By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Michael Liedtke[Edit][Delete]: Google Provides Tools for Tailor-Made Search Engines, Globe and Mail [Edit][Delete] October 25, 2006
As the headline says, you can create a custom Google search engine by seeding it with a list of preferred URLs. Though as the article says, correctly, "The concept mirrors the approach of a small startup called Rollyo.com." Anyhow, Doug Belshaw has created an Edublog Search Engine using my Bloglines subscriptions as the list of URLs. It seems to me though that Google's technology needs some refining. On Google.com, when I search for 'Downes' I see my site at the top, as it should be. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Ross Dawson[Edit][Delete]: Microsoft Kickstarts the Live Brand, Trends in the Living Networks [Edit][Delete] August 5, 2006
The flagship of Microsoft's 'Live' brand, Microsoft Live Spaces, has just launched. The first thing it did when I went to access it was to lose my original Spaces site, forcing me to replace it with a new one - I have no idea how to get the old one back, so it's destined to languish, unreachable, until the end of time. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Mike Malloch[Edit][Delete]: 41 figures From the BlackBoard Patent, eLearning 2.0 [Edit][Delete] August 4, 2006
For full coverage of the Blackboard patent story, please see this Special Section of OLDaily.
Mike Malloch has performed a valuble service, extracting the 41 figures in the Blackboard patent and posting them on Flickr.
He adds, "let me just say that having spent the summer of 1998 in BlackBoard's DC offices (seconded there from the UK to do some IMS work on metadata), and having spent a lot of that time interacting with the architects of BlackBoards subsequent systems, I know that these guys did not 'invent' the VLE, and that they knew they weren't 'inventing' the VLE."
I should point out, in response to his comments, that it's not simply the learning management system that needs to be defended here. Yes, some of us don't care about the LMS - I am among them. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Graham Attwell[Edit][Delete]: Blackboard are Not Alone, Wales Wide Web [Edit][Delete] August 3, 2006
OLDaily full coverage: because it's a bit hard to follow, full coverage of the Blackboard case is being provided on a separate page (full coverage will continue on OLDaily as well, don't worry). Click here for all coverage in one handy chronological list.
The patent fight has widened now that it has come to light that SAP have also filed for a series of learning management patents, including a 'course editor', 'e-learning authoring tool' and 'e-learning system'. The applications were filed mostly in 2004 and 2005. More...