“Off Grid” – My 24 Hour Comic for 2005.

Since I attempted this year’s 24 Hour Comic Challenge, I thought it was only right to share with you the outcome. Seven pages, seven characters, the start of a story. A story of a world where everything is available to everyone at the time and what happens when someone goes “OffGrid” [pdf]. Oh, and if …

Second Melitta Mill & Brew Broken

Back in episode 4 I proclaimed my love for the Melitta Mill & Brew. Even then I knew this day would come. The little plastic hook holding the grinder lid down snapped and fell into the grinder basin. Without this hook, the grinder doesn’t grind and the water doesn’t get near the grinds. Basically, this …

Learning Ruby – Day 13

Day 13 – Putting the Pieces together Alright, we’re back to Ruby. My apologies for slowing down, and with only 8 days to go. Let’s jump right into day 13. On the outset, Slagell explains the notion of Ruby being a ‘glue language’, like Perl. A language coordinating multiple programs or processes. Historically, AppleScript has …

Productivity Tip: Empty Your Dock

Back in the pre-OS X days, I used DragThing religiously to keep applications, websites, and documents at my finger tips. That mentality migrated with me to OS X – put everything in the Dock, keep it handy. Today, I shed it. Inspired partially by my preparation for the Tiger upgrade and partially by my proficiency …

The Opposite of the Treo 650

I want a new phone. The menu interface on my SonyEricsson T610 is annoying and frustrating. Part of it is T-Mobile (a text message for each voice message isn’t necessary), part of it is SonyEricsson (a 12-step process for writing an SMS?), and part of it is me (highly critical behavior strategist & interaction designer). …

Captain Subtext and the Curse of Jeff Murdoch

Last weekend, Jen and I received BBC’s Coupling Season 1 off the Netflix. The debut episode showed promise yet fell flat on us. While I plugged away on some programming, Jen watched the remaining 4 episodes. Then we watched them again. Good stuff. They should have made the debut episode a hidden track, it didn’t …

First Crack 38. The Long Term Commitment of Placemaking

A conversation with Minneapolis urban planners Sam Newberg, from Joe Urban, and Jay on how making a place distinct takes a hundred years. This conversation was recorded at Keegan’s Irish Pub in Minneapolis with two Radio Shack lapel mics going into an iPod running Podzilla. Listen to the Long Term Commitment of Placemaking [12 min] …

Learning from the 24 Hour Comic Challenge

Yesterday, I attempted to create a 24 page comic in 24 hours. Here is what I learned from my first attempt. Have the story finished. I knew how the story started, that got me 6 pages along. Half way into page 7, I was stuck. Seven characters moving, a handful of relationships established, and nowhere …

How to Set Up a Linksys Router with Mac OS X

“INSERT CD FIRST”, screamed the sticker on the back of the Linksys wrt54g router. A decade with Macintoshes has taught me the suggestions are normally for Windows machines. The router was persistent – and the sticker was blocking the power port – so, I thought I’d humor it. I was right. The CD shipping was …