Kim's BotSpot

Importing HTML into Google Docs Spreadsheets

2009-04-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

It seems that there are functions in Google Spreadsheets that let you scrape data tables and lists.

This should be very handy for aggregating data about things for a region, such as weather, population, relief efforts, etc.

Realtime Google Earth

2007-08-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

There are several things that are needed to use Google Earth as a base for a moving map display. While all the pieces are not all in place, it is quickly coming together.

Consider:

Google Earth as the base map and underlying system.
GooPs (free) as the GPS interface (to a bluetooth GPS receiver).
Option GT Max data card (~$300 - unlocked European version) with a data-only T-Mobile connection ($50/month).

An alternative is to try the tracking feature in Google Earth Pro ($20/year).

It looks like an advantage of the GooPs approach is the possibility of storing current locations on a remote server so that other people can see where you are. This might be a critical feature if a field researcher needs the support of a base-station team.

Earth, air, fire and water!

2007-08-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

The Big Island is on hurricane watch. They also had a 5.2 earthquake last night. And on Oahu, there is an uncontained brushfire. Rock and roll time in the 50th State.

Blogging for Graduate Students?

2007-08-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

As the Grad Program chair, I wonder if it is a good idea to encourage graduate students to start a blog. This may function to keep the graduate committees abreast of the work being done by each student -- particularly when a student is doing field research.

It is likely that several things will need to be done if this is to be successful:

Have some examples that new students can see. These will serve as models.
List typical things that should be added to the blog.
Look at the blogs often and give feedback. (This can be helped if there are links to the blogs from the "people" page on the Botany website.

Wiki comparisons

2007-05-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

With all the wiki software floating around in cyberspace, it is nice to find a web site that lets you compare all the packages.

Check out wikimatrix and get informed!

Wiki -- have we gone the wrong way?

2007-05-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since a wiki was the center of attention. Perhaps it was the installation process that made it too complicated. Or maybe it was the lack of security.

I just ran across dokuwiki, an implementation of a wiki that uses text files rather than a database. Installation is very easy, as is shown in the 2 minute video found here.

I also saw a very good departmental website that is based on a wiki. That got me thinking.

What if we had much of the Botany Department web site built using a wiki? Would it solve any problems? Would the look and feel work?

RSS and Google Docs

2007-05-08T00:57:00.000-07:00

RSS, if I get the general concept right, works best when you have a bunch of discrete objects posted on a web page. Periodically, you add an item to the set. The RSS feed (which is linked in the code on the page) provides a channel to the RSS readers or aggregators. It is on these RSS readers that you are alerted to the change.

The most productive areas that seem to be RSS content providers are Blogs and News sites.

What about Google Docs? Can they be a source of information?

Searching on "Google Docs RSS" does give a hint that it can be done. But so far, no luck.

I do not know if it is me or them....

Nokia's little web machine

2007-05-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

I got the Nokia N800 just before my last trip (HI-CA-FL-HI). I anticipated that I would be able to purchase a bluetooth keyboard at Fry's Electronics enroute. They didn't have what I thought I needed, so I made do with the on-screen keyboard.

Connectivity was provided in the Jacksonville, FL hotel via a NetGear personal wireless hub. Connected easily and worked just fine.

A Stowaway keyboard is on order. That should make this machine more productive.

Encryption -- another football necessity

2007-03-01T15:40:00.000-08:00

Truecrypt looks like an excellent solution to the need for encryption of files. The choices are quite flexible -- and it is free.

http://www.truecrypt.org/

A football idea

2007-03-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

Mojopac is a program ($50) that lets you install all your Windows software on a portable device (such as an iPOD). You can run your entire Windows environment at full speed. You can also toggle to the native Windows environment at any time.

This looks very interesting, especially as there are relatively inexpensive high-capacity USB devices.

PDF support in PHP

2006-07-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

Using PHP to index a PHP Library

A possible PHP hack is reported on this web site: http://www.pdfhacks.com/pdfportal/

This comes from a book "PDF Hacks."

PDF Metadata

2006-07-09T17:03:00.001-07:00

Should we use metadata in PDF files?

At first glance, it looks like well-structured metadata (e.g., XML) may be the way to add bibliographic citation information to PDF files.

There is a program that appears to support PDF metadata: Advanced PDF Tools.

Here is their website: http://www.verypdf.com/pdfinfoeditor/pdf-metadata.html

There are two relevant versions of the software, one that has a WYSIWYG interface and the other as a command-line entry. The website descriptions indicate that this software might do what we need. However, in the short time I tried the program I could not find out how to get the metadata out of the PDF file.

Clearly, more time needs to be spent on this software.

Improving PDF support

2006-07-09T16:43:00.000-07:00

PDF files are becoming an important component in our document download and storage universe. But there are problems. For example, Adobe Acrobat is slow at opening PDF files. This software is also not very easy to use when filling out forms.

There are additional capabilities needed to organize libraries of PDF documents. For example, we need to be able to turn out lists of documents stored in our PDF libraries.

The following notes document a few recent discoveries.

Foxit Pro ($35) is a very fast PDF reader. You can use it as stand-alone and to support reading downloaded PDF files. There is a "typewriter" option that lets you enter text on a PDF document without having to create a form field; this is handy if you are filling out a one-time form that didn't come with PDF form fields. The annotation features available in Adobe Acrobat are in Foxit Pro, so you won't be missing those.

Adobe Acrobat Pro does have the advantage of doing OCR on PDF documents. While we have not been considering doing OCR on everything, it might be time to reconsider this possibility. Foxit Pro comes with a program, Foxit Library, that will index all of the text in all of your PDF library documents. You can look down the list of words, click on one, and find the documents and frequency of occurrence of the selected word.

A-PDF Info Changer is a free program that lets you read and update the basic header fields in a PDF file. This could be useful for entering document identification information. The field names don't correspond very closely to bibliographic citations. That is a problem that needs to be faced.

Google Spreadsheets

2006-06-30T17:55:00.000-07:00

Google spreadsheets look pretty robust. There are a few problems. The lack of graphics (or at least the graphics are not obvious) seems to be the big drawback. I've only found one function missing (and there is probably a work-around).

The ability to move between Excel and GS is very interesting, especially as we want to support a remote office.

U3: Portable Support

2006-03-12T22:11:00.000-08:00

An advertisement in PC Mag prompted me to check the U3.com website. The portability of major apps looks like an answer to the problem of using unsecure public PCs while on the road.

Best Buy had a 1 gb U3 USB for about $90, so I decided to try this approach.

So far, I've loaded some free software:

Firefox
Thunderbird
IrfanView (with plugins)

I also have loaded the trial version of ThinkFree. This provides MS Office-like support. A few trials confirm that the ThinkFree apps are very similar to the Office apps.

There are some additional things to be added since this should be a relatively complete set of needed key software.

The only problems are the slow start-up of the apps and what appears to be a system hang when using the Mcafee virus checker.

The Blogger begins

2006-03-12T16:26:00.000-08:00

It's time for a public blog. The motivations are the need for communicating widely and as a place to keep notes for those curious.

The travel countdown is now three-weeks plus. The venue will be Thailand, and a bit of the surrounding area. It will be a two and a half month trip with some demanding objective, some academic and some physical.

Preparations include building support systems for computing-intensive activities and (what might be) massive digital photography.

Thoughts, planning, implementation and actual experiences will be the subjects of subsequent posts.