Taming the World Wide Web

The excerpt from the article below (full article is "Taming the World Wide Web" ) contains a nice description of how industry is trying to apply Semantic Web technology and moreover, how industry is scrambling to develop it and make it easier to apply.

One thing that caught my eye on this article was the admission that Semantic Web technology is in infancy. There is a lot of talk about the technology and those who study it often convey it as a pervasive tool; but it simply isn't there yet.

I'm fascinated with the possibility and application of the technology so if you see other good data or whitepapers, etc. about it, please share!

"...

Found in Space

Those tools are the stuff of the Semantic Web, a method of tagging online information so it can be better understood in relation to other data—even if it's tucked away in some faraway corporate database or software program. Today's prominent search tools are adept at quickly identifying and serving up reams of online information, though not at showing how it all fits together. "When you get down to it, you have to know whatever keyword the person used, or you're never going to find it," says Dave McComb, president of consulting firm Semantic Arts.

Researchers in a growing number of industries are sampling Semantic Web knowhow. Citigroup (C) is evaluating the tools to help traders, bankers, and analysts better mine the wealth of financial data available on the Web. Kodak (EK) is investigating whether the technologies can help consumers more easily sort digital photo collections. NASA is testing ways to correlate scientific data and maps so scientists can more efficiently carry out planetary exploration simulation activities.

The Semantic Web is in many ways in its infancy, but its potential to transform how businesses and individuals correlate information is huge, analysts say. The market for the broader family of products and services that encompasses the Semantic Web could surge to more than $50 billion in 2010 from $2.2 billion in 2006, according to a 2006 report by Mills Davis at consulting firm Project10X.

Data Worth a Thousand Pictures

While other analysts say it will take longer for the market to reach $50 billion, most agree that the impact of the Semantic Web will be wide-ranging. The Project10X study found that semantic tools are being developed by more than 190 companies, including Adobe (ADBE), AT&T (T), Google (GOOG), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Oracle (ORCL), and Sony (SNE)."

CEO Guide to Technology

Business Week has published a good series of articles today that are very relevant to our coursework in EMIS 18. The CEO Guide to Technology covers Virtual Worlds, Widgets, The Web of the Future, Wikis, Social Networking, VoIP, and Web 2.0 technology.

What is X3D?

X3D is a royalty-free open standards file format and run-time architecture to represent and communicate 3D scenes and objects using XML. It is an ISO ratified standard that provides a system for the storage, retrieval and playback of real time graphics content embedded in applications, all within an open architecture to support a wide array of domains and user scenarios.

X3D has a rich set of componentized features that can tailored for use in engineering and scientific visualization, CAD and architecture, medical visualization, training and simulation, multimedia, entertainment, education, and more.

The development of real-time communication of 3D data across all applications and network applications has evolved from its beginnings as the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) to the considerably more mature and refined X3D standard.

X3D Features at a Glance

• XML Integrated: the key to integration with:
  • Web Services
  • Distributed Networks
  • Cross-platform, inter-application file and data transfer
• Componentized: allows lightweight core 3D runtime delivery engine
• Extensible: allows components to be added to extend functionality for vertical market applications and services
• Profiled: standardized sets of extensions to meet specific application needs
• Evolutionary: easy to update and preserve VRML97 content as X3D
• Broadcast/Embedded Application Ready: from mobile phones to supercomputers
• Real-Time: graphics are high quality, real-time, interactive, and include audio and video as well as 3D data.
• Well-Specified: makes it easier to build conformant, consistent and bug-free implementations

X3D Supports

• 3D graphics and programmable shaders - Polygonal geometry, parametric geometry, hierarchical transformations, lighting, materials, multi-pass/multi-stage texture mapping, pixel and vertex shaders, hardware acceleration
• 2D graphics - Spatialized text; 2D vector graphics; 2D/3D compositing
• CAD data - Translation of CAD data to an open format for publishing and interactive media
• Animation - Timers and interpolators to drive continous animations; humanoid animation and morphing
• Spatialized audio and video - Audio-visual sources mapped onto geometry in the scene
• User interaction - Mouse-based picking and dragging; keyboard input
• Navigation - Cameras; user movement within the 3D scene; collision, proximity and visibility detection
• User-defined objects - Ability to extend built-in browser functionality by creating user-defined data types
• Scripting - Ability to dynamically change the scene via programming and scripting languages
• Networking - Ability to compose a single X3D scene out of assets located on a network; hyperlinking of objects to other scenes or assets located on the World Wide Web
• Physical simulation and real-time communication - Humanoid animation; geospatial datasets; integration with Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) protocols

Overview of X3D Profiles and Conformance

The modular architecture of X3D allows for layered "profiles" that can provide 1) increased functionality for immersive environments and enhanced interactivity or 2) focused data interchange formats for vertical market applications within a small downloadable footprint composed of modular blocks of functionality ("Components"), that can be easily understood and implemented by application and content developers.

A component-based architecture supports creation of different "profiles" which can be individually supported. Components can be individually extended or modified through adding new "levels", or new components can be added to introduce new features, such as streaming. Through this mechanism, advancements of the specification can move quickly because development in one area doesn't slow the specification as a whole. Importantly, the conformance requirements for a particular piece of content are unambiguosly defined by indicating the profiles, components and levels required by that content.

X3D Baseline Profiles

• Interchange is the basic profile for communicating between applications. It support geometry, texturing, basic lighting, and animation. There is no run time model for rendering, making it very easy to use and integrate into any application.
• Interactive enables basic interaction with a 3D environment by adding various sensor nodes for user navigation and interaction (e.g., PlanseSensor, TouchSensor, etc.), enhanced timing, and additional lighting (Spotlight, PointLight).
• Immersive enables full 3D graphics and interaction, including audio support, collision, fog, and scripting.
• Full includes all defined nodes including NURBS, H-Anim and GeoSpatial components.
  
  

Additional X3D Profiles

• MPEG-4 Interactive is a small footprint version of the Interactive profile designed for broadcast, handheld devices and mobile phones
• CDF (CAD Distillation Format) is in development to enable translation of CAD data to an open format for publishing and interactive media.

IPv6

IPv6 Information Page

What is IPv6?

IPv6 is short for "Internet Protocol Version 6". IPv6 is the "next generation" protocol designed by the IETF to replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 ("IPv4").

Most of today's internet uses IPv4, which is now nearly twenty years old. IPv4 has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age, but it is beginning to have problems. Most importantly, there is a growing shortage of IPv4 addresses, which are needed by all new machines added to the Internet.

IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as the limited number of available IPv4 addresses. It also adds many improvements to IPv4 in areas such as routing and network autoconfiguration. IPv6 is expected to gradually replace IPv4, with the two coexisting for a number of years during a transition period.

Some introductory information about the protocol can be found in our IPv6 FAQ. For those interested in the technical details, we have a list of IPv6 related specifications.

Security Architecture

Security Architecture

The Security Architecture Policy requires agencies to securely and economically protect transaction of the State's business, delivery of services, and communications among citizens, businesses, political sub-divisions, and the federal government. It encourages the state and individual agencies to incorporate technology security improvements for business requirements without compromising the security, integrity, and performance of the enterprise and its information resources.

Security Architecture provides the framework and foundation to enable secure communication, protect agency business processes and information resources, and ensures that new methods for delivering service are secure. Numerous statewide security standards address the elements contained in the statewide Technology Infrastructure and Security Assessment (TISA).

Arizona’s adaptive Security Architecture identifies the basic services needed to address security in both the current electronic environment and in future, anticipated electronic environments. Agencies are working to preserve the integrity, reliability, availability, and confidentiality of important information while maintaining their information systems. The most effective way to protect information and systems is to incorporate security into each domain of EA. This approach, depicted below, ensures that security supports agency business operations, thus facilitating those operations, and that plans to fund and manage security are built into life-cycle budgets for IT.

While applicable security elements are incorporated into domain technical standards, the Security Architecture domain defines both technologies and rules of behavior to securely and economically protect IT assets and resources.

AJAX Security Tools

AJAX Security Tools

IdaAshley points out the latest from IBM developerWorks' Web development section, which talks about shoring up potential weaknesses in Ajax applications. It follows another recent guide for improving Ajax performance. "In this article, you'll learn about Ajax security tools, which you'll be using to scan for SQL injection and cross-site scripting vulnerabilities; to set a master password; and to restore the state of all windows after crashes. You'll take a look at tools and utilities that ensure that linked Web sites in applications are not on the blocked lists and which prevent hackers from altering browser functionality, defacing Web applications, and achieving malicious results. You'll find these utilities divided into three types within the article: hardening tools, Firefox tools, and Firefox add-ons."

Move Over AJAX, Make Room for ARAX

Move Over AJAX, Make Room for ARAX

"eWeek reports that Microsoft's Silverlight platform will support Ruby client-side scripting, enabling ARAX — or Asynchronous Ruby and XML. Would be cool to have the option to script client-side in something other than Javascript. 'In essence, using ARAX, Ruby developers would not have to go through the machinations of using something like the RJS (Ruby JavaScript) utility, where they write Ruby code and RJS generates JavaScript code to run on the client, Lam said. "Sure, you could do it that way, but then at some point you might have to add some JavaScript code that adds some custom functionality on the client yourself," he said. "So there's always that sense of, 'Now I'm in another world. And wouldn't it be nice if I have this utility class I wrote in Ruby...' Today if I want to use it in the browser I have to port it to JavaScript. Now I can just run it in the browser."'"