Linked List: December 8, 2009

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Daring Fireball T-Shirts, Available This Week Only 

I’ve re-opened the DF t-shirt store with the classic logo tee, as well as the inverted-color silver one. There are a few dozen shirts from the last run still in stock, and next week we’ll print a new batch to cover the remaining orders. Most orders won’t ship until next week, so orders shipped within the U.S. should make it in time for Christmas, but international orders should not count on it. (Even Canada, alas — Canadian customs takes a few days.)

Also, if you order, please be sure to double-check your shipping address when you check out at PayPal. A lot of people have old addresses tied to their PayPal accounts.

‘We Own the Hell Out of That Bell’ 

Mike Monteiro on the Liberty Bell as an icon for Philadelphia, which Brand New’s Kosal Sen called “uninspired and obvious” in an aforelinked piece today:

The issue here is on Mr. Sen’s use of ‘uninspiring and obvious.’ By which I believe Mr. Sen means it was not a ‘clever’ choice. And I’d agree with that. It’s not clever, but neither does it have to be. The goal of design is to nail the problem, not showcase the cleverness of the designer. There are times when the solution to the problem is such a ridiculous slam dunk that cleverness only gets in the way of good work.

The problem with the new Philadelphia brand isn’t the bell. It’s the crap execution.

Seeking out the best solution, even if obvious, rather than the solution that makes the designer look the most clever or original, is a sign of maturity. Don’t run away from the obvious, run with it.

U.S. Helps Frequent Fliers Make a Mint 

Scott McCartney, for the WSJ:

At least several hundred mile-junkies discovered that a free shipping offer on presidential and Native American $1 coins, sold at face value by the U.S. Mint, amounted to printing free frequent-flier miles. Mileage lovers ordered more than $1 million in coins until the Mint started identifying them and cutting them off.

Coin buyers charged the purchases, sold in boxes of 250 coins, to a credit card that offers frequent-flier mile awards, then took the shipments straight to the bank. They then used the coins they deposited to pay their credit-card bills. Their only cost: the car trip to make the deposit.

Brilliant. (Via Kottke.)

Artwork From Panic’s Failed Series of Atari 2600 Games 

You knew Panic had a company blog, right? Well, they do as of today, and, of course, it is awesome. (Don’t miss the bits of subtle CSS trickery that, e.g., slightly skews the text baselines.)

These Atari 2600-style predecessors to their current software lineup are so well-done I’m at a loss for words. It’s one thing to pick apt colors and use the right typeface. It’s another to commission pitch-perfect paintings in that specific intricate style, and to actually print them up and make them real.

Darby Lines on AT&T’s ‘Mark the Spot’ iPhone App 

It’s a great idea for an app. My only gripe is that the UI is for shit.

Gizmodo Sees a JooJoo Tablet in Person 

I’m not seeing how this is in any way better than an old spare MacBook. It’s too big to be more convenient than a regular laptop, but lacks a regular laptop’s keyboard. Doesn’t seem tempting to me at all. Put me down as predicting failure.

Google Chrome for Mac Beta 

There’s a lot to like about it, but with just about no scripting support whatsoever, I can’t really use it. Extensions don’t work on the Mac version yet, either.

And I can’t stand how the close button for tabs is on the right. On the Mac, close goes on the left.

A Better Logomark and Slogan for Philadelphia 

Philly isn’t hard to get, people.

Andy Ihnatko: The Seven Words You Can’t Say in a Dragon iPhone App 

Andy Ihnatko discovered that the just-released iPhone edition of Dragon NaturallySpeaking won’t translate swear words:

Apparently, Dragon is perfectly fine with the concept of sucking (the Mets do it all the time, and most of those guys are millionaires). It’s also willing to give me the benefit of the doubt regarding a word that often describes roosters and what you must do with a revolver before you keep the little feathery bastard from ever waking you up before dawn ever again. But when you put those two words together, the Dragon collapses into the nearest fainting couch.

Bizarrely, it censors “motherfucker” not to “motherf*cker” but rather “m*therfucker”. I suspect their censorship routine simply strips out the first vowel.

Anyway, the question at hand: Was this Dragon’s own doing, or was it a demand from Apple?

Dragon’s Lair for iPhone 

$5 in the App Store. It pains me to think about how much I blew on this as a 10-year-old in the arcade.

Sickly. You don’t need to “tip” the Liberty Bell at a jaunty angle. It’s the fucking Liberty Bell — one of the greatest icons in the world. And if you were to tip the Liberty Bell at a jaunty angle, the clapper wouldn’t hang in the middle. Don’t get me started on the Trebuchet. This is despicable.

Update: Brand New’s server crapped out. Here’s a cached version.

NYT: Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Water 

Charles Duhigg, reporting for The NYT:

More than 20 percent of the nation’s water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data. […]

Regulators were informed of each of those violations as they occurred. But regulatory records show that fewer than 6 percent of the water systems that broke the law were ever fined or punished by state or federal officials, including those at the Environmental Protection Agency, which has ultimate responsibility for enforcing standards.