Alex around the World

So this is how Safari 3 Beta on Windows XP looks like?

I’ve tried to install it on Windows XP. The installation went smoothly. Then the system asked me for a proxy password (I’ve installed it on a test machine at work).

Next thing I see is this nice little error message – such a usual thing on XP, unfortunately. This is where my Safari under XP ends…

More on other blogs:

• 456 Berea Street
• GeekWithLaptop
• Montoya Herald
• Sunny Man’s Blog

UPDATE:

It seems that the latest version of Safari for XP is more stable. I’ve updated it both on an XP machine and my Mac and it seems to work ok.

If you want the whole world to know what you’re currently up to or who you are but don’t want to spend hours building your Wordpress or Blogger account, try Tumblr.

Read a nice article on Tumblr on LifeHacker.

This is the result after I spent 10 minutes creating my own tumblelog.

At last, I will be attending a major web development event. I’m going to spend a week at the User Experience 2006 Conference organized by the Nielsen Norman Group (5 – 11 November, London, UK). Out of the 29 full-day tutorials available, I took 4 of them:

• Getting from User Data to Design. Speakers: Tamara Adlin, Adlin, Inc. & John Pruitt, Microsoft
• Content Usability 1. Speaker: John Morkes, Expero Inc.
• Content Usability 2. Speaker: John Morkes, Expero Inc.
• Making Search Work. Speaker: Martin White, Intranet Focus

I don’t really know what to expect from this training, but from what I’ve seen on web experts’ blogs, it’s a very useful experience, not only because you learn a lot from people who know their subject, but also because you can become part of a network of people who have the same questions, fears and ideas about the web.

I’m going there with 4 of my colleagues, with different backgrounds and experience in web development and web content management. We’re not attending the same sessions, but the idea was to share what we would learn in each of our sessions and start to create a real community of web experts within our organization.

International organizations such as the UN are not known to be very reactive at changes about the web, but I guess it’s partly because people who give directions, plan a web presence strategy or make key decisions don’t really know what to expect from these changes and how they can/will affect the organization. As web designers, content managers, information architects, etc., it’s our role to help educate these people, and I’m sure participating in these conferences and sharing this new knowledge with our colleagues is the first step of this education process.

Has anyone participated in previous editions of the User Experience Conference? What’s the reputation of the speakers? Let me know.

By the way, I just finished another book, in French this time: “Au bord du monde: les mémoires du juge de Pinochet“. A must-read for all those who want to know more about what happened during the Pinochet era in Chile. The author is the judge who arrested and prosecuted Augusto Pinochet, who was head of the military dictatorship that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990.

Here’s the summary:

“Juan Guzman est issu d’une des familles les plus anciennes du Chili. Son père était un écrivain diplomate, ami de Borges, de Neruda et de Saint-John Perse. Enfant, Juan parle de longues heures avec la poétesse chilienne Gabriela Mistral, prix Nobel de littérature. Se rêvant romancier, il débarque à Paris, de chambres de bonne en petits emplois, avide de rencontres littéraires. Tourmenté, Juan Guzman passe plusieurs années à chercher un but à sa vie, traversant une crise métaphysique. ” J’étais un égaré “, confie-t-il. C’est en devenant juge qu’il trouve la paix. Nommé par Allende, alors que sa famille est marquée à droite, il débute sa carrière dans le Chili reculé des marais et des querelles de mineurs. Il s’impose comme un homme modéré, sensible à la détresse humaine. Après le coup d’Etat, il s’accommode de la dictature. Pinochet le nommera ainsi à la cour d’appel de Santiago, l’assemblée judiciaire la plus prestigieuse du Chili, pensant y placer un pion docile.
Le destin choisit pourtant Juan Guzman pour instruire les premières plaintes des familles de disparus, après le retour de la démocratie. Patiemment, obstinément, le juge tire le fil de ” l’affaire Pinochet “, embrasant tout un pays.”