How to migrate fromw Windows to Linux (or the opposite?) by selecting comparable software.

One of the biggest difficulties in migrating from Windows to Linux is the lack of knowledge about comparable software. Newbies usually search for Linux analogs of Windows software, and advanced Linux-users cannot answer their questions since they often don’t know too much about Windows :). This list of Linux equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software is based on our own experience and on the information obtained from the visitors of this page (thanks!).

This table is not static since new application names can be added to both left and the right sides. Also, the right column for a particular class of applications may not be filled immediately. In future, we plan to migrate this table to the PHP/MySQL engine, so visitors could add the program themselves, vote for analogs, add comments, etc.

The table of equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software in Linux. (Official site of the table)

Beautifully detailed map of the universe from National Geographic with a very nice navigation interface based on Macromedi Flash. You can zoom in and out, and pan, to view every detail of the map.

Universe Reference Map
As far as we can see with our ever-improving telescopes, there are at least a hundred billion galaxies arrayed throughout the universe. Each, like the Milky Way, is an “island universe” containing billions of stars. This map uses graphic “leaps of scale” to show how our solar system fits within the vastness of the universe. The map also includes a universe timeline and a description of its evolution.

National Geographic Map Store - Universe Reference Map

Academic success requires various competencies, among them the ability to know and use a variety of tools and techniques to generate and organize information and ideas. I refer to the tools and techniques on this page as “notemaking” because “taking notes” is passive: just as we must make meaning, so we must make notes—in our head, on the page, and in our notebooks. None of the ideas here are new, though I hope the way I have designed these “school tools” helps you use them more effectively. To see how long people have been using graphic notes and Cornell Notes, check out these excerpts from Leonardo da Vinci’s journals. With few exceptions, the tools and techniques listed here are appropriate for all classes; many use them in grades as low as fourth and fifth with success, though I do not have exemplars. The tools here are intentionally free of directions because their intuitive design allows for multiple uses. Over time I will try to add more exemplars for the different techniques so you can see these different uses.

Notemaking

A byproduct of our work is the del.icio.us tag clusterer. This little tool clusters your del.icio.us resources on the basis of your related tags. You have to provide your del.icio.us username and password to use this service.

A del.icio.us tag clusterer

Use concept maps to mind map knowledge. A graphical representation of knowledge by using graphs –boxes and arrows — facilitate the thinking process and helps to reduce problem complexity.

The Institute for Human Machine Cognition is publishing an online resource about concept mapping using this very technique to let users navigate its Website.

It’s unfortunate to see how this advanced knowledge management framework is not supported by a useful Web interface: each link you click brings a new page in a new window.

Anyway, if you want to grab the software toolkit there available, … go directly to: IHMC CmapTools version 3.8 to find:

IHMC CmapTools version 3.8

Description. The CmapTools program empowers users to construct, navigate, share and criticize knowledge models represented as concept maps. It allows users to, among many other features, construct their Cmaps in their personal computer, share them on servers (CmapServers) anywhere on the Internet, link their Cmaps to other Cmaps on servers, automatically create web pages of their concept maps on servers, edit their maps synchronously (at the same time) with other users on the Internet, and search the web for information relevant to a concept map.

The CmapTools client is free for use by anybody, whether its use is commercial or non-commercial. In particular, schools and universities are encouraged to download it and install it in as many computers as desired, and students and teachers may make copies of it and install it at home. (Commercial companies that install their own CmapServer do need to get a separate license for a CmapTools client that will talk to the commercial version of the CmapServer).

IHMC CmapTools - Concept Map: CmapTools - Home Page Cmap.jpg

No one really multitasks. You just spend less time on any one thing.

All of that data flying at you by e-mail, instant message, cell phone, voice mail and BlackBerry–it could actually be making you dumber.

Dr. Edward Hallowell, a psychiatrist who’s studied attention deficit disorder for more than a decade, has identified a related disorder he calls attention deficit trait, and he says it’s reaching epidemic proportions in the corporate world. Unlike attention deficit disorder, or ADD, people aren’t born with ADT. It’s the result, he contends, of the modern workplace, where the constant and relentless chatter coming from our computers, phones and other high-tech devices is diluting our mental powers.

Technology is a great blessing. It is behind much of our progress. But if we’re not careful with it, it can start running us ragged.

Everybody’s running around, looking at their Bloomberg, looking at the latest quotes, answering everything. They’re pouncing on every bit of stimulation as if it’s going to make a big difference. And they have no strategy, or their strategy changes every day.

They’re all running around, working their tails off. But they’re really at the whim of the market. They think they’re working hard, and they think they’re being productive, but they’re not. They’re busy, but they’re not thoughtful.

What you pay attention to and for how long really makes a difference. If you’re just paying attention to trivial e-mails for the majority of your time, you’re wasting time and mental energy. It’s the great seduction of the information age. You can create the illusion of doing work and of being productive and creative when you’re not. You’re just treading water.

Why can’t you pay attention anymore? | Newsmakers | CNET News.com

I feel touched. So touched that, since a long time, I stopped for a moment and I actually read this article before posting it here.

The key concepts which stroke me are: trustability of information, dissemination of information, truth, media influences.

The key sentence is this:

The aggregator is given the contextual verification of the info, not the originator. This is the down side: speed of information is more important than quality of information. Aggregation is everything

McGeek > Aggregation, Mindscape, Jesus Tortilla

DeWitt Clinton’s development diary of a new collaborative, Web 2.0, Web application. I want to read it all:

his page contains an index of all the articles regarding the new project.

What is the new project? Well, the best way to understand is to read the series of posts that are chronicling its development. But in short, it is a new type of wiki. Or more precisely, it is a new type of wiki service — a service that provides the functionality that a wiki requires — and at least one client front-end on top of that service. But really, it is an experiement in transparent application development, something that goes beyond just opening the source code — it is opening up the whole development process and the thinking that goes into building software. Well, there’s more to it than that, but lets just wait and see what comes next…

unto.net » A New Project

Find Media
bigfeeder.com makes it easy to search and surf the latest media feeds. Keep clicking until you find something interesting then…

Tag it
When you see something interesting Tag It. bigfeeder.com will remember everything you tag and turn your tags into playlists and feeds.

Sample Media
Click the icon to create a playlist for individual media, whole feeds or tagged media and a playlist is automatically downloaded into your favorite media player to sample the media you find before you subscribe.

Subscribe
bigfeeder.com creates feeds for tags on an individual or global level. This example feed contains all the media tagged by coconut with the term ‘dogs’, while this feed contains media anybody has tagged with ‘dogs’.

bigfeeder.com: nü media syndication

If you are writing for the Web, for an online journalism Web site, are your writings staying for the eternity?

It does not seem so:

A team of scientists from Hungary and the United States has found that the majority of online news items have a lifetime of just 36 hours1. As reporters have always suspected, yesterday’s news is stale, and the day before’s news is invisible.

How to fight this behaviour? A possible answer:

Stefan Bornholdt, a physicist at the University of Bremen in Germany who has studied the statistics of online behaviour, suggests that news outlets could improve those figures by making story listings reactive, so that the most popular stories get pushed to the top automatically.

Or, maybe, you could launch and facilitated discussion of the news story with the readers. I am thinking to Slashdot.

news @ nature.com - Life is short in online news - How long did it take you to find this story?