BrianAndPamela.com

So I’ve been using Windows XP since forever (or since it first came out, which in computer time is roughly the same) and I’ve recently done a few things to soup it up some. (more…)

Just got back from seeing Transformers.

Short answer:  I really liked it. Read on for the full review.

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Link to Awaken the Dawn : Awaken the Dawn

I’ve been really remiss in posting.  Sorry about that.  I’ve been exceptionally busy with audio production for Awaken the Dawn (see link above).

I’ll get back soon.  Promise. 

Meanwhile: check out Zillow.com.  Housing prices are wacky.

Link to Lawrence Lessig

Larry Lessig (more about him later) has essentially told Steve Jobs to put his money where his mouth is.  After Jobs’ “blog heard round the world” telling Big Content to back off and allow iTunes to sell music unDRMed, Lessig notes that there is music on iTunes that isn’t controlled by the Big Four, including some CreativeCommons stuff where the artists actually requested that iTunes skip the DRM.  Apple refused.  Now Steve has made the pronouncement… let’s see if he follows through.  The particular artist that Lessig mentions is Colin Mutchler, who you should also check out.

Link to Apple - Thoughts on Music

I made a bold statement back in October that the only people that are inconvenienced are legitimate customers.  That people who are serious about stealing music are going to do it anyway.  I'm not by any means the only one saying it.  Bloggers have been saying it.  DefectiveByDesign has been saying it.  The EFF says it. Bill Gates said it.

Now one of the biggest names in Digital Music is saying the same .  Arguably THE biggest name in digital media distribution, Steve Jobs of Apple, Inc. released what amounts to a blog post today in which he says exactly that. (more…)

…but there's a good chance the color needs to be tweaked a bit.  And it might look better if you nudged it a few pixels off center.

23 Signs That You're Becoming a Design Geek from Crestock.com Blog

I've been accused of getting a little over zealous about design elements, I admit.  And realistically, I understand that most people on the planet don't even know what leading and kerning are, much less care about them.  So when I found the linked article about signs you're becoming a design geek, I alternately laughed and grimaced.  Examples?

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Dress Up Games

Alright, recently we launched theCaffeinated (our discussion forums) and some of you who've been there have been wondering about avatars (those little pictures to the left of our posts.) Have no fear, TheDollPlace.com is here with the DollMaker. (more…)

Link to Jensen Harris: An Office User Interface Blog : New Fonts For Documents

Aldous Huxley wrote:

A type of revolutionary novelty may be extremely beautiful in itself; but, for the creatures of habit that we are, its very novelty tends to make it illegible, at any rate to begin with.
Typography for the Twentieth-Century Reader
Aldous Huxley

So we will see, at any rate.  The new versions of Microsoft Office now ship with new default fonts and type faces.  Added to the ubiquitous Arial, Verdana, Courier (New) and the loathsome Times New Roman are the new defaults of Calibri, Cambria, Consolas, Candara, Constantia and Corbel. (more…)

Link to Many Eyes : Co-Occurrences of Names in the New Testament

Some of you know, I have a soft spot for data visualization.  I love interesting ways that people come up with to show data connections.  I've mentioned this love before, and have been meaning to talk about digg swarm and digg stack for a while now.  But this latest find is even cooler… all the people of the New Testament, organized into social networks.  Guess who has the most "friends"? (more…)

Link to Awaken the Dawn : Awaken the dawn podcast #1 now live

It's been a long dry spell and I don't know if it will go on after the conference, but I'm back on the virtual air. 

I've been doing a lot of work with Grace Church of Fredericksburg audio post production lately, and we're all getting ready for the Awaken the Dawn conference which is being held at Grace in February.  Saturday night, I posted the first episode of the Awaken the Dawn podcast.  I could spend a really long blog post explaining what is Awaken the Dawn, but it's better to just point you at the website (which we're working on) and the first podcast episode.  My co-host (Missy) and I interview Steve Dornbush and find out about what ATD is all about.  Give it a listen.  You can download it, or listen online, RSS feed is coming soon.