So, after dissing Firefox yesterday, here is something more positive:  Finally, Firefox has a proper Mac UI in the 3 Beta 3 release:

Download Firefox 3 Beta 3

I use Safari most of the time, but occasionally switch to Firefox for development purposes. There’s always something annoying about Firefox that makes me switch back sharpish. Today’s bugbear: crappy rendering of italic fonts.

Compare and contrast (click to view actual size)

Wikipedia content rendered in Firefox:

Same content rendered in Safari:

Plastic Ono Band - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I’ve put together a tiny plug-in for the Address Book application in Mac OS X that allows you to view a map of your contacts addresses:

Yahoo! Maps Plug-in for Apple Address Book

Curzon, Soho

Juno has been called the Little Miss Sunshine of the year; this was all I needed to get to the cinema to check it out.

It is a quirky comedy based around the pregnant teenager of the title, and the dilemma that she subsequently faces determining the unborn child’s future.

With a fantastic soundtrack that includes The Velvet Underground and Belle and Sebastian, Juno is a fantastic feel-good movie. It is perfectly paced, and Ellen Page deserves her Academy Award nomination for her lead performance. The deadpan delivery of her clever lines makes her the wisest character in the film. Michael Cera also deserves praise for his performance as the geeky-runner love interest. The script makes the whole thing tick along so well: the jokes are clever, and come thick and fast.

I came away from the cinema with my heart warmed and a smile on my face… thoroughly recommended.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Juno (2007) - Movie Info - Yahoo! Movies

What’s Yahoo’s plan B?

It’s highly likely that we’ve already heard Yahoo’s plan B on its earnings conference call just before the Microsoft bid. Given that fact this Yahoo rejection is really just the start of negotiations. Yahoo has turned down Microsoft, but the game is far from over.

Yahoo reportedly says no to Microsoft, but the game is far from over

So, Hack Day is now over, but I’m pleased to say I didn’t come away empty handed: I won a prize for best hack in the sports category!

So, what exactly was my hack? Well, it’s a mobile application designed to deliver relevant content based on the user’s favourite team.  I can’t say too much more about it at this point

I’ll you posted on the progress of the hack if it gets taken any further.

Photo: Ben Ward.

So, after a 12 hour PHP hack session fueled by coffee and pizza, my entry for Hack Day is complete. Tomorrow, I get to present it to my fellow hackers and some product managers who decide which hacks are worthy of future resources.

I’m a little nervous as it’s the first time I’ve participated in Hack Day, so fingers crossed…

After tomorrow, I’ll post my hack so everyone can have a play

Prince Charles, Leicester Square

Based on Deborah Curtis’ book, Touching From a Distance, Control tells the story of Ian Curtis between 1973 and 1980.

In one sense, it’s a classic rock star rise and fall, but what gives it an edge is stunning visuals, and lead performances. The film is directed by Anton Corbijn, best know for his photography and music videos such as Nirvana’s Heart-Shaped Box. Here, he re-creates Curtis’ bleak Macclesfield backdrop in stark black and white which adds to the general sense of desperation that gets played out.

In the book, Ian Curtis comes across as somebody who is losing control, but it is hard to be sympathetic: He cheats on and subsequently ignores his wife, and looks to create a mythology for himself at every opportunity. The second half of the film captures this very well, and reveals a rather pathetic man struggling to keep things together.

Sam Reilly is a revelation as Ian Curtis, particularly in the Joy Division live scenes where he is utterly realistic. It is worth noting that the actors learned to play the songs themselves, which adds greatly to the realism. But the real star for me was Samantha Morton who plays Ian’s wife Deborah. She plays perfectly the loving wife who slowly gets pushed away from her husband through no fault of her own.

Overall, a very enjoyable film that leaves a strong impression.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Control (2007) - Movie Info - Yahoo! Movies

ProFont has been my monospace font of choice for many years now, and I’ve yet to find a font that comes close to its clarity. I use 9pt ProFont in both my text editor and Terminal, with no anti-aliasing applied.

ProFont for Windows, for Macintosh, for Linux