Cool Gadgets
Resources for Graphic Designers: Graphic River
Jan 11th
Graphic River is one of the Envato marketplaces.
A unique group of websites that cater to the graphic designer, and creative techies in general. There is something for every level of designer, and even digital scrapbookers.
Each piece offered for sale is vetted before it’s allowed into the marketplace to ensure that it meets with appropriate standards, and that there are not too many of the same type of item. I can literally spend hours looking at stuff, being inspired by some of the amazing work, and planning my purchases for the next month. They have a great way of cataloging the work, so that when you find a designer whose style you like, you can view all of their work and add your favourites to a bookmarks folder for viewing later.
Aside from the graphic river section there are other marketplaces (all linked by one user name and password) offering audio files, flash files, code snippets, video files, web themes and more and the payment method is via Paypal or by depositing ahead of time using Paypal, or credit card.
Whichever way you swing it, it’s a great place if you are a creative person, and looking for inspiration or bits and pieces for a project.
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A Design Resolution of Sorts
Jan 4th
I have made a promise to myself to design something everyday.
I’m not talking about stuff that I do for work, but rather just something.
A background.
A photoshop brush.
A pattern. A dodgy little compilation of free digital scrapbooking elements.
Anything.
Something.
Keep the juices flowing. Stretch the mind.
I have some pretty big, scary goals that I have laid out for myself like a bit of a gauntlet, and in order to achieve them, I really need to be at the top of my game.
I suppose it’s a sign of maturity, in a way. That achieving goals, is more important to me now, than merely doing a good enough job to afford luxuries like a Slingbox or a new TV etc. As wonderful as those things are, and as entertaining as they are, there are things in life that we need to keep in the bigger picture. I may be only 33, but one has to think about retirement, and what that might mean to ones income.
Yes. Very many large projects and goals to achieve this year.
I cannot wait!
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The Great Gift Debate
Dec 14th
This is the only part of Christmas, that some people do not enjoy.
Deciding what to buy one another as gifts for Christmas.
Personally I find that guys are pretty easy to buy for, there is always a DVD, gadget, blue-ray disc, accessory or music that my man may be interested at any given time during the year. This makes him pretty easy to buy for. I am also pretty clear about what it is I want. I do not even waste time hinting, and just say straight out a couple of suggestions (and where to find them, and what they cost). Other guys do not have it so easy. They really struggle with deciding what to buy their wives. Deciding on gifts for her, should not be that hard. Many women today have Amazon wishlists, blogs, and a very real idea of things they would like. If a woman says, “Don’t worry about me, I don’t need anything this year.” Then she is probably talking BS. Seriously, a woman could always use a gift, even if it is a simple bunch of flowers, a heartfelt, hand written thank you note for doing all the things she does that make a difference in mens lives.
Remember guys, your socks and undies do not magically levitate themselves from the floor, to the washer, to the dryer, then spontaneously fold themselves and replace themselves into your drawers. Really, they don’t.
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More Customizations
Dec 11th
Have you ever wanted to have a bar built into your entertainment area at home? It is something that I am sure many guys have considered, they have probably even picked out some sports memorabilia especially for their dream bar one day.
Or perhaps you’ve already built it. Something that I am sure many people do not think about, or at least, I know it has not crossed my mind yet is bar faucets. The style, the shape, the colour variety is absolutely mind boggling when you do get down to choosing. It’s always a good idea to get one with a long neck, to make sure you can get all those long pilsner glasses rinsed underneath it.
My husband has started to collect some rare whiskeys in anticipation of his ‘one day bar’. I am just not sure how we’re going to emigrate with them, we may just have to throw a big going away whiskey tasting party before we eventually leave. (Whenever that will be!)
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Building a House: Must have items
Oct 30th
Have you, or are you planning on designing a house from scratch?
Is it your dream to build a house from the ground up, choosing every last nut and bolt? I must admit I find it a daunting task, and would probably be more comfortable with renovating an existing property, and then picking out new fittings for that, rather than designing one from scratch.
What are your must have items? Mine include, green power sources (so in other words, wind and solar powered ambient appliances with hopefully no need to draw from the national grid), a power shower, swish german kitchen appliances, although I’ve thought of going with the more traditional copper kitchen sinks, a smart home system that can be programmed to change the colour and type of lighting according to the various times of day/amount of available light etc. As well of course, as everything that I’ve listed in my Ultimate Mac Office series of posts…let’s not forget those!
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Working On the Road
Sep 28th
With the advent of PDAs, it really has made the lives of freelancers like myself *so* much easier.
Just recently I upgraded my cell phone contract to a Blackberry device, and suffice it to say that the availability of push email and unlimited internet access has helped me to save countless hours which formerly was ‘time wasted’.
Doing the ’school run’ in the past used to suck at least an hour out of my work time, now I arrive a bit early, and I immediately use that time to go through my latest emails, make voice notes about any thoughts I’m having on current projects. Of course if I don’t feel like working, then it becomes my Mp3 player of choice and with 2GB of memory it basically holds my entire library of music right there.
Oh yeah, and it’s a phone too… guess I forgot to mention that!
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Shopping Online: For Computer Gear
Aug 27th
I went trawling the local web this morning, for a USB hub for my mom. Turns out her Lenovo Notebook is annoying the proverbial ‘you know what’ out of her. First of all I apologies to Apple, that as Mac user I have not managed to convert my techno-phobic mother to a Mac. Yes I know she would be far better off, but alas.
You see her Lenovo’s usb ports are on the right. She’s right handed. So when she has used her USB ports for things like her notebook mouse, flash drive and camera/printer/3G modem etc it constantly interferes with her mouse-using.
So she’s planning on using the USB hub on the one USB port at the back of the Lenovo (how happy I am to have a Macbook, that knows I’m right handed and has ports on the left where they are out of the way), and the plug in what she needs to there, to keep it out of the way of her mouse. Yes she has a trackpad on the notebook, but did you read the part above where I said she was a technophobe? Yes, we STICK with what we KNOW when that happens people.
Anyhoo, I was really pleased to find some really great priced stuff on the local web.
Huh. Whooda thunkit?
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Time To Upgrade Your Mac?
Jul 23rd
I love my Macbook.
It’s 2.5 years old and it’s still a major workhorse.
I’m running Tiger OS X.
It runs CS4 like a much bigger, stronger machine. Like a dream in fact. The smaller system memory places no limitations on its capabilities at all.
But here’s the thing. I don’t want to spend money on a larger monitor, when in reality I’d rather put that money towards my dream machine.
Because my dream machine will do several things, that my trusty macbook can’t.
No I’m not going to go into a lengthy explanation of system specs and operating system improvements, all I’m referring to is that wide, beautiful, 24 inches of viewing pleasure.
Having space to display my photographs, and my editing toolbars without hunching over to see them, down on my little screen.
*That* is, in a nutshell, what I’m after.
Have I ever mentioned before how much I want an iPhone 3G S too? Yeah, if anyone at Apple is listening and feeling generous, I would be *most* grateful, and most verbose, loquatious and chatty about the brilliance of Apple technology for EVER MORE.
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The Ultimate Mac Office: Fittings
Jul 6th
I occasionally post about things that I’d like to incorporate into a fresh new home office space, when I get around to having a ‘fresh new space’ to makeover from scratch.
I’ve talked about various rugs, bookcases, desks and other things that are swish, cool and funky enough to be associated with a sleek new 24″ iMac.
But what about that part of the home office that the majority of clients rarely get to see? The bathroom! Theoretically it probably isn’t part of a home office, but it’s still a part of your daily life, and I’m sure you visit it at least once during the course of your ‘at home’ working day. So it counts. Because I say so.
So let’s talk faucets!
How about this kind? They’re so edgy! How about these? It would be impossible to decide on the spot. So many options!
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File Extensions Part IV
Apr 24th
This is the final in my series of four posts about File Extensions PLS, as much as I love techie things, I’m a design girl at heart, and I have a massive workload staring me in the face positively itching to be tackled, so I’ll make this brief.
Have you ever heard of a .pls extension? It’s a file that contains play list information. It’s utitlized by many different programmes, but the most commonly known ones, which you will probably have heard of are Napster, WinAmp, Real MP3 and a couple of others. They basically store information required to play your favourite playlists which you’ve lovingly put together, and no doubt obsessed about for hours in the creation of ‘mix cd’s’ for your loved ones or crushes!
The File Extension PLS website also offers something called Driver Detective for Windows based computers will you can download totally free, and it will automatically scan and update your drivers for you. That sounds handy doesn’t it? I remember when I used to have a PC, that finding the latest drivers was a constant source of frustration for me, and with a tool like this it would really have made life a lot easier!
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