May 8, 2008
A Bad Sign »
Andy Ihnatko:
Today, a FedEx guy who has other houses to deliver to took the time to talk to me for five minutes about how desperate the cost of fuel was becoming. Today was the day I officially started to worry.
May 7, 2008
I Love This Quote From Jeffery Zeldman »
Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.
May 1, 2008
Do Websites Need to Look the Same in Every Browser? »
Couldn’t have put it better myself. (via: Daring Fireball)
The 25 Greatest Rock Songs According to Stephen King »
I’ve been a fan of Stephen King for a long time and love how he incorporates music into his stories.
April 16, 2008
Black Cab Sessions »
One song performed in one take in the back of a moving cab. There are some real gems here with The National, Spoon and The New Pornographers. Reminds me a lot of The Blogotheque. (via: VSL)
April 8, 2008
March 25, 2008
WordPress 2.5 Preview »
Sporting a new admin interface design by Happy Cog, WordPress 2.5 looks sharp and easy to use. I haven’t experimented with WordPress since the early days, but once 2.5 is fully releases I think it might be time for another look.
Fine-tune Your Volume Adjustments in OSX »
I wasn’t aware of this handy shortcut:
Every time you press the Volume key, a full block of volume is raised or lowered in the Volume bezel on your screen. If the amount it is raised or lowered is too much or not enough, you can adjust the amount by a quarter of a block at a time.
To fine-tune the Volume adjustment, hold the Shift and Option keys while hitting F4 or F5.
Muxtape »
Make mix tapes that play anywhere. A very cool, simple service that’s bound to be shut down eventually. (via: 37Signals)
March 19, 2008
Food Court Musical »
Improv Everywhere just keeps getting better.
March 13, 2008
The Wildlife of an Idea »
A gripping visualization of getting great ideas pushed through the often painful gauntlet of approvals.
(via: UX Mag)
March 12, 2008
Photoshop Disasters »
A fun catalog of all the things that can go wrong when retouching an image. I’m kind of partial to the severed hand myself.
(via: Kottke)
flickrvision »
Created by David Troy, who created twittervision, flickrvision displays images on a world map as they are uploaded to Flickr. Practically hypnotic.
March 11, 2008
iPhone Contact Search Coming? »
When watching the video of the March 6 press event for the iPhone SDK roadmap, Daniel Ahdout noticed a tiny icon at the top of the contacts list that looks similar to the OS X Spotlight icon.
Behance Magazine »
From Behance, the creators of ActionMethod and accompanying products (I have an Action Book, but haven’t put it into use yet), comes Behance Magazine — Insights & Tips from Creatives on Making Ideas Happen.
Six Suggestions that Can Make You a Better Designer »
Eric Karjaluoto:
Start: Until there’s something on the page, you’re nowhere. An enormous challenge for most creatives is the fear of the blank sheet of paper. Get over this as quickly as you can. Stop pondering and just get started.
As someone who always has ideas, but rarely gets around to implementing them, this was a good reminder. And it’s actually one of the reasons things have been a little slow around here lately. I’ve finally started working on an idea I’ve had on the burner for awhile now. More to come on that later…
March 6, 2008
iPhone SDK Road Map Event Live Coverage »
I’ll be live blogging the live blogs of Apple’s press conference. Well, not really, but MacRumors has the breakdown of the sites that will be live blogging the event.
March 4, 2008
Gary Gygax, Creator of Dungeons & Dragons, Dies at 69 »
It’s been a long time since I rolled a twenty-sided die, but sad news nonetheless.
Ohio Voters - Find Your Polling Location »
If you’re in Ohio (or Texas), get out and vote today.
March 3, 2008
The Leila Texts »
Leila Sales receives random text messages from strangers due to a glitch in Verizon’s system and blogs them for us all to see:
You’re a prostitute.
from a 978 phone number, Sunday, March 2, 12:55 AMI was out with my friend Clare when I received this text message. Clare was like, “Oh my God, let me respond, please.” So she texted back (on her own phone), “No, YOU are a prostitute.”
978 then texted Clare back with something like, “No, you are.”
Clare said, “Uh… this is a little weird.”
I was like, “Yeah, welcome to the Leila Texts.”
March 2, 2008
Blues Guitarist Jeff Healy Dies at 41 »
Despite losing his vision to Retinoblastoma at the age of one, Jeff Healy became a legendary blues guitarist. Watching him play was simply amazing. Here’s a video of Jeff Healy playing Look at Little Sister with Stevie Ray Vaughn.
March 1, 2008
Newsfire Now Free »
Newsfire, the excellent RSS reader from David Watanabe, is now completely free.
February 28, 2008
The Big Word Project »
The Big Word Project is redefining words. You pick a word and link it to your website. Your website is then the new definition. Simple.
Clever idea. (via: Daring Fireball)
February 27, 2008
The Highly Extensible CSS Interface ~ The Series »
Cameron Moll:
Introducing “The Highly Extensible CSS Interface,” a four-part series of how-to’s and savvy conversation to be published in the coming weeks, with the first article debuting this week. The phrase “highly extensible” is in reference to designing and coding interfaces that are flexible enough to adapt in ways the designer or developer may not foresee when handing off coded templates, while still retaining the overall aesthetic integrity of the layout.
Looks to be an interesting series of articles covering topics from CSS selectors to jQuery, Ajax and extensibility.
Mobile OS X 1.1.4 for iPhone and iPod Touch Released »
“Bug fixes.” Hopefully this lays the foundation for third-party apps and the the SDK which is scheduled to be released this week.
PrintWiki »
A good primer for printing terms:
PrintWiki strives to provide a comprehensive, open-source knowledge base of information on the printing and graphic communication industry. Everyone can contribute and edit content — it is no one person or group’s site. The site is continually updated, expanded, and improved upon by people like you.
(via: Quipsologies)
February 25, 2008
Keep it Simple, Stupid »
Wired magazine profiles 37Signals.
February 21, 2008
Tip: Prevent iPhoto From Opening When You Plug in Your iPhone »
I’ve been annoyed by this as well. Great solution to the problem which doesn’t get in the way of preventing iPhoto from launching when you plug in your actual camera.
CSS Type Set »
A WYSIWYG editor for creating CSS styles. A good tool for those just learning CSS. (via: SimpleBits)
John Gruber: A Mix of the Technical, the Artful, the Thoughtful, and the Absurd »
Shawn Blanc is on fire lately — excellent in-depth reviews, and now a great interview with John Gruber of Daring Fireball fame.
February 20, 2008
Ironic Sans: A New Typograpy Term »
keming. noun. The result of improper kerning.
February 19, 2008
Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far »
Stefan Sagmeister about the site:
What have you learned in your life so far? What is it that you are fairly sure about? What is it that you believe in by now?
Please do write it down beautifully. Design it digitally, photograph it, draw it, scan it and upload it. Use any media that works for you, paint, sculpture, film….
(via: Design Observer)
February 18, 2008
100% Graphic Design »
Seems just about right to me, but I would probably increase the “knowing when to stop” percentage. (via: Quip)
February 14, 2008
Love in a Backward World »
A little something for Valentine’s day, EVOL, a short film by Chris Vincze:
(via: VSL)
A Brief Message: Take Hearts to Heart »
Esther K. Smith:
Remember trying to draw a heart when you were little and it came out crooked? Then you learned to fold paper and cut one out — symmetry. Perfection.
February 12, 2008
How Google Got Its Colorful Logo »
Sonia Zjawinski for Wired:
In just a few short years, Google’s logo has become as recognizable as Nike’s swoosh and NBC’s peacock. Ruth Kedar, the graphic designer who developed the now-famous logo, shows the iterations that led to the instantly recognizable primary colors and Catull typeface that define the Google brand.
Let's Get Fresh Columbus
A call to the Columbus, Ohio web design community to start Refreshing.
When I came across the Refresh group back in August, I was surprised to see that a Columbus, Ohio chapter wasn’t formed yet. So I registered the domain. Six months later and I finally launched a (basic) Refresh Columbus website and am ready to get the group going.
Refresh is a community of designers and developers working to refresh the creative, technical, and professional culture of New Media endeavors in their areas. Promoting design, technology, usability, and standards.
If you’re in the Columbus, Ohio area and have a passion for web design and want to talk with like-minded people to share ideas, web design techniques and processes — and probably a couple drinks — drop me a note and let me know you’re interested.
Three Smart Things You Should Know About Leap Years »
3) International Atomic Time — kept by ultraprecise clocks — is gradually out-pacing astronomical time, which is determined by our planet’s rotation. (Earth’s spin is slowing — what a drag.)
Bezel HUD Style Plugin for Quicksilver »
A beautiful Quicksilver theme by Julius Eckert. (via: hicksdesign)
February 11, 2008
A Six-Word Motto for the U.S.? »
My submission: “Batteries not included. Some assembly required.”
10 Insights From 11 Months of Working at Google »
Avinash Kaushik, an Analytics Evangelist at Google lists out his insights from a year working with the company as a consultant:
10: The amazingly fantastic food and impressive digs.
9: “Micro Efficiencies”.
8: A company that truly cares.
7: Brain expansion opportunities.
6: The sheer amount of brilliant Google employees.
5: Empowerment (The big small company).
4: The scale of your impact.
3: Doing Good: Green & .org
2: It’s a happening place. The energy, the vibe, the passion.
1: The brand.
Avinash goes into greater detail on each of these in his post and it’s well worth a read.
Stacks Freezing in Leopard 10.5.2 »
If you’re having problems (as I am) with your stacks freezing since updating to 10.5.2, Linotype FontExplorer X is the likely culprit. Stacks will work in list mode, but any other mode causes the Dock to freeze. I don’t know if this is a Leopard problem or FontExplorer X problem, but I hope an update that resolves the issue is released quickly. Turning FontExplorer off isn’t really an option.
UPDATE: There’s an update already available from Linotype for FontExplorer X that fixes the problem. Nice response.
Leopard 10.5.2 Update Available »
Fixes include:
- Improves Airport connection reliability and stability.
- Adds support for more third-party routers with Back to My Mac.
- Updates Stacks with a List view option, a Folder view option, and an updated background for Grid view.
- Adds a menu bar option for accessing Time Machine features.
- Many Mail fixes.
February 6, 2008
Welcome to Microsoft »
Translation From PR-speak to English of Selected Portions of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s Company-Wide Memo Regarding the Microsoft Takeover Bid, by John Gruber.
xPattern »
xPattern is an open source fork based upon the 4.0 branch of Textpattern. It’s early in the development so it’s hard to get a sense for what all they have in mind, but a redesigned administration interface (long needed) and rolling some of the commonly used plugins into the main feature set seem to be top of the list. (via: Cameron Hunt)
Another Reason Palm is Dead »
Khoi Vin on the absurdity of Palm’s instructions on how to zero out your Treo’s memory:
Were I still a Treo user who for some reason needed to perform this kind of reset, I’d take two things away from these instructions. First, Palm apparently thinks that the crushing loneliness of being a single person disqualifies me from making sound judgments about zeroing out my device — unless I can hold the stylus in my mouth. And second, I should be in the market for an iPhone.
SuperDuper! 2.5 »
Now fully compatible with Leopard. This is a “must have” utility for any Mac owner and complements Time Machine beautifully.
February 5, 2008
Sleeveface: Album Covers Imitating Life »
Or is it life imitating album covers?
Sleeveface:
One or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion.
(via: Design Observer)
New 16GB iPhone Available »
The 16GB model runs $499, the 8GB is still $399. There’s also a new 32GB iPod touch that sells for $499, which means we’ll probably see a 32GB iPhone by the end of the year as well.