nik

Ask Nik: Speerio site features

Laverne Douglas asks: I would like to ask some questions about your site and how you implemented some of the features. But to be fair to all your viewers; it would be best answered in your blog. Specifically I would like to now about your store and downloads pages. The download appears to be your navigator showing hidden pages on your site with roles assigned to allow downloads of items. The store is...

nik

Google Earth

Just downloaded the Google Earth beta. I like the changes Google made since it acquired this from KeyHole. In addition to a more cleaner, better organized U.I., one of the new features I like the most is 3D buildings. It is amazing to use the “Fly to” feature to navigate through your city over statellite imagery with accurate 3D vector drawings of buildings. Here are some sample...

nik

The rhythm of software

I live in Adams Morgan, a multi-ethnic part of Washington, D.C. not far from the famed Dupont Circle and on the same street as the White House. Nearby is Meridian Park, a semi-green oasis in the middle of the city. At one end is an imposing statue of Joan d’Arc gifted to “the Women of America by the Women of France.” On summer weekends, Joan is witness to a most amazing spectacle. Many...

nik

FOAF

I find social networking technology quite exciting. FOAF (Friend of a Friend) is an interesting specification. It is designed to allow computers to understand the relationships between people using RDF/XML. There’s not much buy-on to this right now because it is squarely in geek territory. I suspect that as soon as Friendster and Orkut figure out how to monetize their networks and publish an API,...

nik

Monitoring HTTP traffic

I am working on implementing a WebDAV server for ASP.Net. Yes, I know this capability is built-into IIS6, but unfortunately, it requires that you enable WebDAV on the server, creating a big security hole. Additionally, the built-in implementation is unable to authenticate against a custom membership provider. In any event, my solution is a drop-in component that instantly enables WebDAV capabilities for...