July 2010
13 posts
Today, a third party presented their service offering via web conference. Afterwards, the phone call finished but they forgot to stop screen-sharing.
We watched as the presenter clicked from their PowerPoint presentation to their web browser, where they un-paused a computer game and continued to play. It was like we were witnessing The Website is Down.
“A lost and alone kitten joins a gang of dogs engaged in petty larceny in New...”
Wetware →
Why You Can't Work at Work →
(by Jason Fried from 37 Signals)
I’ve been thinking about this a bit. No conclusions yet.
What about, instead of calling it Google Reader and RSS, it’s called Google Dashboard and a Dashboard Feed, and whenever you’re on someone else’s site, there’s an option to “Add to My Dashboard”. Would that make more sense to the everyperson?
Also: I wonder if RSS will ever accept other attributes so that everyone can style their feeds individually. Get some...
“If you’re a billionaire, you write your email entirely in lower-case and...”
– What Does Your Email Signature Say About You?
Why do you always bash me up in self-defense class?
Setting up a writing desk with my favourite paper, pens, notebooks, etc. was the best idea I’ve had for ages. It’s so darn pleasant.
Ion: apparently the new Polaroid 300 is just a rebadged Fujifilm Instax, but for a higher price. Harrumph.
June 2010
17 posts
Idea:
Sophistication classes. $100 for a 2-hour class each Saturday afternoon. No commitment, no exams, no qualification. The lecturers are handpicked, A++ quality.
Subjects:
The art of conversation
The art of written communication
Other countries snapshot I
Other countries snapshot II
Human behaviour
Personal finance
Conflict and resolution
Engineering basics
The art of...
WatchLove Love for iPad and iPhone. I can’t stop playing it.
The one good thing about Microsoft Outlook was the LinkedIn toolbar, which gave me some really useful information, like a list of emails for which I’ve never received replies, a list of people who I haven’t emailed in a while, and a list of people who I frequently email but haven’t added them to my network yet. I wish Gmail did some useful things like that. Human-useful-things.
I wish we had a better term for Content Management System than that. Or that people could just refer to it as “Site Admin” or something instead. And another term for FTP, too, while we’re at it. Clients VS. The Wall of Jargon.
Hi! I rearranged my bedroom, set up a writing desk and spent the weekend organising papers, pens, bits and bobs. And I’ve added a daily reminder to take my journal everywhere. That’s to encourage the first project for Project Club: handwriting.
Watch
Gdańsk - 21 (by Bart + Kelly)
We’re constantly trying to improve ourselves.
This might sound childish but I’ve culled my feeds and set up two main folders in Reader & Instapaper: Tech and Life. I think I’ll designate a day per week to read articles in the Tech folder. And… I’m quietly setting up Project Club, with a member of one, and one wee project per month. For June, my project is to improve my damn handwriting.
Cupidtino →
So I joined Cupidtino when it launched beta, and today I checked how many people are on there (25-40 y.o., AU). Men = 47. Women = 5. Where all the lady Apple fans at?
Something that recently inspired me was, in a roundabout way, from a TV series called Design for Life (interesting show on Wednesday nights, ABC2 in AU).
Philippe Starck (extremely paraphrased, and maybe a little bit made-up) said something like: Look outside your industry for ideas.
I was in a rut and needed a change. I’d been consuming many feeds about other companies and industry...
FaceTime
I might be wrong, but I don’t think that videocalling (aka facetime) will be a fad and people will revert to audiocalling (see e.g. kottke). I’ve been using Skype for a while now, at home and work, and to begin with, I didn’t like videocalls. They were intrusive and embarrassing. It’s taken a while to get used to them, but now they’re fine.
Sure, there are times...
Okay, so who sent me an Audrey Hepburnesque sleep mask? (I like it.)
May 2010
7 posts
The iPad edition of Wired magazine has strong enviro-friendly sentiments, and yet, so many car ads.
5 minutes with the iPad
I’ve had the iPad since Friday and here are my initial thuts:
It’s beautiful.
I think I’m gonna want to take it everywhere with me.
It’s great for reading. For focusing and not being distracted by emails, messages, ladida.
There are a couple of things I don’t like about Safari.
It’s not good for hardcore web browsing. “Open in New Page”...
I miss having pen pals. It’s true.
Through measured disapproval, lessons in anti-exuberance and constant vague criticisms, I learned the importance of ROI.
Le Roi. The king of money.
(Everytime French-persons see English business articles, do they wonder what these fanciful kings are doing, scattered throughout the advertising news?)
I like Foursquare so much. I love noting down new places, new bars and restaurants and neat things around town, marking them ‘todo’. I like seeing where my friends are, and asking them later, how was that place? Or hey, I’m in the same street, let’s hang out! Foursquare brings fun and exploration. Facebook does not. Now let’s make like a tree and leave.
I’ve started a new Tumblr for all the links I send to friends each day. Items from internet collected and shared. If you’re a supanerd you’ve probably seen it all before. Elsewise: foxfollow.
April 2010
4 posts
You’d think a house with moving labyrinthine rooms would be thrilling, but trust me, it’s not. It’s incredibly frustrating. Open a door, there’s the lounge room, close the door. Open the same door, oh it’s the alleyway outside the house, close the door. I’d rather a regular house, thanks.
Me: We need to give Jet two pills. We've run out of pills, we need to go to the vet, is there anything else we want to ask the vet while we're there?
Mish: Hmm... they'd probably know, "How do you tell if your dog is gay?"
Willo: Hmm... "Look he's good, but do you have him in purple?"
Things I don’t believe in:
Religion
Nationalities and patriotism
Eye cream
Well then.
March 2010
8 posts
On the Vegas strip
Me: That's like, the third casino that's been massively advertising that they're on Twitter.
Mish: Well, this is where @ev started it, to keep track of his friends when they're out.
WatchMish and I went to Vegas to shoot guns.
Read her full post on The Jamjar.
In SF, I met up with Peggy, who I’ve been internet-pen-pals with for years & years. We toured her neighbourhood and talked and talked and talked. Then we met up with Michelle and went shopping the next day, first visiting the Benefit brow bar and then experiencing the joys of H&M and Sephora, which we don’t have in Australia. If we did, they’d be successful. I bought red...
Last two lines of 2012:
“No more Pull-Ups®!”
“Nice.”
Note to self: People on this plane are reading books like The Power of Now and Cycling Home from Siberia.
February 2010
9 posts
The most annoying part was him knowing how to press the teleal nerve in the lower leg to temporarily trigger that paralysing mix of pain and weirdness. You couldn’t fight back unless you could block it out, rise above it, and retaliate with something like an open palm to his ear. Even then, he might not let go, so you had to rise above it again to fight back again. The Chester sisters...
I’m waiting for the media to dub this recent spate of knife violence “The Cutlery Killings”.