computers

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Live Online Today: Layer Tennis!

Are you a live sports fan? Are you a graphic design geek? Well, for the three of you who fit both descriptions, grab a drink and get ready for a new event guaranteed* to rock you. Starting today at 3pm Eastern (that's noon Pacific or 7pm in London), you can witness the online debut of Layer Tennis. What's Layer Tennis, you ask? The official description states: We'll be playing matches using lots of different applications, from Adobe® Photoshop® to Adobe® Flash®, but the basic idea... READ ON

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Writers' Favorite Fonts

Following up on yesterday's post about how you learned to type, I stumbled across a Slate article called My Favorite Font, which surveys various authors about what font they use to compose new works. According to this article, font preference seems very tied to how the author learned to write -- those who started on typewriters seem to prefer Courier fonts (which I abhor), and those who started on computers seem to prefer Times or various other serif fonts (now that's more like it). We've covered your... READ ON

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How Did You Learn to Type?

When I was in elementary school, I attended a twice-weekly "computer class" which primarily consisted of repeated runs through some now-forgotten typing software on Apple ][e computers. While running this program, we had to put cardboard boxes over the keyboard (with cut-outs so our little wrists could get in), and let me tell you, cheating was rampant. When a student got to the end of a level in the typing program and reached the timed test, a teacher would stand there with one hand on the box to... READ ON

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Keyboard + Dishwasher = It Works!

Michele at Coudal Partners kept hearing about people cleaning their computer keyboards in dishwashers, so she decided to try an experiment -- she popped the keys off her Apple keyboard and washed it. Documenting the experience in a short film called Shift Option Rinse, Michele found that it worked! Except somehow the F10 and F11 keys disappeared...oh well. Computer keyboard manufacturers don't recommend the dishwasher treatment, though in my one attempt (an Apple Extended Keyboard II), it worked like... READ ON

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Longevity from Bees, Headgear that's cool, and Why Cavemen are Sexy

Bite Down to Change Songs My least favorite part about the iPod is having to always stop running to pull it out to switch songs. The researchers at Osaka University must have had me in mind when they came up with a creative new way to control a music player- teeth. They've designed a piece of head gear that detects when the user is clenching their teeth, which can then be used to control a music device. Clenching on the left skips a song, while clenching on the right side makes a song start or... READ ON

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Inbox Zero: Inbox Down to 50

In June I started getting serious about managing my email, using the "Inbox Zero" system promulgated by productivity guy Merlin Mann. When I started, my inbox contained 222 messages and I battled with it daily, often seeing it balloon into the 300-400 email range. Two weeks into the project, I was at 100. Now I'm down to 50, and am slowly reaching for that wonderful number: zero. Merlin Mann recently gave a Google Tech Talk last week all about Inbox Zero, and it's worth a look. In it, Merlin talks... READ ON

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The Oregon Trail (Apple II Edition)

I'm a long-time fan of the Oregon Trail computer game (and I've been thinking about all things Oregon Trail lately). I remember first encountering the game on an Apple IIe computer during the second grade -- it fascinated me. Why did my oxen keep dying? How come people kept getting dysentery and breaking their legs? Why can't I just play this game all day?! In later years, I bought an Apple IIgs for the sole purpose of playing Oregon Trail. It didn't fascinate me quite as much, though it did bring... READ ON

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Accio Harry Potter Audiobook

(Note: NO SPOILERS in this... READ ON

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My Ball of Wires

Some people have a junk drawer. Some people have a shoebox of memories. But not me. I have a Ball of Wires. The Ball spends its days overflowing a 31-gallon plastic tub. It contains my collection of audio/video, computer, and telephone cables, assembled over a decade of roaming the US, connecting things to other things. The Ball is hopelessly tangled -- it takes a good ten minutes to disentangle any given cable you want from the Ball -- assuming you can find it in the first place. I'm constantly... READ ON

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Friday Fun: Totally Sidetalkin'

With the advent of the iPhone, I'm reminded of an older phone/gadget that introduced us to a new way of making phone calls: the Nokia N-Gage. The N-Gage was (well, is) a gaming phone which suffered from several serious design problems in its first version. With the original N-Gage, if you wanted to make a phone call you'd hold the edge of the phone to your head to talk, thus presenting onlookers with a full view of the phone's face. (Also, in order to change the game, you had to partially disassemble... READ ON