Acts of Volition

making pants – (mäk’ing pants) verb.  •  When a computer hard drive grinds away for no apparent reason, often in the middle of the night, when no humans are around. Usage: What’s your computer doing? I don’t know, it must be making pants or something.

Another instalment in my “once in your life” series: Mad Cow Disease be damned, at least once in your life, you should juggle hamburgers (1.2MB AVI video).

I hate skins and I love native GUI widgets. Microsoft and Apple had a relatively strong set of user interface controls that people are familiar with. Yet loads of developers seem keen on reinventing these devices from scatch. Media players seem to be particularly bad at this. Microsoft’s own …

Today, Jeffrey Zeldman made a fine post about the lacking support for the PNG file format in Internet Explorer for Windows. He explains it very well (and links to a great demo page – but it won’t work in IE/Win) and links to a petition to encourage Microsoft to fix the situation.  •  Online …

I use a lot of web browsers. I have six different browsers installed on my primary computer, and maybe ten more on other testing machines.  •  Of all of these, there is one primary browser. When I click on a link in an email or instant message, my primary browser will open it.  •  Years ago …

WiFiCharlottetown.org is the site for a humble group working to encourage free and open wireless internet access in Charlottetown (please excuse the Comic Sans font on our city’s website).  •  We have some hardware on order to try out and if it works well, we’ll be getting started with hot-spots …

First heard while driving home from work on CBC Radio Two, directed by the host to CBC’s NewMusicCanada.com for more info, and then to their own (fine looking) website: a fine group from Calgary, Ground.  •  What a glorious expenditure of tax dollars (I’m genuinely unsure whether I’m being …

Can anyone shed any light on why the time estimates in file copying dialog boxes in Microsoft Windows are so ridiculously inaccurate? Is this a difficult problem to solve? I know BeOS handled it remarkably well. What about other operating systems? Mac OS (classic or X), the linux GUIs, etc?

Tonight, I feel as though I’ve stumbled across a personally significant discovery: For many things in life, you have to believe it to see it. Bear with me as I leap from profound meaning-of-life examples to mundane gadget examples.

The last in a series of Illustrations by Geoff Gibson:  •  Robot Dance Crew  •  by Geoff Gibson  •  « Day 4

The fourth in a series of Illustrations by Geoff Gibson:  •  swoop  •  by Geoff Gibson  •  « Day 3Day 5 »

Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard are developing a concept computer code-named Athens to demonstrate technologies to be included in future products (serveral high-res photos are available). There isn’t much in this prototype that’s actually new and it’s more of a marketing tool than a technology demo …

The third in a series of Illustrations by Geoff Gibson:  •  Arrows  •  by Geoff Gibson  •  « Day 2Day 4 »

The second in a series of Illustrations by Geoff Gibson:  •  what is a hoax?  •  by Geoff Gibson  •  « Day 1Day 3 »

A sharp distinction is often drawn between “using a computer” and “programming”. Using a computer might involve a simple action, like opening a web browser and reading the news. Programming might involved something like creating the web browser itself.  •  These seem like two different worlds …

A friend of mind since before I was cool, Geoff Gibson (a.k.a. ffoeg) has always been a talented fellow. This week, he graciously shares a series of his illustrations with Acts of Volition. Each day this week (Monday through Friday), a new illustration will be posted.  •  This first of 5 …

Just came from the CBC Radio offices here in Charlottetown where I recorded a quick piece with Matt Rainnie for a series on the local afternoon show, Mainstreet. He’s been bringing in people to share some of their favourite music. It seems I’m in good company as other geeks-with-taste who have …

Last year I was doing some painting with a paint roller. The arm of the roller broke and we were stuck with a half-painted wall on a Sunday afternoon (all the hardware stores were closed).  •  It occurred to me to see if the broom handle, which screws into the broom head, would also fit into the …

User interface critic and man-about-New Zealand, Matthew Thomas has outlined his view of the The ultimate Weblogging system. We’ve run our system against his checklist.