Clipping the Web: Done!

We must say the latest version of Clipmarks is truly impressive. This free (so far) web application allows any registered user to ‘clip’ any part of a web site, including text, images and videos. But where things become really interesting is in the options afforded by this wonderful application: in addition to tagging, annotating, editing and adding to collections, Clipmarks allows you to share the clips with your private group or team. As if this wasn’t enough, there are also the options to publish the clips to your own blog, send via email to one or multiple recipients, print, and access a mobile device-optimized version – all of this, in a few clicks on the well-designed browser add-on. We only wish we had this application while collecting news clips, blog entries and other content while performing open source collections during crisis management operations – the ability to capture multiple content, share in a controlled/limited fashion and publish/alert in real time across multiple platforms makes Clipmark a must for crisis command centers and OSInt operators.

Weather & Maps: Emerging Mashups

Weather.com recently launched a new interactive weather map which brings together near-real time cloud cover (satellite) and radar (precipitation) layers on Microsoft’s Virtual Earth maps and satellite images. This is an interesting, quick option for tracking severe weather at the local level. Of course, for those of you (like us) who don’t remember life before Google Earth (GE), gearthblog.com has put together an interesting KMZ file collecting several, live weather sources including a hurricane tracker (works for storms worldwide), global cloud coverage, and Weather Bonk (which includes webcam coverage of affected areas.)
The NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory and the University of Oklahoma have brought together an excellent collection of KMZ files under the lengthy heading of Warning Decision Support System — Integrated Information – these include CONUS Radar Reflectivity, Real Time NWS Warnings, Storm Reports, etc.

A word of caution: most KMZ/KML files we experimented with in the weather category, particularly dynamic layers, should not be considered ‘enterprise ready’ – meaning that they are often the result of voluntary efforts by GE enthusiasts and may be unreliable over time. The integration of live data with GIS or mapping software such as GE has great processing value (i.e. by allowing operators to quickly identify assets potentially affected by a severe weather event) but the collection phase should still take into account the reliability of sources and consider multiple sources.

Team Bookmarking (a.k.a. ‘Social Bookmarking for the Office’) Overview

The popularity of Social bookmarking sites and applications exploded recently when they became associated with tagging and social news, and when the blogosphere began to explode. (Tags are in fact one of the most useful outcomes of social bookmarking which allow every minute millions of users to add context and meaning to the most diverse content, making the Net a more useful and intelligible place.) There are dozens of social bookmarking services out there, and plenty of comparative reviews already, but only a few seem to fit a corporate work/research team environment and the needs of OSInt operators. Here are the ones we found of interest and worthy of consideration . . .

Google SketchUp 6: 3D Modeling for All

The latest version of SketchUp is even more powerful and still free! 3D modeling couldn’t be easier and the product integrates beautifully with Google Earth (GE). This tool enhances the already exceptional GE mapping and visualization capabilities. Operators can actually map their organization’s facilities and, with the Photo Match feature, create photographic-quality, 3d renderings of any relevant structure.

The Semantic Web, RDF and Piggy Banks: Must Know More

The Semantic Web (see also the official W3C definition) has been on the radar screen of Web scouts since 1999. Although its success and adoption (along with that of Resource Description Framework or RDF) appears to have been slower than expected, the potential impact on the quality, relevance and usability of Web content is enormous. In our experience, most operators assigned to open source collection efforts find the subject too technical and shy away form it. For those of you still intimidated by the subject, I recommend a fairly old but still relevant article by Nathan Willis describing the use of MIT’s Piggy Bank – a browser extension which makes it quite easy to explore the potential of this technology.

Video Format Conversion: A Free Utility

Video clips are becoming ever more frequent and legitimate additions to security reports, warnings and database items. Any Video Converter is a free utility that “can convert almost all video formats including DivX, XviD, MOV, rm, rmvb, MPEG, VOB, DVD, WMV, AVI to MPEG-4 movie format for iPod/PSP or other portable video device, MP4 player or smart phone.” We have not tested this yet but on the surface it appears to be quite handy.