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Content Management for Non-Template Based Programs

Submitted by Leroy743
Leroy743 writes "I work for a company that creates many network-connected kiosk based systems that get deployed throughout an institution. Until now, we've create our own content management tools for them, since it hasn't been overly complicated. However, looking forward, we're searching for any existing CMS installations that we can use effectively for this content. Most of them use some sort of templating system to track and display content. Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal, etc. There are very few raw APIs that we can call to get photo galleries, videos, etc. We have to load HTML pages, and then parse through the content to get what we're looking for, which is really time consuming and not productive. Is there anything out there that allows much more in the realm of content management from a very raw data perspective. Not needing to display in some HTML template. I imagine something like Adobe Lightroom, with APIs to return thumbnails, galleries, etc. in a form we could load into Flash or something like that."

Comment: Linux, Flash, etc. (Score 1) 131

by Leroy743 (#29999364) Attached to: On-Demand Video + CMS + Interactive Input For Museum?
Hey there, I figured I'd chime is as I work at a media production company that does work almost exclusively for museums and visitor's centers. We typically don't use Linux because as support goes, it has less hardware support than windows does for different types of touchscreens, hardware devices, etc. Not to say that it wouldn't work with all your stuff, but a thought. Also, it's much less familiar to museum staff and other folks who might be servicing these kiosks and troubleshooting. If the staff can't figure something out, then you've got an issue and you'll the dreaded "Out of Order" sign. There are a few notes on that here. http://backroom.bostonproductions.com/?p=57 In terms of applications, you could of course use Flash by using FlashDevelop and the Flex compiler. I am not sure if you need a streaming server if you've got a good pipeline to feed the stuff to the kiosks. If you are going to use Flash, rather than run Firefox in kiosk mode, I'd recommend doing it in Adobe AIR. It can compile for Linux and runs as an executable. SO, when it comes to implementing some hardware acceleration and other code, it will run much better as it's own application, rather than within a web browser. Since this is what I do, I feel like I could write about it all day, but it sounds like a great challenge - I'm Jealous! If you want to check out some other info on technology that may be specific to museums, there's some good stuff on http://backroom.bostonproductions.com/
Power

Using a Prius as a generator

Submitted by Leroy743
Leroy743 writes "A man in the small town of Harvard, MA used a Toyota Prius as a generator to power his home for three days, on about 5 gallons of fuel. He ran a refrigerator, lights, fan for his stove, and other items from the car parked outside. I don't think this is anything groundbreaking, but the idea that the car only generated energy from fuel when it needed to is interesting, along with the minimal amount of gas that was actually used. The New York Times provides a bit more commentary than the original article, but here's the link to both.

http://www.harvardpress.com/Features/IcestormtestsmettleofHarvardresidents/tabid/1938/Default.aspx
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/prius-its-not-just-a-car-its-an-emergency-generator/"

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