Grooveshark Review
Grooveshark is a free music site/music player and musical community that allows listeners access to millions of tracks. Spanning more than seven genres of music, it operates by simply entering the name of the track or artist into a search engine and then selecting your favourites, adding them to a playlist. One of the most impressive features of Grooveshark is the size of it’s musical catalogue, the content is upgraded and provided by users of Grooveshark.
Multiple playlists can be created and tracks can be saved to these playlist’s by clicking on the save button at the bottom left hand corner of the page. The sites radio streaming function is predictive, when streaming radio, you are able to select a preferred genre and the radio will select songs accordingly, or alternatively it will base its selections on your existing playlists, this can be an exciting way of finding new music. However, this function is limited as it tended to focus on suggesting artists that were already featured in the playlist catalogue. A created catalogue or playlist can be searched in the Music Profile section of the page by entering the name of the artist, album etc. This feature is a little faulty as the last column squashes all the data so that it’s ineligible.
The site loads up tracks faster then Last.fm, but is counter intuitive in some ways, often instead of playing it instantly, it will simply move to the bottom of the page and collect it for you in case you want to play it at a later time, which is a good option to have, but not always what you intended to do. The other problem with the program is that it is very easy to click on the same track twice so that you have few copies of the same song on your play list below. Within your music profile you are able to play songs from your list of favourites or according to artist or date, you are also able to search your page by entering the song you wish to retrieve by typing the name into the Search in Page feature.
The site encourages social interaction with other members, you are able to share your favourite tunes, rate recommended tunes and become a fan of your fellow Grooveshark members. Unlike Last.fm the site was not able to recommend other members as friends based on shared musical interests. However the site internationally accessible and allows users to translate the pages in five different languages. The profile function allows you to view your music play lists, your recent grooveshark activity, upload a photo to personalise your profile and you are able to view your music profile. You can check the activity, who’s following you, fans of your music and users that have been recently active.
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/user/jasminsara/5401521
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
1.1.3 Internet Timeline
NED11 The article Tim Berners-Lee's answers to Frequently asked questions by the Press, documents several important milestones that are not mentioned in Hobbes Timeline, despite this the article makes reference to many important milestones made in the development of the World Wide Web. The following are the 5 that I identified as being the most significant:
1. 1991: World Wide Web is released by CERN; Tim Berners-Lee developer (;pb1:). First Web server is nxoc01.cern.ch, launched in Nov 1990 and later renamed info.cern.ch.
2. 1993: Mosaic takes the internet by storm (22 Apr); WWW proliferates at a 341, 634% annual growth rate of service traffic. Gophers growth is 997%
3. 1994: WWW edges out telnet to become 2nd most popular service on the Net (behind ftp-data) based on % of packets and bytes traffic distribution on NSFNET
4. 1996: WWW browser war, fought primarily between Netscape and Microsoft, has rushed a new age in software development, whereby new releases are made quartley with the help of internet uss eager to test upcoming (beta) versions
5. 2008: Google’s crawler reaches 1 trillion pages, although only a fraction are indexed by the search engine. For comparison, Google’s original index had 26 million pages in 1998, and reached 1 billion in 2000.
http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/
1. 1991: World Wide Web is released by CERN; Tim Berners-Lee developer (;pb1:). First Web server is nxoc01.cern.ch, launched in Nov 1990 and later renamed info.cern.ch.
2. 1993: Mosaic takes the internet by storm (22 Apr); WWW proliferates at a 341, 634% annual growth rate of service traffic. Gophers growth is 997%
3. 1994: WWW edges out telnet to become 2nd most popular service on the Net (behind ftp-data) based on % of packets and bytes traffic distribution on NSFNET
4. 1996: WWW browser war, fought primarily between Netscape and Microsoft, has rushed a new age in software development, whereby new releases are made quartley with the help of internet uss eager to test upcoming (beta) versions
5. 2008: Google’s crawler reaches 1 trillion pages, although only a fraction are indexed by the search engine. For comparison, Google’s original index had 26 million pages in 1998, and reached 1 billion in 2000.
http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/
Tim Berners Lee - Answers to Frequently Asked Questions by The Press
NED11: Module 1.1.2
Tim Berners- Lee’s answers to frequently asked questions
1. What role did Tim Berners-Lee play in the development of the internet.?
Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, which today is an integral part of the internet as we know it. The World Wide Web is an information system linking information from computer to computer through a series of hyperlinks. He describes the web as a “Global hypertext system”. The Web was simply combining existing technological ideas such as hypertext, (1982) Transmission Control CP and DNS (Domain Name System). The first Web browser was written in 1990, it was called The World Wide Web, and later renamed Nexus, to differentiate between the web browser as an application and the actual space that is the World Wide Web.
Berners Lee also:
* Wrote hypertext markup language or HTML, designed to be the universal language of Web pages, readable by all computers.
* Wrote a web browser called World Wide Web, which could view documents written in html, to avoid confusion this was later changed to Nexus.
* Created a Web server
* Designed Universal Resource Identifier now known as a URL, which is the address of a website.
He performed other functions relating to its development and regulation and started an organisation known as the W3C, which outlines web standards and contributed to the development of the Semantic Web - “The Web Machine of processable data”. “The Semantic Web is a Web of data — of dates and titles and part numbers and chemical properties and any other data one might conceive of. RDF provides the foundation for publishing and linking your data. Various technologies allow you to embed data in documents (RDFa, GRDDL) or expose what you have in SQL databases, or make it available as RDF files.” (W3C website)
“The goal of the Semantic Web initiative is as broad as that of the Web: to create a universal medium for the exchange of data. It is envisaged to smoothly interconnect personal information management, enterprise application integration, and the global sharing of commercial, scientific and cultural data. Facilities to put machine-understandable data on the Web are quickly becoming a high priority for many organizations, individuals and communities.
(W3C Society and Technology Domain)
2. In this unit you will be working with XHTML scripting language. What scripting languages did did Tim Berners-Lee discuss back in 2000, do you feel his comments are still relevant today? What evidence can you find to support your view?
XML: Extensible Markup Language.
Wikipedia describes XML as “Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification[4] produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards.[5]”
RDF: Resource Description Framework
“RDF is a standard model for data interchange on the Web. RDF has features that facilitate data merging even if the underlying schemas differ, and it specifically supports the evolution of schemas over time without requiring all the data consumers to be changed.” (W3C)
SVG: Scalable Vector Graphics are the script languages
“SVG is a markup language for describing two-dimensional graphics applications and images, and a set of related graphics script interfaces.” (W3C http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/)”
I don't understand much about these three languages, but they are still mentioned and seem to be relevant today, they are different from XHTML, in that XHTML is a general language used, these three languages perform certain functions within a XHTML document. My thoughts are that XML, is the language used to encode documents so that they can be read by machines. RDF is still important as it performs the functions of translating data and getting the data to work together even though different languages are used. SVG is different to XHTML as it is a language that exists within XHTML to describe specifically two-dimensional images. My knowledge of this area is limited at this stage. Consider this response a work in progress.
3. Tim Berners-Lee discusses the world's very first web page. Visit the site and write your observations on the following: In what ways do you feel Web Design has changed over the years, not just in visual design, but hyperlinks? Why do you think this page is so simple? What scripting language did it use? View the source of this page and tell us how many tags you can find in the code.
http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
Could not follow link to page.
4. What is the W3C, do they care about “standards”?
They create standards for the World Wide Web. The definition provided on the W3C website is “The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community that develops standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web.” It is designed to be a neutral forum which identifies and creates common specifications and guidelines in the areas of Web and software development, to ensure that transferring information between computers, or operating systems is possible. This idea is one of the basic principles of the World Wide Web, Tim-Berners efforts have made the internet more accessible to the masses. His hope was that everyone who used the internet would participate in its design and that it would be a highly interactive community and he attempted to accomplish this by creating universal language or standards such as html. He identifies three of the most intrinsic specifications in the rapid development and facilitation of the World Wide Web are "HTTP, URL and HTML.
5. If Tim Berners-Lee could roll back the clock and re-design URL’s, how would we type in the address for Curtin University’s Admissions Office now at http://students.curtin.edu.au/administration/admissions/ Why would he do this?
Berners-Lee, would have written the address so that the http:edu.au/students.curtin/administration/admissions, he thought it was logical for users to realise that www.curtin.edu was the domain name attached to the addresses.
6. According to Tim Berners-Lee who invented the GUI (Graphical User Interface) browser?Name 5 different Web browsers. Which ones do you think are the most popular today?
Tim Berners Lee states that he invented the Graphical User Interface browser in 1990 it was called the World Wide Web and later changed to Nexus in order to differentiate between the application that allowed you to search the World Wide Web and the actual World Wide Web.
5 differrent web browsers that are used today include:
1. Firefox
2 Explorer
3. Chrome
4. Safari
5. Opera
These are listed at http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
7. Name the first three World Wide Web colours, in order of appearance.
I could not find information about the first three colours used on the World Wide Web. I found information about the use of Bergers default use of underline, green for links and then dark blue.
Ref: http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html
Tim Berners- Lee’s answers to frequently asked questions
1. What role did Tim Berners-Lee play in the development of the internet.?
Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, which today is an integral part of the internet as we know it. The World Wide Web is an information system linking information from computer to computer through a series of hyperlinks. He describes the web as a “Global hypertext system”. The Web was simply combining existing technological ideas such as hypertext, (1982) Transmission Control CP and DNS (Domain Name System). The first Web browser was written in 1990, it was called The World Wide Web, and later renamed Nexus, to differentiate between the web browser as an application and the actual space that is the World Wide Web.
Berners Lee also:
* Wrote hypertext markup language or HTML, designed to be the universal language of Web pages, readable by all computers.
* Wrote a web browser called World Wide Web, which could view documents written in html, to avoid confusion this was later changed to Nexus.
* Created a Web server
* Designed Universal Resource Identifier now known as a URL, which is the address of a website.
He performed other functions relating to its development and regulation and started an organisation known as the W3C, which outlines web standards and contributed to the development of the Semantic Web - “The Web Machine of processable data”. “The Semantic Web is a Web of data — of dates and titles and part numbers and chemical properties and any other data one might conceive of. RDF provides the foundation for publishing and linking your data. Various technologies allow you to embed data in documents (RDFa, GRDDL) or expose what you have in SQL databases, or make it available as RDF files.” (W3C website)
“The goal of the Semantic Web initiative is as broad as that of the Web: to create a universal medium for the exchange of data. It is envisaged to smoothly interconnect personal information management, enterprise application integration, and the global sharing of commercial, scientific and cultural data. Facilities to put machine-understandable data on the Web are quickly becoming a high priority for many organizations, individuals and communities.
(W3C Society and Technology Domain)
2. In this unit you will be working with XHTML scripting language. What scripting languages did did Tim Berners-Lee discuss back in 2000, do you feel his comments are still relevant today? What evidence can you find to support your view?
XML: Extensible Markup Language.
Wikipedia describes XML as “Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification[4] produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards.[5]”
RDF: Resource Description Framework
“RDF is a standard model for data interchange on the Web. RDF has features that facilitate data merging even if the underlying schemas differ, and it specifically supports the evolution of schemas over time without requiring all the data consumers to be changed.” (W3C)
SVG: Scalable Vector Graphics are the script languages
“SVG is a markup language for describing two-dimensional graphics applications and images, and a set of related graphics script interfaces.” (W3C http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/)”
I don't understand much about these three languages, but they are still mentioned and seem to be relevant today, they are different from XHTML, in that XHTML is a general language used, these three languages perform certain functions within a XHTML document. My thoughts are that XML, is the language used to encode documents so that they can be read by machines. RDF is still important as it performs the functions of translating data and getting the data to work together even though different languages are used. SVG is different to XHTML as it is a language that exists within XHTML to describe specifically two-dimensional images. My knowledge of this area is limited at this stage. Consider this response a work in progress.
3. Tim Berners-Lee discusses the world's very first web page. Visit the site and write your observations on the following: In what ways do you feel Web Design has changed over the years, not just in visual design, but hyperlinks? Why do you think this page is so simple? What scripting language did it use? View the source of this page and tell us how many tags you can find in the code.
http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
Could not follow link to page.
4. What is the W3C, do they care about “standards”?
They create standards for the World Wide Web. The definition provided on the W3C website is “The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community that develops standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web.” It is designed to be a neutral forum which identifies and creates common specifications and guidelines in the areas of Web and software development, to ensure that transferring information between computers, or operating systems is possible. This idea is one of the basic principles of the World Wide Web, Tim-Berners efforts have made the internet more accessible to the masses. His hope was that everyone who used the internet would participate in its design and that it would be a highly interactive community and he attempted to accomplish this by creating universal language or standards such as html. He identifies three of the most intrinsic specifications in the rapid development and facilitation of the World Wide Web are "HTTP, URL and HTML.
5. If Tim Berners-Lee could roll back the clock and re-design URL’s, how would we type in the address for Curtin University’s Admissions Office now at http://students.curtin.edu.au/administration/admissions/ Why would he do this?
Berners-Lee, would have written the address so that the http:edu.au/students.curtin/administration/admissions, he thought it was logical for users to realise that www.curtin.edu was the domain name attached to the addresses.
6. According to Tim Berners-Lee who invented the GUI (Graphical User Interface) browser?Name 5 different Web browsers. Which ones do you think are the most popular today?
Tim Berners Lee states that he invented the Graphical User Interface browser in 1990 it was called the World Wide Web and later changed to Nexus in order to differentiate between the application that allowed you to search the World Wide Web and the actual World Wide Web.
5 differrent web browsers that are used today include:
1. Firefox
2 Explorer
3. Chrome
4. Safari
5. Opera
These are listed at http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
7. Name the first three World Wide Web colours, in order of appearance.
I could not find information about the first three colours used on the World Wide Web. I found information about the use of Bergers default use of underline, green for links and then dark blue.
Ref: http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html
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