#8220;Jesus&#8221; &#233; porque v&#234; essas express&#245;es como interjei&#231;&#245;es e n&#227;o como alus&#245;es &#224; mitologia crist&#227;. As que v&#227;o a igreja e acreditam naquilo s&#227;o mesmo uma minoria. Penso que &#233; da televis&#227;o e da internet que  lhes d&#227;o um esp&#237;rito mais cr&#237;tico.</p>

  <p>&#201; isto e n&#227;o comer carne na sexta-feira santa que nunca hei de perceber. At&#233; o Ramad&#227;o compreendo mais facilmente&#8230;</p>


title: Python list combinations of size N
body:
  <p>Yesterday I was implementing a <span class=\"caps\">OOP</span> structure of Poker in Python for a friend, and I wanted it to be perfect. I even wrote some lambda expressions :) But when it comes of checking for pairs of triples, I wanted the code to be as more extensible as possible. It was late and I hadn&#8217;t practice  my recursion for a while, so a lot of google searches came out with the following useful code:</p>\r
  \r
  <pre class=\"code\" id=\"python_226\">\r
  def comb(x,n):\r
  	\"\"\"Generate combinations of n items from list x\"\"\"\r
  	if n==0:\r
  		yield []\r
  		return\r
  	for i in xrange(len(x)-n+1):\r
  		for r in comb(x[i+1:], n-1):\r
  			yield [x[i]] + r </pre>\r
  \r
  <p>A recursive generator! Wow&#8230;</p>


title: Interpol - NARC
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/rxrBE8X1PMI&amp;rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/rxrBE8X1PMI&amp;rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>

  <p><a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxrBE8X1PMI\">Interpol live at <span class=\"caps\">KROQ</span></a></p>


title: Sacar músicas do Youtube
body:
  <p>Ontem uma amiga minha pediu-me para lhe arranjar umas m&#250;sicas para uma apresenta&#231;&#227;o natal&#237;cia que queria fazer para a fam&#237;lia(daquelas com muitas anima&#231;&#245;es e com muitas cores que as meninas sabem fazer&#8230;) e eu l&#225; usei as minhas capacidades m&#225;gicas (tamb&#233;m conhecidas como inform&#225;ticas) para desencant&#225;-las. Antigamente toda a gente recorria ao eMule ou aos torrents, mas hoje quem domina &#233; o <span class=\"caps\">HTTP</span>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Quase todas as m&#250;sicas consegui usando o motor secreto do Google para m&#250;sicas. N&#227;o conhecem? Ent&#227;o gra&#231;as &#224; maravilha do <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/56\">opensearch</a> verifiquem uma seta junto &#224;quela  barra de procura do Google no topo superior direito do browser (no Flock &#233; um icon laranja &#224; esquerda do endere&#231;o) ou simplesmente <a href=\"javascript:window.external.AddSearchProvider('http://junk.ideias3.com/opensearch/mp3search.xml');\">cliquem aqui</a>. Adicionem o motor de busca &#8220;MP3 search&#8221; e agora podem procurar m&#250;sicas facilmente a partir daquela barrinha! Catita, hein?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Mas havia uma que teimava em n&#227;o ser encontrada. <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pM-7xA5tjw\">Caviar</a> do <a href=\"http://www.lastfm.pt/music/Zeca+Pagodinho\">Zeca Pagodinho</a> para os mais curiosos. Mas se tenho o v&#237;deo no youtube, bora por a tocar, ligar um cabo da sa&#237;da de &#225;udio para o line-in, e toca a gravar! Isto era o que eu fazia h&#225; uns anitos, mas hoje seria too <em>much hassle</em>, por isso ap&#243;s umas buscas encontrei <a href=\"http://www.videocodezone.com/conversion.php\" target=\"_blank\">uma ferramenta muito nice</a> que me convertia v&#237;deos do youtube para mp3, tudo online. Fiquei todo satisfeito!</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Mas melhor, para al&#233;m do <em>iutubiu</em> aceita tamb&#233;m v&#237;deos do metacaf&#233;, myspace e google videos ou ainda de ficheiros do vosso computador. Quanto a formatos, exporta para mp3, mas tamb&#233;m para outros formatos de v&#237;deo como 3GP (telem&#243;veis), mp4, mpg, mov, avi, Flash (swf e flv), avi com DivX ou Xvid e ainda mp4 para iPod ou para <span class=\"caps\">PSP</span>. Um canivete su&#237;&#231;o completo para riparem conte&#250;dos do Youtube, que por acaso tem uma base de dados de m&#250;sicas (e de concertos ao vivo!) brutal! A come&#231;ar por <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/tag/music+personal\">aqui</a>.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>(Aten&#231;&#227;o, eu n&#227;o vos encorajo a fazer pirataria! Verifiquem primeiro se o conte&#250;do que pretendem n&#227;o tem copyrights! Ou ent&#227;o tapem bem as vossas pegadas ;)</p>\r
  \r
  <link rel=\"search\" type=\"application/opensearchdescription+xml\" href=\"http://junk.ideias3.com/opensearch/mp3search.xml\" title=\"MP3 Search\" />


title: Legos
body:
  <img src=\"http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/rupi/contac/o_encontro_01.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: left; margin-right:10px; height: 266px; width: 200px;\" />\r
  \r
  <p>J&#225; t&#234;m 58 anos, mas continuam a ser os melhores brinquedos de sempre. E tamb&#233;m a mat&#233;ria prima para a escultura mais f&#225;cil de trabalhar! Quando era mi&#250;do, todos os outros brincavam com action-mans, playmobiles e as action-figures da moda (dragonball sobretudo). Eu c&#225; era fiel aos meus legos. Sempre gostei de construir as coisas e depois nem brincava com elas, desmontava e voltava a montar. Nunca achei piada a t&#234;-los montados, mas sim ao processo de montar, e de prefer&#234;ncia livremente e n&#227;o com aquelas instru&#231;&#245;es que vinham. Depois a uma certa idade descobri a inform&#225;tica e os legos ficaram arrumados a um canto, mas as boas recorda&#231;&#245;es ficaram.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>Agora instalei o <a href=\"http://ldd.lego.com/\">Lego Digital Designer</a> no meu Mac (sim, tamb&#233;m h&#225; vers&#227;o para Windows) e assim que tiver um tempinho vou voltar as minhas cria&#231;&#245;es art&#237;sticas, sem ter de andar com a minha caixa de 1 metro de altura cheia de legos. No entanto n&#227;o tem a mesma piada, mas &#233; mais c&#243;modo. E agora que encontrei <a href=\"http://legoficina.blogs.sapo.pt/2007/10/\">este blog</a> de um casal de Lego Ambassadors c&#225; em Portugal, ando mesmo entusiasmado!</p>


title: Queixa original pela SMTUC
body:
  <p>Depois <a href=\"http://mywheel.net/blogpt/index.php/2007/12/27/o-cancro-da-centralizacao/\">deste post do M&#225;rio</a> sobre a centraliza&#231;&#227;o, veio-me logo a cabe&#231;a isto:</p>\r
  \r
  <p><img src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2310/2141323401_77df92f5ac_o.png\" alt=\"\" /></p>\r
  \r
  <div class=\"quote\">Em 2006 o Estado atribuiu como apoio &#224; explora&#231;&#227;o:<br />\r
  Carris - 45.458.512.53<br />\r
  STCPorto - 16.318.442.67<br />\r
  SMTUC - Zero</div>\r
  \r
  <p>&#201; giro ver o apoio que o estado d&#225; a cidades que n&#227;o s&#227;o assim t&#227;o pequenas, no sector dos transportes, que embora n&#227;o seja vital como a sa&#250;de, &#233; uma coisa que faz diferen&#231;a no dia a dia de todas as pessoas. Mas &#233; claro que quem decide isto, n&#227;o anda de Transportes P&#250;blicos, mas sim de <span class=\"caps\">BMW</span> ou Mercedes ou Audi e ainda &#233; capaz de ter motorista!</p>


title: Weekly \"Why Software Sucks\" rant
body:
  <p>Following the <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/170#Why Software Sucks?\" target=\"_blank\">Why Software Sucks</a> idea, here are the ranks of the week:</p>

  <ol>
  <li>Apart from the non-standard rendering, looks like IE doesn&#8217;t support the data: protocol. That sucks   a lot!</li>
  <li>Mac OS doesn&#8217;t support mounting <span class=\"caps\">FTP</span> folders (only in read-only mode).</li>
  <li>Windows XP search for drivers online never worked for me. Need a discover and install drivers that really work.</li>
  <li>Linux still can&#8217;t hide all that geeky lines, even when upgrading software in Ubuntu. linux&#8212;;</li>
  <li>I still can&#8217;t do nothing in Vista. Things are too confused and on not properly spaced. SP1, you may come in.</li>
  <li>When giving a wireless network <span class=\"caps\">WPA</span> security, Vista keep trying to connect without it and doesn&#8217;t learn it. And if you are not a geek, you won&#8217;t know how to change.</li>
  <li>Still can&#8217;t OS X around to maximize like Windows does. I am less distracted without the background or other Apps behind it. </li>
  </ol>

  <p>Oh and a bit of programming stuff:</p>

  <ol>
  <li>ActiveSync sucks pretty big!</li>
  <li>AppleScript looks very readable.</li>
  <li>But Objective-C is so damn ugly! Even in Python!</li>
  </ol>


title: Ellg and FOAF
body:
  <p>Ever wanted to host your own Facebook or Hi5? Have the benefits of a social network, but without outsourcing it to 3rd parties like <a href=\"http://www.crowdvine.com\">Crowdvine</a> or <a href=\"http://ning.com\">Ning</a>?</p>\r
  \r
  <p>I&#8217;ve already posted on <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/165\">creating your own social network</a> and mentioned <a href=\"http://elgg.org/\">Elgg</a>, an OpenSource SocialNetwork that includes features such as:</p>\r
  \r
  <ul>\r
  <li>Blogging</li>\r
  <li>File repositories</li>\r
  <li>Podcast and full <span class=\"caps\">RSS</span> support</li>\r
  <li>Tagging</li>\r
  <li>Profiling</li>\r
  <li>Communities</li>\r
  <li>Multilingual</li>\r
  </ul>\r
  \r
  <p>And two that caught my attention:</p>\r
  \r
  <ul>\r
  <li>OpenID support</li>\r
  <li>Importing content</li>\r
  </ul>\r
  \r
  <p>OpenID is a obvious advantage comparing to hi5, Facebook or even other social networks. It allows you to have your own Identity shared by all your social networks (if you want). But what about importing content? I really thought they were thinking <span class=\"caps\">XFN</span>, hCards and other microformats, but no. They are using another standard: <a href=\"http://www.foaf-project.org/\"><span class=\"caps\">FOAF</span></a>. The <strong>Friend of a Friend</strong> standard is a <span class=\"caps\">XML</span>-RDF way of expressing connections between people and information about them. And it&#8217;s even compatible with OpenID.</p>\r
  \r
  <p>But personally I believe more in the hCard+XFN solution. It allows you to have your data encapsulated in your content, and not a separated <span class=\"caps\">XML</span> file. You write the code once, and it&#8217;s readable by both people and machines. I guess those two tribes should gather and pick on a real solution. It&#8217;s been so hard for people to start adopting this kind of standards that if there are two to choose from, we will never have that decentralized social network we all dream of.</p>


title: Placebo - Every you and every me
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/iZ2X3bSxiF0&amp;rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/iZ2X3bSxiF0&amp;rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>

  <p><a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ2X3bSxiF0\">Every me and every you</a></p>


title: Python Universal GUI
body:
  <p>I&#8217;ve read <a href=\"http://sayspy.blogspot.com/2007/12/wxpython-is-fine-but.html\">a nice post</a> on <a href=\"http://pythonlovers.com\">PythonLovers</a> by <a href=\"http://sayspy.blogspot.com/2007/12/wxpython-is-fine-but.html\">Brett Cannon</a> about wxPython and the lack of a good <span class=\"caps\">GUI</span> approach in Python.</p>

  <p>Last year I did some <a href=\"http://wxpython.org/\">wxPython</a>, <a href=\"http://www.pygtk.org/\">pyGTK</a> and <a href=\"http://wiki.python.org/moin/TkInter\">TkInter</a>, both cross-platform GUIs and none of them satisfied me. My final choice was wxPython thanks to <a href=\"http://wxglade.sourceforge.net/\">wxGlade</a>, a nice <span class=\"caps\">WYSIWYG</span> form editor. However there is a great con to TkInter: wxPython needs a separated installer. But TkInter is so damn ugly!</p>

  <p>I believe Python should change their approach on GUIs. I believe each python distribution should include the native wrapper for each target. Gnome Linux Dists would come with <a href=\"http://www.pygtk.org/\">PyGTK</a>, <span class=\"caps\">KDE</span> ones with <a href=\"http://wiki.python.org/moin/PyQt\">PyQT</a>, MacOS with <a href=\"http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net/\">PyObjC</a> (Which I believe it&#8217;s already included, or at least comes with Leopard) and Windows with&#8230; <a href=\"http://pythonnet.sourceforge.net/\">Python.NET</a> (<a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/235\">more on this in the next post</a>). And then a Universal Wrapper that would allow programmers to write one single simple code (<a href=\"http://code.whytheluckystiff.net/shoes/\">Shoes</a> anyone?) that would run in all OSes. Almost a mix between <a href=\"http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/greg.ewing/python_gui/\">PyGUI</a> and <a href=\"http://students.ceid.upatras.gr/~sxanth/twgui/twdoc.html\">TwilightGUI</a>. And specific development would always be possible using the lower-level bindings.</p>

  <p>I know that this has much more dependences on external code than the TkInter solution, but Python is no more a scripting language for hackers/sysadmins like <span class=\"caps\">PERL</span>, but a full-featured language that is wanted to be used for all purposes. And along with a standard good package manager (like ruby&#8217;s gems), the <span class=\"caps\">GUI</span> issue is one of the biggest disadvantages in Python. And <a href=\"http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=214325\">Guido seems not to care much about it</a>.</p>


title: Python.NET
body:
  <p>I love Python! I love .NET! Therefore I love IronPython. It let&#8217;s you do WinForms, Speech, <span class=\"caps\">WPF</span> with <span class=\"caps\">XAML</span>, work with <span class=\"caps\">ANY</span> .NET managed library. I am even using it to do games with <span class=\"caps\">XNA</span>! And the Visual Studio integration&#8230; It gives Python programmers the tools they dream about: A debugger, intellisense and a compiler.</p>\r
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  <p>(I will post about my <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/tag/ironpython\">IronPython adventures</a> in the future).</p>\r
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  <p>But there is just one thing that I don&#8217;t like in it. It just isn&#8217;t Python! It is the Python Language, yes, but it&#8217;s not the CPython implementation. I am now stuck with two Python Consoles and there is no way of distinguish IronPython code from regular Python. Of course IronPython is way faster, but sometimes installing it and living with two pythons isn&#8217;t always the best choice.</p>\r
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  <p>That&#8217;s why I really enjoyed the <a href=\"http://pythonnet.sourceforge.net\">Python.Net</a>. It&#8217;s a way of extending  Python to access the .NET framework existent in you environment. And now they are making it compatible with IronPython code! And you can still work with all the other python modules (Not all are yet implemented in IronPython). There is only one small problem: It&#8217;s alpha software and still very unstable.</p>\r
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  <p>I downloaded from the trunk and compiled it with VS2005. <a href=\"http://junk.ideias3.com/python/pythondotnet.zip\">I made the binaries available</a> for you and should work fine in Windows XP with .NET framework 1.1, 2.0 and even 3.0 with Python 2.5 except for <a href=\"http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&amp;aid=1860929&amp;group_id=162464&amp;atid=823891\">this bug</a> I reported. Check the readme anyway. It&#8217;s also possible to compile to use Mono, but if you really want it, you should be able to compile it yourself ;)</p>


title: Ano novo, Sa&#250;de nova
body:
  <p>Fa&#231;o quest&#227;o que este seja o primeiro post do novo ano: Como <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/tag/smoking\">previsto</a>, A <a href=\"http://www.coppt.pt/docs/lei_tabaco_ago07.pdf\">nova legisla&#231;&#227;o relativa ao tabaco</a> j&#225; entrou em vigor, e aos senhores fumadores que costumam estragar as minhas sa&#237;das a lugares p&#250;blicos est&#227;o tramados. Fa&#231;o quest&#227;o que respeitem a minha sa&#250;de e se quiserem danificar os pr&#243;prios pulm&#245;es, que o fa&#231;am bem longe.</p>

  <p>Agora estou para ver &#233; como &#233; que vai ser aplicado no meu departamento. Muitos dos alunos s&#227;o fumadores e costumam estar nos pequenos &#225;trios entre os v&#225;rios blocos. No entanto segundo <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alcidesfonseca/2155916756/\">a al&#237;nea g do ponto 1 do Artigo 4</a> (t&#227;o nerd que pare&#231;o ao escrever isto!) j&#225; n&#227;o o podem fazer. Ou seja, vamos ter um <span class=\"caps\">DEI</span> livre de fumo! No entanto parece-me dif&#237;cil tantos alunos irem para a rua fumar, com mau tempo ou isso, mas acho que &#233; castigo merecido.</p>

  <p>Outro das quest&#245;es que me interessa &#233; os pequenos caf&#233;s que s&#227;o frequentados sobretudo por pessoas fumadores, costumam estar com um fumo tanto, que por vezes temos um nevoeiro t&#227;o denso que n&#227;o se v&#234; paredes! Reflecte-se tamb&#233;m no cheiro da roupa, e na tosse que provoca. E muitos desses estabelecimentos n&#227;o t&#234;m sequer possibilidades de instalar os equipamentos necess&#225;rios para que se possa fumar. Quero ver como se desenrola, sobretudo no caf&#233; que frequento aqui na zona (mas menos agora no Inverso, por n&#227;o haver explanada).</p>


title: Miscellaneous Stuff
body:
  <p>This post is a best-of my feedreadings of today. Some people do del.icio.us posting and I&#8217;m getting infected too.</p>\r
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  <p>I found about <a href=\"http://port25.technet.com/default.aspx\">Port25</a>, a website where is explained why Microsoft hates OpenSource! (NOT) I&#8217;m curious about what will MS say about OpenSource in 10 years. When maybe Ballmer is enjoying his retirement and someone from a different background (and younger) will decide what direction will Redmond&#8217;s still-big Giant take.</p>\r
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  <p><a href=\"http://www.iunknown.com/2008/01/ironruby-vs-rub.html\">IronRuby vs Ruby.NET</a>, a nice post by the IronRuby developer John Lam, a bit more of what I mentioned between <a href=\"http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/235\">IronPython and Python.NET</a>.</p>\r
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  <p>I want the new <a href=\"http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/wm6.1\">Windows Mobile 6.1</a> new interface! I guess 6.0 should be called 5.1 and this one it&#8217;s the one that is the real 6!</p>\r
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  <p><a href=\"http://waffle.wootest.net/2008/01/02/developers-hymn/\">Developer&#8217;s Hymn</a>: pretty much self-explanatory.</p>\r
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  <p>A fan of <a href=\"http://www.handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/Game.asp\">Desktop Tower Defense</a>? And you also like World of Warcraft? There you go: <a href=\"http://freeverse.com/games/game/?id=7019\">Hordes of Orcs</a>! But OS X only for now&#8230;</p>\r
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  <p>Feeds still messy. Sorry but no time to fix it. Please bear with me and come visit my wonderful website :)</p>


title: The Weave!
body:
  <p>On the mac, due to the lack of del.icio.us integration with Camino, I switched to <a href=\"http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html\">Firefox3b2</a>, that is not yet perfect for me (Where the hell is the Microformats support?) and still lacks the del.icio.us integration (that I am handling with favelets), but looks pretty cool, is fast enough and supports this new coolnamed Mozilla service: <a href=\"http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/12/introducing-weave/\">Weave</a>.</p>

  <p>Weave is a service that hosts your favorites (that now have tags) and web history and soon a lot more (integration with your other plugins?). Mozilla starts off providing users other than software, they are offering services, that might lead them to a prosperous future in the 2.0 era. And will they take del.icio.us place for online bookmarking? I guess not. Although Labs.Mozilla is the only provider of weave services for now, they intend to opensource it, and delicious, magnolia and other online bookmarking services will make use of it. And then the competitions wouldn&#8217;t be for the best browser integration, but for the best social networking features and innovative experience.</p>

  <p>This (temporary, I guess) lack of social features, is what keeps me from using weave as it&#8217;s meant to be and keep using del.icio.us (that has a new <span class=\"caps\">PHP</span> version coming up for ages now).</p>


title: The Corrs - Toss the Feathers
body:
  <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/9-awvWnqNvc&amp;rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/9-awvWnqNvc&amp;rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>

  <p>The night I saw <a href=\"http://www.last.fm/music/the+corrs\">The Corrs</a> <span class=\"caps\">MTV</span> unplugged at <a href=\"http://rtp2.rtp.pt\">dois</a> I just loved! The full gig live on my telly&#8230; I still remember&#8230; A saturday morning, I was a bit sleepy in the begging, but I just loved all their Irish folk pop. <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-awvWnqNvc\">This music</a> is to prove The Corrs are not a girly band.</p>

  <p>Oh and I leave <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXCooWU-XcQ\">one more linked</a> for the girl who is getting older today ;)</p>


title: Miscellaneous Stuff II
body:
  <p>I&#8217;ve been sick the last days. I caught a cold, and my head was about to explode any second. So, no work done at all and no decent post, only this random stuff I got in my google reader:</p>\r
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  <p><a href=\"http://ifacethoughts.net/2008/01/06/a-programmer-not-a-translator/\">A programmer should not be a translator</a> and in some of my informatics engineering courses, is what we do. We just translate the solution from portuguese to some programming language. I believe we should be the architects of our program and not just builders.</p>\r
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  <p><a href=\"http://tommorris.org/blog/2008/01/06#When:10:51:45\">Tom Morris on the idiotic UN blasphemy resolution</a> that is in fact idiotic since it goes against my freedom of will. And I&#8217;ve been in the situation where I get offended for being atheistic. I totally agree with him.</p>\r
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  <p><a href=\"http://www.robmiles.com/\">Rob Miles</a> who I met in TechED, released <a href=\"http://www.robmiles.com/journal/2008/1/5/xna-book-takes-shape.html\">his book on <span class=\"caps\">XNA</span> 2.0</a>. I should read it someday. And those who are interested in learning how to easily do a game, should go ahead and buy that book.</p>\r
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  <p><a href=\"http://compoundthinking.com/blog/index.php/2008/01/06/fud-and-turbogears/\">TurboGears is not dead!</a> They are just learning from other frameworks like Django.</p>\r
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  <p>Oh and another thing: I am feeling pain in my wrists after about half an hour on the keyboard. I am really scared since what I believe will be my future is depending on my hands to code. Any idea what this should be? I already got one of those mousepads with a rest support for my wrist and I&#8217;m also using it in the keyboard sometimes&#8230; But I feel is not enough&#8230; Yeah, and I&#8217;m doing pauses now :(</p>


