iBook, iMac, iBlog

Mark Newhouse, <iblog@mac.com>

[September 30, 2000]

Note:

I wish you could have been there...

I couldn't say it better than Jeffrey Zeldman did, so I'll try to sum it up with some images.

I really do wish you could have been there...



[September 28, 2000]

Note:

Web Design update

Made it home early this morning from the best conference I have ever attended. If you ever get the chance to attend a Thunder Lizard production - jump! Jim Heid put together an amazing line-up of talented and knowledgeable speakers. It'll take a while to come down from this one - so much information to process. I'll post more later, including some images...



[September 22, 2000]

Note:

Web Design 2000, here I come...

Jeffrey Zeldman (keynote speaker) already has his notes online.

Jim Heid (conference chair) has relaunched his site, with an excellent article on Flash and usability.

I'll be going from lows in the upper 60's to highs in the upper 60s, with a good chance of snow coming into Denver on Sunday.

And, I'll be seeing my sister and brother-in-law. This is going to be fun!



[September 21, 2000]

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Slow news day?

Surely c|net could come up with a better story than this. At least Ellison looks the part...


Note:

Who'd a thought...

The Annotated Dennis Miller: Britannica.com's guide to the Monday Night Football pundit's cultural and historical references. These guys have a great sense of humor. Favorite line:

What Miller might have meant: Scrambling while facing a heavy defensive blitz is a high-pressure job that rewards clear, focused thinking. Something akin to reading the news on Saturday Night Live while worrying about your hair.

Note:

Webcam?!?

In the spirit of showing older designs, I present a short animated gif of the proprietor of this fine 'blog (captured on an original, 4-bit grayscale quickcam), giving a greeting, circa April, 1996 (yes, Ken, that is a mullet, and I still own, and wear, that shirt...). And if you really want to, you can view it in context.

Having shown my own dirty laundry, I am now qualified to give my explanation for why this phenomena is sweeping the web (I was never one to rise above a bit of hyperbole): We want to show you that we were around back in the day. That is why it is so important to mention the date the original site appeared...



[September 20, 2000]

Apple News:

I have held the future of the Macintosh in my hands...

Yes, a colleague's copy of OSX Beta arrived today. I can't wait until he installs it, and I can see it first-hand. There may be a second hard drive in my future...


Inversion icon

Inversion of the week

Inversion of the word CharisTitle: Charis
Symmetry: 180° Rotation
Date: December, 1997
Notes: My daughter's best friend. The H/RI combo still needs a little work...



[September 19, 2000]

iBook News:

iBooks versus Recent and entry level PowerBooks

Charles Moore does a nice job comparing the new iBooks to recent PowerBooks and the 400MHz Pismo PowerBook. The iBook compares nicely, and is a compelling purchase if you are in the market for a portable. As I have said elsewhere, there is no better time to buy an iBook.


Note:

I hate prejudice

I'm not talking about extreme prejudice, like racial bigotry. I mean the small subtle kind, that creeps into your thoughts and makes itself comfortable. I hate it because it reveals my hypocrisy every time.

I would consider myself to be essentially free of prejudice. At least I try to pass myself off that way. But some situations reveal that I am not as nice as I would like others, and myself, to believe. The biggies, like race, or sexual preference, are no problem; when people are just a little different, that is when my prejudices raise their ugly heads.

I was in a situation recently where I found myself in a group of people that I would not have chosen to spend time with. I found myself being very critical, in my mind, for very trivial things - the way they dressed, their behavior, they way they talked. And I knew it was wrong, yet I couldn't stop myself. I hate that tendency in me, to judge long before anyone has a chance to demonstrate otherwise.

I guess what I hate most is that I don't really know how to change it. I don't know if it is an escape mechanism on my part, an attempt to hide my own insecurities by looking for surface problems in others, or if everybody does this. I can usually hide it, and sometimes I even allow these people into my world for a bit. Sometimes I endure them, other times I make a new friend. But I still have the same tendency toward childish, petty prejudice.

Maybe someday I'll grow up...



[September 18, 2000]

iBook News:

No Regrets

That's the title of my latest article at the Keeper of the iBook. It contains the top 10 reasons I have no regrets about my Tangerine Revision A iBook...



[September 15, 2000]

iMac News:

It's late...

...I'm surfing on the iBook, and my wife is surfing on the iMac. I hope she gets my email about coming to bed soon. (We really do talk to each other - in fact this is the first time we have both been online at the same time while at home...)


iBook News:

New Keeper article coming

It's been quite awhile since I last wrote an article for my Keeper of the iBook site. Look for a new one on Monday on my response to the new iBooks.



[September 14, 2000]

Note:

It's probably too late for this...

...but, welcome to all who came here (and came back!) from Jeffrey's link...


Inversion icon

Inversion of the week

Inversion of the word MagicTitle: Magic
Symmetry: 180° Rotation
Date: December, 1997
Notes: Another one of my passions. I don't know why I didn't try it before. I did this one in Adobe® Illustratortm, and then converted it in Photoshoptm.



[September 13, 2000]

iBook News:

It's very early here

But I am up observing so I thought I'd break some news to you - two new iBook colors, running at up to 466MHz (G3s). Indigo and Key Lime. DVD and FireWire. Starting at $1499, only at the Apple Store. Drool...



[September 12, 2000]

Note:

Kitt Peak

I'm going up to Kitt Peak tonight to observe at the 0.9-meter telescope. We'll be using the Mosaic CCD which can image the sky at about a degree square - enough to get the full moon in the entire image. This image of the Rosette Nebula was taken with the Mosaic on the 0.9-meter, as was this image of NGC 1999.

People pay money to observe on a much smaller (16") telescope at the visitor center. I get to do it as part of my job. The perks of working for an observatory...



[September 8, 2000]

Note:

Credit where credit's due

The JavaScript I used to enable the skins began as a script written by Porter Glendinning, master of JavaScript, and one of the most generous people on the now defunct Babble web design mailing list. I still see him pop up now and then on the Webdesign-L list. That original script stripped an anchor (like #fun) off of an URL and changed its own location to jump to that part of the page when linking in frames. I used the code as the basis of grabbing the name of a stylesheet from a URL and applying that stylesheet to this page.

So the content is exactly the same, but the presentation is different. The only thing that is forced is the table layout - and that is there for backwards compatibility with older browsers. This is my experiment with separating content from presentation, for what it's worth.

I guess it should be pretty obvious that you need both JavaScript and Cascading Stylesheets enabled for the skins to work...


Note:

To clarify...

...the skins were what I was referring to when I said more would be revealed...



[September 7, 2000]

Note:

Skins!

In the spirit of camworld, Nublog, and kottke.org (although Jason is rethinking his skin scheme), I have added skins to iBook, iMac, iBlog. there are currently three to choose from: Classic, Skate and Mic. Click one of the squares under "Skins" to the right to try it out. Later I'll explain how you can create your own skins for iBook, iMac, iBlog...


Note:

Minor changes being made under the hood...

...more will be revealed.



[September 6, 2000]

Inversion icon

Inversion of the week

Inversion of the word reflect...Title: Reflect
Symmetry: Reflection (left-right)
Date: December, 1997
Notes: I wanted to do a word that described the type of symmetry that it depicted. This is my best shot so far.


Note:

Some would say I am cheap

I prefer the term "frugal" myself. Actually it is my wife who is the frugal one. As a stay at home mom, one of the ways she really helps us live on one salary is by cutting coupons and shopping sales. And it literally pays off: last night I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. When the cashier finished inputing our coupons the total was -$1.49! I walked out of the store with three bags of groceries and $1.49 in my pocket. I heard the guy behind me say, "I gotta' learn to shop like that!" Indeed...



[September 5, 2000]

Note:

Random thoughts on sorority girls...

We recently finished sorority rush on campus here, prompting a few thoughts and observations...

During rush they were all over campus, literally overflowing out of the student union restaurants at lunch time. They all wore name tags (so you could tell them apart). I almost did a spit take when I read the first one: Blair. The second name I made out was Amber M. Apparently there was more than one Amber rushing this year...

And what's with the 3 inch platform flip-flops that are de rigueur this year? With their center of mass already being dangerously high (surgically enhanced or otherwise), it seems unwise to raise it even more with these shoes. I wonder if you need a rider on your health insurance to wear them...



[September 1, 2000]

Note:

I laughed out loud

And if you knew me you'd know that I don't do that very often when I am alone. I was walking home from the bus stop and passing by a house where they keep a parrot outside in their carport. As usual the parrot was squawking when suddenly it sounded as if a car alarm was going off: "wooooop, woooooop, beeep, beeep..." and then the unmistakable "chirp, chirp" of the alarm being turned off. Only it wasn't the alarm of the truck in the driveway, but the parrot imitating the alarm of the truck in the driveway. I wonder how often that thing had to go off for the parrot to learn the noise...


Inversion icon

Inversion of the week

Inversion of the words 'Kim and Jordan'Title: Kim and Jordan
Symmetry: 180° Rotation
Date: August, 1996
Notes: One night, about four years ago, I was playing with an idea for a banner for a web page about my wife and daughter. This is the result.


Note:

As promised...

My latest post to PowerBlog, an attempt at storytelling to make a point. Of Books and Covers...


Mark Newhouse is the Web Designer for the public outreach arm of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories in Tucson, AZ. He has been using Macs for over a decade, and sometimes gets Distracted.

iBlog Copyright © 2000, Mark Newhouse, all rights reserved


Keeper of the iBook, new every Monday

Some images courtesy iStockPhoto. Icons courtesy the Iconfactory.