Sunday, May 31, 2009

Optimize your iWeb site for Google Friendlyness.


Optimizing your webpages when using iWeb '09. It seems that iWeb does not play nice with search engines, however Rage Software has advice for things to do to optimize your site to gain back some of that finger lick'n search engine friendlyness.

iMac Desktops Review


A quick review of the newish iMac computers...

Sunday, May 24, 2009

ToDo iPhone App Review

I use Appigo's ToDo task management application daily. I find it to be a fantastically easy app with a greainterface. I've found the following features make it a strong list management software:
  • Quickly adding tasks. You don't need to enter any extra info if you don't need to (due date, priority, catagory, etc.) however if you want to you can take the extra time.
  • Syncing beyond the device. ToDo can sync with several 'cloud' based todo web services.
  • Tasks can multiple caracteristics. The task can just be that, a dumb to do task, however a task can be set to launch a webpage, make a telephone call, launch email or sms, and can even bring up a location on a map. For example, a task to call the client can be linked to their telelphone number so you don't need to look them up, just click and call.
  • Easy to review all the tasks of the day.
For a deaper review of the app, click over to The iPhone Blog and read their review.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Color Pallet Anyone?


Need a color pallet generator? You could you Photoshop to assist creating a new pallet, however sometimes you need something fast. Lifehacker has been reviewing color picking programs and has combined them all here.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Security Watch


Just read this over on Lifehacker:
Security Alert: Twitter Porn Names Scam
You've probably heard of or played the "porn name" game before: Take the name of your first pet and the street you grew up, put them together, and that's the name you'd use if you worked in porn. Turns out if you do it publicly on the web, it's a great way for phishers to learn the answers to your password challenge questions. [PC World]

The porn names game has a few variations, but the information that all of the versions elicit is the same. To find your "porn name" you are asked to take the name of your first pet, and combine it with the street you grew up on or your mother's maiden name. Silly, sure. But look more closely: All of these are common security questions. By playing the game, you could be revealing private information that Web scoundrels could potentially use to access your online accounts and bank information.

Be wary of this and similar games that might entice you to reveal potential answers to your security questions. Be sure to pass along the information to your friends if they have unwittingly provided answers to their security questions.


Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Striking Horizonless Manhattan

Amazing 3D rendering of downtown Manhattan. Fantastic work!
"They're intended to be seen at those same places, putting the viewer simultaneously above the city and in it where she stands, both looking down and looking forward...The projection begins with a three-dimensional representation of the immediate environment. Close buildings are represented normally, and the viewer himself is shown in the third person, exactly where she stands. As the model bends from sideways to top-down in a smooth join, more distant parts of the city are revealed in plan view. The projection connects the viewer's local environment to remote destinations normally out of sight."

Listing of 3D Software

People all the time ask about what software is available for 3D software. There is a ton of software and services (some good, some bad). Though not and extensive list, I've created a listing of some software companies selling services to the 3D community.

3d02
Absolute Textures
Ambient Light
Arroway Textures
aXYZ Design
Bionatics
Business Images
DigArts
Dosch Design
Entourage Arts
Evermotion
FormFonts
Got3D
HDR Source
Hyperfocal Design
Imagecels
Lowpolygon3D
Marlin Studios
Mr Furniture
Onyx Tree
RealWorld Imagery
RPC (ArchVision)
SachForm
Spiral Graphics
Sugar3D
Total Textures/3DTotal
TurboSquid Models/Textures
VisMasters Exchange
XFrog
ActiveWorlds
Anark Studio
Antics Pre-Viz
Cadai
Cortona
DX Studio
EON Reality
Hypercosm
ISS Forsight
Kaon Interactive
Lattice3D
Navisworks
myVR
Octaga
Shockwave 3D
Simmetry 3D
TurnTool
Quadrispace
Quest3D
rtre
Ventuz
VirTools
VIZX3D
VR4MAX
WalkInside

Resolution


A quick review of resolution issues written by Framework Animation. This is a great article to send to your client when they want a 10,000 x 10,000 rendering at 600dpi. Yikes!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Towel Day Cometh.... You Hoopy Frood!


Note that the much anticipated Towel Day is only 2 weeks away! Don't get caught without your towel. Find it now and hang onto it. Sooooo.... are you confused?!?!? Let me explain:

Towel Day is celebrated every May 25 as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams. On this day, fans carry a towel with them to demonstrate their love for the books and the author. The commemoration was first held in 2001, two weeks after Adams' death on May 11, 2001.[2] The towel is a reference to Adams's popular science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
And according to Douglas Adams' HGttG book:
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: nonhitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)

Saturday, May 9, 2009

The Fantastic Photography of Alexey Petrosian


Alexey Petrosian eye's see the world in a wonderful way. The photographs of the ordinary, the sad, and the beautiful are composed in unique and mesmerizing ways. I can't stop looking at these pieces of art.

Link 1
Link 2

Monday, May 4, 2009

Advice on When to Buy a Mac


The Mac Rumors website has posted up a useful Buyers Guide for those considering purchasing Apple products. It shows when the product was released, when it was updated, and their advice to whether to purchase the device/computer or wait until the next update.

Jiff Peanut Butter!

After reading my friends peanut butter post over at 'Stories of an Awkward Introvert' I got the craving for PB&J. I myself like creamy Jif peanut butter. I like the taste, the texture and the peanut aroma.... but I got a bit concerned about the ingredients. Yep, sugar & salt is added to Jiff the peanut butter, but I love it... love it!
But I've been inspired, and decided to give the new natural Jif a try, the next time I go to the store. It is lower in calories, so at least that is something. I'll let you know what I think of the new natural Jif. cross your fingers!