Microsoft Typography team started a  Font Blog where they try to explain aspects of screen readability, technology behind ClearType, typography design and stuff like that. Looks promising so far.

They also pointed out an interesting feature I haven’t seen properly applied before(at least not that I noticed) – font embedding. They are using the new MS Vista fonts called Candara (for body text) and Calibri (for headings).
The feature doesn’t work in Firefox for some reason. It should work in any case since I have all the new Vista “C” fonts installed already.

Before you start criticizing the new fonts for being utterly useless and unreadable -> turn on ClearType smoothing (find it in Display properties – Appearance – Effects) then head on to  ClearType tuner to finalize the setup.

It makes all the difference doesn’t it? Suddenly they look, dare I say it? Nice?!

The problem with ClearType is that it has exactly the opposite effect on old fonts (like Verdana) which become very fuzzy and blurred (at least on CRTs, aperture grille masks seem to handle it a tiny bit better than shadow masks) thus reducing readability.

Microsoft is betting on the widespread use of LCD screens (I guess they have a point there) but I’m not sure I like their attitude towards those of us who wouldn’t trade our belowed CRTs for crappy LCD panels. Let’s face it, the only ones that are any good are Apple CinemaScreens and top of the line NEC-Mitsubishi panels that cost about as much as a small car.

 

Forbes published an article called  Attack of the Blogs (bugmenot.com provides a password) that was probably written after someone stepped on too many toes.

They inadvertently say so themselves (epmhasis by me)

The piece is rather hostile towards blogs, most likely due to complete lack of understanding of the concept, by someone feeling seriously threatened.

Nobody is saying blogs are all good but a one sided piece like this goes against every principle of responsible journalism they claim to possess.

 Steve Rubel (micropersuasion.com) is right:

 Fortune,  BusinessWeek and  CNN (among others) get the idea, so called journalists at Forbes most definitely don’t (shame really).
Either that or they are covering someones rear end.

What spurred me to even mention this is a paragraph towards the end of the story:

Miles, who says he misrepresented himself as Nick Tracy because “I wanted to be discreet,” has abandoned  our-street.com and moved from Oregon to Slovenia. He claims he is outside the Illinois court’s jurisdiction. The judge disagrees. Miles says he plans to appeal. He has set up a new site, scamspotting.com, and insists he is a bona fide investigative journalist: “I tell the truth, and it’s never pretty.” This drives Halpern nuts:”It’s amazing that an anonymous guy can put out a report full of lies and then be so self-righteous.”

Looks like we have a corporate pain in the ass living nearby.

 

In a word… hilarious

 4th Naked Stage (Goli Oder) impro theatre festival went out in style with almost all the actors (about 20 of them) involved in a simultaneous performance in an otherwise very small theatre.
That fact alone contributed to some interesting twists in the “story” but the actors themselves created a surreal comedic ambience that kept the audience in a constant giggle.
They just kept pushing each other forward and it resulted in a truly memorable perfomance.