Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Autodesk Releases SketchBook for Android

Autodesk has released two versions of their popular SketchBook Mobile app for Android handsets. You'll need Android 2.1 or higher and they recommend at least a 1GHz processor and 512MB RAM for best performance.

The digital sketchpad allows users to draw with pens, pencils, markers, and airbrushes to create professional looking pictures and paintings, provided you have professional-level talent. ;) Other features include dynamic resizing, a color wheel and layers. There's a free version (SketchBook Express) that's ad-supported and a paid version (SketchBook Mobile).

Grab them now while the paid version is a (cheap) 99 cents and get to drawing!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

cloud city

Having done the "where is my file" tango last night and having had a backup server at work be off line for almost a month, the idea of a network hard drive sounds like a very good idea to me. Even when I have a local copy of files I always like to know I have an off-site back up. In my opinion you can never have enough copies of a file, particularly the important ones.

let the hosting savings begin

Who's ready for Cyber Monday? Start a day early with this myhosting promo code. Act quick before they're all gone.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

stay indoors

While cars are getting safer and safer the price of fuel keeps going up and the number of cars on the roads gets more and more. So quite often what we do is let others do the driving for us. You can have groceries delivered when you chose, DVDs come to us in the mail and a train takes me to work each week day.

Now you can even stay home when it comes to getting Life Insurance! Right about now I bet you are saying, "Life Insurance No Medical Exam?" Well let me tell you that it's true, thanks to recent advances and special algorithms, you can now shop for term life insurance with absolutely no physical exam required. That means no blood tests, no urine test and no getting undressed and stepping onto a scale. Just go online, answer a few simple questions (be honest), then just pay and print your policy. Easy, quick and affordable– what more could you ask for?

Now if I could just figure out a way to get my hair cut while I sleep I would actually have some free time to get back to my hobbies....

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

NYC is Magical

From the New Yorker Book Bench blog:

The M.T.A. now offers service to… Hogwarts? A new train sign appears in New York's Union Square subway station.

It Just Works, Apple TV Edition

While it still strikes me as costing too much for what little it does, particularly in our house where we don't have a computer or NAS running 24 hours a day, I will say that how an Apple TV interacts with a remote is a flash of genius that used to be what Mac users  bragging about when talking to their PC using coworkers. 

Apparently you teach the Apple TV to use your remote control you want to use. TUAW has how to do it in a nutshell:

Go to Settings, select General, and then Remote. Choose Learn Remote option. On the Apple TV, choose Start. When, the Up button is highlighted on the Apple TV screen press the button on the remote control you'd like to use for Up. Continue down the rest of the controls and there you go. That old VHS player was still good for something after all!  

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Netflix Asks Uses to Pay More

We want to let you know about two important changes to the Netflix service.



The price of your current plan is changing from $8.99 a month to $9.99 a month. This new price will be effective with your next billing statement on or after January 2, 2011.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

sell more with less

The unofficial first rule of market surely must be 'make the logo bigger,' but what if you don't have a logo or the one you are using is so poorly designed that it could be used for anything or any product. Or worse yet, confused by the very people you are trying to reach for your competition?

Thanks to crowd sourcing it is now fast cheap and easy to get a professional Business Logo Design done in record time. Dealing with pros also means you won't have a copy (even if it is accidental, ie: the great minds think alike syndrome) of any other business already out there.

Most sites will present you with a number of different treatments so you can refine the idea and between the two of you really make it pop and be something you'll be proud of. Professionals will also take care of things like making sure it works well in one colour (think fax machines) as well as in colour (like on the internet), scales well (business cards to store front) and prints easily.

Take your business to the next level with a professional logo and see what a difference it can make.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Germans Win at Language Again

Verpixelungsrecht - possibly my favorite new German word. It means "The right to be pixelated", regarding German privacy demands of Google Street View, and the rights claimed by property owners to have their homes pixelated or otherwise obscured by Google.

The legality of said scanning in light of the TSA body scans remains to be determined.

WIRED on the iTunes Beatles Announcement

I've summarized it for you:

...the dirty secret is the CD box set on Amazon is a better buy at $129.99. You can rip the disks, save $20, and keep the CDs as a backup or to pass onto your children.

You can thank me later.

Friday, November 12, 2010

on the nature of time

Getting on my soapbox again, this time about the bi-annual changing of the clocks. By now you are like me and probably have changed every last object in your house and car that measure the time. But this year it occurred to me that I had less clocks to actually change. Satellite box, mobile phones, alarm systems, iPod and various and sundry computers all knew about it and changed for me.

Only the odd wristwatch, my car and my favourite mantle clock needed human intervention which just seemed sort of sad. Digital clocks and readouts have already taken away the idea of a day being divided into 24 discreet hours that repeat each day. Analog clocks somehow give me the feeling that time is actually passing, clocks that need winding even more so. Clocks that need you to tell them when to change seem just more, well, civilized.

So think about how you want to see the day pass, as 'random' number on the front of your phone or with the majestic sweep of the minute hand, the steady pace of the hour hand and the frenetic pulse of a sweep second hand. Your choice – I already made mine and for my wrist and the clock I consult the most at home, the answer is and will stay firmly analog.

The Only Living Boy In New Cross

Wish I new how to play the guitar for many many reasons but tonight it's because I discovered that Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine has lyrics and guitar tabs available for free on their website.

Not too shabby for a band that isn't touring this year.

As they sang, "Hello, good evening, welcome and goodbye...."


[Lego] Tweet!


Tweet!
Originally uploaded by powerpig
Love love this bird. Love these Lego vignettes, too.

Black Oak Restaurant, Nut Tree's Little Neighbor

The Black Oak Restaurant in Vacaville CA c1980 in post-card format. Recently spotted on eBay, never knew they sold card of their own restaurant! Trying to remember if we ever ate here as kids, can't recall that we did.

DailyTech - Hacker Brings Android to the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS Up Next

Hacker Brings Android to the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS Up Next
Jason Mick (Blog) - May 9, 2010 12:10 PM



The new Android port to the iPhone relies on OpeniBoot as a boot loader. (Source: David Wang via YouTube)
No kidding: Apple surely isn't happy about this

Much like the open platform Windows invaded the traditionally closed hardware platform of Apple's Macs -- first unofficially, and then later officially condoned -- Android is now establishing a beach head on Apple's coveted iPhone.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Certain, Direct and Current Harm? Non.

A judge in Paris ruled Wednesday that the automaker Renault can call its new electric car Zoe, much to the chagrin of some French women and girls with that first name and at least one lawyer with a step-daughter named Zoe.

The French car-maker has already given at least two of its cars female first names: a compact hatchback called Megane and a mini-car that goes by the name Clio. Both are popular girls' names in France & inspired no outrage at their unveiling.


...the Renault Zoe concept car:

Monday, November 08, 2010

Foursquare and Center

Congrats! Your recent check in to Starbucks just unlocked the Barista badge .



Hey, thanks Foresquare, I'll add it to my list! Take that, Facebook Places!


Friday, November 05, 2010

cabin in the sky

I always have to take 'news stories' linked to on FaceBook with a grain of salt when they talk about the creeping socialism that is ruining America. Somehow Europe is falling apart and people are fleeing there as fast as they can to come to the bright shining shores of the US of A. But then I think of the story I read in today's paper telling about those people who have homes with 'underwater' value, as in they owe more than the house is apparently worth. The owners profiled were still making their payments, it's just they can't sell and move into a nicer home. Nor are they spending any money on fixing up their roof or going on vacation as all of their income is tied up in their home loan.

Now compare that to relatives of mine with second homes, well, cabins really, in the woods for weekend get-aways and ask who is living better and having more fun.

If you can't afford to get a cabin to relax in on week-ends why not do up at least one spare room to look like a mountain retreat? With some tasteful and affordable rustic bedroom furniture you can have your hoe away from home be inside your home. Why not have a second place all of your own? Make it a special treat, it doesn't have to cost a lot and the return to some sort of sanity will pay-off nig time when it turns to Monday again.
idogcow. Get yours at bighugelabs.com/flickr

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