ചീവീട്ടുകള്‍ രാത്രിയില്‍
കൂട്ടത്തോടെ വായിക്കുന്ന പുസ്തകങ്ങള്‍
ഇപ്പോള്‍ സ്റ്റോക്കില്ല.പാരായണം
അവര്‍ക്ക് വലിയ ഒരു ഓര്‍മ്മപ്പെടുത്തലാകണം.
മൃണ്മയമായ എല്ലാ സൗഹൃദങ്ങള്‍ക്കും,
രാത്രി അത്താഴം കഴിക്കുന്നതിന്‍്‌ മുമ്പു
രാത്രി അത്താഴം കഴിക്കുന്നതിന്‍്‌ മുമ്പു
ഒരു പങ്ക് അവ മാറ്റിവയ്ക്കും.
ആ കാലത്തിനുള്ള ഒരു തിലോദകം.
ഇനി ആരൊക്കെ വരും, പാടും.?
നിശ്ചയമില്ല.ഇന്നലെയും
കാടുകള്‍ വെട്ടി നശിപ്പിച്ചു.
മനുഷ്യനിലെ കവിതകളൊക്കെ
നിര്‍ജീവമാണിപ്പോള്‍.
കവിതകളൊക്കെ പഴകിപ്പോയി.
വാക്കുകളെന്നേ ദ്രവിച്ചു.
എന്തു പരഞ്ഞാലുമതു പഴയതായിപ്പോകും.
ചീവീടുകള്‍ പക്ഷേ പ്രാര്‍ത്ഥന മുടക്കുന്നില്ല.
news past
A versatile search tool
j murali
A FEATURE packed search portal developed using different search services such as Google, IMDB and Amazon is featured in this week's column.
There are many general search engines like Google to spot resources on the web. There are besides services that host specialised databases and provide the necessary tools for accessing them with ease. The Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com/) is an example of a popular specialised search service.
To make use of such services, you need to access each of them separately. That is, you need a search tool that automatically looks into various search services and lists out the results on a single web interface. The search service, A9 (http://a9.com), recently floated by the famous on-line book dealer Amazon, is an innovative endeavour in this direction. Rather than building a new search service from scratch, it tries to assemble a product that leverages on the services already in place. In this regard, it is almost like the search comparison tool jux2 (http://jux2.com/) (discussed in this column a couple of weeks ago), which also builds its service using search results from other search engines. Creating new services using output from popular search services seems to be an emerging trend on the Net.
A9.com
Once you invoke a search on A9, it passes the query on to such services as Google, Amazon, Internet Movie Database and the reference tool GuruNet (http://a9.com/-/company/whatsCool.jsp). A9 collects the output from these services and places them on a single web page with a "customized multi-column interface.'' The service provides the required tools for viewing the results in multiple ways. For example, if you want to see only the results from Google, you can expand the column that holds the Google's search output (click on the `Full' option). Another feature of A9 is that it provides a `Site Info' button along with each output entry. If you move the mouse over this button, you will find a window that pops up with a brief explanation about the listed site.
A notable highlight of this service is its ability to remember the searches made by you in the past. All the searches invoked by you are "stored and organised by time.'' That is, A9's `search history' feature allows you to view the old searches made by you from anywhere on the Net any time. To get this personalised experience, you need to register with the system.
Of course, this `personalisation' feature enables the service to track the web pages you visit and in this context the service may draw some criticism from privacy conscious people.
A9 provides a tool bar that lets you invoke many of its features directly from your browser. It also features a diary tool that can be used to keep notes/annotation about sites. Unfortunately the toolbar feature is available only to IE users
IceRocket
IceRocket (http://icerocket.com/) is another search tool that culls information from popular search engines that include Wisenut, Yahoo, MSN and Alltheweb. A notable aspect of the tool is that it displays thumbnail photos of the `results' homepages. This enables you to get a glimpse of a site's home page without having to visit it. There is also the `Quick View' feature that lets you view the top 40 per cent of a page without leaving the results page.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/) that helps authors publish their works in the "public domain or license them to the public on generous terms'' is one of the revolutionary movements fostered by the Net.
Products published under Creative Commons licence generally come with less restrictive copyright terms. On the Net, hundreds of such products/services are already in place and several of them are being rolled out. To help you easily locate products under Creative Commons, the service has floated a search tool called Creative Commons Search. The service, powered by the open source search engine, Nutch (http://www.nutch.org/docs/en/about. html), can be accessed at: http://search.creativecommons. org/index.jsp.
Firefox saga continues
Regular readers of this column need no introduction to the brilliance of the free open source browser, Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/), which is being fast adopted by netizens worldwide. The latest version of this browser (Firefox 1.0 Preview Release) has some notable features. The `RSS integration' or `Live Bookmark' feature that automatically displays an `RSS' icon whenever you visit a site with RSS feed is going to be much appreciated by regular readers of news feeds. It helps you subscribe to news feeds and read them directly from the browser. Another feature worth a remark is the enhanced `Find' tool that finds as you type. When you type in a string in the Find toolbar (press `Ctrl- F' to invoke the `Find' toolbar), the first result gets automatically highlighted in green.
Deepnet Explorer
If you are an IE user, take a look at the IE based browser, Deepnet Explorer, that has many useful features that IE lacks. One such feature is the tabbed browsing capability that lets you open multiple pages in separate tabs inside a single window. Tabbed browsing means no need to open new windows that clutter your display and consume more resources. Apart from being a feature packed IE compatible browser, Deepnet can be used as a news feed aggregator and as a P2P client for downloading/sharing files on P2P networks.
For more details: http://www. deepnetexplorer. com/.
SE on-line
If you are a software engineering student or practitioner, check out the software engineering on-line site hosted at: http://billing.computer.org/ portal/site/seportal/.
J. Murali
Email the author at: murali27@satyam.net.in
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