During these Flash lockups, it was nearly impossible to scroll around the screen and most taps were ignored or followed many seconds later. The only way I found to get your phone back to normal when it’s having a Flash meltdown like this is to hit the back button or the home button to get out of the program and even then the phone takes a second to become responsive again.

Can’t imagine why Apple doesn’t want this on the iPhone.

Update: Slides and links from my presentation are now online.

I didn’t do anything with this information for about a year, and then while searching for information on indoor air quality because of my frequent allergies, I came across the original research done by Bill Wolverton, an environmental scientist working at NASA’s Stennis Space Center (I always wondered what they did there when I pass through it on the way to New Orleans). In addition to many technical papers written for the space agency, Dr. Wolverton compiled the data in a nicely designed, easy to read book called How to Grow Fresh Air. Armed with my newfound knowledge, I began with 20 houseplants, a collection of Spathiphyllum and Phalaenopsis — the common peace lily and white orchid. These plants work as a team — among the common household pollutants they both filter, the lilies work on benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene and the orchids take care of xylene and toluene. And they all, of course, convert CO₂ to good old oxygen. I’ve got five plants in my office, four in my bedroom, and the rest scattered throughout the ~2,000 sq. ft. house. I could probably add more now that I’ve managed not to kill them for a while. (If you have pets note that some plants, like the peace lily, are toxic to animals and should be kept out of their reach.)

The results so far? I haven’t done any scientific monitoring so I can’t make a quantitative comparison. I can, however, compare my Benadryl intake since starting the experiment to the weeks prior. Since putting the plants to work, I’ve noticed a significant reduction in the frequency of my most common symptoms, sinus headaches and post-nasal drip. These simple improvements in my quality of life are already worth the time and money invested in the project. Having plants reaps an unintended psychological reward as well: the stress reduction provided by taking 15 minutes a day to step away from work to wipe a few leaves or mist the orchids.

The real treat in all of this, though, are the simple beauty of the orchids. I’m a designer; I can’t help my instincts. Meattle’s three suggestions are pretty homely looking plants, so I selected different ones from Dr. Wolverton’s research. The lilies are verdant and beautiful in their own way, but the orchids are knockouts. I took a few quick snapshots with my iPhone to show what I get to look at every day now. In case I’m unable to appeal to the scientist in you, I’ll try the artist.

For those of you who have been dreaming of an easier way for your readers to share your posts on Twitter, that day has come. We're pleased to announce that we've added an official Tweet Button as an option for all WordPress.com blogs. How it works: When one of your readers hits the Tweet Button, they will be shown a popup that includes a shortened link to your post. Readers can add in a quick message, and then hit "Tweet" to send the post to thei … Read More

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* {
	-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased;
	-webkit-text-stroke: 0;
}

Some sites use -webkit-text-stroke to disable subpixel antialiasing. Remove the second line if you miss having text-stroke elsewhere. Save the file anywhere you’d like, with the extension .css. In Safari, go to the Safari Menu → Preferences → Advanced. Under “Style Sheet,” select the CSS file you just created. Then close and restart Safari. Try visiting a site that uses the font-smoothing technique, like the Safari Extensions site. If you don’t see wispy, uneven text rendering, congratulations!

I’ve tried to keep from climbing atop my soapbox on this blog, but since no one seems to share this particular pet peeve, I have to vent. I’m a sucker for new CSS techniques, so using a WebKit-based browser like Safari is a no-brainer. WebKit simply has the best CSS support of any browser available, and the team is constantly adding new techniques. This was a good thing up until they introduced webkit-font-smoothing.

Left: The Safari Extensions web site with weak antialiasing. Right: what it should look like.

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the technique per se. It’s a great idea — let web designers specify either no or basic font smoothing in addition to the default (on Mac OS X) subpixel antialiasing. And sure, there are situations with some uses and some typefaces that would call for such a change. The problem is with web designers using it in situations which most certainly do not call for it — one such situation would be anywhere white text appears on a dark background. Unfortunately Apple themselves have succumbed to temptation and are now using this new technique to do terrible things to the text, as illustrated above, on the Safari Extensions site.

I’m not trying to stand in the way of progress. I know not everyone loves OS X’s default behavior. I just ask that you use it judiciously. Don’t break the readability of the web. At least not until someone makes a Safari Extension that lets me overrule you. Break away! I’m covered; see update above.

Matt covered the new logo and ads we just created for VaultPress. I’m happy with how both came out. Delicious Design League created the logo and Automattic’s VaultPress creative team (MT + Meghan) came up with the ads, which are running now on the Deck network. Read more on the VaultPress blog. … Read More

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