So here’s the deal: This guy got so famous that Microsoft even hired him to plug Windows Live Photo Gallery, and since we don’t often highlight Windows applications as often as *cough* Mac apps, I thought we could throw out the following contest:

The Double Rainbow and Microsoft Windows Live Photo Gallery Stitch-It-Together Contest!

Here’s what you have to do:

1. Watch this video and love it:

2. Watch Microsoft’s shameless pull of an internet meme to showcase Windows Live Photo Gallery:

3. Make your most-awesome photo stitch using your own copy of Windows Live Photo Gallery. You can be as creatively-awesome and spectacular as you want, just like these boring examples:

4. Blog your process and show us the final result. The community will vote on our winner!

5. Win a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3, an application that’s just a bit better than Windows Photo Stitch.

6. Rejoice and sing the Double Rainbow song:

7. Final deadline is September 17th!

Ready? GO DOUBLE RAINBOW ACROSS THE SKY ALL THE WAY!

And unless you’ve got something that you’re already very comfortable with (like Freshbooks, which I use), perhaps you could try this WordPress Theme called WP Bids:

WP Bids is a simple WordPress-powered theme that gives you the ability to create, design, and manage client proposals.

It’s low cost and might just be the solution you’re looking for.

Let us know if you use it!

Video Overview:

Saw this and thought it was a neat way of creating a temporary landing page.

Thoughts? Comment thread is yours:

I mean, when you think about it, buttons are critical to the success of your website, especially if you’re targeting clicks and/or attempting to sell a product.

Your goal is to “get that click”! Check out these sweet looking CSS3 buttons made with minimal markup… but don’t think about using them for “production” … yet.

Nice, right?

You have to play with them to get a feel for what the author has done.

I had been in charge of my church’s website for quite a while, and received a request to post some teaching from discipleship classes to the website. Approval from leadership was not an issue. It was fine with them that these videos be posted, so that our members and potential visitors would be able to view the videos.

My initial response via email was to ask where and how the videos planned to be used. Before I even received this input, I suggested that YouTube could be an alternative from a hosting perspective, and we could embed the videos on specific pages that I would be building.

I instantly got some pretty hurtful emails…

I received a pretty hateful email back that contained lots of all caps and exclamation points. I was told something to the affect of:

95%+ of all the stuff on that UTube (NSFW) is at best worthless from a spiritual perspective.  It is primarily a “community” of unbelievers, not believers.  A great place for evangelism, maybe – but not for indepth teaching.

Almost immediately, I was being copied on emails with our staff and other members that, even though he realized he’d spelled the domain name wrong,  he still found no value in using Youube for these videos. In fact, he was shocked to see some videos from our church that were on YouTube.

To make a long story short, I asked that he stop emailing this big group of people and suggested that we meet to discuss.

A conversation that should have happened in person or via phone was what was needed. Email was only escalating the situation and involving people who had no need to be involved. We got together and discussed and moved on.

So, what did I learn from this? 4 things:

1. Communication does not always need to happen via email. In this case, I should have set up a meeting or a phone call to discuss the needs of the situation. Tone and intent can not be read in written word.
2. I need to stop ‘programming on the fly.’ Even though this conversation happened via email, I was already trying to resolve the original need before I understood the strategy behind the request. In fact, I really didn’t even know the web knowledge of the person making the request. He didn’t understand and frankly didn’t care about bandwidth issues and streaming capabilities like I was worried. He just wanted them up. However, I should have taken my time to understand the request and be available to answer questions in real-time.
3. This may seem like an odd takeaway, but I thought about how the situation could have been better if my fellow brother came to me first with his worry. This situation taught me that I need to be more conscientious of how I react in similar situations. That’s Biblical by the way.
4. Last, I realized that I am younger than a lot of the members. I understand what twitter, facebook, foursquare, and youtube are. Others don’t. Education is important. Assumptions are bad for business.

I am sure that I am not the only person who has had something like this happen to them.

Has anything like this happened to you? How was it handled?

More and more people are beginning to develop their own versions of HTML5 video players. This is a great thing because it simply is heralding the increased interest (and adoption) of a new video standard.

Love it.

So check out FlareVideo and the easy CSS customization ability. I like how he’s made it Open Source so that you can use it wherever you’d like.

It’s undisputable advantages are top speed and ultimate simplicity: The user should enter the URL and click the “Convert to PDF” button, and in a couple of seconds the desired PDF is ready for downloading.

Bloggers, website publishers and all Internet users can now enjoy free service of Web2PDF Converter, as web content is much more convenient to share, print, archive and read offline when converted to PDF format. The resultant PDF files can be also read with PDF-supporting e-book readers. Web2PDF Converter is a perfect variant for those who do not have PDF creating software, but can be used by anyone due to the speed and easiness of use. No fee is charged, no installation is required.

It should be noted that Web2PDF Converter also supports conversion via e-mail, which is highly appreciated by users not having free access to the Internet, except for their electronic mail. Here the procedure is not any more difficult: The URL is sent to submit@web2pdfconvert.com , and the reply with an attached PDF is sent back at once!

Besides, the “Convert to PDF” button can be added to any site or blog for the visitors to save it as PDF in one click. The JavaScript code is provided here.

Check out these top features after the jump:

Top Features:

1. No software installation!
2. Direct conversion from most popular browsers (add-ons for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari).
3. “Convert to PDF” button code for any site or blog.
4. Conversion via e-mail.
5. PDF API, developers can use service in their own projects.

So check it out if this is the thing you need!

1. BrianNotess (13)
2. Marcus Williamson (4)
3. Phillip Gibb (4)
4. Art Fwd Adam (3)
5. Alastair (2)
6. David Knapp (2)
7. Graham (2)
8. JayCaruso (2)
9. mark (2)
10. Ryan Brien (2)

Here are some of the things you can do with Muro:

• 21 brushes, each uniquely programmed
• Basic and Pro modes, both free
• Intuitive layout and functionality
• Supports all HTML5-enabled browsers including the iPad
• Submit drawings directly to your deviantART Gallery
• Convenient design allows more focus on your art
• Join fellow deviants in a public forum to share drawings
• Start private threads in your group’s Admin Area and enjoy picture comments

Check out these examples of what some have already been able to do with Muro:

Haha. Just kidding. Check out these real examples: