So.. You may ask.. “What on earth is this RSS actually?”

Watch the following video and you’ll know a little more about RSS

RSS stands for Really Simply Syndication. It is a family of Web feed formats that is used to publish frequently updated content. It is generally used for blog entries, news headlines, podcasts and vidcasts. Besides RSS, other terms used are RSS feeds, Web feeds, or just simply, feeds.

Using RSS is like requesting for a subscription for newspapers, the newspapers will be delivered to your doorstep instead of the need to go to the store to buy the newspaper. By using a RSS reader, you can subscribe to sites that provide RSS feeds and the new content will come to your feed reader instead of you having to visit all the tens or hundreds of sites that you may have bookmarked.

The feed reader could be an online application (such as Google Reader, NewsGator or Bloglines) or a desktop application (such as FeedDemon [Free - Windows] or NetNewsWire [Free - Mac]). If you are adverse to installing too many applications on your computer, then the latest web browsers such as Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox, Flock, Safari and Opera all have a RSS reader built into them.

Some Web feeds that you might be interested in are as follows:
- NLB RSS Feeds
- Channel NewsAsia
- BBC News
- CNN

You might also be interested in the following tutorials:
- Rai, Preetam. “Using Bloglines (or How to keep up with dozens of blogs everyday)”. (April 25, 2005). Retrieved April 14, 2008 from http://preetamrai.com/weblog/archives/2005/04/25
/bloglines-how-to-keep-track-of-hundreds-of-blogs-and-some-news-and-
some-podcasts-and-some-flickrs-photos-etc-etc/
- Wibbels, Andy. “How to Use Google Reader” (video) (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2008 from http://andywibbels.com/flash/google_reader.htm

And, finally, some printed materials that you can borrow from the public libraries:
Secrets of RSS by Steven Holzner
Publisher: Berkeley, CA : Peachpit Press, c2006
Call No.: English 006.76 HOL-[COM]

Developing feeds with RRS and Atom by Ben Hammersley
Publisher: Sebastopol, CA : O’Reilly., c2005
Call No.: English 006.76 HAM-[COM]

Syndicating web sites with RSS feeds for dummies by Ellen Finkelstein
Publisher: Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley, c2005
Call No.: English 005.276 FIN-[COM]

Sources:
- RSS. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)
- What Is RSS? RSS Explained. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2008 from http://www.whatisrss.com/
- What Is RSS? on USA.gov. (August 1, 2007). Retrieved April 11, 2008 from http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Libraries
/RSS_Library/What_Is_RSS.shtml
- Help | RSS | News feeds from the BBC. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/help/3223484.stm

Posted by
Mr Justin Tan
Librarian
Adult and Young People’s Services

Contributed by 
Mr Isaak Kwok
Librarian
Adult and Young People’s Services

Just yesterday, some of my fellow colleagues brought to my attention on two newspapers articles from The Straits Times: “Caller ID shows 999? It’s not the police, it’s a fraudster” (1 Apr 2008) and “Court summons scam: 35 complaints filed“ (27 Oct 2007)*.

Essentially, these two articles tells us about the same story — That people (gullible perhaps) are falling victims to tricksters in swindling our money thru either telephone or Internet means.

It is by far and large, impossible to nab all of these fraudsters. One may be caught, but yet others will emerge very soon. The only realistic way of protecting ourselves against these scams is to be armed with the necessary knowledge of how the Internet works and of the various ways to prevent (or at least minimize) such security lapses.

We have prepared a pathfinder on ways to surf the Internet safely. Please feel free to download it but do note that the materials and their copyrights belong to NLB, and the downloads are for personal use only. Drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg for further enquiries.

Safer Internet pathfinder
(downloadable)

In the meantime, do watch your back (or rather watch your front)!!!

If you have any enquiries or comments, please drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg and we will reply within 3 working days.

*To retrieve the newspaper article, you can access the electronic database “Factiva” at terminals in NLB Library branches or also remotely from home. (Select the header “eResources” and the option “eDatabases” from NLB’s homepage)

Posted by
Mr Justin Tan
Librarian
Adult and Young People’s Services

ASK! about Science & Technology

Spam ® is the trademark of a type of canned pork and ham, created and produced by Geo. A. Hormel company of Austin, Minnesota, USA.

The same word, ’spam’ also refers to ‘unsolicited commercial email’, that is the junk mail we received sent to us without our consent. Such mail were named after the famous ham as it was parallel to how offensive “SPAM®” thrown at the walls of a restaurant would be for diners looking at it.

In the begining, ’spam’ was conceived from a competition held by its creators to find a catchy name for the canned pork. The convenience and shelf life of Spam made it an important food during the Second World War, when fresh meats were scarce. Spam fed many civilians and militray men.

References:

Spam
Call No.: 641.664 PAT - [COO]
A cookery book containing a brief history of Spam and its role in WWII.

Credo Reference
A NLB e-Database containing links to information from various sources, such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias. useful for getting concise information.
“spam.” Hargrave’s Communications Dictionary, Wiley. 2001. CredoReference. 12 January 2008
You can access the databases by going to www.nlb.gov.sg>eResources>eDatabases. To find out more about the NLB databases, visit our ASK guide .

Posted by Ms Ang Mei Jun

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to mailto:ask@nlb.gov.sginstead of sending a comment.

ASK! about Computers & IT

While there are numerous definitions of hacking, media definition commonly refers to unauthorized access into a computer system. In fact, there are ample examples of hackers charged for the offence under the Computer Misuse Act (Chapter 50A).

This Act states that “..any person who knowingly causes a computer to perform any function for the purpose of securing access without authority to any program or data held in any computer shall be guilty of an offence..” Please click here to read up more about this Act.

Yet an article by Samantha Santa Maria published in the Straits Times highlighted the controversy of a “good hacker”. In that article, self-confessed “ethical” hacker, Mr Tom Cervenka illustrates with his own example how ethical hacking “can benefit service providers by locating security holes in Internet systems”.
(Source: Factiva: Is there such a thing as a good hacker? By Samantha Santa Maria, 9 December 1999, Straits Times )

The following definition from Whatis.com (claiming to be the leading IT encyclopedia and learning center) suggests hackers may be a profession hired by the companies who want to be hacked:

“An ethical hacker is a computer and network expert who attacks a security system on behalf of its owners, seeking vulnerabilities that a malicious hacker could exploit. To test a security system, ethical hackers use the same methods as their less principled counterparts, but report problems instead of taking advantage of them. Ethical hacking is also known as penetration testing, intrusion testing, and red teaming. An ethical hacker is sometimes called a white hat, a term that comes from old Western movies, where the “good guy” wore a white hat and the “bad guy” wore a black hat.”

( Source: http://whatis.techtarget.com/ )

Recommended B O O K S
======================
* Please check online catalogue for location & book availability.
——————

Title Hacker’s challenge 3 : 20 brand-new forensic scenarios & solutions / David Pollino … [et al.].
English 005.8 HAC -[COM]

Title Hacking for dummies / by Kevin Beaver ; foreword by Stuart McClure.
English 005.8 BEA -[COM]

Title Certified ethical hacker / Michael Gregg.
English 005.8 GRE -[COM]

Title 1337 h4×0r h4ndb00k / Tapeworm.
English 005.8 TAP -[COM]

Title Unofficial guide to ethical hacking / Ankit Fadia.
English 005.8 FAD -[COM]

W E B S I T E S
==================
Last accessed date to all sites listed below: 21.Sep.07

Hack This Site
www.hackthissite.org/
Desc on site: ” A free, safe and legal training ground for hackers to test and expand their hacking skills.”

Hacker’s Wisdom
www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/hack/
Desc: A page with extensive links to everything from hacker’s profiling to hacker’s humour.

Hacker’s FAQ
www.plethora.net/~seebs/faqs/hacker.html
Desc on site: “The list [of FAQ] is an attempt to cover some of the issues that will invariably come up when people without previous experience of the hacker community try to hire a hacker.”

Hacker’s Dictionary
www.catb.org/jargon/
Desc on site: “A comprehensive compendium of hacker slang illuminating many aspects of hackish tradition, folklore, and humor.”

Answered by Goh Yee Ling, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think?
Post your comments, or send further questions about this or any other topic to ask@nlb.gov.sg

Blogging can be fun, but there are several issues to be aware of lest you end up on the wrong side of the law. Here are some web resources that can give you an overview of some of such issues. These websites refer mostly to the Singaporean context.

Legal Issues:
Radio Singapore International: Blogwatch on the Legal Pitfalls in Blogging
WWLegal.com [Look for FAQs on the left link bar and click on the subject “Bloggers” when on the FAQ page]
Law Gazette by the Law Society of Singapore: Bloggers Beware, The Five Commandments for Bloggers

Corporate Issues:
ZDnet Asia: Want to blog? Stick to the rules
ST701: Itching to write? Blogging about work
Radio Singapore International: Blogwatch, Foreign Affairs Minister, George Yeo, on the role of blogs in society and the media

Other useful resources:
SPRING Singapore: Singapore Online Safety Guide (scroll down the page, find the link and download it)

All websites last accessed 24th November, 2006.

For more information, you could also refer to the books in our earlier post.

Answered by Jillian Lim, Librarian, Public Library Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think?
Post your comments, or send further questions about this or any other topic to ask@nlb.gov.sg

The blogosphere (a term to describe the all blogs collectively) has at least 57 million blogs and is growing at an average of 100,000 new blogs each day (Source: David Sifry’s State of the Blogsphere, October 2006).

With this huge amount of blogs, it is very difficult to find the type of blogs that are of interest to you. However, there are a number of blog search engines or blog directories that can make finding a blog that shares your interests or hobbies much easier. There are also awards given out by the blogging community for the best blogs.

Blog Search Engines
These search through blogs to find blogs or blog entries that match what you input. Eg. Key in Singapore to find blogs that mention Singapore. Here are some search engines:
Technorati
Google Blog Search
Feedster
Blogdigger
Ice Rocket

Blog directories
These are compilations of blogs according to subject matter. Here are some blog directories:
Yahoo Blog Directories (a compilation of various directories)
Google Blog Directories (a compilation of various directories)
Forbes blog directory

There are many more blog search engines out there, though the above are some of the more popular ones. If are interested to find more, you can peruse this “Big List of Blog Search Engines“.

There are also Mandarin blog search engines as well:
Blogcn
Blogchina.com
Sina Blog

You may also like to check out this book, which provides blog recommendations:
Blogsphere : best of blogs by Peter Kuhns and Adrienne Crew
Indianapolis, Ind. : Que, c2006
Call No.: 006.7 KUH -[COM]
Description:
You probably have your favorite blogs to visit each day, but there are countless other blogs that you could never find on your own and that could potentially be added to the top of your favorites! Blogosphere: Best of Blogs is a collection of the blogs you’ve heard about and the ones still waiting to be discovered. Organized into sections based on interests and moods, you’ll find a listing of the best blogs out there, along with the reasons why they’ve made the list. Complete with searching tips and strategies, Blogosphere will help you find the greatest voices in the blogging universe.

How do I find blogs by Singaporeans or about Singapore?
You could try using a blog search engine as mentioned above or visit some or the following Singapore blog directories:
BloggerSG
Blogflux: Singapore blogs

Or try these Singaporean community metablogs (simply put, a metablog is a blog about blogs)
Tomorrow.sg
Ping.sg

All websites last accessed 24th November, 2006.

Answered by Jillian Lim and Isaak Kwok, Librarians, Public Library Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think?
Post your comments, or send further questions about this or any other topic to ask@nlb.gov.sg

ASK! about Computers & IT

What is a blog?

According to the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia:

“The blog (from Web log) is a new form of electronic publishing on the World Wide Web. A typical blog takes the form of an online diary consisting of short entries displayed in reverse-chronological order with links to other blogs or Web sites commented on by the blog’s author. Blogs may contain random personal observations, or they may be devoted to a single subject such as politics. A blog may be written by one or more people, and it may be read by an audience ranging from friends and acquaintances to enough readers to make the blog a profitable publishing enterprise for its author.”

blog. (2006). Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 23, 2006, from Grolier Online http://gme.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0035945-0

Another introduction to blogs and blogging from the Encyclopaedia Britannica Online:

“in full Web log or Weblog online journal where an individual, group, or corporation presents a record of activities, thoughts, or beliefs. Some blogs operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and Internet links. Other blogs concentrate on presenting original material. In addition, many blogs provide a forum to allow visitors to leave comments and interact with the publisher. “To blog” is the act of composing material for a blog. Materials are largely written, but pictures, audio, and videos are important elements of many blogs. The “blogosphere” is the online universe of blogs.”

blog. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 24, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9404269

The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and the Encyclopaedia Britannica Online are databases available via our Digital Library. More details here.

Here are some websites that give an overview of the various blog software/tools:
Problogger’s post on choosing a blog platform
Forbes.com Blog Tools
PC Magazine’s article on Blog Tools
Wikipedia: Weblog hosting

All websites last accessed 24th November, 2006.

For more on information on blogging and how to do it, read on for our book recommendations!

(more…)

ASK! about Computers & IT

According to eBay.com:

What is eBay?
eBay is the world’s online marketplace; a place for buyers and sellers to come together and trade almost anything!

Here’s how eBay works:

ASK! about Computers & IT

[ASK! Editor: In view of the recent scams targetted at Citibank and OCBC customers, here are some methods to identify “phishy” emails]

Some of the recommended tips to note when determining the authenticity of emails and avoiding phishing scams are:

1) Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information.

ASK! about Computers & IT

“The blog (from Web log) is a new form of electronic publishing on the World Wide Web. A typical blog takes the form of an online diary consisting of short entries displayed in reverse-chronological order with links to other blogs or Web sites commented on by the blog’s author. Blogs may contain random personal observations, or they may be devoted to a single subject such as politics. A blog may be written by one or more people, and it may be read by an audience ranging from friends and acquaintances to enough readers to make the blog a profitable publishing enterprise for its author.”

Source: Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia , Last accessed 16th June 2006.
Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Online is available at the multimedia stations in the libraries.

Answered by Norasyikin Binte Ahmad Ismail, Librarian

Found this question interesting? What do you think?
Post your comments, or send further questions about this or any other topic to ask@nlb.gov.sg