Yesterday Netscape announced that version 6.2 of their browser was available for download. And today, Opera has announced that their Mac browser has reached beta 4. Both browsers have excellent standards support, although Netscape continues to be the only browser that gets all of the nuances of this particular design right...
»plink« · October 31, 2001
On the Visor Edge, that is. I've created a 'blog channel of sorts out of my Links page, so if you suddenly see AvantGo showing up in your server logs each morning around 6:30 a.m. MST, you'll know why.
I'm pretty happy with the way things are working using the AvantGo browser. You bloggers are doing a good job of making your content accessible to PDAs and such. My only complaint (and imagine if you had to do this with a screen reader or mouth stick, or some other assistive technology) is that on some sites I have to scroll and scroll and scroll through navigation links and links to other blogs. I am seeing the value of a "skip to content" link, or, even better, putting all of that stuff at the end of your page, and using CSS to put the navigation where you want it visually on the page.
So, I'm browsing around the pages I've downloaded, and I get to the MacinTouch link, and it comes up with a server error message. I kept reading the message and realized that Mr. Ford was basically telling folks like me he didn't want our business:
Note that we do not support systems, such as AvantGo, that take other companies' content and redistribute it in modified form for their own profit....
With all due respect, Mr. Ford, I think you are making a mistake. More and more people are using their PDAs along with services such as AvantGo to browse the web off line. In fact, even though I have a link to your site from my links page, I rarely find myself there while I am surfing online, with a computer. However, since it was, or would have been, on my PDA, I would have liked to see what you had to say yesterday, but instead I was told that I was not welcome at your site.
It's a shame. You've lost at least one PDA using reader, and likely many more due to this shortsighted policy. Perhaps you'll reconsider...
»plink« · October 25, 2001
Is it cool? Yes. Is it brushed metal? Yes. Will people want one? Yes. Do I want one. No. But Moby does. And Seal and that guy from Smashmouth. Well, he wants two, 'cause he doesn't want to share with his girlfriend.
Oh yeah. It is an iPod...
»plink« · October 23, 2001
Ten years ago yesterday Apple introduced the PowerBook 100 (as seen on the left). Until the TiBook (as seen on the right) was introduced earlier this year it was the lightest and smallest PowerBook from Apple. To commemorate, PowerBook Zone has posted an interview with Bruce Gee (of GeeThree), the PowerBook Product Manager at the time of the introduction.
You've come a long way, baby...
»plink« · October 22, 2001
If you've been following Apple at all for the past several years, you know that Steve Jobs has been doing everything he can to stop the rumors. Despite his best efforts there is still rampant speculation the precedes every MacWorld conference, and occasionally we get folks like Worker Bee posting information and pictures of upcoming products before they are announced.
So I find it interesting that Apple seems to be taking a slightly different tack recently. Before the Paris Expo and Seybold were to take place last month, Apple sent out a press release saying that there would be no new hardware introduced at the Paris Expo (which was then cancelled after the 9/11 attacks on the US). This didn't stop the rumormongers from speculating about Seybold. Of course nothing new was introduced there.
As I noted yesterday, Apple has announced, one day after upgrading the iBooks and TiBooks, that it will be unveiling new hardware next week. And that it won't be a Mac. And since the rumor sites were not on the list of invitees (I wonder why? ;), they were effectively scooped by more reputable news sources like c|net.
I wonder if that brought a smile to Steve's face...
»plink« · October 18, 2001
I was searching for a picture of Ed Grimley playing the triangle yesterday, and not having much success. Then I noticed what Lycos told me about related searches. Perhaps they are hoping that they can use whatever is keeping his hair up. Or maybe they just can't get this image out of their minds...
»plink« · October 17, 2001
I'm getting dizzy with all the announcements coming out of Apple recently. Updates to the 'Books yesterday, announcements about their Q4 Financial Results today, and a "breakthrough digital device" being announced next week...
»plink« · October 17, 2001
I no longer use the fastest laptop in the world. Apple has done the inevitable and upgraded their PowerBook and iBook offerings, with the TiBook topping out at 667MHz and the iBook at 600MHz. The TiBook also sports a faster graphics chip, but no combo drive...
In related news, a quick check at the UPS web site shows the Free CD-RW unit is in Tucson and en route to be delivered this morning. I love new toys...
»plink« · October 16, 2001
Or at least the case is no longer as strong, since I purchased a Visor Edge. It's silver to match the TiBook. They sure do look nice sitting next to each other...
Anyway, I thought I'd take a look at the Handspring site, and up pops a new product: the Treo communicator. Star Trek fans everywhere are rejoicing, I'm sure...
»plink« · October 15, 2001
Not the revised TiBooks and iBooks from Apple. My free VST FireWire CD-RW, also from Apple...
»plink« · October 15, 2001
The Register, Think Secret, and MacNN all seem to think so...
»plink« · October 11, 2001
Sesame Workshop issued a statement saying it was very unhappy with the sudden connection between a lovable character with a penchant for pigeons and bottlecaps and the most wanted man in the world.
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When asked about Bert's current whereabouts, however, the spokeswoman replied: "No comment."
So what is the relationship between Bert and bin Ladin?
»plink« · October 11, 2001
At home my office G3 is connected to the cable modem via a 3rd party (ie, not Apple's AirPort) wireless router. OS X 10.1 supports AirPort, so the TiBook would have no problem, but the SkyLine card in the Blue and White on my desk wouldn't work. Until now...
»plink« · October 10, 2001
Will fermentation work the same in weightlessness? What happens to carbonation when there's no buoyancy to bring the bubbles to the top? Can space beer form a proper head?
It's true. NASA and Coors have teamed up to answer these all important questions. And Coca-Cola is working on a way to dispense it all into a container, while keeping the carbonation in solution.
Our tax dollars at work...
»plink« · October 10, 2001
AMD today announced that its new processors are just as fast as Intel's, even though their clock speeds don't measure up. Instead of telling us what the clock speeds are, we get names such as 1800+, which we are supposed to believe matches Intel's 1.8GHz P4 chips. Because they say so.
AMD may or may not be accurate in their new naming scheme. It doesn't really matter until we can see some real world, side by side comparisons. Kind of like the bake-offs we get from Phil Schiller at every MacWorld Expo. Funny how AMD is now in the same boat as Apple. Wasn't it just about a year ago that they were competing with Intel to break 1GHz?
Maybe they can hire Jon Rubinstein to explain the Megahertz Myth. Or they could just download the QuickTime movie...
»plink« · October 09, 2001
I find it interesting that the way our news media picks stories to feature has changed dramatically in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Before September 11, Rush Limbaugh's announcement that he is now deaf would have been one of the lead stories on last night's 10 o'clock news. Last night, it wasn't even mentioned. The lead story was about the mentally ill passenger who tried to get into the cockpit on a flight to Chicago, followed by the second Anthrax case in Florida. Those stories would have received only passing mention, if at all, just a month ago...
»plink« · October 9, 2001
Very interesting article that discusses the changes that the front page of the Google went through in the hours and days that followed the September 11 attack on the US. I found the idea that naïve users who type "cnn" as a search term when looking for the CNN web site, may not be so naïve after all, to be very intriguing...
»plink« · October 8, 2001
Her: pink velour lo-cut bottoms and a halter top with nearly a full human gestational period exposed for all to see - linea negra, inside out navel and stretch marks proudly(?) announcing to everyone (you couldn't really miss it) that something happened about 9 months previous...
Him: young 6" gopher snake wrapped around the fingers of one hand, while his other hand wrapped around her shoulders...
The joys of riding the bus...
»plink« · October 5, 2001
Hmmm...
The battle of the banner ads has just heated up. With Internet users increasingly implementing filtering software to screen out advertisements, Web site operators will soon have a new tool to block the blockers.
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The new software, currently in beta testing, will allow Web site operators to deny access to users who have installed ad filters.
Now that would get me to turn off my ad blocking software.
That is if I actually used such software...
»plink« · October 4, 2001
I continue to tweak the style sheet, this time with a nod to Eric Meyer's css/edge. So if anything looks weird (like text running across the top of the window where the navigation used to be), hold down the shift key while you hit reload/refresh on your browser's tool bar. Then, hopefully, everything will be fine...
»plink« · October 4, 2001
Jim Heid's got me thinking about upgrading my TiBook to Mac OS X 10.1. It's this line that did it for me: Speaking of PowerBooks, they awaken from sleep mode almost instantly when running Mac OS 10.1...
»plink« · October 4, 2001
Jeff Adkins at Low End Mac has written a nice article that explains how you can use your Mac more efficiently. I've been doing most of them for awhile now, but you may find something in there that helps you accomplish things faster.
It may have convinced me to finally start using the Startup Items Folder...
»plink« · October 4, 2001
I've made some tweaks to the style sheet to clean things up a bit more. And I see that Ken has redesigned again. He promises to stay with this one for awhile...
»plink« · October 3, 2001
Well, I've done it. Resigned to the fact that the old look is, well, old, I've redesigned. And, since I don't use an iBook anymore, I've dropped the whole iBook, iMac, iBlog thing. Now it's just "I blog at mac dot com." But we still put the "Blah" in blog...
I'll still cover Mac stuff, but not necessarily with the fervor I have in the past. So the cute little icons are gone, too. Makes things a bit easier for me now.
Links at the top (or bottom if you are using a browser that doesn't support style sheets properly, or you have turned style sheets off) get you to the same old links that used to populate the right side of the blog. And the archived blogs retain the old formating for nostalgia's sake.
Let me know what you think...
»plink« · October 2, 2001
Sadako wanted so much to comfort him, but she didn't know what to say. Then she remembered the cranes. "You can make paper cranes like I do," she said, "so that a miracle can happen."
-- Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr, Ronald Himler (Illustrator)
From the Rogue Librarian...
»plink« · October 1, 2001
It's a challenge, an experiment, an exploration, a rough map of where we haven't been. It's a search for new ways to approach Web-based design. It's a cry for creativity, and a stab at innovation. It's a playground and a proving ground. It's a rejection of what's practical in favor of what's possible.
Welcome to the edge...
»plink« · October 1, 2001
John Farr has an excellent piece on Macintosh portable hardware and surfing naked. It hits home for me because I also own an upgraded 540c, used a Tangerine iBook and frequently have several computers hooked up both physically and wirelessly to the internet via our cable modem and an Xrouter Aero...
»plink« · October 1, 2001
