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links for 2010-09-29

  • Technology is opening up new opportunities for people who want to work at home. Finding and landing profitable work isn't easy, but we've listed some options. These jobs will give you the flexibility you want and the income you need to keep paying your bills and maintaining a health credit score.
  • The film adaptation of 'The Lord of the Rings' prequel has suffered multiple setbacks — the latest a worldwide union boycott. Is it time to throw in the towel?
  • Other than the frenzied anticipation for the coming breed of tablet PCs, the one topic that dominates the mindspace of the technorati these days is the world of e-readers. More specifically, a great debate is brewing; each of the e-readers and their associated online book stores favor differing standards and file formats, and we may have another good ole fashioned format war on our hands. (Nothing gets a techie's blood pressure going more than watching as competing technologies duke it out.) Format wars are to the tech world what elections are to politics, or what playoffs are to sports: a chance for competing candidates to go big or go home — based on the preferences of the masses. The most cited example is the great Betamax vs. VHS war of the early '80s (in which the objectively better standard got trounced), but, in truth, battles over standards have been with us since the first wheel was chipped from stone.
  • Last week I talked about 960 Grid System is Getting Old. Surprisingly a lot of comments have been made. It seems like people are using 960gs because of the "golden ratio" — all numbers are even. I’m a designer, not a grid scientist. Why restrict your layout so that it can fit into this 960gs? A grid is supposed to help you in design, not to limit your creativity. The 978 grid, that I mentioned before, is not just about increasing the page width, but to loosen the gutter space so users can read it more comfortably. Today, I would like to write a follow up post to further ellaborate on some of the points I brought up initially.
  • Designing and critiquing logos for web-based companies and startups is a pursuit of endless fascination for many of us. Over the years, we’ve seen enough startups come and go (and rebrand and merge) to fill a volume with how and how not to develop and execute a logo for a web company. We’ve also picked up some knowledge about trends in this field. Some of the trends are good; others, regrettable. Others still are simply overused, which is the saddest scenario of them all. We hate to see a good design trick or typeface grow hackneyed over the course of a few months, but it happens all the time, unfortunately.
  • While we all know the importance of the content of any webpage, what we often ignore is the first impression that the visitor forms when visiting any webpage. It is of paramount importance to know that the first thing that any visitor looks at is the look of the page. If the look is appealing enough only then does the reader move on to read the content. Graphic designers today are laying a huge importance on typography to make a webpage look attractive. When creating items like E-Books, brochures and pamphlets, it is important that the design and layout of the font is managed well so as to make any webpage look attractive. At earlier times, typesetters used manual modes to perform this action but with the advancement in technology, it is now possible to design fonts on the computer. There are some fantastic typography tools that are available for use now that enable the webpage creator to create some fantastic font styles to attract the readers.
  • Monet’s paintings evoke a sense of energy and life, they leap off the canvas with color and contrast, but Monet somehow managed to avoid using the color black for nearly his entire painting career. By avoiding black in your own designs, you can replicate some of this dynamism.
  • Amazon’s Kindle can do a lot more than just buy and read Amazon-sold e-books. This is often a surprise. I usually wind up in conversations where someone says ā€œI’d like to try a Kindle, but it can’t _______.ā€ Usually, it can. I was actually surprised when I bought my Kindle not just by how much it could do, but by how well it did it. The Kindle suffers from two things: 1) it’s never going to do everything that a full-fledged computer or even a color touchscreen tablet can do; and 2) the Kindle 3 has improved on a whole slew of features that were either poorly implemented in or entirely absent from earlier iterations of the Kindle. Here I want to gather up knowledge generated from and circulated by many of my favorite e-reader blogs, just to try to give you an inkling of all the things that a new Kindle can do.
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    links for 2010-09-28

  • AND NOBODY IS SURPRISED.
  • Today is September 26th, Petrov Day, celebrated to honor the deed of Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov on September 26th, 1983.Ā  Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, take a minute to not destroy the world. The story begins on September 1st, 1983, when Soviet jet interceptors shot down a Korean Air Lines civilian airliner after the aircraft crossed into Soviet airspace and then, for reasons still unknown, failed to respond to radio hails.Ā  269 passengers and crew died, including US Congressman Lawrence McDonald.Ā  Ronald Reagan called it "barbarism", "inhuman brutality", "a crime against humanity that must never be forgotten".Ā  Note that this was already a very, very poor time for US/USSR relations.Ā  Andropov, the ailing Soviet leader, was half-convinced the US was planning a first strike.Ā  The KGB sent a flash message to its operatives warning them to prepare for possible nuclear war.
  • Movie trailers are liars. If they’re not using the only two funny scenes to make you think the entire movie is funny, or splicing scenes together to misrepresent the movie, they’reĀ using scenes that don’t even make it into the movie. The New York Times once ran an entireĀ story about how many scenes in theĀ National Treasure: Book of Secrets trailer weren’t in the finished film. (We expect more from Nic Cage.) Why do the suits who market movies create misleading trailers? Because they’ll do anything to convince suckers like usĀ to shell out for a ticket.
  • Tonight, Jon Stewart tackled the subject of Stephen Colbert's recent congressional testimony. In the process, Stewart ripped Congress itself, Fox News (and its anchorbot, Megyn Kelly), "arrogant douche" Tucker Carlson, and more, before showing just how useless Congress has been.
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    links for 2010-09-27

  • In my grouchier moments (one of which I am having right now), I am considering a public relations campaign to make fun of people who can't do simple math and shame them into either acquiring some fundamental skills or staying quiet and not bothering the rest of us with their ignorance. I've devoted a significant part of my career to education: working with K-12 teachers, teaching at a university, developing programs for the public.Ā  I'm beginning to wonder whether we are not all just wasting our time and we would do much better to focus on developing an elite cadre of high-powered science literate researchers who will discover wondrous things and save us all from ourselves.Ā  Of course, that won't work because the people who know the science will be prevented from fulfilling this task by the science-ignorant who comprise the public, as well as the executive and legislative branches of the government.
  • When it comes to logo design a lot of designers find it difficult to combine a lot of ideas in a small icon, if the logo have a symbol, or to make a unique typeface that tells you all you need to know about the business it represents. And the truth is that logo design is not easy. Here at ProDesignMedia I try to make designers’ life easier. This time I want to help the logo designers. A tip can save you a lot of time and efforts. It’s easier to hear a tip from someone than to say the tip. To say a tip you must make mistakes; you must try what is good and what is not. The model is the same in logo design. In this article you will find 15 tips which will help you to design logos the right way.
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    links for 2010-09-26

  • "The anti-awkwardness officers brought Awkward Aaron and me in for booking…
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    links for 2010-09-24

  • Michael Dell flashed a 7-inch version of its Android-based Streak tablet at Oracle OpenWorld…but offered no real details. Dell is apparently working on evolving its Android-based Streak tablet: at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, Dell CEO Michael Dell flashed a 7-inch version of the device, which is currently available with a 5-inch display. However, Dell offered no other hard details about the device, including important information like price, availability, and whether Dell still envisions tablet devices serving as fully-functional phones.
  • As far as House Judiciary subcommittee hearings on agricultural jobs go, this one had a bit more celebrity shine. Stephen Colbert, the comedian and satirist, knew that, and hoped his presence would vault the hearings up to "CSPAN 1" status. Here are his opening remarks, which differ from the testimony submitted in advance.
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    links for 2010-09-23

  • I saw that Andy Clarke had added a fluid width YouTube video to a particular page on one of his sites. His code relies upon a wrapping div and then images and video within this wrapper are set to the width of the wrapper:
  • The new cinematic trailer for the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie has appeared on YouTube. This is the highly anticipated first part of the epic finale that brings closure to the adventures of the little (O.K., perhaps not so little any more) wizard. Check out the new trailer above. If you missed the first trailer for the movie, you can find it here.
  • DVD and games rental company Blockbuster has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US. The Dallas, Texas-based company said it had made the decision as part of attempts to cut its debts and restructure the business. Agreements with its creditors will allow it to cut its debts from nearly $1bn to about $100m, Blockbuster said. Blockbuster's non-US operations are not included in the bankruptcy, as they are legally separate entities. That includes its 4,000-strong network of stores in the UK, Canada, Denmark, Italy and Mexico. Blockbuster's 3,000 stores in the US will remain open for the time being, the company's statement said. It has also secured a new $125m loan it says will allow it to keep working during the restructuring process.
  • Every three days, more Americans die from sudden cardiac arrest than the number who died in the 9-11 attacks. You can lessen this recurring loss by learning Continuous Chest Compression CPR, a hands-only CPR method that doubles a person’s chance of surviving cardiac arrest. It’s easy and does not require mouth-to-mouth contact, making it more likely bystanders will try to help, and it was developed at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. "This video is worth sharing," said Gordon A. Ewy, MD, director of the UA Sarver Heart Center and one of the research pioneers who developed this method.
  • A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we heard about a crowdsourced, shot-for-shot remake ofĀ Star Wars. Okay, it was actually about a year or so ago, we read about it online, and if you’re going to be an uptight fanboy about it, it’s a remake of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Nevertheless, it’s finally here, and we have not been disappointed. Which in and of itself is saying a lot.Ā Unless you’ve spent the past thousand or so years being slowly digested by a sarlacc in the Great Pit of Carkoon, you’ve probably lamented what’s happened to the Star Wars franchise. Sure, we were able to forgive the Ewoks.
  • Transparency is a core value at Google. As a company we feel it is our responsibility to ensure that we maximize transparency around the flow of information related to our tools and services. We believe that more information means more choice, more freedom and ultimately more power for the individual. We’ve created an interactive map of Government Requests that shows the number of government inquiries for information about users and requests for Google to take down or censor content. We hope this step toward greater transparency will help in ongoing discussions about the appropriate scope and authority of government requests. Our interactive Traffic graphs provide information about traffic to Google services around the world. Each graph shows historic traffic patterns for a given country/region and service. By illustrating outages, this tool visualizes disruptions in the free flow of information, whether it's
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    links for 2010-09-21

  • Naming and shaming sites that use black hat, anti-usability design patterns.
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    links for 2010-09-20

  • This Infant Star Wars Yoda Halloween costume will be sure the force is with baby when he's dressed in this adorable Yoda costume for Halloween.
  • The Star Wars saga will at long last be released in a high-definition home video format as all six movies come to Blu-Ray in a Box Set in Fall 2011, as announced by George Lucas this morning at Celebration V. At the fan convention's Main Event, thousands of Star Wars fans braved the muggy heat of an Orlando morning to queue for a one-time only stage session between George Lucas and The Daily Show's Jon Stewart. Stewart asked Lucas questions submitted from the fan community, and one of the most frequently asked questions submitted online prior to the Main Event was about the saga's release on Blu-Ray. "I wish I could say it was coming out this year," said Lucas, "but it will come out next year." The set will feature all six live-action Star Wars feature films, with the highest picture and audio quality, along with extensive special features. Star Wars fans were treated to a glimpse of bonus material, in the form of a long-lost deleted scene from Return of the Jedi.
  • Between Facebook sharing your vacation photos and friends list to the world, and Google tracking every search you've ever made, most of us have pretty much given up on the idea of privacy on the Internet. What is easy to forget is that real-world privacy is no better. No matter how paranoid or how careful you are, if somebody wants to find you, and listen to what you're saying, they will. After all, we're living in a world where there exist things like…
  • Our friends at FilmDrunk are reporting on rumors that George Lucas has plans to produce a new Star Wars trilogy of movies. In 3D. Of course, there's a high likelihood these rumors are just that. And, if true, this new trilogy could actually be pretty good, as word is George Lucas wouldn't be directing any of the films, and Steven Spielberg or Francis Ford Coppola might. Nevertheless, anytime the "In 3D" tag is attached to a sequel, it sounds an awful lot like an attempt to squeeze dollars out of a franchise that has long gone stale. If that's the case, when did Star Wars lose its way? Or do you think an extra dimension is just the thing to enhance an epic story line that still brings as much heat as ever?
  • Some people claim that they never remember any of their dreams. Those people are missing out on some of the best moments of their lives.
    (tags: comics funny)
  • Email is taking up too much time in our lives. Do yourself and your recipients a favor by making your emails 3 sentences or less. If we all do it, imagine the time we’ll have to do other things. If this was an actual email reply and not a blog post, it would have ended before this sentence started. I’ve been trying a new solution to email overload by limiting emails to 3 sentences or less. You can learn the details in just 5 sentences at three.sentenc.es. The basic concept is to treat all email replies like SMS messages. I take this one step further and try to write initial emails in 3 sentences or less whenever possible. I first learned about 3 sentence emails from a post by Kevin Rose, where he lists 5 good email time saving tips.
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    links for 2010-09-18

  • Clone Wars Adventures is a brand-new action-packed online game where you can experience the thrills and excitement of Star Warsā„¢: The Clone Warsā„¢ first hand.
  • The GTTV crew just revealed a new cut-scene from the highly anticipated sequel to the fastest selling Star Wars game ever: The Force Unleashed II Starkiller encounters an Imperial greeting party upon arriving at the stronghold in search of an unnamed Jedi in this cut-scene from Force Unleashed II!
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    links for 2010-09-17

  • Note to webapp developers: the + character is a valid part of an email address. Don't stop me from using it. And fix your broken CGI parsing so + isn't treated as space. The + has a very useful meaning in almost all mailers: stuff after it is ignored. Ie, xyzzy@example.com and xyzzy+foo@example.com are basically treated as the same email address by example.com's mailer. Both addresses deliver to the mailbox owned by xyzzy. This has been a feature of sendmail for at least 10 years. It works in Postfix and qmail, too. The plus sign makes it easier to track how your email address is spread around. If I ever get email to nelson+cheapviagra@monkey.org, I know who to blame. It's also helpful if you're debugging webapps and need to create email-keyed accounts.
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