Python.org gets a much needed facelift. It's not complete, for example wiki.python.org and docs.python.org still have the old style, but what has been updated looks great.

I have created a project on SourceForge for httplib2. This adds bug and enhancement request tracking, a mailing list, and public access to the subversion repository.

Next week I'll be at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, presenting Secure Syndication. It looks like North Carolina is well represented. See you there.

SQLite is the new MySQL. MySQL is moving toward becoming a 'real' database by adding features like foreign key support; in doing so it is leaving behind a niche of 'works for me'; a niche that will be increasingly filled by SQLite.

The Lucene Web Service API is based on the Atom Publishing Protocol. The core of Lucene Web Service API is primarily based on the Atom Publishing Protocol, with a few extensions. We've added the ability to get and set properties of any index or the service itself. For searching, we've based our implementation on the OpenSearch 1.1 protocol. The contents section of an Atom Entry sent to or received from the web service is based on the XOXO Microformat.

Draft 08 of the Atom Publishing Protocol is now available: draft-ietf-atompub-protocol-08.

GETSful (adj.) Derogatory Any web services protocol that claims to be RESTful but only uses GET for everything. See, for example, del.icio.us and 30boxes.

The syndication wars have re-erupted, like a recurring rash for which there's no cure. The only difference from the last time this occured is that now everyone has a blog, including journalists, and unsurprisingly the most shrill and vacuous post in the whole debate is from journalist Steve Gillmor. Maybe the difference between a blogger and a journalist isn't that journalists have editors, but that they need them.

Why We Need Atom Now, from Tim Bray, points to bugzilla bug #313441, which you just have to check out. There's nothing like cutting open the problems of RSS and laying them out like the entrails of a dissected frog for the world to see.

I have just released version 0.1.1 of httplib2. This release fixes several bugs raised by Jim Antill and adds support for Python 2.3 thanks to Xavier Verges Farrero. In addition it is now sporting a standard distutils based setup. Distutils is pretty sweet as it integrates directly into the cheeseshop. To build my release packages I just type: $ python setup.py sdist --formats=gztar,zip And to update the info on the cheeseshop I type:

It is not completely obvious how to turn disable the router functionality on the D-Link DI-624 so that it only operates as a wireless access point. Here is the recipe, which I initially found on dslreports. Connect to a LAN port (not the WAN port). Change the 'LAN IP address' to an unused IP address on your LAN. On Home | DHCP: Disable the DHCP server. On Home | WAN: Set the WAN port to Static IP and then configure the Static IP address to bogus values: IP address = 99.

Because I can't be the only one trying to configure the EDIMAX DSL Modem Router to work with Bellsouth FastAccess ADSL, here is the configuration I finally found that works. Note that the following is a list of things that you need to change from the default configuration: Virtual Circuit: Enabled Bridge: Disabled IGMP: Disabled Encapsulation: PPPoE LLC VPI: 8 VCI: 35 Service Category: UBR DHCP: Disabled MAC Spoofing: Disabled Advanced ADSL Configuration --------------------------- Handshake Protocol: G.

Yahoo! User Interface Library: The Yahoo! User Interface Library is a set of utilities and controls, written in JavaScript, for building richly interactive web applications using techniques such as DOM scripting, HTML and AJAX. The UI Library Utilities facilitate the implementation of rich client-side features by enhancing and normalizing the developer's interface to important elements of the browser infrastructure (such as events, in-page HTTP requests and the DOM). The Yahoo UI Library Controls produce visual, interactive user interface elements on the page with just a few lines of code and an included CSS file.

(at least exclusively, for now...) Here is my 'user experience' with setuptools, the installation tool used by Routes. Please note that Routes is not the first package that I have used that requires setuptools. It is just the one that put me over the edge. [Updated with much feedback...] From the Download page of Routes: Download ez_setup.py then run: python ez_setup.py Routes Or if you already have Easy Install: easy_install Routes Hmmm, I might already have easy_install installed so let's give that a whirl: $ easy_install Routes bash: easy_install: command not found Ok, that's not too surprising, let's go for the ez_setup.

After a long time of what I would describe as a passive-aggressive stance, SourceForge is finally going to start offering support for subversion.

My latest article is up on XML.com, Doing HTTP Caching Right: Introducing httplib2 , in which I cover HTTP caching and also introduce httplib2, my comprehensive HTTP client library for Python.

Routes is a Python re-implementation of the Rails routes system that allows for a two-way mapping between URLs and a dictionary. That is, you can pass it a URL and it will make sure it conforms to your specifications and it will then pull out the relavent bits as specified. Just as importantly it allows you to pass info back in and it will generate the appropriate URL. >>> from routes import Mapper >>> m = Mapper() >>> m.

Dianjiang Kids International: Who we are: We are the family and friends of children adopted from Dianjiang Social Welfare Institute in Dianjiang, Chongqing, People's Republic of China. Our purpose: To help improve the quality of life for those children in the care of Dianjiang Social Welfare Institute who have not yet found their forever families and for those who will grow up without forever families.

James Cox is back to blogging. Dig the new layout.

Mark Pilgrim: To sum up, the "photocasting" feature centers around a single undocumented extension element in a namespace that doesn't need to be declared. iPhoto 6 doesn't understand the first thing about HTTP, the first thing about XML, or the first thing about RSS. It ignores features of HTTP that Netscape 4 supported in 1996, and mis-implements features of XML that Microsoft got right in 1997. It ignores 95% of RSS and Atom and gets most of the remaining 5% wrong.