MSG, the AJAX incarnation of BuddySpace Instant Messenger, this week adds video chat to round out its unique "Seven Opens" philosophy: Open Source code, Open University integration with the OpenLearn environment, OpenFire’s Jabber/XMPP server, Open Registration for all, Open Location to mashup with Google Maps, Open Embedding to encourage widget placement elsewhere, and now Open…
KMi has completed the first test phase of DYNIQX, an innovative search tool that pools results from multiple search engines, including academic repository sites that Google does not index. Unlike earlier ‘meta-search’ engines, DYNIQX uses a dynamic interface to add and remove results in real time as the user ‘tunes’ the query, thereby making the…
"I refuse to put my life on hold while I wait for somebody else ‘to make me whole’." That quote, from an article written by Jez in 2000 about his high seas sailing adventures [linked below], is typical of the dynamo who served as KMi Business Manager from the opening of KMi in 1995 until…
Hey, it’s not Comdex… but the joint is seriously jumpin’… I’m in Havana at Informataca 2007, the biggest hi-tech gig to hit this town in, well, ever. It’s a meta-conference – 15 major conferences all taking place at once (list below), huge exhibitss, tons of delegates from around the world, and some interesting- looking gigs….
Today sees the official launch of the Open University’s ambitious OpenLearn, and KMi will be there in force at the kick-off to showcase the experimental LabSpace featuring core KMi technologies. OpenLearn was formally announced this week, and sees the Open University take centre stage as one of the world’s biggest players in Open Educational Resources…
Dr. Dawei Song of the KMi has been awarded his second EPSRC grant of the year, an overseas travel grant of £16,459 for ‘Dimensionality Reduction for Efficient Similarity Search in High Dimensional Spaces’, 1/2007-3/2007. This grant will allow Dr. Song to visit his long-term collaborators at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology,…
KMi's experimental minimalist messenger, MSG, is ready for its first deployment at the forthcoming European Semantic Web Conference. Although the conference itself is a bigger story in its own right, MSG represents a new path for KMi presence and social software research. In addition to being the first external deployment of our new AJAX Jabber…
KMi's “Instant Messenger with maps and attitude”, BuddySpace, was made available in version 2.6 today. The latest version, which includes Chris Denham's extensions to Jiri Komzak's core client, boasts three main extensions: 1. Simlink, a tool that allows creation of 'shared plugins' for use in group chat, yielding in effect 'bandwidth-friendly screen-sharing'. 2. BuddyFinder, a…
KMi's popular Instant-Messaging-Meets-Maps service, BuddySpace, has been simplified with the launch of a new 'Web Client' interface. The new interface requires no downloads, no installations, and not even a modern browser or speedy internet connection. The idea is to 'run anywhere', 'by anyone', 'using any computer' with 'any installed software base' (within reason, naturally). The…
KMi's showcase appears this week on the cover of Science, the high-circulation magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The cover story, about distributed computing, features the ClimatePredication.net project, in which KMi and the OU Department of Earth Science were partners with Oxford University and others listed at the link below. The…
