Dear inkBlots readers,

I have joined forces with several other technology writers to form a not-for-profit site called TechBrew.net. We provide articles, how-to’s, and free or open source software to benefit everyone. Our main focus is software and technology, but you’ll find generally geeky and interesting things along the way.

I will still write about RSS and Atom, of course, but my hope is that you’ll benefit from a broader spectrum of content and contributers. Please check us out and join the discussion. See you there!

Here’s a peek at what I’m working on:

My oldest son Caleb, now nearly 7, has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (also called Sensory Integration Dysfunction.) This is a Non-Verbal Learning Disability that is neurological in origin. In short: His brain isn’t handling all of the sensory information his body is providing. Or what it does get, it processes incorrectly.

This disorder is typically treated with occupational therapy and - in school - an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The lives of kids with this disorder can be improved with learned coping mechanisms, but he’ll never see, hear, or feel the world the way most people do. I cannot describe the heartbreak I feel as a father, knowing what lies ahead for my son.

He’ll always be the wierd kid. The “trouble maker.” Studies show he’ll always zig when others zag. He may cope, but he’ll never thrive, never adjust, never fit in.

Maybe.

We have recently been exploring a neurotechnology treatment that might help Caleb’s brain figure out how to process all of the sensory inputs we take for granted. It is expensive, and it has no guarantees. But we’re going to give it a try.

I’ll be writing about the treatment as we go through it, quite possibly in a venue larger than inkBlots.

Stay tuned. When the first article goes public, I’ll link here.

Update: February 10, 2007. Read the series that starts today on Wired.com

Just announced:

A new release of the RSS and Atom Utilities (ROME) project 0.9 (beta) is now available on the project’s Java.net website. This new release includes fixes to Atom relative URI resolution, easier parsing for RSS feeds that use , better support for mapping of RSS to and from Atom and numerous small fixes.

Here are some quick links to the relevant release docs and files.
• Release page
• Change list
• Javadocs

Direct link to downloads:
• rome-0.9.tar.gz
• rome-0.9.zip

See Dave Johnson’s full announcement for more information on what’s included in this release.

The technical aspect of redirecting RSS and Atom feeds from one URL to another has been discussed lately, but there is also an issue of etiquette that is worth thinking through. Let me explain…

It has been quiet lately on inkBlots as I’ve been working on a project I intend to announce in a few weeks. More details are forthcoming as things come closer together, but the whole notion centers around a non-profit venue for strong technology-related content that will reach a broader audience than “just my blog.”

My plan at this point is to point the inkBlots feed to the new site, so the transition would be seamless. You would get the same sort of stuff you get on inkBlots, plus (I hope) quite a bit more. Basically, you wouldn’t have to do anything, since the same RSS feed you use now would pull from the new site. (inkBlots would stay behind as an archive, but no longer be updated.)

Technically, this is easy stuff (thanks to FeedBurner.) But what about the etiquette of it?

Is it okay if a feed follows an author to a new site?  Is redirecting a feed to a strongly-related site a reasonable thing to do?  Is it a nice convenience, or does it feel like a bait-and-switch? When is it not okay?  Is announcing intent enough, or should something else be done?
What do you think?

Microsoft Photosynth is fantastically cool tech …

… From Microsoft Live Labs that takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed three-dimensional space.

You can then navigate that space as though in a virtual world, looking at the pictures along the way.

Words and screenshots simply can’t convey how it works. See it for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnk6iTp2bkE