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- March 9, 2006
A Salacious Thought
March 9, 2006Read moreSXSW is using something called Jambo to help people find each other, so I’m filling out my jambo profile to give it a shot. One of the questions is “my favorite thing”, which after some thought ended up being my car: a Volkswagen GTI VR6. However, my Canon Pixma iP5200 printer, which I love more and more with every passing day, is quickly rising to challenge the incumbant.
Just now, I was doing some full-duplex (2-sided) printing of some SXSW information. I was watching the paper come out, pleased at how well the printer works, and then it sucked the paper back in! It made a kind of “hmm” noise, and then it somehow flipped the paper around internally. Then it printed the second side of the same page, backwards from the way it had come out before. After I took the paper from it, the printer emitted a satisfied “I am so hot” sound as its inkjets settled into standby mode.
The effect was almost exactly like when you’re (a guy) sitting at a nice restaurant talking to an attractive woman, and she takes the cherry from her drink and pops it into her mouth. A few seconds later, the stem and pit come out, but you notice the stem has been tied into a knot by her tongue. She smiles as if nothing special has transpired, and continues the conversation while you try to remember what the hell you were talking about.
Full-duplex printing. Ask for it by name, next time you’re out looking for a hot printer to share a desk with! :-)
- March 9, 2006
The Fundamentals
March 9, 2006Read moreI just read Kathy Sierra’s latest post Don’t Forget Square One which is a very fine reminder. Go read the article, and then ask yourself, “Hey, self! Do I even know what my fundamentals are?“.
I thought I did, but in hindsight I don’t think I really do. Like a lot of people I’m in that odd zone of mediocrity. I don’t say that as a self put-down, mind you. With the finish of the Olympics recently, this is a particularly appropriate observation to make. If my professional activities were sports, do I know what would make me an Olympic-caliber designer / developer? I could imagine the trappings surrounding it, but not the minute details that eke out that 1/100th of a second difference between silver and gold.
Ordinarily I would write what I think those minute details are, but I have to get ready for SXSW and I’m flippin’ out finishing some project work, packing, anwering last-minute emails, and backing up all my data. Erk! See what I’m talking about? Not smooth! I’ll never get to endorse anything at this rate!
In the meantime, read Kathy Sierra’s post How to Be an Expert. This might be a good break the ice, a lot question at SXSW…”So, what are the fundamental habits of our respective field?”
On a side note, I’m looking forward to Kathy Sierra’s presence at SXSW; she is one of the most optimistic and insightful writers I’ve ever come across. I am just awestruck. I am hoping that her session attracts a lot of passionate creators…the energy would be incredible.
- March 8, 2006
Apple and Adobe Double Dirty Team Wednesday
March 8, 2006Read moreIn Brazil, an iMac G5 dies. Ben Jackson figures that he’s ok, since he’s got US AppleCare coverage! Guess what…it’ll take at least 30 days to turn it around. Trying to be positive, I point out he can get a hot new MacBook, but Ben directs me to Dave Shea’s unhappy upgrading catch-22; the difference is he’s being screwed by Adobe’s lack of initiative in shipping universal binaries for, you know, our livelihood. Has Adobe been taking lessons from Quark? Sigh.
- March 8, 2006
“Limited Edition” SXSW Biz Cards
March 8, 2006Read more
I forgot to order new bizcards far enough in advance to have for SXSW, so I’m prototyping special SXSW only ones to print at home.
I figure that people might recognize me from two things: The Printable CEO™ and possibly for being part of the 9rules Network, so I’m putting those things on the front of the card (not shown) so people can “place me in context” should they not know who the hell I am. If that doesn’t work, I guess I’ll have to start making stuff up real fast :-)
The basic design premise is to parody the PCEO with a handy point-laden chart on the back of the card, and then provide a place to fill out your bubble chart on the front. Alas, finding two-sided business card stock for inkjets is proving to be a pain in the butt, so I am just going to print two cards and hand ’em out that way. Maybe people will have a preference for one or the other.
Also note the photo of myself. I admit it feels weird to have my photo on the card because no one does it except for real estate agents, but I have a theory based in experience. About 12 years ago I had to interview 6 or 7 artists at a time over the course of a long day. By the end of the day I found it difficult to remember who was who; since we were thinking of hiring a few of them, that was a big problem. What I started doing was have them doodle something on their resume so I could remember who was interesting and who was not. The next time we did this, we asked the recruiting office to tell the interviewees to bring something they could leave behind, so we could remember who was who later. I was sorely tempted to take polaroids too, but that seemed a little too intrusive :-)
The lesson I got from the experience: It’s sometimes hard to be remembered; I figure a photo might help in this regard, and help people I meet remake the mental connection after the conference: “oh yeah, that’s the Printable CEO paper guy. He was cool, I should give him a call and score me some points!”
- March 7, 2006
Mr. Edity-Pants Hates RSS Readers? No!
March 7, 2006Read moreI was just chatting with Travis about editing in blog posts, and he mentioned that every time I make a little change in something I’ve already posted, his newsreader picks it up as a new article! Since I’m one to make dozens of little changes to an article post, this must be pretty awful for some people. Feedburner probably provides some buffering of this, but if it’s a problem for people let me know and I’ll figure out what I need to do to fix it.
Part of the joy of blogging for me is the immediacy of publishing, without having to worry about getting things exactly right. I hope this isn’t a widespread issue, or that there’s a solution that’s easily applied.
