I may be running behind the pack on this one, but I’m starting to get the feeling that JQuery is about to become the javascript library of choice for the discerning web standards developer. See, for example, Dave Shea discussing his use of JQuery for the Bright Creative redesign.

Maybe this will finally spur me into getting my portfolio in working order!

So I just cleaned up after my first ever spam attack. It wasn’t too bad; just a few comments advertising some rancid gewgaws. One day the slimy reprobates behind the IP address 92.48.106.160 will drown in a foetid pool of their own inhuman waste, with the full knowledge that their every dream has become like ashes.

So yeah. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, part one is finally out and in my hot little hands. I’ve been playing it on and off for the last couple of days. It’s really fun. I’m pleased to note that Gabe and Tycho’s juvenile/erudite humour is in full force.

The thumbnail on the left is of my player character. It’s a scarily good likeness.

Via Daring Fireball (who devoted an entire episode of his podcast to Apple keyboards), Mark Llobrera rants entertainingly about the pathetic state of keyboards in our diminished world of the Fourth Age.

I actually have a Matias Tactile Pro keyboard. I don’t use it anymore because the noise really is a bit much for a shared work environment. Plus, some of the keys (like the Return!) work very poorly. And the plastic housing is amazingly brittle and I’ve already injured myself on some of the razor-sharp shards that break off it. Catriona wondered very quickly after I bought it why I’d dropped AUS $200 on a computer keyboard. I sometimes wonder about that myself — and I’m still searching for the perfect QWERTY interface.

Apple has just posted a new version of its Safari web browser, featuring improvements to Javascript, CSS, and speed, amongst other things.

I’m intrigued that, in addition to the Windows version, Apple is still maintaining current releases for a previous version of the operating system—something they’ve largely avoided in the past.

Safari’s trajectory almost mirrors that of iTunes: third party product (KHTML) integrated into the operating system as a standard component (web browsing), becoming cross-platform, and a critical component in the functioning (and saleability) of the iPod. But I think it’s going to be more than that. There are clues that Apple wants to get into the web application game on a larger scale than the disappointing .Mac offering. Supporting that by having control of a fast, standards-compliant but aggressively featureful browser is pretty logical.

What’s more, Apple is unusually open in its road-map for the product. Dave Hyatt and his team have unprecedented visibility—Apple engineers typically are virtually anonymous and almost never blog about their own work. The openness around Safari development is probably required by its open-source origins, but it also must reassure third parties intending to base products around Safari’s Webkit renderer.

With this release, and the forthcoming Firefox 3 and Internet Explorer 8, it’s an exciting time for followers of web technology development.

The trailer for the indie video game, Fez:

More than one moment of “WTF” in this video.

Interview: Bjarne P. Tveskov, Classic LEGO Space Designer – Boing Boing Gadgets

It’s kind of scary to think how much of my design sensibilities are owed to this guy.

As part of the refresh, I did a bit of radical brain surgery on this Textpattern installations’s database. I first installed Textpattern pretty early on in 2004 and it’s survived numerous upgrades. Sadly, it’s also become increasingly crufty and corrupted. If you’ve ever heard me cursing about XML-RPC, then you’ll know that I’ve been unable to use desktop blogging tools such as MarsEdit for writing.

But recently, Textpattern support in Marsedit (and XML-RPC support in Textpattern) has improved markedly. And I’ve found that many of my other Textpattern sites now worked very well. But not Retrorocket. Clearly, something deranged in this install was tripping up the delicate rites of communication between the two systems. So I resolved to clear away the debris and begin again. Luckily, with my articles, comments, and permalinks intact.

This is the dawn of a new age. I hope.

Yeah, I’ve been starting to feel that the design that has served me well for so long has become stale and restrictive. It’s time, then, to have a radical re-think of this site’s design and purpose. Stay tuned.

Access by Design, via Smiley Cat