Disqus - Latest Comments for Fourbux

Re: To 3G or not to 3G

Fourbux — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:49:16 -0000

It's be much easier to swallow if it were able to be run on different networks. I hated AT&T when I was locked into it, and once I got free I never looked back. Not even for the coolest toy ever.

Re: Grab full browser screens in Paparazzi!

Fourbux — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:31:06 -0000

What an awesome app. I've been grabbing and compiling in Photoshop...what a headache.

Thanks for the tip.

Re: Yeah, Yeah, The Blog’s Dead, Now Talk To Me

Fourbux — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:44:17 -0000

Hi Nils,

I agree. With all the technology available at our fingertips, we're told that we can now communicate with people all over the globe at the push of a button, and that's true, but on a singular level. Do we ever really know people we meet online, even if we converse with them for years? How many times on the news do you hear the neighbor of the serial killer say "We just never knew he was like that. He seemed so nice."

All things considered, blogs seem to strike me as the best way to get to know someone, if only because we can't interrupt them while they speak. I read blogs that go on for pages, while in person, I know they wouldn't have taken the time to say as much or share as personally, if for no other reason than the time it required of their audience.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to fill your inbox with all manner of friend requests.

Cheers.

JD

Re: This Book Was Created Using Computers

Fourbux — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:11:37 -0000

Knowing the folks over at QuarkXpress, they probably requested that the byline be listed there. So when our kids ask "Daddy, what did you design with before Adobe bought everything?" we would have something to show them.

Re: This Book Was Created Using Computers

Fourbux — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:24:36 -0000

Personally, I am a huge Adobe fan. I may even be an advocate. I hated Quark, and Pagemaker was my nemesis. It's just that Adobe seems to be dancing that fine line between fast, creative, responsive company and monolithic takeover monster.

Cheers.

Re: I Should be my own ID

Fourbux — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:10:59 -0000

I don't think I'm part of the "out of sight, out of mind" camp when it comes to the internet. I do tend to send myself brief notes from my phone or write thoughts on napkins to remember to research a topic when back online, but don't really long for a day when I have continual access. Personally, I would like to have the information I've learned while online, but not be online to do so.

And in a pub? I'd never want to be online there. Think of what you'd miss happening right in the same room with you?

Re: Guest Post on Shifting Pixel

Fourbux — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 04:40:09 -0000

That photo is great! Great shot.

JD

Re: Guest Post on Shifting Pixel

Fourbux — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 23:34:49 -0000

It really is nice, although with the larger type I thought I did something to my browser settings when I first brought up the page. Now that I know it wasn't me, I really like it.

Re: Creative Juices

Fourbux — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 23:43:35 -0000

Those are cool, Nils. Isn't there something so cathartic about doodling, using a real pen or pencil on real paper? For me personally, music seems to get the creative juices going, so I have music on all day long. Not so much in my writing, but in my illustration or graphic work. "Being creative" takes on a whole new meaning when you do it for a living, and sometimes just getting back to good old pen and paper provides all the creativity I need.

And more often than not, a looming deadline is the ultimate inspiration.

Re: Aliens Over the A12

Fourbux — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 17:47:00 -0000

I want to believe.

Re: Hello Kitty Darth Vader

Fourbux — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:02:51 -0000

You've tried the regular "dark" Darth Vader, but now try it in delicious white chocolate!

Re: Our Maps

Fourbux — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:04:40 -0000

Of course you know the Today Show folks weren't hoping she would save face, they were hoping for a repeat performance. As a general rule, not only do we Americans enjoy others' public humiliation (American Idol, for example), but we like it even more the second time around.

Re: Have A :-) Day!

Fourbux — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:23:50 -0000

They're just a modern-day version of the hieroglyphic...just perfect for the occupants of a lazy digital age.

For what it's worth, I only use LOL when I did, in real life, actually laugh out loud.

Re: Keep Your Children and Pets Inside

Fourbux — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:55:56 -0000

I've had a car (and worked to support it) since I was 16. Where I grew up, there was no such thing as public transportation so there isn't much choice if one wants to get around.

Now that I live in one of the largest cities in the U.S., I only use public transportation if I know I won't have any surprises during the day, or if my car is out of commission. I drive a little BMW convertible, about as aerodynamic as a barn door but a blast to drive. It's 15 years old, has 210,000 miles on it, and I love it more every day. I've only had it a little over a year, but have put almost 50K miles on it in that time. If I had to do that on a bus or train...I'd still be on it.

Re: Yay! New post (And It’s About Apple Too)

Fourbux — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:31:53 -0000

Glad to have you back. I was starting to experience withdrawals. And coming to the right side, too? Double points.

Re: Slow Down, Go Vintage

Fourbux — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:36:30 -0000

I completely agree. I know personally, in addition to getting used to the having access to the world's information at a whim, the ease and speed of technology has made me unable to remember even the simplest things. I can't recall phone numbers, and directions are a waste unless I have someone walk me through it turn by turn.

Think about sitting in traffic. When we've come to expect the faster way to get to our destination it just frustrates us more. When we're used to having the highway to ourselves we don't take the time to pay attention to all the things we speed by. Slowing down helps us take it all in.

Slightly off-topic - being an old Mac guy, there always used to be a little mystique about using an Apple, but it was based on the limitations: "sorry, I can't open that file, I have a Mac." Web sites didn't work, third-party applications and files were unusable, and databases were untouchable. Now that Apple is becoming more mainstream, I hope that more companies will continue their trend toward less lazy programming, and more cross-platform usability. Nudge nudge, Netflix.

Re: Inspiration Always Comes in Nines

Fourbux — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:18:36 -0000

I have to spend the time to really get into 9rules...I've been on it for a couple of months, but have yet to really feel like I'm "involved" yet. I do like the new design and the Lifestream thing.

Good inspiration to get off my rear and get into it.

Re: Inspiration Always Comes in Nines

Fourbux — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:34:44 -0000

That's easy - JoeDrinker. I just finished watching you dance on your 9rules post...change the face and it's the same thing I'd do.

Re: Three Hundred and Sixty Five

Fourbux — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 19:00:47 -0000

That's very cool Nils. Congratulations. Though I can commit to a wife, a mortgage, a university, etc, I don't think I could commit to a year every day of something as intentional as this.

Kudos.

Re: Say Goodbye to The Office

Fourbux — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 02:22:05 -0000

Every now and then I used to catch an episode of that British show Coupling, and I think Lucy Davis was on that too, wasn't she? I have no idea if it still airs, but I remember it being pretty good. And Shaun of the Dead? My favorite movie ever.

I must say, I'm glad Hollywood "borrowed" The Office from across the pond. It's my favorite show on TV now.

Re: There Died a Myriad

Fourbux — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:57:55 -0000

I think the trend towards more "modern" wars may have something to do with the WWI generation dying off. I know over here that when we get around to Veteran's Day that it is the all-encompassing reference.

That's okay though.

Re: A Branding Mistake

Fourbux — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:11:16 -0000

That's why over here Starbucks, although obviously the big dog, will never completely beat the small community shops.

I just wish mom and pop places had cooler logos.

Cheers.

Re: You Evil Yahoo You

Fourbux — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:07:40 -0000

My wife uses the Yahoo! Messenger IM client on her Mac, and even that version is crap. All the useless plugins and what not. It just flies in the face of all we hope to see on the web.

Re: A Lover of Many Things

Fourbux — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:00:29 -0000

While these manuscripts are certainly interesting and intriguing to ponder, and I’m sure quite beautiful in person, it hurts trying to get my head around the "why" of it. The amount of effort required to develop a language that you may be the only person alive who can understand it...certainly requiring more time and patience than I would ever have.

Unless it really is some sort of cipher, in which case it’s one for the ages, right? One in which the author may only be discovered when the rest of the puzzle is solved.

Re: Who Needs Permanence?

Fourbux — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:19:45 -0000

I completely agree. The weird thing is that the majority of my circle of friends are in the same mental boat. Maybe we've all bought into the "buy buy buy" mentality for so long we now need to purge ourselves - in mind and body.

Re: 4 Reasons Every Company Needs to Blog

Fourbux — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:43:58 -0000

The company where I work has been wrestling with this idea for two years now. The marketing people want to mold the content, the advertising people are afraid of losing control of it, and management is old and out of touch with the concept. Blog, you say?

They have come up with one policy on blogs though, if you have a personal one, you're not allowed to talk about the company by name or reference. And if you do, it had better be sparkling or you should be prepared to either edit the content or fall on that sword.

Re: Ubiquity/Privacy

Fourbux — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:28:54 -0000

While I'm in the camp of using technology to make our lives easier, the concept behind that movie Look is more than a little unnerving...

Re: Me, Angry?

Fourbux — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:46:46 -0000

Good New Years post!

Looking forward to your 2008 musings.

Cheers,

JD

Re: The Dating Game Is Not A Game

Fourbux — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:32:37 -0000

But if it isn't a game, how can you tell if you're winning?

Re: NDNL Is Now NDNL

Fourbux — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:25:11 -0000

Yeah, definitely go for the zeppelin route. I mean, especially now that your URL will fit on the side of one. ;)

Cheers and congratulations.

Re: Steve and the Bird

Fourbux — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:00:28 -0000

Whose blog? The Apple blog (don't even know if they have one) or Twitters?

I don't use Twitter now I'm curious...

Re: Sainkho Namtchylak? Yes, Her!

Fourbux — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:19:18 -0000

I like how a the end the woman singing along tries to keep a straight face through the end of her performance. Interesting sound.

Re: Microsoft and Yahoo Made My Day

Fourbux — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:12:26 -0000

Creating a Yahoo login for my Flickr was enough of a hassle for me to notice it, so by my standards that's too much of an impact. If I have to go back to an MSN login for anything I may just give
up the internet altogether.

Great comic...extremely relevant. And that makes me sad.

Re: Kids Are Stupid

Fourbux — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:28:08 -0000

A few more points:

One: the older folks who think that kids are so smart are the ones who can't figure out how an iPod works or what flash media is. The people without the clue are the ones making the judgement towards those who only know a little better.

Two: these kids who "are so smart" in things technological are the same ones who have no concept of the real, material things in the world. For example, the kid taking a 35MPH corner at 85 and wondering why their car doesn't stay on the road (physics), or why their ears are constantly ringing so badly they have to crank up their iPods to hear them (biology).

At some point the population is going to split into the Morlocks and the Eloi, and technology will be one defining factor.

Cheers.

Re: Live Life, Shut Up

Fourbux — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:44:01 -0000

Amen!

In the past I've managed to pack my life so full of things that the day is one commitment after another from the time my feet hit the floor in the morning to when I fall exhausted into bed at night.

It required the downsizing of my list to give me a chance to breathe. Probably like you, I'm still busy, but now not drowning. The secret: leave the insurance paperwork to the wife. It would put me over the edge.

Re: The Twitter Logo, Or Is It?

Fourbux — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:52:17 -0000

Interesting...that's the first time I remember a brand mark being known by association rather than the actual logo. Nice observation.

Re: Apple, Google and… the Rest of Us

Fourbux — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:32:45 -0000

That made me literally laugh out loud (LLOL?). Only because it's true.

Re: New Trends In Search

Fourbux — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:50:48 -0000

Although I still default to Google, every now and then I pop into Ask.com for a more visual approach. If they work on the usability of these fancier interfaces, I'm sure they'll take off.

Thinking of my parents using Google, still the nuances of search are lost on them. Without fail my dad will click on the first link, without even considering that they paid to be there.

Re: Good Spam Bad Spam

Fourbux — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:43:29 -0000

So, on Twitter, you generally follow everyone who follows you? I have nowhere near the number of followers that you do, but even at my meager fifty-and-change, I wouldn't be able to get anything else done with my day.

Maybe that's more a testament to my lack of multitasking ability or my OCD-esque tendencies, but still.

I tend to only follow people if they have a rough one-to-one follow to following rate, or people who seem to have interesting tweets if I wander across them in the time line. Even then I've ended up following some strange people, and certainly more people than necessary who don't tweet in English.

Which brings me to another problem: I can't seem to break up with them, either.

Not even the spammers and robots.

Re: Need License Plate? Call Me

Fourbux — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:41:10 -0000

I once made a die-cut conference room and angry manager "pop-up" invitation. The client was bent on how good it would look, and once we were done it didn't look bad.

Right now I'm in the middle of a die-cut backpack containing a laptop for a direct mail piece. With all the Apple logos chopped out, of course.

Re: Need License Plate? Call Me

Fourbux — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:34:29 -0000

If the client ever finalizes the design, I'll shoot you an image. The pop-up conference table was fun.

Re: It’s 6AM: Start to Run

Fourbux — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:17:03 -0000

Good for you Nils. My wife and I went from living completely sedentary lifestyles to running a marathon in four months on a program like that. Unfortunately, only one of us has decided to keep up with any sort of physical activity.

The other one of us decided to crawl back into his cubicle and slowly become a square again.

Re: ISO Wins, Bookmarking Fails

Fourbux — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:42:36 -0000

I too have done that, but it hasn't been over the span of a year. Maybe my memory isn't what it should be/used to be, or perhaps the knowledge that I've bookmarked an item allows me to file it in the short-term memory, thus purging it too soon.

Wait, what were we talking about?

Re: DCFC FTW!

Fourbux — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:38:12 -0000

Should be a good time.

Re: IO Is For Information Overload

Fourbux — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:58:55 -0000

I love that the IO people are having a conference- a forum to discuss IO. Yes, you may be suffering from information overload, but just squeeze this one more teensy thing into your schedule and it will be all better. Only $150!

Re: The Steampunk Internet

Fourbux — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:39:52 -0000

Now that's cool! Wow. Just wow. Talk about forethought!

Re: Bike Into Work Extreme Edition

Fourbux — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:08:56 -0000

Nils, get yourself a downhiller bike and some race gear and you could be making your own extreme videos. Seems like your time is pretty quick. You're half way there! Strap a cam to your helmet...it'd be great fun.

Re: Exit Blogs, Enter Social Coverage

Fourbux — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:46:27 -0000

Nils,

I like to think that, at least on some levels, I'm moderately socially connected. Then I read through the lists of everything that you're on, or subscribed to, or a contributor of, and it makes my head spin. I can't imagine how you manage to get anything done in the way of a job plus all the social media avenues that you're pursuing, and thinking about diving any deeper into that arena makes me literally glaze over.

Along the lines of what Tom said, I think that this whole plugged-in digital world is going to have to be simplified (somehow) for most people to be able to get their heads around it, much less make it an integral part of their lives. For example, how long did it take people to understand email, and how simple is that concept?

Re: Arcade Memories

Fourbux — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:59:54 -0000

Sadly, I came along after these machine were already old school. They were similar to the ones I played on my neighbor's Atari, though.

I remember being amazed at the original Combat, where you were little more than a rectangular blob that shot pixels at another similarly-designed opponent. For the love of God how can I steer and shoot in different directions? And what was with the invisible opponent?