June 01, 2004
Movable, removable armrest
Continental's Jungle Jets have a good feature: almost all armrests can
be retracted -- armrests beside the aisle, armrests beside the window,
included.
This adjustibility makes an otherwise cramped, uncomfortable space much easier
to move around in, and to find a comfortable seating position in.
Thanks FlyerTalk for this tip.
February 09, 2004
Dynamic Three Layer map of NYC
Dynamap of Manhattan uses three interlaced images to display three different
maps of Manhattan -- a street map, a subway map, and one showing landmarks
and neighborhoods -- all onto the same surface. Tilt it to one side and you see the
street map, tilt it another way and you see the subway map. Easily determine
the exact street intersections of subway stops.
Buy your own for $17 from Dynamap.
February 08, 2004
Caltrain changes-to-Schedule FAQ
Caltrain's changes-to-schedule FAQ is unusually frank and human-readable.
This FAQ presents actual data and actual reasons for schedule changes and
decisions, in place of the typical bureaucratic marketingese,
'With our world class best of breed enhancements...' nonsense or
self-congratulatory 'why we are so good' dreck of a psueduo-FAQ.
Well done Caltrain.
Actual questions answered honestly:
* Why is my station getting reduced service?
* After the "faster schedule" hype, why is my travel time longer?
* Can't you improve Limited (stops at most stations) and
Local (stops at all stations) transfer possibilities?
* Why are trains scheduled in bunches?
* If I need to use an adjacent station, can I find parking?
December 11, 2003
Audi CPO
Audi Certified Pre-Owned
has a multifaced browsing ability.
Browse
* by model
* by model year
* brows by price
Sure beats going to AutoTrader and requesting a list of 1995 Audi TT from
$40,000 to $55,000 and returning null.
After you find an Audi model/year, you can immediately else what else is
in that price range. Compared to a two year old A6, how old an A8 would I
get in the same price range ? Is a 4 year old A6 wrth more or less than a
two year old A4 ? Answer that with zero clicks right here, right now.
Great use of context customize the showing of truly related information.
Zoom in on the TT or see the whole fleet.
There are some nice cursor tracking and zooming in on what the cursor's over
settings in this Flash, too.
Widgetopia would glean the utility of this pricing matrix.
July 02, 2003
Colour palette hex codes
webmonkey's , Colchis' and Lynda's palettes of colour by html hex code, three
of my favourite references.
| Things which fly | |||
| Pigs | Boeing | ||
| Miss Piggy | Flying Pigs | Bank | |
| Flugstad | |||
April 24, 2003
Good Web: StrapHangers.org
straphangers.org is a great website for NYC Subway fans.
Clean, everything above the fold, no cascading DHTML springing out at
you, no broken Javascript navigation, no images as text. A site map
up front with understandable topic labels, and several ways to drill
down and get involved, all on the front page. Much better
than most transit agency sites. Well done.
April 01, 2003
Good: fastmail, technorati, strip door
In praise of clean cut fast web sites with useful content and services.
Today's praise goes to technorati.com's web-watch services, url watching,
link watching, blogdex-like and more.
fastmail.fm is a web based e-mail service with more features and no
obtrusive adverts. Once again, Yahoo! is toast.
And in meatspace, Source Equipment's strip door is praised for being
safe: can see oncoming traffic; and
efficient: keeps heated air or chilled air inside.
March 21, 2003
Parking with sidewalk
Parking lots should be surrounded by a perimeter sidewalk striped area
to make end of row spaces usable.
On the top level of the garage on Bay Street, Emeryville, CA.
See Marin County on the right and the Golden Gate Bridge behind the cherry picker.
Compare to parking lots without sidewalks.
