20th
February
2004
“Morse code is entering the 21st century — or at least the late 20th. The 160-year-old communication system now has a new character to denote the @ symbol used in e-mail addresses. In December, the International Telecommunications Union, which oversees the entire frequency spectrum, from amateur radio to satellites, voted to add the new character. The new sign, which will be known as a ‘commat,’ consists of the signals for ‘A’ (dot-dash) and ‘C’ (dash-dot-dash-dot), with no space between them. The new sign is the first in at least several decades, and possibly much longer. Among ITU officials and Morse code aficionados, no one could remember any other addition.”
posted in Communications | Permalink |
20th
February
2004
“About a month ago, I turned on the Public Radio International program Studio 360 and was pleased to hear the unmistakable Bronx accent of legendary adman George Lois, who was host Kurt Andersenís guest that morning. The talk inevitably turned to Loisís covers for Esquire in the sixties, the high point of his career and probably one of the high points in 20th century American graphic design, period. Why, wondered Andersen, didnít anybody do covers like these any more? ‘Theyíre all infatuated with the idea that celebrity, pure celebrity, sells magazines,’ growled Lois.”
posted in Graphic design | Permalink |
20th
February
2004
“At the same time The Unstrung Harp was being published, [Edward] Gorey was embarking on another project, one which turned out to be part and parcel of a major change occurring in the paperback book industry: Designing the covers for the new Anchor Books.”
posted in Illustration | Permalink |
20th
February
2004
“Q&A: O’Reilly programmer and technology maven Rael Dornfest looks beyond Web services and social networking… Rael Dornfest speaks quickly but calmly when he discusses trends. The words pour out with a hint of a foreign accent; he’s glad to release what his high-bandwidth brain has already absorbed and processed. Dornfest codes software, edits books, and organizes conferences for OíReilly & Associates, the publisher of popular instructional manuals for programmers. The job gives him a close up perspective on computingís grass roots movements.”
posted in Technology | Permalink |
20th
February
2004
“This article is intended for anyone interested in categorizing links (or any other data) so that users can click through a hierarchical ‘tree’ of categories until they find the data they want. Integrating a search engine, by adding metadata to the database, is also discussed.”
posted in Information architecture | Permalink |
20th
February
2004
“Gerard Unger’s typeface designs have added both style and legibility to any number of publications. Until now, however, his influence has been less obvious than it might be, because his work is scattered in so many places. The debut of his own Web site concentrates examples of all of his work in one place, making it easier to see both the forest and the trees. It’s also a well-designed site with a lot of useful information.”
posted in Typography | Permalink |
