Archive for October 2005

Today Palm has introduced Palm Z22 and Palm T|X. The Z22 is its small and cheap model that retails for $99. It has less features as it targets those who are late technology adopters and those who still use paper planners. The device weighs in at a light three ounces, the size as a deck of playing cards. Unlike its predecessor, the original Zire, this one is in color.

TX is the powerhouse of the two and appropriately named as Texas is a state that does everything big Technically, its name is T|X. Palm finally gets it right — this comes with wi-fi and Bluetooth instead of just Bluetooth. TX is unfortunately missing one thing, a built-in camera. I’d get the Treo 650, but the monthly charge for a service provider is $10 more than my Sidekick II’s service. Plus, I have another year left on it.

TX as 128MB of storage, more than all of Palm’s other devices except for the Tungsten T5. Its processor is 312MHz Intel, which is in the middle of its line. However, it’s the leader in color resolutions with the 320×480 color screen. TX doesn’t come with voice memo or a built-in keyboard.

Here are the TX and Z22 news releases.

W00t! The Sunday Times reports that Left-handed people are higher earners. OK… so there’s a footnote that this doesn’t apply to females. But hey! Lots of people think I’m a guy, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?

What great timing considering I’ve been on my own for over two months now with no safety net — just my own devices… the implant, the PDA… Sure makes up for the research that showed left-handed people have a lower life expectancy than righties. Well, actually, there is a lot of controversy in researchland over this stat. It could be true because we kill ourselves trying to use right-handed equipment.

I’m one of three lefties in a family of five. But so far, I’m 0 for 2 with my own kids. There’s hope in the youngest, but I don’t think it looks good that he’ll be a lefty even though he’s the only one that got my curls.

Word to el sponsoro:

Quickly Learn How to Be a Graphic Designer. A once complicated profession is now something you can do on a standard computer; even with no “artistic” ability.

Chevy would not want to sell its Nova with this name to Spanish-speaking people unless they want to promote “no go,” which is what Nova translates to. Who knew that @ has other translations considering it’s in all email addresses no matter what language you speak?

Sometimes we forget that @ wasn’t always known as part of an email address. Does ‘@’ stand for ‘pig’s tail’ or ‘strudel’? shares what the symbol means in other languages. So now I can refer to my mother’s excellent strudel as “@!!!!”

Get more translations of @ from herodios.

Second generation actor Alan Alda shows there’s more to him than being a celebrity. If you’re looking for a kiss ‘n tell kind of book, keep looking as you won’t find it here. Though for a brief moment, he does get a little “Hollywood-esque” and lists the women he has kissed in his career. Instead, the book takes readers on a trip through Alda’s life beginning with his childhood winding its way through M*A*S*H to his work on West Wing. M*A*S*H is covered in only a fraction of the book.

Alda writes about his relationship with his mother who had a mental illness, something unspoken of in the past. He shares stories of standing in the wings watching his father perform on stage and eventually sharing the spotlight with him. His life before M*A*S*H is hardly different from any actor struggling to succeed though his being Robert Alda’s progeny helped a little. However, his success is ultimately his own, not of his father’s.

He tells how he met his wife of over 45 years and what life was like for his family, which includes three daughters. Life has not always been cushy for the actor as he contracted polio, pinched pennies, came close to death a couple of times on stage and was hospitalized in Chile due to the blockage and strangulation of his intestines.

The book’s unusual title comes from what happened to his dog after he died and why he wouldn’t take a pet to a taxidermist again. He discusses how he works to improve his acting skills thereby demonstrating his love for his profession.

This is an actor who has a mind and uses it. He describes his obsession with systems and how he came up with one for betting on horses. His hosting Scientific American Frontiers is no shock after reading about his experience with logic class, connecting Greek comedies with burlesque, and speaking to legislators.

Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I’ve Learned is an honest and thought-provoking book that follows this actor’s life, during both good and bad times, and his intellectual pursuits. Anyone who reads this profound book without preconceived notions will learn a few things about life in general and not just about the actor’s life, which is uncharacteristic of a Hollywood autobiography. With humor and a warm-hearted writing style, Alda grabs readers from page one and easily carries them through the end.

Title: Never Have Your Dog Stuffed
Author: Alan Alda
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1400064090
Date: September 2005
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 240
Cover Price: USD: $24.95 Amazon: $15.98

While reviewing search engine results, I saw “copywriting music” and “copywriting songs.” Ahem. If these people found results with these terms, then the resource is not likely a reliable resource because that is not the right way to spell the word that means “granting exclusive rights” — that would be “copyrighting.” R-i-g-h-t vs. w-r-i-t-e.

And why “banana republic website wont load” led to my site, I don’t know. But I’m guessing the site was down due to server problems and it loads fine now.

Looking for help with “writing thank you notes?” The best thing you can do is speak from your heart and write at least four sentences. If someone gives you a gift card, write a sentence along the lines of “I love shopping at so ‘n so place” (if it’s for a specific place) or “I plan to get another so ‘n so as I love collecting them” “I plan to get thingamajig as it I’ll think of you whenever I use it.”

A quick link from our sponsor. Thank you! I love geeky toys!

Portable GPS handheld

Since Palm has announced it will use Windows Mobile in an upcoming Treo, I’ve been trying to figure out what is going to happen to PalmOS. I’ve been having problems with my Tungsten, but I am not about to give up on PalmOS as I prefer it to Windows Mobile (I have a Dell Axim, which I use to write my PC Magazine column). I’d like to replace the Tungsten, but is Palm going to come out with a newer version of its OS? I am not impressed with the devices that have come out since buying the Tungsten T3.

But I can’t see where Palm is going for the long-term. I don’t want to buy another PalmOS device until I know something more. It has not been that long since I bought the Dell Axim and yet I can’t upgrade its OS to Windows Mobile 5 (only the x50 can be upgraded and I have x30). I don’t want that to happen when buying the next PalmOS device.

BusinessWeek (free registration required) believes Palm is not likely to dump its own OS. Computing Unplugged has a long article sharing the history and speculates the future. I vote PalmOS to stay. The OS is very different from Windows Mobile and replacing it is like replacing apples with oranges instead of Granny Smiths with Galas.

In HTML and XHTML Introduction Part I, we covered HTML files, elements and tags, and document structure. The article explains how to set up a basic HTML page, open and view the page, and add structure to the page.

Part II takes a closer look at tags along with their attributes and values. The “invisible” covers line breaks, linking, comments, and spacing. Spacing has its quirks in a Web page. Simply pressing the space bar repeatedly doesn’t add more than one space unless you’re using a word processor.

It’s unbelievable how many mistakes I’ve made with my Web site over the years that I’d never make when advising someone else about her Web site. There’s something about working on your own stuff that somehow causes your IQ to slip by at least 30 points. Here are a couple I’ve caught.

*Logo centered instead of on the left. I know many sites have their logos in the center of the header, but putting it on the left out of the way is more effective.

*Missing link in the logo. How often do you click on the logo when you want to return to the home page? Yeah, me too and mine had no link. I think it did in the past, but somehow I forgot it in this current design. I added it to the main pages (not all of them).

*A long time ago, I used to have a menu item called, “meryl’s notes.” Er…. Even my mom didn’t know what that was and probably still doesn’t. When I went to other sites, I noticed this problem as I didn’t know the names of their blogs. So I changed that here.

*Main navigation on the right instead of the left. I picked this up from hanging around many talented designers’ sites. Designers loved putting their stuff on the right as it strayed from the norm. Well, if I want to make life easier for future clients, I need to move the navigation to the left.

*Using a div on a header item. I don’t know how this happened, but it did.

Embarrassing, eh? The navigation hasn’t moved yet. I’m waiting on a redesign before doing that. I almost converted it, but I was having problems making the layout look right in my blog and had no more time to try to fix it.

Jakob Nielsen announced his 2005 list of top ten Web design mistakes. I’ve been guilty of the link problem. It wasn’t that my links weren’t obvious, but the fact I made the a link, v link, and h link all the same color. I realized that I rely on other sites to use a different color for v link so I know which links I’ve visited and which I haven’t. So that was immediately and easily fixed with CSS.

About half of the WindowsDevCenter.com: Top Ten Word Annoyances annoy me. You can get more from the sample chapter and get more tips from Annoyances Central. If Word is the source of all your stress and problems, then maybe it’s worth getting the book, which has received excellent reviews. I haven’t checked this one myself.