I figure I’ll put up my list of Best Of 2003, since everyone else seem to be doing it. Here are my personal picks:
Everywhere I go, I read about Atom 0.3 and how it’s going to replace RSS. I was confused as to what Atom truly is, and what its purpose is, but I think I got the gist of it. From what I understand, the creator of RSS decided that there’s nothing left to be added after the 2.0 specifications, but a lot of people strongly disagreed. These people felt that there was a lot to be done with syndication, to make it easier, more robust, and ready for the future. A group of people decided to get together and created Atom to replace RSS. A lot of people are excited about it, even though it’s still in an early form, but apparently it’s the real deal.
I went ahead and added an Atom template to Good Blimey, which can be found at http://www.goodblimey.com/atom.xml. After reading all this, are you still confused about what exactly syndication is? Look at it this way, it lets you browse the web in a more streamlined manner, without a browser, but with a software called a news aggregator. If you want even more details on syndication, read up on this page. So what news aggregator supports Atom? Right now, not many, but supposedly Bottom Feeder works (Windows) and possibly clevercactus, and if you use GNOME on Linux, you can check out Straw with this patch to enable support.
For even further information on Atom, check the official spec page, this Wiki on Atom, and this excellent article if all else fails.
Blogstakes are having a giveaway where you can win a Slappa Hardbody CD case, and I could certainly use one right about now. If you enter to win it, you increase my chance of winning it as well (2 people win the prize, the winner, and the blog that referred you). Check it out here.
There’s also the The Onion Platinum Prestige Encore Gold Premium Collector’s Collection, which is a collection of books from the hilarious site, The Onion. Not really up my alley, but would make for a great coffee table piece. Check it out here.
There’s a Blog Design Showcase over at Cre8d Design, with some excellent blogs to check out. There were numerous ones I’ve never visited before, and some were old friends, but all of them are full of fantastic design skills and intriguing personal lives.
I always wondered where I stood in the design circle, but I feel like I’m not fully developed as a designer personally. There’s so much to learn, and I feel like I’m just at the bottom of the mountain, looking to climb to the top. It’s nice to see a showcase of blogs with excellent designs, just to get some ideas, and gather the capabilities of what web standards and CSS will provide for the future of the web.
Something that has been at the back of our minds for years; do the things you own intentionally break down after a set period of time? Did that DVD player you just bought have a destruction time tuned to December 24th, 2004? Are certain parts of your car designed to tear down after a couple of years? Do manufacturers deliberately create products to not last long, so you’d have to buy a new one, thus increasing profits? This is called planned obsolescence, and it’s very real.
There’s a page I stumbled upon, via SimpleBits, that delves into the matter, and it’s interesting reading. Here’s a sample to get you started:
“In an editorial in Design News toward the end of the fifties, E. S. Safford asked whether engineers should resist the philosophy of planned obsolescence if their management commissioned a ’short-term product’ and argued that they should not: “Planned existence spans of product may well become one of the greatest economic boosts to the American economy since the origination of time payments.” What was required, he argued was “a new look at old engineering ethics”. Instead of trying to build the best, the lightest, the fastest and the cheapest, engineers should be able to apply their skills to building shoddy articles that would fall apart after a short amount of time, all in the interests of the market.”
Knowledge is power.
I’ve discovered an invaluable service while surfing the net today. Have you ever been asked for your email address, just so a company can send you a password, or even just to see if you got an email address? And shortly after you enter it, you’re deluged with spam? So have I, and frankly it is getting really tiresome. Fortunately, there’s Mailinator.
Now when you want to avoid the spam, yet still get the password, or just need someone to send you a quick email that you can check anywhere, just make up an email. Such as fubar@mailinator.com or anything you want. The moment Mailinator gets the email, the account is automatically created, and you can check it right away. No signup, no hassle, no questions asked. It’s truly remarkable, and well worth a bookmark. Just note that you can’t reply to email, send email, nor delete them through Mailinator.
Continuing to fight the Spam Man.
Have you ever had a nightmare where you have a crush on all the wrong kinds of women? Yea, I just woke up from one such nightmare. I think this coming New Year’s, I’m going to have to restructure myself, because clearly I’m doing something wrong with my life. Instead of choosing the path on the right like I always do, I’ll choose the left. Instead of saying yes, I’m going to say no. Instead of stepping forward, I’m going to step to the side and then step forward twice and then backwards once. I also need to mold my opinions into a theme, so I know where my thoughts lie on the matter, instead of lying to myself and being confused by those lies and then figure out the truth.
Perhaps this is what a mid-life crisis feels like. I hope 2004 is more interesting than 2003.
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