After many, many hours of design, writing, and tweaking (the latter of which should be considered a new billable service for designers, IMHO), I am happy to announce the electronic publication of The MANOVERBOARD Telegraph, an HTML newsletter that provides news and information about MANOVERBOARD and our numerous or occasional goings-on. You can sign up here.

I spent about 10 hours today converting all of my contact information, emails, and other miscellaneous and extraneous info to Entourage for OS X. I was increasingly tired of Apple’s Mail program, which was slow, sometimes difficult to configure and customize, and provided little scripting support. Plus Mail does not really support a robust Address Book program, which Entourage does.
I’m glad I made the move, though the real work was combing through about 8 years worth of contacts (930 to be exact), and removing duplicates and old data. It was a job, but I’m actually looking forward to sending and receiving emails again, and I’ve set up a good Junk mail system to get rid of the tremendous amount of spam I have been receiving. Entourage now synchs nicely with my Palm IIIx and it’s quite nice having all the same information in one app – plus it functions with Word now in an almost seamless way. Ahhh, Microsoft technology. (One cool thing: if you don’t want to buy Office v. X, you can get Entourage for a worthwhile $99.)

Okay, so I broke down the other day and purchased the eponymous little Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ EP. It’s quite strong, though it only is only 5 songs strong. Although they’re being touted as best buddies with The Strokes and the White Stripes, the YYYs bring a superior energy level to their music. Sure, its’ all self-conscious 1980s bad-hair mope material, but Karen O, the lead singer is tremendously interesting as a vocalist, ranging from loud yawns to crazed rock anthems. I await their first real album, due out in a few months.

A real 02/14 news story: A Very Happy Valentine’s Day to all.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Salon.com (I remember when it was SalonMagazine.com, in fact), but as of a few weeks ago, they’ve started an innovative, though annoying and cloying, new way to view their content. To read their prime pulp, you can subscribe for “5 cents per day” or you can watch a not-very-well-produced multi-page ad for some oddball company (like today’s The Well). And then you can receive a free day-pass to their magazine (you have 18 hours to be exact). I’m very curious to see what happens with this model — Salon and its “competitor” Slate have tried many revenue models previously. David Talbot, editor of Salon.com, describes the situ here. Though forced-ad watching is ridiculous and sits too well with the Orwellian nightmare we’re all starting to live, at least I can judge whether “premium” content is worth my nickel-plus a day.

I promise after today to not post any more links about Web logs or The New York Times (well, after this month). But I believe the following link is applicable to most people interested in the Web. Technorati.com, a one-man site focusing on how Web logs are being watched, has a so-called Top 100 Interesting Recent Blogs. The top 20 feature some nicely named blogs like Karl & Cow – The Boring Weblog (#8) and OnePotMeal (#18).

What with so much of my focus on projects and life circumstances, I’ve been remiss about researching and thinking about Web logs – one of which you are reading. I believe very strongly that Web logs open up to the wired world a host of possibility and show the best of what the Internet can do. Take a good look at Photoblogs.org when you have a chance. What is interesting is that Web logs have taken the Internet around full circle in the cycle of images and text.
1992: Text-based Web emerges
1997: Image-based Web solidifies
2000: Text-based Web logs emerge
2003: Photo-based Web logs grow

No one told me but The New York Times now has a store where you can buy things like crosswords, books, and yes, t-shirts. I’m not sure why you would want a New York Times large black T, nor do I know why you would want a printed photograph of the Titanic from 1912 upon its launch, unless you were a serious Deckhairs on the Titanic fan. Well, in case you are, you might also be interested in a reproduction of the New York Times’ “Titanic Sinks” issue.

On my mother’s side of the family, my cousin passed away and I miss Cousin E. very, very much. Her daughter gave one of the most personal and touching eulogies I’ve heard.

A good piece by Bill Keller in the in the Times op/ed today. I’ve been out of commission lately with a bad flu or something but promise more interesting goodies soon.