The Daily Thing

Dave Winer has realized the problem with some developers. They don’t realize there’s a whole other world out there of people who don’t use Windows’s but still want to buy their programs and use them.

Dave Winer: “I just had my first experience clicking on a link to install some software and groaning when I realized it was Windows-only. Oy. The Mac is (dramatically) prettier, more colorful, has nicer hardware. But developers still make software for Windows without doing Mac versions. Before today that was someone else’s problem. Today it’s mine too.”

Kudos to all you developers who choose a platform-independent route. I like to use the same programs on my Windows and Linux machines that I use on my Mac. You make that happen. Thank you.

BTW, If you haven’t figured it out there are very few programs (Azureus being a noted exception) that run comparably on all 3. The most useful aps are server side like Bloglines, NewsGator, and Gmail.

Tags: design, developer, Linux, Mac, windows

Tags: You Live and Learn by admin
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There was a great article over at HOWdesign about what clients really want from a design firm. If you’re a designer, or even a client, this is a definite read.

HOWdesign.com: Consultant Joe Grant has interviewed thousands of companies that buy advertising and design‚Äîin other words, your clients‚Äîto find out what they really want in their relationships with design firms. Communication and trust are the dominant themes. “Over and over, agencies and clients get into trouble because they don’t take the time to clearly spell out what they expect from each other, including roles and responsibilities,” Grant says.

Grant’s “Top 10 List of Client Wants” is a set of precautionary principles that can help you bolster client relationships before those cracks appear. “Doing the ostrich thing is definitely not a good approach with client relationships,” Grant says. “You need to be proactive about keeping them happy and your relationship healthy.” How? By meeting 10 basic client needs.

Tags: design, graphic

Tags: Top Designers by admin
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• Mi≈° i Pile: Logo Design Portfolio
  One of the best portfolios of logo designs I’ve ever seen. More stuff than a graphic design magazine.
  (tags: branding design graphic icons illustrator inspiration studio identity portfolio logo logos)

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In local news…

Modbee.com : The Ceres Unified School District is on the offensive in negotiations with its teachers’ union after months of stalled bargaining and a slate of educator grievances against new policies.

The district this month filed two unfair practice charges with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board, which administers collective bargaining laws.

Among other things, the district criticizes Ceres Unified Teachers’ Association leaders for withholding bargaining information and says union leaders spiked a proposal that would have required its members to get training to instruct students with limited English abilities.

Teacher contracts expired in July. The parties declared an impasse last month and are awaiting a meeting with a state mediator in November, Ceres Unified Superintendent Walt Hanline said.

Hanline said the association is negotiating in bad faith.

“This is a time we should be celebrating,” Hanline said, referring to the district’s unveiling of a new high school and two elementary schools this fall. “But we have a union leadership that is into demeaning and undermining all the work we have done.”

Doug Watchous, the union’s lead negotiator, called the charges an attempt to “be confrontational, to divide the teachers from a good working relationship with the district.”

The association has filed 17 grievances against the district this school year. It has also complained about Hanline’s leadership since last spring, when 328 of 520 teachers said they had no confidence in the superintendent.

Tags: education, Ceres

Tags: The Home Front by admin
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• Understanding How Soft Boxes Work
  A must read for every photographer looking to break into the field, Understanding How Soft Boxes Work teaches the in’s and out’s of using a softbox in photography.
  (tags: photography howto photo reference photos video)

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• HOW TO: Ubuntu Linux for Novices
  A great howto for people just getting started with Ubuntu Linux.
  (tags: ubuntu linux tutorial howto computer Debian home opensource tutorials article)

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In an effort to better understand the women, scientists have begun studying the womans brain during PMS and her Period.

Nature.com: “Help may soon be on its way for women who live with the pain of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and for those who live with them. Researchers have begun to investigate what happens in the brain as a woman’s hormones surge before her period.

So far, they say, the results tentatively indicate that a boost in brain activity in an emotional centre of the brain might help to keep some women more emotionally stable, even as their hormones go on a roller-coaster ride.

Despite huge amounts of interest in PMS and the drugs that might combat it, surprisingly little research has looked at how the brain behaves during this turbulent time, says David Silbersweig, a neurologist at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College in New York City. He notes that among women of reproductive age, roughly 75% report mood swings or physical discomfort during their premenstrual phase.

Silbersweig and his colleagues recruited 12 women who experience consistently steady moods during their cycle, to create a baseline for future studies of women with huge mood swings. The researchers conducted tests and brain scans twice during the subjects’ monthly cycles: once during the premenstrual phase and again about ten days later.”

Tags: science, women

Tags: Science and Technology by admin
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There was a very interesting article this morning over at eWeek about Sun Microsystems support for AJAX technologies. Sun is seeking to build into a studio suite a set of core AJAX components that you’ll be able to use over and over to simplify the time it takes to go from the drawing board to real world applications.

eWeek: “Looking to enrich user experiences with Web applications, vendors are increasingly turning to Asynchronous JavaScript and XML.

Sun Microsystems Inc. is promoting an AJAX-supporting component model around its upcoming Java Studio Creator tool with hopes the model can succeed the way the component model Microsoft Corp. fostered around its popular Visual Basic development environment did, said Graham Hamilton, a Sun fellow and vice president of Sun’s Java Platform Group, in Santa Clara, Calif.

Sun has touted Java Studio Creator, formerly known as Project Rave, as a Visual Basic-like tool for simplifying Java development.

AJAX is the name coined for a set of technologies that enable developers to build Web applications that are more rich and interactive, like desktop applications. AJAX development is among the hottest developer technologies around, based on growing vendor support for the platform and developer acceptance.

“The intent is to build components and create a catalog of them,” Hamilton said. “We think there are 10 to 20 common AJAX components you’re going to see” that Sun will likely build and then promote”

Tags: ajax, developer, development, programming, javascript, java, software, Sun

Tags: In the News by admin
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• Knoppmyth
  A Knoppix install of Myth TV Linux PVR.
  (tags: cool Debian hacks diy howto Install Linux media opensource software TV video knoppix mythtv pvr)

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Mercury News: “Personnel from California make up the highest numbers of those killed, 10.6 percent, according to statistics drawn from Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, a Web site that compiles data on U.S. and allied casualties from Pentagon press releases and news reports.”

Tags: California

Tags: In the News by admin
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