Archive.
Saturday, September 29, 2001 Link
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And now, on a completely unrelated tangent (come to think of it, when was the last time you experienced a tangent that was related to the current topic...), haven't we all asked ourselves whether or not Dino once talked on the Flintstones? Gosh, what would I do without the internet?
Digital-devicelessliness.
Friday, September 28, 2001 Link
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Friday evening. Enjoyed delectable homemade pizza for supper. Dug up a pile of musical treasures from my youth with LimeWire. And I might actually get around to watching the series premiere of Enterprise tonight. Now don't go and spoil it for me.
Thursday, September 27, 2001 Link
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There is something most refreshing about stripping several hundred kilobytes of extraneous HTML, unused ColdFusion actions, and bloated JavaScript rollover code out of a site and still have it appear and function as if you had never touched it. My word, some web developers are sloppy bastards.
Tuesday, September 25, 2001 Link
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What have I been working on lately you ask? Well for starters, I've been helping debug Raissa, an RSS news reader which uses a customized XML tokenizer and HTTP library running on the Newton. Yep, I think it's pretty neat too.
Windows XP Rehearses for a Broadway Debut
Haven't the fair citizens of New York City been subjected to enough already?
Don't slip in the puddle of drool. Apple rang the bell for the Pavlovian masses today by finally kicking Puma out the door. Not only that, but its beefcake cousin, Mac OS X Server has apparently been working out at the gym next door. One of the few bits of desirable nomenclature still missing from these announcements is "rackmount". Can you hear us Steve? Say it with us now... rackmount, rackmount, rackmount.
Oh my freakin' word! An actual press release from the village of the damned.
Monday, September 24, 2001 Link
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Oh yeah, by the way... Adobe also announced Illustrator 10.0, InDesign 2.0, and their new online design portal thingie called Adobe Studio. The latter of which sounds a lot like a little project that I worked on a couple of years ago before Adobe decided that they really had no interest in it. At least they saved money by not having to come up with a completely new name.
Speaking of stuffing more content into the old digital pipe and smoking it, there were a couple of interesting product announcements today. Ok, there were actually more than two announcements today, but these ones jumped out at me. First off, Adobe announced AlterCast, which despite its awkward, "we're trying so hard to be hip"-sounding product name, is imaging server software that can be integrated into existing systems to customize and dynamically generate visual content. It's turbocharged delivery of imagery via high-performance scripting. It's Generator for Photoshop files. It's just, well... cool. And then there's the new RealOne media platform from RealNetworks. They make it sound as if the development of this updated version of their streaming delivery technology has been driven solely by the needs and wants of the people. Check this quote out: "...its clear that consumers want a unified media experience. They want more simplicity, better performance and easy access to the most exciting media content and experience." Uh, ok. What they fail to mention is that the reason consumers want unified experience, simplification, and better performance is because most of these things were swept out of their control with the proliferation of junky media players like RealPlayer. In all honesty, I can't really comment on this one yet, although it sounds great in theory. Frankly, I've always had bad experiences using software from Real, and since the preview version of RealOne isn't even available for the Mac at this point, I'll have to reserve judgement. Then again, I could just assume that it's a piece of crap like all of their other products and leave it at that. AlterCast, on the other hand, could be something to watch.
Friday, September 21, 2001 Link
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All right buddy, put down the stacks and back away slowly. The O'Reilly Network wants to talk to you about Realbasic for HyperCard users. Quite frankly, the object-oriented structure of Realbasic code looks a hell of a lot like the NewtonScript I've been teaching myself lately. I do tend to hold on to the dead languages until every last method and declaration has been squeezed out of their pallid shells. Perhaps even a hardcore scriptweenie like myself can be convinced that it's time to let go and move on. On a related note, I'd really love to learn how to converse in Latin.
I'm making an effort here, really I am. Presenting, straight from the "stuff found in the front left pocket of my Eddie Bauer fleece pullover" department, something having absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft.
See? No worms, no bugs... just maggots.
Microsoft Deflects Charges of Worm Woes
Of course they do. What on earth were we thinking would happen?
Thursday, September 20, 2001 Link
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I suppose I really shouldn't find this particularly funny. But the geek in me smiled at the smack upside the head cleverness of the rm -rf /bin/laden/ t-shirt from the kids over at No Gag Reflex. And before you blast me for enjoying the humor, the profits from the sales are going to the American Red Cross. So there. Via camworld
My friend Sean, who happens to do all that convoluted corporate IS stuff for a living, had this to say regarding yesterday's anti-Windows post:
"In the PC world, the real culprit and troublemaker is Outlook. I have been using the Eudora client for years and have watched the e-mail-bourne viri [sic] cause havoc everywhere else but my machine. I have run a stable copy of Win98 and have now upgraded to Win2000, happily humming along with Eudora 4.0. In the past year my relatives call me in a panic when a virus hits them, and my pat solution to solve their woes is to switch them over to Eudora, install some anti-virus software and train them not to open any attachments."
As someone who has kept using Claris Emailer through several corporate email system mandates (Microsoft Mail/cc:mail/Outlook), I commend Sean on his wherewithal to happily hum along in the face of imminent disaster. However, although the problem is directly linked to Outlook rather than Windows per se, it's ultimately an issue with the platform - not just the specific software running on that platform. None of these viruses execute or propagate with the same ferocity when using Outlook on a Mac. They can do massive damage only when you're running Windows. Thus I stand by my initial recommendation: Do not use Windows.
Tuesday, September 18, 2001 Link
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Related to my previous post, another email-borne virus has been spreading itself thickly upon the net this week. Not one to let any opportunity for sorting through today's rubbish pass him by, scruffy technocrat Dave Winer posted this suggestion on what to do about it:
- If you use Windows, do not open enclosures to email messages.
- If you use Windows, do not open enclosures to email messages.
- If you use Windows, do not open enclosures to email messages.
A succinct recommendation, yet I can simplify it further.
- Do not use Windows.
- Do not use Windows.
- Do not use Windows.
At some point, this concept will sink in. I'm sure of it.
Grumble, grumble. If for some bizarre reason you felt compelled to bookmark my Newton web server, please note that I've changed the port number so that it won't be hassled by the latest incarnation of the Microsoft-targeted wormfest. Although it seemed to handle previous Code Red attacks with nary a burp, the unrepentant audacity of Nimda clogs up the pipes like a bad case of gastrointestinal malfunction. Update your links as you see fit and grumble along with me.
I don't normally take part in viral participation projects, but this one hit me in just the right way. SharedVoice.org has a very simple statement to make. Go there and read it. If it makes sense to you, sign your name to it and pass it along to others. Putting the breaks on the war machine once its engine has been primed is hardly a simple task. But every so often, we stubborn humans actually listen to each other. It sure the hell doesn't hurt to try. Via blogger
Monday, September 17, 2001 Link
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Why can't I use integer variables to access array elements? Why?
Score. I found an unused copy of O'Reilly's Essential System Administration, Second Edition on the discards table at the public library this morning. Price? A dollar, in Canadian funds no less. It just makes my kernel all tingly thinking about it. Just try and stop me now.
Well, let's see how this week goes...
Sunday, September 16, 2001 Link
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Mike sent me a little snippet from an email header that shows one of the mail servers over at Topica being a Digital Equipment PDP-5 mini-mainframe running a paper tape reader. Well, it could be true. I mean, I served streaming video from a Mac Quadra for five years, didn't I? It's really not that strange you know.
Saturday, September 15, 2001 Link
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More browser hijinks to whet your whistle. Mozilla 0.9.4 release notes.
Friday, September 14, 2001 Link
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Remember how I said that I felt compelled to keep absorbing the imagery and context of what happened on tuesday? I must have replayed this clip of amateur video two dozen times before the scale of those two objects coming in contact with each other finally sunk in. My insides curdled again. Via kottke
But darling, we cantaloupe. Kohlrabi instead.
The third beta of Opera 5.0 for Macintosh has been released. All the juicy details of what's new and what's different and what's fixed and what ain't can be found here in the changelog.
You can use this very slick, customizable JavaScript fragment available from Meg Pickard over at not.so.soft as a means of adding useful information and headline news regarding this week's tragic events to your own web site.
"This infoshare update is not intended to take the place of any individual responses - neither is it supposed to be a substitute for news sources. This communal infoshare is intended to act as an information point, updated centrally by an international group of volunteers and able to be syndicated across many personal websites, providing useful information, major headlines and ways to find more information or news or support."
Nicely packaged. Nicely done. And damn useful too. I can't wait to see this type of volunteer syndication and "single line of code" implementation being used during happier times in the future.
Thursday, September 13, 2001 Link
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There is a place... somewhere off in a corner in the back of my head... where stuff tends to rattle around incessantly. Stuff like poorly crafted pop songs and insipid lyrics. Stuff like missed opportunities and child-like aspirations. Stuff like the faces of people I met years ago whose names are now completely obscured in an alphanumeric fog. There is also a voice back in that corner telling me things. Things like... I don't need to look at any more images of destruction or panic. I don't need to read any more first-person accounts of survival or loss. I don't need to stare at my monitor, slack-jawed and boggled, at every publication and jingoistic rant and infographic and newsfeed and plea for hope. That voice tells me I don't need to. But I am compelled to. I've been able to tune out the poorly crafted pop songs and the missed opportunities. This, I can't seem to tune out.
The feeling that someone punched me in the stomach is gone today.
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 Link
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Silent prayer.
Monday, September 10, 2001 Link
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And speaking of style sheet validation, I have but one word for you... Favelets. Anyone who isn't using Tantek Çelik's snarky little Toggle CSS toolbar widget, is quite frankly working without a net. Drag and drop, kids. Drag and drop. Via Zeldman
Heaven help us. I think I finally understand all this style sheet stuff that has been yanking my line for so long. I'm not entirely sure what clicked this afternoon, but everything I've tinkered with so far has worked the way it was intended to. Praise the lord and pass the validator.
Saturday, September 08, 2001 Link
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Anyone who is a parent will more than likely be able to empathize with the following thought. You know how you love your kids? You know how you'd do just about anything for them or because of them? And you know how some days, at the same time that you are loving them with all of your heart, they are capable of driving you so far up the wall that you don't even want to acknowledge the fact that they're related to you? Well, I'm having one of those days. If you don't happen to have kids of your own, the aforementioned can also apply to pets, vehicles, and Italian cookware.
Friday, September 07, 2001 Link
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Google 2.0
John Rhodes over at WebWord has once again bashed an irritating nail smack dab on its little round head. He offers some tantalizing food for thought on how a Google-based information retrieval client could help pry the latest user experience choke-hold away from Microsoft. I am particularly enamored with the concept of using Microsoft's own browser extension API to, as John puts it, "shanghai the entire Microsoft desktop" and "hide the ugly parts". Of course, this latest rash of monopolistic browser silliness only applies if you're running the Windows version of Explorer - which I'm not. Still, it makes for an interesting ponder, doesn't it?
Ooh, look. This site was listed in a sampling of odd pages of the Internet over at Designflea. I'm positively flush with emotion over this, really I am.
W3C Recommends New Graphics Language
Scalable Vector Graphics gnomes everywhere are probably giddy with delight, doing little happy dances in the hallways this morning. Everywhere that is, except Macromedia. Yes, people, it's time to start adopting and implementing. Now.
Thursday, September 06, 2001 Link
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A very productive day. Found Jane's archives. Reinstalled some software that had been causing me grief. Ran a fresh batch server statistics. Installed new latches on the gates leading to the back yard. Located the updated platform files for the Newton Toolkit and got my project code to finally compile and execute correctly. Had some tea. Went to a meeting downtown. Drove up to a parking meter that still had 34 minutes still on it. Figured out a way to track page views on a remote server without using CGI or JavaScript. Caught up on nearly all of my email. Put on my pajamas. Had some more tea. A very productive day indeed.
Tuesday, September 04, 2001 Link
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Huzzah! Bryce finally figured out how to get images to display on his brand-spankin' new site. Will wonders never cease? Yo, big boy... the invoice is in the mail.
Monday, September 03, 2001 Link
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Last night, we pulled out one of the many Atari 2600 game systems I have piled in the basement and hooked it up to show the kids. Both my daughters have been entranced by the Nintendo that one of their friends down the street has, and have been asking my wife and I about the video games we played as kids. Although I have vivid memories of using one of the first Magnavox Odyssey systems available in Western Canada while my parents were shopping for a stereo back in 1972, we never had any video games in our house until I bought my very own Apple II in the late seventies.
My wife's family on the other hand, had an Atari from the moment it arrived on the scene and wee heavily invested in cartridges when we first started dating. Teri and I would spend hours playing Yar's Revenge and Missile Command as part of our evenings together. We did other young couple stuff too, but that's an entirely different chapter of the story. Ahem. Yar's Revenge was one of the games we fired up last night. Our nine year old daughter's first comments were something along the lines of "but it's just made up pixel by pixel..." and "I bet I could make that look better in Photoshop..." Smarty pants. Our six year old daughter, on the other hand, thought that the Atari logos looked like chicken feet, and proceeded to cheer us on while playing Video Pinball with the chant "Get the chicken feet. Get the chicken feet." Gosh, what fun reliving this stuff through someone else's eyes.
Saturday, September 01, 2001 Link
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Code Red Cost Estimated at $2.6 Billion
Wouldn't it be a nice gesture on the part of Microsoft to cough up a bit of spare cash to cover this tab? Maybe someone should send them a bill. And speaking of Bill... the lubricous Mr Gates, whose fine company is arguably responsible for all of this nonsense in the first place, probably blows $2.6 billion out of his nose when he gets up in the morning. Come on Bill, show us you actually give a flaming crap. Show us you care...
And so the story ends. Tales of a Mac Newbie goes on hiatus as Ed bids farewell to his Mac. Thanks for giving it a fair shake, Mr Bilodeau. Come back again sometime. You'll always be welcome.
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