I’m a little confused by Apples decision to release their new ‘education only’ computer, the eMac; isn’t the iMac supposed to be the home-user / education machine ? It seems as though Apple have realised that the iMac is too expensive for schools to buy in bulk, especially since they added $100 to the price tag. Even more confusing is the inclusion of the 17 CRT display; I thought Apple were dropping the good old Cathode Ray Tube in favour of LCD technology. Furthermore, the eMac now has a larger monitor than the iMac, which indicates that there may be a new 17inch iMac on the way. Overall, a backward step I think.

There’s some interesting content in this weeks Digital Web Magazine, including a feature on accessible web design, a tutorial on Scalable Vector Graphics and an interview with Adam Greenfield. For those Mac OS X users who like to watch windows minimize with the scale and genie effects – an activity closely related to appreciating a smooth CD drawer or the clunk of an expensive car door – there’s another scale effect Apple don’t tell us about. Opening a Terminal window and typing ‘defaults write com.apple.Dock mineffect suck’ will alter the effect so that windows appear to be sucked into the dock like a vacuum cleaner cranked to ‘Turbo’.

You can now read the rubbish I was spewing out when I took my first tentative steps into the world of blogging; I’ve republished an archive I forgot I had, September 2000.

Like most people, I have a shopping list of things I would like to buy if I had some spare cash; this consists mainly of electronic consumables [the iPod, the G4 Powerbook, the Digital IXUS etc], but there’s also non-digital items in there as well, the latest being this: The Big Briar Etherwave Theremin. Why? Well, after listening to ‘Theremin Noir’ by Rob Schwimmer, Uri Caine and Mark Feldman, you’d want one as well. Many of the tracks are rearrangements of Bernard Herrman’s score for Vertigo, with piano and violin accompaniment. I think the Theremin is widely considered to be a silly device which made eerie noises for early horror films, but this album demonstrates that it is actually a beautiful sounding instrument to be taken more seriously.

I was travelling nearby Huddersfield yesterday; I saw a motorcycle with sidecar, attached to which were two ladders. You don’t see that anywhere else.

Some nut thinks Apple are proponents of anti-Christian propaganda… ‘the new Macs are based on Darwinism!‘

You may notice the addition of the ‘RSS feed’ on the right-hand column. Thanks to Reid for pointing me in the direction of this tutorial on parsing XML with PHP. A list of RSS feeds can be found at moreover.com.

Apparently, it is St. George’s day today…

Just listening to a promo copy of the Cinematic Orchestra’s forthcoming album ‘Everyday’ that I picked up this afternoon. It’s good to see that J Swinscoe and co. haven’t run out of ideas since the ‘Motion’ and ‘Remixes’ albums. The first track features Fontella Bass who sang with The Art Ensemble of Chicago on the ‘Les Stances a Sophie’ album. Here’s a Quicktime [800k].

It’s about time…One metafilter poster sums the relaunch up perfectly: ‘… it’s a usability nightmare and the text is too small.. i’ve always hated design sites like these. I’m really glad to see them back.‘I was having problems viewing the new k10k design on my 15inch [old] iMac monitor, until I found the customise button, which allows you to toggle between 3 viewing modes. Neat.

‘I decided to launch a happening on the web, consisting in a poetry advertisement campaign on Google AdWords . I opened an account for $5 and began to buy some keywords. For each keyword you can write a little ad and, instead of the usual ad, I decided to write little “poems”, non-sensical or funny or a bit provocative.’ – The Google AdWords Happening

Further evidence that weblogs and weblog related projects are having a massive impact on the web: doing a Google search for ‘God’ returns PHP-Nuke as the top result. PHP Nuke is a series of PHP scripts you can use to easily create your own weblog content management system. [via Microcontent News]

A page devoted to the Lipogram: a piece of writing that omits one or more letters of the alphabet.

There was a programme on TV at the weekend about the making of the new Star Wars film. Everyone knows that the recent Star Wars films have mostly been filmed in front of a blue screen, but it never really occured to me how dull it must be for the actors involved; there is no need for extravagent soundstages costing millions of dollars; no need to fly the cast out to exotic locations. I wonder if the wooden performances in Episode 1 have something to do with the overall lack of inspiration the actors have from the blue walls around them; no matter how hard they try and pretend they’re high up above Coruscant, they can’t escape the monotony of the their real surroundings. Of course, for the special effects artists, it’s a dream come true; they get to muck around with expensive compositing equipment all day. The making of The Lord of The Rings trilogy was a different matter; the actors were clearly spurred on by their surroundings of the New Zealand countryside and the fact that they had a unique and rewarding experience while making the film impacts on the viewer while watching it. I think Lucas has much to re-learn about film-making; that actors aren’t digital characters like Jar Jar Binks, they’re human beings who can’t simply be inspired by multi-million dollar cheques.

A film I saw at the weekend which didn’t use any blue screen trickery at all was Y To Mamá También which I really enjoyed. I might write a review later.

I’ve decided to start posting all of my geeky OS X entries to Phil’s excellent [and very green] new community blog dedicated to the new OS. This is to spare those non-OS X users amongst you of entries that you’re probably not very interested in. On the other hand, if you do use OS X, be sure head over there and contribute yourself.

I bought Darren Aronofsky’s film π as part of an impulse ‘2 for 1’ purchase at Virgin yesterday. There are some films you can buy on DVD where you feel secure in the knowledge that the film is good enough to own, that you can watch it repeatedly and still get something out if it; well π isn’t one of them. It’s certainly an interesting film, and the visuals are striking, but I’m not sure it’s worth buying.

Music, emotion and the trouble with perfect gestures – Adam Greenfield on electronic music.

Casio have launched the Exilim, another miniature digital camera to go alongside the ranks of the L’espion. This one seems a bit more advanced though, features include an mp3 player and sound recording capability. [via t-melt]

You would have to be both filthy rich and mad to want to spend your life on a floating apartment block ridiculously called The World. Being on a cruise is bad enough, but imagine being stuck on a ship with annoying wealthy people as they bicker over who is richer than who. It wouldn’t surprise me if the ship had it’s own small network of roads on which people cruise around in their Ferraris or Porches; the car being perhaps the most powerful symbol of status. I just feel sorry for the local residents of the various ports around the world who will be forced to be graced with the presence of such sickening opulence.

Over the Easter period, we decided to get out of the city for a while, get some fresh air into our lungs and escape the noise and bustle of Newcastle. We didn’t have to go far; a one hour drive north and a 20 minute boat trip took us to the Farne Islands; an archipelago just off the coast of Northumbria, England. The Farne Islands are where the birds live, millions of them: puffins, cormorants, guillemots and eider ducks; it was nice to be in a place where species other than human beings rule the environment. The Farne islands, like much of the area are steeped in history and folklore; the inner-most island – suitably entitled ‘Inner Farne’ – is where St Cuthbert used to live life as a hermit after being the Prior of Lindisfarne. We saw the descendents of the seals and birds that were his only company on the islands. A mile outward from Inner Farne is Longstone Island, this is where Grace Darling, the daughter of the Lighthouse keeper, famously rescued people from the stricken ship Forfarshire aground on Big Harcar rock. It was easy to imagine what it must have been like back then as the place hasn’t changed in the 165 years since the event. So, if you’re in the north-east, a trip to the Farne Islands is definitely worth while.

The latest build of the OS X web browser Chimera – now simply called ‘Navigator’ – is available to download. It’s still far from being a finished product but the main change from previous versions is that it now supports Quartz rendering.

I’m honoured to be this weeks guest curator at mirrorproject.com.

Will a computer pass the Turing test by 2029? Of course it will.

I’m back after an extended Easter break. Reports later.