One of my favorite things about working at Six Apart is that it's a company founded by bloggers, for bloggers. As a result, not only do we want to provide bloggers with the best tools (like Vox, TypePad and Movable Type), we're also committed to helping bloggers find a broader audience, and helping readers find the blogs that matter to them. And with over 175,000 new blogs created every single day, this is no easy feat.
Luckily, with the launch of Blogs.com, Six Apart is making it easy for you to find the best blogs on the web. Hand-picked by a team of passionate editors, and organized by the topics that interest you, Blogs.com will help you find blogs on a variety of topics from Life, to Entertainment, to seasonal topics like Student Life. You can also catch up on the latest buzz on the web by reading featured editorials or checking out the top ten lists.
Wondering how you can submit your blog to the Blogs.com editors for consideration? It's easy -- Just fill out this quick form. In the meantime, check out Blogs.com and let us know what you think in the comments.
Thanks for reading!
One of the reasons I bought an iPod touch in November, as opposed to a cheaper, vaster iPod classic that I could use to store all of my music, was that it held out the promise of being an interesting device to fit into Apple's slowly-expanding range of devices that hang off iTunes. I don't just mean in the obvious "iTunes organises your music" sense, either, but by using iTunes library sharing and the music streaming that the AirPort Express enables.
It took months, and the release of the App Store, but one of Apple's two apps - and the only one that's free - is Remote. As Apple put it,
With Remote, you can control the music on your computer or Apple TV from your iPod touch or iPhone. Play, pause, skip, shuffle. See your songs, playlists, and album art on your iPod touch or iPhone as if you were right in front of your computer.
Better writers than me have outlined some of the ways that Remote actually improves on the user interface of "Mobile iTunes", the native interface to the music stored on an iPod touch. (In short, it provides much more contextual information within the space provided.) However, I used it and saw three things that it could do, but doesn't, although I readily admit each might have issues that stand in the way of an implementation.
No Cover Flow
Mobile iTunes uses the iPod's orientation sensor to swap from a list view to the Cover Flow view, which lets you see lots of artwork and scroll through it. Remote doesn't do anything with the orientation sensor at all, and certainly doesn't use full-size artwork.
There are two explanations I can think of. The trivial is that Cover Flow might be getting out of favour in Cupertino, just like metal windows did before it. The more sensible is that the demands on a network - even a wireless network - of downloading all the images are too high. Heck, even when copying from the "disk", my iPod can't refresh the entire list at once. Nonetheless, a man can dream, and it would be nice if the app had some sort of horizontal mode.
No streaming
In an ideal world, I'd have speakers in every room, connected to an AirPort Express, and I'd be able to wander around the house with the same music playing out of every speaker. (Actually, ideally, something would know where I was and switch the speakers on and off as required, but let's stick with what we have, shall we?) However, I can't afford that many wireless routers, so instead I'd be quite happy to wear the iPod and listen to it instead. Apple don't let you do that, despite the fact that's how shared iTunes libraries work.
There is, once again, a possible technical reason for this. The iPod might not be up to decoding all the different formats in your iTunes library; in particular, Apple Lossless might be a problem. However, it can play local lossless files, and I can't see that shifting the data is that much harder. I'm hoping this shows up as an option in a new release.
Since I first thought about writing this, two things have happened. Firstly, the tech press noticed an Apple patent filing discussing the "Remote access of media items", which goes beyond the capabilities of shared libraries at present (as it mentions syncing metadata). Secondly, Simplify Media released their client for iPods with the 2.0 software. However, I'm unhappy about having to run a second application just to cater for the chance I'd like to stream. (Interestingly, a recent blog post notes issues with cover art and bandwidth, so there may be something to the technical issues after all.)
No shared libraries
This is the biggest problem for me personally, and it could be the easiest to fix. It's straightforward: there's no way to use Remote to connect to a shared library. There are reasons you'd want this: an office server that doesn't have music of its own, but instead which plays from lots of other people's machines, or perhaps a laptop which relies on an iMac as the source of a home's entire music. While you could argue that you should connect Remote to the server in the latter case, that's not going to work out if you're using mt-daapd, and it doesn't work in the first case either, since the music won't come out of the server's speakers.
This does of course raise a few issues with the user interface, but
Steve Jobs employs some very smart people, and I'm sure there's a way
to deal with it. So there's my wishlist for a future version. Shared
libraries, streaming to the iPod, complete with a Cover Flow view.
Sure, it's tricky, but then, don't fanboys always demand the
near-impossible of Apple?
As every Londoner knows, all tube lines were not created equal. There's a definite ranking of the lines you'd like to have to use, and those you'd like to avoid. So here's my own, totally unscientific (yet, I hope, reasonable) list of lines in order of usefulness.
Victoria
This isn't just because it's my daily commute (although I must say, in the nine months since I've been using it regularly, it's been pretty much rock solid), but it's because it's reliable and frequent. It probably helps that it's a single line with no branches (the only exception being the slight thinning of trains north of Seven Sisters as they peel off to the depot). Other things that help are the fact it's a relatively new line - only forty years old - and that the stations are spaced relatively far apart, making end-to-end journeys remarkably quick. Let's hope the current engineering works and the new stock (in service from next year, and hopefully a bit more roomy inside) don't cause any problems.
Bakerloo
The Bakerloo feels remarkably like the Victoria's older sister, partly due to its similar rolling stock. (It's much older, as it happens - the line celebrated its centenary a couple of years ago). However, it's also a single line (avoiding all those pesky problems with points) and it's mainly sheltered underground, so it seems to me - and I'm an infrequent user - that it's near the top of the list.
Central
Another old line, the Central manages to be remarkably useful despite having a fork at one end and a rather complicated loop at the other. However, its stock is pretty cramped - the line has some of the smallest tubes n the network - and although I commuted on it happily for six months, it doesn't quite reach the heights of the previous two entrants.
Piccadilly
Another line with branches, the Piccadilly does especially well given its length, with long extensions to Heathrow and Uxbridge (although the latter is a bit unreliable, from what I've noticed). I'm one of those people who'll save a tenner by taking it rather than the Heathrow Express, for example, and when I lived in the western half of Islington it was a pretty safe way to get back from the West End. However, it is pretty slow through the centre, with stops that are arguably too close together (the classic being Covent Garden's proximity to Leicester Square, exacerbated by the former's reliance on slow lifts), which keep it down at the current ranking, as does its extensive overground sections - always a problem if there's sufficient heat, rain or snow.
Waterloo & City
On the grounds of reliability alone, I reckon the Waterloo and City would score highly. Unfortunately, it loses out rather severely on the utility front, since it connects just two stations, closes in the early evening and isn't open at all on Sundays. It's also got the most uneven flow of any line I can think of, being full northbound in the mornings, with the reverse in the evenings, as commuters from the south west head back to their mainline trains.
Jubilee
The Jubilee is the newest line, with older sections being younger than the Victoria. However, a botched attempt to move to sophisticated signalling during the construction of the extended section seems to have doomed it to unreliability, and it seems to have quite low train frequency. This all knocks it along way down the list, which is a shame, because I like the noise of the gate thyristors of the trains, and it really should be a showcase for the system.
East London Line
This is a rather special case, since it's closed for engineering works until 2010, when it vanishes - it'll become part of London Overground (which, in the interests of sanity, I've excluded from this list, along with the DLR). Certainly, the current replacement bus services would be bottom of the list, but before its closure, I found the line reliable and friendly. Its use of Metropolitan stock meant the trains were spacious, and while train frequency was a little low (there was only one every six minutes) I still think it comes in as a fairly useful line.
Metropolitan
A long subsurface line, and the oldest (incorporating the original 1863 route from Baker Street to Farringdon), the Metropolitan seems to do surprisingly well, given the amount of its track exposed to the elements and the complexity of its north-western end. However, it does have issues, both out in the suburbs and when it gets interleaved with the other lines, which mean that, despite the spacious interiors, the line ends up pretty low in the rankings.
District
Another long subsurface line, the District has its fair share of branches, but mainly it loses points not for junction delays or complexity, but because it's so slow. The stations it shares with the southern edge of the Circle line all feel far too close together, so it takes an age to get anywhere. However, as with the Metropolitan, large carriages help it out, so it's saved from bottom place.
Northern
Ah, the Misery Line. No wonder it's down here. But what's this? A look at TfL's performance data seem to show more trains in service than any other line, and not too many delays. So why does the Northern end up all the way down here? Well, its complex layout is mostly to blame, causing both low train frequency on either branch (especially if you need to pass one of the link points at Camden Town or Kennington), while also letting delays affect either branch, if they're bad enough. Coupled with that are the short rolling stock - only six carriages, compared with a more typical eight for tube stock - and somewhat cramped interiors. (One can only be thankful that London Underground abandoned their usual colour-coding inside the train: all-black handrails would have just been even more depressing.) It drops into the last place for the deep tubes.
Hammersmith & City, Circle
I'm going to list these as a single line, because they share rolling stock, and they also share some of the same problems. However, in case you were wondering, the Circle really is deliberately listed last. The problem with it is simply that, except for two points, the line doesn't really exist: it's shared with the Metropolitan and District lines, and, as the name makes clear, has no terminus. This also means that there's nowhere to go when the service gets disrupted, and the usual outcome is that these two get sacrificed for the others. TfL plan to unroll the line somewhat in the next few years, running from Hammersmith around the loop once and then back to Edgware Road, which should help, but even so, the low train frequency (you can wait ten minutes for a Circle line train) and relatively small carriages (for a subsurface line, anyway) put the line at the bottom of the list.
So, that's the list. I should note that, even though it's last, the Circle still manages a reliability of over 85% and the average customer delay is about 10 minutes. I'd certainly usually choose it over buses, taxis or (horrors) driving.
I'd love to hear from more regular users of any of these lines if they have any comments.
"When was the last time you were at a wedding that had a death defying hike, rogue waves, a luau, ultimate fighting, a presidential candidate and a budding bromance?" asks Papi Chulo. For most of us, the answer is never, but luckily, Papi Chulo and Secret Agent Scotch took the time to Vox all the amazing moments during their unforgettable Hawaiian wedding on 08.08.08 so we could all take part in the festivities.
The story began last February, when Papi Chulo popped the question and Secret Agent Scotch said yes! Since then, they've kept us in the loop about all the details, from the bride's veil to the wedding song to the final To-Do List. And throughout it all, they inspired us with their love for each other. (I'm pretty sure it doesn't get any better than knowing your future husband thinks you are The Perfect Girl.)
It's an amazing love story and we are thrilled they shared it with us. Watch the video of the ceremony and please join us in wishing Papi Chulo and Secret Agent Scotch the fairytale ending they deserve.
And What's a Team Vox Post without New Themes?
Spice up your Vox blog with one of our latest themes (found in the design area under "New") or any of our hundreds of themes. From shopping to sushi, comics to cycling, there's something for everyone.
Can't get enough of the wedding? A few lucky Voxers - Krissy, djchall, and Beau Smith - made the trip to Hawaii to take part in the celebration. Check out their Vox blogs for more pictures and stories.
Congratulations again to Secret Agent Scotch and Papi Chulo! Enjoy the Honeymoon!
This summer's pop culture cornerstone seems to be, without much doubt, Christopher Nolan's new Batman film, The Dark Knight. Along with the usual (and surprisingly favourable) mainstream reviews, it's shot to the top of IMDB's customer ratings, and has inspired musings on the Joker's grasp of game theory.
So here's my little observation: The Dark Knight is possibly the first superhero sequel that actually gets more realistic, and less bombastic, than its predecessor.
Let's look at the usual trajectory of a superhero series (this may apply to other sequels, in fact, but the only major series I can think of is Pirates of the Carribean, and I valued my time far too much to watch that nonsense). Start with Tim Burton's Batman, which was dark, and had a vague attempt at realism, although the presence of a bat-shaped aircraft (seemingly inserted mainly so that Burton could put it against a full moon, recreating the iconic signal) shows that it's not allowed to trump artistic needs. Follow that up with his still mainly monochrome, but far camper, Batman Returns, which asks the viewer to accept an army of remote-controlled missile-toting penguins and the resurrection of a murder victim by a herd of cats¹.
When Burton lost the reins of the franchise, things got even worse. Batman Forever saw Joel Schumacher turn up the saturation, with Jim Carrey gurning manically as the Riddler. Let's not even mention the horror that was Batman and Robin, although it provides a useful rule of thumb: the sidekick showing up is usually the end of the road.
You can plot a similar curve for the recent Spider-Man films, which go from a man with an exoskeleton (ok, kind of plausible) to an alien parasite bodysuit (er), and, although in a slightly different way, the Superman films of the '70s and '80s, which finally reached a series-ending nadir with our Kryptonian protagonist trying to end the Cold War single-handed. Enough said, I suspect.
In The Dark Knight, by contrast, I can only think of a single technical plot element which isn't at least in the realms of possibility (for those who've see the film, two words: "sonar surveillance".) As Jon Barnes writes in the Times,
Nolan has [made] plausibility his watchword. Every aspect of the crime-fighter’s milieu has been granted as believable and realistic an explanation as possible (the hero’s cape becomes a glider, his car an urban tank appropriated from the US military and his arch-enemy the Joker’s horrifically distinctive features the result of scars and make-up, “war-paint” designed to intimidate). The world of the film is necessarily fantastic but it feels closer to ours – uncomfortably, distressingly closer – than any previous version.
I'm certainly happy to see this, especially as it makes the intellectual meat of the film (and yes, there is some) much easier to relate to the real world. As Barnes says in his conclusion, the film holds out the promise of its own sequel (as, to be honest, all works in this genre have to), and if it can maintain the path of even-increasing realism, I'm really looking forward to it.
¹ For all its nonsense, this is probably still my favourite of the '90s Batman films. Go figure, as they say in America.
² I dislike paging in web sites usually, but cleverly the entire Dark Knight review is on that page; the second page is a review of Wall-E, which I saw a couple of days earlier, and which, to be honest, I thought was even better, although it's hard to compare such dissimilar works.
At Vox, we believe that change is a good thing. After all, you wouldn't wear the same t-shirt day in and day out, so why should your blog have to suffer the same fate? Give your blog a new look with one of our latest themes (found under "New"), or pick from any of our hundreds of themes designed with your passions and personality in mind.
Until then... Enjoy!
-daisy
Gimme a V! Gimme an O! Gimme an X! What's that spell? VOX!
What better way to tell the world how much you love Vox than to announce it on Facebook? That's right: Vox now has an official Facebook page! Become a fan of Vox.com on Facebook and let your friends know what you really care about: staying connected with friends and family through blog posts, photos, videos and comments.
Once you're a fan, you can also add photos and videos to the page, write on the wall, and connect with other Voxers in ways you may not have previously. Plus, it's a great opportunity to let people know about your Vox blog, or start discussion topics. To become a fan, just visit the official Vox.com Facebook page and click the "Become a Fan" button in the upper right hand corner.
Once you've joined, why not post a response to the current discussion topic? Just post a link (and a brief description, if you'd like) to what you consider one of your all-time best Vox posts.
What are you waiting for? Become a Vox.com fan on Facebook today!
Although we typically post on Team Vox to let you know about things that are going on with Vox (to, uh, state the obvious), once in a while, we like to let you know about other cool things that are happening around the blogosphere. And we think the idea of four hilarious mommy bloggers traveling across the U.S. on their way to the BlogHer '08 conference - all the while blogging and video blogging the journey - is one trip you will not want to miss.
Four adventurous bloggers from the Silicon Valley Moms Group were selected to participate in the Summer Road Trip '08 and blog about their travels, hotel stays, media appearances, time away from their families, and life on the road. Six Apart helped them partner up with General Motors, who provided the blogging mommies with a Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV to help make their journey comfy, safe, and a little more green.
In case you're not familiar with them, SV Moms is a group of over 200 bloggers who showcase the ups, downs, outrages, struggles, victories, and everyday humor of motherhood. There are currently nine regional and demographically tailored sites that give mothers from D.C., New Jersey, the Deep South, Rocky Mountains, L.A., and Silicon Valley a powerful voice and sense of camaraderie across the country. Whether you're a mother, a child, or just a person who enjoys a good blog, you'll really love reading the words of these amazing women.
The moms buckled into their Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV on July 11th and even got an encouraging message from Katie Couric to kick things off! They are currently somewhere in the middle of America making their way to San Francisco where they'll attend an SV Moms Group Party, as well as BlogHer '08.
You do not want to miss these entertaining and irreverent bloggers -- or their spontaneous contest giveaways! -- as they blog from the road. Experience the journey at MomRoadTrip.com.
And let us know about your summer road trip - or plane/boat/bus trip - in the comments! (I like to live vicariously.)
Do you live in or around Cincinnati, Ohio? If so, you're in luck because Scott and the Queen City Voxers Group have organized a Vox user meetup!
WHERE: Ault Park Playground. 3600 Observatory Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45208. "We'll look for each other at the playground marked by the red X below. If it's raining, head for the shelter to the north of the [red] X."
To RSVP (which is not essential, but is appreciated), reply to Scott's announcement or send him a private message. All Voxers, as well as their friends and family, are welcome to attend.
If you do attend the meetup, have a great time and please take lots of pictures and send them to me so I can post them in Team Vox for everyone to see!
Thank you so much to Scott for organizing this meetup. Wish I could be there!
Although almost every day at Six Apart is Take Your Dog to Work Day, Friday was extra special because it was the official Take Your Dog to Work Day! Plus, as lovers of blogs and animals, we think it's great that active blogger and Human Society's President and CEO, Wayne Pacelle, thinks having dogs around the office is a good reminder of "who we're working for."
We realize some people have it ruff and aren't lucky enough to be able to bring their dog to work, but hopefully these pictures taken at Six Apart last Friday will get your tails wagging... And let me tell you, it's harder than it looks to get all the doggies and their fetching owners in one picture.