Recent Activity

I was given this book when I was in Bermuda and told that I would enjoy it. And the short version of the story is that I did. It is nice to find books written by different authors, to break out of normal patterns. A word that I would use to describe this book is vivid. Not “graphic” in a lurid or violent sense, but close. Certainly walking closer to that line than my usual fare. I guess the genre would be thriller or suspense but it really wasn’t much of either, except at the end when I did get quite intent on finishing it.
read more →

Sort of a merger of type and photography. Sort of.

Sometimes you just have to admit your are a geek in yet another domain. In this case it is typography. I’ve always been a fan of the written word, and I’ve had an eye for fonts and other typographical elements. It wasn’t until recently however, when setting up TeX on my new iMac, that I realized that the thought of typesetting a document excited me. It left me with a warm and cosy feeling inside. That the actual shape of letters could affect my well being. I’m pretty open to both the use of type as a design element and document design in general. Both vastly different areas with different rules and guides, but both concerned with typography in general.

As anyone who follows the font world knows, fonts can be expensive. I say font, as opposed to typefaces since in some case, individual fonts from the same typeface are sold separately. However, there are some great free fonts available out there as well. One that I came across recently is Fertigo Pro, which is what I used for the above design. It makes a great title font, and a unique looking body font. I used it for both in a recent newsletter that I created. There is a decent list of free fonts compiled by Vitaly Friedman which are actually usable, as opposed to those free font sites you find which offer a range of somewhat useless fonts. Sure there might be a justification for writing a message with flaming letters, but it is kind of gimmicky.

How does this affect this site? It likely won’t other than the increased number of posts which I expect will be about fonts, type and other related design elements. If anyone has any nice font they know about which are free (or definitely worth the cost) please post a comment or something.

There is quiet, and then there is Bose QuietComfort 2. At least that is what I have found today. I’m not sure what was the particular trigger this morning, but not long after waking up, I was determined that I was going to get a pair of noise canceling headphones. As a huge fan of the headphones I bought back in April, I also knew I was hooked on Bose. If you fly, this style of headphone is a Godsend.

The executive summary of how they work is that they sample the ambient noise around the headphones while they are on and produce a sound wave opposite to that noise. The net effect is that the two sounds cancel each other out and provide your ear with silence. Real silence. I thought my deserted office today was quiet, but when I turned these new headphones on—wow!

Granted they are pricey, and I do have another perfectly good set of headphones at home, but now I don’t need to tote them back and forth to work, or settle for less than excellent at either location. Plus when it comes time to fly again, which I suspect will be fairly soon, I’ll be ready.

Some things to note for anyone considering these over the other around-the-ear from Bose. These require a battery—a single AAA. They are single-side corded which is detachable at that in case you just want the noise canceling. All the connectors are gold plated for conductivity. They come with an airplane adapter, a five foot extension cable, a 1/4” adapter and a hard case. The other headphones only come with the extension and 1/4” adapter and a soft carrying bag. These ones are obviously intended for people who fly.

As an interesting side note regarding audio on planes: Air Canada’s newer entertainment system, the one with personal touch screens, don’t take the traditional double plugs, but instead allow you to use your normal 1/8” headphone plug.

Blue blazer, khaki slacks, rust brown loafers. Shirt can vary, usually pastel, no tie. This is the standard outfit for the rich, at least it certain invokes that kind of imagery from me. There was gentleman not that far ahead of me in the line for customs with this outfit. Very inspiring I guess you could say… it certainly inspired me to write this post.

I’m in the airport lounge in Toronto, waiting for my connection in about 30 minutes. It was a useful week in Bermuda, but I am looking forward to getting home. Of course, Bermuda once was home, and it is possible it could be again. Now that I have had a taste of business travel, I have some thoughts about it. First of all, Air Canada, while they make an effort, really only provides an “adequate” service to “Executive Class” flyers. In general, there are some perks: faster check-in, often faster through security. Lounge access is sometimes, but not always available (I’m talking to you Bermuda). Obviously the seats and service on the plane are better, but this is dependent on the airline, not the general entitlement of flying “executive”. There are a couple of things that can’t be gained by paying way too much for your ticket. Customs times—maybe in some countries, but in Canada, you all wait in the same line. Waiting for luggage. In theory, you could pay to have someone else pick up your bags, or something to that effect, but in the end, you aren’t intrinsically gaining anything here.

I am in Bermuda this week on business, and let me say that it is quite a bit warmer than when I was here in the winter. The humidity is what kills me, it is like trying to breathe underwater. The hotel I’m in has a pool, not surprisingly, but the water is probably warmer than the air. Some people might think that would be wonderful, and at another time it would be, but when you are trying to cool off it isn’t helpful.

The island is still as beautiful as ever, and it is great to see some of my old friends and colleagues again. If I get a chance, I’ll try to grab some more island photos, but I don’t have a lot of free time, so no promises.

To be honest, I felt a bit out of touch in that before today I hadn’t heard about the fact that Google was building a browser. Well they are, and it is now available as a public beta. It is called Google Chrome and it is pretty novel in some of its approaches.

The most interesting telling of the story of the browser is through the online Chrome comic book that Google created. It is pretty geeky I might add, but seems very apt in this case. The comic runs about 38 pages, so it isn’t a quick scan, but if you have a couple of minutes and you take the Internet seriously, then I suggest you give it a look.

The nice thing about this browser is that it was designed for the Internet as it exists today, not ten years ago. To that end, it realizes that a browser can be a centre point in our daily lives and should reflect that in stability and reliability. One feature which promotes that is the fact that each tab is a separate process. It is also sandboxed in your computer to prevent malicious sites from affecting your system. Really the comic tells a better picture. I’m using the browser to write this post and I will say that it seems fast. Really fast at both loading initially and rendering pages. Both are important in our web centric world. I will see how its performance and functionality stacks up over time.