John Resig (founder of jQuery) has released his JavaScript port of the Processing visualization library today using Canvas. This is an excellent addition to the world of JavaScript graphics programming, it works best on Firefox 3.0.
I am going to keep close eye on this project.
I saw this in one of the comments on Office Live Workspace vs Google Docs: Feature-by-Feature Comparison
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Hey Sarah,
If you want to focus on “everyman” features, why not to highlight the awesome GoogleLookUp function?
Here are the few steps:
1. Create a Google Spreadsheet
2. Tape “bmw” in A2, “mercedes” in A3 and “nissan” in A4
3. Select A2:A4 and, while holdind the Ctrl key, expand your selection until A50.
4. Say “wow”
5. Tape “employees” from B2 to B50.
6. Enter “=googlelookup(A2; B2)” in C2 and expand the formula until C50
7. “wow”, again
Here are some of the types of entities you can access using GoogleLookup, and a few popular attribute names:
Countries and Territories (like “Burkina Faso”): population, capital, largest city, gdp
U.S. States (like “Tennessee”): area, governor, nickname, flower
Rivers (like “Amazon River”): origin, length
Cities and Towns (like “Chicago”): state, mayor, elevation
Musicians (like “John Lennon”): date of birth, place of birth, nationality
Actors (like “Audrey Hepburn”): date of birth, place of birth, nationality
Politicians (like “Anwar Al-Sadat”): date of birth, place of birth, nationality
U.S. Presidents (like “Zachary Taylor”): date of birth, place of birth, political party
Baseball Players (like “Wade Boggs”): games, at bats, earned run average, position
Chemical Elements (like “Helium”): atomic number, discovered by, atomic weight
Chemical Compounds (like “Isopropyl Alcohol”): chemical formula, melting point, boiling point, density
Stars (like “Betelgeuse”): constellation, distance, mass, temperature
Planets (like “Saturn”): number of moons, length of day, distance from sun, atmosphere
Dinosaurs (like “Velociraptor”): height, weight, when it lived
Ships (like “USS Chesapeake”): length, displacement, complement, commissioned
Companies (like “Hewlett-Packard”): employees, ceo, ticker
9. Take a look at other Google functions in the “Google” tab of this page: http://documents.google.com/support/spreadsheets/bin/answer.py?answer=82712&ctx=
10. “wow”, again and again
These are the reasons why web-based apps are far more superior than desktop-based ones. And with more and more microformats, I bet this funtion will definitely improve the way we organize information. That could make a pretty corporate goal 
Posted by: Jrome | March 4, 2008 2:23 PM
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Damn you Microsoft! How I am suppose to keep up with all this cool stuff you realize (heh, funny typo) release?
This one I had missed somehow but while I bump to it via some Rails article. Microsoft Labs has announced a new project called Volta that looks like GWT for .NET. But Volta seems to be more advanced than GWT since it uses .NET enviroment to generate JavaScript directly from its preferred programming language. But Volta is really about developing an application and deciding later where the code executes. That’s very ambitious. It looks very appealing for a developer that doesn’t fancy JavaScript. Though, I am not really seeing a big picture on this for example how does Volta fit to MVC, Silverlight and AJAX.NET.
Thanks to Google and Firefox, the browser is the platform and if you are a .NET developer, keep an eye on Volta, it is certainly a keystone of Microsoft web strategy.
I just read an article in PC Magazine site Leopard is the New Vista, and It’s Pissing Me Off ” by Oliver Rist. Funny how he is stating that Leopard can be bad as Vista. Has Vista come synonym for bad OS release? 
I have to say, I haven’t used Vista yet for real. I have clicked around with it in others computers but I haven’t been comfortable to install it to my laptop yet. Party because only machine in my household that can run Vista in MacBook Pro (Tiger). My two PC laptops are “just” centiro duo’s so no Vista there. Anyway, I am still running happily XP and Tiger both work fine. In my other laptop I have the latest Ubuntu Linux which works like Rist says in the column: “From the start, Vista crashed noticeably less than XP Pro with SP2; it just doesn’t work with 50 percent of new software”
Back in 2001 I was in TechEd Barcelona where Microsoft unveiled Sharepoint and .NET 1.o. I remember like yesterday when Don Box was demoing WebServices from bathtub (SOAP) and coding c# from MacBook in Microsoft event!.
Anyway, after seeing Microsoft’s plan for following years I decided fully focus on Microsoft Technology. I saw first SharePoint which I think sucked. WebServices weren’t interesting either it just felt a bit too hairy for doing simple things. But what I loved was the whole concept of ASP.NET, C# and XML. After seeing XSLT in action I knew this is going to be my language, and it was. Well at least until now. XSLT is really great for templating websites, I gone through many tempalting engines but nothing beats good old XML/XSLT transformations. It is simple and fast. Well, it can get complex sometimes but usually when XSLT gets complex it means you are doing something wrong. Then it’s time to stop and think. Maybe, this is faster in code-behind or perhaps maybe it’s a good idea to write XSL -helper in code-behind for this.
I have to say, I have never come comfortable building sites from .NET controls basically because it was producing bad html markup-up and I don’t have full control how to build html on it but Microsoft has made it better over the time and nowadays it even produces valid mark-up. But still, I have to compile a DLL when making small updates. This is where XSLT rocks!
Because of this, I have waited (.NET 1.1)… and I have waited (.NET 2.0-3.5)… but there hasn’t been XSLT 2.0. Recently I read blog post in XML.com from M. David Peterson Question: Is Microsoft Working On An XSLT 2.0 Processor? Answer I am quoting him who quotes Microsoft XML Team’s WebLog : Chris Lovett Interview
“As for XSLT 2.0 - we’ve heard from customers and understand the improvements in XSLT 2.0 over XSLT 1.0, but right now we’re in the middle of a big strategic investment in LINQ and EDM for the future of the data programming platform which we think will create major improvements in programming against all types of data.”
DAMN!
Bad news for me… Now with all MVC/LINQ/WEB2.0 stuff… Isn’t XML cool anymore?
We moved yesterday to a new flat in Barcelona which we rented for one year. We are living now on street Pau Claris.
It’s been quite busy month searching and checking apartments in Barcelona. I was quite suprise that the prices has gone really a lot up since 2000. Also, finding a nice flat is really hard since they want rent apartments quite often with furniture. Usually furniture is 10 years old Ikea quality so it feels like theyput furniture in the flat so they could get better price.
Couple of tips for people who looks rentals in Barcelona
Couple of links for finding pisos…
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