The Stairwell

I wanted to extend a BIG thank you to Aaron Harnly for creating Letterbox, the Apple Mail plugin that allows you to view in 3 vertical columns. This is especially nice for those of us with wide screens, which seems to be pretty much everyone with a Mac these days. BTW, he built the plugin as a response to requests at Ars Technica. I'll bet Apple steals this idea for v10.5.

I recently purchased a Motorola Razr V3m from Sprint at full price to avoid their wonderful 2-yr contract. The idea was to replace my current Treo 650 with a phone that has better reception and easier integration with Mac OS X. Apple lists the V3 as one of the devices that works with iSync. But to my surprise the Sprint phone does not sync with iSync 2.4 due to a firmware incompatibility that has people frustrated all over the 'net. Rumor has it I won't be able to transfer my contacts from Address Book to the V3 until possibly Mac OS 10.5 arrives. I've heard many reasons for the problem, and I don't know who's fault it is (Apple or Sprint), but I've been looking for hacks and workarounds now for a week. Here's what I've tried so far (on two different machines iMac Intel and G5 Tower), to no avail:

• Whopack

I decided to take a break from the keyboard and mess with the tablet for a few minutes. It's definitely a sketch, and the composition isn't too good, but at least I got some painting time in.

Jamie Hewlett is the Mexico-born illlustrator behind the Gorillaz imagery lo these past several years. We love him because he's doing something unique: he's replacing our identities as defined for over one hundred years by cameras with artistic interpretation once again. This is very convenient for his famous subjects as they remain veiled in some kind of anonanymity; privacy preserved against the ravages of fame.

These are not portraits by any means, but they are skilled attempts to identify and project the inner spirit of his subjects in a way that is both engaging and slightly repulsive - but always accurate. And as versatile as a any camera.

Now everyone wants to have themselves cartooned (or at least wants to illustrate stuff like his) for their official digital avatars. I do, too! That's influence. Thanks, Mr. Hewlett.

XIX Restaurant, a Hyatt Property and internationally awarded restaurant, has just launched its new web site for 2007.

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He's expected to be reporting in from the ISS (International Space Station for all you newbs).

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Artists were allowed to design a hotel room any way they wanted. This artist did one cell-shaded. It almost looks fake.