Gavin Terrill's Blog

The Semantic Web comes to a browser near you

This looks really interesting: Piggy Bank.

The basic idea is that this lets you add additional information about the web pages you visit to a database running on your machine using "Semantic Web" technologies. Now, the thing about the Semantic Web is that it adds meaning to web pages, instead of simply being text, so you can say things like "this page is about a movie, and it is rated PG".

On the developer side of things, this is built in a manner similar to Google desktop search in that the "server" is installed on your machine instead of a machine sitting on the other side of the internet. The GUI is completely built in Firefox, and uses LiveConnect to talk to the Java bit. It looks like it is really taking the "browser as platform" idea to the leading edge - with lots of AJAX thrown in for good measure.

I am looking forward to installing this and having a play.

RDF and Pareto

Sitting on the sideline, as a software developer who earns a living developing software, it is interesting to observe the somewhat opposing points of view between Danny Ayers and Adam Bosworth on the principles of simplicity and where RDF fits in the grand scheme of things. I hold both of these guys in high respect (I garner much value from their blogs) but in this case I am leaning towards the Bosworth point of view. I am enamoured with the RDF concept, but realistically it is a royal PITB to implement anything on top of it, at least on the Java platform. Surprisingly, I think the concept may be too sloppy - lots of  hand waving about what it is you are actually describing, and soothing but none-the-less high level abstractions. So, in accordance with Pareto I think I'll pass for now until someone smarter than me makes it more accessible.