Author: Christopher Fahey
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I Thwarted the NYPD’s “Terrorist Tactics” this Morning
One year ago, the New York Police Department started a program to randomly search the bags of commuters as they enter New York’s subway stations. The program basically puts a couple of police officers next to the turnstiles, where they randomly select passengers to subject to a search. My subway station seems to be an…
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Not all Web Sites are Blogs
He has a web site, but he’s not a blogger. It may sound obvious to point that out, but I keep reading news stories and commentaries that discuss, for example, how “blogging” is making traditional media obsolete or something… when in fact they really mean to say “the web” is revolutionizing media and communications. Next…
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Social Networks are Brands
Six Apart, maker of MoveableType and TypePad, has apparently been recalibrating their product development away from targeting professional web developers like me and towards the massive “teen/tween” market. TypePad was the first step in this direction, but now they’ve been working on a new social networking app called Vox which is obviously designed to enter…
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The Vicious Cycle of Web Redesign
Do we really need to keep all this stuff? Can we throw some stuff away before we move in? When we pack our belongings to move to a new apartment or house, we often take stock of our posessions and choose to throw a lot of useless stuff away. We lighten our load so that…
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USA vs UK Cycling
The ads below are both for an innovative new type of bicycle, the high-end “townie”. These are bikes that are designed for everyday use by people wearing normal clothes, but unlike traditional city bikes, these townies use high-quality parts and materials, and are elegantly and stylishly designed. When I first started seeing ads for these…
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Google Desktop and Full-Focus States
Version 4 of Google’s awesome Desktop Search came out a few weeks ago. It’s great in a lot of ways, but I wanted to focus on one interesting new(ish) feature: Quick Search. (The Quick Search feature has been around since version 3, but since verison 3 only came out in March, I imagine some people…
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What is a Civil War?
Is Iraq in a state of civil war? When most Americans think of a civil war, we think of the Civil War. The American Civil War. We think of literally millions of soldiers marching against each other and dying by the thousands every day. We think of cities on fire, blockaded ports, and thousands of…
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TimesSelect: Dead to me, so far…
Have you seen me? I haven’t ready any of the New York Times Op-Ed commentators in at least six months, ever since they put them behind the pay-only TimesSelect wall. I have no idea what any of them are saying these days. I think I saw that they’ve got Ted Koppel in there now, too.…
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Mom’s Design Advice: Take One Thing Off
Prince in “When Doves Cry”. He may have taken a minimal approach to some of his music, but his wardrobe, well, that’s another story. My mother gave me some good fashion advice once when I was an overdecorated punk rock teenager. She delivered it kind of indirectly, me being a boy and all, telling me…