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NY Times Site Redesign: Nice, but not Perfect

2006-04-03T23:11:03Z

So the New York Times launched their new Web site design recently, and it looks great: I like the way they pack a lot of content into a small space: you can get to a huge number of articles from the front page. I also like the way they are breaking one of the rules of Web design, creating pages with a width of over 800 pixels (they actually go up to 975) over 5 columns. But it's not perfect, and many of the problems seem to come from advertising. Take, for instance, what I got when reading an article (at right); the advert was misplaced, obscuring the article itself with no way to get rid of it. Granted, the article itself was perhaps not the most earth-shattering thing to miss, but it is pretty irritating and has happened more than once.

30th Apple Anniversary Nostaligia

2006-03-31T19:02:43Z

So everybody seems to be getting all nostalgic about the 30th anniversary of Apple: I'm just listening to the Mac World Podcast where Jason Snell and Rick LePage are discussing their Mac history. 30 years ago I was a snotty-nosed 10-year old in the UK who though that computers were boring: I was more interested in poking things with sticks. But just a few years later I got a BBC Micro (A model B for you accuracy freaks; I had originally ordered a ZX Spectrum, but they were back-ordered ) and it's been downhill ever since. My first experience with a Mac would have been when I was at university in the late '80s and early '90s; they had a Mac system that was used for design work with PageMaker that I'd sneak in and use occasionally.

There's a great timeline of the 30 years of Apple from Mac World here: It's amazing how many of the events I can link with things in my life. Hell, I even owned a Newton for a time; I sold it in the end because it couldn't handle my handwriting.

Things That Make Me Cranky: Stupid Program Upgrades

2006-03-28T23:30:05Z

Okay, so I'm just installing an update to the software for the ATI HDTV Wonder for a PVR system I am building. And for some reason, the upgrade software insists that I have to provide the original CD that came with the device. WHY!?!

I can't see any reason for this except to make my life difficult. I mean, why would I be installing the upgrade if I didn't already have the device itself? Surely the software could check if the damn device itself is present, not the CD?

(Please note that this rant has nothing to do with the fact that my office is a total mess, meaning that the CD itself is probably lost under a pile of rubbish in the corner, or has been used as a hockey puck by the cats. Honest.)

Dealing With Attacks

2006-03-28T19:19:38Z

As a professional writer, I've been attacked on numerous occasions. In the days before blogs, I'd occasionally get emails or letters from irate readers who had disliked or disagreed about something I had written. And I noticed a general rule to this: the more vitriolic the attack, the less likely they were to respond. People who accused me of being in the pay of Microsoft/Dell/Intel/Whoever I had been writing about wouldn't bother replying to me, while people who just disagreed with my conclusions in a review would usually respond after I replied. I try and respond to emails or comments about my work when I get them--if someone has taken the time to email me, it only seems polite.

The new world of blogging makes this process more complex, though. These days, people don't email and complain; they post snarky comments about things in their blog or on sites like Digg and Slashdot. So how do you deal with this? Darren Rowse at ProBlogger has some good tips on how to deal with criticism in the new age of interactive mediums like blogs. The bottom line of his article is to do the same thing I've been trying to do all along: respond reasonably. "All it really involves is joining the conversation in the place where you're being critiqued." Good advice, indeed, but it does require some moderation: sites like Slashdot can quickly become a timesink when you leap on every comment about something that you have written.

Testing Blog Clients: Qumana

2006-03-27T21:22:50Z

I'm doing more writing in the form of blogging these days (and that trend looks likely to increase), so I've been testing out a few blog clients. I started typing right into the Movable Type web interface, but frankly, that's not a good way to do things: I'm not a good typist or speller, so I need a decent spelling cheker. And I have lost several posts when the web browser crashed or I lost the connection, so I decided to look for something a little more stable. Qumana is the best I've found so far: the beta of Version 3 I've been using has both a WYSIWYG and source view, can upload images and has a reasonable spell check. It also has some nice touches: if you create a link, it automatically grabs the URL from the clipboard, But it's not perfect: I wish it could process images (automatically taking an image and shrinking it to a particular size before uploading it). That's no great problem to do automatically in Photoshop, but it would be much easier to do it all in the client. It would also be nice to have some automatic styling presets: I align images to the right in posts, so it would be great if there was a way to do this automatically; right now, I have to do it manually in every post.

The program is free, but there's a reason for that. It's a lead in for an advertising network called AdGenta: you can add adverts from that network with a couple of mouse clicks, so they are hoping that you'll start using that network when you use the client. But you don't have to use it: you can drop HTML snippets in through the source view. Anyway, it's worth checking out: I'll report more here on how the program holds up under further use.

Oh, one other thing: the company is running a competition where you could win a vacation if you download and use the program, allowing it to flag 20 of your posts with a "powered by Qumana" link. I'm not entering this, but the prize is nice: a week of skiing or surfing.

Trying ajaxWrite

2006-03-24T23:58:39Z

So, given the hype surrounding the new online word processor ajaxWrite, I thought I'd try it out. Here are my thoughts, in no particular order...

It is pretty snappy: it loads quickly and responds well. Unlike other web-based applications I've used, you don't have to wait for things to happen.
It's very basic. No spelling checker (which is vital for a lousy typist like me), limited formatting controls and fonts.
The help files don't work.
the forum link doesn't work either.
The save option on the file menu doesn't work. The save button does, but it's like downlaoding a file: you have to refer it to the location to save the file to, which is a real pain if you're editing several files.
As Ed Bott observes, it doesn't work with Internet Explorer.

To be fair, it's a beta version that is designed, I think, more for publicity than for serious use. And it has some promise. But Michael Robertson's claim of "Bye Bye Microsoft Word, Hello ajaxWrite" is ridiculous. I'm no huge fan of Word, but it does the job of allowing me to write resonably quickly and easily, while ajaxWrite isn't up to scratch yet. It's a step up from Notebpad, but that's about it. But I'll keep an eye on it as the program develops.

Orb from 36,000 feet

2006-03-24T23:18:51Z

I reviewed the Slingbox for PC World some time back, and this testing involved looking at the free software that does pretty much the same thing called Orb. It's pretty cool. Now, Oliver at MobileCrunch has done an interesting test on this: “I even managed to watch part of Underworld Revolution from 36,000 feet using Conexion by Boeing on my way back from Korea.”

Online Game Player Crucified for Cheating

2006-03-23T20:00:45Z

Now this is harsh: a player in the online game Roma Victor has been crucified for cheating. The player was apparently repeatedly ganking (which means killing new players who didn't stand a chance against him), so the people who run the game decided that (seeing as it is set in ancient Britain under the Romans) 7 days of crucifixion would be an appropriate punishment. But unlike most victims of crucifixion, he'll be back up and playing once the 7 days are up.

As a side note, a game where you play a slave in Roman Britain doesn't sound like a huge amount of fun. All of those whippings, beatings and being crushed under the Roman heel are probably even more depressing than farming in World of Warcraft.

Apocalypse Pooh

2006-03-22T18:18:11Z

The horror, the horror... This has to be one of the strangest things I've seen for a while: a mashup of Winnie the Pooh and Apocalypse Now, with Piglet as Dennis Hopper. It's even more interesting as it was produced in 1987, long before these things were easy to do.

[Via BoingBoing]

Painting with Video

2006-03-21T17:26:19Z

This is really cool. Several students from the MIT media lab put a video camera inside a paintbrush and created software that allows you to “paint” on a screen with the image. It sounds crazy, but the sample video they offer (at the bottom of the page) shows how it works. This is a really cool idea: instead of trying to reproduce a texture with paints, kids can grab the texture itself and paint with it. It also works with moving images: the sample video shows a sequence where the painter grabs a video of someone blinking, then paints this onto the image, giving the snail they are painting blinking eyes.

[Via FreshDV and VideoThing]

Google is the New Background Check

2006-03-21T01:11:47Z

This story certainly raises a few interesting points; it's about how the things you post online may come back to haunt you in a few years. I’ve Googled myself a few times, but haven’t found anything too frightening (apart from a few articles I wrote early in my career). And my name is fairly uncommon, so hopefully I won't get confused with any mass murderers or child molesters.

My Ethics Policy

2006-03-21T00:42:30Z

There’s been a lot of fuss in recent years about ethics and tech journalism, from people who got paid to promote products to some well-known figures accepting freebies. I’m not throwing stones, but I have seen things that have made me very uncomfortable and that I would personally never have done.

So, here’s the standards that I work to. These are pretty much based on the standards that my former employer PC World follow...

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No Free Trips. I don’t get offered them that much these days, but I don’t take them when I do. When I go to an event or show, either I have paid for it or the person for whom I am writing has. I don’t accept trips from vendors looking for publicity, PR companies or others. I leave the free trips to our elected officials and others without the moral fiber to say no.

No Gifts. I don’t mind if someone buys me dinner (or even a nice sandwich and a beer), but I don’t accept gifts with a value of over $25. Not that I get offered that much schwag anyway, but I don't take it if I do.

Products Go Back. Many of the products I review are supplied by the companies who make or sell them. Once the review is done, I send it back. I don’t hang onto product any longer then is required (except for when I forget to actually give it to the FedEx guy after I've packed it up and put the label on it), and if the company really doesn’t want it back, I’ll sell it and donate the money to charity.

Credit Where Credit is Due. In my blogging work, I often write about things I have discovered in other blogs. In these circumstances, I’ll give a shout out to the source, usually with a [Via Whoever] link in the blog entry itself.

No Paper Reviews. "Paper reviews" are where someone reads a press release and then write a review based on that. I don't do that: If I say that i have tested a product, I have actually tested the product. And by that I don't mean I've looked at it in Best Buy: I don't review products unless I have actually received and tested the product to my satisfaction.

Honest Opinion. If I think something sucks, I'll say so, irrespective of if this is going to upset the manufacturer. I've upset plenty in my time, but if your product sucks, I'll say so. Just deal with it and make better stuff!

Cool Google Earth Flight Tracker

2006-03-17T20:52:40Z

This is cool (in a terribly geeky sort of way). This Google Earth add-on allows you to track airline flights, live, using Google Earth. It uses the flight information to map the flights, including the altitude, using the polygon building capabilities of Google Earth. As I type, I’m tracking a United Airlines fligh from San Francisco to Los Angeles. To use it, get your flight number (United allows you to get flight information on their Web site for all carriiers) go to the Aeroseek Web site, enter the flight number, then click on the Track this flight in 3D link. It’ll export the details to Google Earth, automatically updating it every few minutes. You can even track several flights simultaneously…