17 Apr 2002

Wed, 17 Apr 2002

WebJives extends my vbscript google SOAP API example

WebJives: These guys have expanded rather nicely on my original vbscript work last week. If you're looking for one of the better, more complete, vb script examples of how to use the google SOAP API, this is it.

Posted at: 16:21 | permalink

What is a Scoville?

Scoville. When you accidentally chew one of those strange red things that P.F. Chang's mixes into their Kung Pao Chicken and your mouth turns into an electric superkiln of volcanic fire, you can say “Oh wow, that musta been 200,000 scovilles!” (right after you've finished the fifth glass of water) and it's all because of Wilbur Scoville: a chemist who invented a way of measuring just how hot a pepper can get, way back in 1912.

Scoville's method to determine the heat of a pepper is based on dilution. You grind up the pepper into a paste, then dilute it in a gallon of water. Then you keep adding sugar to the solution until a panel of about 5 taste testers don't burn their tongues anymore. The amount of sugar you had to add will be used to calculate the pepper's Scoville rating.


Namby-pamby Tabasco sauce is a paltry 2,140 scovilles, while the hottest naturally occurring pepper is the Red Savina Habanero, which clocks about 577,000.


That's baby food.


A food additive called “Chet's Gone Mad” registers 1.5 million scovilles and, when added to your chili, shall put Grandma in the hospital. But that's only for beginners and amateurs, because Blair's 5am Reserve—of which only 999 bottles were made—makes the sun jealous at 5.5 million scovilles.


Should one obtain the permits and necessary safety equipment to handle it, it should be disclosed that pure capsaicin, the chemical in peppers that makes them hot, marks the top of the scale at 16 million scovilles. Put a teaspoon of this in a gallon of barbeque sauce and you'll be incarcerated under the terms of the comprehensive test-ban treaty.

[Disenchanted Dictionary]

Posted at: 16:13 | permalink

Wenham's first law of demand

Wenham's first law of demand. No matter how dumb your product's concept is, or how badly it's been implemented, there will always be someone who's lifestyle is so perverse and twisted that your service will become indispensable to them. [Disenchanted Dictionary]

Posted at: 16:12 | permalink

One of the most concise statements on SOAP that's been written

This is probably the best description of SOAP for mere mortals that I've seen anywhere. And one of the smartest sites I've ever seen. Period.


disenchanted.com: "It might be poetic justice, then, that a better alternative to Java (for writing programs that can be used from anywhere) has been invented in a partnership that included Microsoft. It's called SOAP, and instead of trying to make a program run on any computer, it's meant to make it easier for a program to talk to any computer across the Internet and make that computer behave like a component. In the past, if you built a word processor and wanted to add a spell-checker you'd have to buy that part, include it with every copy of the word processor that you shipped, and plan on hiring an employee to keep the dictionary updated with new words. SOAP means you don't have to; you just have your program talk to an online dictionary hosted somewhere else. The program you ship loses the fat, reduced to a bundle of signal genes, because all the libraries are stored elsewhere and maintained by someone else." [disenchanted.com]

Posted at: 15:50 | permalink

Developers dig into google's toolbox

I was contacted by Stefanie Olsen, from CNET news about this article but unfortunately, I didn't get back to her in time to be included. Still, it's a good article for those who want to understand the high level ideas behind what Google is doing.

Posted at: 09:06 | permalink

Google inconsistencies

Can somebody tell me why the google box on the right side of this page often has different results than searching google.com for the same search string? Note: I've since removed the google box. Sorry!

Posted at: 07:55 | permalink

I'm feeling lucky - on steroids

I'm feeling lucky - on steroids


This was an early announcement about the prototype I was working on. You'll find the finished application here.







The Web Search Agent combines the best of Swing user interface elements constructed with Sun's latest JDK 1.4 to bring you the ultimate google search experience. This is a screenshot of our pre-release prototype running on Windows XP. All of the features aren't there yet, but the basic interface is usable. We've taken the google SOAP API and wired it to the tabbed pane at the top of the main window. You specify search criteria and click search. The agent creates and populates a separate tab for each search result with the fully rendered HTML in each tab, asynchronously. That's why we call it, I'm feeling lucky - on steroids. You get all of your search results faster than a short order cook flips eggs. Coming soon to a desktop near you courtesy of Bryan Mills and David Watson.


 

Posted at: 00:56 | permalink