Fisher Price has my iPad substitute
02/18/10 10:50 Filed in: miscellany
Looks like that case is indestructable! And it costs so much less! 79.95 and it comes with Monkey Games!
What is a book?
Nice post from
Dick Margulis:
Have you been trying to follow any of the many recent discussions about e-books and e-readers, about access to knowledge and protecting authors’ rights, about book scanning and copyright? Are you confused?
Me too.
What confuses me is that putatively smart people are making such simplistic prognostications and arguments. End of the book as we know it indeed! Please. I don’t think so.
The rhetorical problem, it seems to me, is that we have a word, book, that represents not one category but many categories of objects, both concrete and abstract, both physical and virtual. Most people who work with books of one sort see their grove of trees as the whole forest.
This is an easy trap to fall into: if you spend your life in the world of genre fiction, then books means genre fiction. If you spend your life in research libraries studying the history of fruit fly research, then books means obscure, long-forgotten monographs in danger of being deaccessioned and lost to history.
He goes on to list genres and what he thinks might happen to them. Interesting!
Have you been trying to follow any of the many recent discussions about e-books and e-readers, about access to knowledge and protecting authors’ rights, about book scanning and copyright? Are you confused?
Me too.
What confuses me is that putatively smart people are making such simplistic prognostications and arguments. End of the book as we know it indeed! Please. I don’t think so.
The rhetorical problem, it seems to me, is that we have a word, book, that represents not one category but many categories of objects, both concrete and abstract, both physical and virtual. Most people who work with books of one sort see their grove of trees as the whole forest.
This is an easy trap to fall into: if you spend your life in the world of genre fiction, then books means genre fiction. If you spend your life in research libraries studying the history of fruit fly research, then books means obscure, long-forgotten monographs in danger of being deaccessioned and lost to history.
He goes on to list genres and what he thinks might happen to them. Interesting!
Figuring out computer issues
02/12/10 10:46 Filed in: miscellany
Hugh McGuire is always worth reading... but this
flowchart stopped me cold. I need to send this to my
dad, my sis-in-law, my brother-in-law and everyone else
who calls me for computer tech support!
We used to call this technique "poking around at it" when I worked in a doc team. After the half hour was up and I would go ask, the first question would be "Did you poke around at it?" Of course, advanced poking around included "what did you install last, and when did you install it?" and other such questions.
But this flowchart was in an article about the iPad, and how it may change computing. Because it would stop this kind of trouble. You use an app that does what it does, and if you are trying to get that done, well, then it is done. No more poking around.
We used to call this technique "poking around at it" when I worked in a doc team. After the half hour was up and I would go ask, the first question would be "Did you poke around at it?" Of course, advanced poking around included "what did you install last, and when did you install it?" and other such questions.
But this flowchart was in an article about the iPad, and how it may change computing. Because it would stop this kind of trouble. You use an app that does what it does, and if you are trying to get that done, well, then it is done. No more poking around.
Magazines are getting smaller
02/11/10 10:44 Filed in: publishing
Check out this list!
See the changes in number of advertising pages and revenue? Architectural Digest is almost half the size! And the dollar amounts..... sheesh!
See the changes in number of advertising pages and revenue? Architectural Digest is almost half the size! And the dollar amounts..... sheesh!
Cool desks
02/08/10 10:42 Filed in: miscellany
This is the only one with drawers, unfortunately. How do people live without drawers? For more minimalist design, here you go.
My desk is actually two small dining room tables, trimmed down in height to fit my size, and with two rolling file cabinet/drawer units that slide underneath. I need drawers! And access to my files!
The Guardian defines Information Architecture
02/06/10 10:41 Filed in: miscellany
A drawing from the Guardian's mockup of their iPhone app development
Martin Belam: Starting a blog post with a definition of the topic to be discussed makes me feel rather like the captain of a school debating society. However, I've struggled to find a better introduction to the question of "What is information architecture?" than the definition provided by the Information Architecture Institute.
We define information architecture as the art and science of organizing and labeling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability.
Or as someone once put it to me: "You just draw boxes, don't you?".
Basic math, from fish to infinity
02/05/10 10:39 Filed in: miscellany
I know, this has nothing to do with indexing, but I
really like Steven Strogatz's writing:
The best introduction to numbers I’ve ever seen — the clearest and funniest explanation of what they are and why we need them — appears in a “Sesame Street” video called “123 Count With Me.” Humphrey, an amiable but dim-witted fellow with pink fur and a green nose, is working the lunch shift at The Furry Arms hotel, when he takes a call from a room full of penguins. Humphrey listens carefully and then calls out their order to the kitchen: “Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish.” This prompts Ernie to enlighten him about the virtues of the number six.
Children learn from this that numbers are wonderful shortcuts. Instead of saying the word “fish” exactly as many times as there are penguins, Humphrey could use the more powerful concept of “six.”
The best introduction to numbers I’ve ever seen — the clearest and funniest explanation of what they are and why we need them — appears in a “Sesame Street” video called “123 Count With Me.” Humphrey, an amiable but dim-witted fellow with pink fur and a green nose, is working the lunch shift at The Furry Arms hotel, when he takes a call from a room full of penguins. Humphrey listens carefully and then calls out their order to the kitchen: “Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish.” This prompts Ernie to enlighten him about the virtues of the number six.
Children learn from this that numbers are wonderful shortcuts. Instead of saying the word “fish” exactly as many times as there are penguins, Humphrey could use the more powerful concept of “six.”
So will the iPad resurrect publishing? Is it better than an Etch-a-Sketch?
02/04/10 10:37 Filed in: miscellany
Planet PDF thinks so:
The impact of tablets on content producers will be profound, but perhaps the greatest opportunity is for small publishers.
The tablet offers a fresh lease on life for traditional print-publishing concepts and skills. The coming tablet economy will allow the smallest of content developers to present their material with professional flair.
Tablet publishers will not need server infrastructure, Flex/Flash expertise and streaming video feeds in order to succeed. Content producers and (yes) individuals will be able to generate attractive, professional and effective tablet content using nothing more than PDF files. Expensive animations and other eye-candy, while you'll see them heavily featured in the days to come, are entirely optional. For quality content, the absence of movies and animated control-panels won't be a barrier to entry. The cost of electronic publishing is about to fall through the floor.
Some discussion of returning to the page metaphor and good graphic design included. So indexing? Yes? Please? In a PDF world, we can be invaluable.
Until it actually happens, here's a lovely comparison chart of the iPad vs. the Etchasketch:
The impact of tablets on content producers will be profound, but perhaps the greatest opportunity is for small publishers.
The tablet offers a fresh lease on life for traditional print-publishing concepts and skills. The coming tablet economy will allow the smallest of content developers to present their material with professional flair.
Tablet publishers will not need server infrastructure, Flex/Flash expertise and streaming video feeds in order to succeed. Content producers and (yes) individuals will be able to generate attractive, professional and effective tablet content using nothing more than PDF files. Expensive animations and other eye-candy, while you'll see them heavily featured in the days to come, are entirely optional. For quality content, the absence of movies and animated control-panels won't be a barrier to entry. The cost of electronic publishing is about to fall through the floor.
Some discussion of returning to the page metaphor and good graphic design included. So indexing? Yes? Please? In a PDF world, we can be invaluable.
Until it actually happens, here's a lovely comparison chart of the iPad vs. the Etchasketch:
I'm envious
02/03/10 10:35 Filed in: miscellany
My friend Jeff Carlson got to play with iPad for twenty
minutes, and got his picture on the cover of USA Today.
Some guys have all the luck.
He tweeted "Today I caressed the Kindle Killer."
He tweeted "Today I caressed the Kindle Killer."
Best glasses ever
02/02/10 10:33 Filed in: miscellany
From the Guardian, a list of the best glasses in fiction:
Lord of the Flies by William Golding Perhaps the most famous pair of glasses in literature belongs to Piggy in Golding's novel. They are used as "burning glasses" to start a fire (physically impossible as Piggy is short-sighted). Then nasty Jack breaks one of the lenses. Later the specs are stolen, leaving Piggy almost sightless as a prelude to his murder.
More, and I won't tell you why, so you have to go read it ...
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Gulliver's Travels
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
The Oxford Reading Tree
Emma
East Lynne
"The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez"
Focus
The Great Gatsby
Lord of the Flies by William Golding Perhaps the most famous pair of glasses in literature belongs to Piggy in Golding's novel. They are used as "burning glasses" to start a fire (physically impossible as Piggy is short-sighted). Then nasty Jack breaks one of the lenses. Later the specs are stolen, leaving Piggy almost sightless as a prelude to his murder.
More, and I won't tell you why, so you have to go read it ...
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Gulliver's Travels
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
The Oxford Reading Tree
Emma
East Lynne
"The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez"
Focus
The Great Gatsby