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exporting bookmarks with tags from delicious

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So as many of you have already heard, it looks like Yahoo will be shuttering delicious. Sad but apparently true. In any event, one would think that it would be a relatively simple matter to export from delicious and import into your browser’s bookmarks. The export part is relatively straightfoward, but (at least for those using Firefox, which I do), if you want to import your tags along with your bookmarks, things get a little trickier, because of some incompabitilies between the format that delicious uses for its export file (html) and the format that Firefox uses (JSON).

Apparently, some folks far cleverer than I came up with some ruby scripts that can do it, but why go to all that trouble. Here’s the easiest solution I’ve been able to find: Go here but before you follow the steps, make note of the following:

  1. instead of typing in the URL identified in Step 2 (http://api.del.icio.us/posts/all) use this one instead: https://api.del.icio.us/v1/posts/all (you need to copy and paste into the location bar).
  2. In Step 6, there is one minor detail omitted – the steps to restore should be [Bookmark] -> [Organize Bookmarks] -> [import and backup] -> [Restore] -> [Choose file] -> <created file at 5>.
  3. Also in Step 6, if you have a lot of bookmarks be forwarned that Firefox may become non-responsive as it processes the import. It may give you the “script is taking a long time to respond” message. If you do get that, select the “don’t ask again” checkbox and then click “continue”, then go grab a coffee or some other beverage. Once its done, you should have all your bookmarks (and tags) from delicious now safely ensconced in your Firefox bookmarks.

If you still need an online bookmarks tool, consider Mozilla Sync or Diigo. Perhaps not surprisingly, there seems to be a bit of a backlog in processing imported bookmarks into Diigo. If you don’t need to import bookmarks into Firefox and plan to use something like Diigo exclusively, then of course no need to go through all of the hassle above, as (from what I understand) Diigo will import tags when you import your delicious bookmarks.

Goodbye delicious, it’s been nice knowing you.

multitasking

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This one isn’t quite law related or quite technology rated, though it sort of touches on both. Just wanted to share something quite remarkable I saw this evening.

I was riding home in a cab with my wife and young son, going down Bay St. at about 8 pm this evening. While stopped at the lights, I casually noticed a gentleman, sitting in the car beside us, obviously very preoccupied with something, looking at his Blackberry  with some degree of concentration and furiously typing away with his thumbs It was quite easy to see given the backlight of his BB was very bright.

After a few seconds the light changed, he sped onwards, and so did we. And he continued to type, with some degree of vigour, apparently fully preoccupied with his urgent e-mail.

So, you ask, what is so remarkable about this, you ask? Surely this isn’t the first time I’ve seen someone tapping away on a BB in a cab, right? And the answer to that would be no. Definitely see it all the time. In fact, do it myself sometime. Great time saver.

So what’s the big deal? He was the one driving! Certainly understand perhaps taking a quick peek at your BB when stopped at the lights. But amazingly, this fellow that I saw simply continued to tap away busily while pressing the accelerator and speeding away. Neither of his hands were on the wheel, and it was quite clear to me that his vision was focused on his BB and not the road (though admittedly he did see the light turn green). I couldn’t tell if he perhaps was guiding the wheel with his elbows.

The stretch of Bay St. we were on is fairly straight, so I imagine someone could just take their hands off the wheel for a stretch and continue relatively unscathed. But do so, and at the same time also try to write an e-mail to someone? What sort of e-mail could possibly be so important to worth risking your life (and the lives of those around you)? Moreover, what kind of person would be so pressed for time that the could not let the e-mail wait a few minutes until they pulled over somewhere to compose it? I can’t imagine that he did a very good job at either.

While nothing much happened this time (he managed to make his left a bit later – too out of range to see what happened to his BB (but obviously with at least one hand off of it) I do wish him the best that karma may have in store for him.

Thoughts on Quantum Computing

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Interesting article in Wired News where they interview David Deutsch who they refer to as the Father of Quantum Computing. He has a kind of low key but interesting take on the recent demonstration of a real, live 16 qubit quantum computer by D-Wave, a Canadian company based out of Vancouver.

Low key insofar as he doesn’t seem particularly enthused about the potential of quantum computers, other than perhaps their ability to be used to simulate quantum systems and of course encryption:

Deutsch: It’s not anywhere near as big a revolution as, say, the internet, or the introduction of computers in the first place. The practical application, from a ordinary consumer’s point of view, are just quantitative.

One field that will be revolutionized is cryptography. All, or nearly all, existing cryptographic systems will be rendered insecure, and even retrospectively insecure, in that messages sent today, if somebody keeps them, will be possible to decipher … with a quantum computer as soon as one is built.

Most fields won’t be revolutionized in that way.

Fortunately, the already existing technology of quantum cryptography is not only more secure than any existing classical system, but it’s invulnerable to attack by a quantum computer. Anyone who cares sufficiently much about security ought to be instituting quantum cryptography wherever it’s technically feasible.

Apart from that, as I said, mathematical operations will become easier. Algorithmic search is the most important one, I think. Computers will become a little bit faster, especially in certain applications. Simulating quantum systems will become important because quantum technology will become important generally, in the form of nanotechnology.

(my emphasis). Interesting thought about being retrospectively insecure. Particularly given spy agencies have, in the past, been sufficiently bold to transmit encoded messages on easily accessible shortwave frequencies.

I imagine the spook shops already have their purchase orders in for quantum crypto stuff (or have developed it already internally). Was a bit surprised by the statement above regarding existing technology for quantum computing. I had heard of some demos a while back, but didn’t realize that there are actually several companies offering quantum cryptography products.