Mecandes' Humble Abode

NASA Discovers 700 Possible Planets

Mecandes — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:24:45 +0000

...an early analysis of the data that has been sent back indicates that 140 of the 700 identified bodies are much like Earth. "The figures suggest our galaxy, the Milky Way will contain 100 million habitable planets..."

NASA Discovers 700 Possible Planets

Mecandes — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:24:45 +0000

We had a great camping trip this week; some friends own a plot

Mecandes — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:05:22 +0000

We had a great camping trip this week; some friends own a plot of land on a little lake up north, in the heart of a quaint hidden little polish community. The weather was awesome; it rained one night -- all night, penetrating our tent a bit -- but that was while we were sleeping so was easily bearable... otherwise sunny and awesome the whole 5 days. The best part was getting out on the dock at night to stargaze; seems like forever since I've been able to see the milky way -- far too bright in the city for that.

Last week I picked up the cartoon version of Avatar: The Last Airbender for the kids (it's 60 or so episodes long) and they absolutely love it. What I've seen of it has reminded me a bit of Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli films; I suppose it's Nickelodeon trying to "do" Miyazaki. I haven't seen The Last Airbender film yet, but want too -- I have always enjoyed Shyamalan's films (particularly The Village, haha) -- I've usually felt he was treated a bit too harshly by the reviewers, who seem to want every movie he makes to be a triple-A blockbuster... but they just aren't that sort of film, methinks. Now, I was surprised he took on The Last Airbender, considering it is a franchise film; guess he was trying to mix things up a bit in his career -- too bad it seems to have backfired, alas. But I'm sure I'll enjoy it nonetheless. I may wait for DVD though... costs a fortune to take the family to the theatre these days!

Last film we went to see was Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (we had a couple free passes). I really enjoyed it, but I rarely meet a fantasy action film I don't enjoy. ;) In this case, I had played the video game, and always thought, "this game would make a great movie"... and Gyllenhaal was better than I thought he'd be. Finally also saw Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Heath Ledger's last film where he is replaced by Depp/Law/Farrell. Gilliam was luckily able to finish the film that way, as the other version of Ledger's character are all dream-world sequences -- but I still felt the film suffered by not having Ledger himself giving us a continuity of the character's journey. Gah, what a tragedy it is to lose Heath Ledger. I've been a fan of his since I first saw him in his first role as a Celtic warrior in a short-lived fantasy-themed television show called Roar -- it was a really good show, but couldn't compete with the more popular (and more cheesy) Hercules and Xena shows at the time, alas.

We had a great camping trip this week; some friends own a plot

Mecandes — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:05:22 +0000

Amiga: 25 Years Later

Mecandes — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:46:10 +0000

Let's hear it for the greatest cult computer of them all, which debuted a quarter-century ago today.

The Associated Press: Netflix chooses Canada for its international debut

Mecandes — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:16:31 +0000

Netflix Inc. will make its international debut this fall when the rapidly growing movie subscription service offers video over the Internet in Canada.

Number Cruncher for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Mecandes — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:49:55 +0000

Shared by Mecandes
Definitely worth checking out this new free game... :)

No math skills needed! Stringing together numbers has never been more fun! The object is to generate as many sequences of numbers as possible within the allotted time. A sequence consists of runs (like 2,3,4, or 4,3) and doubles or multiples of the same number (like 2,2 or 2,2,2.2), and can also wrap between 1 and 9 (like 2,1,9,1). As numbers are removed from the grid, new numbers fall into place. Increase your high score by creating a very large sequence that also contains as many bonus tiles as possible.

Know Your Icons Part 1 – A Brief History of Computer Icons

Mecandes — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:58:53 +0000

As with great works of art, you must look into the past to appreciate the future. With roots as far back as the 1970′s, the humble icon has come a long way. Following is a collection of icons though history. Although there have been many other operating systems in the time between 1981 – 2010, I’ve hand picked the ones of the most significance to modern icon design. These designs show just a small fraction of the icons in the many and varied User Interfaces throughout the years. To learn more about the history of User Interface Design you can find a comprehensive article on the subject on Wikipedia.

This Post is Day 7 of our Interface Design Session. Creative Sessions

« Session Day 6 Session Day 8 »

1981 Xerox 8010 Star — The First Consumer GUI Computer

In 1973 the Xerox Alto was the world’s first GUI (Graphical User Interface) based computing system. Designed around an "office" metaphor (also a first), the Alto was built as a research computer and therefore wasn’t available for commercial release. With 2,000 machines worldwide, the Xerox Alto was so significant, it was a source of inspiration for the Apple Lisa (1983). In 1981 the Xerox Star was released, incorporating many of the design features of the Alto. The Xerox icons demonstrate a consideration for human interaction. As you can see, Calculator, Document, Folder and Trash haven’t changed in almost 30 years.

1981 – Xerox 8010 Star

1983 Apple Lisa — Popularized the GUI

Development of the Apple Lisa started in 1978 and was heavily influenced by the earlier Xerox computers. Hoping to carve a niche in the personal computing market, Apple adopted the office metaphor to make navigation easier for new users. Lisa was an advanced GUI for the time as it had movable "Desk Accessories" (early Widgets), drop-down menus and folder based directories. You can see the icons are not much different from the Xerox, except for the size and single pixel outlines, and the use of the computer as the preferences icon (it’s now common to use cogs).

1983 – Lisa Office System 1

1984 Apple Macintosh 1.0 — Artist Designed Icons

A year after Lisa the Apple Macintosh 1.0 was released. We now see drag and drop file copying, movable windows and fancy new icons! The Macintosh icons were designed by the now legendary Susan Kare. Susan Kare has to be the all time master of Icon design and was responsible for many icons including the MacPaint interface (fig 2). Kare’s philosophy on icon design is simple, "I believe that good icons are more akin to road signs rather than illustrations, and ideally should present an idea in a clear, concise, and memorable way. I try to optimize for clarity and simplicity even as palette and resolution options have increased." This philosophy is at the core of Apple’s early commercial success.

1984 – Macintosh System 1.0 (fig 1)

1984 – Macintosh System 1.0 (fig 2)

1985 Atari TOS — Isometric Icons

It’s important to note — for those a bit younger than us old sentimental computer users — that the GUI was not only for the Apple systems. The Atari ST had an OS called TOS which had a minimal interface also using the desk metaphor, which by then had become a computer standard. It’s interesting to see that the TOS has Isometric Disk icons (file drawers).

1985 – Atari TOS Version 1.0

1985 Amiga Workbench — Four Color Icons

The Amiga Workbench was made for the Amiga 1000 personal computer. Despite the crudely designed icons, Workbench was actually ahead of its time. Including features such as customizable mouse cursors, four color graphics and multi-state icons. You can see the two states of the "Workbench" icon in the example below. The Amiga broke with the desktop convention and chose to use a workbench with drawers instead of files.

1985 – Amiga Workbench 1.0

1985 Windows 1.0x — Microsoft’s First GUI OS

In 1985 Microsoft finally released its first GUI. The icons are just as crude as the Amiga but don’t include color. It’s interesting to see that the first icons for Windows Paint employ different symbols to MacPaint, in particular the Spray Painter.

1985 – Windows 1.0x

1986 GEOS for Commodore 64 — The Alternative OS

I’ve included GEOS for the Commodore 64 as, at the time, it was the second most popular GUI behind Macintosh 1.0 (based on units shipped). The icons have more character than Windows OS and share the Mac philosophy of clearly expressed metaphors.

1986 – Commodore C64 GEOS

1991 Macintosh System 7 — First Mac OS with Colors

With System 7 we saw the introduction of color to the icons. You may notice that the icons are now slightly raised to appear "clickable".

1991 – Macintosh System 7

1992 Windows 3.1 — New Designer Icons!

In Windows 3.0 (1990) Microsoft employed Susan Kare (who first made icons for the Macintosh 1.0) who greatly improved the designs. In 3.1 Kare further refines the colors and designs for the icons. Windows 3.1 was the first Windows platform with pre-installed True Type Fonts.

1990 – Windows 3

1995 Windows 95 — The Start Button

Windows 95 introduces more colors to the icons and a few more isometric designs. The Windows 95 design is a complete re-build and includes elements that are still part of Windows designs to this day. The elements include, the taskbar, the menu and Microsoft’s famous Start Button.

1995 – Windows 95

1997 Macintosh OS 8 — Brighter Icons for Mac

In Mac OS 8 the icons are now beginning to look brighter and rendered to show a strong light source. Macintosh also starts to implement an isometric style with a strong "drop shadow".

1997 – Macintosh OS 8

2001 Mac OS X v10.0 — Jelly Mac

Mac OS X was released around the time I was studying for my degree in Multimedia. Lovingly called the "Jelly Mac" by most of the students. We couldn’t help but notice the ultra shiny and plastic-jelly like finish of the icons. The icons in OS X are also a huge leap forward in design from the previous OS 9, which was released just two years earlier (OS 9 looks almost the same as OS 8 above.) Presumably, due to the Dock, the icons are rendered either from a straight forward point of view or slightly above. Designed around the new Aqua theme, icons show complex reflections, highlights and textures. Without the Aqua theme, I doubt that icon design would be as desirable as it is today.

2001 – Mac OS X v10.0

2001 Windows XP — Bright Soft Icons

In 2001 Microsoft introduced, yet another, completely new OS system. Adopting a saturated color palette, the icons are rendered with a soft illustrative look that uses a single light source and a semi transparent drop shadow. They continue to use the isometric style.

2001 – Windows XP

2007 Mac OS X Leopard — Reflective Dock

Mac ditches the stripes and adopts a 3D reflective doc for the icons to "sit on". The use of chrome, glass and reflections is as popular as ever. The icons don’t change much from v10.0.

2007 – Mac OS X Leopard

2009 Windows 7 — Soft and Reflective

The Windows 7 icons are completely different from Windows XP and similar to Windows Vista. The major difference between Vista and 7 is the direction the icons are facing. I haven’t been able to find any official documentation on the change, but I’m not the only one who’s asking the question. The icons in Windows 7 are also softer and more glassy than previous ones.

2009 – Windows 7

Resources & Further Reading

Windows-Icons.com – History of Windows Icons
The Vintage Mac Museum – "Old Macs – 9 inch/mono Display 68000 ONLY"
Guidebook – Graphical User Interface Gallery
Toastytech – Comprehensive GUI gallery

More to Come Soon

In the next installment (Know Your Icons Part 2 – Modern Icon Design) we will be delving further into the world of icons and exploring what icons mean to us today.

This Post is Day 7 of our Interface Design Session. Creative Sessions

« Session Day 6 Session Day 8 »

Consumer Reports Electronics Blog: Lab tests: Why Consumer Reports can’t recommend the iPhone 4

Mecandes — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:49:13 +0000

Shared by Mecandes
Wow, seems like Consumer Reports made a total about-face? Couldn'ta been easy for them...

Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4's signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software that "mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength." The tests also indicate that AT&T's network might not be the primary suspect in the iPhone 4's much-reported signal woes.

On tap at Microsoft: A 3D display without glasses and multiple programs at once

Mecandes — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:34:34 +0000

Microsoft is making it possible to play multiplayer Halo without the screen split into quarters. Or watch the World Cup while your kids watch Dora the Explorer -- on the same television screen. And all in 3D.

Domino’s Pizza – Domino’s Pulling the Cheese

Mecandes — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 01:28:41 +0000

Discover what crazy things are done at pizza photo shoots, and why Domino's has made a promise about how we shoot our inspired pizzas from this day forward. See the full photo promise at ShowUsYourPizza.com/Promise

It’s Funny Because It’s True

Mecandes — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 23:00:02 +0000

Oh, vintage photo effect with helvetica. You get me every. time.

Apple introduces iHand: the right way to hold your iPhone | Scoopertino

Mecandes — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:07:05 +0000

Responding to complaints that the new iPhone 4 loses signal when held by a human hand, Apple today launched iHand — a synthetic appendage that makes it easy for anyone to “get a grip” on iPhone and remain connected.

Life is unfair!

Mecandes — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:53:31 +0000

Original title and link for this post: Life is unfair!

Scene Stealer – Why Hollywood Marketers Still Flock to Comic-Con – NYTimes.com

Mecandes — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:56:25 +0000

Big studios make animated and fantasy films for the masses, but that doesn’t stop them from attending the insider phenomenon known as Comic-Con.

The world’s most expensive hotel opens up with the world’s largest outdoor pool at 55th storey

Mecandes — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:04:16 +0000

It's finally happened! The $5.95 billion Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore finally opened its doors to public in a gala event, and it also managed to dethrone the Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi from its position as the world's most expensive hotel. But that's not all, the main attraction of the hotel is a 650ft wide pool perched up at the 55th storey of the magnificent hotel, making it the largest outdoor pool in the world that high. Called as the Infinity pool, the drop at the edge of the pool spills into a three-tiered catchment which pumps water right back to the main pool! The hotel also has a boat-shaped 'SkyPark' on top of the three towers. The hotel features 2,560 rooms that would cost you $520 a night. Designed by Moshe Safdie, the structure is said to be based on the design resembling a deck of cards. The hotel décor includes an indoor canal that has Sampan boats to ride in, a casino, an outdoor plaza, a convention centre, a theatre, a crystal pavilion and a lotus flower shaped museum. The resort will open employment to over 10,000 locals, enough to generate $72m each year. [Dailymail]

Doctor Hoo « Comic Book Daily

Mecandes — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:10:39 +0000

Want To Opt Out of Apple’s Targeted iAds? – Techland – TIME.com

Mecandes — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:08:22 +0000

Shared by Mecandes
Wow, iAd-vertisers even get your GPS location.

While we can't opt out of location tracking, Apple does give us a way to opt out of the targeted ads that come with iAds.

Settlers of Catan coming to Microsoft Surface | Beyond Binary – CNET News

Mecandes — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:22:02 +0000

Attendees of this week's Origins Game Fair will get to see a sneak peek of the popular German board game running on Microsoft's tabletop touch computer.

Bookshelf Porn

Mecandes — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:53:05 +0000

Shared by Mecandes
One day, my picture will be featured.

Wow: Original Pac-Man sketches shown by creator – like pencil on graph paper sketches

Mecandes — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:06:22 +0000

This is a true artifact of gaming history. The notebook of Toru Iwatani, creator of Pac-Man, complete with sketched-out pixel art, prototype mazes, and ghost movements. My god! Remember when you could sketch out an entire game on a page of graph paper? More here.

[via 1up and Kotaku]

Use GOOG-411 and Skype to Call Any U.S. or Canadian Business for Free

Mecandes — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:54:23 +0000

Shared by Mecandes
Neat trick, but how long will Skype allow it now that mainstream sites are letting the cat out of the bag?

Skype calls toll-free numbers in the U.S. or Canada for free. Google's GOOG-411 directory service is a toll-free number, and can connect you to any searchable business. Combine the two, and any business is accessible for free, from anywhere in the world.

15 Amazing Apps for File Storage in the Cloud

Mecandes — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:55:18 +0000

In a new age of online solutions, it didn’t take long for a diverse range of internet entrepreneurs to target one of the most common problems for almost every computer user; hard drive failure. Suddenly, someone had the idea of allowing people to backup their files in the cloud and the rest is history.

I’ve brought together the best revolutionary new apps that allow you to store your precious files in the cloud and (in some cases) even share them with others! You can find them after the fold.

Jungle Disk

Developed by popular web host, Rackspace, you can be sure that all of your files are safe and secure with their premium backup and storage service, Jungle Disk. With Business and Personal plans, this app is suited to everyone and with plans starting at $2, it’s a small but worthwhile investment. Includes compatibility with Rackspace’s own Cloud Files service and Amazon S3.

Price: From $2.
Website: https://jungledisk.com/

Dropbox

Dropbox is one of the more popular backup services and comes with everything you need to ensure you never lose your important files. Their free plan is the most popular and comes with 2GB storage at your disposal. They also include support for shared folders and collaboration, and with their innovative file versioning feature, you can be sure that saving over important files and losing them forever is a thing of the past!

Price: From FREE.
Website: http://www.dropbox.com/

SpiderOak

SpiderOak is one of the more sophisticated of backup apps. The really advanced desktop application provides a means to manage and track your usage of the service. It comes with a basic web interface to easily manage your files remotely and with their truly multi-platform support, you can access your important files from anywhere.

Price: From FREE.
Website: https://spideroak.com/

Backupify

Backupify takes a different route in this field and follows a more internet service oriented path. Their nifty little service allows anyone to backup all of their web accounts easily and at an outstanding price. With support for popular apps such as Twitter, Flickr, GMail and Wordpress, their service is perfect for those who worry about their security online.

Price: From FREE.
Website: http://www.backupify.com/

IDrive

IDrive is yet another online backup application; specifically for Windows users. Once an account is registered, you can use the desktop application to backup, sync and access all of your backed-up files. With a web interface to accompany it, you are never truly parted with your files again.

Price: From FREE.
Website: http://www.idrive.com/

ZumoDrive

ZumoDrive allows anyone to easily and efficiently backup their media and access it wherever and whenever they want. With a simplistic yet still highly powerful approach, ZumoDrive is one of the more underrated apps due to its lack of mainstream attention. It includes support for sharing, additional folder-linking and appears as an extra virtual removable disk.

Price: From FREE.
Website: http://www.zumodrive.com/

Mozy

Mozy is a backup app that is more suited to home users and businesses who need a reliable solution for file storage. Priding themselves on their reliability, the service is for those who are willing to pay for a premium solution like this due to a current every-growing concern for file security.

Price: From $4.95/month.
Website: http://mozy.com/

Carbonite

Carbonite is one of the only apps of this kind that offer “unlimited” backup for a reasonable price and is completely secure. Some of the features include a file recovery system, automatic file backup controlled and determined by the active status of the machine and double encryption of files before backup. It is one of the more simplistic apps in terms of features but based on security and actual usefulness, I consider it to be one of the most important and definitely a must-have.

Price: $54.95/year.
Website: http://www.carbonite.com/

SOS Online Backup

SOS Online Backup allows you to backup different mediums to the SOS servers. With support for the backup of PC, Servers and iPhone, they really do provide security for everything vital. Though it is not technically the cheapest and charges for the same service and specs that most other of these apps provide, they can give a custom quite for a more tailored package based upon your needs.

Price: From $19.95/year.
Website: http://www.sosonlinebackup.com/

Humyo

Humyo aims to offer a reliable and secure solution to your file needs. It comes with a web-based control panel from which you can access all of your media files and it has features that are ideally suited to those who wish to free up some valuable disk space by making the files available only online. With generous data limits, they are definitely one of the most promising of this type of app.

Price: From FREE.
Website: http://www.humyo.com/

Box.net

This app is a personal favourite of mine and I use it a lot for file sharing amongst friends and professional contacts. With a really nice web-based interface and mobile support, files can be added and shares from anywhere. Though they offer quite a small total file storage limit which encourages users to opt for their paid plans, it is perfect for those who only want to share small files.

Price: From FREE.
Website: http://box.net/

Windows Live SkyDrive

SkyDrive

One of Microsoft’s latest products to gain popularity is proving to be quite useful for a lot of people. Windows Live SkyDrive allows anyone to store documents in the cloud and share them with extra ease. They offer a vast amount of storage (a whole 25GB!) so you can be sure that you are never short of disk space! With added integration into the Microsoft Office 2010 suite, sharing is simpler than ever.

Price: FREE.
Website: http://skydrive.live.com/

drop.io

Drop.io

drop.io is a unique app that allows anyone to create any number of “drops” that are, in fact, private (until you give out the link, at least) 100MB storage folders. Despite the 100MB file limit, it’s possible to create an unlimited number of drops that can be shared with other users to allow for an effective collaboration solution. They also offer a premium option to those wanting more space and these start at 10GB.

Price: From FREE.
Website: http://drop.io/

Apple MobileMe iDisk

iDisk is Apple’s take on file storage and a tool integrated into the MobileMe package. With the option of premium family accounts, it is the true solution for home users who require a powerful tool for storage on their Mac, iPhone, iPod or iPad. It comes with 20GB storage and 200GB monthly bandwidth as well as no problem with big files so you can be sure that this is a reliable solution for all of your sharing needs.

Price: From $99/year.
Website: http://www.apple.com/mobileme/

BackBlaze

BackBlaze is one of the backup apps that offers an unlimited backup for a fixed price of $5 per month. Its backup and restore functionality extends to the possibility of having a backup of all your files sent to you directly from them on a DVD or USB drive (charges apply, of course!). This is one of the most promising and functional apps that can strongly benefit those with ISP bandwidth limits.

Price: $5/month
Website: http://www.backblaze.com/

Conclusion

Personally, I think that it’s important for everyone to ensure they have their files securely backed-up because one day the inevitable may happen and you can spend a lot of time trying to recover them.

Each app has its strengths and weaknesses and for me personally. I use ZumoDrive as it’s non-intrusive and perfect for my light file-storage needs but it may be different for other people as we all have different needs and requirements. With the apps I’ve mentioned here, it’s really simple and takes no time at all to secure your files and in the long run, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

HBO: Game of Thrones: Homepage

Mecandes — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:49:01 +0000

Shared by Mecandes
Just a little tease, but excited to see it's really coming!

HBO's official website contains schedule information, original video content, episode guides, polls, bulletin boards, and more!

Called For Help

Mecandes — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:25:59 +0000

Shared by Mecandes
Ghostbusters + Pac-Man + 8-bit = totally tubular, dude.

Who ya gonna call?