Firefox 1.5 Officially Released with Updated Website Look

Check it out, but remember that a lot of extensions will be rendered incompatible so upgrade with care...

evhead.com: Ten Rules for Web Startups

"#1: Be Narrow; #2: Be Different; #3: Be Casual; #4: Be Picky; #5: Be User-Centric; #6: Be Self-Centered; #7: Be Greedy; #8: Be Tiny; #9: Be Agile; #10: Be Balanced; #11 (bonus!): Be Wary"

Click on article title to read the details, and pay special attention to rule 11 ;-)

Virtual Packaging Lacks Sense

"Products sold online lack the benefit of three of the five senses. How do brand owners compensate for lack of touch in packaging online?"

I've long felt the same way about having to brand and package software and other things you can't 'touch'. With the advent of the web, now real products are facing similar challenges as virtual ones.

AT&T gets new logo, and most likely headaches about capitalization

So the merger with SBC has caused some outward changes too. Here's the new logo, replacing what used to be affectionately called the 'Death Star'. It is certainly freindlier, looking more now like a Cat's Eye Marble. It will also probably be a text book example of confusion leading to capitalization: is it AT&T as all the text suggests, or is it at&t?

LaCie - Brick Desktop Hard Drive

Cute lego style hard drive...

Intel Changes Logo Lineup

worldofapple.com: "Intel has made a series of changes to its logo lineup. Pentium-M has been replaced by "Core Solo" for single core versions and "Core Duo" for dual core versions of Yonah. Intel's next generation wireless Napa platforms will now be "Centrino" and "Centrino Duo."

Death by Caffeine?

"How much of your favorite caffeinated drink would it take to kill you? Take this quick test and find out"

Good to know that even on a heavy coffee day, I'm still about 87 cups shy of kicking it :-P

A movie projector in a cell phone / media player?

"Finland's Upstream Engineering is working on an LED (light-emitting diode) projection system that potentially could, because of its small size and relatively low cost, allow manufacturers to put projectors inside MP3 players, cell phones or other portable electronics for a few dollars."

This would be a killer iPod accessory. I recently had a client looking for some wireless projector technology. Putting one of these projectors in a base that you could put an iPod in and just start playing back video etc. would be very handy for presentations or other gatherings.

Google Offers Free Web Analytics Service

"Previously known as Urchin from Google, Google Analytics helps businesses use performance data to improve their online marketing campaigns and Web sites. The service provides information such as which keywords attract the most visitors, which e-mail campaigns generate the most customers and how to design Web pages that hold users' attention."

This is pretty neat, Google has integrated with AdWords which adds an interesting facet to your ROI metrics. It is indeed free, and you can track up to 50 websites (more if you combine "website profiles"). If you are familiar with the Google sitemaps setup and UI, this is even simpler to get going with. In 12hrs I'll be able to dig into the UI after Google has accumulated some data on the site(s) I've added.

I'll Have Two Paintings in Maude Kerns Art Center "Art for all Seasons" Show

"Art for all Seasons: The Annual Membership Show: November 18th - December 23rd. Opening reception Friday November 18, 6-8pm"

This is an open exhibition of member artwork. I'm looking forward to meeting other artist from the community at the opening.

Shelter Indoor Skatepark Website Launched

OK, so it has been up and going through some iterative refinement for a couple of weeks, but I wanted to finally plug this site I designed for my friends at Shelter.

It's a fun site and an even more fun skatepark. If you are ever in Eugene, you should check it out - rain or shine.

Apple Simply Must Add "Floating" Video Window Functionality to iTunes!

Here's a major multimedia nit for me. Windows makes it pretty easy to display various media players that sit on top of all other active apps. There have been a few rogue third party Mac apps out there that have offered this type of thing, the ones like "MovieFloat" even have a cool transparency feature. But stand alone video players are so post-iTunes 6.

Now that iTunes finally offers usable video library interface, it's time for Apple to offer users an option of a video window that is always in front of all other windows - transparency options would be great too. This could only serve to increase the pool of users for purchased video content from iTMS, because people might be inclined to watch more video on desktop computers if they could float a TV show or playlist of music videos on top of their various workspace windows. Heck, we waste enough time at work IMing, why not watch Desperate Housewives while hacking CSS?!

New Emigre Ceramics just in time for the holidaze

"One-of-a-kind hand-made ceramics by Zuzana Licko."

Ms. Licko has added some wonderful new ceramics including some raku and "lava" glazed items. I have some of her works, and they are a well crafted and suprisingly affordable addition to ones art collection. It's also cool to have something from a noted graphic & type designer.

Improving Tabbed Browsing

Here's a good article on some possibilities for increasing the usability of tabbed browsing in FireFox. Interestingly, some of the proposed improvements are existing functionality in Safari.

Good Designers Redesign, Great Designers Realign

"While this article won't analyze the psychological ambitions of right-brained elites and their innate desire to recreate, it will attempt to describe the difference between redesigning and realigning, as well the advantages of one over the other."

Moll's assertions are well supported, again blogging for my own selfish reasons to make sure I have this on hand ;)

Teton Gravity Research New Video Premiere

"The Tangerine Dream is a film that represents 10 years of broken down trucks, whiskey bottles, wanderlust and the most down and dirty skiing and boarding you have ever seen."

Went to the premiere of this video at the WOW Hall in Eugene last night. It was a fantastic ski movie. It certainly got me pumped up for the coming ski season!

Amazon.com to Let Readers Buy Parts of Books, Digitally

"Amazon.com on Thursday said it would let readers buy digital pages, chapters and entire books through two plans that present a broad challenge to a controversial strategy of Google Inc."

Looks like audio books are old news, and the new text content war is focused on digital reproductions of the printed page.

iLounge Holiday Buyers' Guide 2005-2006 Free Download

"It's here - just in time to help you make your wish list, iLounge has released its free Holiday Buyers' Guide 2005-2006, packed with all sorts of new and amazing iPod goodies, plus ratings of over 650 accessories and iPods."

The site formerly known as iPodlounge offers up another well designed catalog of wacky stuff to spend your hard earned cash on.

PDF Converter, PDF Printer Driver, PDF Writer, Online PDF Conversion.

"Neevia Document Converter eXpress makes it possible for anyone to instantly convert their files to PDF or Image without the need of installing special software."

This just worked perfectly for dealing with an MS Publisher file that a client sent.

Ruby on Rails chases simplicity in programming

"Can one man and a mantra of 'radical simplicity' change the world of Web development?"

CNET's buzzing about Ruby.