So, I've been teaching this class on Dreamweaver, and I have my students blogging each week.

Because it's fun, and free, and I wanted to see how fast I could put something together, I created a Student Blog Aggregator using zFeeder.

All too easy.

Feel free to comment with any other learning sites that might fit on there.

Every once in a while, I get a hint of the new slang. The latest trend is "shorthand".

1990: Someone coins delish - short for "delicious". A TV show is later named "The Commish".

1995: Ben Rutter coins whatev' - short for "whatever".

2000: Jack Black uses p'zish [pronounced: puh-zish] - short for "position".

2005: Sixteen Feet coins tradish (tradition) and MacGyv' (MacGyver the Puppy).

Today: Dan Beatty just laid a new one on me: appreesh - short for "I appreciate it."

Abbreev.

For those of you who aren't FULLY dialed in by now:

Cartoon Network has some new Star Wars: Clone Wars episodes this week.

What? You didn't catch the first 20 chapters?! And you call yourself a fan... ok, here they are.

Just check out the home page for StarWars.com. It's fully Flash-ified now. Mmm, immersive.

Mer and I are pretty close. Some times we have the same thought at the same time, me in San Francisco, her in Berkeley. She remarked about it over Instant Messenger, "imagine what we'll be like in 5-10 years"!

"Instant Thinking," I said.

The Future:
Thought Spam!

GoogleX: A fun way to access Google services.

Apple-ness. So fresh. [via]

Yesterday, Michael Krazny and company took on the topic of Blogs and Journalism. Today, they've posted it as a listenable archive. KQED is so hip.

You know, I could have gotten into journalism right out of college, but I chose software engineering instead. Now, anyone can with a blog be a "journalist", but according to the courts, they aren't afforded the same rights. Is this really "Blogger fear"?

First, download the Wired CD.

Next, download the Fine Art of Sampling Contest Winners.

Then, Shuffle.


 

I had the following awful situation happen to me today:

1. I'd been recording pictures and video on the Treo 650.
2. Locked it, put it in pocket.
3. I took it back out, it's restarting. Then, it kept repeating the restart cycle.
4. Reset didn't help, and all I remembered how to do was a hard reset (no good - didn't want to lose those pics!) or a soft reset (didn't help).
5. Took the battery out. Loss of use of camera/phone for the afternoon.

Returning to the house, I learned how to do a warm reset, which allowed me to back up, but not use the phone or some other apps. I was finally able to do a hard reset, then restore everything via Missing Sync.

But - what if this happened again, as I continue to push the device? I searched for "backup restore palm card" and boom: RFBackup:

- Backup to memory card.
- Restore from memory card.
- Optimizes backups by copying only databases modified since the last backup.
- Keeps a log of the last backup operation.

Just tried it. The backups on the card and the PowerBook look identical. It also creates a launcher on the card, so that it will be accessible in the case of a hard reset. Yes Free Software. As in Free Music.

Got a personal email from Jonas Salling, advising me that he has written a fix for Clicker on my particular Treo 650.

Now that's service!

And, it works. The best part? Moving my Mac cursor with my finger on the Treo. Hello: controlling DVDs, navigating iTunes, running GarageBand - all from the Palm of my hand.

I hadn't heard about the film of A Scanner Darkly until Nelson wrote about it:

Everyone's talking about the rotoscope visual effect, which is definitely cool and appropriate to the story. But what's most exciting is that a new Philip K. Dick story is being made into a film. And unlike other films there's no way to paper over the schizophrenic horror of this story, so we should finally get the unmedicated creepiness that makes PK Dick novels so great.

A Scanner Darkly is the most disturbing and depressing of all his novels, particularly when you ignore the scifi trappings. If they stick to the story, it's gonna be a hell of a film.

Looks killer. Release date: Sept. 15, 2005.

When the PowerBook G4 was first released, Meredith had just finished two years studying cell biology at UC Berkeley, and essentially had earned a Master of Science. She decided to continue for her Ph. D, so for her birthday, her parents hooked her up.

Cast Away had just been released on DVD, and we were so jazzed by his 15" screen, we just watched it on the PowerBook. There's a scene in there where Tom Hanks' character calls the ball "Wilson". At one point, he reprimands Wilson, then reconciles, fixes him, adds hair, and basically animates a volleyball. I saw that the company Wilson was even marketing a version of their ball with a little blood-colored depiction of 'Wilson' on it.

Nonetheless, as we continued to rebuke and then work around Mac OS X, we've just kindof started calling "him" 'Wilson'. It's been three and a half years now.

Wilson has been with us to Japan, he's travelled across the country numerous times, he's given presentations to hundreds of people, he participated in parties from remote, and always come through in a pinch.

Personifying the machine has come in extremely helpful, contributing a number of interesting metaphors:

"Wilson needs his juice."
Translation: Needs power (cord).

"I wonder what Wilson would have to say about that?"
Translation: I Google you. I double-dog Google you.

"Wilson is a champ!"
Translation: This computer is exceptional among peers.

What cracks me up is the way Mer puts things:

"Wilson was thinking about rainbows all afternoon."
Translation: Mac spinny disc - the signal that the system is busy, or "thinking". The disc is colored in a rainbow.

"I have to teach Wilson how to run my data analysis software."
Translation: I'm pretty sure I can do anything on a Mac.

Sometimes, Wilson will 'act up', or be "bad". For a while, Wilson was suspected of being depressed, before he "jumped" off of the couch one night, according to an eye-witness. He was ok, but his bottom panel was out-dented. I was able to bend it back almost perfectly. Titanium is frickin' amazing!

But then, just after acting erratically and producing one final, full backup, his logic board crashed.

We agonized about what to do. Drop $2300 on a new G4 PowerBook, or wait for the G5 PowerBook later this year (maybe)? We decided to fix him: $330.00. For a 500 mHz 20GB CD-ROM G4 Titanium that was a gift in the first place. That's a heck of a deal!

So, 'Wilson' just got back from Apple. His Hard Drive is intact, too! That, we were not expecting. Yes, Wilson is back.

[Two months later...]

Wilson suffers from the same problem: freezing, not booting - I get one last backup after two tries - and then he fails. Apple took him back, fixed him again. Another new motherboard.

Another chapter in the Story of Wilson.

He's going into retirement. He'll watch movies with us, read recipes. He's not going away.

Today, we received Wilson Prime. A 1.5gHz 15-inch Aluminum SuperDrive machine:



Yes, we are Macaholics.

One month ago, I got an iPod Shuffle. Two weeks ago, I got a Treo 650.
Which provides more enjoyment? It's hard to choose:

Comparison	Treo	Shuffle
Holds at least 1GB	Yes	Yes
Holds Mac and Win data	Yes	Yes
Plays Music	Yes	Yes
Has Simple, Intuitive Controls	Yes	Yes
Can be Operated by Touch	Yes	Yes
Can be Operated by Touch in the Dark	Yes	Yes
Can be Operated by Touch with Eyes Closed	No	Yes
Has one or more Setlists	Yes	Yes
Has Shuffle Mode	No	Yes
Can be managed via iTunes	Yes	Yes
Lasts a Day or Two Without Charging	Yes	Yes
Can be Worn About the Neck	No	Yes
Has Speaker	Yes	No
Updates Wirelessly	Yes	No
Has Screen	Yes	No
Waterproof Case Available	Yes	Yes
Blinks	Yes	Yes
Beeps	Yes	No
Takes a Fall	Yes	Yes
Is a Phone	Yes	No
Is Edible	No	Yes

Conclusion: Gotta have both on hand at all times!