News – Software, Fitness, and Gaming – Jesse Warden

Writely’s New Interface

JesterXL — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 17:01:19 +0000

Google-fied! Still doesn’t work on Safari, the main Mac browser. I’ve only had 2 minutes to give her a once over. When I went to bed, it was the old domain name and old interface. This morning it’s the customary simple blue and white that Google uses on a lot of its applications. It’s now part of docs.google.com. It’s main new feature is the integration with Google’s Spreadsheets, kind of like Excel online. You can view both set of documents, as well as collaborate on them both now. Some interface elements have been moved around, but I don’t really have anything more useful to report. You can read more here. I liked the old interface, but recognize the need for consistent branding and perceived integration.

Writely is an online word-processing application. For those who have Word, it’s not very impressive. It has collaborative editing; meaning multiple people can edit the same document at the same time, all from a web browser. It’s useful to me because my Mac has no decent programs on it. Writely is better than TextEdit for example. I used Writely last night to write the previous blog entry. What IS impressive is that all you need is a web browser (except Safari on Mac), you can access your documents anywhere, and have a nice application for word processing.

Chicks Dig Hugs, Guys Dig Swords and Caves

JesterXL — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 19:55:59 +0000

I usually like to discount these types of studies but this one is pretty dead on. It explains how behavioral studies into stress for women differs greatly than that of men. This is significant because previously it was assumed everyone had a fight or flight reaction to stress, whereas this study indicates women instead prefer to nuture relationships with other women as a reaction to stress.

Corroboration Examples.

Me: “Dude, today was stressful!” Goes to office, closes door, turns lights out, and proceeds to play single-player game to let off steam.

Her Majesty: “Today was stressful!” Proceeds to tell me about her day, and wants to spend time together talking.

Me: “Dude, this code is hard. I’m going to solve this or die trying!” Proceeds to actively and agressively focus 100% of all physical and emotional resources on solving problem.

Her Majesty: “This project is challenging and I enjoy it, but this one particular person is driving me nuts!” Proceeds to go talk to female co-worker friends.

I’m sure I could think of a few other scenarios where she acted just like me, however. For example, when she gets pissed in Counterstrike, she’ll grab the n00b cannon, some armor, and just run non-stop into every room shooting with abandon in a berserker rage.

Anyway, pretty interesting to read the chemical reasons why we act the way we do.

UCLA Study on Friendship Among Women

Via her majesty.

Flickr’s New Non-Flash Organizer

JesterXL — Wed, 17 May 2006 00:41:43 +0000

Just read Nathan Pitman’s report about the updated Flickr Gamma version. One particular note was the Organizer is no longer done in Flash. Scanning the the announcement page, help page, and bug list, I couldn’t really find any information or context as to why. Anyone have any more info?

Fake Story? Cingular Patents the Emoticon

JesterXL — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:21:38 +0000

Via Cellular News.

Just to debunk this story before the blogs take off with it, searching for the number provided by Cellular News at the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s online search does not come up any results.

Can anyone confirm the patent is real?

Adobe Gets in the Labs Mix

JesterXL — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 07:59:21 +0000

There is a new Adobe Beta called Adobe Lightroom at the labs. It’s nice to see Adobe so quickly ~~adapt~~ adopt the Macromedia lab mindset.

The front-page picture is really nice and soothing, but I get nervous when that giant eye stares at me at 1:00am…