Updates

alternateorg on October 24, 2002

So work’s been going really well, which is the reason for the obvious lack of activity here. I’ll be surprised if anyone actually checks here anymore. If you do, the chances are that I know you personally.

Anyway, just a heads up. I’ll be out of the state this weekend, as my cousin is playing for ASU in Arizona, and we’re meeting some other family members there for a rootin’ good time. I’m planning on using the 2 14 hour drives in 4 days to catch up on some much-needed sleep, hopefully resulting in my not using phrases such as ‘”rootin’ good time.” My lovely iPod will be keeping me company, my only concern being that 5GB of music won’t be enough.

Some random thoughts:

  • Soul Coughing’s ‘Screenwriter’s Blues’ is as addictive as crack, and much less harsh on the lungs. “We are all going to Receda someday, to die…” Check it out.
  • iChat is a great app, once you’ve got it configured to not be gay.
  • Object-oriented PHP makes life that much easier. At least while you’re coding PHP.
  • How cool is it that I get to design the interface for what is basically RetinalPMS, only it’s my employer footing the bill? The answer is very cool, as I don’t feel like my ideas for a web-based project-management system are going to waste
  • I’ll be adding a poll for you to decide whether I should buy a .Mac account or not. The low-down: My wife uses iPhoto/homepage to host images for her ebay auctions, and it’s way easy for her to use, as it’s all integrated. The replacement photo service she switched to has been down for 3 days now. I use homepage to show pictuers of our kids to family abroad. Yet the entire thing now costs $100/year. Still undecided, basically because I can build something that does all of this, runs on hosting I already have, and looks however I want it to look. On the other hand, that will take lots of time and I’d almost rather buy the service and have it taken care of.

    • Ambushed by Donahue

    alternateorg on August 21, 2002


    White kept harping on the fact that GTA3 was the top-selling game in the country, as if it were representative of the industry as a whole. If we went only a few more notches down the charts, we would have found games like Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Sims, Civilization 3, Spiderman, and Rollercoaster Tycoon. M-rated games make only about 9 percent of the gross revenue from the American games industry. The game industry is more diverse than it was a decade ago, the technology and storytelling more sophisticated, the market more far-reaching, but the reformers keep beating the same dead horses. White and her allies describe games as commodities no more valuable and every bit as dangerous as cigarettes. I call games an art, and challenge game designers to live up to their responsibilities as artists and storytellers.

    I hope all CNN/MSNBC/HeadlineNews viewers would read this article and understand how set-up and fake those ‘crossfire-style’ shows are. News today is entertainment, not news. I feel really bad for this guy not only because he’s got good intentions and is going about them in a civilized way, but also because his points never even had a chance of getting themselves made, and that’s why he was invited on the show.

    Retinal

    alternateorg on May 20, 2002

    I have very quietly launched a new design direction for myself.. (ssshhhh…). It also outlines my new open-source RetinalPMS (project management system) that I’m in the process of developing. Take a look and tell me what you think.

    Roots of the Apple tree…

    alternateorg on May 3, 2002

    I dont know how many of you know this, but I work(ed) for Apple until this morning. It has been almost 2 years and 2 departments. First iTools, then Apple Retail. It has been very interesting and educational to be with two Apple “startups” during the beginning of each. All I can say is Apple is just another corporation and I for one am glad to get the fuck out of corporate America… at least for the forseeable future. I am going back to working with friends doing print work, typesetting and design. Hallelujah. I need to be creative again, web/programming work and tech/customer service just arent my gigs anymore. Anyway, I know none of you care, but I am going to be posting as ‘”trk”, the initials of my real name, Tai Ram Kahn. So, now that I am not under NDA, expect some Apple posts but a little less refrain on my part. Dont get me wrong, they are still the best computers in the world, just not the best corporation, as I once thought.

    taikahn.com

    Cowabunga, dude.

    alternateorg on April 3, 2002

    Not sure how many designerds there are out there… but Surfstation redesigned. They dropped the landing page thing and made it way cleaner. There are barely any non-essential design elements and it’s actually very nice. Check it out even if you aren’t a designer.. And if you look at it relatively soon, you’ll see a link to a site done by friends of Alternate, Liberation Media. Cool.

    Maybe if I'd had a baby ask her out…

    alternateorg on March 27, 2002

    How very, very, very very odd to see someone you went to elementary school with on television. I even asked her out in the 8th (or was it 9th…?) grade. I’m glad she’s made it.. or as close as being on a show called ‘Baby Bob’ is to making it. Too bad there’s no picture on the CBS site, though… Here’s some on her ‘official’ website.. Think she needs a redesign?

    Oh, and she did turn me down. I guess that’s what you get for doing it from a moving bus.