Month: August 2005

Free 24hr Pass to Lynda.com

by

lynda_free_pass

If you are in the computer related design industry, you’ve probably heard of Lynda.com. They make a huge collection of training materials for various creative applications, that are available either online, or on CD-ROM.

Between now and 8/31/05, Lynda.com is offering a free 24 hour pass to access all of their online training material. It is definitely worth taking advantage of. Don’t sign up until you are ready to use it, because the 24 hours starts the moment you sign up. But, don’t forget that the offer expires on 8/31.

One big advantage to using this free pass, is you’ll get half-off any CD-ROM titles. It’s a very good deal! Let me explain… Lynda.com offers two ways to access the training materials. One is to become a member and subscribe to the service for a monthly fee. The other is just buying the materials on CD without becoming a member. Here’s where this free coupon comes in handy… Members get 50% off the CD titles, and for the 24 hours that your pass is active you are considered a member with all member benefits. Get the picture? When you sign up for the free pass, you’ll be offered a coupon code, don’t lose it because you’ll need it to get the discount.

UPDATE: Today is September 1st, and it appears as though you can still get the free pass. They either changed the expiration date, or I was wrong about it.

Our home on MoCo

by

ybl lofts

I missed this back in May when it was posted. But MoCo, a site (I like) dedicated to Modern Design, ran a story about our building. Well actually it’s more about the Architect, Stanley Saitowitz, than about our building, but it’s still kind of cool.

Apparently we live in an Architectural landmark. I’ve seen the building written up on other sites and Architecture / Design books as well.

Mail Appetizer

by

Mail Appetizer

As long as we’re on the subject of mail plugins… another one of my favorites is Mail Appetizer. If you have Apple’s Mail.app running, but hidden, Mail Appetizer will pop up a notification window when new mail comes in. The window has the details from the email (name, message, etc…) and allows you to open, delete, mark as read, etc… right from the popup window without ever bringing mail to the front. It’s a great little utility from Stefan Schüßler. If his name sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve written about him before. He also makes another utility I like called DashboardStarter.

MailTags 1.0

by

MailTags

For several years now, I periodically switch back and forth from Apple’s Mail.app and Microsoft Entourage. New versions come out for one or the other that has features I like, so I switch.

I’m currently using Apple’s mail 2.0 (part of Tiger), but there is one big feature of Entourage 2004 that I miss… ‘The Project Center’. It helped my workflow to be able to assign different projects to emails that came in. Apple’s Mail doesn’t have anything like this.

Today I came across a great little utility to add some of this functionality to mail. It’s called MailTags.

MailTags ads a side-bar to the message that allows you to assign a due date, project, and additional comments. It doesn’t give you all the functionality found in Entourage, but it’s a step in the right direction.

MailTags is donationware. Meaning it’s free to download and use without restrictions. But, if you like it, and continue to use it… you should consider making a donation. The people who make these utilities put a lot of work into it, and my personal opinion is donating is the right thing to do.

found via O’REILLY MacDevCenter

Grand Theft Auto: ‘Hot Coffee Mod’

by

Grand Theft Auto

I’m sure this is nothing new to you gamers out there, but apparently there are some hidden sex scenes in the game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I saw a little story on it last night on TechTV. I’m not a gamer, so I’m a little bit out of the loop on this. It has apparently caused quite a stir in the gaming world. The game was given an ‘Adults Only’ rating, and pulled off more than a few shelves.

Accessing the hidden features requires hacking the game. It’s become known as the Hot Coffee Mod. Although I don’t have a link to the mod. I did find this link to a movie of one of the hidden scenes.

Google Talk

by

Google Talk

The internet is a buzz this morning with Google Talk. Google introduced their new chat service last night, and like all things Google, it’s currently in beta.

Personally, I think TUAW said it best… “I need another messenging service like a fish needs… another messaging service.”

People, people, people… we need one set of standards that everyone uses. We should be able to use our client app of choice, with all networks. It’s a pain in the ass to maintain different client apps and accounts to chat with different people.

That being said, although Google isn’t supplying a Mac app, they do have instructions for using Google Talk with iChat. Although I hear it’s a little buggy. What’s up with Google snubbing the Mac with all their new apps lately?

Crown Fountain

by

crown fountain

I have a ton of pictures from our recent trip to Chicago and Wisconsin that I finally started to go through. This is Crown Fountain in Millennium Park, Chicago. It was created by Spanish sculptor, Jaume Plensa.

The fountain has a video projection system that displays several different faces. Every 12 minutes the face puckers up and spits out a stream of water. It was really Great to watch!

I shot the beginning and end of the cycle using rapid-fire mode on my camera. I’ve put them together in sequence, in a short QuickTime movie.

NEO iON for iPod

by

NEO iON

Back in March, I wrote a little story about the NEO iON. It’s an iPod adapter designed to fit most stock car stereos.

I think I’m actually going to buy one, but I was curious if and odl readers have actually used it. If so, how do you like it?

I have an FM transmitter, but it doesn’t work too well here in San Francisco. There are just too many radio stations. The NEO iON also gives the added bonus of being able to control the iPod from the buttons on the stereo.

Please leave a comment if you have a review of the NEO iON or have found better solutions for connecting your iPod to your car stereo.

Steve Jobs official Apple Bio

by

Steve Jobs

So I came across the Steve Jobs official bio page on the Apple site (For Media and Analyst only). I was a little surprised at the lack of substance in his bio, and the picture they are providing as a download is a poor quality, blurry Photoshop 5.5 eps file. What’s up with that? Were the Apple imaging experts out sick that day?

found via TUAW

Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, which he co-founded in 1976, and Pixar, the Academy-Award-winning animation studios which he co-founded in 1986.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning desktop and notebook computers, OS X operating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also leading the digital music revolution with its iPod portable music players and iTunes online music store.

Pixar has created six of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time: Academy Award-winning Toy Story (1995); A Bug’s Life (1998); Toy Story 2 (1999); Monsters, Inc. (2001); Academy Award-winning Finding Nemo (2003); and The Incredibles (2004). Pixar’s six films have grossed more than $3 billion at the worldwide box office to date.

Steve grew up in the apricot orchards which later became known as Silicon Valley, and still lives there with his wife and three children.