I just got back from a BayCHI talk by Jensen Harris, the lead designer of the new Microsoft Office 12 user interface. He’s actually already blogged a lot of what he talked about, so I won’t repeat it here — take a look at his “Best Of” list on his blog for an overview. Instead, …
Author Archives: Jimmy Lin
26 hours
It was a busy weekend for me. On Saturday at 2 PM, I first went to the housewarming of Tessa and Dan, who I know independently from IBM and Caltech, respectively. It was made all the more memorable by Seth flying a radio-controlled helicopter right into a tree, and then him climbing the tree, a …
India’s highways join the 21st century
The New York Times has a four-part series on the “Golden Quadrilateral“, a set of four-lane expressways that connect Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), and Calcutta, and the rapid changes to Indian society that comes with it.
Germans love those letters after their names
My German friend Clemens said this has a ring of truth to it: Germans value letters attached to their name more than money, love or having children with nine out of ten rating a good qualification as their most important aim in life, a survey showed Wednesday. Germans prefer letters after name to love or …
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The new AT&T logo
Today the SBC/AT&T merger was completed. It’s a little bizarre to think of AT&T as my local phone company, essentially having grown up after the 1984 breakup. Anyway, the new AT&T logo was also introduced today, and it’s like the old one but 3-Dified for extra spiffiness. Actually, I don’t think it’s too bad, but …
Turning 30: The New 21
Since I and so many of my friends are turning 30 this year, I thought this New York Times article would be appropriate: Smiling Through the 30th, a Birthday Once Apocalyptic Once, turning 30 was slightly irritating, an embarrassing passage, and people were in no mood to broadcast the news. This was especially true for …
All propositions lose
Bipartisanship is like virginity. Once lost, it’s never recovered. —Professor Bruce Cain of UC Berkeley, reacting to the challenge Governor Schwarzenegger faces, now that all eight propositions lost, including the four championed by him
Why vote?
Your vote probably will not change the outcome of an election. Only one congressional election and seven state legislative elections in the past 100 years have been decided by one vote — and if it’s that close, the courts are likely to get involved. So why do people vote? (Of course, if everyone thought this …
“Important Safety Precautions”
Here are a few safety warnings in the manual of my new cell phone, the LG VX6100: “Do not use your phone in high explosive areas as the phone may generate sparks.” (I personally never want to be in a high explosive area.) “Never place your phone in a microwave oven as it will cause …
Painted signs fading away
As New York experiences a building boom, old signs painted on the sides of buildings are becoming even more rare.