Lynda Sez

Not much to write about since my return to work post-vacation, until today. Early this afternoon, my favourite Mac, my baby Mac, the 12-inch Powerbook called Agnes, had a fatal hard drive failure. I am stricken. Not because I lost data — everything important is backed up redundantly — but because it was really a [...]

In case you were wondering, and even if you weren’t wondering, what possible use virtual worlds could be, consider how a few people at NASA are looking at it: NASA’s Colab Second Life Mission is just one of many educational and scientific efforts exploring the possibilities.

I’m taking time off from work this week to go to Texas for a usability conference. I know that doesn’t sound too riveting for some, but I am pretty pumped about it. User experience design is a major part of what I do for clients and I am looking forward to an infusion of info [...]

I’ve been agonizing lately over which conferences to go to this spring, comparing speakers, venues and fees, to get the best value for my money and time. I have narrowed it down to two in the U.S. and must make up my mind in the next few days to get the early-bird rate. But wait! [...]

Really enjoyed last night’s DemoCamp at a pub in Toronto’s Liberty Village area. There were three sites demonstrated, in various stages of beta, plus a nifty glove-operated 3D visualization of a site architecture. The final speaker was Damian Conway talking about the glories of Perl 6. Yes, most of the latter was wasted on me, [...]

Today started out only moderately unproductively, but went rapidly into the dead-loss zone of software hell when a program I had PAID FOR (I hear your derisive laughter, Bob) decided it was really a trial version that had expired. I had been meaning to upgrade it anyway, so I decided to throw even more money [...]

I feel pretty lucky when it comes to easy access to the information I need, but today I must rant about something. What’s with the prevalence of grey text on websites? Those graphic designers who think it has elegance, sexiness, style, or god-knows-what going for it have won over more than a few site producers [...]

Yay! CBC, the radio mothership, announced today a delicious lineup of podcasts to keep my iPod humming with words. (Is that a mixed metaphor?) I have been a subscriber to the Quirks and Quarks podcast for months, but now I can add several shows or parts of shows I like but often don’t hear, such [...]

I’ve spent the past two days at the STC Toronto spring conference and I’m very glad I chose this one to spend time and money on. It had a lot of attractions from the start (location: Mississauga, just minutes from home; free parking, gotta love that!), not least of which was its theme, kind of [...]