Web Database Publishing Software to Generate Static HTML Pages

Web Database Publishing Software to Generate Static HTML Pages

...quickly create web pages from a database, a spreadsheet or a set of simple text files, and publish them on the web. Your source contents may come from any text editor, FileMaker Pro, Microsoft Access, 4th Dimension, Microsoft Excel, AppleWorks, or any database that can export data in XML or the most common tab-separated text format. Its excellent job management features free your imagination to create big websites.

Mergemill offers great advantages in database publishing. The cost is low and website response is excellent. You can create and update many static web pages using a few web templates, and have your website easily hosted by any ISP. Since none of the web pages needs to be generated on-the-fly, site response will be much better. The process is just the same in publishing large amount of database content in static HTML on CD-ROM.

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For those of us who don't own our servers, this is an interesting option.

Email To RSS In Three Easy Steps

Email To RSS In Three Easy Steps - Robin Good' Sharewood Tidings

The time has come.
You can now freely generate an RSS feed for any YahooGroup or similar email discussion or distribution list (Topica, Listbuilder, Sparklist, Lyris, Majordomo IMN, etc.).
The process is very simple, it is free, and it may take at most three minutes. (I refer to Yahoogroups in my example but this can be done with any mailing/discussion/newsletter distribution list).

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One of the eeriest experiences of modern life is thinking something one has never heard of ought to exist, entering it in Google, and having it appear at the very top of the results list. Very strange and oracular.

Kula: Ecto blogging client for OS X

Kula: ecto

ecto is a feature-rich desktop blogging client for MacOSX (we also have a Windows version in the works), supporting a wide range of weblog systems, such as TypePad, MovableType, Nucleus, Blogger, and more. ecto is the successor of the wildly popular Kung-Log, which has been in use by thousands of Mac users and which earned a 4.5 mice in the MacWorld July 2003 issue, a 4.7 rating by users of VersionTracker.com, and a 5.0 rating by users of MacUpdate.com.

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The fun area in net software today is RSS and blog clients. I'm a relative late comer in this domain -- about the right time for me to enter. Maybe I'll be able to eventually say good-bye to FrontPage.

MacInTouch: Deleting bad cache files in OS X and finding bad pref files

MacInTouch Home Page

Dennis Sweet, meanwhile, explains that similarly strange symptoms can be produced by a different Mac OS X problem:

With Mac OS X, corrupted preference files may not be the only thing to look for.
I have had a weird problem with my Desktop. The problem only shows up with my username, and not any other users on the same Macintosh (a 15' AL Powerbook). The problem would show up when I would download a number of files, usually ten or more, to my desktop. I would then sort them into folders. The problem was evident as:

1. Some files wouldn't show up on the Desktop and/or there would be multiple copies of them.
2. When I transferred the files to folders (usually more than one at a time), the icons would reappear and/or the icons of the files that I didn't copy would move or duplicate on the Desktop.
3. Most of the time, icons that weren't being moved would seem to be duplicated. But if I deleted the duplicate icon, both icons would be deleted.

Selecting Cleanup from the View menu didn't help, even when some of the icons were mostly off-screen.
I just returned from the local Apple Store Genius desk, and the problem was a bad cache file. He deleted the Library:Caches:Desktop folder from my user home folder and I am back to normal. I had spent several weeks trying to find the bad Preferences file to avoid having to do a clean install. Hope this helps someone else.

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Also on the same theme, a script for finding bad pref files.

Plain Quiet Noise Reduction Headphones

Outside the Box

Plane Quiet $79.99

Plane Quiet is an industry leader in active noise reduction technology. The soft, ergonomic headsets offer the exceptional performance of comparable models at a fraction of the cost. Our patented design was tested on airline professionals and frequent fliers to ensure the highest quality and most comfortable fit. Plane Quiet eliminates up to 17 decibels across the sound spectrum, so you can relax and enjoy your favorite movie, music or pristine silence on your next flight, or anytime you need to block out unpleasant noise.

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Follow the link from TravelInsider and enter the code "travelinsider" to get 10% off.

Update 8/04: These have been disappointing. My first pair was clearly defective and they were replaced. The second set seemed ok, until I plugged it into a charging iPod. The 60Hz hum was deafening. Even being near electronic devices was a problem -- they picked up a hum. They seemed to have both a grounding and an antenna problem. They work best on airplanes (little interference) but aren't very useful on the ground.

Update 4/28/05: The cord finally broke, and I was free to replace these darned things. They weren't all bad, I got my money's worth I suppose -- but one year is short lifespan. I had been steeling myself, and I bought a pair of Bose II headphones for ... $300 (ouch, ouch, ouch)! The Bose come with a very nice case. They're probably only 3x as good as the Plane Quiets, so they're overpriced, but that's the way it goes.

My Next Digital Camera

John's Digital Photography Page

I love my Canon G2. Really, the best camera I've ever owned, even better than my first camera, the ancient SLR Minolta SR2.

I'll be ready to part, however, if Canon delivers a G6 with:

1. The Digital Rebel's 6 megapixel CMOS sensor. I want the light sensitivity of CMOS.

2. An internal but seviceable 30GB drive. Why should I need to bother with memory cards?

3. USB 2 or (better) Firewire data transfer.

4. Internal 32 bit data paths.

5. JPEG2000 native formats.

6. The G3 body and general features. I like that camera.

7. Ability to take highest res photos with no shutter lag and 1/4 sec or less intervals.

Except for the last there's no real technical challenge to any of this -- Canon could make the camera today and sell it for about $900. So I'm hopeful I'll get it in the fall of 2005 for $500.

Gigabyte's GN-WLBZ201 - USB wireless and thumb drive

Tom's Hardware Guide First Look: Gigabyte's GN-WLBZ201 - Wireless LAN Monitor, Continued

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Sounds useful!