mnot’s Web log

Design depends largely on constraints.” — Charles Eames

Tuesday, May 24 2005

Web Description at the W3C

The W3C has just started a mailing list for discussion of Web description formats; This mailing list is dedicated to discussion of Web description languages based on URI/IRI and...

( 2 comments )

Sunday, May 22 2005

Prefetching (again)

There’s been quite a kerfuffle over Google’s Web Accelerator, because it prefetches Web content. It’s amusing to see these issues recycle over time; in the late nineties, prefetching was...

( 1 comment )

Freakonomics

After hearing a review on NPR and reading the Economist’s, I was (as was once said) with child to read Freakonomics. After finding myself in a queue of 411...

( 3 comments )

Saturday, May 21 2005

XML Base: Evil?

If you accept that QNames in content are evil, the next logical question is whether XML Base is any better. In fact, if you turn your head a certain...

( 5 comments )

Wednesday, May 18 2005

WADLing towards Web Description

Marc Hadley has released WADL in the wild, and I’m intrigued; based on a first look, I’d say it’s the most promising Web (as opposed to Web Services) description...

( 5 comments )

Tuesday, May 17 2005

OxygenXML, Now with Visual Schema Editing

OxygenXML 6.0 is out, and it sucks even less. The biggest news is — finally! — a visual Schema editor. This may be the biggest threat yet to Gudge’s...

Sunday, May 15 2005

Effects of Australian Tax Cuts

Last week, the Australian government announced a new budget. It included a number of tax cuts that were even more ambitious than expected. To help figure out who these...

( 1 comment )

Thursday, May 12 2005

Google's Cache-Control Extensions

I happened to look at the HTTP headers returned from Google News just now (what can I say, I’m a HTTP geek), and I noticed something unusual; Last login:...

( 5 comments )

Tuesday, May 10 2005

Notes on Generational Accounting

Social Security represents a pact between generations—a financial and social commitment among people of all ages. — US Social Security Administration Although George Bush has caused a brouhaha with...

( 4 comments )

Monday, May 9 2005

Greasemonkey and the Web

There’s a lot of cool apps emerging for GreaseMonkey (and GreaseMonkIE and PithHelmet, for IE and Safari respectively). It seems like these extensions have a love/hate relationship with the...

( 20 comments )

Sunday, May 1 2005

Arguments for Buying a House Now

In the interest of equal time, two quotes attributed to Keynes; If you owe your bank a hundred pounds, you have a problem. But if you owe a million,...