iBook, iMac, iBlog...

[September 25, 2001]

Just as we all expected..

Apple has officially announced OSX version 10.1, available Saturday. And David Coursey thinks it's just the thing for running the next generation of home computing appliances.

Is Avie really leaving?

Rumors are swirling that one of the masterminds of the NEXTSTEP operating system, as well as OSX is leaving Apple. And that his shoes are proving to be hard to fill.

[September 24, 2001]

Live, via satellite, from Cupertino?

According to the Seybold web site, Steve Jobs is still scheduled to appear at Seybold tomorrow via satellite. Seems like an awful lot of effort to go through since he's no longer going to be in Paris.

I wonder if anything new (beyond introducing OS X 10.1) will be announced...

[September 21, 2001]

Keep creating...

I have mentioned before that I don't watch much television. Other than watching last week's coverage of the attacks, and last night's speech, I haven't watched in months. I don't go to movies either. Jeffrey sums up my reasons eloquently and forcefully in his latest Glamorous Life installment:

We are blessed with a rich culture, woven from thousands of years of European, African, and Asian art, philosophy, and political thinking. But you wouldn't know it to look at the junk we put on TV and export to the world.

Suddenly pop culture looks like excrement smeared by a mental patient.

I encourage you to take some time off from watching television, and engage in creating something. Ken Layne says that "They win if we quit. They win if we quit writing books, quit making art, quit going to work." So don't quit. And if you've never done it before, start. We need art and writing and other creative outlets to help us get through this, make sense of it, interpret it for our kids and theirs.

Keep creating...

[September 20, 2001]

Palm m125

Just as I begin to narrow my choices, Palm decides to introduce a new device, placed squarely in my price range. However, I am not fond of the size and shape of this particular PDA.

So it loses out on æsthetics...

[September 19, 2001]

Your blood's no good here...

I tried to give blood today. We regularly have the Bloodmobile at our work site, so I decided to try again. I've only managed to give blood once in my life. And it wasn't today. This time it was the Melanoma I had removed four years ago.

You can try too:
US: 1-800-GIVELIFE | UK: 08457-711-711 | CA: 1-888-2-DONATE

[September 18, 2001]

Proud to be an American and a Tucsonan

Some 15,000 Tucsonans braved the heat last week to create a human flag. The photo will be published in Sports Illustrated and a poster is being made, with proceeds to go towards disater relief efforts.

Tired!

I've been up for nearly 24 hours straight. And I'll be up for several more yet. Went to the magic show, then took my family home and put the girls to bed. There was a party with the magicians at a home near where I work, so after the party I headed off to work. I'll probably leave shortly after our meeting which gets over at 12pm.

I hope noon comes soon...

[September 17, 2001]

Magic!

Tonight we go see Sylvester the Jester, a live cartoon, do his magic on stage. I'm looking forward to it.

Taming the luddite

Despite the fact that I carry around a $3000 titanium covered laptop, I am a bit of a technical luddite. I do not own a pager, cell phone, or PDA. We watch very little TV - in fact before last week's tragedy, I had not watched a television show in months - and our television is 10 years old (as is our only car). We do own several CD players, but no expensive or expansive stereo system. We have cable for internet only.

Yet I find myself in the market for a PDA. I don't do well with paper organizers. They are too bulky and heavy, and I don't have time to learn how to use them effectively. I forget to write things in them, and forget to look at them for days at a time. Similarly, the calendar and contact managers that I have tried on the laptop are unwieldy.

A PDA would take care of the bulk and weight. The "toy factor" would encourage me to actually use the thing, and learn to use it as I "play" with it. That's how I've learned to use computers, and create web sites, after all.

So, the question becomes, which PDA? I've narrowed the field to Handspring's Visor Edge, and Sony's color CLIÉ.

I was all but ready to order an Edge until I saw a CLIÉ at the Metreon in SF last week. The high resolution color screen is amazing. Of course it would end up costing twice as much as the Visor Edge if I can get the $100 rebate from Apple (which is still up in the air).

Anybody want to give me some advice?

[September 14, 2001]

Web2001 photos

I have posted some photos from the Web2001 conference last week in San Francisco. You can see more at Webreference.com.

[September 13, 2001]

Haunting images and a well written letter

Time magazine does what it does best in this photo essay. And Leonard Pitts Jr. writes an excellent letter to the perpetrators of this terrible act...

[September 12, 2001]

Half Mast

I made it home safely and spent some time with my family. I had intended to post pictures from the trip yesterday, but that seemed (and still seems) unimportant given the acts of terrorism on our country. So I'll post this image of a flag flying at half mast at one of the fraternities on campus. I took this picture at about 9am (MST) Tuesday morning, after being sent back home from work...

[September 4, 2001]

Frogs and other nightmares

I woke at 3am having dreamt I missed my flight, and forgot my luggage. My daughter woke at 4am dreaming of frogs, and demanding that we close the door tight. I arrived at the ticket counter at 5am to find that my (former*) travel agent had canceled my itinerary.

It can only get better from here, right?

Actually, I am very happy with United as they managed to get me re-booked on my original flight to San Francisco. But the First Class upgrade will have to wait for the trip home...

*Actually I have no say in the matter of who my employer uses for their travel agent. But you can rest assured that I will not be using Bon Voyage for any personal travel arrangements.