Monthly Archive for April, 2008

Adding Flickr to WordPress 2.5’s Media Bar

I’m a big fan of the new WordPress admin interface, especially the new media buttons that lets you quickly add photos, videos, and audio to your posts.

wp-media-flickr 1But what if you use Flickr for your photos? Well, there is a great plugin called WordPress Media Flickr, written by yu-ji. It adds a little Flickr media button, and makes adding a photo from your Flickr photostream a piece of cake.

His site is in Japanese, but he has a great screencast showing the plugin at work.

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April 28, 2008 » Tags: , , , . » 2 Comments

McCain’s Optimum Look

Can a typeface truly represent a presidential candidate? Yesterday on the Times’ Campaign Stops blog, Steven Heller invited several designers and critics to comment on John McCain’s use of Optima for campaign collateral.

Is it dated? Classic? Does it convey strength? Or, quirkiness? The replies run the gamut; many of them funny or tongue-in-cheek. Michael Beirut notes the font’s resemblance to the one used to carve the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and Matthew Carter muses about how the typeface will hold up with the addition of a running mate this summer. But, my favorite judgement comes at the end, from Rudy VanderLans:

What does Optima say about Senator McCain? Nothing. It probably says more about the designer than anything else. Who, except designers, would judge a candidate by the typeface?

Oh, and earlier this month, Heller did a similar discussion with branding expert Brian Collins, on Obama’s Gotham-heavy design scheme.

April 22, 2008 » Tags: , , , , . » 0 Comments

Google Earth in 3D

Google Earth now has 3D-buildings, and it’s really fun to play with. Here is the Times Building, where I work:

Times Building

A 3D rendering of the New York Times Building in Midtown, as shown in Google Earth.

If you have Google Earth installed, see it for yourself. Or, try landing on the deck of the Golden Gate Bridge, (just zoom in).

There seems to be data for a lot of cities, including my home town of Buffalo, and former home of Boston.

April 17, 2008 » Tags: , , , , , . » 0 Comments

Pukka: Simple. Delicious.

Despite recent criticism, I use and love del.icio.us almost every day. Frequently, I’ll quickly bookmark a page that I want write a longer post about later, when I have the time. (A little shortcut tool helps to streamline this.)

Pukka: Simple. Delicious.Del.icio.us provides a few ways to expedite the bookmarking process – there are extensions, buttons, and bookmarklets – but, I prefer Justin Miller’s Pukka, a native OS X app that greatly speeds up the posting of bookmarks.

With Pukka, you don’t have to wait for anything to load – just highlight some text on a page, and click its bookmarklet. Up pops the application with the URL and highlighted text already inserted. Type a few tags (auto-completes from existing tags), hit return, and you’re done. Pukka recedes to the background to do its thing, and you’re back in your browser, and on your way.

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April 8, 2008 » Tags: , , . » 0 Comments

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4

BSG-season04

A lot of geeks are going to be parked in front of the TV tonight, (even more than usual on a Friday night), for the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. Go ahead and laugh, but over the course of its 3-plus seasons, BSG has become one of the more culturally important shows on TV:

…Battlestar Galactica is one of the more beguiling series on television, an action-adventure drama that travels through time and space to explore morality, politics and metaphysics.

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April 4, 2008 » Tags: . » 0 Comments