I just stumbled across a really cool, free stock photo community called istockphoto.com. You can contribute photos, or download and use them, royalty-free. I’m procrastinating, since I’m supposed to be finishing up Bilingual Education in Massachusetts, which is a great read, except that I have to be tested on it tomorrow.
Monthly Archive for June, 2001
Salon is doing a little bit of self-promotion on their cover story today about media consolidation online. The article focuses on the troubles independent publishers are facing in the shadows of AOL, Microsoft, Disney & Viacom. But there was an interesting passage concerning Microsoft’s Windows XP:
As Microsoft readies the next mass-market version of Windows XP, provocative tidbits of its “integrations” have surfaced. The most outrageous gambit is a little innovation known as Smart Tags — a tool that automatically adds new links to documents. You don’t choose where on the Internet these links point to; Microsoft does.
In Windows XP, Microsoft intends to extend Smart Tags to the Web browser, usurping the heretofore-unchallenged right of a Web site operator to decide where links point.
Smart tags scare me.
I watched some of the concert footage of The Sigur Rós, an icelandic band that has been making some noise in the US recently – Gillian Anderson is a fan, aparently… but they’re incredible.
I spend uncounted amounts of my time, mostly when I’m walking or driving around town, looking at and thinking about car designs… admittedly, when I’m not behind my computer, you’ve got to look for other things to obsess about – that’s the problem with being a designer.
Slate has an interesting article about the state of car design (I might say, it’s quite cynical).
I’ve always liked Volkswagen styling, for its simplicity and ‘sporty-ness’. I don’t like the new Passat though (2001). I think they’re trying to look more like the new Volvos… which attempt, (at least the big ones), something like an Oldsmobile for old people with taste. The huge fins in the back – what’s with that? Looks like there should be rockets coming out the back.
To continue with the Harry Potter books thread, of which i have read none, the producers of the 700 club have posted an article titled What’s A Christian To Do With Harry Potter?, with such insightful analysis as:
If you’ve ever had a conversation with another believer (my emphasis) about Harry Potter, you’ve probably discovered that it can be a very divisive issue. And division in the body of Christ can be as dangerous as any affect Harry could have on children.
I guess the religious right is preaching tolerance in the 21st century. But, looks to me like Pat Robertson has other problems to worry about.
