Newer-model iPods give this message when you attempt to connect them to a computer via FireWire:
FireWire connections are not supported. To transfer songs, connect the USB cable to dismiss.
This demonstrates key elements of a good error message:
Sure beats “connection failed, -2819,” doesn’t it?
My friend Doug and his buddy Heath have embarked on The Tuxedo Travels — a four-month trip by “two fools who barely know each other” from Hong Kong to London entirely overland, wearing only tuxedos.
Of course, they’re blogging the whole thing.
Alynda Wheat in this week’s Entertainment Weekly‘s Tonight’s Best TV:
Friday Night Lights
NBC, if you don’t renew this show, I swear I’ll take every n, b, and c out of this column! A d if you etwork astards thi k I’m joki g, you just try me.
Enric Teller shared a video of Sam Shaber goofing off at my most recent house concert.
On March 23, 2007, I received an email from MoveOn titled “Rep. Pelosi does the right thing on Iraq.” It began like this:
Dear MoveOn member,
We’re one step closer in the fight to end the war. Today the Iraq Accountability Act passed Congress. For the first time, Congress passed a real deadline to end the war—by fall of 2008. Your representative, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi voted right and helped make that happen.This was a very hard vote for members of Congress. But Rep. Pelosi supported Speaker Pelosi in her strategy to wind down this war. Can you write her a quick note to say ‘thanks’ for bringing us one step closer and to keep up the fight until all our troops are home?
Look at the second paragraph: This was a very hard vote for members of Congress. But Rep. Pelosi supported Speaker Pelosi in her strategy to wind down this war.
No, there’s only one Pelosi in Congress. It’s just MoveOn’s software that’s a little overzealous. People in Pelosi’s congressional district should have received a differently-worded letter, or none at all.
My favourite Canadian bank, PC Financial added a brilliantly designed feature to their ATMs:
No more addition mistakes. Enter checks one at a time, and let the ATM do the math. So smart! Why didn’t anyone think of that before?
Wells Fargo does this now, too — they scan the checks and read the amount in automatically. And they no longer require envelopes.
PC Financial’s relatively low-tech solution is something that can work with all existing ATMs, and doesn’t require new hardware or banking laws.
On the other hand, take a look at the work of a clueless Canada Post graphic designer:
Canada post’s ship-in-a-click, part 2
No wonder Canada Post is so slow at delivering things — all their mice are upside down.
This is from my American Express blue online statement. Apparently "24, 25, 26, 25" is descending order. Sigh.
My new Trek bike came with not one, not two, but three warning stickers. They difficult to read, state only the obvious, help no one, and leave an annoying, gooey mess when you remove them.
I wonder if bikes in other countries have to be covered with crap like this.
Paris is about to get what could be the world’s largest Yellow Bike Program(ish):
On July 15, the day after Bastille Day, Parisians will wake up to discover thousands of low-cost rental bikes at hundreds of high-tech bicycle stations scattered throughout the city, an ambitious program to cut traffic, reduce pollution, improve parking and enhance the city’s image as a greener, quieter, more relaxed place.
By the end of the year, organizers and city officials say, there should be 20,600 bikes at 1,450 stations — or about one station every 250 yards across the entire city. Based on experience elsewhere — particularly in Lyon, France’s third-largest city, which launched a similar system two years ago — regular users of the bikes will ride them almost for free.
San Francisco, it’s your turn now.
In the Seattle Times, Floyd McKay laments the unfriendly US border:
In a reputable international survey, 39 percent said the U.S. was the world’s worst in terms of being traveler-friendly, including document processing and “having immigration officials who are respectful toward foreign visitors.” The Middle East and South Asia were “next worst,” at 16 percent. Canada was cited by only 2 percent.
This survey, by Discover America Partnership, an advocacy organization for America’s tourism industry, confirms what a lot of borderites already know — we seem to go out of our way to insult, intimidate and discourage visitors. We’ve gone across the border with Scottish friends, middle-aged professionals who were pulled out of line, rudely questioned and kept waiting for no apparent reason. One friend, after witnessing U.S. border agents harass an East Asian family, said it reminded him of his native South Africa.