Headlines Plugin

Description

This plugin displays RSS and ATOM feeds from news sites. Use it to build news portals that show headline news.

Note: Syndic8.com ( http://www.syndic8.com/ ) is a good site listing many RSS feeds.

Syntax Rules

%HEADLINES{"..."}%

The header and format parameters might also use variables rendering the dc, image and content namespace information. Note, that only bits of interest have been implemented so far and those namespaces might not be implemented fully yet.

Rendering the dc namespace

The following variables are extracting the dc namespace info, that could be used in header and format. Nnote, that some of the variables are already used above. This is done by purpose to use different feeds with the same formating parameters. If there's a conflict the non-dc tags have higher precedence, i.e. a <title> content </title> is prefered over <dc:title> content </dc:title> .

• $title: channel/article title (dc:title)
• $creator: channel creator (dc:creator)
• $subject: subject text; this will also add an image according to the subject hash list, see above (dc:subject)
• $description: ... (dc:description)
• $publisher: the channel/article publisher (dc:publisher)
• $contributor: ... (dc:contributor)
• $date: ... (dc:date)
• $type: ... (dc:type)
• $format: ... (dc:format)
• $identifier: ... (dc:identifier)
• $source: ... (dc:source)
• $language: ... (dc:language)
• $relation: ... (dc:relation)
• $coverage: ... (dc: coverage)
• $rights: ... (dc: rights)

Rendering the image namespace

An image:item is converted into an <img> tag using the following mappings:

• src: image url (rdf:about attribute of the image.item tag)
• alt: image title (title)
• width: image width (image:width)
• height: image height image:height)

Rendering the content namespace

The variable $content is refering to the <content:encoding> content </content:encoding>.

Examples

Slashdot News

Write

%HEADLINES{"http://slashdot.org/slashdot.rdf" header="---+!! [[$link][$title]]$n $description" format="$t* [[$link][$title]]"}%

to get the latest Slashdot news as a bullet list format:

Business Opportunities Weblog

Write

%HEADLINES{"http://www.business-opportunities.biz/feed" limit="3"}%

to get the latest postings on the "Business Opportunities" weblog:

Business Opportunities Weblog

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:18:55 +0000

The original blog about business opportunities and business ideas for small business entrepreneurs

The Boy Who Goes to School by Robot

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:18:54 +0000 Dane Carlson

Think of Lydon Baty as the modern version of the bubble boy. Although his body is usually safely at home, to guard against germs his bodies can’t handle, his mind isn’t trapped there. It travels around by robot.

Not literally. We’re not there yet. But Lydon has a robot surrogate who goes to school for him.

The first couple weeks were rough. On Lyndon’s side the setup was straightforward enough: Wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast - all the standard getting-ready-for-school stuff. Then open the laptop and log in to school. The interface is simple and keyboard-based, which is sort of a shame, because all it needs is a joystick or proper controller for the whole thing to feel like a video game.

But Lyndon never technically learned how to pilot the bot before the first day of school, so moving from Points A to B took some trial and error. He’d never even been inside the high school, so he was figuring out the controls as the same time he was figuring out the campus. “I ran into doors,” he says. “Teachers. Bathrooms. Girls.”

At school the bot’s novelty wore off fast, but it was even more valuable than expected. Lyndon’s wisecracking and attention-loving nature didn’t just make it easier for people to interact with him; it’s what’s kept him engaged. When Mr. Moeller had to chew out two girls for picking on Lyndon via the robot - taping paper over the camera eye, picking it up from behind and turning it around with Lyndon unable to see the culprits - their response was: “We’d be picking on Lyndon the same if he was here.”

“His personality helps out a lot,” says Kent Deville, Lyndon’s chemistry teacher. “A shier kid would have problems.” Lyndon isn’t afraid to call out when he needs help, and he uses the bot’s tricks to his advantage. He can zoom in, take photos of the whiteboard and homework corrections and refer back to everything later. “It’s like H.G. Wells,” Mr. Deville says. Kelsey Vasquez, a classmate, says Lyndon is actually more outgoing as the robot. “He’s shier in person,” she says, at least until he’s had time to relax. “I don’t think I could be as happy as he is.”

Lyndon Baty and the Robot That Saved Him

It’s Not Creepy: Remotely Monitor Your Aging Parents

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:19:07 +0000 Dane Carlson

As our parents and grandparents get older, wouldn’t it be nice to have a way to unobtrusively monitor whether or not they’re eating, taking their medications or getting out of the house?

A new product, that will be shipping in July, makes it easy to just that.

Called Lively, it’s an elegant device that uses passive motion sensors, placed on objects around the house, to track and stay mindful of healthy habits. And Lively stays out of the way-no video cameras, nothing to wear-while sharing reminders and updates that let loved ones know your normal routine like getting outside, eating meals, and taking medications.

Video demonstration below.

The Last Mile: Entrepreneurship in Prison

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:37:27 +0000 Dane Carlson

When you think of entrepreneurship in prison, you probably think trading cigarettes for pinups or jello for protection money. A new program called The Last Mile hopes to change that.

The Last Mile hopes that through entrepreneurship, it can prepare convicts for employment and reduce recidivism. Considering these founders have never used the Internet or an app, their business plans were remarkable.

''It makes me feel like I'm already contributing to society'' said Crisfino Kenyatta Leal, one of the first inmates to go through The Last Mile who presented at its first demo day in 2012. The program was set up by accelerator KickLabs, and funded by its founders Chris Redlitz of AdAuction and Beverly Parenti of First Virtual holdings, two succesful 90s tech companies. Investors, entrepreneurs, and authors like First Round Capital's Josh Kopelman, MC Hammer, and AllTop's Guy Kawasaki come in to mentor the inmates. Though these captive founders aren't looking for funding now, many hope to launch their businesses once they earn their freedom.

Their demo day video is below.

San Quentin Prison Demo Day Gives Entrepreneurs Behind Bars A Second Chance

Plugin Settings

Plugin settings are stored as preferences variables. To reference a plugin setting write %<plugin>_<setting>%, for example, %HEADLINESPLUGIN_SHORTDESCRIPTION%. Note: Don't modify the settings here; copy and customize the settings in SitePreferences. For example, to customize the USERAGENTNAME setting, create a HEADLINESPLUGIN_USERAGENTNAME setting in Main.SitePreferences.

• One line description, shown in the TextFormattingRules topic:
  • Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Show headline news in Foswiki pages based on RSS and ATOM news feeds from external sites

• Refresh rate in minutes for cached feeds. Disable caching: 0, default: 60
  • Set REFRESH = 60

• Maximum number of items shown. Default: 100
  • Set LIMIT = 100

• Use LWP::UserAgent, or fallback to Foswiki's internal getUrl() method. Default: yes
  • Set USELWPUSERAGENT = yes

• Timeout fetching a feed using the LWP::UserAgent. Default: 20
  • Set USERAGENTTIMEOUT = 20

• Name of user agent. Default: FoswikiHeadlinesPlugin/2.21.1

      * Set USERAGENTNAME = FoswikiHeadlinesPlugin/2.21.1

• Default header: (variables are explained in the syntax rules)

      * Set HEADER = <div class="headlinesChannel"><div class="headlinesLogo"><img src="$imageurl" alt="$imagetitle" border="0" />%BR%</div><div class="headlinesTitle">$n---+!! <a href="$link">$title</a></div><div class="headlinesDate">$date</div><div class="headlinesDescription">$description</div><div class="headlinesRight">$rights</div></div>

• Default format of one item: (variables are explained in the syntax rules)

      * Set FORMAT = <div class="headlinesArticle"><div class="headlinesTitle"><a href="$link">$title</a></div>$n<span class="headlinesDate">$date</span> <span class="headlinesCreator"> $creator</span> <span class="headlinesSubject"> $subject </span>$n<div class="headlinesText"> $description</div></div>

• Values taken from configure: (only supported if CPAN:LWP is installed)
  • $Foswiki::cfg{PROXY}{HOST} - proxy host, such as "proxy.example.com";
  • $Foswiki::cfg{PROXY}{PORT} - proxy port, such as "8080";
  • $Foswiki::cfg{PROXY}{SkipProxyForDomains} - domains excluded from proxy, such as "intra.example.com, bugs.example.com";

Style sheets

The default HEADER and FORMAT settings use the following styles. See the style.css file defining the default CSS properties (indentation illustrates enclosure).

• headlinesRss: output of the HeadlinesPlugin (div)
  • headlinesChannel: channel header (div)
    • headlinesLogo: channel logo (div)
    • headlinesTitle: channel title (div)
    • headlinesDate: channel date (div)
    • headlinesDescription: channel description (div)
    • headlinesRight: channel copyright (div)
  • headlinesArticle: one news item (div)
    • headlinesTitle: article title (div)
    • headlinesDate: article date (span)
    • headlinesCreator: author of article (span)
    • headlinesSubject: subect category of the article (span)
    • headlinesText: article text (div)

Plugin Installation Instructions

Plugin Info