codedread

As most people tripping around the blogosphere know, the Firefox 1.5 web browser was officially released tonight. If you already have Firefox 1.5 RC 3, then you already have the final version, but if not - go download your free copy now.

I guess this means that I have to start downloading the Firefox trunk builds if I want to be on the “bleeding edge”? For those of you who don’t know, the “trunk” is the main line of development where new and untested features are included while the “1.8 branch” constitutes the stable line of code on which Firefox 1.5 is built.

The W3C CDF Working Group has released third Working Drafts of their documents:

• Compound Document Framework 1.0
• WICD Core 1.0
• WICD Mobile Profile 1.0
• WICD Full Profile 1.0

Remember the quality of these documents depends on getting good feedback in the form of review comments that you can submit to the CDF WG Mailing List.

[Note that as of 2005-11-22, 8:43 AM CST all four links to these documents are broken, pointing to XML documents that require login. I have sent an email to have them corrected.]

[Update: Links were corrected by Kevin E Kelly as of 2005-11-22, 9:54 AM CST]

Sam and I took the boys to Toys “R” Us last night more for something to do than for shopping. They had fun, smeared their germs on some toys while Sam and I got some ideas for Christmas.

Anyway, on the way out while packing everybody into the minivan at 8:45 PM (we didn’t realize how late it was), I saw two younger guys getting out of their car and carrying a bundle of stuff towards the store. I didn’t think anything of it until I started pulling out of the parking lot and saw them sitting down beside the store entrance, in other words planning to camp out for the night.

“I wonder what they’re camping out for… is there a Ticketmaster outlet in Toys ‘R’ Us?”

This morning when I got into work and checked my feeds, Mister Scoble enlightened me as to what they were waiting for: The Xbox 360. It was cold last night, I hope it was worth it…

I came across this XML Matters article today: Beyond the DOM by Dethe Elza. For the most part if you’re a seasoned web developer with years of experience with the DOM there’s probably nothing new here for you, but I found a couple handy things that I’ll be adding to my JS libraries that I include with my projects:

• A JavaScript function that eases creation of DOM elements (link)
• Some mapping and filter functions (note that Mozilla Firefox natively supports very similar functionality in their JavaScript implementation which should improve speed) (link)

Thank you Anne for clarifying my confusion between “activities” and “working groups”. It was indeed the W3C announcement that caused my confusion when I misinterpreted the following quote:

The Compound Document Formats Working Group chaired
by Kevin Kelly (IBM) moves to this Activity, and continues to develop a
framework for combined documents

as an indication that the CDF WG would be absorbed into either the Web Applications or Web API Working Groups. Ok, I learned something new today…

Via Jaime J. Weinerman. This article delves into the hidden complexities behind releasing older TV shows that contained licensable music. It’s really a shame that licensing fees have gotten so out of hand that it’s actually not profitable for a studio to release the show as it originally aired.

I remember the episode of Quantum Leap that they mention in the article and I can see why fans would be angered about that particular song replacement - music is often a powerful memory cue and that was an emotionally charged scene. Changing a memorable theme song to a show, like Married with Children is absolutely inconceivable to a nostalgist whose whole raison d’etre is to relive the experience (not live a new one).

I think the WB television show Smallville uses music found only in the Warners music library. I think this serves two purposes: the obvious one being that it’s free advertising for the music (much like the early WB Merrie Melodies cartoons were), the non-obvious purpose is that, as long as WB continues to release the season DVD sets of Smallville at a rapid pace (instead of lagging a few years behind where music rights could possibly change hands), there will never be any licensing issues with the music used in that show (though I’m sure that money still changes hands between businesses within Warners).

• Apparently the internet won’t be split up anytime soon.
• Via PCWorld. Google Base is now live. Just remember: “All your base are belong to us”…
• Sony is having a real PR nightmare lately
• Via Anne. The W3C is forming new groups that focus on Web APIs (like the existing XMLHttpRequest) and Rich Web Applications. Some interesting points:
  • The Web APIs Working Group will first be documenting things already “in the field”: the XMLHttpRequest object, timed events (i.e. EcmaScript’s setTimeout()), the Window object (i.e. interaction with the browser). Let’s hope they don’t deliberately try to break Internet Explorer’s implementation of such things as they’ve done in the past. The more interesting APIs will be delivered later such as APIs for persistent local storage and file uploading…
  • Will W3C use the WHATWG’s already-written specifications such as the Web Applications 1.0 spec?
  • The Web Application Formats Working Group will be striving to use an existing application format (”Mozilla’s XUL, Microsoft’s XAML, Macromedia’s MXML or Laszlo Systems’ LZX”) and combine it with other existing technologies such as XHTML, CSS, SVG, etc. This is a great idea (i.e. we do not need a NEW format), but their tentative milestones seem a bit off: “First draft of requirements during October. First draft of specification during November. Candidate Recommendation 4th quarter of 2006.”. It also means that there will be one winner and many losers…
  • The Web Application Formats Working Group seems to have swallowed the Compound Document Format Group.