Mecandes' Shared Items

NASA Discovers 700 Possible Planets

(author unknown) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:24:45 PDT

...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..."

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

Mecandes — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:05:22 PDT

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.

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

LoungeKat — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:58:53 PDT

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 »

Amiga: 25 Years Later

(author unknown) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 09:46:10 PDT

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

(author unknown) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 09:16:31 PDT

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

(author unknown) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:49:55 PDT

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.

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

(author unknown) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:49:13 PDT

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

(author unknown) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:34:34 PDT

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

(author unknown) — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:28:41 PDT

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

Sarah Von — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:00:02 PDT

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

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

(author unknown) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:07:05 PDT

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!

Leon Pals — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:53:31 PDT

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

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

(author unknown) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 20:56:25 PDT

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

kamakshi — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 07:04:16 PDT

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]

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

Devin Coldewey — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:06:22 PDT

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]

Doctor Hoo « Comic Book Daily

(author unknown) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:10:39 PDT

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

(author unknown) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:08:22 PDT

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

(author unknown) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:22:02 PDT

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

(author unknown) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:53:05 PDT

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

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

(author unknown) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:54:23 PDT

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.