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Lubritorium
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Ok, you virtually grease monkeys, we're on a
roll. Start your engines and scroll down the page for
more multimedia online news (and opinion). If you're a
first time visitor and want to know more about who we
define as a digital mechanic we explained the nuts and bolts of it here. If you have suggestions or a press release and
news items to share, email us. Iif you'd like to link to us,
or include us in your site content, just ask. The more readers we get, the more content goes
in.
Fred Harden & Doug Bailey
Head Mechanics

In this issue,
Apple Rumours, business gossip, CSS,
a new magazine
and lots of other bits.

The
Lubritorium
Even in
the digital age, vital parts cant hum along forever
without a visit to the Lubritorium. Thats why
weve kept the lube bay out the back - it neatly
corrals all the indulgence sites we keep opening. When
the smoko horn blows, besides sticky pink buns and
pineapple donuts, cheek by jowl with instant, steaming
Java, we finely tune our palates at virtual wine and food
tastings.
So as our second newsletter pops its cork we
welcome you for the first and not the last time, into the Lubritorium, for an occasional taste
of the digital dolce vita. Enjoy. DB
Heineken refreshes the parts of your browser that other browser
refreshes can't .....
In 1996 Heineken held the 'Futurist of the Year' contest, in which young adults were asked
to predict future trends. This year the second largest beer brewer in the world is inviting
you to 'design a new beer brand'. The contest is organized by the Heineken agency
Mathura.Verhart.Van Der Linden and is called imaginatively 'Design contest 1998'. It is an
international initiative to involve creative individuals in a real product development
process. Creative talent (above legal drinking age) from various disciplines, art schools,
marketing degrees and communications studies, and individuals, teams and even schools can
enter. The best design will win US$4,500, and will get the chance to be invited by
Heineken to participate in a second product development stage. The second prize is
US$3,000 and the third prize is US$2,000. Fifty runners up will have their name placed in
the nominee gallery and will receive a 'surprise' for their hard work. The contest ends on
October 1st 1998. It all takes place via the 'Design
contest 1998' website where you'll find some awkwardly translated rules and details.
For more information please contact: us@designcontest.com
or Design contest 98' P.O. Box 1179 1000 BD. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. But see the
website first.
The image of the 'little drunk' toy comes
from a commercial web site from Spain, The PAYA toy factory has
been making tin toys from old designs that date from
1906-1940. Now produced in limited editions of 5000, you
can buy them direct.

Spare
Parts
Apple
Rumour # 346
The
coverage of the Microsoft buy in to Apple, the Larry
Ellison appointment etc. have made Apple management news
a bit ho-hum. But I liked the email that was passed on to
Computer
Reseller News,
that was sent to Pixar Inc. employees by Pixar Chief
Executive Steve Jobs who called the "rumors"
about his return to Apple as chairman or chief executive
"crazy." Jobs went on to say that Apple had
offered him both positions but he declined. Jobs said he
had agreed to "step up my involvement with Apple for
up to 90 days, helping them until they hire a new
CEO." But it was the next part I thought was sweet,
Jobs stated, "I love my job at Pixar. I cannot
imagine a cooler place to be. . .. So don't worry--the
crazy rumors are just that. I have no plans to leave
Pixar. You're stuck with me." Aaaw!
~ Mac vs. Windows #1,234
If you get the Netscape Inbox
direct version of Hotwired's daily Homepage you'll have
noticed in the bottom corner the Browser stats for the
day. It's a dynamic and pretty accurate look at what the
bulk of your audience are viewing your pages on. Given
that the Wired reader is more likely to be a
'professional web surfer', the Mac figure is probably
higher than some other sites. I've seen it at 12% some
days. The last line changes, and it's something they have
fun with (eg Newton 0.00% and there was an Amiga figure a
few days ago). It all makes a difference when planning
your site (we did a rebuild on a site recently where the
graphics they had were posterized when displayed in 256
colours on a Windows palette, but looked fine on a 256
Mac. (Web palette? they said, What web palette?) The
client was also complaining that the centered text had
'orphan' words on some lines. We resized, changed
resolutions and couldn't duplicate the complaint on the
Mac. When we checked it on the PC, we asked, and she
confirmed, that she was looking at it in IE 3 with her
fonts set to the biggest setting. We now do a final
'Angela' run on all our pages with that large size font
before putting them up.)
~ Mac vs. Windows #1,235
Macromedia Stock went
down with
the news of a $1.7million shortfall on expected profit
for the last quarter. The revenue from Director 6, Flash
2 etc. hadn't kicked in in the period so it's hardly a
figure to worry about (unless you had stock that is), but
the release also had the following (shadow) writing on
the wall. Macromedia said it is continuing to shift away
from the Macintosh platform and revenue from Windows and
cross-platform products represented 51 percent of total
revenue, compared with 44 percent last year. Mac-related
revenue declined to 49 percent of total revenue, compared
with 56 percent last year. It will take a long time to
drop to the HotWired figure above, especially around the
studio's we know, but I wonder at our continual Mac
upgrade path sometimes.
~ Cascading Stylesheets
We've been
working on a site with CSS, and like all good web
developments, finding out how to do it via the Web.
(Remember when you used to read books for this stuff?)
There's a good primer at Index dot
HTML (although the coloured type on black is a strain
to read). If you're PC (Mac version is promised soon) the
Web
Design Group
have a CSS help
file/tutorial,
there's a PC zipped version for download here in our tool kit. The authority is on the W3 pages, which are being updated with
links and info. W3 suggests a number of programs that
make it easier. We looked at Sheet
Stylist (an
ActiveX control) for Windows 95, Cascade a Cascading Style Sheets editor
for Mac and Astrobyte has announced BeyondPress 3.0
which will convert QuarkXPress documents into HTML and
CSS. Yeah!
Now all we have to do is get everyone using Ver 4
browsers (although IE3 handles CSS pretty well), and
Netscape and Microsoft to support the CSS standard in the
same way! We'll
report back as we become instant experts.

Book me in
- Events
If you didn't get to Siggraph '97, (damn) see what
you missed online.
Don't go
to the Variety Entertainment Expo in Melbourne in
October, it has been called off.

Web
Marketing
On
their Netb2b.com site, AdAge have opened a Directory
of Web Developers, a comprehensive listing of US web builders
arranged by city. Developers will be listed for the top
10 U.S. markets, with more cities being added each month.
Included in the directory are hotlinks to clients,
listings of specialties, and contact phone numbers. It's
a great place to compare what's happening.
Also on
the Netb2b.com site is the national Web Price
Index. Based on
bids every month from 24 Web developers around the
country, the Web Price Index gives marketers high, low
and median prices for all facets of business Web design.
Sounds like someone should do the same here.
When two
heads aren't better than one
Keep your news stand browsing eyes open to see
what happens after Oct.1 when IDG combine CIO and
Webmaster magazines into a single print publication . The
magazine will apparently drop the Webmaster name and be
published twice monthly. There's a note on the Australian Webmaster site to say "Wide West Media is
in the process of purchasing WebMaster magazine -
Australia from IDG Communications. It will appear in a
new form with a new web presence in the near future. In
the meantime, most of WebMaster's services are available
through Online World". And a redirection then takes
you there.
I was interested to note down the bottom of the CIO home page the following web-positive
line, "Linking to this site or to the pages referred
to in this site is not considered duplication. We invite
you to link to this or any of our pages."
Quo MSN?
Why do the
closed 'value network' environments such as MSN and AOL
seem less and less relevant to me? I once extolled the
virtues of CompuServe for years. Maybe it's the audience
size? So on reflection, it was no surprise to hear that
Microsoft are developing a search engine (a beta version
of which will be ready in October, with a full launch
expected in January '98). It was also no surprise to hear
the news that the search engine is expected to be
launched on the Internet, rather than on Microsoft's MSN.
I did raise an eyebrow when I considered how much
Microsoft was spending on banner ads on other search
engines, and wondered how they will cope if they
lose Microsoft.
I can't wait to see the ad mix (there will certainly be
one) on the new site.FH
If TV's
just Radio with pictures...
I think I've just been
fed my first web commercial break. As mentioned above I
use Real Player Plus and I've set up one of the default
buttons to go to @Computerworld's Real Audio server
for Rick Saia's Computerworld Minute audio news. The
player showed the file to be one of two, and I waited
patiently while the next item loaded even though I could
see the author line, figuring I'd hear some other
business news. Instead of the static logo in Real
Player's video screen, a thirty five second video
commercial spot popped up.

For AT&T web hosting services it told
the tale of two girls who after sitting on a pair of
sunglasses, designed a rubber framed version and when
they couldn't interest shops in stocking them, they made
a web site that 'now sells to everyone under the sun'.
Good sound , usual
smurfy Real Video pictures, but correct ad media
placement. Maybe it was the novelty, but I
didn't mind the ad at all. FH
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