Apple’s music store offers many ways to discover new music. I also have been using Yahoo! Music, which offers great value—how’s five bucks a month for unlimited downloads—but doesn’t offer as many ways to find […]
LOL
I witnessed the clash of the old and new worlds while driving the other day. The cause: lol. To my 11-year old daughter, lol means “laughing out loud,” because of her use of instant messaging. […]
Design Matters
Last night, during an IM conversation with Nate Mook (of Betanews fame), he broached the topic of smiles, saying Apple’s little iPod nano makes people smile. It’s just so damn cute. So are babies, for that matter, and they make people smile, too. Coocheecoo!
Search as the New User Interface
In my next blog post, I plan to write about good design. As prelude, I offer my May 23, 2005, column for Betanews:
In 1984, Apple’s Macintosh introduced the world to the graphical user interface, eventually changing how people interact with computers. The GUI may not have been Apple’s idea—great credit there goes to the folks at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center—but the company did deliver the first meaningful, commercial product.
Good Thing in a Small Package
I am back from Los Angeles, where I attended Microsoft’s developers conference. Waiting for me: A shiny new iPod nano. Much thanks to Apple for sending this huge surprise. I nearly bought one last Friday […]
iPod Shuffle: Apple Understated
Back in February, Betanews published a column from me about Apple’s iPod Shuffle. I’m working on another column, on iPod nano, and decided to post the earlier one here.
Well, I’m Impressed
Traveling today, I got lots of chances to see the John Roberts’ senate confirmation hearing. I normally wouldn’t have time. But the hearing played all over Dulles airport, while I waited for my plane, and […]
Jobs Does the Job
Today, I took some time to watch Steve Jobs’ iPod nano Webcast. I’ve got to tell you that he gives a better performance than most magicians. And the slight of hands are amazingly subtle. For example, he used iChat to video conference with Madonna in London.
9-11: The Day America Changed
Four years ago this morning, my wife remarked about the perfect fall day. Clear skies, low humidity and freshness in the air.
Around 9:20, I checked the headlines at Washington Post. I had been online for hours, but not looking at local news. Across the top of the page was a one liner about an airplane striking the World Trade Center. We naturally assumed a small plane had collided with one of the towers. While I looked for more details online, she checked CNN and gasped in the living room. I walked out to see video of both towers aflame. This was no small plane incident.
The Mother of Invention
This evening, my wife, daughter and I drove over to Bethesda, Md., for an open house at Imagination Stage; my daughter decided to take an acting class there. Afterwards, we took a stroll through downtown […]
What’s Up with all These Planes going Down?
File this under scary. Today, Reuters cited sources giving an eerie explanation for the crash of a Helios airliner last month in Greece: Confused pilots. The tragedy had been confusing from the start, because the flight crew and most of the passengers appeared to be unconscious when the Boeing 737 ran out of fuel and crashed. De-pressurization was a leading suspected cause of the crash.
Reuters, citing a story in International Herald Tribune, claims that a maintenance crew left a pressurization control knob undone. The pilots missed this and misunderstood a pressurization warning alarm. Apparently, the cabin never pressurized at all.
Cut the Cheese
When I do eat burgers, I’m a pretty much a hold everything kind of guy. I like the bun, slab of meat, and catsup; no veggies, please. But no matter what fast-food place I eat, cheese […]