Maggie On The Beach

We went to Half Moon Bay again today and decided to let Maggie go ahead and chase the giant dogs like she always wants to do.It went fine but the thing is, people are not always into it. Whatevah.

The New Servers Have Arrived!

I can't believe Caterina published this photo before Macworld. Now they're really gonna be in trouble. Anyway, yeah, Flickr just had a major upgrade so if you think the service is too fast or whatnot this is why.

Secret Marketing Embedded in Jeopardy!

I've noticed the last few times that I watched Jeopardy! that some of the answers seem to be paid placements. For example, there was the "Seinfeld" cateogory when the Seinfeld DVD came out and there was a whole category of commercial drugs where the answers sounded like product pitches. "If you have high cholesterol, your doctor might talk to you about it." Ooh, I know this one Alex: "What is Lipitor!"

I heard other answers and questions that could easily have been sold too. Maybe Jeopardy! has always done this and I just never noticed? Or maybe I'm just getting old and jaded. Anywhoo, if you're watching the show and you hear Trebek say, "It's the fast, easy, and free way to create your blog." And someone buzzes in with, "What is Blogger?" then you can assume I got to the bottom things. Nice.

Liam 3068

Good-god, man! This is my desktop pattern right now because I am running 1001 (a Flickr client). I love this thing but sometimes it can be surprising.

The Boing Boing Show

Nowadays you can download software that lets you subscribe to audio content from the web. The stuff you want downloads to your computer and ends up in a folder in iTunes. Then, iTunes syncs with iPod and there you have it. My new TiVo can also play audio from iTunes—through a home network (I haven't set that up yet though). This means I can use the aforementioned technology with my TiVo to consume an emerging genre of audio content.

That's pretty cool but I'd rather it was even easier (for instance if I only needed iTunes and not the additional software that gets the content from the web for me). Also, I'd prefer video over audio, and I'd like to watch funny idependent stuff on my TiVo as well as scores of movie trailers. There has been some geekery that suggests video can syndicated in a similar fashion. Anywhoo, I wonder how long it will be until I'm watching The BoingBoing Show on my TiVo? That'd be nice.

Maggie Photo

Space Buffet

This may be the first reported case of Astronaut munchies: "Russian 'Salisbury' Salizhan Sharipov and American Leroy 'Chow-down' Chiao have been rationing their food for two weeks since space agency officials discovered they had eaten too much meat and milk from their reserves." Too much meat and milk? What happened to Tang and freeze-dried space nuggets?

By The Way

I'm still working on the design of my blog. I got sick of the way it looked and just hacked away one night. At some point, maybe this weekend, I'll get back into it and do up something proper.

My Deals

I need to figure out how to put all my deals in one deal so that this deal becomes my main deal. You know what I'm saying? Okay, maybe you don't speak deal-ese so I'll repaginate the scenario: I'm thinking of putting all my photos, posts, bookmarks, audioposts, and whatever else into one blog, namely, this one. That way much of my content is in one spot and its updated a lot. That might be good. Right now, I've got so many different outlets (some of them are private work stuff) that no one spot gets all the attention.

Dick Van Dyke My Fridge Is Broke

We threw away all of our perishables and bought some ice. Still waiting to find out what our fate is with regard to this fridge situation. Also, I just watched an episode of Columbo from 1974. Hey Dick Van Dyke, you are an ass. Don't take photographs while you are murdering your wife. What is this, amateur hour? Geez.

Cam Phone

My new cell phone has a low resolution camera built in and the pictures it takes seem like old fashioned polaroids. That's pretty cool but I'm not sure if I want the photos mixed in with the others I am saving to Flickr. Maybe tagging them will do the trick, we'll have to see.

Thinking Ahead

Cal Henderson, the Web Development Lead at the increasingly popular photo sharing site Flickr.com has registered the domain Flickrsucks.com in preparation for the inevitable backlash that happens when an exclusively hip underground geek playground becomes a household name. Now that's thinking ahead.

Perishables

Our fridge broke down last night. Today, the repair man came over and gave us some advice. "Don't buy any perishable food." He wasn't being sarcastic either. Nevertheless, I hope to get this situation resolved sooner rather than later.

New Cell Phone

Hey, I got a new cell phone today. It's got pictures! Well I mean, it will have pictures if I take them. I mean, it won't have them, I will have them—you will have them, actually. If I can just figure out a couple things. So yeah. How do you like that? I happen to like it just fine which is why I upgraded in the first place. Jeez, with all the questions. Relax yo-selves.

Various Sites

Today I had an onsite offsite from nine till noon. Then I had an offsite that was actually offsite and finished just in time to go back to work for an off-the-record party that was held onsite. There was an ice sculpture and free beer. Now I must retire for tomorrow is day two of the onsite offsite and I need to be on my game even if I'm a little off in general. Which I usually am. Do you see how I am right about that?

Wal-Mart and F-Bombs

End of Innocence: "The soft glow that's always surrounded her fades and her face becomes ashen. She begins to visibly adolesce." Jason Goldman dramatizes for us The Case of the Unclean Skeen—$74,500 in damages for discovering an f-bomb buried deep within the music section of Wal-Mart.

Printed Online?

My first book which deals with various aspects of the web as they relate to blogging is now available scanned-in at Google Print and I am linking to it from my blog. I'm also getting a little confused.

Film Movement

I like this idea: "See the latest releases regardless of where you live." Film Movement is a film-of-the-month club that provides new releases of independent and foreign films—you know, the stuff that only plays in Festivals or in New York or Los Angeles. Each month subscribers recieve an award-winning new release to own on DVD.

TPS Reports

Did you know that the PMM, in addition to the OKRS has to rough out the LOB for Q1-Q4? Well, they do.

Two Meals

I'm not counting lunch today because the bread was too chewy. So that means I really only ate twice (not counting the chips I ate in the car). Which means that I only need to post twice today according to my own advice. See how that works? That is why I am an expert folks. An expert I tell you. Plus, I updated my secret internal Google blog—and that was several paragraphs. So forget about it. I'm all set.

A Winning Quote

Start a Winning Blog (washingtonpost.com): "When a blogger adds new material, it's called a post. And good blogging demands frequent posting. Biz Stone, 30, Blogger senior specialist at Google (www.bizstone.com), recommends you 'post at least as much as you eat.' That's 'three times a day [with] some snacks,' he says." Note to self: Don't do newspaper interviews on an empty stomach.

Floating

When I was a kid my flying dreams started with running really fast and progressed into flying. Now when I fly in dreams I have a strange new technique. I fill my lungs with air and float—then I steer with my mind. It's tricky because if I think too much about it, I descend. Also, steering with your mind is challenging to say the least. Last night, the people in my dream mistook me for a ghost. Can't say that I blame them what with the floating and all. Plus, there were ghosts in the mansion so, it wasn't really that far-fetched a thought. Do you see how I am right about that? Good.

Various Writings

Here is a list of miscellaneous writings that I plan to update as I dig up my old stuff and republish it.

• How To Design A Book Cover
• How I Got My Name
• The Future of Air Freight
• Rocking Natick
• Gozilla vs. The Mighty Mattress Mite

Thank you kind sirs and ladies.

Bonus

I got a bonus at work today for a job well done. How do you like them chickens? So I'm celebrating by screwing around with the design of my web site. It felt old and crowded around here. Wait—why am I doing this right now? I'm out.

Blog, Save Us All!

The first use of the word blog may very well be this Superman comic book from 1959—back in the dinosaur days. In the adventure, Lois Lane and Clark Kent crash land on an island that evolution forgot and Lois somehow gets engaged to a caveman named Blog. (Found via Waxy who discovered this at Accordion Guy.)

Feats of Strength

The most interesting thing that happened at BloggerCon for Noah was when I did feats of strength in the parking lot during a break. Attention.xml and my superhero-like leap (mp3), those are two things Noah remembers. Oh yeah, and podcasting.

Old School

I asked Steve if he'd seen Tony's new book How To Blog—a self-published collection of his best blog posts, and he told me he prefers to read people's blogs on their web sites. Steve is old-school.

New And Noteworthy

Ev tells me that my book is on the "new and noteworthy" shelf at the front of Stacey's in downtown San Francisco. Nice!

Learning Blogger

Molly Holzschlag teamed up with Lynda.com to create Learning Blogger—a CD-ROM learning video exclusive to the Blogger application. I thought that was really cool so I contacted Molly and helped her promote it. Molly rocks.

A 'Hyperconnected' Peek

Amazon added an inside search of Who Let the Blogs Out?. Get your peek on!

Drunken Shoutouts

"The goal that drives my sweat and muscle, the only girl who's eyes still my soul, is the mastery of the art of leaving drunken phone messages." Enabler "Kenny Bania" is putting a web twist on drunken dialing this holiday season with Drunken Shoutouts. He's set up a free Audioblogger account and is giving out the number.

This is a bad idea—and that's what makes it good.

Desktop

I've got this fun application called 1001 running on my Mac. It makes screensavers and desktop patterns out of Flickr photos. Mine is set to show latest photos from everyone. Right now my desktop is these two ladies having a pillow fight (or something). Nice.

Blackspot Sneaker

Blackspot Sneaker: "Time to think consumer revolt. We confront Nike, and, with a quick judo-like move, slap it to the mat with the power of its own PR thrust. Can a maverick band of social marketers on a shoestring budget bring the empire to its knees? That's exactly what our Blackspot venture aims to do." —From the Kick-ass marketing strategy.

Virtual Bubble Wrap

I'm pretty sure I've posted about this before since its been around for years. Virtual Bubble Wrap. Man, now I gotta pop all those bubbles and I've got work to do.

Hurry!

Amazon: "Only 4 left in stock!" Who Let the Blogs Out? A Hyperconnected Peek at the World of Weblogs. Quick, order now! Or wait. Either way.

Wishing

Now that you can add a wishlist URL in your Blogger Profile the fun can truly begin. Here's my wishlist. Of items listed, "new bike" is big for me whereas I am on the fence about "sled" what with there being no snow out here and what all else. That's why I put down "A sled?"—the question mark indicating that I am really not so sure. Do you see how I am right about that? I believe you do kind sirs and ladies. I believe you do.

Blogger Hacks

Did you know that we have a growing collection of Blogger Hacks for you to try out? Well we do.

Three Things

Here's three things I did:

1. Upgraded to Flickr Pro
2. Ordered a Camera Phone (Motorola something)
   
3. Downloaded 1001

Nice.

Bu-luo-ge

$0.02: Word of the day: Blog: "I like how the word translates in Chinese. I've written it above so that those of you whose computers can't read Chinese will still be able to see it. If you pronounce the three characters fast, it sounds like saying 'blog' with a lot of chewing gum in your mouth. "

AOLer

AOLer.net - Your source for all things AOL. "Though I lack the personal relationship with those involved in the AOL hacks and tricks, I hope to still be able to find this information and bring it to you."

How To Design A Book Cover

by Biz Stone

Before my web career, I worked in books—designing covers and jackets. This is an essay I wrote years ago but its still good.

Sneaking a brilliantly visual example of lateral thinking and graphic excellence through the mine field of editors and sales committees is daunting. Designing book jackets is creatively fulfilling, but a dash of realism needs to be thrown in for good measure. Knowing your client, listening carefully, and tapping in to your own design sense will help a fantastic book cover make it to press.

Use Your E.S.P.

Listening carefully can mean the difference between a long, messy ordeal and an exciting vacation for the right side of your brain. If you already know your client, that's great. If they are a new client, try to find out what their tastes are so that when they say they want something "edgy and new" you're not thinking "Here's my chance to win a design award." while they're thinking "Can't wait to see that crazy glowing type!" A good way to get on the same page in terms of discussing aesthetic is to ask the client what covers are out right now that they like.

Be Like Columbo

Designing a book cover is like solving a mystery, gather all the clues you can. Ask for adjectives that they feel they want the cover to convey. Make sure the client is not giving you only his or her personal preference as this cover will most likely be chosen by a group. Request a copy of the publishing transmittal for the title, if they have a copy. This document is usually compiled by a joint committee of editors and sales force, it will help you understand what the publisher is hoping the cover will do, who the book is targeted towards, how many copies they are printing, etc. The more you dig up, the easier it will be to get a design approved that you, the client, and ultimately, the proud owner of the book can fall in love with.

Take what the client has given to you and temper it with your own feelings for what the project needs. Say the adjectives that the client gave you out loud, re-read the transmittal. How does this information translate to your design sense? The project is in your hands now, it's up to you to breath life into it and make it yours.

Get Into It

You may have some ideas right away. You may have none, but you should sit down and begin working, regardless. If you do have some ideas, it's best to get them out right away, sometimes an initial idea seems great. Then you see it. Don't be discouraged, bad ideas often beget good ones. Work yourself into a design zone, a visual stream of consciousness where you can't stop trying out different ideas one after the other, using the copy/past keyboard shortcuts like a lunatic. Try anything out at this point, do something that you know is stupid, it could lead to the most amazing idea of all time—go crazy, you're in the zone!

When you emerge from the primordial ooze of the design continuum, you will have multiple versions of the cover you are working on. Many versions are bunk, merely steps to a more finished idea. When you survey all the monsters you have created you will begin see at least three that you can pull from the wreckage and work more on.

Sweat the Details

Its all about details. Once you have a few covers that you see great potential for, you should start sweating the small stuff. Thoughts and choices that you make here are the magic. Close attention means making decisions about everything and really putting in the extra effort to create eloquence. Examine the kerning between every letter, look closely at how you've cropped images, double check to make sure an element wouldn't look better if it was two points to the left. Laboring over minutia, in a good way, really raises the bar and makes your work stand out.

Once you've labored and vexed, tweaked and fussed, and otherwise squeezed out every last drop from the creative sponge you call your mind, and you are convinced that to do any more would be destructive, you are ready for the show!

The Show

You'll have your favorite but you should show at least three. The comps should all be printed nicely in color, trimmed, and mounted—don't skimp here. If you are showing the comps in person, show the two that are not your favorite first, pointing out elements that could "potentially" be trouble areas and then show your favorite and explain why it is the best solution.

When the client hired you, they liked your work. When you met the first time about the project you listened carefully and discovered what this book cover needed. When you slaved away blissfully for hours in the design zone coming up with all kinds of crazy ideas, you were working your magic. It is now time for the client to review the three equally impressive covers you have presented. Make sure they take their time, offer to call them in a few days while they let them sink in.

The client will have to show your designs to others for feedback before they tell you which cover they like best. Be prepared to make some kind of alterations to the cover they decide they like most. They will probably have something that they feel should be done differently. Again, listen carefully here.

Close the Deal

At this point your beautiful cover could be trashed if you don't take this revision process as seriously as the original job. When you get back to your workstation, think about the change. Is it actually a good idea that enhances your vision? If it is, great. Or is it an appalling demand that makes you really mad?

Calm down, think of why they want the change. Come up with some solutions to the problem they saw—incl