SimplePixels
Ideas on design, technology, culture and more as assembled by Matthew Carlson, a web and graphic designer based in Columbus, Ohio.
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January 2008
January 31, 2008
Hell Yeah the Plane Takes Off »
The t-shirt from Kottke.
The Plane Takes Off »
Mythbusters finally put the question of an airplane on a conveyor belt to rest once and for all, yet there’s still quite a few who believe their experiment was flawed and the plane shouldn’t have been able to take off.
I’ll admit, I didn’t think the plane would take off (obviously I wasn’t a physics major). But after seeing the example with the car and finally getting my head around the different methods of propulsion, it’s quite obvious that the plane should take off. This was a great myth, but it’s most certainly busted.
January 30, 2008
Spam One-liners as Typographic Art »
Linzie Hunter recreates spam email subjects using hand lettering.
January 29, 2008
Black Mirror / rorriM kcalB »
A nice follow up to the Neon Bible video. This new video from Arcade Fire lets you play with the tracks to create your own mix. Turning off all of the tracks except the vocals makes for a particularly haunting effect.
You Suck at Photoshop #4 »
The latest in the series. (Possibly NSFW language.)
January 28, 2008
Coda Developer Zone »
Panic has created a developer’s section for Coda with several video tutorials, quick tips, overviews and examples. Great for those looking into Coda or those looking to remind themselves of some forgotten short cuts. (via: Shawn Blanc)
DeliciousSafari »
Manage, browse and post to your del.icio.us account directly through Safari. (via: Ars Technica)
January 25, 2008
A Brief Message: Gone in Sixty Seconds (or Less) »
Amit Gupta:
Your most intuitive, meaningful, and devastatingly clever design is worthless — unless it’s shallow enough to appeal in the first five seconds.
Bluetooth Helps Amputee Walk Again »
What a great use of Bluetooth technology:
Bleill’s set of prosthetics have Bluetooth receivers strapped to the ankle area. The Bluetooth device on each leg tells the other leg what it’s doing, how it’s moving, whether walking, standing or climbing steps, for example.
Ars Technica Review of iTunes Movie Rentals »
David Chartier of Ars Technica takes a good look at the new iTunes movie rental service from Apple.
Layer Tennis: Playoff Fiasco »
The votes are in and here’s the match-ups for the Layer Tennis season finale:
- Chris Glass vs Shaun Inman with commentary by John Gruber
- Jason Koxvold vs James Hutchinson with commentary by Rosecrans Baldwin
The matches will be played simultaneously starting at 3 PM EST.
January 24, 2008
318 Different Covers of War of the Worlds »
Starting in 1898 and continuing to the present, it’s an interesting study on different approaches to one specific book cover design. (via: Quipsologies)
Coda: The One-Window Wonder »
A great in-depth review on Coda by Shawn Blanc. (via: Daring Fireball)
January 23, 2008
To Do Widget »
“To Do” is a lightweight and fast widget for Leopard that manages tasks and integrates with iCal and Mail.
Last.fm: Free the Music »
As of today, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm website:
Something we’ve wanted for years—for people who visit Last.fm to be able to play any track for free—is now possible. With the support of the folks behind EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner—and the artists they work with—plus thousands of independent artists and labels, we’ve made the biggest legal collection of music available to play online for free, the way we believe it should be.
I just did a quick search of about six bands I like and I would say about half them had at least one full track available.
January 22, 2008
Hit Me on My iPhone »
(via: Boing Boing)
Heath Ledger Found Dead »
Seriously disappointing. Mostly noted for his performance in Brokeback Mountain and his upcoming role as The Joker in The Dark Knight, he also had great performances in smaller films like Lords of Dogtown.
From Sniffers to DOCTYPES to Version Targeting »
Two great articles in this issue of A List Apart, Beyond DOCTYPE and From Switches to Targets, deal with making your websites more forward compatible by keeping them frozen in the past.
Pownce Open to Public »
After six months of private beta, Pownce is now open for public registration. Pownce shares some similarities to Twitter, but also incorporates file sharing and event invitations.
January 21, 2008
Rare Photos of Civil Rights Movement »
Rare and unpublished photographs of the civil rights movement from the Life magazine archive. Also check out the The Last Days of Martin Luther King Jr. photo essay.
Design Police »
Bring bad design to justice.
January 20, 2008
Friendly Clip »
Cameron Hunt has a nice improvement on Drew McLellan’s solution for adding custom Web Clip icons to your iPhone or iPod Touch which includes a set of default icons.
Tabulate for iPhone and iPod Touch »
Tabulate brings the convenience of “open in new tab” to Safari on your iPhone or iPod Touch. (via: Shaun Inman)
More on the $20 iPod Upgrade »
The Macalope:
The short story for those who got to class late is Apple must charge for substantial enhancements to products that do not have revenue recognized on a subscription basis or it has to restate prior earnings. The iPod touch does not have revenue recognized on a subscription basis. The iPhone does.
(via: Daring Fireball)
Feed Updates
A combined feed is now available that has all of the segues and articles together. No need to subscribe to two separate feeds any longer. The feed with just the articles is still available.
Another change I made while creating the combined feed is when clicking on segues in the feed, they will now take you directly to the link rather than back to SimplePixels first. Should make for easier reading.
I will keep the segues only feed alive for awhile, but if you are subscribed to that feed, please update your readers to point to the new combined feed. Thanks for tuning in.
January 19, 2008
Steve Jobs on the Amazon Kindle »
As quoted by John Markoff of The New York Times:
It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.
That statistic alone is depressing if true, but I still think Chipp Kidd’s assessment is where the true crux of Kindle’s—or any other ebook reader’s—real challenge lies.
.Mac: Future of a Sleeping Giant? »
Merlin Mann speculates on the future of .Mac:
Apple deliberately keeps .Mac a dim-witted, sleeping giant. It’s so unsexy, broken, and behind-the-times right now as to seem like a product out of a less forward-thinking company.
But what happens when that giant wakes up, stretches, and then starts standing in the middle of every single product Apple (and its partners) have to sell?
I was hoping that Apple would have something for .Mac at this last Macworld, but I think that Merlin’s right that “something is up, big time”. With the MacBook Air and improved Apple TV, Apple is more positioned than ever to leverage .Mac in new ways.
January 18, 2008
You Suck at Photoshop »
Donnie Hoyle produces Photoshop tutorials that keep it real. (NSFW dialogue)
This is the second in the series. Here’s the first and the third. (via: Boing Boing)
Layer Tennis: The Matches To End All Matches »
Sounds like a great way to end the season:
So here’s how it will work. During the next week take some time to look over the matches that have been played this season…and decide which players you’d like to see compete head to head.
Be sure to cast your vote.
Chess Master Bobby Fischer Passes Away »
Controversial world champion chess master, Bobby Fischer, has passed away at age 64.
How to Set an Apple Touch Icon for Any Site »
Drew McLellan has an ingenious solution for adding custom Web Clip icons for sites using a Javascript bookmarklet. (via: Shaun Inman)
January 17, 2008
Get the Skinny on Your ZIP »
ZIPSkinny takes the U.S. Census Bureau statistics about your area and displays it in a (relatively) friendly format. Just put in your ZIP code to see how you stack up against the neighbors. (via: VSL)
January 16, 2008
Create Custom Web Clip Icons for iPhone »
You can create custom Web Clip icons for your iPhone or iPod Touch by placing a PNG file named apple-touch-icon.png in the root folder of your website. Apple recommends using a 57 × 57 px size, but others have reported that using a 158 × 158 px size actually results in a better quality icon.
For you stat junkies, you can get a custom Mint icon here as well as instructions on how to get it to work correctly. (via: hicksdesign)
Steve Jobs Macworld Keynote in 60 Seconds »
For those of you who don’t have time to sit through the whole 90 minute keynote, here’s a great edited version from Mahalo.
Sun Aquires MySQL »
Kaj Arnö, MySQL VP of Community Relations:
Given Sun’s proven track record as the largest contributor to Open Source, I think MySQL users have plenty of reason to feel happy about the acquisition. There are many companies that attempt to ride the wave of positive attention towards Open Source, but in my judgement, Sun gets it right.
We’ll see.
Inquisitor 3 Now Tags Product/Affiliate Links »
In response to user feedback, Inquisitor 3.0 now explicitly tags product and affiliate links in search results and includes a user preference to disable these links all together.
Macworld Deflated
The air has been let out of Macworld and all the anticipation is over. No surprises, no “one more thing” this year.
Time Capsule
Time Capsule is a great name for a great product. Combination hard drive and WiFi base station makes perfect sense. 500 GB model sells for $299 and the 1 TB model will run you $499. Only downside, and a small one at that, is that if your hard drive goes bad and needs serviced, you also lose your base station and vice-versa.
iPhone & iPod Software Update
The iPhone update is almost old news at this point since the leaked video has been circulating for a couple weeks. The location feature in Maps is cool, but not too accurate on first testing. On my first test after upgrading, my actual location was just outside the circle. For not having built in GPS though, this is a very cool feature which I’m sure I’ll use frequently.
The iPod update includes Mail, Maps, Web Clips and the customizable Home page, but comes at a $20 price tag. I presume Apple’s decision to charge for this update instead of giving it away for free has something to do with accounting purposes. I’m sure this will get some kid’s shorts in a twist though.
Apple TV & iTunes Movie Rentals
The updates to Apple TV coupled with the iTunes movie rentals makes the product appealing to me for the first time. At the more palatable price of $229, I predict sales will grow substantially in 2008.
MacBook Air
It’s sexy. It’s light. It’s ultraportable. But how well will the MacBook Air actually sell? For heavy commuters where weight and size are their number one priority, this notebook is a clear winner. But starting at $1,799 puts it closer in price to the Pro models. I think you’re better off saving $700 and getting a faster MacBook. Other than the form factor, there’s no real advantage to the MacBook Air. If it had ubiquitous wireless networking like John Gruber was hoping for, this would have been a killer notebook.
January 15, 2008
Macworld Keynote 2008 Video »
The keynote has been posted for your viewing pleasure.
The 2007 Feltron Annual Report »
Fantastic design and execution. Be sure to check out the 2006 and 2005 annual reports if you haven’t seen them.
New Gmail for the iPhone »
Now supports pre-fetching of your most recent messages and address auto-complete, as well as updates to the user interface.
Macworld Predictions & Live Coverage Roundup
Keynote starts at 12pm (EST). Who’s bringing lunch?
Here’s a quick roundup of some of the better Macworld predictions write-ups and sites that will be doing live coverage of the keynote address.
Predictions
- ReadWriteWeb: What to Expect at Macworld
- Daring Fireball: Macworld Expo Predictions
- Gizmodo: What To Expect at Macworld 2008 and Why We Think It Will Be Bigger than Usual
- Wired: Macworld Software Highlights: Better Leopard, New Office, HD iTunes
- Mike Davidson: MacWorld 2008 Predictions
- Ars Technica: Great. Expectations.
Live Coverage
I’m personally a little underwhelmed by the rumors and not as excited as I normally am about the keynote. Truth be told, I don’t think this is going to be a gangbuster keynote. Sure a sub-notebook is cool, but I want to see more functionality on my iPhone (to do lists, MMS, video) and a more dependable, robust .Mac. Little things really, but these little things would go a long way.
January 14, 2008
The Smurfs Turn...50! »
Turns out they were originally created in 1958 by the cartoonist Pierre Culliford and not 1981 when I used to watch them on Saturday mornings. I had no idea Papa Smurf was so old.
Google Sees Surge in iPhone Traffic »
Miguel Helft reporting for The New York Times:
On Christmas, traffic to Google from iPhones surged, surpassing incoming traffic from any other type of mobile device, according to internal Google data made available to The New York Times.
January 13, 2008
New Get a Mac Ad: Time Machine »
Focuses on one of the best features in Leopard.
Juvenile Gizmodo Prank at CES »
Jackassery at its best.
SteveNote Expo - The Game »
Help Steve Jobs prepare for his Macworld keynote by using your “reality distortion field” to momentarily stun spies and journalists while collecting items for your presentation.
The game isn’t really too exciting, but one more little distraction to kill time before Macworld never hurt anyone.
January 12, 2008
Flickr Color Selectr »
Find Creative Commons licensed photos on Flickr by color. (via: FAIRspot)
RulesofThumb.org »
From the site:
Rules of thumb are a kind of tool. They help you appraise a problem or situation. They make it easier to consider the subtleties of the topic at hand; they give you a feel for a subject.
Looks like a fun site with rules for categories ranging from design to shellfish to chess to computers. (via: 43Folders)
Bose Companion 2 Series II Speakers Review
The Bose Companion 2 Series II speakers have clear, full sound, but come at a price.
I’m not a hardcore audiophile, but I generally like to upgrade my system’s speakers to get a little more out of iTunes. I’ve had my eyes on the Bose Companion 2 Series II speakers for awhile, but was reluctant to pay the $100 price tag. Having received a $50 gift card to MicroCenter for Christmas, $50 out of my own pocket didn’t seem too bad.
These are the equalizer settings I use in iTunes.
On first listen the sound is a little bassy, but after a few adjustments to the equalizer in iTunes I was able to get the sound evened out. For not having a separate subwoofer, these speakers provide a rich base experience. The speaker cases are solid construction and built on a slight angle to provide an upward direction to the sound. The cases are a little deep though coming in at almost 6”, most likely to provide room for the extra base.
The lack of a superfluous power light and extra set of inputs are nice features.
I’ve never been fond of speakers that have a power light to indicate they are on. I never turn my speakers off, so the light ends up being another glowing green dot staring at me out of the corner of my eye. It’s always struck me as an unnecessary item on many gadgets, which is thankfully absent from the Bose speakers.
The speakers also feature dual inputs which allow you to hook up an additional MP3 player.
Overall the speakers have good, clear sound with a nice range—once adjusted with equalization. They may be a little overpriced at $100, but if you happen to find a pair discounted or can get them as a gift, they’re a nice upgrade for those seeking to beef up the sound on a desktop or notebook system.
Of course, if you do plan to buy these speakers you can buy them at Amazon and support SimplePixels at the same time.
January 11, 2008
Layer Tennis: Veerle Pieters vs. Cindy Li »
You might expect a soft, flowery match today from Veerle and Cindy Li, but judging from the blow dealt in the third volley, this could turn out to be the most aggressive match yet.
Does the 80:20 Rule Apply to Design Projects? »
Michael Johnson:
Very few graphic designers find themselves happy implementing minor tweaks to a global accountancy conglomerate’s corporate ID. They’re drawn to small, highly creative projects that provide that drug-like cocktail of creativity and the search for the eureka moment. After the ‘hit’, it’s a slow downhill slide into creative cold-turkey until the next chance to score arises.
(via: Design Observer)
January 10, 2008
NetNewsWire Now Free »
Not sure how I missed this one yesterday, but NewsGator is now offering NetNewsWire, along with several other RSS products for free. Wonder where this leaves NewsFire? I don’t think David Watanabe is having a good week.
Wired's Take on the Birth of the iPhone »
It’s hard to say how accurate it is, but it’s a great read nonetheless.
Solutioneering, or Putting Solutions Before Problems »
Jeff Croft:
Essentially, it means putting solutions before problems. In technical fields like web design and development, solutioneering is especially prevalent. However, this approach rarely yields good results
January 9, 2008
David Watanabe Responds to Inquisitor Affiliate Ads »
I linked to this yesterday and am still of the same opinion after reading his response.
David Watanabe:
But the thing is, this isn’t news. It’s been like this ever since Inquisitor 3 was released 16 months ago. This behavior is public knowledge, and after over a year of soak-time in the public with no complaints it should be a non-issue.
But apparently it hasn’t been public knowledge gauging the response. I thought, surely I missed something during the install process or that there was a readme.txt file that explained this. So I downloaded and ran the install again but didn’t see mention of affiliate ads anywhere.
Going back and looking at the Inquisitor site again I saw a small disclaimer at the bottom of the page regarding the ads. Surprised that I hadn’t noticed this before, I looked up the page in Google’s cache and the text wasn’t there just three days ago. So how exactly was this public knowledge?
Nobody (at least not me) is begrudging the affiliate ads themselves, it’s the fact that they are not labeled as such in the results and not explained to a new user that affiliate links are promoted above natural search results. It’s certainly not scandalous, but does feel slightly deceptive.
UPDATE: It doesn’t appear that this link works any longer. David may have deleted the post.
Microsoft Office 2008 Available for Pre-order »
For those of us who have to have that sort of thing.
A Few "Best Ofs" from 2007
By no means an exhaustive list, and much of it’s not necessarily new in 2007, just new to me.
Best New (To Me) Music: The National
Not a new group, but new to me this past year, The National quickly rose to the top of my rotation list. Their newest release in 2007, Boxer, is fantastic, but Alligator is still their best in my opinion.
Best New (To Me) Gadget & Toy: The iPhone & Wii
I think there’s been enough said about these two already.
Best Thing in My Inbox: Very Short List
I don’t subscribe to many email lists, but by far the best email list from last year is Very Short List. If you’re not getting “one gem a day, five days a week”, this is one email list that won’t get lost with the rest of the bacn.
Best New Icon on My Dock: Coda
An all-in-one web development tool with all the elegance and simplicity of a Mac app. Coda hasn’t changed the way I work as much as it has for many others, but it’s definitely a great new tool I use on almost every project.
Best Waste of a Day: Waiting in Line for the iPhone
I’ve never been the type to wait in line all day for something, but then again Apple never released a phone before. While it’s something I probably won’t do again, it was fun to be part of the launch brouhaha.
January 8, 2008
Omnifocus 1.0 Ships »
The long-awaited Omnifocus ships today. I’ve been using the beta releases for awhile and have been pretty impressed. The biggest thing that’s missing for me, and not actually a problem with Omnifocus itself, is synchronization with the iPhone. Not being able to take my task list with me all the time has stopped me from making full use of any task list app.
Inquisitor Promoting Affiliate Links »
Brett Terpstra with The Unofficial Apple Weblog:
Most of us who spend any time on the ‘net already know that if we click a link to a retailer from a blog or reviewer’s website, there’s a good chance they’ll be getting a cut of any conversions. It’s when those links are directly promoted by the owner and the affiliate urls are masked that it becomes a question of ethics for some.
I personally don’t use Inquisitor that much, and certainly don’t have a problem with a developer trying to make money from affiliate links, but the way in which it’s being done here does seem a bit shady. (via: hicksdesign)
January 5, 2008
January 2, 2008
Leopard to Tiger iPhone Syncing Woes »
Seems there are issues syncing the iPhone between the two operating systems. While I have the Leopard upgrade for my work machine, I haven’t installed it yet. I’ve upgraded all my home Macs though. I stopped syncing my PDAs between home and work machines over a year ago because of too many conflicts, no matter what solutions or apps I tried. I’m so used to not syncing with my work computer I hadn’t even tried yet. Good to know I need to do the upgrade first.
Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks »
Some nice Google search tricks from Lifehacker. I wasn’t aware of the imgtype URL parameter for image searches. Good tip.
January 1, 2008
Last 5 Articles
- Let's Get Fresh Columbus 02/12/08
- Feed Updates 01/19/08
- Macworld Deflated 01/15/08
- Macworld Predictions & Live Coverage Roundup 01/14/08
- Bose Companion 2 Series II Speakers Review 01/11/08