Acts of Volition

The free version of Apple’s QuickTime Player software has, as far as I can remember, always presented a window when started up asking if you’d like to buy the full QuickTime Pro software. Putting aside, for now, the worth of this window, I have always been bothered by the implementation of this …

When “news” becomes a product delivered on a regular schedule, press releases and made-for-news events must become pretty attractive to journalists.  •  Today, most major American news websites are running something along the lines of “Lots of People Go Shopping” as their leading story …

I wrote last year about a simple marvel of real-world standards when a paint-roller handle broke and we were able to screw in a broom handle into the same socket (fantastic!).  •  I was amused and amazed at lunch the other day by my colleague Peter Rukavina with another simple display of standards …

When looking for help in creating an improved set of sounds for the open-source instant messaging application, Gaim, I turned to a virtual rock star. The ironically named Brad Sucks was a great help and came back with a great set of sounds.  •  Here, for contrast, are the previous set of Gaim …

The latest episode of The West Wing features weblogs breaking a news story before the mainstream press. It’s a cute episode in which weblogs pick up a story of a White House staffer test driving a huge SUV right into a brand new Toyota Prius hybrid.

A few weeks ago in a large windstorm, the outside screen/glass door on my house blew open and caught the wind, bending some of the spring mechanism, pulling some of the hinges out of the wall, and most noticeably, smashing the large glass pane. I wasn’t home at the time, so when I got home, I was …

Inspired by Peter Rukavina’s post in which he looks through the history of his weblog on November 19th, I would like to do the same:  •  November 19, 2003  •  Like Peter, I was celebrating the launch my friend and co-work, Daniel Burka’s weblog Delta Tango Bravo. My witty post title …

Yesterday’s Firefox launch garnered a lot of press. I noticed a peculiar pattern emerging on some of the news sites. There seems to be a whole weird underworld of hastily-photoshopped graphics for news sites.  •  Here is a collection of some images from some Firefox 1.0 launch news articles I …

It is 4:51AM Atlantic time and I am sitting in bed with my laptop on my lap. One minute ago, Ben Goodger gave me the final word and I made this CVS commit to the mozilla.org website:  •  “  •  steven%silverorange.com 2004-11-09 00:50  •  People of Earth, I give you Firefox 1.0  •  ”  •  It’s been …

I’m not exactly sure what the CBC Radio program, Wiretap, is. Comedy, I guess. Regardless, it is fantastic. Jonathan Goldstein has a perfect dry radio voice. Here is a 9.6MB MP3 of Wiretap from Nov 6, 2004. Worth a listen - highly recommended.

Firefox 1.0: Coming Tuesday November 9, 2004  •  (full-size mozilla.org screenshot, for the ages)

Download a time-lapse version of Jakub Steiner’s illustrating  •  Jakub Steiner is an artist that works on Linux icons and interfaces at Novell. He is responsible for much of the look and feel of the Gnome icon set.  •  This week, he posted a fascinating movie of his illustration process. He was …

According to CNN, as of this morning, the election is exactly tied!