The political caricatures of old have taken human form, but they’re still nothing like us

09.05.2015/03.24

That’s another British General Election done and dusted. I haven’t followed one this closely since the 1997 campaign, where I was backing John Major. Shock, horror! Hang on, Jack. Haven’t the media all said you are a leftie? Didn’t you stand for a left-wing party? Therein lies a fallacy about left- and right […]

It’s full circle for style.com: back to its origins in fashion retail

02.05.2015/02.14

Originally published in the online edition of Lucire, May 1, 2015 Top Earlier today, attempting to get into Style.com meant a virus warning—the only trace of this curiosity is in the web history. Above Style.com is back, with a note that it will be transforming into an e-tail site. If there’s one constant […]

Steve Guttenberg shows us how a Kiwi accent is done

27.12.2013/08.54

Back in September, The Dominion Post claimed on its front page that I have an ‘accent’ that is holding me back. It was a statement which the editor-in-chief subsequently apologized for, and which she had removed from the online edition—you can judge for yourself here if the claim was a falsehood. Still, despite having lived […]

Staying a step ahead: the economic benefit of gimmicks

05.06.2013/12.55

Wifi on the waterfront is now a normal part of Wellington life—but in 2009 some felt it was a gimmick. When I proposed free wifi as a campaign policy in 2009, it was seen as gimmicky by some. I wasn’t a serious candidate, some thought. But those ideas that have demand, such as wifi, […]

Thinking to the future as Lucire turns 15

21.10.2012/09.54

I’ve written so many editorials about Lucire’s history for our various anniversaries that now we’ve turned 15, I feel like I’d just be going over old ground. Again. I’d do it maybe for the 20th or 21st, but the story has been told online and in print many times. But 15 is a bit […]

Wayne Sotogi’s thoroughly modern Mini (the 10 ft long variety)

11.10.2012/11.57

When BMW showed its Mini Rocketman concept, a lot of people applauded it: here was something that was roughly (1959) Mini-sized, rather than the larger car that it has become. In fact, the Mini Countryman gets the most criticism because it is not mini at all, but 4·1 m long (the original Mini was just […]

History has already shown us the better way, so why ape an outmoded market leader?

05.02.2012/23.56

A friend had his Gmail hacked, and, much like an Atlantic article I read in the print edition a few months ago, the hackers deleted his entire mailbox. Google says these hacks only happen a few thousand times daily. I’m concerned for him because he has to deal with the Google forums, and we […]

A few more swashes for JY Pinnacle Italic

15.07.2011/13.16

JY Pinnacle Italic will be re-released as a Pro version shortly, and above are some of the extra characters we’ve added. I know the swash k still needs work, and it will be ﬁxed up by the time of release. Pinnacle always had a decent bunch of ligatures, but if you have the […]

Archæological evidence that QuickDraw GX existed

09.06.2011/23.59

Here’s a glyph inside JY Integrity that never got used beyond the original publicity in the mid-1990s. Before there was OpenType, there was QuickDraw GX, and I was part of the consortium trying to sort out the character set, along with Allan Haley and others. We were using this newfangled collaboration tool called the […]

Opel is not a snob brand

19.01.2011/13.32

Arthur Daley, Opel’s last New Zealand spokesman: ‘Never mind the Capri, Tel: I sell Opels now.’ In the Fairfax Press, General Motors has apparently conﬁrmed it will bring in Opel-branded cars to sell alongside Holden-branded ones. It’s an obvious move. For years, a good part of Holden’s range was Opel-designed. Like Vauxhall, the model […]