I recently read a great article in the NY Times (recommended on Digg) that discusses the history of swearing in language, the benefits of swearing and the subconscious/conscious effects on oneself and others when swearing or hearing swear words.

The author, Natalie Angier, does a great job with the article, citing numerous studies, information from researchers of the evolution of language and examples of the use of “dirty words” for shock and impact in great literary works as far back as Shakespearean drama.

Read “Almost Before We Spoke, We Swore” in the NY Times

One of the responsibilities of a major web design firm is keeping abreast of new technologies, not only in regard to how these may help clients, but also in regard to how rushing to embrace new technology may be disastrous.

A case in point is the current debate over PHP 5. PHP is a web-scripting language used for online data processing, form submission, context-sensitive page content, and even just for stitching together pages from shared files. It has largely replaced Perl as the language of choice for such tasks (ASP was never really in the running, despite what Microsoft will tell you).

Read the rest of this entry »

Gap Inc. recently redesigned the websites for their three chains of clothing - Banana Republic, The Gap and Old Navy, the new features are a great addition to online shopping, but where’s the marketing?

Read the rest of this entry »

Font limitations on the web can be a little frustrating, especially to a designer. How many times have I had to sacrifice a cool header for HTML text? It is a necessary evil to have to use HTML for search engine’s these days, and unfortunately the result is designer’s compromising their designs for this purpose. According to this new experiment known as “sIFR”, or the Shaun Inman Flash Replacement, there may be a way around this limitation.

Click to read the article

My depression at the final Star Wars film being released this past May has given into complete excitement as I’ve just learned that a new museum exhibit “Star Wars: Where Imagination Meets Science” will open in Boston on October 27th at the Boston Museum of Science.

The exhibit’s development and creation was a joint venture between the Museum of Science in Boston and Lucasfilms Ltd., the production company owned by Star Wars creator, George Lucas.

Exhibit Features:

1) Various robots from the movie with explanations of their jobs/features and how they would work in the “real world” as well as the advancements currently being made in the field of robotics.

2) Transportation used in Star Wars and the existence of current spacecraft technology used by NASA and others in the aeronautics industry.

3) Architectural designs explaining the cities constructed in the 6 movies, and a look at today’s architectural world.

The exhibit is supported by the National Science Foundation as well as Anthony Daniels, who played the droid C-3PO.

Daniels has long pushed for the exhibit: “I’m pleased to be a part of an exhibit that emphasizes the importance of understanding future technologies…topics like science and technology can be intimidating, using the Star Wars films to explore these fields is a wonderful way to appeal to people of all ages.”

As the exhibit tours, it will eventually hit the DFW metroplex at the Fort Worth Museum of Science History.

MORE
Chewbacca plays baseball, Princess Leia cheers him on

In case you’re like me and don’t generally follow up on the latest news, Adobe will be acquiring Macromedia in Fall 2005, which poses very exciting changes in terms of integrated software solutions and the collaboration of formats such as pdf and flash. Particularly for designers and developers, this will hopefully solve issues of incompatibility between software and file formats of the two sets. No word yet on when such new solutions are to be released.

Read Press Release

Finding someone to “blame” for the damage caused by hurricane Katrina is impossible. The inquiries into all of this by the special House committee, the media and every individual aren’t really searching for a way to prevent future disasters, they are all looking for someone to blame.

This was apparent yesterday in the 6 hours of questioning between the inquiry committee and Ex-FEMA Chief Michael Brown. At times Brown wasn’t even asked questions, he was just reprimanded and insulted.

Read the rest of this entry »

People, there is a great divide in the Internet marketing world. There is a class struggle between the bourgeoisie and proletariat. There is a disconnect between traditional models and the new PR.

And whoever can unite these worlds will rule the Web.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today you get my own version of the blog carnival…a bunch of links…but no blogs

“Classifieds Still King but Paid Search Looms Locally” reviews a couple of reports on the size of local online advertising.

“Yahoo! Local Expands With City Pages and More User Reviews” Danny likes it.

“Join the Local Search Authorities” Every small business that is thinking local search needs to read this article. It relates directly to one of my previous posts.

“Local Search: Convert and Win”
The success story here is the essence of local search ROI…this s#%t works!

The blog matrix is a variant of a multi-author blog designed to facilitate collaboration on topics yet maintain the individuality of the authors. It is ideal for groups of bloggers that want to generate discussion around common interest or expertise.

Read the rest of this entry »