amro, what was the magic search phrase that turned it up?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 12:21 PM on July 9, 2008

There was a long piece in the New York Times Magazine a few years ago about the making of the trailer for the movie Signs. It goes into a lot of the detail you're asking about.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 12:19 PM on July 2, 2008

Steven Johnson's The Ghost Map would seem to fit the bill, as would Dava Sobel's books Longitude and Galileo's Daughter.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 8:32 PM on June 29, 2008

You can find many sources of these kinds of summaries for business books, but I've never seen such a thing for other topics.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 7:57 AM on June 26, 2008

I think to some extent the answers to your questions depend on what you find interesting about UI design. How much programming do you want to do? Are you more interested in the visual aspects of interfaces or the behavioral aspects? What kinds of products do you imagine yourself working on?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 9:25 PM on June 25, 2008

Okay, now we're talking. You're looking for programs in "human-computer interaction" (HCI) or "interaction design". If you have a more technical bent, seek out the former -- they'll usually be run out of CS departments. If you're more into the creative aspects, seek out the latter, which will often be offered by design schools.

As for careers, the variety is rich and wide. You can work for a big company and nurture a single product through iteration... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 10:11 PM on June 25, 2008 marked best answer

Pack the bottle in your carry-on bag, not in your checked luggage. I travel to and from the United States several times a year with prescription medication, and I've never had an agent at a security checkpoint ask to see a bottle in my bag.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 10:57 AM on June 22, 2008

missmagenta is right, it learns from your behavior. I've been using FF3 for months through all the beta releases, and if you always use the same key sequence to bring up a particular URL, the browser learns pretty quickly to put that one at the top of the list.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 5:16 PM on June 19, 2008

What software are you using now? I'm pretty sure the iSight has been marketed as a video camera since its introduction.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 3:19 PM on June 17, 2008

Berlin's public transit is quite good. (That's right, the Germans really do know how to keep the trains running on time.) So you shouldn't feel limited to what's in your neighborhood -- you should be able to get just about anywhere pretty easily without a car.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 12:10 PM on June 6, 2008

I've always heard this type of work referred to as a story cycle.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 12:04 PM on June 5, 2008 marked best answer

is what's happening not also a kernel panic? Only, not one which the OS can trap in time to give me the non-scary message?

No. By definition, if the OS doesn't trap it, it's not a kernel panic. What you have is simply a hardware failure.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 12:01 AM on June 2, 2008

Extremely unlikely -- the only gestures that apply universally are those deeply rooted in our neurology and physiology, like smiling or frowning. This isn't one of them.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 11:06 PM on June 1, 2008 marked best answer

You'll want to check whether Parallels can connect to your smartphone -- it has trouble with some peripherals. As for performance, all you really need to do is make sure you've maxed out the RAM in your MacBook. Otherwise, you should be fine.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 10:10 PM on May 29, 2008

Diluting the brand isn't necessarily a bad idea. Companies often have good reasons for establishing distinct brands for certain product lines. It's a question of your overall brand strategy, and how this particular property fits into it -- how strongly aligned the product positioning is with your overall company positioning.

Note that there's yet another way: www.mycompanyawesometown.com.

Also note: that's not a backslash.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 9:46 AM on May 16, 2008

There are two places in your Keynote preferences you have to check to set up your presenter display: First, under Presenter Display, check the box that reads "Use alternate display to view presenter information". Second, under Slideshow, you probably want to select the radio button that reads "Present on secondary display". (The primary display is the one with the menu bar on it -- usually the laptop. You can go to System Preferences > Displays >... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 9:08 AM on May 15, 2008 marked best answer

No no no! You want that box checked -- otherwise you won't see the presenter view at all. What you want to do is make sure you're presenting on the secondary (i.e. external) display, so the presenter view shows up on the laptop, not on the big screen.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 10:20 PM on May 15, 2008

I can't address the PS3, but as for the 360: Just an annoyance. He won't be able to download patches or updates for the games he plays. He won't be able to play original Xbox (pre-360) games, because you have to connect to Xbox Live to download the emulation code for each game.

Additionally, many games are now designed with the expectation that online play is most of the value they deliver -- Halo 3's single-player campaign is short and mediocre, while its online... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 7:01 AM on May 9, 2008

OmniOutliner has never been bundled with the OS. It used to come bundled with certain machines, but I don't think they've done that for years now.

When your hard drive died, you lost your license file, which tells OmniOutliner that it's a registered copy. If you have a backup of the old drive, here's the process for recovering your license file.

Without the license file, or some documentation that you had a legitimate license (like a receipt), I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 8:22 AM on May 8, 2008

Switching brands among the larger condoms is difficult, because not all "large" condoms are equally, well, large. A quarter of an inch can make the difference between "comfortably snug" and "intensely tight erection killer". Condomania has a condom size chart for all the brands they sell (all pretty mainstream). You should probably seek something as big or bigger than the Magnum.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 9:02 AM on April 30, 2008

According to Apple, Photo Booth will work with certain external cameras. If your digital camera has a "webcam" mode (technically called "USB video class"), Photo Booth should recognize it as a compatible source. Alternately, you could buy a cheap webcam and use that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 10:19 AM on April 27, 2008

Nope, I think you're looking for this one.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 9:21 PM on April 24, 2008 marked best answer

They will not hold the car for you. Pick it up, then drive it over to long-term parking. It's $12 a day, but if you drive into San Francisco and park more than once, you'll likely spend more than that. Take BART from the airport into the city. Get off at Embarcadero, where you can strike out in almost any direction and find stuff worth seeing.

San Francisco is miserable to drive in for out-of-towners -- very little free parking, narrow one-way streets, no turn lanes,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 10:06 AM on April 11, 2008

I have been in exactly your position: 6-hour lectures, back-to-back days, no voice at the end. The big shift in my thinking about it was when someone pointed out to me that doing these long lectures is, essentially, an athletic performance, and you have to treat it like one.

Minimize your use of alcohol and caffeine for a few days leading up to and then during the talks. These diuretics reduce your body's ability to keep the vocal cords lubricated. Alcohol, in particular,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 8:41 AM on April 11, 2008 marked best answer

First of all, no, there is no "Google defense" for using copyrighted images, particularly on a commercial item like a T-shirt. If you want to use an image, you have to have the creator's permission (either granted directly, or indirectly via a Creative Commons license).

Secondly, the surest way to get kicked out of a concert venue, or even just the parking lot, is to try to sell stuff. Additionally, stuff that seems like it might be counterfeit merchandise... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 6:13 PM on April 3, 2008

Transitions are overrated, and almost always unnecessary. When you catch yourself about to say or write "anyway", stop, skip that word, and pick up with the very next one. If your train of thought is extremely nonlinear, a transition like "anyway" won't smooth the ride. If you're pretty much sticking to the same territory, and your audience can't follow your train of thought, that's their problem, not yours. You either need to work on your ability to stick to a single thread,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 12:45 AM on March 30, 2008

Previously.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 12:26 PM on March 29, 2008 marked best answer

Ubik
Siesta
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 6:56 AM on March 28, 2008

Since you're only having trouble with songs you've purchased from Apple, and not songs you ripped yourself, the problem is almost certainly with the software on the iPod. Your best bet is to get online somehow to download the software update. Alternately, you can try restoring to factory settings, but Apple claims you need an Internet connection even to do that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 8:15 AM on March 24, 2008 marked best answer

I don't think it has a name, and frankly I think the aspect you're interested in (a transparent layer over a white, matte silver, or grayish-blue one) is too narrow to be called a "design language" or even an "aesthetic". It's a component of the Apple aesthetic at that period, for sure, but not the only one, or even the dominant one.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 11:04 PM on March 18, 2008

This is elementary in any OS X application: command-click the title of the file in the title bar of the window to navigate anywhere along that file's path. Perhaps a similar system-wide function exists for Windows.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 3:35 PM on March 13, 2008

The reason that every article you're seeing is exactly the same is that it comes from the Associated Press, not that they're all rewrites of the same press release. Important difference.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 8:59 PM on March 12, 2008

The 1999 documentary Home Page is somewhat uneven, but is the only film I know of about the early manifestation of personal expression on the Web.

The PBS documentary The Video Game Revolution is much better than the Discovery Channel's recent stab at the same topic.

Jason Scott's BBS Documentary illuminates the pre-Internet origins of many conventions and practices online today.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 11:09 AM on March 8, 2008

slogger and k8lin, I suspect the original poster will be quite familiar with the content of that thesis.

Think twice about The King of Kong, unless you're interested in demonstrating techniques documentary filmmakers use to manipulate audience sympathies.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 12:00 PM on March 8, 2008

It seems to me there are two parts to this equation: hanging onto good games, and not trading in good games for bad ones.

As for the first part: as juv3nal said, it's almost entirely a matter of personal taste. For example, I'm not the sort of gamer who likes running through the same scenario over and over again with increasing numbers of bad guys, but many games are designed to appeal to that sort of gamer, and your son may be one of them. Encourage him to think more... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 2:30 AM on March 8, 2008

If you travel with it several times a day, you'll probably want a bag, not just a sleeve.

Definitely get the extended warranty, and plan for things to start breaking once it expires. Laptops don't "go forever" -- they are consumables.

Back up religiously.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 5:35 PM on February 27, 2008

The book Your Money or Your Life offers a framework for thinking about money and its relationship to personal fulfillment that acknowledges the power and importance of both.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 9:36 PM on February 25, 2008

If it's the outdoor event I'm thinking of, you might want to get some time in working on unpredictable surfaces.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 11:49 PM on February 24, 2008

I have (somehow) found myself headed to the airport the day of the marathon a few times in recent years, and even though I was traveling by car or cab and the route goes through my neighborhood, I've never had any trouble. BART should be just fine.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 7:55 PM on February 18, 2008

When is your conference? What projects I can talk about depends on how far along they are at the time.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 7:08 PM on February 6, 2008

Rockposters.com specializes in exactly this sort of thing. They don't have this poster on their site, but you might try giving them a call. If they don't have it, they can probably point you in the right direction.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 4:43 PM on January 31, 2008

Fort Lauderdale is not in any way nearby.

There are a million cheap little beach hotels along the intracoastal waterway in Jensen Beach or U.S. 1 in Stuart; if he can get by without a kitchen, they'd likely be a more economical choice than the extended stay hotel, but not, you know, swank.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 5:42 PM on January 30, 2008 marked best answer

To be more specific, Indian River Drive in Jensen Beach.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 5:48 PM on January 30, 2008

Engadget says A2DP support in Leopard is "a little buggy, but it's definitely working". So that covers the laptops.

As for iPod and iPhone, since they're running a version of OS X now, it should be easy enough for them to implement support. But I can't see them bringing it to market without their own Bluetooth stereo earphones, and there are any number of reasons why that might be hung up (most of them having to do with parts suppliers).... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 2:08 PM on January 29, 2008

What aspect of the story is your question about? The existence of migratory herd animals? The pattern of their migration? Something else?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 7:05 AM on January 22, 2008

It seems to me that a medicalert bracelet with a "non-obvious" symbol on it has a greatly reduced likelihood of, you know, performing its function. Do you really want to stake your life on the ability of people around you to notice subtle details in an emergency?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 11:00 PM on January 21, 2008

Yes, it will work with the AAC files. When you copy them over to your home computer, you'll need to authorize that computer (using the "Authorize Computer" command from the Store menu) to play files purchased from that iTunes account. You can have up to five computers authorized to play files from the same account. (By the way, when you quit your job, you'll want to deauthorize your work computer before you go.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 1:12 PM on January 16, 2008

And to clarify the clarification, protected AACs can be copied freely, they just can't be played freely.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 1:29 PM on January 16, 2008

Also, see if you can track down a copy of the collection of his Sandman covers, which surprisingly appears to be out of print.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 9:23 PM on January 14, 2008

Here's some background on the bag ban for those who didn't know about it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jjg at 8:32 AM on January 10, 2008