Here's an interesting story about

Here's an interesting story about how the new Euro banknotes were designed on the Mac, using Photoshop and Freehand.

Dave says that Macworld Expo

Dave says that Macworld Expo isn't allowing personal Web site writers, editors or creators to register as media. Okay, I understand why this is the case. The point of the web is that everyone can publish. The point of having special media access is so that those of us who work as journalists can get our work done without everyone fretting about how they have to talk to Steve, or eating all the sandwiches in the press room.

My objection to the new registration rules is that, for the first time (to the best of my knowledge), they aren't allowing freelance writers who aren't on assignment to register as media. Yeah, I do cover Apple. I was on CNET radio last week talking about Apple. I've written about previous keynotes. I have a review in the February 2002 Macworld. But because I don't have a letter from an editor or publisher or a business card from a publication with my name on it or my name on a masthead, I'm screwed. Sheesh.

Damien says: MacWorld SF Weblog

Damien says: MacWorld SF Weblog Schmooze-fest and lunch: Wednesday, January 9th, at 1:00p.m. Meet at the top of the South Hall escalators. We'll pick a place for lunch from there. Everyone's welcome.

Cool... not only does Chris

Cool... not only does Chris Pirillo have a weblog, but he linked to us, too.

I met Chris in person a couple of weeks ago when I was a guest on his show, Call For Help. Nice guy, and as friendly in person as he acts on air.

Apple says "Beyond the rumor

Apple says "Beyond the rumor sites. Way beyond." Crazy Apple Rumors takes up the challenge and raises the ante. One word: sexbots.

Today's Wild-Assed Guess about next

Today's Wild-Assed Guess about next week's big Apple announcement: it could be a PDA combined with Apple's purchase of Palm. The reason I'm thinking that is because Jean-Louis Gassee, whose company, Be, was acquired by Palm in November, just quit Be a couple of days ago. Could it be he heard the news and decided that he didn't want to work for Steve again? Especially as Apple would be more likely to completely dump the Be technology in favor of an OS X variant?

Personally, I don't think that there's a good business case for an Apple PDA; if Apple's charging $400 for a MP3 player (and yes, my iPod is a really great MP3 player), how much would they charge for a PDA? Heck, they might have to charge as much as, say, some of the Pocket PC's.

The usual rumor sites are

The usual rumor sites are agog with anticipation at what Apple might be announcing at Macworld Expo. Apple is just fueling the fire, to the point where Steve could fly into the auditorium and it might not be enough to keep up with the expectations.


Of course, I'm the only person who knows for sure that Apple is going to announce something very, very cool. And how do I know this? Simple. My new TiBook showed up today, so, by definition, Apple's going to come out with something much much better within a week.

So, there I was at

So, there I was at my brother's house last weekend, drooling over the multiple fireplaces in his new home, and whining about how our house has no fireplaces, and he says, "Hey, there's a catalog I got that has fireplaces that you can install that don't need a chimney or ventilation of any kind. Let me see if I can find that catalog for you."

Well, he couldn't find the catalog, but Google Catalogs to the rescue! The only question now is, was he talking about
this one, this one or this one?

Blog-Con 2002 is scheduled for

Blog-Con 2002 is scheduled for Las Vegas in August. It's tempting.

We're back, and beginning Tuesday

We're back, and beginning Tuesday morning, back to work, after a very enjoyable few days down in Los Angeles as guests at the Fabulous Rachel Horwitz Bat Mitzvah Weekend Extravaganza. Thanks to Dori's brother Howard and his wife Ellen for marvelously making three words fit together that don't always: family, relaxing, and fun. And from Sean, a special shout-out to his Uncle Todd for the expert tutelage in Magic: The Gathering.

So you want to be

So you want to be a Jeopardy contestant . . .: How to make it onto the greatest quiz show in history. So, Jean, how accurate is it?

Via Slashdot, simple holography using

Via Slashdot, simple holography using lasers from disassembled laser pointers. A sample instruction: "The best support for such a small laser is a wooden clothespin, as shown in Figure 2." I've got to try this sometime.