January 2008
News: A New Kind of Wordpress Theme →
Geez, have you seen the Quommunication Wordpress theme? Look at this thing! It is easily the best application of Wordpress I’ve run across. Obviously it’s geared towards an actual news site but it would likely work for just about anyone / any topic. I suggest all designers or lovers of well laid out content take a moment to drink it in.
First Look: Futurosity Aperio WordPress Theme →
Designed specifically for image heavy sites—photographers, illustrators, designers—Futurosity Aperio is now available for previewing.
10 Principles Of Effective Web Design →
Usability and the utility, not the visual design, determine the success or failure of a web-site. Since the visitor of the page is the only person who clicks the mouse and therefore decides everything, user-centric design has established as a standard approach for successful and profit-oriented web design. After all, if users can’t use a feature, it might as well not exist.
We aren’t going to...
Pirate Bay Admins Charged with Assisting Copyright... →
The Swedish prosecutor Håkan Roswall has announced the charges against four individuals involved with The Pirate Bay. The four, aged 23 to 37, are being charged with “assisting copyright infringement” of 4 software applications, 9 films and 22 music tracks.
“The operation of The Pirate Bay is financed through advertising revenues. In that way it commercially exploits copyright-protected work and...
MacBook Air in the House, Unboxing Photos →
Look what the FedEx guy dropped off this morning. For your viewing pleasure the unboxing photos of the MacBook Air. Apple really paid attention to the boxing details of the Air, the box is REALLY well constructed, and very similar to the new iPod/iPhone boxes. Of note, it is amazing how thin the unit really is, we are booting it up now and benchmarking it later.
ShareThis
—- Related...
Stay on :target →
In this article, I want to introduce you to a really powerful CSS3 pseudo selector called :target. Much like :hover, :target is invoked during certain interactions with the website. Specifically, when applied to a fragment identifier. On a page such as http://example.com/index.html#hello-world, the id=”hello-world” element is the target and any matching :target styles would be applied.
I am going...
Revving Up ExpressionEngine →
Not long after I moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn, I had that feeling familiar to most everyone who similarly relocates: “This is great. Why didn’t I do this sooner?” Once you’ve given up today’s Manhattan and its generally not-worth-it hassles, you understand how much more livable life is across the East River. Well, I’ve got something like that feeling again right now, as I take the very first...
Instapaper, A Beautifully Simple Bookmarking Tool... →
Instapaper, A Beautifully Simple Bookmarking Tool — Instapaper, a new site by Tumblr employee Marco Arment, simply put will easily be one of the websites I visit most this year. It may very well be the easiest and most beautifully minimal bookmarking site ever created.
Source: ParisLemon
Author: MG Siegler
Link: http://www.parislemon.com/2008/01/instapaper-most…
Techmeme permalink
How to Develop a Sense of Scale →
A sense of scale helps us better understand the world, and convey ideas more effectively. What’s more impressive? Bill Gates has 56 billion dollars.
Bill Gates earned over $3000 per minute [$50/second] since Microsoft was created. Spending 5 seconds to pick $100 off the floor is literally not a good use of his time.
If you’re like me, the second statement makes your jaw drop. 56 billion is...
Logo and business card design for Fidelity Hearing... →
I was approached by the California-based Fidelity Hearing Center, and asked to design both a logo and business card that were easily differentiated from their competition. First and foremost, the logo’s primary purpose was to act as an identifier for the organisation.
The name, Fidelity Hearing Center, was originally chosen because my client associates the word with ‘Hi-Fidelity’ and good sound...
iPhonify →
Introducing iPhonify, a Wordpress theme that makes your site look great on the iPhone. iPhonify is compatible with your current Wordpress theme and only displays the iPhone compatible display if someone browses to your site using an iPhone.
It’s simple to install:
1. Upload the iphonify folder into your current theme’s folder on the net.
2. Modify your theme’s index.php, single.php and...
xScope 2.0 →
A joint production of Artis Software and The Iconfactory, xScope is my favorite utility for zooming in on and measuring on-screen graphics. Terrific utility for any designer. $27 new, $10 upgrade for xScope 1.0 owners.
★
Share your Dreamhost sucks stories →
Upstart Blogger has one of the most famous Dreamhost sucks stories online. In case you haven’t already seen it you can read it here.
Before I took over Upstart Blogger in December last year I…
This is just an excerpt. To read the full post, visit upstartblogger.com.
Forty Marketing Agency →
Forty, a marketing agency in Phoenix, has a nice site. I’m digging the typeface for the title as well; although I’m having trouble identifying it. (via Cameron Moll)
Why Apple hasn’t Released a Mac-Tablet →
There have been rumors of Apple introducing a new MacBook with no physical keyboard and a multi-touch display (just like the iPhone).
The idea seems pretty cool to those who would love to see their laptop replacing all the paper that surrounds them: being able to jot down ideas, convert them (if needed) to text via handwriting recognition and searching them via Spotlight sounds to me like a bit...
Publishing External RSS Headlines to Your... →
I wouldn’t advise republishing content from any old RSS feed, but sometimes there’s a reason.
Let’s say in addition to DarrenHoyt.com, I also owned DarrensMusicNews.com, and I wanted to display those headlines in this blog’s sidebar. There are plugins to accomplish this, and sweet RSS/XML parsers like SimplePie, but Wordpress already comes with a function to handle it — this can be seen on your...
Quicker Application Binding in Spaces →
Right around the time OS X 10.5, Leopard, was released, I discussed how to enable Application Binding in Spaces, a part of Spaces which forces OS X to switch to assigned spaces when new windows or applications are opened. The way enabling this feature was described was straightforward and easy, but slow. It turns out that there is a much faster of doing this available.
This expedited method of...
Anderson Cooper blogging at WordPress.com →
Yesterday, Anderson Cooper 360° Blog relaunched on our WordPress.com. CNN was one of our first VIPublishers and has more than 40 blogs with us — their team is among my favorite to work with.
Along with CNN’s The Political Ticker, this is one of CNN’s most popularly blogs, so it is great that we know host them both.
I’m also excited Anderson Cooper 360° Blog is joining us, because of Anderson...
How to Discover Secret Gadgets Through the FCC →
The FCC website is chock full of unannounced gear going through early approval processes, ripe for the plucking. Finding these gadgets is a simple process, but for many, knowing where to begin is a difficult task. Gizmodo decided to throw together this how-to guide so you can find your own treasure chest of undiscovered gadgets.
Apple seen introducing cheaper, more innovative... →
With market data clearly showing a deceleration in growth of the standalone MP3 player market, Apple Inc. will reportedly strive to maintain growth in its iPod business by introducing a range of cheaper, more innovative models that incorporate touch-screens and multi-touch technology.
JailBreak your iPhone/iPod Touch to 1.1.3 →
Impatience seems to be something of a virtue to many an iPhone or iPod touch owner in this day and age. Constant demand for new “JailBreaks” to the new software updates is another step in the somewhat endless cycle of new updates that break JailBreaks, and then finding the exploits necessary and re-JailBreaking again. Well, it seems as though the latest iPhone/iTouch update has indeed been broken,...
Spore Coming to Mac Later this Year →
One of the most anticipated simulation games in years will have a place on the Mac when Electronic Arts releases Spore later this year.
EA announced the Mac release at MacWorld last week along with a demo on display at the expo, and it somehow slipped under the radar.
Spore is a simulation game on steroids. Will Wright, the game’s chief designer, is a pioneer in the genre, having developed the...
What Mimbo Hath Spawned →
From the beginning, Mimbo was meant to function like an empty framework that enabled developers to build advanced WP layouts more quickly. Developers ran with the idea, adding their own custom graphics and CSS.
Slowly I’ve begun seeing Mimbo redistributed on other sites. The folks at Niss.fr translated it into French, added a tabbed interface and made it available for download. The folks at...
Trees Reviewed →
Trees. It seems like you see them everywhere these days. But are trees viable in the long-term, or just another flash-in-the-pan fad for the under-30 crowd?
A tree generally consists of a straight, vertical middle section (the “trunk”) with several smaller sections (“branches”) coming off of it. Sometimes the branches will have leaves or fruit, although it is extremely...
Not by Southwest →
Unfortunately, I have bad news for the many friends I was hoping to see at this year’s South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin: I won’t be attending this year. Not that my three-year attendance streak was much to brag about, but I was really looking forward to showing up there for a fourth year. In spite of my criticisms about last year’s show, I still had a great time, learned a lot and...
Twitter Theme →
Prologue is a new WordPress theme that’s probably best described as a group Twitter, ideally for 3-15 people to let each other know what they’re up to. It has comments, permalinks, RSS feeds, Gravatars, XML-RPC, everything you’d expect. The front page shows the latest update from each person.
The 8 Houses of Bling: Hip-Hop Cribs on Sale →
The Upside of a Housing Recession? You can buy a hip-hop star’s house on the cheap…
Product pages: so much suck, so easy to fix →
[via Tiffehr] →
[via Tiffehr]
Addison Elizabeth Brett →
On Tuesday, January 22nd at 8:47pm, as Deanna squeezed my hand while I wiped away the tears from her tightly shut eyes, I relayed the words, “She’s here! Our baby girl is finally here.” From that moment, everything I knew about myself and my family changed. I watched as my tiny daughter struggled to open her eyes for the first time, within seconds of being placed in my arms. I witnessed the...
Coda Video Tutorials →
Steven Frank (developer of Coda, and co-creator of Panic) has released “the first three of what will become a series of tutorial videos. They’re hosted on a subsection of the Coda Web site, name Coda Developer” So again, check that out here, as of right now they have this list of videos:
User Interface Essentials
To learn your way around the Coda interface
Sites An intro...
An Introduction to Expression Engine →
Nice overview by Sean Sperte of the Expression Engine CMS.
★
SitePoint CSS Reference →
Outstanding online CSS reference by Tommy Olsson and Paul O’Brien; worth a bookmark for anyone who writes CSS.
★
Coda-Slider 1.1.1 →
Downloadable stripped down version of the Coda slider.
711Chan gets revenge, →
After having 711Chan.org inoperable for some time the hacker group “The Regime” immediately took credit. Well thanks to members of Anon not only is 711Chan back in the right hands, but members of The Regime have been outed to the public and information posted on their very own website! We do not forgive. We do not forget. We are Anonymous.
WordPress Theme: Upstart Blogger Stripped →
Ashley Morgan’s first theme, Stripped, is perfect for a content-heavy site or Tumblr-like blog.
Cocktail Tiger edition goes to 4.0.1, Leopard... →
Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, UNIX / BSD, Leopard
Just in case you haven’t yet upgraded to Leopard, but still love using Cocktail (that crazy mix of Unix functions for OS X), Maintain has released version 4.0.1 of their Tiger edition. They’ve fixed some compatibility problems with QuickTime, and added support for clearing font caches in Microsoft Office 2008. The update is now...
For Dummies Update →
The Never Ending Story. “WordPress For Dummies remains the #1 book on blogging at Amazon.com — it’s been #1 almost since the week it was released in November, and has remained there ever since.”
Installing OS X On a PC →
Adam Pash, over at Lifehacker. He says that it’s almost as easy as installing it on a Mac. To perform the installation, first you need to mess with the BIOS settings to match those found in the pictures he posted, then you torrent a file called “Kalyway Leopard 10.5.1 SSE2 SSE3” off of BitTorrent and burn it onto a DVD. This is essentially an install disk for Leopard loaded...
Cocktail Tiger edition goes to 4.0.1, Leopard... →
Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, UNIX / BSD, Leopard
Just in case you haven’t yet upgraded to Leopard, but still love using Cocktail (that crazy mix of Unix functions for OS X), Maintain has released version 4.0.1 of their Tiger edition. They’ve fixed some compatibility problems with QuickTime, and added support for clearing font caches in Microsoft Office 2008. The update is now...
Trailrunner 1.6: Keeping Your Workout Fresh →
It’s the New Year, and I’m sure many of you reading this have gone through the routine of setting those familiar resolutions to improve yourselves in 2008.
One of the most common of these goals is to ‘get fit’ with many people setting a target such as running the London Marathon or completing an Iron Man challenge.
Unfortunately, the hardest part of sticking to these self-promises is the ability...
Google Reader adds timestamp →
Filed under: Internet, Beta
Google Reader, the preferred news reader of many Download Squaders and our readers, has added a little nugget of a feature that will allow you to finally see how long it took Google Reader to show you a post from your favorite blog or news source. You see, one criticism of Google Reader has been the lag between when an item is posted in an RSS feed and how long Google...
Coda Developer Offers Screencasts →
We’ve been talking about doing Coda screencasts since basically
forever. Exhibiting the program at MacWorld really drove home the
point that they’re needed. Even the more enthusiastic Coda users
didn’t know about all of its different features. I saw so many light
bulbs go on over heads while doing live demos that it was clear we had
to put some on the site.
So, I’ve...
Build your own Apple Store →
Filed under: Retail, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Apple
The fixtures at Apple Stores are very physical manifestations of Apple’s legendary attention to detail. They are amongst the best designed consumer experiences I have ever had in an electronics store (many high end boutiques offer up the same attention to detail, but they are also not selling computers and iPods). Therefore, it makes...
SpearTalks: Heather Powazek Champ →
In 1994, years before the Internet became the world’s diary (or ashtray, depending on your point of view) that it is today, Heather Powazek Champ launched her first home page. Some form of addiction formed in her constant forays into self-publishing, and after some years the avid photographer found herself co-founding JPG Magazine, the Photoshop-restrictive publication loved well (if not...
CIA Says Hackers in Control, Threatening to Cut... →
WASHINGTON - Hackers literally turned out the lights in multiple cities after breaking into electrical utilities and demanding extortion payments before disrupting the power, a senior CIA analyst told utility engineers at a trade conference.
Build your own Apple Store →
Filed under: Retail, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Apple
The fixtures at Apple Stores are very physical manifestations of Apple’s legendary attention to detail. They are amongst the best designed consumer experiences I have ever had in an electronics store (many high end boutiques offer up the same attention to detail, but they are also not selling computers and iPods). Therefore, it makes...
Jawbone Films →
Sure, we’ve been yammering on about the uber-awesome noise canceling Jawbone headset since 2004, but despite our consistent praise and even a few giveaways, not everyone owns one yet. You’re probably holding out until you see it in action, and I guess we could understand your consumer hesitance, but you’re about to be converted. Aliph, the creator of the headset that allows you...
Christian Lessing →
A friend of mine just bought a condo here in Brooklyn. It’s quaint, charming, and cost about the same amount of money that a six bedroom house on an acreage in Utah probably does. Expenses aside, it has — and I’m speaking in common opinion terms here — the stupidest balcony any one of us have ever seen, owner included. It’s maybe a foot and a half deep, three feet wide, and looks headlong into...
The Internet Was a Real Pile of Shit in 1996 →
Pepsi’s website might be the best source of evidence to this claim.