Archive for April 17, 2008

Flash is the worst web technology ever

We are planning some remodelling and trying to exchange ideas with our designers. I know that the people who design websites for all the furniture industry mean well, and their sites look cool, but they are usability disasters. there is no way to send links back and forth to items we like because all the content is embedded deep in flash animations. KraftMaid Cabinetry, IKEA are great examples — we find a set of cabinets we like, and we have to tell our collaborators to go search for the item themselves. oh and of course there is no search function.

If searchable, linkable, plain old HTML is good enough for Amazon, the number one web retailer, how is it that it isn’t good enough for all the rest of these guys.

AT&T officially rolling out nationwide Wi-Fi service at Starbucks

CrunchGear » Archive » AT&T officially rolling out nationwide Wi-Fi service at Starbucks — but continuing to screw iPhone customers. I’ve got an unlimited data plan, i can’t give ATT any more money for my iPhone service, but they won’t let me use this connection. Sheesh

XunLight, Silicon Thin Film Solar Maker, Raises $22M

XunLight, Silicon Thin Film Solar Maker, Raises $22M | EcoGeek — Nice to see an Ohio company leading the way

Software notes — bloatware alternatives

Dead Address Book Entries

Dead Address Book Entries — I struggle with this too. My last grandparent, Cleo, passed on a while ago and I have been unable to delete his email address from my address book. I see it, and I remember him, and my other grandparents, and I just can’t remove it. I suppose some day my address book will be full of similar entries.

Fat Spaniel Coverage in San Jose Mercury News

Plugging into your system’s vital signs – San Jose Mercury News — nice coverage on Fat Spaniel today

Kindle reset

5 months into Kindle use and I had to reset it for the first time ever, it locked up this morning and was unresponsive to every button. To reset, you take the back cover off and there is a Reset hole to stick a paperclip in. A few minutes to reboot and good as new. I guess once every 5 months isn’t terrible.

Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote

Logitech > Remotes > Universal Remotes > Harmony® One Advanced Universal Remote — I’m pretty happy with this remote. I’ve used Harmonys in the past and they were easy to config but I found them to be finicky in actual use. This one tho seems to be much more reliable — when I tell it to turn on my Tivo, AVR, and monitor all at once, it does it quickly without a hiccup.

Hell No to the Victors

The Sports Network Football Bowl Subdivision — a starting lineman walks away from a full scholarship at Michigan, to pay his own way at Ohio State! Awesome. The Rodriguez Era continues full steam ahead.

Stuff I Want But Don't Need — Outdoors Edition

File System Mounting Tricks

BBQ Sauce Map

Love maps, and love barbecue, so this is awesome — 246 – Southern Sauce Sources « Strange Maps

Raymond's reading list: The Mythical Man-Month, The Design of Everyday Things, and Systemantics

Great recos from Raymond — The Old New Thing : Raymond’s reading list: The Mythical Man-Month, The Design of Everyday Things, and Systemantics — I’ve never read the last but need to get it. The Mythical Man Month is awesome and if Systemantics is as good, then well worth reading.

Exhaust Air Jack

Exhaust Air Jack » Coolest Gadgets — wow I would never get under a car using one of these, i prefer nice solid steel supporting my car, not a puncturable/leakable balloon.

Pure Networks – Software for Wired and Wireless Networks

Pure Networks – Software for Wired and Wireless Networks — cool router reset gadget.

Cutting things

The NBA Jumps the Shark

From Five Tool Tool – The Sports Blog That Loves You Back: And the Association Sticks the Landing! – The Sports Blog That Loves You Back:

How can you tell when a sports league has jumped the shark? It lands in Oklahoma City.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Home energy stuff

Very interested in products that make us smarter about our energy use at home. Sean reports on his use of TED — the TED device lets you get finegrained reports on your electricity use, and with a little playing around you can get smart about use circuit-by-circuit as Sean reports. I have to try one of these out.

Silver Spring Networks seems to be building out a really complete energy monitoring and reporting solution, worth learning about.

Phil highlights some recent comments from Doerr on the energy opportunity — excellent elevator speech

Beach Books — Camouflage, The Peshawar Lancers, Darkest Feat

  • Camouflage by Joe Haldeman. Eh, not adding to the reputation of the haldeman name. Aliens secretly among us. Kind of silly and pointless and honestly not well thought out — really, there are just 2 aliens on earth, and they’ve both been here for millions of years? Wouldn’t that be enough time for a few others to show up?
  • The Peshawar Lancers by S. M. Stirling. Fun alternate history romp — a natural disaster in the 1800s sends the world on a very different path, and the British Raj of that world faces treachery and crisis. Lots of research into Indian culture, interesting speculation.
  • Darkest Fear by Harlan Coben. Another solid Myron Bolitar tale — an old flame, a child, a serial killer or two.

Fairmont Kea Lani – Maui Seaside Hotel at Polo Beach

Maui Hotels: Fairmont Kea Lani – Maui Seaside Hotel at Polo Beach — okay this place is stupidly expensive and they nickel and dime you to deal (except of course nothing costs a nickel here, they $10 and $20 you to death). But…they have amazing support for people with food allergies — they strictly adhere to an ingredients list you provide, use dedicate pots and pans, your food is cooked by a sous or head chef, served by a manager, the assistant head of food service will meet with you daily to discuss menus, etc etc. Really an amazing service and has made it possible for us to stay here — recommended if you have a food allergy or allergies to deal with. And when I travel in the future, I will ask hotels if they have an equivalent program.

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