• Directory
  • FAQ: about JURN
  • Group tests
  • Guide to academic search
  • JURN’s donationware
  • openEco: nature titles indexed

News from JURN

~ search tool for open access content

News from JURN

Category Archives: Spotted in the news

The Calculator Drawer

29 Sunday Jan 2023

Posted by David Haden in Spotted in the news

≈ Leave a comment

The Calculator Drawer at Archive.org. Vintage calculators, emulated online and as fiendish as ever. Only 14 so far, plus a stash of manuals. The one I tried had about a 20Mb download of its MAME files, and then worked as expected in the browser.

“Microsoft Clippy, et al.”

28 Saturday Jan 2023

Posted by David Haden in Spotted in the news

≈ Leave a comment

No, your AI-powered writing assistant can’t be credited on academic papers. Even old Microsoft Clippy, the talking paperclip. So says Science and Springer Nature, with others likely to follow their lead in banning AI-generated text.

Interestingly, images and graphics are also forbidden. So presumably, in future, editors won’t feel able to use AI to magic up a cost-free front-cover illustration.

AI-generated image by Dream by Wombo

Meanwhile, Manubot with AI-assisted clarification tool. Sounds like a rather useful ‘Super-Clippy’, to me. It’s a pity academics won’t be permitted to use it, now.

Another rummage among the RSS readers

27 Friday Jan 2023

Posted by David Haden in My general observations, Spotted in the news

≈ Leave a comment

Great to see that the old SeaMonkey freeware has re-started development, and since Spring 2020 has been vigorously releasing updates. Old-school Internet users will recall this suite from the Netscape / Yahoo years. It’s an all-in-one software with a Web browser (now Firefox based), email client, newsgroup and RSS readers, HTML editor with javascript debugger, and IRC chat. The only thing it seems to lack is FTP, but these days you might be more likely to do that through a Web dashboard. And if you really need it, the browser plugin FireFTP is compatible.

Runs on Linux. Mac, Windows 7 and higher.

Regrettably it can’t just be used as desktop RSS reader, as that’s integrated with Mail and not in its own panel. Nor, so far as I can tell or find, does SeaMonkey yet have a Dark Mode — except for the Web browser via a plugin. Both of which are deal-breakers for me.

However, the search did make me aware that several Web browsers are now shipping an RSS feedreader in the default package, or plan to…

* The Vivaldi browser already has a nice one, though limited and not standalone (it’s inside Vivaldi Mail).

* Google Chrome announced in August a planned port of their Android Chrome RSS feedreader to the desktop version of the browser. Though probably only as a side-panel. So far as I can tell from news searches, it hasn’t happened yet.

* Brave’s “privacy-preserving newsreader” still doesn’t appear to have a desktop version, despite promises back in the summer.

My search of news also brought details of changes in standalone desktop readers, gHacks reports this week that RSS Guard update brings massive performance boost. It appears to have caught up with the No.1 RSS desktop freeware QuiteRSS (development stalled), at least in speed, by introducing parallel feed updating. You can also now block all cookies (Top menu-bar | Tools | Settings | Network | “Do not accept …”).

So I tried it. Installed. Lovely dark mode, easily applied. Turned off all cookies. I was then utterly stumped as to how to import the OPML. Turns out it’s completely impossible to import an OPML, if you skip past the popup window at the start. But then my anti-virus did its own pop-up and blocked RSS Guard, anyway. It was a very generic detection and I permitted it, reluctantly. Uninstalled, reinstalled, and this time an OPML import option was offered on startup. But then it fatally crashed when it went to load the OPML feed-bundle. Oh well, RSS Guard looked slick and sounded fast but… uninstalled. No good.

So… for now the old QuiteRSS is still the best there is on the Windows desktop.

The Index of Medieval Art Database – free from July 2023

14 Saturday Jan 2023

Posted by David Haden in Spotted in the news

≈ Leave a comment

The Index of Medieval Art Database will become perpetually ‘free to use’ from 1st July 2023 onward, for “researchers at all levels”. The largest database of such research, it is well-established and includes a “photographic archive” which offers iconographic clustering and links to referenced texts (e.g. Arthurian + Sir Lancelot pictures can be clustered together, and apparently there are also links to the story-texts related to each image). It also seems to includes carving, engraved items (spoons etc) and so on, and the definition of “art” appears to be as wide as you might expect or require for answering research questions (e.g. “plain as a pikestaff” — how plain and unadorned were medieval English ‘palmer’ pilgrimage staffs, exactly, compared to the staffs of officials and merchants?).

The Index of Medieval Art is currently public and free for initial searches, though “Subscription is required to view images” even for the thumbnails in the search results.

Release: AutoHotKey 2.0 final

21 Wednesday Dec 2022

Posted by David Haden in Spotted in the news

≈ Leave a comment

AutoHotKey 2.0 final was released yesterday. This is venerable and well-supported freeware, commonly used for scripted desktop automation on Windows. Installer downloads via MajorGeeks also include a link to a portable version.

Regrettably it seems there is no central repository that archives all known “tested and working” AutoHotKey scripts. Perhaps there should be?

“First, catch your cat…”

18 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by David Haden in Spotted in the news

≈ Leave a comment

There’s a new Democracy’s Library at Archive.org, a unified hub bringing together… “more than 700 collections from over 50 government organizations, archived by the Internet Archive since 2006.” And they’re collecting more from governments around the world. The collection has a search box, constrained to the collection. As you might expect many documents are a little dated though many are still practical…

Flickr Foundation

18 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by David Haden in Spotted in the news

≈ Leave a comment

A new Flickr Foundation, set to start hiring in early 2023. Among the current aims: “restore and then grow the Flickr Commons”; provide evidence about use and usefulness; and bring in new curators. If only they hadn’t locked me out of my Flickr account years ago (due to the Yahoo crash-and-burn), I’d be among them.

Microsoft Teams – no-nag

17 Saturday Dec 2022

Posted by David Haden in JURN tips and tricks, Spotted in the news

≈ Leave a comment

A new UserScript, Microsoft Teams – Use Web App Instead. Stops the Desktop version of Teams from nagging you, if you’ve already launched (and want to use) the almost-identical Web browser version of Teams in Edge or Chrome.

Canadian Cheese

11 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by David Haden in Spotted in the news

≈ Leave a comment

Reportedly new, the Historical National Topographic System (NTS): 1:50,000 Scale Maps, Data, & GIS. This is Canada’s official portal for the nation’s free Canadian maps, created and printed from 1948 onward. Currently appears to be hosting nearly 6,000 high-res maps plus their associated data. Most maps feature cheese factories, if this curious item on the site’s sidebar facets is to be credited…

UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association

10 Saturday Dec 2022

Posted by David Haden in Spotted in the news

≈ Leave a comment

Now gearing up, here in the British Isles, the relatively new UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association…

Growing out of the Digital Humanities Research Network

…which was at dhnetwork.org.

Plans for the next few years include: a mailing-list; an annual briefing for members; a call for Special Interest Groups (deadline: 17th February 2023); and a guide to career pathways, among other ideas. There are already a couple of white papers on the site, relating to the latter.

← Older posts
Subscribe: RSS News Feed.
I'm on Patreon!

JURN:

  • JURN : directory of ejournals
  • JURN : main search-engine
  • JURN : openEco directory
  • JURN : repository search

Related sites:

  • 4 Humanities
  • Academic Freedom Alliance
  • Accuracy in Academia
  • Alliance Defending Freedom
  • ALPSP
  • alt.academy
  • AMIR
  • Anterotesis
  • Arcadia project
  • Art Historicum (German)
  • AWOL
  • Beall's List (updated at 2018)
  • Beall’s List (old)
  • Beyond Search
  • Bibliographic wilderness
  • Booktwo
  • Campus Reform
  • Charleston Advisor
  • Coalition for Networked Information
  • Communia (public domain watchdog)
  • Cost of Knowledge
  • Council of Editors of Learned Journals
  • Dan Cohen
  • Digital Koans
  • Digital Shift
  • Dissernet (Russian anti-plagiarism)
  • DOAJ
  • Don't Block TOR
  • eFoundations
  • EIFL
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • ELO
  • Embargo Watch
  • ePublishing Trust for Development
  • Facebook: Arab Open Access
  • Facebook: Italian Open Access
  • Facebook: Open Access India
  • Film Studies for Free
  • FIRE
  • Flaky Academic Conferences
  • Found History
  • Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
  • Free Speech Union (UK)
  • Google Algorithm
  • Heterodox Academy
  • Iconclass
  • IFLA Serials blog
  • ImpactStory
  • infoDocket
  • InTech Blog
  • Jinfo (formerly Free Pint)
  • Kindle blog
  • L'edition Electronique (French)
  • La Criee : periodiques (French)
  • Leader Statement Database on Free Speech
  • National Association of Scholars
  • National Coalition of Independent Scholars
  • Neil Beagrie
  • OA Lookup : Policies
  • OA Working Group
  • OASPA
  • Online Searcher
  • Open Access Bibliography
  • Open Access Week
  • Open and Shut?
  • Open Electronic Publishing
  • Open Folklore
  • Open Knowledge Maps
  • Open Library of Humanities
  • Periodiques en ligne (French)
  • Peter Murray Rust
  • PKP / OJS
  • Project Gutenberg
  • Publishing Archaeology
  • RBA Blog
  • Reclaim the Net
  • Research Information
  • Research Remix
  • Right to Research
  • River Valley TV
  • ROARS (Italian)
  • Scholarly Electronic Publishing
  • Scholarship Matters
  • Searchblox
  • Searcher
  • Serials Cataloger
  • Serials Review
  • Society of Young Publishers
  • Speech First
  • TaxoDiary (taxonomies news)
  • Taxpayer Access
  • Tentaclii
  • The Scholarly Kitchen
  • Thoughts from Carl Grant
  • Web Scale Discovery
  • Zotero blog

Some of the libraries linking to JURN

  • Boston College Libraries
  • Brooklyn Public Library, NY
  • Duke University
  • Kobe University, Japan
  • Rhode Island College
  • San Jose State University
  • UConn Stamford
  • University of California
  • University of Cambridge (Casimir Lewy Library)
  • University of Cambridge (main)
  • University of Canberra
  • University of Toronto
  • Washington University
  • West Virginia University

Spare BitCoins? Please send donations to JURN via: 17e2KGuyzjzEEE7BsoYTwMo3MtUod6DrjP

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • June 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • News from JURN
    • Join 901 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • News from JURN
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...