clock … watching time, the only true currency

A journal from John B. Roberts

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Entries Tagged as 'Everything'

Tech news needs a new domain; News.com being prepped for general news

July 14th, 2008 · 1 Comment

Dan Farber previewed the next phase of CNET’s rolling redesign in today’s blog post. See the full image of CNET News here.
My previous comments hold. The body of the home page looks fine, with no complaints. However, I find the reflection in the sub-brands of “News” and “Download.com” quite distracting, and hard to read. The [...]

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Tags: CNET · Design · Domains · Everything · Media · Tech

Burned by iPhone 2.0 upgrade process

July 11th, 2008 · No Comments

I’m one of the many whose upgrade to the 2.0 version of the iPhone software is hanging this morning. Ouch. Not supposed to disconnect phone, and can’t use the phone until the upgrade is complete. Follow the mayhem at TechMeme.
2 hours later…I’m back in business.

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Tags: Everything

CNET design changes, good and bad

July 8th, 2008 · 1 Comment

I’m a bit late here, but the new design hasn’t rolled out yet.
CNET’s decision to announce a coming redesign ahead of time is admirable. It shows a new respect for how disruptive change can be to an existing audience.
Current CNET logo, in context

New CNET logo, in context (proposed)
I have a few comments, but IANAD (I [...]

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Tags: CNET · Design · Everything · Media

Why removing Netflix Profiles opens a can of worms

June 21st, 2008 · No Comments

Update: Netflix reversed the decision, and is keeping Profiles. Good news!
Important starting point for this post: I’m a Netflix customer since November 2000, nearly eight years. Netflix celebrated its 10th anniversary two months ago.
Wednesday’s email announcing the September 1 demise of Profiles landed with a thud, in this household and far beyond. Separate queues and [...]

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Tags: Everything · Movies · Perception

Movie: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

June 14th, 2008 · No Comments

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull earned a Metacritic score of score of 65. I had to see it because Raiders is one of the best movies ever made. And because I find myself sharing the phrase “He chose…poorly” from Last Crusades all too often.
Not much more to say than Roger Ebert [...]

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Tags: Everything · Movies

Movie: Horton Hears a Who

May 30th, 2008 · No Comments

I almost forgot I’d seen this movie a few weeks ago. Horton Hears A Who wasn’t on my must-see list, even with the kids. But when a friend wanted to see a movie, and I’d already seen The Bank Job and In Bruges, I was willing to catch this animated Dr. Seuss story. (My friend’s [...]

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Tags: Everything

Movie: Garden State

May 26th, 2008 · No Comments

After years of listening to the soundtrack, I watched the movie Garden State last night. Enjoyable small, character movie, which earned a 67 from Metacritic. That dives a bit under my score, but so be it. Peter Saarsgard, as always, sounds like John Malkovich all the way through. I wondered if they shot two (or [...]

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Tags: Everything

Memorial Day links

May 26th, 2008 · No Comments

I’m ages behind in noting my reading and movies (pending: 11 books, 2 films), but before we head out to catch a Memorial Day parade in the Presidio, worth capturing some links in un-related paragraphs.
Obama’s Wesleyan commencement speech, via Jim Fallows.
Richard Feyman and the Connection Machine is an essay I plan to read, since I’ve [...]

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Tags: Everything · Links

Prepping for the blog upgrade

March 18th, 2008 · No Comments

About time I moved from version 2.0.3 of WordPress. Last post before I do so…

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Tags: Blog management · Everything

The kind of news I wish The Atlantic was wrong about

March 16th, 2008 · No Comments

Jim Fallows reminds us that The Atlantic’s efforts to be timeless rather than timely often result in scarily accurate predictions.
I wish 2005’s Countdown to a Meltdown were less accurate.
Just one of the many points, written as a memo to the incoming president of 2016:
For politicians every aspect of this cycle was a problem: [...]

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Tags: Everything · The Atlantic