October 2001
uCommerce, my ass
Posted by on Tuesday, October 30, 2001 in - 33 comments
So I'm flipping through Jakob Nielsen's new book, Homepage Usability: • 50 Websites Deconstructed (he scratches my back, I scratch his), when I come across his criticism of the consulting behemoth Accenture's homepage. While lambasting the site for its ambiguity, with just cause, Nielsen and his …
explodingdog book!
Posted by on Monday, October 29, 2001 in - 7 comments
Finally! • The greatest thing in the world happened! • Exploding Dog has finally released a 220 page book of 10 short stories he drew! From Sam: • “ • This book is 220 pages of 10 short stories i drew over the last year. One story is over 80 pages long some are as short as two pages. Over …
aov complies with the w3c
Posted by on Monday, October 29, 2001 in - 8 comments
Warning: what follows may be considered boring by some readers - especially non-geeks (if there are any). • Ladies and gentlemen, actsofvolition.com is now compliant with the The World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) HTML 4.01 Transitional recommendation*. • The good people at The Web Standards …
XP is a frog
Posted by on Friday, October 26, 2001 in - 11 comments
According to a story at the Microsofty news site ActiveWin, frog design (don't you hate companies who's names are all lower-case?) was involved in the design of Microsoft's new Windows Media Player look and the new Windows XP flag logo. • I also discovered recently that icon design gurus …
a third of AOV remains unrecognized and underappreciated
Posted by on Friday, October 26, 2001 - 4 comments
Some may have noticed that both AOV Matt and AOV Steve have been recognized. Some of you might be thinking, "AOV Rob hasn't been recognized yet, what's up with that? He must not be a genius at all." • Well. I can explain. The thing is, both geniuses were recognized when they were …
posterized video
Posted by on Friday, October 26, 2001 - 4 comments
Check out this visually interesting movie trailer for Waking Life (requires QuickTime - link via A.WholeLottaNothing.org).
unrecognized and underappreciated talent gets recognized and appreciated
Posted by on Monday, October 22, 2001 in - 23 comments
I've had a hard time keeping this one under wraps for the past few weeks, but as of this morning, I'm finally allow to brag. My fellow silveroranges and I have gotten big props from the guru himself, Jakob Nielsen. • I'm hoping that this award will remain in our hands and not be lost to a …
every PC today is really a macintosh
Posted by on Saturday, October 20, 2001 - 6 comments
When asked if he felt miffed about being left out of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the PC, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak replied that fundamentally, every PC today is a Macintosh. True enough. • When asked how he would improve the Mac today, he says he would: • “ • ...come up …
pervasive connectivity
Posted by on Saturday, October 20, 2001 in
My cell phone can handle voice and data (web/email). The voice works are you'd expect - quite well for a cell phone. The data works as you'd expect – like shit. It's ridiculous. Typing on the numeric keys is so slow it's embarrassing and the three line screen is just too small. • There is hope …
photoshop tennis
Posted by on Saturday, October 20, 2001 - 7 comments
Good concept. Two 'players' send each a other PhotoShop file, each building on the last 'serve' and the winner is determined by viewer voting. • This weeks match, which was the best to date, was between Derek Powazek (of the {Fray}, author of Design for Community, etc.) and Heather Champ (of The …
squautomobiles
Posted by on Friday, October 19, 2001 - 2 comments
Cars are evil. However, I am and will probably continue to be unwilling to sacrifice the convenience of owning one. Now that I have out of the way, let's talk about cars. • The form factor of the old Dodge Colt / Mitsubishi Expo 3-door (one sliding door) hatchback always made sense to me …
ed the sock is much smarter than me
Posted by on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 7 comments
I caught him doing a little editorial talk the other day on his 'big wham bam'. I enjoy hearing him speak because he is smarter than I am, and I feel like I'm learning. • It was about the WTC, and 'evil' and so on, it was a great piece. I couldn't find the 'evil' editorial (ed-itorial, get it …
sarcasm that works on the internet
Posted by on Wednesday, October 17, 2001
I've commented before on the quality writing at indy tech news site, The Register but it's worth revisiting. Compared to News.com/Zdnet.com, who seem to automatically parse corporate press releases into front-page news, the writers at The Register shine. There is a tone of smart sarcasm (not whiny …
fans in the attic
Posted by on Monday, October 15, 2001 - 21 comments
In order to make this post, I have to reveal that I am a loser. Perhaps I'm fooling myself thinking that this may be news to some of you. Regardless, let it be known that I wrote A&E to complain about the cancellation of the reruns of Northern Exposure. • “ • A&E, • Just a quick note to …
The Smashing Pumpkins are the Guns n' Roses of the 90s
Posted by on Sunday, October 14, 2001 - 36 comments
I was never a big Guns n' Roses fan. While in high school it seemed I didn't have the hockey skills or perfectly curved baseball cap peak to fit in with their followers. When the Smashing Pumpkins came along though, I was totally on board. The two bands seemed worlds apart until some time ago the …
Mars dust storm kicks Earth dust storm's ass
Posted by on Friday, October 12, 2001
An intriguing photographic comparison of the surface of Mars before and after a massive dust storm caught my attention at Wired News. While our world goes all to hell, it looks like the next world over is inhospitable in its own unique way. • In a long-overdue admission of inadequacy on the part …
and while i'm at it...
Posted by on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 3 comments
I'm running IE6. I have a great little links bar on top with all my bookmarks. I enjoy this. However, IE6 has no idea what it's doing. When I click on a favourite I have no clue where my link will appear. • Sometimes it'll pop up a new window, sometimes it will take over some random window (like …
i'm not crippled, i'm pensive!
Posted by on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 6 comments
This happens to me all the time, I hope I'm not the only one. • I run Win2k and when I type sentances, I like to capitalize the first letter. I do this by holding shift then typing a letter. Sadly, I often start typing without thinking, so I'll hold down shift, and muse my first word. Well …
clear and bullshit free legalese
Posted by on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 9 comments
The following is the refreshing Licensing Agreement from Winamp's new developers beta of WinAmp 3: • “ • This is beta software. Play with it as much as you like, but don't blame us if it melts your computer into a pile of scrap metal or steals your girlfriend. Check out the readme.txt for some …
thanksgiving
Posted by on Saturday, October 6, 2001 - 13 comments
Now that we live in the age of sincerity, I thought I would give it a shot. To be clear, however sincere this post may purport to be, it pales in comparison to Rob's classic Easter post. • Due to a variety of recent life circumstances, I have found myself, on occasion, in the capable and caring …