latent|design

Easily share photo's > Flickr Uploadr

2009-10-19T08:53:00.003-04:00

Desktop Uploadr

The Flickr desktop uploader sits on your desktop for heftier uploading needs or offline photo management. Drag and drop single photos or videos, or select a whole folder. Even reorder how photos will be displayed in your photostream.

Flickr Uploadr

Version 3.2.1: Released June 11, 2009. This release is available in 8 languages.

Get the new desktop client via » flickr.com

The most recent flickr Uploader Desktop client is super powerful! It's definitely worth the download, and it's much easier to upload lots of photos with the new drag-n-drop functionality. I strongly recommend giving it a try if you're a flickr user. Flickr just keeps getting better and better...

Posted via web from ptamaro | posterous

Size Matters: Methodologie Web Canvas

2009-09-10T08:36:00.002-04:00

via methodologie.com

Methodologie is kind enough to share their 'Web Canvas' with all of us in the design community. Their Web Canvas is a grid that displays screen resolutions and the percentage of users that are capable of viewing the different screen resolutions. Their statistics are fresh (August, 2009) and based on numbers from http://thecounter.com and http://marketshare.hitslink.com

I've added this little gem to my delicious bookmarks... I think it'll be a helpful little tool when starting new projects or when I'm wrestling over what screen resolution to design for. All of this info and our own design experience seem to support the notion that in many cases size matters ;-)

Here's the link to the Methodologie Web Canvas...

http://www.methodologie.com/webcanvas/

Posted via web from ptamaro | posterous

Veer: Ideas: The Skinny - Super-Contest!

2009-09-08T23:44:00.005-04:00

Enter creative contests at Veer, win $50,000 in prizes

Starting today, Veer is giving away $50,000 in prizes to winners of daily and weekly creative contests. Why? Because they like you that much.

Monday through Thursday, you can enter daily contests announced on their Twitter account VeerUpdate. Fridays, you can enter week-long contests announced on The Skinny.

Every daily and weekly contest will have 5 winners (chosen by Veer’s creative team) who will receive one-month subscriptions to Veer Marketplace worth US$199 each. Each subscription gives you 60 credits per week, for 4 weeks, to spend on images.

That's $1000 in prizes every weekday, for almost two months!

Then, on October 30th, they'll post a final contest, for a grand prize package worth $8000:
Apple® 17" MacBook Pro
Adobe® Creative Suite® 4
1,000 Veer Marketplace credits
Jukebox type collection (122 fonts)
Type Tray laptop cushion
Kern Zip-up
How hard you play in the daily, weekly, and grand prize contests is up to you. Knowing how talented our audience is, competition should be fierce and fun!
Visit the contest page for more information, rules, and regulations.

via ideas.veer.com

Posted via web from ptamaro | posterous

Mixero Is Reducing the Noise

2009-09-07T00:49:00.002-04:00

via mixero.com

I'm testing the beta of Mixero as I type this, and this app really delivers on it's promise of "reducing the noise." The interface is really nicely done and there are only a few things that a little less than intuitive but fairly easy to figure out as you use it. It's got a really nice feature set [see the list on http://mixero.com] that helps make your time spent on Twitter much more productive. Follow them at => http://twitter.com/mixero to get the scoop on their latest activities (hint: Facebook integration sounds cool) and bugfixes.

It feels different than other Twitter clients I've used -- feels more streamlined and the interaction is more directed towards productivity as opposed to "stream following" like other clients. I'm still not a huge fan of apps built on Adobe Air because this machine is old and just doesn't have the horsepower necessary to really handle "power-browsing" while running an Air app and a handful of others simultaneously (you can never have enough RAM). Because it's an Air app, it should work on any OS, and as I mentioned the look and feel is definitely silky.

As social media continues to converge and inter-operate -- it's getting increasingly more difficult to stay on top of it all. Although I've only been testing it a short while, I can see that it's definitely going to be an important tool in my social media tool chest.

Posted via web from ptamaro | posterous

Flutter: The New Twitter

2009-04-10T08:09:00.005-04:00

This "mock-umentary" is hilarious... it's so funny, I had to add it here so I can watch it over and over again. I think I would even wear those glasses they're talkin' about. I'm thinkin' that limiting messages to just 26 characters might actually be the answer to our problems with Global Warming? Think about all the energy it would save by not using the extra 114 characters for all those messages.

Really well done :-)

Microsoft Announces SuperPreview for IE Browser Testing

2009-03-18T22:14:00.002-04:00

SuperPreview is a new free standalone application from Microsoft (still in beta) which enables you to see how your websites will look across different versions of Internet Explorer making migration from IE6 to 7 and 8 much easier than before, without have to start up a Virtual Machine

=> read more | digg story

I used Digg's "post to blog" mechanism to post this story here to see how it worked. It seems like a neat way to help folks post more frequently, and at least get a post started quickly. Helpful if you want to blog about something you read but don't have much time, or you're busy doing other things. The original post was on WebDesignerDepot.com, which is an awesome web design blog I read regularly.

Here's a quick update
I tried to install "Microsoft Expression Web SuperPreview for Windows Internet Explorer" or whatever they're calling it (whew) on the laptop at work. As always, I was cautiously optimistic because it's a MSFT product. It required that I install some other stuff, and I didn't feel like bothering at the time. The install was going to take just a few minutes longer than "forever" so I canceled the install and created two new virtual machine's so I now have all three Internet Explorer browsers available for testing. I may install "Microsoft Expression Web SuperPreview for Windows Internet Explorer" someday, but for now I'll stick to a more typical testing approach... I think I now have 16 different browsers on that machine?

Cool Tool: SiteMeter - Free statistics tracker

2009-02-25T22:15:00.012-05:00

Site Meter is a really awesome free counter and statistics tracker you can use on your website or blog to monitor your traffic and get more details about your visitors.

It's a free "who, what, why, when and (from) where" tool to help you monitor who's visiting your stuff, where they came from, and what they like best. This info can give you some good insight into what kind of posts your visitors value the most based on time spent on a page or the information they're looking for, and how many pages they view in a visit. It can also give you some great technical information on the most popular Operating System, Browser, Screen Resolution and much more to help you make sure your interface design works for the folks that typically visit your website or blog.

Site Meter's comprehensive real time website tracking and counter tools give you instant access to vital information and data about your sites audience. With our detailed reporting you'll have a clear picture of who is visiting your site, how they found you, where they came from, what interests them and much more.

They've got two types of account packages. The Basic plan (free) gives you lots of data and statistics about your visitors, and it takes just seconds to sign-up and then get things working -- and you can't beat that price! The Premium plan (which starts at $6.95) offers additional stats, reporting, historical data, ad-free stats pages, and the ability to export your data.

I've been using it for just over a year, and it's great. Why not sign up with Site Meter now and give it a try?

Here are some example stats...

latent|design - blog.TamaroDesign.com
Feb 25 2009 21: 38: 55PM GMT: -5:00

Browser Share

Operating System

Monitor Resolution

Continent

Cool Tool: flickrSlider - Embed flickr Slideshows In Just Few Seconds...

2009-02-20T21:58:00.006-05:00

Do you have a flickr account yet? Want to easily share your flickr photos with the world from your website or blog? Well, now you can in just a few seconds using the flickrSlidr slideshow tool!

This free service couldn't be easier to use... all you need to do is enter a URL address for a user, photo set, or group -- and then add some tags, and set the slideshow dimensions and a few properties (height, width, preview and favorite's) and the slideshow will be created for you. You can even set create your flickr slideshow in "Standards Compliance Mode" which will make it more accessible. All you need to do next is copy-n-paste the code it generates into your website or blog post and enjoy... Cool, huh?

The tool is free and super-easy to use, so why not check it out?

Make your own flickrSlidr slideshow now!

Here's a flickrSlidr slideshow I just created of some of the desktop wallpaper I've made...

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Quick Tech Tip:If the flickrSlidr you just created doesn't fit well in your blog or you want to change the size of your flickrSlidr, all you need to do is edit the height and width attributes of the object (in pixels of course). It seems like the best aspect ratio is 1:1 so I set mine here to 410x410 pixels so it would fit nicely and not get cut off at the right edge.

Posted via email from ptamaro's posterous

FreePoverty.com - Knowing Helps...

2008-12-16T07:51:00.006-05:00

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE?

See how many cups of water you can donate by testing your knowledge about the world. Each correct answer means we will be donating 10 cups of water on your behalf. The number of cups of water donated on your behalf depends on how accurate your answer is. Once you have located one city or landmark, another location will be shown to you.

You may play the game however many times you wish. Of course, the more you play and the more you are correct, the greater difference you will make with your donation. If your answer is correct, 10 cups of water will be donated. The further away you are from the location, the number of cups will decrease. If your answer is nowhere near the exact location, no cups of water will be donated. Therefore by playing this game, not only are you doing a good deed for others, but you are also gaining knowledge for yourself. Good luck, and have some fun -- it feels good to help someone!

FACTS ON POVERTY

Every day, at least 30,000 people around the world die from poverty; most of whom are under five years of age. They die because they are undernourished, and do not have enough food or water to survive. More than 800 million people go hungry every day. This is 13% of the world population. How can you help? By playing this game on FreePoverty.com, each answer you get correct, 10 cups of water will be donated. Somewhere in the world, someone will receive it. And it will make a difference to their day.

WHY WATER?

70% of a human being is made up of water. Water is the second most essential element for survival, after oxygen. Over one billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water; hence, causing them to develop deadly diseases. Moreover, without water, the brain is not able to function properly. One cup of water can make difference to someone's day. FreePoverty allows you to donate as many cups of water as you can to save millions of people.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FreePoverty.com

FreePoverty intends to do the same, and they want you to contribute. By testing your basic knowledge on their map, each correct answer means you will be donating 10 cups of water. FreePoverty chose water as their primary source of donation, because it is something that all human beings need to survive. Around the world, there are too many people who don't have access to clean drinking water; thus causing various illnesses. With your contribution, FreePoverty may be one drop closer to ending poverty and making the world a better place.

Goin' Home Again

2008-12-06T00:13:00.002-05:00

When I Grow-up...

I just read a really nice post on Fuel Your Creativity about social networks by Andy Jacobson where he described the positive impact his online social life has on his design work and how it related to his "Home Town". Good stuff. I really like the metaphor. The somewhat short and simple post and some of the comments left by folks got me thinkin' about the topic, and I thought I'd tap-down some of my own thoughts on the subject.

For me, while growing-up the world got bigger as I did, and then I reached a tipping point -- and as I moved around a bunch it began to get smaller. I realized that there are many more things we all have in common than there are differences. Sometimes it's tough to remember this during the day-to-day hustle-bustle though.

I think everybody can appreciate it when folks put the "real" them out there... it's honest and heartfelt, you know? It's like a well-written short story. It's like a timeless photo. It's the stuff that gets into your core right down to the human element.

I've always felt we all unknowingly weave our brief and seemingly random, thread-like lives into a "Human fabric." It's old and worn, and it gets ripped and tattered but it won't ever tear apart. It's the metaphor I've always visualized to describe the Human condition.

Them Miles I've Traveled

I've been surfing the web since the early Nineties... Waaay back when there was only one browser: Mosaic, and a 300 baud modem was fast. I started trying to build web 'pages' around that time too. Heck, I had a Zenith 286 laptop with 1 Megabyte of RAM and I was doing "page layout" and brochure pages as a freelancer so it kinda made sense. Really basic stuff. Besides, I thought it just might be "the next big thing!" In retrospect, I've cobbled together a decent career over the years and rubbed elbows with some really fantastic people, built some great relationships and friendships because of computers, the web -- and now with Social Media.

I grew up in a small (one square mile) town just outside NYC. It had a town center, and everyone pretty much knew everyone else and it really had a sense of community. I have a busy offline "real" life and I'm slowly building a really nice, enjoyable and complimentary online virtual life as well. I now live in New England very close to Needham where Andy grew up. Small world.

Like Andy -- and probably a lot of other folks -- I love the cool factor that all the Web 2.0 technology presented. I always felt that the "you have to eat your own dog food" analogy made a lot of sense. You really have to use it to be able to design it well, right? I've been signing up for just about every service I run across to see what it does, and how it does it, and to soak-in that "virtual goodness" -- that cool factor that makes even the toughest geeks get all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

It's Good To Be Home

Maybe it's the time of year. Thanksgiving and some quality time spent with the family? Maybe it's my recent trip back home for a High School Reunion. It's nice to be a thread in the fabric, however torn and tattered it may be.

For me, it's nice to be a part of something bigger than the everyday stuff. The rough and tumble, "I just gotta get through this week" stressful kinda stuff. The virtual world doesn't seem to have the same challenges, nagging issues or problems that can build-up and stick-around in my "real" life. I like the energy and enthusiasm of the design community, and it's nice to be able to tap into a flow of consistent creative inspiration. I'm always inspired to try and continue to learn, challenge myself and try to hone my skills... feeling like I'm a prt of something bigger helps me to try to always keep an optimistic outlook on things, and "keep on keeping on" when things get tough.

I like the "connectedness" of my virtual social life, and I like the fact that it's always there, active and churning, rumbling with life. An endless virtual stream of something new and exciting just around the corner.

Posted via web from ptamaro's posterous

I am Now Publishing on AddsYou.com

2008-12-05T08:59:00.005-05:00

AddsYou is a social publishing network (still in Alpha) that pays authors for their written works. Not all the features are complete, but the core of AddsYou is up and running and can be extensively tested.

The AddsYou mission is to be the most visited and lucrative user-generated content site on the Internet contributing to the creation of a world-wide database of knowledge sharing as much revenue as possible with our best contributing users.

It’s a community full of fun and passionate authors that are hungry for writing, sharing, and interacting with other authors with similar interests. What do you know? Share your knowledge today!

Content on AddsYou is published by people like you from all around the world. AddsYou lets you publish just about anything you like online. Many authors publish their school papers, how-to's, news articles, journal entries, reviews, tips, poems, research reports, short stories, tech talk, e-books, ezines, etc… Be creative and more importantly, have fun!

Have fun publishing and make sure to send them feedback!

Find out more: www.addsyou.com
Get your FREE account now, it's super cool!
username=MjAwOC0xMi0wNSAwODo1MDowNQ==

Wow, I Got Smashed!

2008-12-01T00:34:00.005-05:00

Yes, we can...
Here's one from the "Stick to it, you can do it" Category... Way back in March of this year Smashing Mag started featuring stunning desktop wallpaper created by amazing artists and designers working on the web. I was hooked on Smashing since they rolled in the Fall of '06, and they really crank-out great articles, resources, how-to's, fonts, tools and all sorts of stuff that really does "make your life easier" if you work on the web (or if you geek-out just for fun, huh?).

In March I was so inspired by the amazing artwork that I took on a personal challenge to try and see if I could get Smashed too at some point — and I set out to try and make some decent desktop wallpapers whenever I had time. Finally, in November I submitted a wallpaper just to see if my stuff would rank, but that set wasn't chosen (the calendar was too difficult to see). No biggie I figured, and I churned-out another set for December just for chuckles, submitted them and went about my boring routine just as I always do and thought nothing of it...

Feelin' Pretty Good Now
I returned from a rare, and invigorating brief traveling jaunt and checked my email and deleted my typical SPAM messages (sorry: it's actually large enough, I don't need a mortgage or a mail-order bride, and I don't need an expensive watch, etc.) and then did my typical web surfing and feed reading. Then, I remembered I had submitted my wallpaper, and went to see if the fine folks at Smashing had posted for December with my fingers crossed and there I was, SLAM I got Smashed and it was a great feeling. Nice.

One Ant and One Giant Rubber Tree
Here's what made the grade, and I called it "Violet Night" because it sorta sounded good and seemed to make sense at the time. I dressed it up in some fancy phrases to make it seem like I actually had a concept when in fact I was really just messing around with Photoshop.

I think I can, I think I can!
I think I'll try to do something again next month since it's really kinda fun and I like rubbing pixels with some of the best on the web — makes me feel like I am somebody, really. Maybe I'll actually get some traffic and a few ad clicks on this stupid blog after all these years. That's another long-winded long-term goal, but I've stopped holding my breath waiting for a check from Google.

Check out all the fantastic stuff they've got at Smashing Magazine, and add them to your feeds — heck, why not try and submit your stuff? It's good for you and 100% natural without all the weird side effects, fast talk and fine print...
:-D

Blue Beanie Day 2008

2008-11-28T09:49:00.005-05:00

Standards make sense.
Get your blue toque or beanie on and support Web Standards — it's good for you, your browsers and surfers and it's good for the web... face it, Web Standards just make sense.

Huh, what's up with that?
Visit A List Apart to get more info on Web Standards or get the skinny right from Zeldman. ALA has lots of articles on Web Standards. You can also visit The Web Standards Project which is "a grassroots coalition fighting for standards which ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all."

Show solidarity with the Standardistas on Friday, November 28th, 2008.

Show your support for web standards and accessibility. Wear a blue beanie, or blue hat (but mostly blue beanies) snap a photo and join the bluebeanieday2008 Flickr group to show your support.

Also known as a Watchman's Cap. Some people call these head coverings a stocking cap, and in some parts of Canada they call it a tuuk, or tuque. In Detroit, a beanie is sometimes called skully, and if you are really a cool hip hop artist (or rap star), you wear a DooRag under your Blue Beanie.

:-D

Cool Tool: MeetInBetween.Us

2008-11-22T11:35:00.009-05:00

"Okay, I'll meet you half-way there..."
Simple problem, simple (yet sophisticated) solution. I was doing my morning surfing and reading tweets on my Twitter [Follow me @ptamaro] and I saw a tweet by @kyleplacy with the URL for MeetInBetween.Us and decided to check it out. I'm really glad I did because this is a really helpful app that takes two locations and finds a central location to meet, and presents you with places to meet by category.

How does it work?
For example, I want to meet my friend from Providence, RI for coffee next week so I type that location in and then type Boston, MA as my second location. I'm presented with Sharon, MA as the central location and categories like food, coffee, bar, hotel, mall, etc. and then it gives you places to meet based on the topic you choose. Simple, huh? It also gives you directions on how to get there from each starting location. In addition. it gives you a a nice short link to the map and location so you can share it with the other person.

Results, plain and simple.
How about coffee at the Starbucks at 5 Post Office Sq #5 in Sharon, MA on Wednesday evening around eight? Let me know if that works for you, either way... I'll have a Triple Espresso with one sugar please! :-D

Did he just say, "Flux Capacitor"?

2008-11-21T08:15:00.003-05:00

Posted by email from ptamaro's posterous

Substance with style -or- substance and style?

2008-10-31T08:17:00.002-04:00

Medium + message
Here's a quick and rambling post on the topic of style and substance. I just read a somewhat nasty comment on a blog that I frequent and it got me thinking about style. The flagrant comment focussed solely on the writers style, and in my opinion, missed much of the points the writer was trying to present.

Form, function? Whatever...
When I think of form vs. function issue (or is it function vs. form?), I tend to lean towards function as being the more important of the two for me. This is because so many things don't hold up to the test of time these days, and it bothers me when things just don't work or function well and do the very thing they are meant to do in the first place. If something looks great and is aesthetically pleasing and all that stuff but doesn't work, what's the point? I like dependable products and I don't mind fixing them when they fail to deliver because of normal use. When I'm constantly fixing things to just get 'em to work, it bothers me. It's about efficiency. It's about design.

Form = Style, delivery, medium

Function = Substance, purpose, message

So what's the 'dilly'?
Obviously, it's really nice when something functions well and has a great design in terms of it's look and feel, or aesthetic. I love the phrase, "we can deliver it with quality, on time, or on budget: but you can only pick two of the three." Like many people, I need to pay attention to the cost when buying things, but oftentimes I don't mind having to spend more for a better product. I like it when things last. I don't care for cheap products and many times I wait to buy an item when I can afford to pay for the superior product because it's more likely to do what it's designed to do and be dependable, and also stand the test of time with proper use.

Benefit of doubt
Folks are busy. It seems people are less willing to give others the "benefit of the doubt" these days. We live in a "heated" era where every word is often scrutinized and the point is frequently overlooked. This is an example of style over substance. The scrutiny is focused on the style rather than the substance – it's when you can't get past the delivery to see the underlying substance. Presentation and delivery (form) is important.

The concepts and ideas are what draw me to certain blogs, twitter tweets, and other web stuff on a regular basis. The writer's "voice" is much like adding some salt & pepper to a well made dish – it adds flavor. A writer's style helps distinguish the work from others. It can be playful and fun. It can draw the reader in to deeper aspects of the message. It makes things more memorable as well.

Mix it up
I like when a writer uses a colloquial or "tongue in cheek" style. It's even better when a command of language is demonstrated as well, and the two are mixed together, much like a good ballet. It's a sprinkling of style among the substance. I'm even willing to overlook a few typos and errors here and there... I try not to let the style get in the way of the purpose.

Maybe I'm getting older (or seasoned), but I prefer to take things in stride. I try to enjoy the ride, even when it's a bumpy one. I keep it "slow and steady" with the hope of going farther. I'd rather be a little forgiving than not. Go ahead, mix it in...

Posted by email from ptamaro's posterous

Smashing Magazine: Nov '08 Calendar

2008-10-30T00:13:00.007-04:00

I finally set aside some time to make an effort to submit something to Smashing Magazine for their monthly roundup of stunning desktop wallpapers. I haven't had a lot of spare time lately, but then who really has any idle time these days right? That said, I was able to churn this set out, and I hope they select it for inclusion in their November, 2008 collection. Earlier today they already had 53 submissions and I'm sure they're all really juicy and beautiful. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Anyway, the basic concept is:

Falling forward...
The cold North Wind blows
Remaining leaves of frozen bitter branches
Carry the old towards the new.

+ 1920x1200

+ 1680x1050

+ 1600x1200

+ 1280x960

All of the ones in this set have a calendar. I wanted the color palette to be monochromatic: dull, dark and dreary like a cold November night. I figured I'd start with something simple and see if they include it, then make more time next month and do it again if they do. I have a bunch of my other desktop wallpapers available on my flickr account if you are interested in some of my other stuff.

My First Posterous Post

2008-10-28T13:10:00.004-04:00

I don't have a lot of time at the moment (I'm actually eating my lunch), but I figured I should really give Posterous a post and get an idea of how it works since it's been a few days since I first signed-up. I got the link from Graham in a tweet (follow imjustcreative, you'll learn stuff).

Wow! Posterous is really awesome. What a brilliant idea...

Posterous — The place to post everything. Just email us. Dead simple blog by email.

The user interface is really simple yet sophisticated and intuitive — this app begs to be used, I just wish I had something worthwhile to post and more time to mess around with it. Post Videos, MP3s, photos, random ramblings you want to get out of your head — no setup or signup — whatever you send 'em they'll just gobble it up and post it for you.

I'm just minutes into it, and I love it already! This is a good example of a great User Experience. It's just that simple. :-)

» Get yours at www.posterous.com

Posted by email from ptamaro's posterous

Review: MeeID - An Online Business Card

2008-10-07T07:11:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across this neat little nugget web application called MeeID which is kinda like an online business card (for lack of a better description). It's so simple to use, it's free, and it's design is really lovable.

This is an extremely brief review because the application is just so simple and straightforward — and the design is very clean and intuitive. There's just not much to it, but it does what it does very well. All you need to do is sign-up for a free account, add your avatar or a photo, and then add some links... You can also add "favorites" or search for people and even get a random MeeID from the 1284 people who currently have a MeeID. It's cool...

There are lots of things that you can do with MeeID if you let your imagination flow. If you need some ideas to get your imagination going, the application's author Bronson Taylor has put a list of some ideas of what you can do with MeeID together for you.

Here's my MeeID in case you want to see another example.

Top 10 Benefits of an Online Life

2008-10-05T09:14:00.010-04:00

Squeezin' spare time into a busy life
With three very active kids, a full-time job and a few side projects, two cars and a house that are in constant need of repair and maintenance – my spare time is extremely limited, and lately it seems like it's even tougher than ever to find even a few minutes to do things I enjoy doing like blogging and reading blogs or trying to develop my artistic skills by doing purely creative stuff....

Enter the social space
Using online tools like Twitter, Flickr, Social|Median, FriendFeed, etc. etc. etc., and my favorite RSS feed reader is the only way for me to actually keep-up with the virtual onslaught of new and interesting products and services on the web. If you're a dog, you should be eating your own dog food AND the dog food others are cookin' up. That said, I've been using all sorts of services for years because I feel really strongly that:

"You need to use it to design it effectively..."

it's an easy and enjoyable way to stay on top of trends and try to become (or hopefully remain) hip...

it helps you develop, respect, and maintain a healthy "user-centered" design and development approach...

you meet some very interesting people, and learn a lot along the way...

it feels good to help others to learn, and spread the love...

create an online persona and personal brand to extend the "real you" and you might even learn things about yourself you may not have known before...

gain experience and grow your design & technical capabilities and stay competitive...

find yourself getting involved in really interesting projects...

eliminate any possibility of becoming bored...

it's a LOT of fun!

Props to some of "my peeps"
With these things in mind I want to just spread the love for some of the folks that have had a positive impact on my online experience(s). These folks are riding the latest waves and definitely on top of the latest trends. They've also got great insight, they're interesting people, have an active online life, and they will help you keep the creative juices flowing if you're stuck in a creative rut. I especially like the funny tweets, and interesting links. Twitter is and has always been lots of fun as well as one of my favorite services and sources of inspiration, so I'll start there. Here are some folks* you should really consider paying attention to and following:

Orli

imjustcreative

adellecharles

justcreative

socialmedian

chriscoyier

pglyman

beckychr007

fermion

Kitta

hellyeahdude

smashingmag

fubiz

Photoshop_GU

aaronv

cookbook

hoshposh

You?

*I do plan on adding to this list when I get more time — it's not everyone so sorry if I have not mentioned you yet. Also, If you want me to follow you just follow me and feed us some juicy tweets. If you are on this list and you'd rather not be, just let me know.

More to come soon I hope
Okay , that's all I have time for rite now, but I'll try to add to this soon... I'm off to the library to see if we can find some Babar books at the Library and drop the big girls off in the center.

Never Forget.

2008-09-11T08:09:00.002-04:00

09.11.01

09.11.07

Office Jargon v3.1

2008-09-08T22:42:00.005-04:00

I'm trying to make time to read blogs again. Here's a recent post from Lyndonology that really made me actually LOL, and got me thinking about how great it is to be "working in the interactive Web 2.0 space" these days. His post is a derivative from BBC News Magazine's Article, 50 office-speak phrases you love to hate.

I've heard a bunch of the office phrases he lists in the post, but I haven't heard all of them before... there's a few really juicy ones in there. These days, I try use phrases like this in meetings and stuff just to see if I can get others to use them, and because they're generally empty phrases that lack any real useful substance. It's kinda fun in a twisted sort of way. Give it a try, just make sure you use these phrases with conviction, and never ever back-down or break into laughter if you're pressed into a situation where you'll need to actually explain what you mean. Just think quickly and make up another one, look at your watch and let that person know you have a meeting to get to!

Perk up those dull meetings
I used to work with a guy (he's hilarious) who made the greatest sounding "tech phrases" up and then use 'em in meetings to see how long it took to have his own phony phrases come back to him. It's just great to hear a CEO talk about the "creamy goodness" of a "web product's UI" or functionality.

In the beginning...
What about the early days? Remember when people used to want to make their web sites "sticky"? Kinda like fly paper, or maybe something you might find in a public restroom stall? Yeah, right... great. That'll make me want to bookmark you. I'm not sure you're "grokking it" though.¹ And here's a great old-style umbrella phrase that was used to describe everything but your microwave oven, "multimedia" ...it still has a certain zest to it, doesn't it?

Here's a recent one I've been hearing more frequently: "socialize". This one is really kinda growing on me — it's so upbeat and snappy! Doesn't it sound just groovy? Like we might get to dance or have drinks, and possibly even snuggle-up?

I think these phrases are great if you're just getting into the "high tech industry" or have a tough time putting several consecutive substantive and meaningful sentences together. They're great for making that flashy first impression too. They're also great to whip out in interviews, parties and even holiday get-togethers with old friends or your extended family. Go ahead, give them a whirl. Cousin Jed will think you're a real "rocket surgeon" who works on that "internet thing." Folks will think you're, "on the ball."

Here are a few more gems coupled with the reason(s) I find them interesting:

Ah, let's revisit that again later"

No, let's have a visit with it right now -- isn't that the reason we're having this forever-long meeting in the first place?

[insert product or website name here] is getting a lot of buzz lately

Dude, we're in a boardroom, you can't smoke that in here!

Can you take that offline?

We're in the parking lot, so technically we're not really "online" per se. Which leads me to this one...

Technically speaking, blah, blah, blah...

This one's very popular with engineers, folks who your frinds jobs have been outsourced to, and consultants.

Let's continue to press on

Very lively and invigorating! Um, yeah that's gonna make me type faster.

...and here's a few I hope to start circulating soon: "Yeah, I'm clickin' it..." or "ok you've got my bookmark" but maybe they need a little more post-processing?

:-|

Google Shines On With Chrome

2008-09-03T08:26:00.014-04:00

Google just released their new "One box for everything" browser called Chrome. The name is a direct reference to the term used to describe a desktop software application's interface elements. The name also implies "shiny and new" which it definitely is. The current beta is only available for Windows users, and unfortunately the Mac and Linux versions are not out yet and it's not clear when they'll hit the street.

Do We Need Another Browser, But Why?
Google's goal and concept for Chrome was that, "spend much of our time working inside a browser" and the "web gets better with more options and innovation." They also wanted to "completely rethink the browser" and create "a modern platform for web pages and applications." Let's see what develops in the near future, but so far things are impressive.

It's Got That Creamy Goodness
All the code is open source, and they've "used components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox" and under the hood they built V8, a more powerful JavaScript engine which should keep even extremely complex web apps in control. That said, Chrome is blazing FAST! It's also CSS3 capable, so users will have a better overall experience. The interface is kinda Microsoft Vista looking and very simple which makes it easy to use since there are only a limited number of features so far. Some of the features are: DNS pre-fetching, gears, phishing & malware protection, dynamic tabs, and "incognito mode" (ala Safari?). There's also a cool little feature called "Task Manager" where you type about:memory in the location bar to see the current memory usage for your browsers... Looks like Firefox is a RAM hog with all my Add-ons, extensions and plugins installed. You can see the full list of features and video explanations on their features page.

Give Google Chrome a try...
Download Google Chrome »

Geeky Stuff &mdash Get Your Geek On
Here are some fun things you can do already, remember this is just an initial beta release! I'm sure the folks at Google have lots of cool stuff on the way.

Highlight some text or page elements and right-mouse-click and choose "Inspect element" to see a developer inspector (Firebug-like) which allows you to see the DOM and mess with it, and you can dock/un-dock to the window or view it in a tab, and do some other nifty things... [This is an awesome feature]

Type about:memory in the location bar to see your memory use.

Find more helpful info on GChrome here or get more GChrome developer info here.

Type about:version in the location to get your current installed version of GChrome.

Or, check the version "About Google Chrome" from the wrench menu, and it'll even tell you if your installed version is up to date.

Or make your Firefox new and shiny with this:
Chromifox 1.0rc2 Theme

...another blatant rip-off of another default theme from another great open source web browser! This time, the target is Google Chrome, or more specifically Chromium, the open source project behind it. The clean lines, slick layout, and compact style of Chromium were the points of inspiration for this theme. Chromifox offers a coat of Chrome for Firefox.

Free TV For Your High-Speed Connection

2008-08-26T23:01:00.011-04:00

Remember "Hawaii Five-O", "The Twilight Zone", "Adam 12", "The Addams Family", and "Lou Grant"? I've been a huge fan of Hawaii Five-O for years and I only have about 27 episodes taped on VHS (yes, they're less-than-optimal but still worthy of watching — no commercials). I remember staying-up late to catch the re-runs at 3-AM whenever I could. Well, with more TV and media being offered online and cheaper high-speed connections, it's getting easier to get your "TV Mojo on" and soak up that video-goodness whenever you want.

I was really pumped when I clicked a Google advertisement and found FanCast (owned by Comcast Interactive) which has lots of really juicy old TV gems available online for free. I'm a happy Verizon customer so the site is new to me....

It's really cool to be able to re-watch stuff from way back in my childhood, catch-up on shows I've never seen before, and save favorites and share 'em with others. The only downside so far is that you are forced to watch commercials before and during the shows.

It's like Hulu and they get some content from Hulu. Fancast's got lots of the old stuff all in one place, but Hulu's interface is slick and intuitive. Also, Hulu's got great features like subscriptions, a queue, and the privacy settings are really nice. Another cool thing about Hulu is that there's much more than just old TV shows. Hulu also has really nice HD content if you're got the hardware to support it. The Nature and Documentary content is really captivating if you have a large display.

Re-cast from the past
My all-time favorite broadcast from the past is Hawaii Five-O (1968-1980). I really love the twisted plot lines, strong character development and cast, visual style — everything about the show. I'm going to start watching the episodes I've never seen before first. Here's a little taste from one of the best television "Cop shows" of all time...

Hawaii Five-O
Some Day We Shall Be Strangers in Our Own Land

A native's love of his unspoiled homeland, a mysterious woman with a camera, a man with a briefcase, and a millionaire industrialist are pieces of the strange puzzle confronting McGarrett - 51:13 minutes

I took the Survey—did you?

2008-08-12T00:10:00.004-04:00

Last year, A List Apart created their Web Design Survey for people who work on and develop the web. When the results are in, they present their findings, analyze them and then publish the data (excluding personal information).

I took the survey last year, and I finally had a few minutes to take it again this year. Last year's 37 questions were reduced and refined into just 18, and it took me about five to 10 minutes to get through it this year. Last years Survey yielded responses from 33,000 web professionals from the United States, and all over the world.

If you work on the web building web sites, or web applications why not take a few minutes to take the survey? It's good for the profession, and good for you. Last year they even awarded some prizes to a lucky few who participated...