nickpiper.co.uk - CaocLens

The CAOC Lens

To try out the current state (much broken I'm afraid), you can subscribe to the CAOC Lens channel.

Then please subscribe to the mailing list at caoclens@honeypot.net. It has no traffic yet, so don't worry about being overwelmed ! Subscribe by sending a message to majordomo@honeypot.net with body "subscribe caoclens" (subject line doesn't matter). You'll then be asked to confirm, just follow the email instructions. Then send messages to caoclens@honeypot.net in future.

	The CAOC Lens is an AvantGo channel that acts as a reformatting engine, to make it easier to read your daily news and information while out of the house. It is simple to select and deselect modules (content sources) while in the field, and currently 11 sources of content are supported (more will be added on request). (The current sources are not finalised, and are subject to possible legal requirements --- ie, may have to be removed before the lens goes live). Current modules include ; Slashdot Freshmeat.net Segfault The FrickCAM! New Desk Accessories (DAs) ScienceDaily Czech Amiga News New files on PalmPilotGear HQ Joke of the Day Palm Station Long Hair Hyperboard Go Ask Alice! Rachel's Daily Diary (I repeat that these are not final, more will be added and the current set might change).
	All module configuration is done on the Palm device itself. You may select which modules to receive, and if you want all the content, only content which has changed since last sync (to save space) or to only be notified of new content and not actually store it on the device. Currently all modules will full content selected take up about 70K of RAM. This is vastly less than if content was taken directly from the sources, due to the removal of all unnecessary text and graphics and very tight control over which links AvantGo are allowed to follow.
You are able to tell at a glance which modules have new content for you to read, so that you do not have to go down the list selecting each in turn only to start reading yesterdays information again. To return to the point made earlier about link control --- if the Lens comes across an HTML link that isn't used to generate more pages, the link is removed and it is replaced with the text URL so that you are able to later view the page if required. Before the CAOC lens links might have been followed, filling up the device, or they would simply be left for you to tap on to discover that you can't read the page, nor can you find out the url to read it later.
	This feature is nicely complemented by the new ability to select a web page to grab while still in the field. If you come across a URL (either in other content, or in a magazine for example) simply enter it here, and next time you sync the page will be available on the device. This saves you remembering to view the page when you get home --- it will simply be ready for you to read at your leisure on the bus to work the next day.