New look SMH

The Sydney Morning Herald is about to unveil it 'new look' website. As is customary now for high-traffic websites, they've got the obligatory Flash introduction teaser (buried as a text link on the home page) to inform users of the impending change. It offers a screenshot of the new look, but not much in the way of information. It's unclear if this is simply a re-design or a complete restructure of the architecture, or even if the site will offer new content. It's also unclear if the new website will simply appear, or if there will be a phase-in approach.

High-traffic websites get a re-vamp every 2-3 years on average, but I've yet to see anyone make this change smoothly. Seldom are there any pointers on the home page to help users navigate the new design, and often all there is in the way of warning is a skim through the new features in a small introduction. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens on the 3rd.

Mea culpa

I feel like such a dork. After shlepping my router to the store today and harassing them until they tested it (it's fine!) I came home and thought I'd jiggle the Airport Extreme card I installed in my computer to see if that might help my meager wifi signal. I open the machine, give the card a push, and click - it slips right into place.

This what happens when Apple expect luddites like myself to install their own computer parts. We waste hours of our friends' time (thanks Jeremy!) trying to fix a problem with settings and online searches, when all I needed to do was push the card in another 3 millimeters.

This is the last of these geeky technology woe posts. Jeremy suggested I hire myself out as a Linksys specialist. If any of you need one of these installed, my rate is $500/hour plus expenses. And I make no guarantees.

Lights... modem... no juice

So we've moved. That part was uneventful and un-rainy, which was great. But on Monday when the cable guy showed up to install my new modem, we worked out that the cable outlet is at the very opposite end of the apartment from my office.

Now I didn't want to run an ugly black cable from one end of the place to the other, so under the patient guidance of tech genius Jeremy, I decided that a Linksys wireless router might just do the trick.

I got the router, a new Airport card for my Mac, hooked it all up and it worked beautifully; the VOIP phone is clear, the modem is lightning fast, the router's light are flashing... and the minute I move my computer more than 5 feet away from the unit my connection dies. So much for wireless - the guy at the shop actually told me it would work through 2 floors of concrete.

So I'm now working in the living room, miles away from my desk, sitting on the floor with my computer on the coffee table. It's times like these I wish I still worked in an office and had only to dial tech support for assistance.

Candy Macs

What girl hasn't thought to herself "I'd like that laptop but wish they made it in hot pink to go with my new boots"? I've just discovered Colorware and have developed - in 5 seconds flat - an intense NEED for a hot pink powerbook and matching iPod.

Lucky for me, they also do a custom colour service where you can send in your existing toy and they send it back all shiny and candy coloured. At around AUD$100 (plus shipping to the US, mind you) it's a bit steep, but I'm so enamoured I'm considering it for my new nano. Here I thought it looked good in black - it's about a gazillion times better in 'Blush'. Go drool for yourselves.

Moving house

We're moving house tomorrow. And although we're old hands at moving (I actually like moving - It appeals to my nomadic tendencies) there's lots of things I've learned not to count on - the weather (it usually starts raining when the leather couches are outdoors on the way to the truck), and telephone and internet connections coming in in a timely manner.

We've decided to sever the Telstra umbilical cord altogether and instead get a VOIP connection with Engin. The whole thing is contingent upon Optus showing up to plug in the broadband cable, and then the Engin box showing up, and on top of this for the whole lot to be compatible together and with my Mac. I'll let you know how that goes - I think its about as likely as all planets in the solar system lining up.

All this to say that I'm anticipating some downtime early next week. If you need to reach me try my mobile at 0425 250 223.

Ambigrams

Ever heard of them? An ambigram is a form of lettering in which a word or phrase can be read in more than one direction. Or it may be two words combined into one image in which only one can be seen at a time. I suppose the word could come from the root of 'ambiguous'? The master of this art is John Langdon.

I'm already trying to work out where to get one of these tattooed. What with my new obesession with Capoeira I've been spending lots of time upside down lately, which should show it off nicely.

Top 40 Magazine covers of the past 40 years

The American Society of Magazine Editors have just released their top 40 for the past 40 years. Some real gems in here.

Unbelievable

If someone tried to describe this thing to me I'd never have believed it. I want an I/O brush. See it in action here.

It's a technology - not a caustic cleaner

Do a search on Google Maps for your house, and you'll see a nice enough map of your neighborhood. Now hold down the mouse button. You'll find you can move the map around as quickly as if it were sitting on a table. Zooming in and out, there's no delay waiting for the page to reload. And you can switch instantly to corresponding satellite photos and even a combined map-photo view.

Credit this speed of use to a loose-knit set of programming technologies known as Ajax. It's also helping to spur the explosion of web sites like Flickr and Gmail, and help you take a more active part in 'surfing the web' (how I loathe that term).

Essentially, Ajax speeds up the web experience, vastly reducing the notorious world wide wait. It's fascinating stuff, even though I don't fully understand it myself. If you're interested, you can read about it here.

3 hour website

This is possibly the quickest little job I've done - 3 hours from top to bottom and a sweet little website for journalist extraordinaire Genevieve Paiement. See it live at http://www.genevievep.com

Creative products

I stumbled upon Alissia's website this morning. I love these products.

Genius

Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005

Nielsen's at it again - he's just published his list of top design mistakes. Although some of my pet peeves are listed (photos that enlarge 10% or not at all, misuse of Flash, no contact info), he also lists things that are sometimes difficult to get around (fixed widths) while keeping aesthetics intact.

Although Mr. Nielsen's website follows these usability rules, I can't help but feel it's terribly ugly, and hard to navigate. His home page, especially, is messy and hard to read, and his bare bones navigation forces the user to continually return to it to navigate. I'd really like to see him try to marry design with usability.