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The great newline schism | coding horror

Sorry for the long rant, but you’ll understand

A lot of stores and services offer credit cards. I usually say no because I don’t want credit cards and I don’t need them either.

However, since we are buying furniture for the baby that is coming soon and this particular store we were buying the furniture from offered a 25% discount if you use their credit cards, I told my wife OK, we’ll get the credit card. We are trying to save money so most of the stuff we bought of craig-list but the crib and other important things I wanted them new and from a good place; if I buy a used or cheap crib, I don’t know what’s the structural integrity of it? I don’t want my newborn baby to - god forbid - fall in the middle of the night. So, no. cribs are new and from a respected furniture house. They are a good investment if you want more kids and they can become a bed later on.

So, 25% sounded good. And it was.

Then we received the bill. As usual we can pay by either sending a check or by opening an online account at this specific website that handles the credit cards for the furniture house.

The paper bill stated that if we want to send a check we need to send the following information as well: name, mother maiden’s name, SSN, address and bank information.

huh? I - being an information security consultant and all - am a bit paranoid about information, specially in this country where identity theft is SO easy, so name? mother maiden’s name? SSN? That is a recipe for disaster! I don’t want Jane I-steal-your-identity Doe to become my wife and buy a new car with the money I am trying to save… So i opted to open an account online. Oh boy…

The paper bill had an https URL in it so I thought, that is a good start: they use SSL. Then I typed the URL: A late 80’s early 90’s kind of web page loaded including the awful animated GIFs and links in blue. A zoo of text, pictures and moving things assaulted my senses. Worse, most of the pictures were hardcoded from a non-SSL URL so per picture loaded I was getting warning about the secure-insecure page links (which is a very serious problem because you can hijack the session and then SSL becomes irrelevant). Anyway, I tried to find any credit card related info that might show me how to sign-in and pay my bill. It was horrendous. The current page was called creditcards.html so it has to be for the credit cards, right?

After about 30 minutes of trying to decipher where the “create account” option was (it was buried in between to nasty animated arrow GIFs) I clicked on the link only to be presented with yet another 80’s-90’s horrendous page, this time with 22 drop-down options, each it a lengthy text attached to it. So I patiently read and fill all. I hit “Accept” and after about 5 min. of “Processing, please wait…” I got a welcome page. A bit simpler in the design but obnoxious as well. There it requested that I enter name, mother maiden’s name and SSN. WHAT??? No way, the company should already have that info (minus the mother maiden’s name) from when I fill my credit card form. Who are these people…

Long story short, I went to the store and complained. They let me pay there with a check.

So, is this a scam to get credit card info? Is this a business ran by old people that have no idea of the current trends and threats on the web? I’d love to perform a vulnerability assessment and penetration test on their servers. I bet they are already compromised!

It was a nasty web experience…

People, please SIMPLIFY your web pages and registration forms. it’ll be better for you and your customers.

This prototype wardrobe, named YOUTOO, is designed by Berlin based Atelier Haußmann – founded by the brothers Andreas and Rainer Haußmann. Made from powder coated steel YOUTOO seems like a robust and multi functional furniture piece.

Time will tell when this prototype will be in production and available in Atelier Haußmanns shop.

YOUTOO is nominated for the interior innovation award at IMM Cologne 2010 – starting today until January 24th.

a little late but here’s the january wallpaper by Mac Funamizu. The quote for this wallpaper says:

“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.”

John Pierpont Morgan

More sizes here.

Miami-based photographer Robert Barrocas has some great minimalist work in his portfolio, wrapped in a lovely minimalist website.

His work shows nature at its most peaceful: seascapes, waves and cloudy forests.

I have selected some of my favorites here, but please do check out his website – Barrocas is donating 50 percent of all sales to the Red Cross, to benefit the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

Lovely work, great initiative!

Yes, books. I know for many of us, getting rid of possessions is an attractive prospect … but not books! Books are sacred.

Right?

Well, maybe. I love books as much as anyone. I love them in a physical way, with certain pleasure-inducing parts of my brain being activated by the smell, feel, look of books, new and used. I love browsing through bookstores for hours, discovering new worlds at every turn. I love cuddling up with them in the morning, or right before bed, escaping from reality for a little while. I love talking about books, reading about them, surrounding myself with them.

But I’m learning to let go of the need to possess them for any substantial length of time. This has been a slow process. At first, I’d cull my fairly large collection of books by taking 10 or 20 here and there, and donating them or selling them to used bookstores. Then I got more aggressive and got rid of a lot, limiting myself to one (long) bookshelf. (Admittedly, the bookshelf extended itself as I stacked books below the shelf and then double stacked books, but it was progress, for me.)

Recently, I’ve decided to go even further. I’m rounding up all the books I’ve been keeping “just in case” — in case I want to read them again, or refer to them, or if I decide to get back into triathlons or marathons or whatever I used to be obsessed with. I’m planning to have a reader give-away of many of these books soon.

My new rule is pretty minimalist: If I don’t plan on reading the book in the next 6 months, it’s out. And I’m going to be realistic about how much I’ll actually read — one every two weeks at most.

If we learn to let go of this need to hold onto books, here’s a better approach, a more minimalist and saner way to live with books:

• Massively purge yourself of your books. It’ll be difficult at first, but trust me: it’s also massively liberating.
• Check books out from the library. My library isn’t great (here on Guam) but when I move to S.F. this summer, I plan to make the S.F. public library my biggest bookshelf ever.
• When you’re done with a book you own, let it go. Give it to a friend to enjoy. Donate it to charity. Sell it to a used bookstore so you can read another book.
• Start a book-sharing group with your friends. Swap books you really enjoyed. You’ll save money and shelf space.
• Only keep on your shelf the books you’re going to read in the next 6 months. No more.

Edit: Of course, there’s always the option of getting an ebook reader such as the Kindle or Apple’s long-rumored tablet computer. Then you’ll only have one device with possibly thousands of books. It’s an option I’ll probably move towards soon, as I decide what ebook reader I want. Maybe by the end of this year.

A clean townhouse Landskrona, Sweden by Swedish architect firm Elding Oscarson, which is a recently started office run by Johan Oscarson and Jonas Elding. The collective experience is covering both Swedish and international architecture, from museums to private houses, interiors, furniture and product design.

They projected in a narrow site sandwiched between very old neighboring buildings. Three thin slabs are projected into the open volume, softly dividing its functions. The continuous interior space is opening up to the street, to an intimate garden, and to the sky.

Photos by Åke E:son Lindman.