this is just too warped: death list. it includes people who died today, recently deceased celebrities, guesses as to who's next. it's a clip2.com clip, so you have to sign up to subscribe, sorry.

japan once again moves ahead of the u.s. when it comes to consumer electronics.

ugh. another "the web is entertainment" crazy trying to convince everyone to drop html in favor of flash. it just makes me cringe.

quick interview with philippe kahn.

"In my personal opinion, the success of the Internet stems from the fact that most knowledge workers are sitting in what I call a "Dilbert cubicle" during the workday. And the only way they have to escape Dilbert's cubicle is through their Web browsers and their e-mail door."

new low for the web? yahoo karaoke.

i'm not sure about the value of this buywiz thing. i'd really need to see it in action. i hope the shopping bag isn't really as large as they show in their demo. it would get annoying really fast.

ever wondered whether "webpage" or "web page" was the correct spelling? well according to spellweb "web page" wins the popularity contest. does that make it correct? who knows.

new blog: mrbarrett.

nqpaofu is having a blog discourse with alamut, apparently considering a "blogtop roundtable" or summit.

we move one step closer to the uni-device (phone, pda, browser, tv, radio, mp3, cd all in one). nokia introduces the mediascreen, a prototype combining tv, internet and mobile phone technology.

i just got notice that my copy of ender's shadow has been shipped by amazon. awful nice of them to overnight it so i get it on the release date.

the latest hearsay on the whole unisys gif licensing thing. and the latest news story.

handy reference for css font sizes across os & browsers.

terry morse is claiming they've built software that will create one-click cross-browser code. while go click may be a useful replacement for frontpage, i don't see it becoming widely used at the professional level.

the benefits and pitfalls of being an affiliate, in salon. i'm looking for an affilate bookstore that will pay me for my own purchases and has one-click buying. i'm dreaming aren't i? i should just use give quick like judith.

two topics close to my gadget driven heart, wireless and wearable computers, are in this weeks rcfoc.

i think all "pr" people should be forced to read this the minute they join a web company. via now this.

"If you send in paper what obviously should have been sent in email, I assume that you don't understand your own product. Then why would I ever take your word for anything? Have you ever been on line? Here's how it works: you send a message, it reaches me without bothering me, and I click on the URLs you include."

"blog" has made the jargon scout. and i doubted peter's sanity when he first coined it. his description has prompted a new page title.

new blogs: lystworthy and weepingtile.

how to beat the clock, excerpt from lesson two: via yawl.

people are horrible. ideally you should try to eliminate them from your office entirely. watch terminator for hints.

on memory palaces: ray was kind enough to give me this tip "one of america's greatest living fiction writers, john crowley, has been fascinated by this topic for most of his career." unfortunately, all his books are out of print so i'm using the advanced book exchange to track down some used copies.

while in vegas, jason showed me a bill with www.wheresgeorge.com written in the margin. being otherwise occupied with the important business of gambling, i promptly forgot about it. now it makes sense. via whim & vinegar.

osamari. what a wonderful concept. thank you lindsay for sharing this word.

When good osamari is achieved there is balance, sense of completion.

i just finished thomas harris' latest hannibal. while it had a slow start, the ending was gripping in an absurd, yet horrific sort of way. one of the most fascinating, and beautifully described parts of the book, was lecter's memory palace. the vivid imagery, smells, textures, and emotions spurred a desire to create my own. here's where my search led me:
artificial memory: mnemonic writing in the new media by tim mclaughlin
the memory palace of matteo ricci.
bodenheimer gallery 3.0. scott bodenheimer has created a memory palace as a storage place for his art. while slow to work through, it is amazing.
the bitsphere. draws correlations between the memory palace and cyberspace.
preface to "in the palaces of memory" by george johnson. just tantalizing enough to make you want more.
the collective memory palace. fascinating.
the information corridor. the more i dig into this, the more i understand the desire for 3d information spaces online.
memory palace.
art of memory by frances yates.

amazon backs off on it's purchase circles, they're not letting customers decide for themselves.

new music blog: Review Addict.

dan very kindly gave an explanation of why he found blogger to be such a valuable tool. it's always interesting to see the whys behind people's systems and methods.

new blog: Silicon Dragon.

attn: web graphic designers. clip2.com is looking for a sr. graphic designer (web & print). i never thought i'd be doing this sort of thing for a company, but i'm so disgusted by the drek that has run across my desk that i look at this more as a plea for help than anything else. so if you're interested in working for a small (12 person) start-up in san jose (but moving to palo alto), email me your resume. please.

has anyone else received an invitation from these guys? expert central has an interesting concept, but i find it hard to believe that they're not just spamming everybody they can get an email address for.

amazon has finally put it's demographic data to work. this purchase circle thing is such a great use of information. i wonder how useful it will be to customers... thanks lars.

another one: megnut.

while there were a lot of blogs listed in pitas, it turns out that many are stale. still no complete listing from andrew yet. maybe tomorrow i'll try and do some groksoup sites.

ok. i've finally bitten the bullet. i'm going to attempt to add as many of the pitas blogs as i can. no, they're not categorized:
Skivvies| Ptypes| Marmalade| Ari| Billy| Biscuit_boi| Boiled Brains| Britain| Catfish| Gavin & Colin's| Fangirl| Fishstick| Fritzie| Ribbit| Heygirl| Maura| Openlog| Simcoe| Snooze| Triptych| Sherburne

i don't think i've mentioned this lately, but anyone who wants their weblog listed in my portal just has to ask. in fact, anyone who wants any weblog listed should just ask. i'm being lazy lately, not exclusionist.

when it rains it pours: super ape.

Lake Effect is the first blog i've seen that was created using the new blogger.com tool which peter mentioned a few days ago. i wonder how long before blog publishing tools are big business.

rant: e-commerce cluelessness.

new science 'blog: Dome News focuses on astronomy and space. interesting stuff.

Clip2.com is finally up. try it. test it. use it. complain about it to me. i need feedback from real users, not just the marketing folk.

new 'blog: the null device.

i'm too tired to do much more than skim through them, but there's a new rcfoc and tbtf out.

webword has actually become a blog. focused exclusively on usability news. and no, it's not in the portal yet. request it, and i might feel guilty enough to add it in.

an interview with jakob nielsen on webword. i completely agree with the uselessness of focus groups, surveys and marketing departments running the usability lab. but i won't mention names.

it could be me, i've only had 4 hours sleep, but this alertbox makes no sense. what is he talking about?

i only gave the casinos in vegas $500, which wasn't bad for 3 days gambling. i haven't got that craps strategy down yet. i did discover something that i still find scary, tho. when you use a player's comp card at the tables, they track every bet you make. then at the end of your trip they add up how much your averaging in both bets and time gambling. creepy.

Lindsay has an interesting train of thought about how webloggers are misfits. The traits he describes most of us having include a strong sense of irony, still reading books, and a form of mild (to strong) obsession. someone else, i think it was jorn mentioned that a love of reading was common among bloggers. since a love of reading is such a rare trait in today's tv obsessed society, it's an interesting commonality, assuming it is common. i don't know where this train is going anymore, so i'll shut up now. i'm supposed to be packing anyway.

i'm off to vegas this weekend, again. i thought i'd give the casinos some more money. updates will be sporadic or non-existent until tuesday.

also fixed the css in the weblog archives.

i've finally fixed the css on the portal, so i'm going to stop updating the no-css portal. not that i've been updating. something about 1500 pitas blogs that sounds way too much like work...

valuable words about creating and maintaining a personal web site by nathan shedroff of vivid. again via lawrence.

being an instant gratification person, i find this concept of zero time fascinating. i wonder if i can convince my ceo to implement it? thanks lawrence.

"use big pictures as often as possible"??? somehow i don't think i'm going to be following any of roger black's web design tips.

does it wierd anyone else out to get emails like this?

new blog: Diary of a new homemaker, finally, a new category.

new blog: slave, another good one.

getting it has just the right blend of cynicism and fact.

the history of the hampster dance. interesting how it spread. thanks jjg.

iPlanet? what kind of meaningless name is that. i miss the days when netscape was synonymous with the web.

i hadn't realized showing your bra straps was a fashion trend. i'm just too old to be hip. sigh.

scec, useful for determining the winner of all office earthquake betting pools.

apparently the *only* thing you need to become a mega-millionaire is a huge ego

does this mean we're finally going to get an option other than gasoline? yeah, right.

as usual, ed's got me thinking. about the pleasures of writing with a good pen on well made paper. something i don't do enough.

she's also got a pita's blog.

if we ban "cool", won't it just get replaced with some new synonym? i may be showing my age, but i remember "wicked" and "rad" and "tubular" to name just a few. since i cringe every time i get the urge to use it, i would say maura's got a point tho.

i found this tucked away in smug's kissing booth. i can't tell if it's meant to be taken seriously, but i can't resist, the irony. i had to buy one. instant gratification zen.

i've been experiencing this over the last week or so. knowing that i'm making tons of money, then realizing that it's not going to buy me much. and yes, i know, no one wants to hear about it.

andrew just let me know that there are 1500 pitas.com members!

34 very warped deaths.

new blog: onfocus. courtesy of william.

while writing an email about the similarities of weblogs and journals (they are not evil twins), it occurred to me that i could categorize the blog portal by how journal-like or how linklist-like they are. then i could do something evil like put ben brown's journal into a weblog portal. make him into that which he despises. :-) if anyone's remotely interested, i might do it as an experiment. any takers?

friday night, on a random excursion to the bookstore, i discovered that the latest in tad williams' otherland series is out. i've barely started it and i'm already depressed that i'll have to wait another year for the finale.

i've been following all jason's "linked to me's". ben brown led me to justin.org. justin painted his pilot. i'm now debating doing this to all my consumer electronics.

as far as i know i've never participated in gratuitous linking, although i've been accused of it. but, there's this guy called jason who linked to me. and he has some really interesting things to say.

contemplating adding 30 more blogs to the portal is making me reconsider it's usefulness, at least categorized as it is. most blogs are general. any suggestions for a recategorization?

someone finally started tracking down all the pitas blogs. metapita has a huge list of them. and i'm feeling much too lazy to add them all right now. thanks jason.

it turns out that padding is the mac killing culprit in my css. so it's been pulled. unfortunately, the best workaround was to add tables around the div's to create artificial padding. c'est la vie.

many many many thanks to lorne of graphic knights design, he single-handedly discovered the problem and offered up several solutions to deal with it. plus some samples to boot.

i love it when recruiters are smart enough to compliment you *before* they badger you about a position that you're not interested in:

"I saw some info about you on the web. It's obvious you are a talented UI Information Architect. I was hoping you could help me."

we found a bug in darkstone last night. if you loved diablo, you should definitely be playing this game.

i can never describe my dreams well enough, they're all about emotions and feelings rather than solid objects, i wish i could elucidate them like this. via glassdog's ad.

you'd think birth control would have improved a little more over the years.

and i thought my wisdom teeth withdrawal was bad. thanks john.

new blog: anita's lol.

this is intriguing, but i still don't know if i'd want to cook my own food, even if it was delivered in nice little packages.

i can see the value of common names, but i can't see them being effective outside intranets. then again it could just be the purist in me that rejects such a vague, unspecific method of change.

i knew there was a valid reason to dislike ie5.

new blog: metafilter.

someone needs to invent a way to convey tone in email. my innate cynicism just doesn't come through in email. maybe i'm just not being cynical enough.

the mac problems are still not fixed. sigh.

my own weblog angst.

very interesting article on "consumer interfaces" in feed. thanks steve.

i finished patricia cornwell's latest black notice last night. it was quite a page turner and certainly lived up to her previous books. my only problem with it was the ending was very rushed, i would have appreciated another 50 pages or so to flesh it out. maybe she had a deadline.

this has made me realize that it's time to do a site clean-up. my code was originally designed for my now defunct journal and everything else was just tacked on from there. it's gotten kind of messy. now i just have to find the time.

thanks to both dave and lorne for their help in troubleshooting my css problems. both suggested i get rid of the linked javascript and stylesheets, which i've done. hopefully there's some improvement.

suggested resources:
css "danger list"
browser support guide
Index dot Css reference

i discovered a usability problem with jason's car this morning. it didn't have an idiot light to tell me i was out of gas. unlike my fine car which does. i managed to run out of gas .25 mile from work and ruin my entire day. all because i thought the car had broken down since the gas light hadn't come on yet. sigh.

i think every mailing list i'm on had to mention that ie is winning the browser war. doesn't anybody realize that this data is completely irrelevant? the only thing that's important is what browsers are visiting _your_ site. look at your own logs! getting off soap box now.

a truly collaborative weblog: openlog. which will probably quickly degenerate into spam and self-promotion. thanks jason.

something i've never seen before, rain barrel maglog.

just found out that my weblog has the unpleasant effect of crashing some mac browsers. haven't found a solution or cause yet, but did find a great resource: css pointers.

the latest rcfoc has quite a few interesting tidbits.

genehack has redesigned. it's not bad, but i think i preferred the old design, something about being partial to black backgrounds. :-)

new blog: i could swear i've added this one before, but apparently not. evhead. found via saturn.org who found it via bump.

a mildly interesting seattle weekly article on why the web sucks based, of course, on an interview with jakob nielsen. thanks jorn .

i spent last night and this morning trying to get someone to sell me a recumbent exercise bike. to my surprise this is a difficult thing to do on the web. about 1am i found one at netmarket, but their order system didn't want to take my money. after calling to make sure it hadn't barfed and charged me several times, i dug around some more and bought one from premiere fitness equipment. despite the cheezy site design, it was at least informative, and all importantly, they took my money. hopefully it'll show up in good time.

i'm frustrated. last year i found the coolest watches ever in macys, they were made by alfex. i bought my second 6 months ago, and now i'm ready for a new one, but macys no longer carries them. aparently, the only place in the u.s. that does is the swiss watch corporation in new york, and of course they're not online. did i mention i hate the phone?

note to myself: keep up with email & site updates, or there goes the weekend.

i'm not sure what to make of this one, i may start using joe jennet's dailywebthing myself. love the navigation.

found this one in my server logs, adland is a treasure trove of ad info. it's well designed to boot.

new blogs: planet jon (a pitas blog), the rocks and the sky which is going on my list of regulars (when i get around to creating it), and bouzou which has style.

i don't know what to do about pitas.com, since there's currently no way to access a list of blogs (other than the most recent updates list). i guess i'll just leave it as an open invitation to anyone doing a blog on pitas to let me know and i'll add you to the portal.

new blog: metascene, which had the following: anythink, fark, forgo, gulker, another weblog called yawl in japan.

a twist on the rollover that, while obvious once you've seen it, had never occurred to me before. i love it when people innovate, although i feel stupid for not thinking of it myself.

i'm finally digging through all the email that's gone unread this past week.

speaking of books, Patricia Cornwell's latest, black notice is sitting in my mailbox. hopefully, it's much better than the drek that composed her last book.

for those fans of orson scott card's ender's game series, his latest is out 8/31/99. ender's shadow tells the story from bean's perspective. thanks for the reminder jorn.

interesting story on "the pink collar ghetto". breaking into the boys club is a challenge, it's not surprising many women don't want to go through the effort.

new news blog: world new york.

new blogs: Whim & Vinegar and Illuminatrix. thanks peter.

i guess email is an acceptable method of wishing someone a happy birthday, at least it was for my dad anyway.

today's my dad's birthday. i really don't want to call him, i just talked to him yesterday. i wonder if he'll be offended by an email? i guess i'll find out.

it's not like cam needs another pointer to his site or anything, but, when you do such a clean, elegant redesign, you deserve some notice for it.

an interesting new alertbox on metcalfe's law. i have no idea how accurate his number manipulation is tho.

content seems a bit sparse right now, but creativepro could develop into a really useful tool. it's already got a lot of useful links.

it's incredible how companies think they can change the net to fit their business models. via tomalak's realm.

updates are going to be sporadic and sparse over the next week or so. i've got a deadline to meet.

this article was based on a miniscule bit of fact:

"wealth and social power, which mattered most in the old jet set, does not matter at all in cyberspace."

when will media start treating women like intelligent humans instead of barbie .

600Mhz piii? i think it's time to upgrade.

not very surprising webword but, accurate in it's assessment. i won't buy a palm vii purely because i can't imagine surfing on a palmpilot as a pleasant experience. now a ricochet for my laptop is another story...

the past week has made me appreciate the fact that i don't watch tv. it seems that everyone is inundated to oversaturation with jfk jr. non-news. i'd hate to be experiencing that.

since no one told me what system they were using, i'm going to assume you're all using macs:

lawrence was kind enough to dig up this presentation on "sense-making" from 1983.

i'm about half way through information design. it's a must read book for anyone interested in the field. it gives viewpoints from many different disciplines that utilize some aspect of information design. and the chapter on "sense-making" was truly inspirational.

"Rather, it insists that information design is, in effect, metadesign: design about design, design to assist people to make and unmake their own informations, their own sense."

you must visit the room. especially if you enjoy psychoanalysis based on random choices. it boosted my ego enough for me to agree that it's a "revealing tool for self knowledge". but, i'm cynical enough to realize it's all shite.

a useful little tool for the beginning css writer. stylemaster's most valuable feature is it's ability to warn you of problems in different browsers.

new 'blog: url grey.

just when i decide to go with a more long-winded format i see dave's nice comment about my "succinct writing". self-doubt rapidly sets in.

all these job auction sites would be much more interesting if anyone was actually bidding.

in case it wasn't glaringly obvious, i'm attempting to combine the weblog thing w/ the journal thing. now that my journal entries are no longer whinges about work, they're becoming more random and more suited to the weblog.

why is that we're embarrassed to tell people about things our parents forced us to go through? salon's scientology article, brought back some not so pleasant childhood memories, mostly of living w/4 other people in a hotel room and getting up at 5am to do laundry. it's not my fault my parents were suckered into the religious scam of the century, is it?

while reading the latest issue of vacuum, this line struck a chord:

"If you are scatterbrained at times by nature take glory in it and make the odd connections that no one else will. No one else things [sic] the way you do and no one else has your unique combinations of skills and experiences."

i don't know whether it's an age thing or a lack of infatuation with the spoiled rich, but i completely agree with dan's jfk jr. rant. come on people, he wasn't a god.

bored? try digging through all the links on xix.

dogpile, a search engine, i've managed to miss. conveniently it does searches on all the other engines.

potentially very interesting book: building wealth, the new rules for individuals, companies, and nations in a knowledge-based economy. as the long-winded title says, it's about an economy where "knowledge is the new basis of wealth".

i wasn't special enough to be invited to link to the boat anchor comic, but i found it entertaining enough to read all the past issues.

i know everyone else is linking to the ibook, but i have to say, this makes me drool. especially the creamsicle colored tangerine one. i agree with peter, i just want to lick the damn thing. what makes my statement remotely interesting is the fact that i'm a die-hard windows user, i have no interest in going over to the mac. but it's so yummy looking.

this one seemed sorta obvious to me. the web perfect for short films? of course!

new information design book, looks interesting.

a stupid human trick that i'd missed. via saturn.org.

this seems to be a day of new 'blogs. peterme just sent me another, calamondin. "she does find tasty links".

i finally took the time to put my weblog into a linkvision clip. now you can watch the clip update automatically rather than coming back here all the time.

'blogs: manero's sideshow. planet oliver, a new breed of weblog, one that doesn't have a website.

'blog: Fresh Hell takes the weblog as close to being a journal as you can get. maybe it should be classified as a journal? <shrug> i like it tho.

ok, not all of santa cruz is like this.

interview with edward tufte. i highly recommend his books. via robotwisdom.

"Wanted: creativity, passion, and a business concept that marries technology and art." absolut angel?

another small size font for the web.

furniture for lounging & surfing at netsurfer.

cam keeps writing rants that i feel like i've written myself (or at least dreamed about). i just need to know how to "live in a wired world", now. i want that degree of total control.

new 'blogs: hotsy totsy, indirection.

jon katz describes the end of the amazon era in slashdot.

new 'blog: kikaze, another nice design w/quality content.

if all the articles are correct, "weblog" will replace "portal" as the next "big thing" that everybody has to be. via Rebecca's Pocket.

webwizards has a list of all the web-based bookmark managers. via Research Buzz.

maybe it's time to go back to university and get my degree. it would be fun anyway.

scary. i guess i'm not worth anything.

another article on how weblogs are the future of the web. so when are the big boys going to catch on? via tomalak's realm.

my weblog portal, as a linkvision clip.

linkvision is a new web bookmark manager that just went into beta. it allows you to publish your links to other people. i envision this being a weblogging tool for the masses. at least that's the direction i'm going to try and steer it in. :-) oh yeah, and i'll fix the ui along the way.

webword reviews "writing for the web" by crawford killian. an important subject.

for those of you who haven't been using the weblog portal because it's too slow, i've put up a no css version.

jon katz's epitaph for wired.

in case you didn't hear the news, amazon's gone into toys & electronics. they've also gotten rid of books as their default homepage.

cool. useful? nah.

i can now count myself among the gainfully employed. thanks to everyone who helped me out.

6 months ago i gave a quote that is featured in alicia neumann's july 12 salon article. it sounds much more negative out of context. i hate that.

peter has pointed out that control becomes key in our new multi-channel instant information processing world. this is why 'push' never became huge. it reverted to a form of media that forced the user to give up their control. banner ads don't work on the web because they are pushed, the user isn't interested in something they haven't asked for. 'targeted push' (newsletters etc.), on the other hand, does work. solely due to the fact that the user has requested this piece of information. it would be interesting to see the reaction if a search engine removed all it's banner ads, but placed a large check box saying "i'm shopping, show me relevant ads" on the page. then, served up all the relevant ads for stores and products based on the search query. has this form of control been given to users before?

i know i gave saturn.org a brief mention before, but i really dig both his design and writing style. if you haven't, check it out.

alt164 and puce

suffocate is "a group dedicated to bring you: edgy, experimental, crazy designs and artwork on a regular basis. without any pretense."

finally an alertbox that i wholeheartedly agree with. although there were no new astounding revelations. customer registration should be delayed as long as possible, people don't like it. and, the most ineffective marketing methods (ad banners) are used the most, while the most effective (affiliate programs) are used the least.

banner ads seem to be the topic of the month. upside actually has numbers to prove they suck. webword takes the usability point of view.

the movie "coming soon" sounds like an accurate view of teenage girls. too bad it's getting such a bum rap.

i'm sure i've linked to this before, but only liz would think to search on the word "asshole" in the plumb design thesaurus.

tip: if you're looking for work, announce your availability on dice.com. they'll send your resume to ~1000 people.

boomagazine not the easiest way to read articles, but the design makes up for it.

monster board has put up a new site where you can auction off your talent. i couldn't find any bids tho, did monster forget to contact the hirers?

while i was in vegas over the weekend, cam wrote not one but two rants. i found the first, about user-centered design, rather vague, but the second, "what keeps you up at night?", is something i could have written myself. unfortunately, the valley hasn't escaped corporate america fully, there's a lot of pretty faces hiding corporate beaurocracies behind the fun, hip mask.

peterme was ruminating on multi-channel information reception yesterday. i was considering lately the adjunct to this: namely, the expectation of instant gratification. not only do we want an information flood, but we want it now. and we want things in the real world to happen in the same time frame. for example, i want to hear back from potential employers immediately after a job interview, even tho i realize this is an unrealistic expectation.

no wonder people want to get in on bay area ipo's.

factoid: even if you play 100 games of keno, you still won't win.

east beat west in cool site competition at web99. it's cuz i wasn't on the team :-)

sometimes vc's are the best places to look for jobs at hot startups.

the next big challenge for web designers is never going to happen. what incentive do i have to address 'banner blindness'? i don't want people to have to suffer ad banners. thanks jorn.

another new 'blog: saturn.org.

copyright 1997-2000, by brig.