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Michael McCracken on OS X UI
Michael McCracken has two recent posts on OS X UI: Hypertext links as Native UI and The Mac UI Question.
Michael McCracken has two recent posts on OS X UI: Hypertext links as Native UI and The Mac UI Question.
Sven-S. Porst: Source Lists: "It's astonishing to see how differently source lists can behave. Basically they are just lists of items which usually have icons. But apart from the icons all other aspects of the lists can differ."
(Via Michael Tsai.)
Other developers write about walking the user interface line—trying to be consistent but also having to create custom widgets to stay modern.
Michael Dupuis: "Sure there are 'lesser' elements available to us as developers, but they often don't have the 'bling' that users come to expect."
Dan Wood: "We have to walk the line in our user interface decisions all the time, trying to make an application look consistent with the Mac interface, and also 'modern.'"
Apple Mail. There's more.
The new toolbar does the icons-inside-buttons thing, which makes sense, and may be a usability gain.
However, here's a weird thing I noticed:
When Mail is not the frontmost app, the buttons change their look: they look dimmed, disabled.
However, if you click, it's actually enabled, it supports click-through. (This is true for non-destructive buttons, not all of the buttons.) Right before you click you see the mouse-over highlighting.
It turns out that the icon inside the button is used to indicate whether it's enabled or not. Standard toolbars dim and un-dim the icon too—it's just that they don't also have a button being used to indicate status (sorta).
So the dimmed button look means "I'm in the background" rather than "I'm disabled."
Safari's icons are similar in that the icon rather than the button indicates status—but they don't have a special dimmed in-the-background look, which I think confuses things in Mail.
Apple Mail.
I'm a little obsessed with it. I don't even use it. But it's the Apple app that's most like our software, so Mail's design informs our design.
I got a feature request that asked for NetNewsWire to adopt the following from Mail:
When the list of messages has focus, page-up and page-down should scroll the message view.
When I heard about this, I couldn't believe it, so I checked it out, and it's true. I can see how it's a useful feature—but it's also weird, isn't it? If a scrolling view has focus, shouldn't page-up and page-down work on the view with focus? Shouldn't it work on the message list view?
Well, yes.
Nevertheless, having a keyboard method of scrolling the message view when the list view has focus is useful. (Space works, but it also goes to the next message when it reaches the bottom, so a scroll-only command would still be useful.)
So then I wondered about the list of mailboxes. One of the things I didn't like about earlier versions of Mail was that you couldn't use the keyboard with the mailbox list.
Do not try the following:
1. Select a message in the message list view.
2. Click on a mailbox in the mailbox list.
3. Hit the Delete key.
What happens is that the currently selected message in the message list view gets sent to the Trash. This happens because the mailbox list does not get focus when you click on it. (You don't necessarily realize that, though, since there aren't any focus rings. Focus rings are passé these days.)
However... if you hit the Tab key (once or a few times) focus will move to the mailbox list. The selection color changes to blue when the mailbox list has focus.
Once the mailbox list has focus, you can navigate using arrow keys. Cool. And now if you hit Delete, nothing happens, which is probably best.
You can probably figure out why it works this way—Mail has a sort-of "focus gravity" for the message list.
When you're not writing an email, the message list has focus most of the time, unless you go out of your way to change the focus. (Even clicking in the mailbox list won't change the focus.)
I understand it, it makes sense—because most of the time you want the message list to have focus. If you don't have to check to see if it has focus, that's cool.
But here's the problem:
1. The message list doesn't always have focus, it just usually has focus. So you do still need to click on it or hit Tab or whatever sometimes.
2. There is at least one situation where you can trash email without necessarily realizing it. (Described above.)
3. The concept of focus is a fundamental user interface concept. (Most users probably use the word "active" instead, as in, "The mailbox list does not become active when you click on it.") But Mail does odd things, sometimes paying attention to focus, sometimes not, and not always doing what you'd expect.
Note that you can (obviously) learn Mail and all its exceptions, and even like them. However, I suspect a normal treatment of focus would be more usable.
Focus rings are those blue outlines you see sometimes. For instance, the below is from Safari's bookmarks editor. The Collections and Bookmark lists get a focus ring when they have focus.
Mail doesn't use focus rings around the mailbox, message list, or message views. If it did, it would be more obvious that a click on the mailbox list doesn't move focus—you'd still see the focus ring around the message list.
Without the focus ring your main clue is the selection highlight color.
Here's why I think we don't see focus rings very often these days:
1. If you have a focus ring, you need a margin so that the focus ring has somewhere to draw. (Again, note Safari's bookmarks editor, which has a margin.) Margins on non-metal apps are old-school: the modern look is no margins, which means no focus rings.
2. The blue outline itself looks rather old-school: it's not sleek enough, just kind of thick and fuzzy. Seems busy.
Of course, focus rings are used, even in Mail, at least a little bit—search fields tend to get a focus ring.
(Editing the name of a mailbox also gives you a focus ring. There are probably other cases too.)
The thing about focus rings, though, is that they serve a great function—they make it really super-easy to know where the focus is. A replacement for focus rings—either a new look or something different but just as effective—would be a good idea. It would have made the accidentally-trashing-email scenario much less likely.
(Of course, I also think that clicking in the mailbox list in Mail ought give focus to the mailbox list. If it's good enough for iTunes, why not Mail? If you can Tab there, why not click there?)
There are super-smart user interface people at Apple. The folks who came up with Exposé, for instance, thought out-of-the-box and came up with an innovative solution. But OS X has been a step backwards for focus indication, which makes using your computer just a little bit harder than it should be. I'd love it if some of those super-smart UI folks took a look at the problem of focus indication. It feels like there's a great solution begging to be invented—I just don't know what it is.
I mentioned at the top that I don't use Mail. It's not because of the user interface; it's not because of the toolbar buttons or the focus issues or anything like that.
It's the text editor. For the amount of writing I have to do, I need a great text editor—so I use Mailsmith.
The glossary feature alone is worth it for me. I also very much appreciate that it uses > characters instead of that quote bar thing that can be so hard to manipulate. Etc. I'm not trying to sell it to you—just saying that doing email without a strong text editor is out of the question for me personally.
(I also have used and quite like the combinations of mutt+vim and mutt+BBEdit.)
Mailsmith's UI is not flashy at all (it even has margins and focus rings!)—and I often think about how I'd like to give it a make-over. But then again I think that about most apps, and it doesn't stop me from using the apps that make me the most productive.
ridiculous_fish: Nil: "What does sending a message to nil do in Objective-C? What value does it return?"
The article is by an AppKit programmer at Apple who just started blogging. Very cool.
Before OS X, the common shape for Mac buttons was rounded rectangles.
Then, in early versions of OS X, the new thing for buttons was the capsule shape—as you still see in dialog and sheets, for instance.
Then, with the iApps and Safari, the new new thing was rounded rectangles.
But—think about it—aren't you getting just a little bit tired of the rounded rectangles?
Though Tiger has lots of rounded rectangles, it appears to me that the new new new thing is the capsule shape. There are differences, of course:
1. They tend to be flatter—they aren't as 3-D as OK and Cancel buttons, for instance.
2. They use either a single gradient—or they use that two-gradient glass look (that you see in many other places and is itself a trend worthy of note).
(You do still see plenty of rounded rectangles, especially for objects that aren't exactly buttons—the line of Dashboard widgets at the bottom of the screen, for instance. A capsule shape doesn't work that well when the rectangle is a square.)
What is most interesting to me about the current capsule buttons is that we have competing visions: single gradient vs. glass look. Note for instance these two Save buttons, one from the Finder and one from Mail. The Finder button uses a gradient, while the Mail button uses the glass look (which it also uses in its toolbar buttons).
(It's as if hemlines have shortened a bit this year—but both basic black and floral prints are in style.)
Also interesting is that the Finder is using the capsule shape with popup menus. I don't recall ever having seen that before. I quite like it.
(We almost used this same widget in NetNewsWire, by the way: it would have been in the header cell above the subscriptions list; it would have allowed you to choose the sort order. We decided against it for reasons other than the appearance of the widget itself. [Our version was smaller than the widget shown above, to better fit that space.])
Rounded rectangles will be back, probably some time next year. But there will be something different about them that I can't predict. (Flatter? Less flat? Or...?)
But, right now, capsules are the thing.
Smart lists of various kinds are not new to Tiger, but they're ever more important.
Say you're a developer and you're adding a smart something to your app. So you take a look at what other apps do.
Here's what you the developer can conclude...
1. Smart list creators must appear in a separate modal window. Or in a sheet. Or not in a separate window at all.
2. They must have + and - minus buttons that are, well, consistently round.
3. They must use large popup menus. Or small ones (even if the other controls are large). Or they could use a custom popup menu control that looks really, really cool.
4. The background of the rules should be a dark gray. Or, no, they should be alternating colors: blue, then white. Or, no, they should be lighter blue then darker blue.
5. The box containing the rules should have rounded corners. Or not.
6. A smart list creator should have an OK button that saves it. Or it should have a Save button.
7. A smart list creator must give you a place to set its name. Or not.
8. A smart list creator should give you the option to choose between matching all or any of the criteria. Or not.
P.S. A really cool innovation would be a consistent user interface for smart thing creators.
Everyone's familiar with Safari's cool buttons, right?
Here, for example is the home button—first in normal and then in pressed state. Note how it highlights in blue. (Why it doesn't highlight in graphite if you're using graphite I won't try to explain, because I can't.)
If you look at Tiger, you can see this same button style used in lots of different places: System Preferences, Dictionary, Finder, Help Viewer, Address Book, Font Book, and so on.
So I was checking out Interface Builder in Tiger, and I see that Apple has now provided this as a standard button type—which is very cool. Here's a screen shot from Interface Builder:
This is how things should work, I think: some folks on an app team come up with a new button, it stands the test of time (people like it and it's usable), other apps adopt it, and it becomes a standard button type available to any developer. I'm all set to applaud, in other words.
It's not necessary for Apple to make a certain button type available before developers can create buttons that look and feel exactly the same way.
There was never anything stopping anybody from making buttons that look and feel the same as these Safari-type buttons.
Making custom buttons isn't hard: you just need to create images for the buttons. (Sometimes you have multiple images, of course: normal, pressed, disabled, sometimes mouse-over, and sometimes graphite variants of the above.) You may need to write just a little code that says how the button should behave (does it toggle between two states like a checkbox, or is it like an OK button, that kind of thing).
But when a button type becomes a standard, then it's slightly easier for a developer to use, because you just need to create the icon that goes inside the button, and you don't have to deal with the extra stuff.
More importantly, it means that this button is now considered part of the OS X user interface, and you can use the button with confidence that you're being consistent. (Presumably there is also some documentation that says when and how the button is best used.)
So after dragging the button to a window in Interface Builder, I "ran" the window to see the button in action. I clicked on it. It looked like this when pressed:
Looks good, right? A nice "pressed" look.
But see the problem? It's not blue.
Here's what would happen were you to release an app that uses this button. Users would report it as a bug that the button doesn't turn blue. They'd point to some of the many different apps that use this same button, and say, "See? The standard on OS X for these buttons is that they're blue when pressed!" The users would be absolutely right.
So then you have to go back to the custom method of making images for each of the states and perhaps writing a little code to get the behavior right. Not hard, but you'll have to do it.
But now you'll wonder why you have to do it, when this button exists as a standard button type in Interface Builder.
I don't know.
The worst-case scenario is that the policy is to give developers some cool widgets, but don't make them the same as what Apple uses—make it so developers have to jump through some extra hoops.
I don't believe that scenario—it's rather paranoid. I mention it because I've heard it from other developers.
My guess is that, simply, it's an oversight, just a mistake.
You might wonder why I've been writing all this about watching trends in OS X user interface design.
The main point is not to ding Apple for UI inconsistencies. The point is that it's absurd for developers to have to spend so much time watching trends in OS X user interface design.
I want Apple to innovate, to try things, to make things cool—and I want them to continue as the leaders in usability, which I still think is the big draw of Macs. It may be a tight-rope act, but Apple has been doing this particular high-wire dance for decades now.
At the same time—at the same time, please sing some arias—I know I'm asking alot—I'd like to see some leadership beyond just sometimes-contradictory examples.
More on trends in OS X user interface design...
I don't understand what's happening to splitter bars. (The part where you grab and drag to resize a split view.)
Here's what the Human Interface Guidelines has to say on split views.
The splitter bar displays a circular dimple at its midpoint that indicates to the user that it is draggable...
In a metal window, the width of a splitter bar is 7 pixels...
In a standard Aqua window, the width of the splitter bar is 9 pixels...
You've probably already noticed that splitter bars come in different sizes. (Compare the iTunes splitter bar to the Finder's, for instance.)
You may not have noticed a couple other details that I just can't explain:
1. The dimple in the Finder looks different from the dimple used in iTunes. Here they are, magnified:
Subtle, but, you know, it's light-source stuff, which Apple has historically mastered.
2. In iTunes there is a light-colored border on either side of the splitter bar—but that's not true in the Finder. (See second graphic above.)
But those differences aren't that big, really. At least the splitter is still recognizably a splitter.
This goes back to the goodbye-stripes thing...
You will not find in any of Apple's apps outside of utilities (or Sherlock) a splitter bar that looks like a standard non-metal splitter bar. You won't see this:
You would expect to see the above in Mail, because Mail is not metal.
Mail's horizontal splitter bar looks like this:
The drawing is custom, for Mail only as far as I can tell. (No stripes! Gradient! Cool custom dimple! I like it! No kidding—I really do like it.)
But what is really odd to me is the vertical splitter bar, which looks like this:
It's a one-pixel-wide line separating an area of blue from an area of white.
I can easily explain this from a coolness factor—but I can't explain it from a usability standpoint, because it's very difficult to grab such a narrow target. (And it doesn't resemble a splitter bar at all, so you don't necessarily realize that you can grab it.) To make up for it, they've added a little grab thing at the bottom of the window which is easy to grab. (Which I also, no kidding, really like.)
Here's the thing—this isn't the only non-metal app to completely avoid standard splitter bars.
Look at Keynote, for instance. No splitter bar at all, just a grabber at the bottom. But, though similar, it's different from Mail—in Keynote you can't grab the splitter bar at all, you have to use the grabber at the bottom.
And then there's Xcode—also non-metal, and with yet another custom splitter bar.
The trend is clearly to avoid standard splitters in non-metal windows.
I have no theory to explain it other than as a coolness thing—stripes are not cool, we must not have stripes.
But even still I have trouble explaining Mail's vertical splitter, which appears to me to be too much of a triumph of coolness over usability. You might like it—heck, I like it too, it's cool—but is it too much of a usability hit? When is a cool idea not worth it?
Here's the thing to remember: developers look to Apple for guidance. If Apple's UI decisions say that it's okay to sacrifice usability for a distinctive look, then many developers will do that. It's a long, long way away—but at the end of that particular road is Windows.
More about trends in OS X user interface design...
I have a theory about what happened to Mail's toolbar.
Apple's Human Interface Guidelines page about toolbar icons shows examples from the pre-metal Finder and the pre-Tiger Mail.
Each toolbar icon should be easily and quickly distinguishable from the other items in the toolbar. Toolbar icons emphasize their outline form, rather than subtler visual details.All the icons in the new Mail are clearly designed to de-emphasize unique shapes.
Of Apple's apps that come with Tiger or with a new computer, I can't think of any whose toolbars emphasize unique shapes. (And then there are apps that don't have a standard customizable toolbar, such as iTunes and iCal, that I'm not counting.)
My guess is that, simply, Apple changed its mind about the unique shapes.
This isn't necessarily bad—and there are new consistencies and usability gains being made. Note, for example, how the back/forward button set is the same in Safari, Help, System Preferences, Dictionary, and probably other places. This is a good thing.
So the trend is toward regular shapes—and also 1) away from color, and 2) toward a more button-like experience, and 3) toward more stylization, less representation.
The Mail toolbar designers got the memo, it appears.
John Siracusa famously said that it appeared as if Mail had got "beaten with the ugly stick." Not everybody agrees—it's a matter of taste. (And I bet some people are starting to change their minds.)
The problem, though, is that Mail is a very different program from Safari, Help, System Preferences, and so on. The Safari-type buttons you see all over—back/forward and home, especially—are not appropriate for Mail. Mail needs things like Flag, Show Headers, Junk, and many more which don't exist in any other Apple app.
But that leads to a quandary: you want to use the same regular button shape lots of other apps are using, but that button works best with grayscale icons, not with Mail's more colorful icons. At the same time you want to keep some of the colorful icons because people have already learned what those icons mean. (And some—Junk, for example—are used in other parts of the interface, and you want color to draw the connection.)
So my guess is that somebody made the following decision: let's invent a new regular shape, and stick modified versions of the old icons inside this new shape, so it's like a button. (And let's have it highlight on mouse-over, because people like it when buttons do that.)
Best of both worlds: regular, more button-like shapes and the already-learned icons.
Depending on your taste, it didn't work out at all, or it worked out splendidly and is another master stroke of Apple design.
You've probably worked all this out for yourself well before reading this. It's just that I enjoy forensic UI design, looking at apps and trying to figure out why things happened the way they did.
My point mainly is to point out the trends in OS X toolbar icon design: regular outlines; icons inside the outlines (button-like); grayscale instead of color; and bolder, more stylized figures.
I have some theories on why these are the trends:
1. People understand buttons! So making toolbar icons more button-like is a usability gain. My suspicion is that Apple found that some users didn't realize they could click on the toolbar icons in the older version of Mail, since they don't look like buttons.
2. Regular outlines feel simpler, and therefore better, than different outlines. (But this may be a usability loss, because different outlines are easier to pick out. Possibly outweighed by #1 above.)
3. To many people, grayscale signifies elegance. And everybody wants their stuff to be called elegant.
As an admitted UI-trend-watcher (it's part of my job)—here's a trend I've noticed: OS X has gone from very stripy to moderately stripy to not very stripy.
Remember back to the public beta, and 10.1 and 10.2. Lots of stripes. Remember before the Finder used brushed metal? Remember how even title bars had stripes—and how the stripes everywhere were very pronounced?
At the time, of course, OS X got high marks for the beauty of its interface.
But the stripes didn't wear well. The first implicit acknowledgment of that from Apple was so many brushed metal apps on Jaguar—I'm not sure that it was that the metal look was so cool: it was more that people were already getting tired of the stripes.
And then the stripes were way toned down on Panther (10.3); the Finder became a metal app; window title bars became gradients (when active).
Now with Tiger (10.4) the stripes disappear even more.
Note for instance the unified title and toolbar look, a new window style that System Preferences, Mail, Dictionary, Xcode, and Help Book use. No stripes in the toolbar when the window is active.
Note how even the Finder copy window uses a white background instead of a stripy background.
The upshot is that it's getting harder to find stripes in Apple apps—at least not in the main window (prefs and sheets are different).
Going through my Applications and Utilities folder, it looks to me as if two things about Apple apps may be true:
1. If an app is possibly on its last legs—Sherlock, for instance, which has been superseded by Dashboard and Spotlight—it's not getting much attention and so it's still rather stripy.
2. If an app is a utility, not one of the big appeals of OS X—TextEdit, Script Editor, Disk Utility, Activity Monitor—then it's still stripy, since these apps are the kind of thing you dig for, not the kind of thing that appears in marketing. (Note for instance that Automator is metal while Script Editor is stripy.)
Anyway, that's it, just an observation. Bye-bye stripes.
I'm curious—which Apple apps do you use the most? I mean, outside the operating system itself.
As a developer, my personal list is rather boring: Xcode, followed by Terminal. (I use Camino as a browser and Mailsmith for email, or else Safari and Mail would be way up there for me.)
(I wish I could say GarageBand was high on my list, but I need to carve out some time for it.)
My second favorite Tiger feature is that you when you change the file system via Terminal, the Finder notices right away.
Seems like a small thing, but it's huge. (Trump-huge. The grandest, most beautiful, most luxurious feature ever.)
A new feature in Xcode 2.0 is cascading alert windows.
(Just joshing. I kid, but Xcode knows I love it. It's like a sign on a café here in Ballard: "We'll treat you like family. Sorry.")
I appeared on the Chris Pirillo Show—here's hour one and here's hour two.
During hour two I reveal the fact that I use a VCR (rather than a PVR) for recording TV shows. Strange but true.
So, I'm curious, which do you prefer, Fink or DarwinPorts, and why?
I've just been doing the configure/make/make-install thing (as my people have done for centuries) but I'm thinking that a package management system might be a good idea.
My favorite Tiger feature is that I can turn off the caps lock key. Yes!
I hit that key several times a day accidentally, and it just drives me nuts. I never actually use it for anything—it's just an annoyance.
No longer!
In case you haven't run across it, here's how to turn it off.
1. Open System Preferences.
2. Click on Keyboard & Mouse.
3. At the bottom of the Keyboard tab is a "Modifier Keys..." button. Click it.
4. A sheet appears that lets you remap caps lock (and other keys). Choose "No Action" from the popup menu, then click OK.
It is a thing of beauty.
One of the common questions we get these days is about subscribing to multiple gmail accounts with NetNewsWire. Here's a tip which describes how to do it.
Just for jazz, here are some other places to look for tips and tricks:
1. In the Help book, on the Tips page and on the Questions & Answers page. (Choose NetNewsWire Help from the Help menu.)
2. On the NetNewsWire Tips page on this site. (Which is where we add tips that haven't made it into the Help book yet or that we think need extra emphasis.)
3. On other NetNewsWire Resources pages.
(And don't forget Google!)
Argh! There's like a weblog-chain-letter thing where you have to give details about your music habits. It was passed to me by Chris Clark of decaffeinated.
Total volume of music files on my computer
0 bytes.
Because, well, for some weird reason I just don't trust myself—or the DRM gremlins—not to lose it all. It doesn't feel permanent. (I grew up with albums, by the way, so my subconscious is a couple formats behind.)
The last CD I bought was
David Bowie, Reality
Song playing right now
The TV is tuned to a cable news channel, for I am a news junkie.
In my head, though—there's always a song playing in my head—is "Bankrobber" by The Clash.
Five songs I listen to a lot, or mean a lot to me
"Call of the Wrecking Ball" by the Knitters.
"London Calling" by The Clash.
"Vincent Van Gogh" by Jonathan Richman.
"Take the Skinheads Bowling" by Camper van Beethoven.
"If I Should Fall from Grace With God" by The Pogues.
Five people to whom I'm passing the baton
First, my apologies. I decided to help make sure fellow Mac developers get the
curse baton.
I always install new versions of OS X as clean-slate installs—I have it wipe the partition and do a completely new install. Then I move back my files and prefs, rebuild whatever Unix apps need rebuilding, etc.
Why do it that way? The idea is to remove doubt.
If you don't do a clean install, and something goes wrong later, there's that little bit of doubt that maybe the problem wouldn't have happened had you done a clean install. And now you wonder if maybe the problem won't be solved without doing a clean install.
You upgrade your own Mac, right? That makes you a Unix system administrator. Smart admins do as much as possible to avoid potential causes of doubt in the future. Doubt is a parasite that lives in computers.
With the release of NetNewsWire 2.0 finished I can finally upgrade to Tiger. I've been running it on a test machine, but haven't yet upgraded my development and day-to-day machines.
If you're not a developer, you may not realize that upgrading to a new version of OS X also means upgrading the development tools—which can have unexpected side effects. It's not something you do during the final phase of shipping software, which is why I had to put it off until now.
So today is the day to get Tiger running on my development machine. Depending on how things go I'll be able to get all my projects building and running fine. (I did some practice builds on my test machine, and all was well.)
After getting Tiger installed, my next step is to move from cvs to Subversion. I've been looking forward to it for months.
I'm taking an infrastructure break, in other words. For me it's fun.
We've had lots of people tell us that they really like how NetNewsWire uses the unified title/toolbar look on Tiger. And we've heard from two people who prefer the traditional Aqua horizontal stripes.
Things like this are very much a matter of personal taste, of course.
At any rate, anticipating that there would be a few people who prefer the traditional look, we added a hidden pref that tells NetNewsWire to use the traditional toolbar look.
Here's what to do:
1. Quit NetNewsWire.
2. In Terminal, copy-and-paste the following then hit return:
defaults write com.ranchero.NetNewsWire traditionalAquaToolbar YES
3. Launch NetNewsWire—it will use the horizontal-stripes toolbar look.
If you want to go back to unified title/toolbar, repeat the above but with NO instead of YES.
The below is possibly my very favorite screen shot. (It's of the NetNewsWire Betas page.)
A reminder—I'll be at an informal forum at the Seattle Xcoders meeting tonight on the topic of small Mac software business. If you live in or near Seattle, and the topic interests you, it would be cool to see you there.
NetNewsWire 2.0—full and Lite—has been released!
Here's what's new in 2.0.
Here's the official announcement on ranchero.com.
And here are a bunch of screen shots (click the thumbnails for the big version):
Astrobiology Magazine: Moonbase Divining for Lunar Water: "Whether a moonbase will turn out to be feasible hinges largely on the question of water. Colonists need water to drink. They need water to grow plants. They can also break water apart to make air (oxygen) and rocket fuel (oxygen+hydrogen)."
On May 12 I'll be at the next Seattle Xcoders group meeting, answering questions about running an independent Mac software business. It's an informal forum, just questions and talk. (Click the link above for details on what the Xcoders group is and where it'll be.)
See you there, I hope!
Teal Sunglasses: Rules for cats: "Do not allow any closed doors in any room. To get door open, stand on hind legs and hammer with forepaws. Once door is opened, it is not necessary to use it."
One of the changes in Tiger is that if you have set the Finder to show all file extensions (via the Advanced panel in the Preferences window) then you see the .app extension for applications.
This used to be a special case in earlier versions of the OS: you wouldn't see the .app extension.
I understand the change, because I understand the desire not to have special cases. (That's not to say I agree with it. Maybe, maybe not. I haven't formed an opinion yet.)
It did trigger a bug in NetNewsWire in Tiger: if you click Post-to-Weblog, and you have the Finder set to show all file extensions, then it wouldn't work. Your weblog editor would launch but it wouldn't open a new document window.
The next build of NetNewsWire will fix the bug, of course. In the meantime, if this is a deal-stopper for you, you can temporarily work around the bug by telling the Finder not to show all file extensions.
Daniel Berlinger is due to become a father today. Good luck to Daniel, wife, and baby!
(Daniel and I go way back. Though we've never met in person, we've been online friends for ten years.)
Tiger has provoked some new reports regarding favicons in MarsEdit and NetNewsWire. In some cases, favicons that didn't work now do work. In other cases, favicons that did work now do not work.
An example is Yahoo's favicon. Try this in Panther and Tiger:
curl 'http://www.yahoo.com/favicon.ico' > yahoo.ico
open yahoo.ico
On my machines, Preview tries to open the file. On Panther it succeeds. On Tiger I get an error message saying that the file "may be corrupt or a file format that Preview doesn't recognize."
(I've just taken you the long way 'round. You could open Yahoo's home page in Safari and note that its favicon doesn't appear in the address field on Tiger.)


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A New York Times review of Would It Kill You To Stop Doing That?, a new book on manners by Henry Alford, got me thinking about how much of my social grace I've gleaned from works of fiction. Beyond the more obvious social dramas of Austen or Fitzgerald, books can provide useful advice on how to act in certain situations—and warn of the consequences when certain behaviors are found undesirable.
I figured, if James could look to literature to gain a little perspective on zoophiles, I could consult the bookshelf to learn how to behave. What follows is a brief guide to help you get started.
- All little children should be given Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Sure, it's a little violent, but unimaginable horror never killed an eight year-old. The lesson here is embodied in the boy: at the end of days, walking around starving, the little guy hardly ever complains (or talks, for that matter), and he's spectacularly polite and loving towards his father. Does your kid whine about not getting the candy cereal at the grocery store? Hand him or her a copy. Maybe read it at night before they go to bed. See what happens.
- Do you know any sexual deviants who just need to shut up about it already? Give them a copy of Mary Gaitskill's Bad Behavior. One of the beauties of Gaitskill's short stories is how remarkably calm everybody is about how messed up their sex is. As uncomfortable and sometimes harmful as her characters can be, Gaitskill narrates in a way that shuts down all the annoying, gossipy shock value and allows the perverts to be precisely what they are: just humans.
- Even though it was published way back in 1962, I think Another Country by James Baldwin should be handed out to every white, liberal-leaning heterosexual along with their organic oats and fair trade coffee. Have you ever referred to someone else's partner as their "roommate"? Do you decorate with the aim of exhibiting your knowledge of cultural difference? Maybe you're super well-intentioned but don't understand what all the fuss is about. Mr. Baldwin can tell you.
- Is there anything worse than the plethora of man-children running around today? Guys in their twenties and thirties shirking the responsibilities of career, family, haircuts, bathing. Maybe it's time for a good look at one of the prototypes of the modern man-child: Rabbit, Run by John Updike. The book should be read not to shore up men's juvenile mindsets, but to show them that their very special feelings of entrapment and angst are anything but new. Besides, until you can narrate your life at the level of Updike's prose, your angst won't even get you any attention.
But the best reason to pick up a book of fiction? It might not even be the wisdom between the covers, but that your chances of fucking up decrease if your nose is stuck in one.
Image: tylershields.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Fireflies Captured with Long Exposure
When I was 21 I was in Virginia with my best friend. There were fireflies all over and she spent about a roll of film trying to take a photo (bear in mind we didn't have digital back then). Needless to say, when we got the roll developed, all we had was 34 photos of undergrowth. Obviously long exposure is the way to go. These are by the far more talented Tsuneaki Hiramatsu.
Via Wired


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Deep tissue massage focuses on the realignment of the deep tissue structure of the fascia and muscles, referred to as connective tissue. It is particularly beneficial for muscular-skeletal disorders that result in chronic aches and pains. The intention is to release the fibers of the muscles and release chronic muscle tension, toxins and adhesions (bands of painful, unyielding tissue), also known as "knots."
When there is chronic muscle tension or injury, adhesions often follow in muscles, tendons and ligaments. Adhesions can decrease circulation and cause pain, restrict movement and cause inflammation. Deep tissue massage works by physically breaking down adhesions to help release pain and rehabilitate normal range of motion.


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Old House Young Vibe
The New Year is already off to a great start. Feeling so blessed to get so much press in 2018! This fun project we completed a while back is featured in @hgtv magazine January-February issue!!! This vibrant couple we helped add a young vibe to this 1914 property. Mix of family heirlooms, refurbished vintage furnishings and colorful art come together to reflect personalities and lifestyle of this amazing couple! Get your copy now to see the entire spread!
Lady Eclectic
Lady Eclectic


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So after many days of hardcore editing, my wonderful photographer Frances Fitzsimmons has completed the portfolio of photographs. Here is the finished product! I can't tell you how excited I am for this launch on Friday night!!!!! Dreams are on their way!
Photographer: Frances Fitzsimmons
Stylist & Clothes Designer: Tania Clarke
Model: Jessica Feaver
Stylist & Clothes Designer: Tania Clarke
Model: Jessica Feaver
Here is a description/design aesthetic of my clothing designs:
Hope you enjoy the photographs, be sure to leave some feedback! Remember you don't have to have a google account to comment, you can simply comment as Anonymous :)


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August 25, 2010
An attempt to farewell the winter for another year; Ive had more than my fair share of the cold for this one.
These images are from Hallstatt in Austria (as well as a few from the train window on my way there) where I visited for a few days in January of this year. Hallstatt is, apparently, quite busy in the summer, but was very much a ghost town whilst I was there. I tip toed around for two days, not another tourist to be seen. It was beautiful, though, with that winning combination of houses, hills and water. I would someday like to go back there of a summertime.
Maybe I will do some more posts on places I have visited. Or maybe not. I guess it is nice for me to have the images sorted into little collections like this. We'll see.
PS- I added some info about my camera equipment to my 'about' page for those that have been asking (& hello to everyone new around here)!
August 18, 2010
Spicey Carrot and Lentil Soup
My friend Apryl cooked a Spicey Carrot and Lentil Soup for some friends and I late last year and it was so delicious I've been thinking about it ever since! For shame, though, I keep forgetting to ask for the original recipe, and instead have slowly accrued this version via a combination of rumor, hearsay and a fair bit of 'guesstimation' on my behalf. Though probably fairly bastardised from the original, this recipe still tastes great and is so easy to make that I've been eating it pretty regularly these last few wintry weeks. Pryl, please correct me where I'm wrong!
Spicey Carrot and Lentil Soup
4 Large Carrots
1 Brown Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
3 Cups Vegetable Stock
1 cup of dried (or 1 can of) red lentils
1/2 cup crushed Cashews
1 - 2 tbsp good quality Red Curry Paste (depending how spicey you like it!)
Greek Yoghurt, Coriander, Cashews & Bread to Serve.
Combine (pre-soaked, if using dried) lentils, grated carrots and veggie stock in a pot, simmering until the lentils are tender (around 15 mins). Meanwhile, sautee diced onion and garlic together with a tbsp of oil in a frying pan. To this mixture add cashews and red curry paste, stirring to combine. Add this mix to the stockpot and blend with a food processor until smooth. Add more stock/water here if needed. Serve with a dollop of greek yoghurt, coriander, extra cashews, and some crispy bread or naan on the side.
August 5, 2010
home and away
Long haul home & then away again the next day (in a car, not a plane); a wintery mini-holiday with some of my favorite peeps and pooches.
Tags // dogs, lifes a beach, queenscliff, travels, winter
August 2, 2010
when in rome
I met up with my homies Kelly & Ian while in Rome. It was hot, things were excellent - we got our tourist on, ate some delicious food, made endless bad jokes, stayed in a nice apartment and drank copious amounts of cheap wine (a bottle of red with breakfast? dont mind if I do!).
We also spent crazy amounts of time obsessing over the tobacco gelato David Lebovitz had written about a few weeks earlier. We finally made it out to the store on our last day only to find that the freezer containing that flavour had conked out earlier in the day. No tobacco gelato for us, so sad!
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The Bailey range is very sophisticated with colour inspiration from the seaside, all cushions are trimmed in white, to give that real coastal feel. These cushions are also part of our Indoor/Outdoor range made from a performance fabric. It is water, stain, mould, and mildew resistant. They are perfect for your Indoor/ Outdoor dog.
Inner cushion inserts are filled with 100% Australia made premium "A" grade polyester filling which is flea and mildrew resistant. The cotton cover retains the shape & luxurious appearance. This creates the coziest of cushions that offers premium support for your lounging pooch.
You can also upgrade your insert to an Eco (TENCEL®) insert.
- Tencel is derived from plantation timber.
- Tencel has a high moisture absorption and dispersion 50% greater than cotton.
- Tencel is a healthy option – Bacteria multiplies 200 TIMES SLOWER than on Polyester.
- Tencel is the perfect natural solution for hot pooches.
All our cushion covers are stitched in heavy duty thread and are zippered with a durable YKK zipper for easy removal.
Both inner cushion and cover are washable. Please see care label for fabric cleaning instructions.
Dog bed includes cover and inner cushion.
Sizes - Small, Medium & Large. Need a larger/different size? Contact us for a custom size quote.
Small: 65cm x 65cm x 15cm
Medium: 75cm x 75cm x 15cm
Large: 95cm x 95cm x 15cm
Colours: Pebble, Ocean, Charcoal & Driftwood.
We can also personalise your pooches bed with their name.
Need a new cover or just want to change your style? You can buy a cover only without the inner cushion insert.
Designed & manufactured in Adelaide, Australia.
Please allow up to 2 weeks for delivery.


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I recently met Greig Trout who is a double Cancer Survivor and was inspired by his outlook on life. We got to talking and he told me about some of the amazing things he has been doing and I knew I had to get him to guest post. To see some of the amazing things he is doing to live his life to the fullest, check out his website: www.101thingstodowhenyousurvive.com and follow him on Twitter. Below is a story of how he turned his second bout of cancer to something positive.
So it's all about positivity they tell me! I totally agree but how the hell do you stay positive when you don't see a future for yourself? This is how I felt as a 30 year old after recovering from my second bout with cancer. My thoughts mainly revolved around the fact that I'd had cancer twice, I now had one kidney, most of my bowel removed and my main vein that takes blood back to my heart was blocked! I was 30 years old and cancer had tried everything within its power to finish me off!
As a result of all this I suffered with Post Traumatic stress disorder which was something that I had no idea about. I diagnosed myself as an ungrateful crazy person because here I was better but thinking about cancer every moment of every day. 'When will it come back?' was the question permanently in my head. Wasn't I supposed to be this super grateful, positive, inspirational person now who said things like "cancer was the best thing ever to happen to me" like I'd read in so many cancer survivor story books.
The long and short of it was that I wasn't. The Post Traumatic stress disorder had taken over my life. I was severely anxious all the time. So much so I developed eczema all over my face and body and suffered from insomnia. I'd lie awake all night just thinking about cancer and then have to go to my job as a crime scene examiner with the Metropolitan police and do a 9 hour shift. I soon became someone who didn't even want to go out of the house as I hated people saying how tired I looked. I associated tiredness with being ill so comments about how crap I looked didn't help reduce the anxiety. I tried all sorts of therapy and even tried anti depressants. Nothing seemed to help. Eventually my relationship with my girlfriend came to an end and it was then I knew I had to sort myself out. I was no longer positive fun loving Greig.
My brother was really concerned about me and told me to go and see the world. He said I could live with him and his wife and save some money up to go away.
Not long after the break up of my relationship I had my two year all clear at the hospital. It was whilst standing waiting for my appointment that I thought that wouldn't it be great to take all the people who were still ill in the world with me on my trip. It was then that 101 Things to do when you survive was born. I decided I would film myself traveling the world showing others that 1) They can survive cancer and 2) give them ideas of things to be excited about doing in the future.
The more I planned my trip the better I felt. I started to get excited about the future again. For the past 2 years I didn't see a future for myself so to be getting excited about the future was the most wonderful feeling in the world. After a few months my eczema started to clear up and I started to sleep again. Slowly but surely I was changing back to the Greig of old. The more I told people about my plans the easier it became to tell my story.
After a few months I suddenly had Bear Grylls, sponsors and a web company agreeing to build my website. People just seemed to get what I was doing and why I was doing it.
A website designed to inspire others to believe they can survive! Just planning this trip cured me of my PTSD and started to make me feel alive again. If I could get someone receiving chemo in a hospital bed to feel excited about the future and take them away from their daily hell for just 10 seconds then the website would have done its job.
I hate the thought of people feeling like I did. I want them to know they can get better and go on and do something amazing no matter what body parts they have missing!
Will I ever say that cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me...No!! It has led me to this amazing adventure but I would rather not have been through the pain and worry and least of all put my family through it as well.
All I want to do now is be healthy and help others. In my mind I have every single person who is living through cancer making a list of things they want to do WHEN they survive!
In the words of Robin Williams character in the film Good Will Hunting....
"you'll go through hard times but they always wake you up to the good stuff you weren't paying attention too"
Believe in getting better and start making your list!
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Gudonya brings Australians together in Madrid. To be honest, it's basically to find another excuse to meet up and have a drink. Started back in 1997, its aim is to bring the Australian community together on a regular basis in a fun and informal way.
Everyone is welcome to come along. It's open to young and old, Australian, Spaniards, other ex-pats, residents and tourists, guys and girls, dogs, cats, platypuses, frilled-necked lizards...well, you get the message.
If you want to be on our e-mailing list to receive updates on upcoming events please send an e-mail via our join page


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Stanley Bruce Anstey
Lot lost discernment. He lost out on fellowship with his brethren — Abraham and his household. He lost the chance to live in the inheritance of Canaan. He lost the power of influence with his family … lost his material possessions in Sodom's judgment … lost his wife and some of his children in Sodom's judgment. 4) He Got into Bad Company Lot Gets a Second Chance Things Abraham Enjoyed That Lot Didn't Have Lot's Losses …
Pamphlet, 24 pages
#3798, $2.95
As pilgrims, we are merely passing through this scene as we journey to our heavenly home … Our resources for the way are all found in God Himself who has called us. He is for us every step of the way! …
Pamphlet, 40 pages
#9659, $2.95
Includes excellent chart comparing the priesthood and advocacy we all need.
Pamphlet, 48 pages
#9656, $3.95
What we have before us in Romans 12 is the subject of the consecration of the Christian's life to the service of God. But notice, the subject does not begin with consecration — - it begins with what we read in the end of the 11th chapter — -appreciation. …
Pamphlet, 36 pages
#9839, $2.95
Our standing, state and final condition.
#9764, $2.95
The world has its way of desensitizing our morals and conforming us to its ways and standards. …
Pamphlet, 38 pages
#9599, $2.95
Pamphlet, 16 pages
#8544, $1.95
#5551, $2.95
Paperback, 10-Point Type, 5.25" x 7.5" x .25", 104 pages
#42623, $8.95
Your friends are like the buttons on an elevator — -they can take you up, or they can take you down! …
#8894, $2.95
He knows, He sees, He hears, Nothing this truth can dim, He gives the very best, To those who leave the choice with Him. …
Pamphlet, 32 pages
#9621, $2.95
Paperback, 160 pages
#9629, $10.95
Paperback, 136 pages
#9630, $9.95
An introduction to the forthcoming book.
#1630, $1.95
A simple chart (14" x 8.5" when open) with supporting text.
Brochure, 9-Point Type, 4.7" x 8.5", 6 pages
#42099, $0.50


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CEC Jyoti said that the Gujarat Assembly elections will be held prior to December 18, to help enable simultaneous counting in both the states.
Himachal Pradesh Assembly election will be held on 9 November, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Thursday, adding dates for election to BJP-governed Gujarat's Assembly will be announced later.
The EC said that the voting for the 68-seat state assembly will be held in a single phase on November 9 and the counting of votes will held on December 18, 2017.
Making the announcement, Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti, accompanied by Election Commissioners Om Prakash Rawat and Sunil Arora said that the voting will be conducted using the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with voter-verified paper audit trial (VVPAT). The EC said that the model code of conduct comes into effect immediately.
"We will have VVPATs along with EVMs. The height of voting compartments will be increased to 30 inches. Increased the size of the screen on VVPAT machines to 10 cm by 5.6 cm for the voters to able to verify their vote easily," CEC A K Jyoti said.
Contrary to speculation, the commission has not declared the poll dates for the Gujarat Assembly election. Stating that the elections for Gujarat will be held later, CEC Jyoti said that the election will be held prior to December 18, to help enable simultaneous counting in both the states, so that the voting pattern of one region shouldn't affect the voting of another.
As reporters persisted for reasons behind not announcing dates for Gujarat polls, and if it was because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally next week in Gandhinagar, Jyoti said that was not the case. "The Gujarat chief secretary wrote to us, saying due to unprecedented floods in the state, the relief work hasn't been done and the state wanted time for that," he said, reported NDTV.
While the term of the Gujarat Assembly will end on January 22, 2018, the tenure of Himachal Pradesh assembly ends on January 7, 2018. Himachal Pradesh has 68 assembly seats. The Congress had won 36 seats and the BJP 27 in the last assembly elections. Independent candidates had won five seats.
With an estimate of 49.05 lakh voters, including at least 20,000 new ones, expected to vote for their preferred candidates, voting will be conducted at 7,521 polling stations across Himachal Pradesh. The Chief Election Commissioner further declared that apart from voter assistance booths, the state government has arranged 200 wheel chairs. Also, for the first time in Himachal Pradesh 136 all-women managed poll booths will be set up.
Also for the first time, the EC will be using RONet, an integrated application for conducted elections, which was earlier used in a pilot basis during the Ludhiana Assembly elections. Declaring that the model code of conduct is immediately put into effect, CEC Jyoti asserted that "bulk SMSes and voice messages on phone shall also be in purview of election advertisements".
Here are the key dates for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election:
Voting: 9th November, 2017
Counting: 18th December, 2017
Date of Notification of election: 13th October, 2017
Last date of nominations: 23rd October, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations: 24th October, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations: 26th October, 2017
Number of constituencies: 68


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MLK Museum: Dallas' newest African American museum
Michael McGee | 3/10/2014, 8:26 a.m. | Updated on 3/17/2014, 3:26 p.m.
The Dallas Examiner
"People were not allowed to sit at the counters and be served their food at times," said Ann Erving, as she read aloud from Child of the Civil Rights Movement to visiting preschool children.
As she held up the children's book – a work depicting the African American struggle for equal rights – Erving not only read the words upon the page and turned the illustrations toward the youngsters' curious eyes but also sprinkled into the story what it was like to have lived during that period of social change.
"It was not fair," she explained. "It was wrong."
Erving, a volunteer with the Martin Luther King Jr. Museum, read to the young group in Dallas' newest museum and tribute to the lives and works of civil rights activists. Having opened last month, during Black History Month, the permanent collection is encased in a large room within Building A of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, located at 2922 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
The mission of the museum is to keep fresh the history of the Civil Rights Movement, while also focusing on the future, said Emma Rodgers, who was part of the leadership team that helped create the museum. She explained how the museum is especially important to today's youth.
"We have to teach them about our history so that they won't make those mistakes, they'll build upon history, and move forward." Rodgers said. "Everybody's fighting for civil rights or freedom somewhere, like what's happening in Syria right now."
Rodgers walked the floor of the museum, pointing out some of the features and attractions.
"I think what really stands out is the artwork by Frank Frazier," Rodgers said as she gestured to large black and white works along the wall of the museum, created to capture the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement. Some painted figures hold placards; others hold rifles.
A photo of King hangs above a display of rusted shackles that formerly restrained the limbs of captured slaves. Numerous shelves contain book after book written about, or by, individuals both famous and forgotten who played their part in the struggle for equality; these are available to the public, Rodgers noted. There's also a large kiosk featuring video and graphics about King and his endeavors toward freedom for all.
Rodgers said she was pleased that the museum would not only examine the life of King but also the lives of those who likewise worked toward his goals. Those lesser-known individuals are always examined when schoolchildren visit, said Rodgers.
"They learned a lot about the courage it took to go to places where they would try to make change when people did not want them to make change," Rodgers said of the lessons discussed on the day of the museum's opening.
"So we talked about that being a little scary," she said with a pause, then reconsidered. "A lot scary."
Rodgers stated that the museum will strive to be stimulating and thought-provoking by exploring a new theme every month. For example, at the end of March the focus will be on Cesar Chavez.


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Interested in Becoming a Juvenile Justice Commissioner?
Vacancies occur from time to time on the Juvenile Justice Commission. We welcome volunteers willing and able to make a four-year commitment to serve on the Commission.
Attendance at monthly meetings is required and additional assignments will normally take from 4-10 hours of your time monthly.
Commission members are charged with the responsibility of inspecting the facilities that house dependent and delinquent youth in our county and assuring that the residents are safe and treated fairly.
Persons who have an interest or are concerned with the welfare of youth in the Juvenile Justice System are encouraged to apply for membership. Youth members between the ages of 14-21 are also welcome to apply. See the application form.
Oath of Confidentiality
Recognizing that all Juvenile Court matters are confidential, each Commissioner is required to sign an oath of confidentiality upon taking the oath of office. Commissioners agree to keep Commission matters, juvenile records, cases observed, investigation specifics, and inspection reports confidential prior to their approval and release. In addition, Commissioners agree to use the authority of the Commission only in the interest of the youth of the County, and to use discretion, diligence, and integrity in conducting the business of the Commission.


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We are a leading provider of global IT solutions and managed services. Find out more
Please click here to download the full CIO Survey report.
You may also be interested in an infographic that summarises the data from this year's survey.
Please follow our blog for further discussion and analysis of the survey results.


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Simple was the theme set by the kids this week for our summerphotofun project and as ever some lovely, thought provoking and funny pictures came in. Many of you used the theme of simple pleasures with things stripped back to their essence, nature, food and experiences featuring strongly along with a couple of very moving but simple memorials. You hear a lot about wanting to live a simple life as an antidote to the perception that life is now too complicated or fast paced. I'm not sure personally that I buy into the over complication argument but I also know that I live a simple, slow life in many respects and have done a long time before the slow movement became a fashionable thing. For me to enjoy life all you need are to concentrate on the simple things, time with family and friends, good food, spending time outdoors and enjoying new experiences, get that right (and I don't think it's difficult to do) and you have a path to contentment. All things outside this are just distractions, ignore as many of them as you can. I think when you look at the photos that have come in this week a lot of them are perfect slices of this way of living, none more so perhaps than the photo at the top.
As ever thanks go out to all of you who have contributed and come up with such a lovely varied gallery (I loved the oil and water shot), just click on the gallery to open it and see the photos full size. Do let us know which ones you liked in particular this week. I hope I haven't forgotten to include any but if I have let me know and I'll amend the gallery.


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Recent developments in the banking sector will come under sharp scrutiny during the Common Market for Eastern and Central Africa conference (COMESA) that starts at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies (KSMS) tomorrow.
Conference organisers, AITEC say delegates will seek ways on how best institutions can innovate to continue reaping the benefits of mobile money and provide better customer experience.
Themed "Finance SMEs – and fire up the economy," the two days event will focus on small and medium enterprise financing, including how they can leverage the mobile money platforms to grow their businesses and remain competitive.
"It will address the latest innovations and developments within the banking sector and mobile money arenas through sessions such as 'Driving the shift towards digital banking for a fully engaged customer experience," said Sean Moroney, AITEC Africa Chairman.
The summit is being held amidst a turf war pitying mobile network operators (MNOs) and banks, the latter of who are now integrating mobile money transfer (MMT) into their customer service.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) reports that consumers move an average of KES 186.4bn a month or KES 6.2bn per day on mobile money platforms.
It is as a result of the popularity of mobile money and its lucrative nature that has awakened new competition wars especially from new players coming in on a new concept dubbed Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs).
So far, three MVNOs licenses for Tangaza's Mobile Pay Limited, Zioncell Kenya Limited and one to Finserve Africa Limited, a subsidiary of Equity bank, have been issued. Innovation and competition is definitely setting pace in the country's economic growth and development.
The summit will also review the latest anti-money laundering threats and strategies, 'Agent banking for financial inclusion', the opportunities and challenges of a cashless transport sector, and financing the agricultural sector among others.
It will also create industry linkages between regional financial sector players and technology suppliers and innovators.


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'I have come to realize that like all other art forms, cooking is a vehicle for communication. If you look at a plate of food as a work of art, it can speak volumes. When I contemplate a finished dish, I feel as though I'm seeing it through 3-D glasses, while the rest of the world looks at it with bare eyeballs. Sometimes the plate is telling me more than I want to know.'
Menus 228-238 USD per person t. 7.8% s.n.i. 18-20%
terminology: t. = tax, s.n.i. = service not included, s.i. = service included


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HTC Mogul Review
The Mogul is equipped with a 2MP camera. There is a flash but since it is not a xenon flash, the range is very limited. In dark environments, it may help a little but there is little use for it if the object is a foot or further away. Once the shortcut is pressed, the interface comes up in about 2 seconds. To hold the camera upright, you have to hold it in the same direction as you would when using the physical keyboard. The camera makes full use of the widescreen and has to be held sideways, as if the keyboard was extended.
The layout is similar to the interface of other models (P3300). Once the shortcut is pressed to take a photo, the Mogul takes the picture almost immediately. About 4 photos can be taken within a 10 second period.
Picture quality is decent. The closer in that the object is, the better the quality of the photo. Due to the lack of autofocus, some photos did come out of focus.
There are three methods of listening to music in the Mogul: the speaker on the back, USB or 2.5mm headset, or Bluetooth headsets. The speaker on the back does very well considering its size. At full volume, the sound is very loud but is lacking on precision. The vocals can be drowned out easily by instruments but once the volume is turned down a little, the lyrics can be heard much better.
When using headsets that have been supplied with the phone, the sound is much clearer and precise. Even at max volume, the sound is sharp and precise. Bass is lacking on the phone but for music on the go, it is a great device. So that you don't have to use the volume rocker to adjust the volume, there is a volume control switch located on the headphones. As with all headsets provided with cell phones, the switch also has a built-in MIC and a button to accept and end calls. Unfortunately, the Mogul does not offer a 3.5mm jack but instead uses the USB connection to connect to USB headsets or 2.5mm headphones when the adapter is used.
The final method of listening to music is with Bluetooth headset. A2DP (the profile for Stereo Bluetooth) is supported so there is the ability to listen to music in stereo. The sound quality, while not terrible, leaves something to be desired. There are times where the music came in crackling or as an echo but this was very rare. While we wouldn't recommend using this method, it is a decent replacement to the other methods.
Windows Media Player (WMP) can be controlled either by using the onscreen buttons or the d-pad. With the onscreen controls, there are the regular buttons seen on WMP, play/pause, fast-forward, rewind, skip, go-back, volume up and down. Using the d-pad, up and down will control the volume. Left sends you back to the beginning of the song or the previous song when pressed but if held will rewind. Right will skip to the next song when pressed or will fast-forward when held. Both rewind and fast-forward skip the song at 5 second intervals and do this very quickly. The center button acts as the play/pause button.
If a call is coming through, WMP will pause the song and then resume it once the conversation is over. The music player can also play in the background while other functions are being performed.
The Mogul has 256MB ROM and 64MB RAM. Internal memory capacity can be expanded through the microSD card slot. It comes preinstalled with Task manager, which is located on the top right corner of your homescreen. Here you can tap and close the loaded applications in a second, in order to free RAM memory.
WM for PPC provides unlimited capabilities for installing software. The only restrictions are the memory available and the hardware of the phone. The first problem is easily solved by getting a memory card as there are microSD cards with capacity of up to several GB. Every WM6 Professional phone comes with programs that are modified, "pocket" versions known PC applications. Such programs are the mobile versions of (Microsoft) Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Internet Explorer, Explorer, Media Player, etc. The Office applications allow you to view and edit documents of the most-used types and the phone opens them without any error. Even a complicated Excel document with a few sheets is not a problem. Mogul also has Adobe PDF Reader preloaded, which like the Office works flawless. Many more programs could be downloaded from third party sources.
There are numerous programs created for this platform, almost as much as the ones intended for PCs with Windows operating system. The most popular are the various utilities for personalizing the PPC, multimedia players, file explorers, Instant Messengers, etc. You can download third party applications to be used instead of the preloaded ones.


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other words for pale purple & blush Amazon is again knocking the door and comes with many surprises. Here in this post,as usual ,we will provide amazon treasure hunt answer first on internet. Get answer of every clues asked in the treasure hunt."
other words for pale purple & blush"There are lots of people who play amazon app treasure hunt and their may be a chance to win this game.
Clue: other words for pale purple & blush
4:30 PM Clue
Answer:- Click Here For Answer
How To Play Amazon app treasure Hunt?
- First you need to download amazon app
- Now open the app and wait for the game timing.
- Before starting the game you will able to see amazon app treasure hunt Logo.
- Tap on that very logo.
- Now at 3PM, your first quiz will appear.
- Try to Solve that clue ASAP.
- Search Product Name on App.
- If your answer is correct then you will see a product at Rs-0.
- Buy that product As Soon As Possible.
- Done


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Why do you provide a managed service with every installation?
Our managed service is vital to ensure that we are taking care of every aspect of your charging facility so that you don't have to. Click here for more information.
Which pricing option do most clients choose? (Purchase or Rental)
It really depends on the clients and the sector. Typically, most clients opt for purchase + annual servicing on a 3-5 year contract. However, clients with operating budgets may prefer the rental options available.
Can you create a bespoke charging solution for me?
Yes, we have an in-house design team who can collaborate with you to create a bespoke offering that fits your brief. This is only available for larger volume orders.
Do you offer a keypad/PIN system?
Our first prototype unit was keypad/PIN solution. We quickly discovered that this was not the most secure way to lock away your devices. Our experience shows that PIN codes can be easily predicted, and seen from afar. We believe that a lock and key is the most secure solution, as well as the most hassle-free solution for our clients, and we are extremely proud of our proven security track record across our estate. With 20 million charges to date worldwide, this is something to shout about!
What infrastructure do I need to install a ChargeBox? (13amp socket, ethernet, wifi)
Each ChargeBox requires just a 13amp socket and uses a very low level of power even when fully charging devices. A fused-spur is preferable to a socket to prevent disconnection. While ethernet or wifi can be considered for the communications with our servers, we typically include 3G routers as part of our package to avoid dependencies on inconsistent networks. If you have an ethernet socket available already that can save some ongoing cost, but we do not suggest you add one just for ChargeBox.
Can my ChargeBox be customised with my company branding?
Yes, units can be fully customised with your company branding and this is achieved by wrapping the external panels. The LCD displays on the Prime and the Max units can also be customised with your own branded video, if required.
Do you offer solutions which we can charge customers to use?
Yes, we offer our secure locker solutions as a pay-to-use service which is coin operated. We typically find usage to be a fraction of that achieved by free-to-use stations, and if your requirement is customer service driven, we would encourage you to provide a free-to-use solution.
Do you provide "fast charging"?
All modern smartphones control the amount of charge they can receive for safety reasons. Claims of fast charging should be viewed very sceptically. However, some solutions will not charge devices at the maximum rate the manufacturer permits due to inferior technology. At ChargeBox we use state-of-the art USB 2.0 charging hubs which can deliver up to 2A/10Watts to devices according to need. Backed up by the use of manufacturers' cables, we guarantee a great and a safe charge.
Does the ChargeBox have to be inside?
The ChargeBox stations are designed to be housed inside, although they could be temporarily housed under cover in an outdoor environment for event purposes. This is to avoid the potential for moisture to interfere with the connection to the device which could result in damage to the user's phone or to the ChargeBox.
What are the dimensions of a ChargeBox?
Our full technical specifications are available to download on our solutions page. Please click here for more information.
How do I find a ChargeBox?
Please click here for our 'Find A ChargeBox' interactive map.
How long does a ChargeBox charge my phone for?
Typically each ChargeBox has a standard configuration of 30 minutes free charging, however a client can set this to whatever time they prefer. This should be communicated to you on the branding and/or on the touchscreen. Note that after the set time, charging stops, but the locker remains locked until the user returns with the key. For The Qube™, the charging time is typically set to unlimited.


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Glaa 1 01
Glaa 1 01
Glâa [กล้า] - "Brave"
Possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance.
The Glaa is the perfect everyday slouch bag made from hill tribe batik textiles and canvas. Internally, the bag is lined with cotton and includes a number of pockets for extra storage. The straps are made from oiled Newbuck leather. and the longer strap is detachable (as pictured).
Bag Dimensions: 46x28cm
Short Strap Length: 40cm
Long Strap Length: Max 118cm (adjustable)
**Please Note: Our bags are made from vintage handcrafted fabrics and as a result may display some visible surface wear. Any minor imperfections are indicative of the fabrics age/handmade nature and should be treated as a part of its rich history.


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Worldwide recognized as an innovative company, Robur has been founded from the very beginning on an entrepreneurial vision made of values and consistency. The wish is to create a company meant as "a community of people", where money is not a priority condition of existence.
The patent by Einstein has inspired the actual product range by Robur, a company today well recognized in the international HVAC market.
Today GAHP is recognized as one f the most competitive technology in the heating sector and has been supported by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The GAHP represents a energy efficient, low-environmental impact, high-value and cost-competitive technology in comparison with market alternatives in the sector of multi-family houses, light commercial buildings and manufacturing plants as well.
Every unit installed represents an act of respect to the world and the testimony of the real identity of Robur: environmental awareness.


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Finding The Right Slip And Fall Attorney In San Diego, CA
If you have recently sustained injury due to a slip and fall accident on another person's property, then you can pursue legal action against the business or property owner. A business that is open to the public is responsible for providing a safe environment for customers of all ages. Visitors should expect to be able to walk from their cars into the business place without the event of falling and sustaining injuries. When an employee enters the work area, he should be able to complete his job without being injured due to a wet floor or similar situation. Just as an apartment renter should be able to leave their complex without falling due to dangerous flooring.
Types of Slip-and-Fall Accidents
Personal injury attorneys in San Diego represent victims of slip-and-fall accidents every day. The categories of common slip-and-fall accidents include cracked sidewalks, poorly lit parking lots, icy walkways, dark stairwells, malfunctioning escalators, wet floors, cluttered aisles in stores, unsafe playgrounds, poorly maintained bleaches at sporting events, damaged flooring, walkway debris, and potholes.
California Liability Law
California law states that business and property owners may be held liable for any injuries caused by inadequate maintenance of the property, improper lighting, or unsafe conditions that could lead to a slip-and-fall incident. If the accident is caused by negligence of the property owner, the victim that sustained injuries has the right to legal compensation for any financial hardships resulted from the incident.
If You've Been Injured
If you have been injured in the workplace by falling from poorly maintained flooring or if you have sustained injuries at a park or nursing home, a personal injury attorney specializing in slip-and-fall incidents can fight on your behalf to obtain legal relief for any hardships faced due to the incident. Gather medical documents, photographs and any evidence you have to allow your attorney to review the case and determine whether pursuing legal action will be successful. Remember never to attempt to negotiate with insurance companies by yourself or admit fault.
San Diego slip and fall lawyer Yasmine Djawadian relentlessly fights to ensure justice is served for the slip-and-fall victims and their loved ones. She specializes in all fields of personal injury including wrongful death, slip-and-fall, truck accidents and other personal injuries and is passionately seeking adequate legal relief for her clients. Don't wait, call her today for a free legal consultation.


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IDC and Milliken Announce First Annual Design Research Award Winners
IDC and Milliken are excited to announce two recipients of the first annual Design Research Award: Angela Bourne (Educator/Practitioner) and Doaa Khattab (Student) from both Ontario. Sponsored by Milliken, certificates and cash prizes of $5,000 for the educator/practitioner winner and $2,500 for the student winner were awarded at IDC's 43rd Annual Meeting in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The annual award recognizes individuals who demonstrate excellence and innovation through interior design research, including projects conducted at the masters or doctorate level and through major projects by final-year students.
"I am honored to receive this award and appreciate how much it recognizes the years of research I undertook while completing my PhD in Environmental /Interior Design and my current research trajectory," said educator/practitioner award winner, Angela Bourne whose research focused on designing for adults with intellectual development diversities. "I look forward to using these funds to do new research that contributes to the development of best practices for the design of built environments that are socially sustainable," Bourne said.
Student award winner, Doaa Khattab's research concentrated on rethinking the grocery store and the importance of an inclusive wayfinding system for visually impaired shoppers. "Receiving this award will encourage others to focus on an inclusive design approach that removes barriers. This will therefore allow people to participate equally and independently in everyday activities," said Khattab.
"We couldn't be more excited to acknowledge and celebrate our two winners this year," said Susan Wiggins, IDC CEO. "Milliken's generosity has helped us highlight the importance of research as a tool in the interior design process."
The winning entries demonstrated relevance to the profession by outlining the potential impact of their research on the profession and/or the human experience.
"Angela and Doaa's research provides evidence that meaningful interior design can improve the built environment in a way that enhances people's lives on a daily basis," said Stacy Walker, director of customer experience for the Milliken floor covering division. "Their leadership in producing purposedriven solutions shows what 'good design' entails - enhancing the interior experience of every person."
Next year's award will be open for entries in spring 2016.


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During the first phase of the 2012 presidential campaign, the focus of Republican candidates was, to cite James Carville, "the economy, stupid." But as recent economic data shows a slow but unmistakable recovery, lower unemployment and the highest consumer confidence level in a year, there's been a sudden change of conversation among the Republican candidates.
As economic talk has receded a bit on the campaign trail, foreign policy issues have become more prominent in GOP contenders' speeches and public appearances.
"The issue may not be jobs and the economy," Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum recently told followers in Missouri. "It may be something more fundamentally important: Having someone who stood up for something called freedom."
The former Pennsylvania senator and longtime foreign policy hawk criticized rival Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and venture capitalist, for focusing too much on the economy.
"We have candidates running around saying they want to run for CEO of America," Santorum said. "I'm running to be the commander-in-chief for America."
Santorum's attacks come as both men have both begun focusing more often on subjects such as Iran's nuclear program, the U.S. currency dispute with China and recent violence in Afghanistan.
"No doubt the GOP candidates will still focus on the economy, especially the still-high jobless rate and rising gas prices," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at University of Virginia. "But should Americans turn optimistic on the economy and give President Obama a pass on those concerns, they have to have other pillars to their campaigns. Real events in Iran, Afghanistan, and the Middle East are providing an opening to discuss how they would differ with Obama on foreign policy."
Sabato says the shift could be good politics for Santorum.
"Before Americans will replace an incumbent president, they need to be assured that the challenger is ready to step into the role of commander-in-chief," he said.
At the AIPAC conference held in Washington earlier this month, Santorum stepped up the rhetoric's against Iran's nuclear program.
"If Iran doesn't get rid of nuclear facilities, we will tear them down ourselves," he said at the conference, which is the largest gathering of pro-Israel advocates.
Romney also attacks Obama on Iran, but he also has been very vocal on the nation's currency dispute with China. He wants to crack down harder on Beijing for holding down its currency artificially and claims that the Chinese has "walked all over Obama."
"If I'm president of the United States, that's going to end. On Day One, I will declare China a currency manipulator, allowing me to put tariffs on products where they are stealing American jobs unfairly," Romney said during a visit at a factory in Ohio.
GOP longshot Newt Gingrich seems to agree in the strategy to shift criticism of the Obama administration from the economy to foreign policy, and on last week's Sunday morning news shows, he focused on the war in Afghanistan. As did Romney, who attacked Obama for failed leadership in Afghanistan and towards Iran when he discussed foreign policy on the morning news shows.
But Norm Ornstein, a political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, says that voters shouldn't take all of the tough talk too seriously.
"When a presidential candidate gets elected president, one of the first thing that happens is that they get a lot of briefings by experts. This makes it clear what the consequences of things such as bombing Iran or declaring China a currency manipulator will be, and that's why they don't go through with it," he said.
Though both a war with Iran and a U.S. declaration that China is manipulating its currency could become reality if either Santorum or Romney win the election in November, it isn't likely that either will happen, according to Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. O'Hanlon said that there's quite often a gap between what the candidates say they'll do when in office, and what they actually do if they get there.
"The candidates are looking for ways to get headlines and distinguish themselves from each other. It has more to do with campaigns and campaigning than with candidates and knowledge and limits," O'Hanlon said.
"When in office, you have hundreds or thousands of people helping you understand and frame and then implement options, whereas campaigns are fly-by-the-seat affairs," he said.
AEI's Ornstein says the tough talk on global issues is likely to continue.
"The presidential candidates have only one goal in mind: winning the nomination and winning the election," he said. "They're going to think about how to get delegates and votes, not if it's actually realistic to implement the proposed policy. That's why they're speaking in black on white on issues where there are a hundred shades of gray."


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StreetArt Mexico
Francisco and I love design, drawing and art. Every time we go in a city as Paris, Brussels, Barcelona or Santiago, we go to museums and we take pictures of the best drawings we see while walking on the streets.
The first time we came in Playa del Carmen, we have been surprised by how much street art there was around the city. I mean, there are literally everywhere. They give such a nicer and younger vision of some old quarters. We have chased our favorites graffiti & stencils around the city, to show you something different that we are used presenting on the blog.
Feel free to tell us what kind of articles do you prefer reading on the blog! Every feedback, comment and likes is always welcome.
With love,


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[slideshow] Since we launched RootDown LA over four years ago, we've viewed our work through something of a "supply and demand" paradigm. We'd heard about corner store conversion projects in South LA and always wondered, is the demand being built to meet the increase in fresh produce folks want to bring into these corner stores?
RootDown launched initial programming to focus on the demand side of food systems change. First and foremost, if we want to sell more veggies, we have to get people to eat more veggies. We do this through after-school and community cooking classes, Healthy Food Tastings, and our new Service Learning project, teaching high school students the tricks to make veggies taste better, then helping them bust the myths that healthy food is too nasty, expensive or inconvenient to eat every day.
In 2011, RootDown LA also started addressing the supply side of food systems change - we are now engaging youth in the growing of fresh produce, through our in-school and residential gardens and neighborhood compost program.
We were honored last year, to be invited to connect with the Community Market Conversion (CMC) program, and other local food orgs. in South Los Angeles, that recognize the importance of engaging the community to support increases of fresh produce in our neighborhoods.
While participating in planning talks with the CMC program, we got excited about the idea of creating a supply of produce right where it would meet consumer demand - directly at the market. Money Saver's Meats owner, Ozabe Banks, jumped on the idea and invited us to break ground at his store. Since winter, we have brought on three local youth to amend the soil, build raise beds, and help grow and promote the same kind of fresh foods Mr. Banks wants to sell through the market.
Thanks to the Clif Bar Family Foundation who just gave us a small grant to keep this project growing. We intend to build a model to figure out more ways we can engage local high school youth in a market-centered neighborhood local food program.