Veerle's blog

I’m still recovering from the shock after seeing this lovely cruise ship drawn in Adobe Illustrator. Be sure to zoom in on the different segments of the boat.

I’m using and reading a lot about web standards for a while now, and it’s becoming clear to me that using these standards isn’t just something to be proud of to say “hey your site validates welcome to the club”, it’s so much more. But unfortunately you sometimes get the feeling that when you do you are part of an “elite” of web designers and that’s it. Just using it and telling others about it etc. is not enough. Thing is, if we only do this then I think next year and the year after that everything will still be the same, a small group of designers will use web standards but the majority will still create I.E. only websites etc. So my question is, where do we go from here?

I have this typical habit of giving my HD a personal name, and mostly I give it the code-name of the machine or a name from one of my favorite TV series etc. My new Apple PowerBook 17” is called Hammerhead, its actual code-name. Don’t they all have cool code-names? Take “Dark Star” for instance code-name for an Xserve G5, or the original PowerMac G4 was called Yikes! Here is full list for your inspiration ;-)

These are some of the names we use: Hammerhead, Dark Angel, our Airport Extreme is called SD6 (not that we’re bad…but SD6 is the bad alliance in the stunning TV series Alias), ... We always change its icon too, another habit I guess ;-)

So now I’m wondering if I’m alone in this. And is this only a Mac thing? Please post how yours is called and free me of this bugging curiosity :-D

Today Apple released an update to it’s PowerMac line. You can now choose between a dual 1.8 Ghz and a dual 2.0 Ghz. The top-of-the-line is a dual 2.5 Ghz.  So what’s amazing about this? To cool, Apple designed a sophisticated liquid cooling system that takes off the heat without bumping up the noise. Mac OS X dynamically adjusts the flow of the fluid and the speed of the fans based on temperature. So it’s safe to assume that this machine will be quiet.

An innovative vector-based illustration and graphics tool has just earned its place on my PowerBook 17”. Unbelievable, but Expression 3 is free and it’s from Microsoft! Free?Euh?... Is this a way to make up for all the headaches we have with I.E. issues? ;-)