claus

Seems that some people have run into problems with Akismet, the spam stopper developed by Matt Mullenweg’s Automattic. The basic issue seems to be that the tool is turning up a far bigger number of false positives as it should.

I remember seeing a post on Planet WordPress a while back (unfortunately I can’t remember by whom it was) about spammers trying to trick stopper software by inserting comments with text and links that don’t contain obvious references to typical spam content, thus undermining the contextual barriers that these tools put up. It was exactly this that made me wary of installing Akismet, because I’m a bit skeptical of the whole checking-against-a-centralized-database idea. Some of the problems of the Akismet approach have already been mentioned here and there (and see also this comprehensive post).

I have to say so far I haven’t found a more efficient and neater product than WP-Morph.

DecodeUnicode is by all accounts the most beautiful wiki I’ve seen so far. It’s an encyclopedia of unicode characters, with detailed explanations about the origins, history and uses of letters, signs and symbols – at least that’s what it aims to be: The project seems to be a very fresh one, so many entries are still void. But this is definitely one I would like to see growing into something useful.

This looks like an interesting project: Semapedia aims to combine the physical annotation technology of semacode with information from the Wikipedia. This is done by labelling places, buildings or sites with barcode stickers. The barcode contains a web link which can be read and interpreted by mobile cameraphones that support the Semacode Software.

It still sounds a bit clumsy, but it will surely be interesting to see what comes out of it. The Semapedia website already has ample hints to people picking up on that idea.

Via Digital Experience

This is a sweet online game, suitable for grown-ups and kids, and just the right thing to play between the years. Samorost was done by Czech designer Jakub Dvorský, which just goes to show that the country continues its fine tradition of producing excellent animation and entertainment for children.

Measure map is a nifty but useful tool to monitor your blogs’ statistics. Much easier to handle and more pleasing to the eye than Google Analytics. There are still some bugs, but it’s currently in alpha and invitation-only anyway. If you can’t decide on shelling out a few quid for Mint, this could be your tool of choice.

Comic-Strips als Blog: Eine naheliegende Idee, und ich wüßte mal gerne, wie viele die schon gehabt haben. Mich hat erst ein Artikel in der Libération drauf gestoßen, und da wurden auch zwei sehr schöne Blogs erwähnt.

Zum Beispiel der von Nancy Pena: Die zeichnet wunderschöne, skurrile Grafiken und Bildergeschichten, die an alte englische Kinderbücher erinnern, an Alice im Wunderland oder Der Wind in den Weiden. Aber auch den Einfluss von Jugendstil-Illustratoren wie Aubrey Beardsley oder frühe Comics wie Little Nemo kann man entdecken.

Aus einer ganz anderen Welt kommt der Blog von “Nina, Paris, France“, der die Geschichte ihres (fiktiven Vaters) Jonathan Bang erzählt. Und das tut sie mit nüchternen, fast melancholischen Bildern. Der spartanische Charakter wird noch dadurch unterstrichen, dass die Sprechblasen nicht mit einer Handschrift-Type gelettert sind, sondern am Computer. Erinnert mich ein bißchen an Alex Varenne (der in den 80ern mal einen erotischen Comic für die Libération malte), aber auch an ein bißchen an Love & Rockets, vor allem die Storys von Beto Hernández.

Es gibt sicher noch mehr interessante Sachen da draußen. Schön wär ja so ein Meta-Blog, so eine Art elbo.ws für Comics.