Cryptonomicon

Actually, it ended up being Sony.

It ended up being a slightly better deal to go with the Sony, once you start counting wireless internet access and other benefits.

Apple Made Me Buy Microsoft.

I want an iPhone. I really do. Or rather, I did.

Oh, I'm still of the opinion that the iPhone is a solid piece of phone hardware, with a pretty good system behind it (No matter what the people at the Free Software Foundation think. Hint: Apple plans to make money off it, so they don't like it). But lately, even commuting back into the city, I don't miss my recently deceased 30GB iPod that much. Sure, it's nice for when I don't feel like reading, but since I walk to work from Penn Station, well, I just don't miss it.

Don't get me wrong, I still want to buy one. But, I have a job. I could, theoretically, get in line at 7:30AM at a store in NYC, but that involves getting on a 6AM train. There are still 2 hour lines at the 5^th Ave. Apple Store and the others don't open until 9AM, so I can't both buy and iPhone and make it to work on time. And no, I don't think this is some crazy conspiracy theory that Apple is holding back on units. You can only manufacture anything so quickly, and judging by the demand, it wouldn't matter how many of the phone Apple has - there'd still be people complaining about a lack of availability.

So, screw it. I'm giving up an iPhone (for now), my wife is skipping buying a GPS unit for her car (for now) and I'm taking our money and buying an XBox 360 & Rock Band.

Stop Animating.

FI/ThinkSwedish has some pretty cool tips for how animation relates to user interfaces. Essentially, stop animating everything.

It's nice to see my preferred approach to animating UI elements (i.e. minimal and fast) validated.

Oh, sure, there's plenty of places it's appropriate or even ideal to use alot of motion, but when it comes to application or portal design, I think it's more important to make sure the user is never left waiting for an animation to finish.

You don't want to end up like Avenue A/Razorfish. Not only did they pretty blatantly borrow a look from Group94, they did it poorly. Continuing the theme of the post, the site feels slow, despite running at a high, smooth frame rate due to the fact that everything needs to animate in and out. It feels slow, rather than snappy. It's a shame. (But it's still an improvement over their old site).

The Floor is Finished

Once I put in the knee-wall doors (to access the storage space), we are ready for the final inspection.

We're waiting on the inspection to put up the baseboard trim and fix the last 2 or 3 spots of drywall that still need work, just in case something else comes up. Once that's all done, we'll actually be taking a break until Fall. I'd like to get another raised bed into the backyard, and we have some minor painting and stuff on the first floor to take care of.

Also, we're not painting or moving anything up there right away since we still need somewhere to put the extra flooring, etc for the other half of the attic - there's no point in painting if we're just going to end up scuffing the walls later. If the floor gets damaged, though, there will be blood.

More Attic Photos

The closet interior

You're whining about the iPhone? Seriously?

The camera sucks? So do most, if not all camera phones. Go buy a real camera if you want quality. 35MM, not digital.

The pricing sucks? Not really. Comparable phones are the same price, or more. You're not getting a special plan, you're getting the same plans AT&T offers for every other phone. The base plan is the same one I've had for years. Yes, idiot, it costs $30 for unlimited wireless. It went up $10 because you're getting faster access now. So you're looking at $75, roughly, for a base fee. Also, yes, it costs $18 to upgrade your phone. $36 if you're a new customer. It's a fee. Do you think Verizon or Sprint don't charge you stupid fees for that sort of thing?

Yes, text messaging rates are extortion. All cell providers do it. Don't just pick on AT&T. Alternatively, you could use this wonderful thing called email (it's got internet access, you know), IM or your voice. No, texting isn't less obtrusive - you're just as oblivious to the world around you, and it's just as irritating when my phone 'rings.' Also, in the 2 minutes it took you to text me, you could've called me, gotten your answer, and 3 more.

No, it's still not fast. 3G internet access is, practically, about as fast as slow DSL.

No one over the age of 13 cares about MMS. Give it up already.