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New user? Friday, July 21, 2000
Colour Theory - I think I like it!
James Spahr, the man behind the recent redesign of MacOSX.weblogs.com, among other fine sites, generously shares some of his extensive knowledge on colour theory with me as I'm trying to come up with a pleasing colour scheme for a new template for this site.
Thanks James!
I am Jack's fashion sense
Ed points Aaron's raison d'etre for The Cube.
At the bottom of Aaron's piece, he points to the crowd that the Cube is for.
That crowd's site reminded me of IKEA. Reminded me of Tyler Durden. Tyler Durden would just love to teach those folks a lesson. (If you don't know what I'm on about, see Fight Club, immediately. Really.)
Shudder.
Would you give it a rest please? I'm reading.
There are too many web sites. Stop it. Please, just stop making new ones until I've gotten through the ones you've made so far. STOP IT.
Here's an example. Rotten Tomatoes. I know for sure there are over 1000 sites that I haven't even heard of, like Rotten Tomatoes, that I'd thouroughly enjoy if only I knew they existed.
So just... take a vacation, okay?
If you know of other cool sites that most people don't know exist, please share them. It'll just help me get through them all faster. I'm sure everyone who is reading this page is in the same boat.
Thanks!
Keep that thing away from me :)
Chew Chew, the meat-eating robot, scares me.
Remember how the machines got their energy in The Matrix? Well, they weren't carnivorous, but they did use humans as their energy source. (their heat energy IIRC)
Lawn-powered lawn-movers sound interesting, but wouldn't solar-powered lawn-mowers work too?
Life imitates art.
E-mail still down
The mail server for my e-mail account jim@roepcke.com has been down for a full day now. If you're trying to send me e-mail, please send it to jim@oaai.com for now. Or, ICQ me @ 14287112. Or, AIM id JimRoepcke.
Thursday, July 20, 2000
ice cap melting
CNN: NASA confirms Greenland ice cap melting -- "When you consider a flat beach, an inch in sea level rise covers a large horizontal distance," said NASA researcher Waleed Abdalati.
"legions of pint-sized, wizard-obsessed fans"
CANOE: 'Potter' author to play SkyDome -- "Like a millionaire rock star or major-league slugger, J.K. Rowling, the wildly successful Scottish-born author of the Harry Potter children's books, will play the [Toronto Sky]Dome this fall."
The Reg on Apple
The Register: Apple's consumer strategy slips -- "In short, Apple is the Maglite of the computer industry. And that's a plan first outlined not by Jobs but by his predecessor, the now much-maligned Gil Amelio."
What market?
Looks like Dori and I are on the same brainwave with the new Cube, as far as market goes. Regardless, I still want one.
Perhaps that's the answer. People who want it just because it looks cool. James thinks that people without much space will love the thing... makes sense.
The Register also has a good article on this topic, and also mentions "returning to the bad old days" of having too many products.
C|Net: colour changes hurting accessory makers
NEWS.COM: Accessory makers stranded by iMac color change -- Ouch. Of course, this isn't the first time this has happened, and it's long been rumoured that new colours were coming, so if companies were unprepared for this they need to do their homework a little better.
There's at least 2 million iMacs out there in the fruity colours -- they'll be out there for years to come. I wouldn't strand those users by stopping to make accessories in those colours yet. They'll be buying accessories for those for quite a while.
RE: Time to Redesign?
I'd really like to hear your comments on this in-progress design. Thanks!
Note that there are NO graphics at all. I've found it looks best in Verdana, but I haven't forced the page to use that font -- that's up to your browser settings or your user stylesheet, IMHO.
Update: I've updated the look of this site (the weblog page) a little. I'll migrate this change over to the new template when I get a chance.
Wednesday, July 19, 2000
PowerMac Cube
It's days like this I wish I had a boatload of money to spend. I really like the new Cube, just for its looks, but I think it's too expensive. It doesn't have PCI slots, doesn't come with a monitor, but it's $300 more than an iMac DV Special Edition, which has a built-in screen! You're paying for the size and style. Having all the connectors on the underside of the computer is going to be a major pain, I think.
After a few more hours of thinking, the Cube feels like a black sheep. I don't know where it fits yet. It's not cheap, so it doens't appeal to people who want something like an iMac but not all-in-one. It's obviously not portable. And it's not as good as a G4, especially for that money, since it doesn't have PCI slots, and isn't dual-processor.
If you've figured out who the Cube is for, please share. I have a few ideas, but I'd rather hear yours before saying mine here.
So many opinions! Bill loves it. Dori doesn't. Damien isn't sure. I think Josh wants one. Niel and Edd want one.
I'm totally smitten with the new 17" CRT monitor though. I think it's the nicest monitor design yet. My favourite iMac colours, orange and purple, are gone. Bummer. There was NO word about the PowerBook or iBook today, from what I've gathered.
Remember the old Apple, that had many dozens of different models of Performa, PowerMacs, and PowerBooks? Well, now Apple makes 8 iMac models, 3 iBook models, 2 PowerBooks, 3 G4 towers, and 2 Cubes. Is Apple's falling into the same trap again, or is the new Apple is better able to handle that kind of lineup?
Stackable Cubes?
According to Damien, the Cube looks stackable.
I see that the clear shell has a cut out in the back where the cables could supposedly be run if you were to stack a Cube on top of another, and that the cage is wider at the bottom than the top, to allow stacking.
But how would you use the DVD-ROM drive on the bottom machine? Would the bottom machine be able to stay cool even though it couldn't let hot air out of its top? If you stacked a few of these things, wouldn't it get a bit tipsy?
Anyone know for sure if the Cube is officially stackable or not?
Site Map
I just created a Site Map page. It was pretty easy, it's a built-in page type in Conversant.
Time to Redesign?
I've been thinking about redesigning this site. What do you think, should this site retain its Aqua-look, or should I do something new?
Update: Ed's Weblog has redesigned. I liked the old design, and I like this one too. Note the title -- "Simple is better" -- that's what I've been dreaming of for my new design.
