Sean Gerety

XAML schema problem

I was checking out Joe Marini latest bit of crunchy goodness on “Interactivity in XAML - Hold the Script, Please” and it's very nice.However I noticed that when I tossed the code into Chris Anderson's XAML Pad app, I kept getting namespace errors.  If you get this just switch the namespace used in Joe's samples from http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/avalon/2005 to http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/xaml and all should be well. 

Sean

Tagging

<Tags]

The above is my notation for tags in my Moleskine's.

Tagging is becoming more and more prevalent in today's world.  From moleskine notebooks, to gmail  (as labels), pictures (Flickr), blogging (Technorati) to bookmarks (del.iciol.us), you see it everywhere.  And the great thing about it is that people get it.  When I go to del.icio.us and look for all tags with XAML I can very easily discover new content about XAML.  I also see tags for Avalon, examples and Wiki, which will take me to new sites with relevant content.  Pretty cool.  I've talked about in this post before in a search engine for Longhorn.  And even to some extent with this one (ok, it's kind of a stretch). 

What we need now is a common library for all these tags out there.  When I search for <food] it would be nice if I could also at the same time get <comida].  A lookup at a common library for things like this would be great!  I mean don't you ever wonder what all those tags are in Kanji or the technorati site are for?  Wouldn't it be great if the W3 or someone else could provide this?  Hey, Google or MS how about a tag search page option? 

Tags
<Tags]
<Moleskine]
<MetaData]

Tufte in Atlanta, GA

Edward Tufte will be in Atlanta to teach his course on 28 Feb 2005 and 01 Mar 2005.  http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/courses

If you have $320 dollars it's money well spent.  Not only do you get three of his books (each about $55 retail) you also get the The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint essay and the best statistical graphic ever drawn, the map of losses suffered by Napoleon's army in the Russian campaign of 1812.  Did I also mention that Tufte's speaking style is very engaging?  Or that this one day course will improve your eye for design?

If you are going, show up early.  Professor Tufte is early and is very accessible.  Bring a notebook to take notes.  Sit in front.  Enjoy!

Moleskine Pen Hack

I've recently picked up a Moleskine notebook (Large with grid), the Pilot G2 pen and some Prismacolor art markers for jotting ideas, journal entries, blog entries and other items.  Why?  Because currently a TabletPC is not in the family budget. 

As I've started I've read around and thanks to del.icio.us found some great hacks and resources.  Of course there is the 43 folders entry and Mike Shea's Hack's  which I highly recommend.  I've modified the 43 folders metadata hack from the top corner to a list of tags / metadata / labels down the edge of the paper.

I believe that Jeremy Wagstaff had posted something about needing a hack for keeping a pen with your Moleskine.  Last night in my trusty new Moleskine I drew the plans for a hack.

It's a ribbon (elastic ribbon would be best) with two slits cut in it just wide enough for a pen to slip in.  Ideally those slits would be elastic button holes, however since this is a prototype and I'm not even remotely aware of how to make button holes, I went with a quick snip.  Below is the result of my prototype.

Here's how you can make your pen holder.  Get some ribbon, cut two slits about 2.5 inches apart that are just big enough for your pen.  Test the holes.  A side note: the G2 pen is perfect for this, the rubber grip keeps the pen from slipping out.  Then wrap the ribbon around the front cover, overlap and glue.  There you have it, a flat easy access method of keeping a pen with your moleskine.

Hats off to Sir Richard

I watched the last episode of Sir Richard Branson's, The Rebel Billionaire, last night and I have to hand it to Sir Richard.  It was a great show with stunts that had me wishing I was there trying them all.  Branson clearly demonstrates that he's got style, vision and likes to have fun, how can you not like the guy?

So after poking around the Virgin site and becoming amazed at the size and variety of companies (57!), I realized that this is his best marketing stunt yet.  To get people in the US to learn more about Virgin.

If you look around the Virgin site you can find some interesting information.  Here's a couple of tasty bits.

This is from the Virgin = people page:

*   100% brand awareness in UK, 96% in Australia; 56% in USA
*   No.1 brand to represent Britain in the future
*   No.1 most respected brand amongst men
*   2nd most "responsible" brand (after Body Shop)
*   Forbes' 4th best marketed brand in the world (after Dell, Sony, Harley Davidson)
*   more trusted than the Bank of England

Notice the brand awareness numbers in the USA, 56 percent.  What better way than to use a viral method of advertising to raise brand awareness?  Next to blogs, TV is the other medium that can spread ideas quickly to the public.  So instead of rolling a tank down Times Square to introduce Virgin Drinks to the US, he can market the whole Virgin brand, what Virgin represents and Virgin's fun and adventurous spirit the US public.  Very nicely done. 

Of course, it helps that Virgin's brand is pretty much just an extension of Sir Richard.  Which goes hand in hand with one of my favorite posts from the gapingvoid titled “Purpose-Belief“.  (Hugh, has a great site, however he does have some salty language on it, if you are easily offended.)  This post states that “All the ideas can exist quite happily without their host companies“.  Virgin accomplishes this by extending Sir Richards belief to his company and those beliefs are understood by Virgin's employees and his markets.  Who doesn't want to have fun, be innovative, and stick two fingers up to the big boys (I suspect this is the same thing as the one finger salute here in the US). 

The Virgin brand I'm guessing is actually just a statement that mirrors the company's culture.  Culture is more important as having a “Company purpose statement“.  Because, company culture is that reflection back from the mirror, it doesn't lie.

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