What a twisted Semantic Web we weave...

"I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web – the content, links, and transactions between people and computers. A ‘Semantic Web’, which should make this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy and our daily lives will be handled by machines talking to machines. The ‘intelligent agents’ people have touted for ages will finally materialize."
– Tim Berners-Lee, 1999

Sounds very futuristic... but what does it all mean?

Semantic Web is all about editors having the ability to publish content in a format that has more meaning and structure to the machines rendering and searching the data. These "machine" readable descriptions will enable human like sorting, linking and prioritising of content by computers.

So for example, content like: $2.99 is a price of this item number 458869 that is a DVD and in the catalogue XYZ. Rather than straight HTML code meaning display this text "$2.99", next to this text "458869" and link to "XYZ". Further, as W3C's example shows, you could be viewing a calendar that shows photos you took on certain days even bank transactions on that date. So it's also about information being linked and viewed across multiple data bases.

So will this so called Web 3.0 really materialise? Some feel that a semantic web will create the need for two sets of published documents, one for humans and one for machines. "They" also say that there are issues of security and accuracy.

I fear though that we can all get ready to cringe as marketing peeps discover this latest web term!

Further reading at W3C

Google Products in BETA

If you are a fan of buying online, and most of us are... then you will be pleased to see Google has added a new service called "Google Products". This search tracks down items for sale online and lists them with ratings, shipping and reviews. Stores that support Google's checkout system are highlighted with an icon and filter - of course! Search includes advanced sorting and a shopping cart.

Check it out here: Google Products

Nifty Ad Archive

Ever wanted to track down "that ad"?
You know the one... with that soccer player...
It had this cool animation... think it was for Nike?

Check out Coloribus

Googles boys have been busy...

Fast Flip: http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/
Very Nice!!

Tool Tip City!

For the jQuery fans out there... here are some qTip examples:
http://craigsworks.com/projects/qtip/demos/

Got the blues?

If you are struggling to find that perfect colour palette for your design concept, check out this (not so new) online colour tool from Adobe called Kuler.

There is also a tool (still in BETA) called "Pulse", which includes all the data on the downloaded colour themes. Interesting to see colour popularity!

There is also some great links on the site to colour theory and analytics websites, like "In The Mood".

jQuery is your friend...

Many designers may feel that jQuery is eating into long held territory of Flash. But more than likely, this is the chance to create slick user interfaces that may not have previously been possible due to negative publicity for Flash and other plug-ins. Regardless, you should get up to speed on some of the latest techniques and Smashing Magazine has posted 45 great examples. Knock yourself out!

(Thanks Doug!)