TL's Tech

Week 4: Puffy Clouds

2008-08-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

So I came across a real quick and easy way to great clouds, but the approach is one that you might not have thought of (or at least one I would never have thought of). The author Howard Pinsky uses wide variety of customizations available to brushes to create a really nice cloud effect. This tutorial is actually a screen cast, which I think for many is a better medium for learning Photoshop. [

Text via Email

2008-07-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

On the most recent episode of Tekzilla they mentioned something about emailing people messages which are received as a text message on your cell phone. I thought this was really cool so I thought I would share. Although the one carrier that would be really cool would be AT&T. T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.netVirgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com,Cingular: phonenumber@cingularme.comSprint:

Are You Internet Famous?

2008-07-25T10:54:00.000-07:00

Wired has made a cool little app that will rate how famous you are based on webpages linking to you, your friends across social networks, and pages linking to your photos. It's kind of like a SEO tool but for people rather that companies or sites. Defiantly a fun way for you and your nerdy friends to compare your popularity (RL Popularity < Internet Popularity).

Tutorial of the Week: The Making of Mystic

2008-07-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

This weeks tutorial is called "The Making of Mystic" and can be found at PSDTUTS. This tutorial is much more advanced than the ones I have previously featured as tutorial of the week. Although their is not detailed steps, their is enough information to inspire you to try a PhotoShop manipulation of your own. The tutorial was written by Nik Ainley. Here is my result (I didn't really put much time

Online or Desktop RSS readers?

2008-07-06T06:51:00.000-07:00

Which is better?The advantage of having a Desktop RSS reader is that you don't have to open up your web browser to check your feeds. The advantage of online RSS readers is that you can check your feeds on any computer. For a while I used a few different Linux based RSS readers, but when I moved to Vista I started using Google Reader.The best of both worlds!If you don't already use any AIR apps

Blizzard Entertainment will destroy our social lives

2008-06-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Yes it is true Blizzard Entertainment will destroy our social lives. How? You might ask. Well let me tell you.Pretty much ever game Blizzard makes is amazing. One of the first games I truly became obsessed with was StarCraft (I bought on its release). Now if you follow this blog frequently, you would know that I am a huge StarCraft fan (I'm not Korean however). Now I know a lot of people who

Arrr, Beastly Torrent

2008-06-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

Check out the size of this crazy torrentIf you didn't get that, its over 96GB, and its every Pride event ever. If you are wondering what Pride is, its a fighting organization much like the UFC. Only Pride was based in Japan, and is not longer active.

Ebay!

2008-06-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

I know ebay has been around for a while but I just recently started using it. It is for this reason I thought I would give some tips for people who do not buy things on the internet very often.Don't enter your credit card info into anysite that is not well established and uses https or some other type of secure/encrypted technology. If you use Firefox you will notice some sites cause a gold lock

Week 3: Wood Texture

2008-06-23T05:14:00.000-07:00

I know, it has been a few weeks since the last Tutorial of the week. But the tutorial of the week is back, for its 3rd installment. This weeks tutorial is called "Create a Realistic Wood Texture in PhotoShop". This tutorial can take anywhere from 5-25 minutes depending upon how much detail you can to include. This product of this tutorial "the wood effect" is all done using photoshop effects, and

Pork and Beans

2008-06-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

When internet superstars, famous youtube videos, and Weezer combine what do you get?Why Pork and Beans of course!Just saw Weezer's new music video Pork and Beans, and I have to say its amazing. Check it out for your self.

The Perfect Dual Boot System

2008-05-11T10:55:00.000-07:00

So recently I built my first computer, it was the first time I have ever done anything like it except for maybe adding a HD to my old computer. The next challenge was choosing an operating system. I have had dual boot systems in the past, the only problem was I would tend to favor on OS over the other due to where all my files where, or bookmarks, ect. I also went a long time with only Linux, and

Hilarious Flickr Set

2008-05-10T21:42:00.000-07:00

I just cam across a hilarious Flickr set called Refacing Government Tender

Are you Addicted...

2008-05-09T11:23:00.001-07:00

To Web Design!? Apparently I am. So the other day I was reading through all my RSS feeds when I came across this article You Know You’re Addicted To Web Design If…. I thought this list was funny partly due to the fact that some of these things applied to me. Then I though of another thing I do often , that some web designers might also do, checking the source code of other websites. Anyways long

When Video Podcasters Unite

2008-05-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

If anyone enjoys watching video podcasts as much as me then you might have noticed that on the latest episode of Cranky Geeks one of the guests was Irina Slutsky. If you don't already know Irina, she is the host and founder of GeekEntertainmentTV.com (you know that funny show where the lady with the Russian accent interviews geeks). Surprisingly many fans of Cranky Geeks do not like Irina as a

Building my new sub $800.00 PC

2008-05-07T15:30:00.001-07:00

So after having a Compaq Persario since 2001 I thought it was about time to update my computer. I would have just upgraded my old computer but their were some things that I didn't like. Sound - small fast moving fans = loud high pitched and annoyingThe Case - the case is ugly, and has very little room for expansion The Motherboard - the motherboard only supported up to Pentium 4 processors which

Bamboo Unboxing

2008-05-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well not to long ago I got my bamboo, and I thought I would take a few pictures.Outer BoxBack of Outer BoxInner BoxTestimonialInside the boxWhat you boughtmmmm... Black and Silver

GTA is not for Kids!

2008-05-02T06:16:00.001-07:00

All I have been hearing since the release of GTA IV is that you can pick up hookers then kill them, that the game teaches children to kill, and that it is filled with violence and stereo types. But the fact is, it is just a game. Violent kids are caused by bad parenting not video games. Also GTA IV is not for kids, its for adults so why does everyone assume that this game is ending up in the

Starcraft II Update

2008-04-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

For thoughts of you who have not noticed Blizzard has updated starcraft2.com, so what does that mean ZERG! Yes we are now finally able to learn more about the last of the 3 races. The two units that they have information available on are the Hydralisks and Mutalisk.From what is shown the Hydralisks seem to be the same as in Starcraft. They have no new abilities, however they do look pretty cool.

My first impressions of Fedora 8

2008-04-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

So if you read my last post you would realize that my computer died, and I was unable to use Photoshop. Today is the second day I am using Fedora and I would like to point out what I think are Fedoras strong suites and week suites as an operating system. Installation: Installing Fedora is amazingly easy, and all of my hardware including my Nvidia 8800 GTS worked without the need to install any

There will be no tutorial of the week, this week.

2008-04-14T18:28:00.001-07:00

Yes there will be no tutorial of the week, this week because unfortunately while playing around with resizing partitions I corrupted my install of windows vista. The good news though is that I am using Fedora which is nice and will continue to use for a little time longer, but eventually I will switch back to Windows Vista (or hopefully Windows XP Pro 64 bit). I am seriously missing photoshop,

Adobe TV and Getting Started with Flash

2008-04-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

Well Adobe has just released a new website tv.adobe.com which is like Adobe's version of YouTube for Adobe related tutorials. The interface is very clean, there are some great tutorials. I have not watched them all yet, but I did watch one called "Flash in a Flash", it had a catchy title and a great introductory tutorial into the world of flash. I have been interested in getting into flash both

Halo 3 Musical

2008-04-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

If your are not a fan of machinima then you might not find this as amusing. But while browsing the "internets" I found this very funny movie entitled No Scope Was Involved the Halo 3 Musical.

Tutorial of the Week: Sunset in Photoshop

2008-04-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

This weeks tutorial of the week comes from benwatts.ca. This tutorial took me about 15-20 minutes. Its pretty easy, but takes a pretty good understanding of photoshop to do (in other words some things like the sun rays have to be made and positioned by you). The final result is kind of cool, I would like to see some cool effect with lighting effects or something that would make this a little bit

10 Years, Still Pwning

2008-03-31T16:06:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1998 StarCraft exposed its fantastic-ness to my virgin eyes where I learned the true meaning of pwning. From Ladder Games, to Simpson's Madness, to Marine Defense, to Marine Special Forces, and all thoughs great Fa$$T Money maps, StarCraft will always keep a small part of my heart. From Clan [SK] to ]For[ and all the ones in between, wars and flooding, stealthbot, map making, and

Tutorial of the Week: Indiana Jones

2008-03-30T19:09:00.000-07:00

So if you haven not all ready seen the trailer I highly recommend you do so because the new Indiana Jones movie looks amazing. In the spirit of Indiana Jones I thought I would share the following tutorial I found: Indiana Jones Movie Logo/Text Effect Tutorial can be found at Photoshop Star. As I will continue to do I did the tutorial and my result can be seen the the left.