Veerle shows you how to whip up a facsimile of the Apple command key icon, complete with a four colour stroke, in Illustrator. Does anyone else think this would look great on a tee shirt?

The story behind the creation of the ballpoint pen, and also the origin of the Bic pen. Biro sold his patent to Baron Marcel Bich of France for $2m, around £11.6m in today's money. In 1950 Bich (who later dropped the 'h' to become Bic) launched his own cheap, disposable, mass-produced ballpoint pen. It conquered the market and in 1965 the French government approved its use in schools, with ... Read full entry

Cities and Icons. Sydney certainly fits the bill in this regard: Unless a city has some sort of icon - be it a building, the physical setting, whatever - it will be nondescript, especially to people not familiar with it. While I haven't travelled as much as I would like to, I can't think of one major city, or town, I have visited that hasn't had an "icon", landmark, or natural feature ... Read full entry