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The personal web log of Mike Lee, a web information architect living and working "I surf as much as I eat." curiousLee in...   Hiptop Nation Technorati GeoURL Blogstreet Daypop Stats Photo Friday Mirror Project Google Images The City Paper UMBC TechPort email me past monthly... 2000: 10.11.12 2001: 01.02.03.04.05.06 07.08. 09.10.11.12 2002: 01.02.03.04.05.06 07.08.09.10.11.12 2003: 01.02.03.04.05.06
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Friday, February 28, 2003
Family photos courtesy Audrey
 In a fit of server-side PHP programming and hardware hacking, brother-in-law Bill has created a network of digital picture frames based on the discontinued 3com Audrey internet appliance. The Audreys will pull images in random order from a web server which has a picture upload interface. Pictured here is how he's set up the Audrey at his mom and dad's house. The Audreys will be located in Cincinnati, Ohio; Greenville, Ohio; and at our house in Baltimore. We are picking ours up next weekend. You can see our family album slideshow as it is being presented from Bill's server or access the project's source code and documentation. Back in 2001, we bought a few when Tiger Direct was blowing them out for $89. The Audrey was 3com Corporation's attempt at marketing a Palm-compatible home internet appliance. The product was designed by IDEO, Razorfish, and 3com. After four months, they were pulled from the market. At $499, that was no surprise. The Audrey was notable in that it was one of the few appliances of its kind that didn't totally depend on a proprietary central server for updates. Its lightweight UNIX operating system was accessible, and the ethernet/broadband capability made it very desirable for those with hacking skills. The supply of units at Tiger Direct dried up quickly, but you can still buy them for a reasonable price on eBay or at Audrey Upgrade and Audrey Madness. The discounted Audreys were useful to use as digital picture frames because at the time were (and still are) very expensive. The updated Audreys have an improved web browser, updated Real Audio Player, AOL Instant Messenger, and streaming MP3 jukebox, in addition to the original built-in applications (e-mail, calendar, address book). There are alternatives to Audrey hacking for digital picture frames. You can consider some of the other internet appliances out there, and people have converted old Powerbooks, and PC laptops.
Thursday's great good place
I met up with Chris and Brenda & friends last night at Pasha's on the Upper West Side. Amidst chatter on Diane Sawyer's party, trips to Turkey, submissions to The Emmys, post-SuperBowl recovery, and briefly meeting the legendary ABC Director Roger Goodman, I found another wonderful Thursday, February 27, 2003
Restrained stack
Amy advised me to control my bookbuying urges so I wouldn't amass a collection in my hotel room or office cubicle here in New York. I've bought fewer books despite all the awesome bookstores in town, but the books have been thicker and bigger! There's already a 9" stack at the entrance to my cubicle in eBusiness. It's shown below cropped and roughly to scale:
I'm well on my way to a mini-monument of art books. Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chick sent me high
Is it the name of a fast food chicken place run by born-again Christians? The title of an erotic story set in the Himilayas? Actually, it is the pronounciation of the last name of Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi whose thinking on optimal experience flow is summarized in Chapter 2 of the new book Speed Up Your Site. If you haven't read any of his work before, this heavily-footnoted chapter is a good primer. Tuesday, February 25, 2003
A wad of wallpapers
I've been passing around work a collection of desktop wallpapers of images made mostly during my daily commute between Manhattan and Jersey City. Jechul Wee, a developer in eBusiness Technology, has graciously built a web gallery of the files on his site. Some of the images have appeared previously on this blog, but many are new. My personal favorite out of the batch is the sunset-illuminated Empire State Building framed by a Robert Adzema sundial sculpture. The sundial sits at the end of the Hyatt on the Hudson pier and is a great place to go to reflect on the craziness of life and work.
Coordinating a smart mob
Hiptop Nation member John Lester has just made available the paper he's presenting at The 10th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Integrating and Evolving a Mob: The Growth of a Smart Mob into a Wireless Community of Practice recounts the events and learnings of Team Raven, the winners of last October's Hiptop Nation Halloween Photo-Scavenger Hunt. John concludes that ad hoc mobile communities of practice tasked with accomplishing a complex goal can be coordinated successfully with communal blogs and wireless devices.
Afternoon tea and think
My wife Amy and co-worker Beth have organized an afternoon panel discussion on March 4th entitled Tyranny of Tiny Type: Online Design for Adults Over 50. The forum features an all-star lineup of thinkers from The MIT Media Lab, PEW Internet Project, National Cancer Institute, Fidelity Investments, Redish & Associates, and of course AARP. Best of all, the event at AARP Headquarters in DC is free, and you can register online. Be sure to visit the home page of the Older Wired Wiser Initiative for more resources and news on future events. Monday, February 24, 2003
Librarians get lucky
The always excellent memepool passes along McSweeney's list of Library Science Terms that Sound Dirty and The LIS News Librarian Pickup Lines. I like one of the pickup lines submitted by an LIS News reader from Librarianism: "You're someone I could really blog about." Saturday, February 22, 2003
Hazy watery light
 A foggy night in Charles Village, Baltimore shows several forms of water: mist, liquid, snow and ice. We've had too much of all lately. Friday, February 21, 2003
Sticker idea
Love it: Adam suggests I put a bullet hole sticker over the dent that's on the top of my PowerBook G4. That actually might make some of the nearby PC fanatics happy. Thursday, February 20, 2003
A war on code
Friend Brian e-mailed about a new article which takes a behind-the-scenes look at how 10,000 developers created and managed the 50 million lines to produce Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Regardless of your OS allegiances, this is a fascinating look at what is quite possibly one of the largest software development efforts ever attempted.
Facing type
At the last IA Salon in Brooklyn, James gushed about, and passed around About Face: Reviving the Rules of Typography, a new book by David Jury. The book revisits time-tested rules of typography, but in the context of the digital age. As someone who in college had the privilege of hand-composing lead type while having the aesthetics of type gently pounded into me, I'm appalled at how little new media designers know about the art. Some are even downright hostile to traditional methods. If you haven't had any training in typography, and have the inclination to learn more, I highly recommend this book.
Sidekick advances
Not only is the T-mobile Sidekick free right now after rebates, but the Software Development Kit (SDK) is about to be released. The arrival of the SDK will also mean a major software update will be pushed out to all the users over the wireless network. Hmmm, free wireless device with a decent user base plus developers chomping at the bit to create apps. This is the calm before a storm. Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Sizing up the new Apple laptops
Some lucky Apple fans have gotten their hands on untethered 12 & 17" PowerBooks simultaneously, and have posted a photo gallery for the rest of us. I also got an update yesterday from Tekserve on repairing the dent in the lid of my PowerBook G4. They now say that the top piece with the Apple logo is not a standard Apple service part, and to get the piece, I would have to have the whole screen replaced. Double "doh!" Well, now I'll have to poke around to see if I can find a repair shop that has a PowerBook that can be canibalized for parts. Monday, February 17, 2003
Simply snow
   I love how a blanket of thick snow reduces the eye-level urban environment to an iconic simplicity. Street signs, fire hydrants, newspaper boxes, parking meters, and rear view mirrors of cars protrude innocently from curved expanses of white. The complex forms of vehicles and busy patterns of sidewalks and streets are temporarily transformed into life-size kid toys minus the primary colors. This knee-deep wonderland wants you to explore it slowly, thoughtfully. You're reminded of the essentials of life. Update 5:00pm: Two guys just came by and shoveled our porch, front steps, and walkway for $20. Our aging backs say, "money well spent!" I'm definitely staying in Baltimore tonight and tomorrow. The only way I can get to Penn Station here in Baltimore is to hike 40 minutes on foot down Charles Street carrying a backpack. Then I can wait for a delayed train to take me to a freshly snowed under Manhattan. Not gonna do it. New photo galleries by James and Michael confirm New York City got the same mess as Baltimore and Washington. Update 11:30pm: Snow flurries here in Baltimore ... Victor's snow photos from around Central Park are up, and New Yorkled has updated their snow photo gallery (man, South Street Seaport looks trashed!). Back here in Baltimore, John has a close-up of the sad collapse of The B&O Railroad Museum Roundhouse roof, and Paulo surveys the Inner Harbor. This shot looks like it came from the Shackelton Expedition. Update Tuesday evening: I can't get enough of snow photos: Dave has another batch up of our Baltimore 'hood; Bill covers the Canton area by the harbor; Thomas blogs the blizzard from Bethesda; and I slog back to Wall Street and post some Sidekick photos of nighttime cleanup ops. Sunday, February 16, 2003
The perfect (snow) storm ...
 A Maryland CHART System weather station camera image. ... is what one local TV viewer is calling this convergence of moisture from the west and east on our frigid cold air. We've already got nine inches of snow on the ground here in the Charles Village neighborhood in Baltimore. The snow is piling up at a rate of 2-3 inches per hour and is supposed to continue into tomorrow morning with the peak of the storm yet to arrive. The total dump could be up to two feet. There's even thunder and lightning. The non-stop extended weather coverage on TV is reporting on the shutdown of Metrobusses, Greyhound Busses, BWI Airport and cancellations everywhere. This will be a good day to catch up on some reading and blog posts. I should have some photos later tonight if we venture out. Update 12:30pm: With drift blowing off the roof of our house, we've got 20 inches of snow on our second floor front porch. Update 8:30pm: Not only is the snow a beautiful thing to watch from inside a candlelit house, it's a treat for me to be home from all the travel and also not running errands here in Baltimore. I just haven't felt the urge to go out and shoot, so here are lots of nice photos of the snow posted by local blogging friends: Jenny, Dave, Jessica, Bill, John, Keith, Beth, Thomas, Geren, and Marc. I'm also checking the live web cam of Times Square to get a sense of what's on the ground in Manhattan. I'm not looking forward to clawing my way back to New York tomorrow night.  Update 9:30pm: Definitely a spike in Internet traffic from the snowbound on the east coast. This is the MAE EAST switch stats page graph for the past week. Outbound traffic is the thin blue line above the solid green. Today is the Sunday entry at left, and last Sunday is at right.  Update 11:00pm: Revisiting the CHART cam at I-97 at MD 100 to close the day. Icy desolation. They just said on the news that the storm is costing Baltimore $17,000 an hour. Maybe they'll make some of that back on the $1,000 fines from stray cars on the roads. James in Brooklyn (see his cool site maps too) says he's hearing a forecast of up to 24 inches as The Big Storm moves into New York City tomorrow. It's very likely I will work from Baltimore on Tuesday. The main things on my plate for AIG this week are helping to finish a site vision/business case document and collaborating on a site directory interface with one of our lead developers who is actually working from Barcelona, Spain. All doable via Internet and phone. Thursday, February 13, 2003
Radar alert
 Friend Brian sent me what he called an "ominous" image from The Weather Underground's NEXRAD radar of the DC area. It's obviously a glitch in the rendering of the radar data, but what a freaky coincidence that DC is surrounded by the color orange. Sunday, February 09, 2003
Wireless @ Kiss
Acting on a tip from Patrick, I'm posting from The Kiss Café, the only coffeehouse in Baltimore that's currently offiering free wireless connectivity. My PowerBook instantly picked up a strong open signal from the dining room, and now I'm on a comfy couch by the fireplace. Kiss is located in what was the Donna's Coffee Bar in The American Can Company Building in the Canton area of the Baltimore waterfront. I'm having flashbacks to 1999-2000 when e.magination's offices were located on the third floor above this coffeehouse. Amy and Kate are back from Nouveau now and tell me if I want a ride home, I have to stop typing now.
 Update: I wanted to add that the café has a balcony with pool tables too, and contrary to the Sunspot listing linked above, the bookstore is gone. Also, on our way out to the car, Amy pointed out the black ribbon on NASA logo sign in front of the Emerging Technology Center. NASA Goddard's Technology Commercialization Office is in the building.
Friday, February 07, 2003
Oy, the blogging humanity
I survived the week and am back in Baltimore. I set a new record going out four out of my five nights in New York this week. And after hearing David's excellent recommendations on Manhattan comedy clubs tonight at The Big Apple Blogger Bash 2003 (BABB), I'm set to max out a week of weeknights soon. David's blog is also chock full of book and restaurant reviews. Before I had to leave to hop on the Acela back to Baltimore, I met these great people whose blogs I have to visit/revisit:
I waved at Paul Frankenstein, who did the BABB logo, and Elizabeth Spiers, editor of Gawker—both of whom I met last night at The Christopher Hitchens Drinking Club. Sidekick posts and photos from tonight and last night are on Hiptop Nation. Update: Paul has posted photos from BABB. Wednesday, February 05, 2003
War walking
 I photographed a group of about a hundred chanting war protesters marching east on 42nd Street past The New York Public Library at around 6:45pm.  Then I went around the corner and posted the protest photo via WiFi (and cold hands) from Bryant Park.  Waiting for dinner a block away from the park at Simply Pasta, I checked the park post with my Sidekick and created another layer of mobile context with my camera.  Back at my hotel in the financial district, I completed the mobile pullback while watching Letterman. Sunday, February 02, 2003
Remembering at the mother of all places to remember
I'm back in Manhattan. On a walk tonight to pick up some juice for the morning, I gave Columbia crew photos to the security guard inside the southeast gate at Ground Zero, a ConEd worker in front of St. Paul's Churchyard on Broadway, and the counter clerk at the N&N Gourmet on Liberty Street. They all understood. Saturday, February 01, 2003
They touched the face of god
 A space sunrise as seen from the crew cabin of the Columbia on January 22, 2003. The poem High Flight was referenced by Ronald Reagan in his speech after The Challenger Disaster, and it will no doubt make the rounds again. I feel the need to include it here: High Flight
Going to need these...
NASA Web Site Now I worry about the crew on the Space Station. Apparently they are getting regular supply ships from Russia, so they should be OK for a while. The Space Shuttle fleet will surely be grounded for a while. 1pm Update: Dave Winer is blogging coverage of the disaster in real-time. Dave also points to Al Tomkins' excellent coverage on his Shuttle Links and Background page at Poynter.org. A few clicks from Dave's site, I found this weather radar animation of the trail left from the fireball and breakup of the spacecraft over Texas. 3:30pm: Waiting for the NASA technical briefing to come on, I'm reading via Robot Wisdom an incredibly prescient and spooky newsgroup discussion thread from last week about what would cause another Challenger-like Shuttle disaster.
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