Crimson Wire

Max Kiesler - DesignDemo - Web 2.0, AJAX, and Rails UI Elements

2006-12-15T13:03:00.000-08:00

Max Kiesler's web site has all kinds of GREAT examples of Web 2.0 development. Go see!

KB Home & Martha Stewart

2006-12-12T12:46:00.000-08:00

Martha Stewart has teamed up with the company KB Home to design homes for everyday people. You can see the homes
here. They are very much in keeping with the designs shown in her magazine.

It is interesting to me to see how much of an impact this will have on home building. Whether it is just a niche, or something much bigger. Will these homes take into account geographical considerations, zoning, and many of the things that local builders and architects take into account? Can you have homes designed centrally like this? Much corporate architecture is global (i.e. one airport looks more or less like the next...same with fast food restaurants). Could homes go the same way? I think not, but that doesn't mean someone might not try it.

An introduction to RSS news feeds

2006-12-08T21:27:00.000-08:00

DeveloperWorks has a great introduction to RSS news feeds here.

Orisinal.com - Winterbells

2006-12-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

Orisinal.com - Winterbells is a beautiful little Flash game with lovely music.

W3Schools

2006-12-08T19:08:00.000-08:00

There are lots of goos sites to learn web technology, but I have always found the W3Schools Online Web Tutorials to be some of the best. Learn html, css, XML, SOAP, AJAX, and lots more.

One blog?

2006-12-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

In researching which blog to go with, I found a number of sites for this, like Vox. They all have good features of one sort or another. I like blogger, of course. But with some many out there which one should one chose for their blog?

When people ask me if I have a blog, it appears that one should have ONE blog. Really, I think people should have many blogs. Perhaps one ongoing one of general events to log. But why not a blog for a specific project in your life, or for a specific period in time, or some other well defined part of your life? And when that is over, the blog would be over. I think that makes more sense.

Antikythera Mechanism

2006-12-08T12:20:00.000-08:00

Techrepublic has great photos and an nice article on the Antikythera Mechanism here:

Photos: Decoding an ancient computer | TechRepublic Photo Gallery

Here's a shot:

It's fascinating to think of whatever sophisticated computing devices exist out there.

web labs

2006-12-07T12:29:00.000-08:00

google has a lab. IBM has had such a think (alphaworks) for some time now. Digg has one too. See digg labs

Tip of the Day: Dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses

2006-11-23T06:40:00.000-08:00

The following from a friend on one way to deal with unwanted visitors: I told them about a friend who discovered how to stop repeated unwelcome visits from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Eventually, he simply answered the door without a stitch of clothing. They ran away at enormous speed without saying a word, and they never returned.

Quote of the day

2006-07-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

"Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory."
--Mahatma Gandhi

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall

2006-07-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall

I read this news blog daily....as well as the TPMMuckraker.com site that is affiliated with it. Very good journalism, and a good example of how weBLOG journalism can provide a service that the MainStreamMedia can't provide.

Metacritic.com

2006-02-23T14:03:00.000-08:00

Metacritic.com has all the reviews you can possibly want on anything. Trying to decide on a movie, book, game or TV show? Check out metacritic.

Kevin Kelly -- Cool Tools

2006-02-22T10:41:00.000-08:00

I have always admired Kevin Kelly since I read his work in Whole Earth Review (WER) many years ago. He went on to do great work at Wired and other places. While his site has many great things about it, one thing I really like is the cool tools section. It used to be one of my favourite parts of the WER, and Wired too! Check out the Cool Tools.

www.meetup.com

2005-03-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

Meetup: a very cool way of organizing local interest groups. shows what I think is the most important aspect of the WWW: how to interconnect easily.

The earth at night

2005-01-12T07:52:00.000-08:00

An incredible image of the earth at night can be found at this NASA sight.

The Hardest Working Clock on the Web....

2005-01-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

...can be found at this site! :) Visit INDUSTORIOUS CLOCK ||| (sic). It makes me tired just watching it.

Translation, please

2005-01-10T14:29:00.000-08:00

If you need to translate from one major language to another, consider usingAltaVista's Babel Fish Translation web site.

Knowledge management, data mining and information mapping with Grokker.

2004-12-15T20:01:00.000-08:00

I like tools that display complex information well. Grokker appears to do just that. And given all the information there is to process, the more tools like this, the better!

IBM NetRexx Language

2004-12-10T13:58:00.000-08:00

There are lots of ways to process information on your computer. An oldie but goodie is Rexx (or in this case NetRexx). As the site says:

"NetRexx is a human-oriented programming language which makes writing and using Java classes quicker and easier than writing in Java."

I like and agree with the idea of Rexx/NetRexx being "human-oriented."

IBM has lots of good information on NetRexx it at this site. Both the site and the language are highly recommended.

Note: I had some problems getting it to work under Java v1.4.2. Once I copied both NetRexxC.jar (from NetRexx) and tools.jar (from Java) to Java's \jre\lib\ext, I was fine. See IBM NetRexx User's Guide - Installing the NetRexx translator for more info.

RealClimate

2004-12-10T07:25:00.000-08:00

RealClimate "is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. We aim to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary. The discussion here is restricted to scientific topics and will not get involved in political or economic issues."

It's also an interesting spin/extension of the use of blogs. Useful for anyone interested in getting more depth on climate change.

Gerhard Richter

2004-12-09T07:47:00.000-08:00

An excellent review of Gerhard Richter can be found here: Art/Museums: Gerhard Richter at the Museum of Modern Art

The Long Now Foundation: links

2004-12-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

I've found that thinking in the really long term, like they do at the Long Now Foundation, gives you the ability to revisit and improve your current thinking. Certainly I agree with the essay on 200 Year Software.

Check out the site....take your time. :)

The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press

2004-12-07T21:51:00.000-08:00

The (Great) Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press can be seen here. Edward Tufte can simply teach you how to think better. I highly recommend folks crawl through the site, for there is much to be discovered and learned and enjoyed.

Cooking For Engineers

2004-12-07T21:48:00.000-08:00

I have heard of cooking being considered an art, and sometimes a science, but until I saw Cooking For Engineers, I didn't realize it is also a branch of engineering! This is a great site, and it uses a clever and useful design to explain how to cook things.

Bon appetit!

Advent calendars

2004-12-03T22:16:00.000-08:00

Leslie Harpold has many wonderful things on her site, including some help for folks who want help with their homepages. She also has a wonderful collection of online advent calendars to check out, given that this is the season! Check out the 2003 advent calendar, the one for 2002 and of course, 2004.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you!

ThinkCycle: Open Collaborative Design

2004-12-03T22:05:00.000-08:00

Want to work globally and collaboratively on...well, pretty much anything? If so, then check out this site: ThinkCycle: Open Collaborative Design. And get thinking! :)

Making Sense of Marcel Duchamp

2004-12-03T21:51:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if it is entirely possible, but the site Making Sense of Marcel Duchamp attempts to do that. There's some interesting uses of flash. Scroll over to the year 1923 and check out The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. As you click on Next, there is an multistep explanation of the work, including references to elements that were mentioned in Duchamp's notebook but were not included in the final work.

Highly worthwhile.

Kevin Kelly and his web site

2004-12-03T21:34:00.000-08:00

I've always liked Kevin Kelly's work and thinking, ever since I started reading him in the Whole Earth Review and then later in Wired magazine. In searching for something else, I came across his site. I highly recommend it. If nothing else, check out the Cool Tools section.