Tag: Open Source

PLUG Mailing List is apparently down, posting message here instead.

The mailing list went all quiet last week and I thought it was a lull, but apparently it really is down, as a message I posted was not read by Migs when I asked him about it. Am waiting for it to go up again, but until then, the best I can do is publish it here on my blog so itll come out the PLUG aggregator. Here it is:

Dear People of PLUG:
A week ago I received a proposal from a company called Firsteventsasia (Firsteventsasia.com).

They do events, and are holding one of those generic IT ones called ‘Philippine Information Technology Expo and Business Solutions Summit’ on Sep 30 – Oct 2 at Philippine Trade and Training Center, Roxas Blvd.

Anyway they want an ex-deal. They are giving us a venue for an EB / gathering in exchange for plugging their event on our website.

Here’s the text from their proposal:

Continue reading PLUG Mailing List is apparently down, posting message here instead.

XML Feed Finally Validating

I just fixed one of the most confounding problems I’d ever come across on WordPress, so I’m sharing how I did it because I definitely couldn’t find the solution after weeks of trying.

See I was trying to get the valid XML feed for a particular Tag or Category from this blog, a process I’ve instigated on PLUG’s mailing list, so that the PLUG website can aggregate feeds tagged as ‘plug’ or ‘open source’ or ‘foss’ voluntarily submitted by its (currently 130+ strong) membership.

The problem was when I try to get the feed URL, for example:

http://www.lefthandedlayup.com/index.php/tag/plug/feed

I get this error:

XML Parsing Error: xml declaration not at start of external entity
Location: http://www.lefthandedlayup.com/index.php/tag/plug/feed
Line Number 2, Column 1:

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
^

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Lets Just Make an Ogg 2.0

I think for the most part, the tech issues that interest, or rather more to the point – get a rise out of me – most are open source, privacy, and ‘understanding the ‘net issues. More specifically occasions when open source isn’t achieved, is attacked, misread or misunderstood. This extends to privacy and the use of the Internet either in dramatically brilliant or excessively stupid ways. Some people ‘get’ the ‘net, some people don’t. I like to believe I’m getting there albeit it took me awhile and it’s a long road ahead and there’s still much to learn.

The latest case that has caught my attention is the Nokia Ogg issue, or to be exact, Nokia’s claim that the Ogg Format is proprietary and hence must be removed from w3c’s web publishing standards for html5. The best article I’ve read explaining this so far is from Ars Technica, and by ‘best article explaining this’ I mean ‘I’ve only needed to read this 15x to understand it.

It’s a very complicated issue that reads more like a legal document rather than a technical white paper. In essence what Nokia appears to want to say is the ff.: (lifted from same article)

Continue reading Lets Just Make an Ogg 2.0

Barcamp thoughts

I just watched this video about Barcamp, with the goal to show what it’s all about and such.

I first read of it from Sacha’s blog. Incidentally, her blog, featuring her travails as a stude in Canada, is a fascinating read of the adventures (and misadventures) of a young woman learning her way around the campus, and consequently in life.

It loads like molasses (sorry Sacha :D), but when you read it you’ll likely feel like I do, and applaud her, as if cheering on a heroine in a movie, as she goes through her daily stuff. She is me several years ago (just how many years is not the subject of this blog entry thank you very much), and you’d probably find a part of yourself in her as well.

Continue reading Barcamp thoughts