UPP Followup 2

Posted Sunday, December 29, 2002 4:42 am

Checking out my referrers, I noticed this post on the Orange Creamsicle blog by Kasei(?):

0xDECAFBAD has recently been musing about a PersonalWebProxy:

�[A]n assistant in a sidecar attached to my browser. I want this assistant to watch me, learn, and pipe up from time to time with suggestions. I also want to be able to ask questions and to remind me of things I vaguely remember. Eventually, I'd like this assistant to be able to drive for me from time to time, doing some info hunter-gatherer work for me while I do other things.�

I wonder just how many people want this. Has a pesonal proxy become the next page parser, something that anyone who's anyone has (at least partially) implemented? 0xDECAFBAD points at Russel Beatie discussing a universal personal proxy.

I think what would be neat about these (aside from the personal wayback-machine and cookie jar) would be to have a portal-like interface to the proxy. A home page that would summerize what the proxy was up to: "Here are the pages I know you want today, already downloaded. You may be interested in the coverage on Mars in the news. Also, here are some patterns that you seem to follow while browsing. Shall I base future decisions on these patterns?"

By running with the universal proxy idea (beyond just the scope of the web), I can also imagine the proxy:

  • Alerting me to new files on a hotline server (possibly scheduling a time to download those files)
  • Integrating Mail::Miner features
  • Integrating Infobot features
    • factoids, possibly inline in webpages
    • seen queries (when was wonko last seen on AIM?)
    • IM proxying (send this message to zazoo the next time he's online)

More good stuff, though I don't really know what Mail::Miner does, though I can imagine (like ZOE?). Also, he mentions presence stuff and Instant Messaging... both very important.

Here's my outline right out of Bonzai about this subject. It's pretty long and meant for me, but you might see what's behind my beady little brain:

  • Universal Personal Proxy
    • Misc Thoughts
      • "Open Web Services Client"
      • Generic DB Interface - Jakarta SQL Stuff?
      • Web Pages
        • Simplified App development with scripts?
      • Which Port
      • JNLP - for install/updates?
      • Downloadable 3rd Party Apps via Jar Files
        • HOW?!?!?
      • Local Classes
      • Try on Linux? Mac? Dock?
      • UI
        • Velocity Web Pages
        • Swing UI
        • SWT?
        • XUL
      • Easy for Developers to use
      • Scripting
        • Jelly
        • Jython
        • Bean Scripting?
      • Custom XML Setup or Generic?
      • Web Services
        • Client and Server
        • Axis?
      • JSP Web Pages or only Velocity?
      • Integrate JOE? (Coooooolll....)
      • Proxy Service
      • Proxy Email Service (like ZOE)
      • More
      • Applications are responsible for their own UI
      • Use Axion instead of HSQL?
    • Libraries
      • Jetty
      • Quartz
      • Velocity
      • Log4J
      • HSQLDB
      • Tray App
      • JNLP Launching
      • Jakarta Commons
    • Overview
      • Startup
        • Main Application Starts
        • Sets up Core Modules
          • Tray App
          • HTTP Server/Servlet Runner
          • Scheduler
          • Encryption
          • Module Registry
          • Web Services (?)
          • Proxy (?)
          • Email (?)
        • Calls Modules
          • Modules can self-start - including launching browser. The first module will be the web or Swing Frame which will list the other modules inst
          • Each Module has it's own UI and registers it's own scheduled services.
      • Core Modules
        • Web Server
        • AXIS Web Services
        • Scheduling
        • Database
        • Proxy
        • Email(?)
        • Register Module Service (Module Manager)
      • Download and Install via JNLP
      • Web Server
      • Scheduler
      • Scripting
      • Auth/Auth/Secure
    • Apps
      • Journal
        • Weblog
        • Calendar
        • BlogRoll (in OPML?)
      • Calendar
        • iCal
      • News Aggregator
        • Email news to users
        • FTP news to servers
        • Save news locally (using velocity)
      • Photos
      • Scheduler (Scripts)
      • Multimedia(?)
      • PIM? To Do, Address List, all shareable?
    • Modules
      • RSS Aggregator
      • FTP Uploader
      • Upgrade Watcher
      • Email aggregator
      • Spam Cleaner - Bayesian Filtering
      • Exporter -> HTML via Velocity
      • Script Runner
      • Radio Importer!!
    • Directory Structure
      • System/
        • Bin
        • Lib
        • Config
        • Log
        • DB
        • Temp
        • App
      • Modules/
        • .jar
        • web
        • classes
        • lib
        • scripts
      • Docs/
      • Templates/
    • Main UI
      • List of Services
      • Log
      • Edit Preferences
      • Quick Links
        • Bookmarks to Services
        • Customization
        • Etc.?

I told you it was long.

By the way, this article in the NYT about Bush's plans for monitoring all the traffic on the internet is a perfect reason that everything going in and out of the UPP be encrypted.

-Russ

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