Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with atom

I need email updates on my blackberry from a private authenticated rss feed.

Chamunks — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:57:46 -0800

I need to be notified on my blackberry of RSS events on a secure authenticated RSS feed. These notifications can be sms texts or preferably plain text emails. They could and should filter for keywords as the site doesn't as far as I can tell. I was thinking of using yahoo pipes but I have no idea how to start but I've heard its a good way to start. I'm looking for ways to be notified immediately of events on member sites I go to. One in particular is https://ssl.what.cd and a keyword would be something like "freeleech". Its the only example that I can think of right now but I have many other uses for something like this any insight related to fulfilling my need here is fully appreciated.

Also if this (assuming but not limited to the use of yahoo pipes) pipe could also benefit from being able to push this feed to google reader as it would be nice to find a way to get authenticated feeds in google reader.

Please if you must troll over invites and morality issues please restrict them to direct messages to my user via mefimail I would prefer to keep this questions answers related to solving my problem and not a possible piracy flame war when that is not the focus of this question it was only an example.

A recipe to follow would be nice.

Nonce — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:35:27 -0800

Help me make a silent mini-ITX or micro-ATX Intel Atom system with s-video or composite out. I've never dealt with any case smaller than full ATX, and I'm worried I'll muck it up and order components that don't actually fit together the way I think they will.

It must be silent from anything more than a foot away. That's important to me. The rest is flexible. If you've done this and it worked out, please tell me what to get.

Someone should just sell me this already

lundman — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:09:45 -0800

Building your own RAID, let's talk hardware options... Say the ultimate goal was to make something that looks like N5200 but ran Open Solaris for ZFS. The cheapest I have seen a N5200 is some $600. (even empty). (N7700 uses Linux, and ZFS in FUSE which I would rather not).

So assuming I need something Intel (well, or sparc I guess), 5 bays (or more), SATA.

Perhaps using something like a Q-Box 4 case, which fits 4x 5.25" space.

I should be able to fit something like a Supermicro 5 bay for the drives, which ends with 5 SATA ports. And takes up 3x 5.25" bays. The last bay in the case is half taken by the motherboard.

Now for the main board, seems the latest rage is the Intel Atom (yes?no?) and of that, the Z530 appears to be the embedded chip. Should I look at a ready made board with the chip, or a separate board, that can take the chip.

Of the Mini-ITX boards, I do not see any that directly has 5+ SATA ports:
Mini-ITX boards

So perhaps a 4-port SATA card is needed, or something drastic like using a PATA channel, with SATA adaptor.

I am guessing fanless is probably a good idea for raid? Or should I look at the MITX-6852 which appears to be aimed at embedded as well, and does come with 6-SATA ports.

Any other options to consider? I'm based in Tokyo, so I should be able to get most things, but it does make searching for information a hint harder.

That seems to land around $300, plus LCD display if I can find one to fit in a 5.25" bay.

(SATA Multiplier options are no-go.)

Atom Python Library

k7lim — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:29:46 -0800

Is there an Atom or (better yet) AtomPub library for Python? This would save me loads of API XML design time if I can just reuse the Atom infrastructure.

RSS?

Yakuman — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 14:16:38 -0800

When I add a feed to my reader, do I want RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0 or Atom? What's the practical difference?

How are particles measured?

Citizen Premier — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:35:41 -0800

How are the attributes of atomic and subatomic particles measured? I guess you can't measure a particle without slamming something into it, right? How is this actually done?

Bonus: Is it this that forces us to use uncertainty in our current model? Does measuring a particle's location, say, change its momentum?

Looking for good web- or desktop-based RSS reader that can handle older posts

fsmontenegro — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:26:50 -0800

What options do I have for a good web- (preferred) or desktop(Windows)-based RSS reader that has good options for managing older posts within feeds? I've been using Google Reader as my primary reader for as long as I can remember, but I'm getting fed up with its behaviour around auto-archiving posts after 1 month and not being able to mark older posts as unread.

I subscribe to approximately 100 feeds, some that are chatty (dozens of posts a day) and some that are pretty quiet (1 post every 1-2 weeks or less).

Every now and then I find a new blog to follow and when I subscribe to it I'd like to easily read previous posts as well. Google Reader retrieves older posts, but doesn't let me mark them as unread.

Also, it has the very annoying feature of marking as read anything older than 1 month. This is fine for a chatty feed, but I don't like this behaviour for quieter feeds.

I looked into FeedDemon/NewsGator but it seems to also be limited in handling older posts.

Are there any options for a decent solution that is more flexible for older posts?

How can I determine the width of one molecule of a substance?

jwells — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:57:00 -0800

What is the width of a single molecule of Tartrazine? Brilliant Blue FCF? It's for something I'm writing for my website. I really have no idea how to even start looking into this, though I've gathered it depends greatly on the shape of the molecule and is difficult to pin down to a number due to electrons moving and such. So I'm just looking for a rough estimate.

Video podcasts are supposed to be easy for everyone

bryanjbusch — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:35:41 -0800

I'd like a Flash video player of my video podcast on the web site, and a high-quality (960x540 should work) video file in the podcast feed. I'm currently using WordPress and PodPress to manage the feed and video. But I can see why some people who don't want to install QuickTime might not be able to see the show. PodPress currently makes me very happy with its stats reporting, but if I have to dump it in favor of something else, I will.

I have tried placing the video in the Revver (site currently down) Flash player and including the video file as a "feed only" option with PodPress, but for reasons I can't diagnose, that doesn't work in iTunes.

Ideas?

My best idea so far is just to include an obvious link in each post that redirects the user to a different site (YouTube or Revver or something) to watch the video, but that's not exactly user-friendly. What would be easiest for both me and the viewer?

Slightly morbid science question

snoogles — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:07:38 -0800

Let's say someone dies and is cremated. What are the odds that an atom that was part of their body when they died becomes part of your body over the next 100 years that you live?

I want those entries gone!

misanthropicsarah — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:58:56 -0800

I deleted every single entry from my blog so that I can start fresh. But all the old entries are showing up in RSS and Atom feeds. How can I make those go away too? I use Google Reader and all my old entries are showing up there both in RSS2.0 and Atom.

My blogging platform is Expression Engine. I deleted all the entries manually through the EE control panel, not by doing something with the back end database (because I have no idea how to deal with mysql or phpadmin). As far as I can tell, these entries are gone forever, though I can't check the database to be sure because of said database ineptitudes.

So, how can I clear the feeds or delete the feeds or whatever for those old entries that are still showing up? I will want feeds for when I get back into things, but I don't want these old entries hanging around.

I don't know much about feeds or databases or tech-y things. Dumb it down for me.

Creating a Popurls-like site

elmwood — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:48:54 -0800

How can I create a singlegator site like Popurls? Popurls is one of the few sites on my Firefox bookmarks toolbar. It's a "singlegator" that displays the headlines of RSS feeds from many popular sites, including Metafilter, on one page.

I'd like to create a site with a similar format as Popurls, but with feeds for those sharing my profession. Are there programs or scripts readily available to create a Popurls-like singlegator page for my Web site? (FWIW, the site has a Drupal CMS front end that is integrated with a vBulletin message board.)

Sorry, Slashdot types, but "learn PHP and roll your own" isn't an option. I can make very minor modifications to existing scripts, but forget about creating something from scratch.

metaäggregationfilter

delmoi — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:52:56 -0800

Are there any web sites where you can enter a search term, and get an RSS feed of new results, like Google news alerts but over RSS rather then email? Are there any other interesting tools out for searching the blog sphere (besides technorati) It seems like there must be tools out that there will create feeds by aggregating entries that match certan search criteria, but I don't know what those are, (it's kind of a difficult thing to search for). Beyond getting feeds of search results, I'm also interested in any other novel or innovative blog-searching tools out there.

Nintendo DS news into my Bloglines, please.

Ufez Jones — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:25:53 -0800

Searching through the tags, I don't think this has been asked before. I'm looking for feeds that I can slap into my Bloglines that will keep me updated on Nintendo DS releases and reviews. I don't have the time or commitment to go all around the various gaming sites on a week-by-week basis to keep abreast of all the new releases and/or new games that the DS'ers at large deem worthy of checking out. However, I'm interested in keeping an eye out for titles that I may (eventually) want to pick up.

Feeds need not be DS-exclusive (I can ignore other platform releases and reviews), but I'd like to be able to keep up on what's what regarding DS titles and the simplest way for me to do this is with my feedreader. Anyone have any suggestions?

A Problem of Scale: Halfway in size between an atom and the universe

0bvious — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:10:04 -0800

"A human is halfway in size between an atom and the known universe"... This is a paraphrased quote I have come across several times. I like it. Who said it first? How true is it in the most literal sense? And, finally, what errors arrive in postulating a universe, or an atom, which can be measured AT ALL from our singular, relativistic, perspective? I found this quote from Cosmic Evolution which further complicates the whole relative size issue:

"Roughly halfway in size between an atom and a human, the amoeba has poor awareness and coordination. It generally responds only at the point stimulated, communicating the information sluggishly through the rest of its body. Although amoebas have developed a crude nervous system, living things that aspire to be more agile—and smarter—surely need quicker internal reactions." - link

Kind of sets another stage from which to view this question.

I also found this quote from Holmes Rolston which further complicates things:

"The human world stands about midway between the infinitesimal and the immense. The size of our planet is near the geometric mean of the size of the known universe and the size of the atom. The mass of a human being is the geometric mean of the mass of the earth and the mass of a proton. A person contains about 10²⁸ atoms, more atoms than there are stars in the universe. Such considerations yield perhaps only a relative location. Still, questions of place and proportion arise." - link

Who first made this often used statement? My earlier questions still stand :-)

Thanks...

Kilimanjaro weather feed?

o2b — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 13:34:40 -0800

Is there an RSS feed from which I can pull updating weather information for Mount Kilimanjaro's summit?

Simple single-page aggregation?

symbebekos — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 12:37:52 -0800

I want to aggregate some RSS feeds for a group of not-tech-savvy people... ...and I like the single page apporach best, where a bunch of feeds are rendered on one page with pop-up article previews - you know, like Popurls or Original Signal. My question: are there any CC- or GNU-licensed templates to get the job done? I could write everything myself, but I'm lazy and I'd rather tweak than work from scratch. (Also, I know setting up RSS to Javascript or however you render the feeds needs to be set up on a server; no big deal.)

Sell short online and on phone

andrewyakovlev — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:25:28 -0800

Digital Distribution Filter: It seems that the video on the internet can be put in two groups - the DIY (low production value) and the "produced" (iTunes, etc.) content. I'm pretty sure DIY content producers don't make any $, whereis "produced" content always needs to recoup. What kind of deals do iTunes or AtomFilms make for independently "produced" short film content, e.g. how much of that $1.99 does Apple keep? This question is coming from a short film maker reseraching the potential investor return on an independently produced short to be distributed on-line and for mobile devices. Any insight would be helpfull. It seems like there's a boom happening, but what does it mean for the indie? How does that extra source of income affect the ideal budget for a short? How forward looking can I make my forward looking statement ? :]

Take a picture, if you can.

anonpeon — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 17:58:04 -0800

Does an actual photos of small things like atoms, molecules or DNA? Google didn't show anything for photo, just lots of models. I am looking for real bona fide made from reality image captures. Is it even possible to do photograph these things? If not, are we moving to a point where we weill be able to take such photos or even movies?

Duck and Cover

interrobang — Wed, 03 May 2006 11:53:37 -0800

Did children actually believe that "Duck and Cover" would work? Was the program met with any cynicism, or did Americans simply not know enough about the bomb to know any better? Did it make the atom bomb less scary?

I know this was all before the Kennedy assassination and Watergate, but did the public really believe the things the government was saying about the dangers of the atom bomb?

Blogs: Best syndication standard for a newsfeed?

cadge — Tue, 02 May 2006 09:38:56 -0800

Blog syndication: What standard (RSS, Atom, etc.) is best for syndicating full blog post contents? My blog has a simple RSS 0.91 feed with descriptions of blog entries. My system is hand-rolled - a PHP script rewrites the XML file with MySQL content for every new entry (I want to keep it this way and not use external feed services).

Now I want to publish the full contents of each entry to people's newsreaders, not just short descriptions. I'm stumped about what kind of feed to offer and what problems I might run into, though.

What standard should I use - RSS, Atom, both, other?
Are there any special character issues I should keep an eye out for? Can anyone recommend any resources online for more reading?

atomchip real or hoax?

blueyellow — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 14:48:35 -0800

Is the atom chip vaporware? A few months ago there was a great deal of speculation about whether the quantum-optical computers from atomchip.com were real or a hoax. They are supposed to be presenting their product at the current CES 2006, but I can not find any coverage. Does anyone have any new infromation?

RSS Implementation Help

madmath — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 14:30:19 -0800

Basic RSS question-- I'm trying to add RSS to my site, and since I'm teaching this to myself, I'm confused. I tried to use this template-- http://www.kriyayoga.com/cgi-bin/rss_editor/rssedit.pl
I don't understand about the 15 separate items. My blog has more than 15 posts. Do I update the RSS template instead of posting straight from blogger?

NewsFeeds. Just don't get it. Help me to. Get it, that is.

nevercalm — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 06:26:35 -0800

Please help me get the most out of newsfeeds/RSS/Atom/etc in order to best utilize my limited web time. I switched careers about 6 months ago, and my new job allows me zero internet access during work hours. I'm finding that I'm spending an uncomfortable number of my non-work hours online, just to try to catch up on the numerous sites I like to read.

I been using Thunderbird on a Mac for email and, when it was first available as a feature, I set up a bunch of feeds from my favorite sites. But it just never felt natural or intuitive to me....there's some block there that's keeping me from adopting it fully. Maybe it's not the best reader for me? It's also downloading the same article numerous times, which is a drag to constantly have to delete.

So, please help me optimize my feedreading experience...what's everyone's favorite software? Is Thunderbird worthwhile? Would I be better off using a Google homepage? Money is an object. What are your favorite tips and tricks? I need my life back, damnit!

Shrinking text in bloglines?

callmejay — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 06:31:32 -0800

Why does the text to a particular feed get smaller and smaller in bloglines? It looks like a vision test, where each paragraph is smaller than the previous one. Can I do anything about this? The feed in question is http://OneDrunktoAnother.blogspot.com/atom.xml

It happens for no other feed.