Google Chrome is a peaceful browser

I was about to write up a post on how I broke down some spider webs today, and about an hour later I found a hearty scout troop of ants marching along the same area, well, looking to see what they could see. I wanted to find some verbiage on the epic power struggles in nature, so I opened up my favorite web browser, but was ultimately denied.

I ran in to a very weird glitch with Google Chrome (5.0.375.125) where, when Googling “power struggle”, without the quotes, returned absolutely no results. The search from the homepage works fine in Safari and Firefox, but for some reason Google Chrome wants to keep me in the dark.

I’ve tried all sorts of things, even copying and pasting the search URL from Firefox into Chrome, and I still get nothing. Adding words to the search works fine, and misspelling it event suggests it… but still, no results found. Is there a message in here I’ve been chosen to bear?

After a brief pause…

That dastardly Unheard Playlist… will it ever be vanquished? As you may have noticed, there was a slight silence that had taken hold of the project. Suddenly, and perhaps a bit unexpectedly, the wife and I whisked ourselves away to the Portland area to begin setting up shop in our new home. Setting up a new home turned into a 16-hour return drive, which in turn morphed into a sudden realization that many things must be packed and purged. So, the project, for now, is put on hold.

One thing I’d like to note though: The 16-hour drive, we did straight. I prefer a straight drive as opposed to breaking it up over two days, and another one of my smart playlists came through the trip with shining colors. My “Forgotten Gems” playlist (anything with 4 stars or more that hadn’t been heard in the last month), had stocked up quite a nice assortment of tracks during the race towards zero, and there was plenty of music on it, more than 16 hours worth, to pass the time.

When we’re resettled, the project shall continue, but for now, I must press ‘pause’.

Racing Towards Zero – Day 7:
Cake Like – My Guy

Hey you watch Reno 911, right? You know Wiegel… well her real name is Kerri Kenney-Silver, and she’s also a part of the legendary comedy troupe The State, of MTV fame. You’ve probably seen her in everything else anyone in The State has ever been in, but what you may not have known is that, once upon a time, in the grunge heyday of the 1990′s, she actually had A BAND.

That band was called Cake Like, and though today, what with the tradition of comedy musical acts such as Adam Sandler, Flight of the Conchords and the like, you might expect it to be something similar, and indeed it is not. Cake Like was 100% authentic all-girl indie 1990′s alternative alright, and today’s pick from the unheard archives demonstrates that nicely. I present to you “My Guy”, off of Cake Like’s third and final album, Goodbye, So What?

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A Little Bit Like the Future

I should start off by saying that when the iPad was first released, I really wasn’t interested. As a graphic designer and web developer, I didn’t really see a need for it, and a lot of the techno-savvy internet felt the same way. Apple made a device for the large consumer market, a device that would give them everything they need for the basic computing experience. It wasn’t for me, and I came to terms with that.

And then it happened. A client called, and said, “So you know this new iPad thing, will our site work on it?” And then another, and another. Somehow Apple’s marketing convinced my clients that it was going to be, to paraphrase Ron Burgundy, “kind of a big deal” and through them, convinced me as well.

My impressions so far? Impressed. If you’ve used an iPhone, the quickeness of it is kind of shocking. It flips and spins and pinches and zooms with fluidity I haven’t seen on another device yet. The iBooks app is nice, and all my public domain ePub books from Google Books synch right up through iTunes. I’d love to get a PDF reader on here eventually, because it’s perfectly suited for reading.

One thing that really amazes me is that, after using it for a bit, you can tell this thing was designed. I mean, they put some serious brain power into it. The first time I held it, I touched my thumbs together across the screen and realized the width allowed me total control. The proportion is almost cute. On its side, the keyboard is about the same size as a regular keyboard and, as with the iPhone, after a short adjustment period I’m typing as fast, if not faster, than I do on a real keyboard.

So I’m a fan. I went from not wanting one, to needing one, to accepting it into my life. It may not have been the most direct marketing path Apple beat to my door, but whatever it was, it worked.

And now it’s time to making things ready for the iPad, so the next time a client asks me if their site will work on the iPad, I can tell them “As a matter of fact, it already does.”

- Sent from my iPad

And then there was this…

For my birthday this year I decided to give myself a blog. I don’t like to make promises, especially when it comes to blogging, but one thing I will say: I will never in the life of this blog make a top <enter number here> list. I will not re-blog.

For you, my reader, I will create content, as opposed to just passing along something someone passed along that someone passed along. So, hopefully you will find something good to read, especially if you’re interested in design, media, and the world around us.