January 30, 2001
Tab based interfaces...they just suck
What's up with the popularity of tab based interfaces on web sites and the use of DHTML navigation just because its cool? PeopleSoft's site is a great example of pushing a physical metaphor to the limit of reality on the web. The problem with this approach is that as a user I don't have an idea what the most important piece of navigation is on the site.
Adding to the issue is the fact that there are more than 10 navigational elements on the header. As any interface designer with a human factors background will tell you, the absolute limit in navigation is 8 plus or minus 2 nav items. This means that the human mind can process eight distinct pieces of information without having to actively think about where they go. In navigation this translates to intuitiveness and ease of use. Unfortunately sites like PeopleSoft just don't cut it beacuse their metaphor forces users to think and thus is counter-intuitive.
It’s alive!
Earlier this month one of our UNIX web servers was murdered by California's rotating blackouts. This box powered our icecast streaming server and ZooRadio. Well, thanks to the efforts of allmac in Palo Alto, the server lives! We have also brought online another backup server as a failsafe in case this should ever happen again.
Those of you waiting for account activation @ siteSatellite can expect those confirmation e-mails to sail into your inbox in the next two days.
January 24, 2001
This is too funny
<satire>
"Due to a small but significant clause in the U.S. Constitution, I will be out of the office from January 21, 2001 until January 20, 2005" -- Al Gore's White House voicemail.
</satire>
January 22, 2001
The big stick arrives
Updates to Momentary Shadows have been a little slow as of late because of a camera equipment problems which had largely sidelined my photography for the last couple of years. In the last two-three weeks we have replaced my old Nikon with a F4 body and brought in the big stick and Cadillac of digital camaras, the E-10, to my arsenal of photo tools.
In the next few weeks I have a series of photo shoots scheduled which will be finding their way to Shadows and this here domain.
You wanna' know when stuff gets posted? Sign up here.
January 21, 2001
A U2 Calm
O.K. after my rant I have calmed down. I think I can rant here now and then, after all my name is up there in the URL window. ;)
I have a huge intolerance for web sites that simply cannot handle high web traffic. Despite the sluggish performance of ticketmaster, I managed to get good tickets for both nights in San Jose and am working on getting a couple for Anaheim.
Hey, if you have a couple of lower reserve seats for U2 in Anaheim let me know . My posse of U2 friends will be there.
an e-commerce rant
<rant>
I have long been a supporter of web enabling commerce. When online groceries, book shopping, and ticket services came on line I jumped on board and became an early adopter. However, sfx.com and ticketmaster still haven't learned how to handle the high server demands generated by a big event such as this morning's U2 concert sale. Their servers were so overwhelmed this morning that you couldn't even get an event listing let alone an order form to request tickets for the event.
Now its one thing to not be able to connect to the ticket system via the web. That sort of thing is to be expected as if you were dialing in on the phone or standing in line at the local tower records since 5 AM. I look at it like I am standing in line, but to not be able to get in the line is intolerable. If sfx.com and ticketmaster.com were eToys we would be hearing a lot of bad press. It is simply the same problem.
</rant>
January 18, 2001
The Mac Lives
Who says the mac religion is dead? Very cool.
January 17, 2001
Rotating blackouts kill a server
Thanks to rolling blackouts and a failed surge supressor one of our UNIX web servers was killed today.
January 11, 2001
Blackout
I never thought I would live to see it, but we are having rolling blackouts in the area. The office just lost power. You have to love electric deregulation. Oh boy.
January 09, 2001
In awe...
Since my trusty PowerBook bit the dust I have been agonizing over if, when, and what I should do about it. The old book simply can't be taken on the road anymore because of bad a power managment board. The black beast has been relegated to UNIX server status. It is simply not worth getting fixed.
With the reality distortion field in full swing, I can't help but be tempted by the new titanium PowerBook G4. It has everything I could every need for mobile DV and digital photo editing and rugged enough to take out on photo shoots in the Sierra's. I am in pure awe...
Like a kid again
There are few things that get me bouncing off the walls—giddy, but this is one of them. This morning U2 announced their new concert tour of the US and Canada. They will be kicking it off on March 24 in Sunrise, FLA with tour dates in California in mid-April. More details on the tour and the new album can be found on the band's site.
This band is one of the few that I still follow from my youth. When I listen to them I feel ten years younger...imagine that.
January 07, 2001
Coffee Crunch Cake
I woke up this morning with a strong craving for Coffee Crunch Cake. Now before you say anything, let me just say that I was dreaming about my childhood running around Palo Alto and Menlo Park with my parents on errands.
One of the places we used to go was Stickneys a venerable eating institution in the Town & Country center just down the road from the Stanford Football stadium. It was a place we would go to meet up with my Parent's friends after work @ Schlage or get a bite to eat after a Stanford game.
Besides having the most incredible barbeque food, they had fantastic desserts. Among them was their famous Coffee Crunch Cake. When I moved back to the Peninsula after college I rediscovered some of the old haunts from my early childhood (including Stickneys). In the 1990's the restaurant became a throwback to a time when restaurants were not trendy in Palo Alto and family style dining did not mean going to Denny's.
Well, Stickneys closed after 46 years, becoming another victim to high rent in Palo Alto. I had my last Coffee Crunch cake before they closed last January and I am still craving it to this day.
Transformation of Be
I have been a big fan of Be since its early beginnings running on PowerPC based BeBoxes. The small company founded in 1986 by some ex-Apple engineers from the original Mac development team built an OS that is incredibly fast, unix based, and platform portable long before Apple even had an OS strategy. Be was considered a contender as the future of Apple in 1997 until they bought NeXT and embarked on the borg based OS X.
With the loss of Apple and hardware support from that company, Be went to Intel and embedded systems like cable boxes. Both those efforts have floundered in the face of poor marketing and extreme difficulty in convincing developers to port software for the BeOS.
It looks like the little company that could just got a break from Sony to use Be's new embedded operating system in a proposed internet appliance that is under development. This is good news for Be.
I often pass by Be's offices on the El Camino in Menlo Park on the way to work. Every time I drive by I think of what could have been. Unfortunately the Valley is littered with examples of could've beens. They range from MagicCap, Xerox PARC, Be, and Taligent. Maybe this one will have a happy ending.
January 05, 2001
Net activism in action
Pyra's Blogger, which powers this web site, has been long suffering from sluggish server performance due to too much web traffic. The service has gotten too much love from the media and thus seen its free membership explode. Unfortunately with the dotcom shakeout the company hasn't been able to scrape up additional funding to buy more servers to fix the problem. There is a silver lining to al this. The users of this service have all pitched in and donated money to the cause.
Pyra just announced that with our generous donations they have secured a new server, which makes life easier for everyone with a web log to get there content published. This just proves that people will support a free product with money if they truly find it valuable.
Zoo Radio Delayed
Nagging service problems with blogger and siteSatellite's icecast MP3 server continue to hamper news updates and the broadcast of ZooRadio.
January 04, 2001
True wireless access
We have been using Apple's Airport wireless technology for sometime at siteSatelllite, but have been craving a real wireless alternative for our Palm PDAs. Well it looks like our prayers have been answered with today's announcement that Sprint and Palm are teaming up to provide PCS based high-speed web access for Palm Pilots. This is enough to give a gadget-junkie a major sugar rush.
January 01, 2001
MacWorld Descends upon SF
The countdown to the start of the reality distortion field has begun. The annual love fest that is called MacWorld descends upon the City January 9-12. Cofee, tea, or a UNIX powered MacOS anyone?