Archive.
Sunday, September 29, 2002 Link
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I don't normally go around quoting dead presidents, let alone the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, but for some reason this commonly uttered phrase just popped into my head and stayed there, begging to be used. Why? Because this week's available domain name is bludgeoner.com, that's why. And if you don't see the multiple connections between these two subject right off the bat, just forget about it and move along, ok?
Saturday, September 28, 2002 Link
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Cutting it as close to their pre-announced deadline as per usual, Apple has finally made iSync available in public beta form. There's nothing specifically technical regarding the way iSync operates amidst the current batch of support documents, but I'm hoping that it will be open enough to support third-party plug-ins like iTunes does. The fact that iSync requires a .Mac account is gratuitously self-serving (no pun intended) on Apple's part, but not completely unexpected. They need to hang on to as many paying customers as possible. Though, the sooner some young buck can find a way to work around it, the better. And you know me... I'd like Newton synchronization as well. We might be able to accomplish this in a hackneyed manner by exporting data in the standard vCard and vCalendar formats and then script the combination of Palm Desktop and iSync to sychronize with everything else. Yes, it looks messy on the surface (and probably underneath as well), but it could be a very satisfying experiment.
Friday, September 27, 2002 Link
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After considering the usefulness of the bookmarklet that I posted a couple of weeks ago, my friend Grant (...no, not that Grant, the other Grant...) weighed in with some thoughts on how there should be a better, more integrated way to provide meta data on a page to indicate how to search locally, instead of having to rely on Google. Here's what he ruminated:
The <link rel="search"...> tag doesn't quite cut it as that normally just links to a search form, not search results. One possibility, for those sites that have a search box on every page, would be a standard id for the form in the DOM model. Probably more robust would be a new link type. Perhaps: <link rel="searchquery"
href="http://www.activist.ca/search.php?f=search&keyword=" title="Activist: Search Query"> where the full query would be formed by appending the url-encoded search term to the specified href. Thinking about it further, perhaps a meta element would be more appropriate since we don't really want users linking to the 'searchquery' link without the keyword added. E.g., <meta name="searchquery" href="http://www.activist.ca/search.php?f=search&keyword="> So, your bookmarklet would search using the specified searchquery if present, resorting to Google, otherwise.
I like this idea a lot. Especially if you can use the document object model to reference a predetermined local search engine. I realize that most sites still aren't database-driven and many simply don't have the means to support their own search functionality. These site must rely on Google or some similar external service to provide that ability. Likewise, many e-commerce sites who have database-driven content do not offer a search facility which covers both dynamic page data as well as static informational content. My company's web site can be included in this category. Being able to hand off the default search behavior to a more appropriate or simply more easily integrated search engine would be extremely useful, and reasonably transparent to the user. Now the question is, how can we make this concept work? Of course, your thoughts on this topic are certainly welcome. Let me know.
After more than two years in development, software wunderkind Paul Guyot has unleashed the first release candidate of his ATA Support driver for the Newton. There's likely only two ir three handfuls of people on the planet who will take advantage of Paul's work in this particular form, but that by no means diminishes what he has accomplished. Excuse me for a moment while I get all contemplative and philosophical. Any time someone creates something that even a single person said couldn't be created, we all move forward. We all benefit. Whether or not we are directly impacted by the development doesn't matter, these little progressions are good things. You can forget about the additional functionality the technology affords. You an forget about the inordinate amount time and energy spent on creating something for of the pure satisfaction of seeing it ship. But you cannot fail to be inspired on some level by the raw accomplishment itself. Congratulations Paul. The microdrive is on order, and I'm sending you payment today.
Wednesday, September 25, 2002 Link
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If you're someone who appreciates the little æsthetic improvements that make browsing better, like enhancements to the interface, custom skins, and tabbed multi-windowing, then the Mac release of Opera 6.0 Beta 1 is for you. If news of security patches and the eradication of serious software vulnerabilities sets your propeller spinning, perhaps Internet Explorer 5.2.2 for Mac OS X or Internet Explorer 5.1.6 for Mac OS everything else will tickle your fancy instead. At least we all have the opportunity to choose our own poison. Personally, I'm digging into the latest version of Chimera, baby.
Staircase on corrugated metal building. 11th Street Southeast, Calgary.
Monday, September 23, 2002 Link
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I've been thinking that the computer and software industries need to take step back from traditional advertising and look at flogging aftermarket add-ons more like gas stations do. As an example, what hard core Adobe supporter wouldn't want to shell out a couple extra bucks at their local software purveyor for a vinyl sticker of Calvin taking a piss on the Macromedia logo? Can I see a show of hands? Hmmm. There's also this natural tendency for the open source folks and Microsoft to park beside each other at the Tasty-Freeze and rev their engines. Why not let them make a statement through appropriately styled self-adhesive window tinting or humanoid antenna-toppers baring the likenesses of Linus Torvalds and William H. Gates III? Not that I would encourage such behavior, of course. Even a company like Gateway would probably have an impact by taking a bit of the money they've been saving by having the Chief Financial Officer's nephew do their industrial design, and use it to print a pile of "Profiles rule. iMacs drule." bumper stickers. They could make them available directly through their online store or throw one into every cow-spotted box leaving the loading dock, thus covertly spreading the word using the same soft-impact strategy as born-again Christians and middle-of-the-road radio stations. More of the marketing budget could be spent developing the next witty slogan, rather than being wasted on lame television advertising that isn't targeted at anyone in particular. Surely, some of this idea has merit. Probably not the Calvin thing, but the other bits perhaps? Maybe I should just go back to work now.
If all those late-night squeals in front of the 7-11 have left your whitewalls worn thin and your sticker a bit shocked, then this week's available domain name is for you. Why fork over a small fortune for a new set of wheels when you could register highwayrubbery.com instead?
Friday, September 20, 2002 Link
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Crap, it's Friday already. I guess that's what happens when you've been neck deep in PHP code while attempting to finesse a bit of CSS aesthetic into the dry, boring parts of a self-validating subscription form, as well as rechunking the entire navigational flow of a site which relaunches of Monday. One thing that broke the factory-floor rhythm of the week was the arrival of three New Riders titles that were sent to me as a thank you for reviewing a new book proposal. One of the books I chose was Eric Meyer on CSS: Mastering the Language of Web Design, a timely and genuinely useful tome which I am enjoying immensely. However, there's another book proposal sitting on my desk, waiting to get started yesterday. The PHP still isn't writing all of the form data to a file. Oh, and a couple of customized product views still need to get rolled to production server for the Veer site. Did I mention I was busy?
Tuesday, September 17, 2002 Link
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Way back in April, I had mentioned on the NewtonTalk mailing list my interest in starting up a project which would feature images of Newtons all over the globe. The idea was stolen borrowed from the iPods Around The World gallery originating over at ipodlounge.com. I figured that we couldn't let the iPod users have all the fun. Well, I am tickled pink to announce that the Newtons Around The World gallery is now open for public viewing. It's small, but it's a fine start. And while I'm on the subject, I'd like to personally thank the following folks who were kind enough to submit images after my original announcement of the project. Join me in offering a tip of the hat to: Andree Dettmer, John Charlton, Sushi, Mimi Cipollone, and Victor Rehorst. By the way, my current favourite image is this one which features a bust of Elvis, a Newton MessagePad 2100, and a cup of poutine all hanging out in a diner somewhere in Montreal. That pretty much sums up the entire Newton community right there.
Cotoneaster leaves on PowerBook. Calgary.
Monday, September 16, 2002 Link
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The post-nasal drip which caused only a slightly irritated throat yesterday decided to move into my sinus cavities and blossom into a full-blown head cold today. Echinacea. Orange juice. Zinc lozenges. Water. Just thought you'd like to know. Sneeze. Snort. On the bright side, Sara Flemming from Soubriquet said "...well if that isn't the coolest thing ever..." regarding the little bookmarklet widget I posted a couple of days ago. Of course, that was back when my head wasn't so full of mucus. Sniffle. Honk.
Somewhere in the mixdown, I musta bumped the old SL-1200 and skipped a groove or two because completely forgot to post last week's available domain name. So here I am, trying to make amends by mentioning that you can now get a fresh fix of unregistered internet address loveliness right now, this very minute. Take a listen to solidstructure.com and falldrop.com, available for purchase in the lobby after the show.
Thursday, September 12, 2002 Link
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They've been messing around with the Blogger publishing engine today, and if you haven't already noticed, all my post titles are flipping cattywumpus. It's not me, it's them. Really. By the way, the rss feed seems to be ok.
Traffic light and crane booms. 5th Avenue and 6th Street Southwest, Calgary.
A friendly soul on the NewtonTalk mailing list wondered, in an extemporaneous sort of way, "...if someone proficient in JavaScript couldn't possibly write a bookmarklet to search the site being viewed?" I got to thinking about this, and then after coming up bupkis for an existing bookmarklet to do a similar job, I whacked one together myself. This bookmarklet will search the current site being viewed in your browser window using Google. Please note that this bookmarklet doesn't handle URLs that have multiple subdomains yet, as in designteam.studio.adobe.com, but you'll get the idea. Want to give it a whirl? Drag the following link to your favorites bar or click, hold, and choose "Add link to Favorites" using the pop-up menu. Windows users can do that old "right-click" thang.
Search Current Site Using Google
More information on these handy JavaScript-based browsing tools can be found on the Bookmarklets site.
Tuesday, September 10, 2002 Link
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Since it's what I do, I'd like to mention a couple of downloadable diversions for your personal and professional enjoyment. First up, there's a lovely new batch of desktop wallpaper available at Veer. This one here is my current favourite. How do I know this? It helps when your the guy who smushes all of this sort of stuff up on the web server. And just in case you haven't received a Veer catalog in the mail, you can now grab your very own PDF of the brand-spanking new September issue. Oh, and the two previous iterations are ready for the taking as well. What are you waiting for? Collect them all.
This morning, while I was crunching through yesterday's server logs, I noticed that Summary was stuck doing a DNS lookup on the very last IP address in the batch. Subtle synchronicity can be a powerfully introspective thing.
Sunday, September 08, 2002 Link
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Developer Marc Liyanage has been kind enough to expand BBEdit's inherent polyglotism with a couple of free language glossaries specifically for XSLT and JSP. But wait, that's not all. Googling around a bit more, I also found glossaries for MGI services, LDML, and SQL. Naturally, the Bare Bones site has fleshed-out listings of available glossaries and language modules for the multi-talented BBEdit. Go ahead, choose your weapon.
Backyard sunflowers. Calgary.
Saturday, September 07, 2002 Link
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The achingly dry InfoWorld manages to nab a deliciously revealing quote from Windows development mucky-muck Brian Valentine. Brian apparently uttered this while he was caught fluttering around in a billowing cloud of obvious somewhere over the Redmond campus:
"We really haven't done everything we could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security."
No shit. Really? Delivered with a smile via Ditherati.
Thursday, September 05, 2002 Link
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And while we're still beating the topic of discontinued technology to death, my faithful referrer logs dislodged yet another mention of my Newton server. Now we're famous in Argentina, thanks to Mariano Amartino over at the Denken Über weblog. Since my ability to comprehend Spanish is only marginally better than willingness to use Windows, I'll let Babelfish mangle it for you.
In between the recent surge of Newton-related items floating around the tech news sites and the subsequent mudslide of visits to my Newton server, Robert Basilio Jr. emailed the following question. Since there's been a least a little bit of renewed interest in Newton technology lately, somebody else may find my blathering useful as well. So anywho, Robert asked:
"In your honest opinion, what's better a Newton or an eMate?"
Never one to shirk my responsibility for voicing an opinion, allow me to approach the podium. First of all, I'd like to clarify one point. You can't compare a Newton with an eMate because technically they are both Newtons, or more accurately, both Newton OS-based devices. We'll assume that by "Newton", Robert means a Newton MessagePad. All right then. Here's what I love about the eMate:
- The wonderfully touchable Thomas Meyerhoffer design. The eMate defined translucent hardware before Jonathan Ive painted the world Bondi Blue.
- The compact integrated keyboard, replete with a bevy of Newton-specific function keys.
- The reasonably large and legible backlit display.
- The dongle-less serial port.
- The durability. These things were designed to be bashed around in schools. They're as tough as the seams on a sixth grader's jeans.
What I don't like about the eMate is the speed. Now speed is relative, and if you've used a 1x0-series MessagePad before, then the eMate might even seem a tad bouncier. But the fact is, I've used an 2100-series MessagePad for the past three years and the eMate is downright sluggish in comparison. A 25 Mhz ARM 710a is no match for a 162 Mhz StrongARM processor, baby. Mind you, using a keyboard with a 2100 can be cumbersome without a properly designed all-in-one case, but the speed and accuracy of the handwriting recognition more than makes up for the lack of convenience. Additionally, the eMate only sports a single PCMCIA Type II/III slot, whereas the MP2x00 offers dual Type II slots. We're talking about going wireless and having ample ATA storage for playing back our MP3s that we manage with iTunes. You just can't do all that with an eMate. Not easily anyway. There's a load of other things I could go on about, but my main point is this... given the opportunity, I'd buy another 2100 in a flash. But for the pure joy of ownership, the eMate oozes nothing but simple charm.
Bare Bones just banged out a crisp little maintenance release for BBEdit. And although there are no new features, a sufficient whack of AppleScript and OS X related fixes have been included. Read the 6.5.3 release notes and get your fill of the specifics.
Wednesday, September 04, 2002 Link
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I'm having a bit of difficulty in discerning the obvious co-marketing tie-in, but Small Dog Electronics is offering coupons for a free pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream when you purchase a copy of Mac OS X Jaguar. One of the few links between these two companies that I have been able to find is that Ben & Jerry's has an unfortunately named flavour called Apple Crumble. That's not exactly a positive co-brand to be associated with. Here's my theory... Someone is either attempting to nip the media's clever headline syndrome in the bud or the folks at Ben & Jerry's are simply playing catch up with the competition. You see, last summer Haagen-Dazs ran a contest where consumers of their iced cream confections could win a lease on a Jaguar XK8. Coincidence? I think not.
Adobe is currently snaggled in a contractual rights dispute with both ITC and Agfa Monotype involving the legality of embedding faces from their eponymous Type Library. Faces that have of course, been licensed from the aforementioned foundries. ITC and AMT are clamoring in the streets and hollering "DMCA! DMCA!" Adobe is responding with a jaunty "No Way, San José!" Additional discussion on this topic is available over at Typographica.
The available domain name of the week is manufaqture.com
Tuesday, September 03, 2002 Link
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Double decker bus. Crossroads Market, Calgary.
It appears that the reason my Newton web server has been getting hammered since last night is that it merited a mention on Mike's List. What the heck is Mike's List? That's what I wanted to know. Big surprise, it's an email newsletter digitally stapled together by one Mike Elgan, computer industry wonk to the stars. Ah, there's nothing like having your site linked to from a technology-focused email newsletter with 45,000 or so subscribers. Slashdot effect junior. Mike, on behalf of the Newton platform and its current phalanx of supporters, I'd like to say thank you for the busload of free advertising. I guess I owe you one. That being said, I'm just damn glad that I discovered how to make the NPDS Watcher more reliable before all this nutty traffic happened. Nearly 2,000 hits over the past 24 hours. Yipe.
Monday, September 02, 2002 Link
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I'm not sure where all the visitors are coming from, but there has been a steady stream of folks knocking on the door of my Newton web server all evening. It's times like this that I wish that: 1) the server software had a bit more oomph in the request logging department, and 2) I knew enough about programming with NewtonScript to do something about it. As it sits, I've got loads of IP addresses, but nary a referrer in the bunch. If you happen to be visiting my blog via a link from my Newton server, please drop me a quick note explaining how you ended up here in the first place. I'd really like to know who's been linking to me.
Sunday, September 01, 2002 Link
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It's a rainy Sunday afternoon. The kids have been well behaved for most of the day, but all of a sudden you notice that it's a bit too quiet. You wander upstairs to see what they might be into and your ten year old daughter says with a grin, "Hey Dad. Look what we're doing. We're making My Little Pony Venn diagrams..."
For those who care (and you know who you are...), I'd like point out that the September update of the Newton FAQ has been posted for your perusing pleasure. This edition features significantly less linkrot.
Furthermore.
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