July 24, 2004
U2 Threatens to Release Album Early on iTunes
This little item shows the power and influence iTunes has with the artists in the recording industry.
"After a rough cut of U2's latest unfinished album was stolen earlier this week, the band has vowed to release the entire album on iTunes if the music appears on P2P networks. Bono told the London Daily Telegraph, 'If it is on the Internet this week, we will release it immediately as a legal download on iTunes, and get hard copies into the shops by the end of the month.' Is this the exact opposite of the Smashing Pumpkins' last album, which the band rushed to release on P2P networks, before it could hit the stores?"(Courtesy of Slashdot)
Here's the full scoop at Wired
July 22, 2004
Berkeley Kite Festival & WCKC
For the Kite Enthusiast in all of us...
The Berkeley Kite Festival. Two Line, Four Line Kites, and more! I can't wait.
July 20, 2004
Make Your Own iPod Speakers
Alright, this all over the web, but I couldn't resist due to the cool factor:
July 15, 2004
Beach Bound
We're off to fly two-line kites, lay in the sand and relax.
July Rumors Bring August iPods
Heard around the Web: July rumors bring August iPods (Smaller, multi-colored, iPod mini-ish.)
July 13, 2004
Alan Kay Decries the State of Computing
Computer pioneer Alan Kay (DARPA in the '60s, PARC in the '70s, now HP Labs) declares 'The sad truth is that 20 years or so of commercialization have almost completely missed the point of what personal computing is about.' He believes that PCs should be tools for creativity and learning, and they are falling short. (Thanks to SlashDot)
July 12, 2004
Embrace Your Guilty Pleasures
A recent article in the SF Chronicle about RUSH and Guilty Pleasures really got me thinking. Whether we want to admit it to our friends or not, we all have a band that secretly like to listen to, but would never admit to our friends. Thoughts of George Michael in his WHAM days, or RUSH, Morrissey, or A Flock of Seaguls comes to mind as a few examples. The article points out that even the famous have their secret list of guilty pleasures.
O.K., so I will fess up to some of mine. My Guilty Pleasures are:
- Morrissey
- RUSH
- Harry Belafonte
- ABBA
- Erasure
- and, yes, WHAM!
Not exactly in synch with my public alternative/grunge music image is it?
There, they are out in the open...well, some of them, but at least I am man enough to admit it to them.
Come on, what are your Guilty Pleasures?
July 09, 2004
The Evolution of the PC GUI
This sort of proves that there is little if any innovation in the development of the next phase of PC GUIs...most of the stuff we are getting now on both Windows and the Mac OS X GUI was thought of back in the 1970's and 1980's at Xerox PARC and at Apple's Advanced Technology Group.
A Pictorial History of the "Apple Desktop Interface" 1979 - 2000
Polaroid's branding from the guy who developed it
I have been looking at a lot of successful brand lately as part of expanding my views into developing branded user experiences for the Web (Yes, I still do web stuff).
One of the interesting looks at corporate brand identity is in the development of Poloroid's Brand ID. Paul Giambarba's ground breaking work in the 1950's through the mid-1970's helped to define the overall brand image. Some of the early concepts he describes really points to how a well recognized brand is established.
Paul's Poloroid Branding Blog is well worth the look.
July 07, 2004
NPDS File Serving on a Newton
The above screen shot illustrates what can be served up on a Newton. I basically have my entire layout using style sheets, tableless page layouts, and images being served off my Message Page 2100. The added bonus to this is that I can provide access to my Calendar, Notes, and allow folks to page me. In the longer term, I can also allow sharing of MP Packages via FTP.
July 02, 2004
Battery Powered WebServer
How would you like to be able to have a portable web server that:
- runs on batteries, which will last 3 weeks straight
- fits in the Palm of your hand (more or less)
- can serve and data file you want
- can be set up anywhere on the net...via a AirPort Wireless, Ethernet landline, bluetooth, or modem bridge connection to the Web?
- whose total web server software consumes a meager 48K of memory
Sound too good to be true? Well, it is not. It exists and has been around since 1997. What is it? An Apple Newton Message Pad 2100 using Newton Personal Data Sharing (NPDS).
So, why on earth would you want to do that on a Newton? If you think about it, it has an incredibly fast processor, no moving parts, all data is stored in flash RAM, and low heat output. If you are posting pure content with some functionality it is the perfect server with built in calendaring and faxing capabilities without any additional software to buy. It also allows a person to go mobile and be able to host a site from anywhere as a temporary server...say an event website from a conference that you are attending. Pretty cool.
(Besides the server aspect of the Newton, I am already posting most of my content to this site via my Newton 2100 on a wireless network. I detest lugging around a laptop in order to post.)
I actually got my second Newton 2100 (second? Yes, I have quite a few Newtons laying around the house) running NPDS to serve some of my content for this site. In fact, there is a new nav category on this site called Data Sharing that will enable access to the server.
What on earth am I going to do with a Newton powered web server? I have some plans, but you will need to either ask me or just stay tuned.