An hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour. That’s relativity

— Albert Einstein

The July Link/Love List

General
  1. Are you looking for new music?  A fan of Sam Cook?  Fresh from a Quantum Leap out of the 60s Motown scene by way of England is Home Again by Michael Kiwanuka - it’s absolutely astounding and beautiful in its minimalism.  Per John Mayer:
    What a voice. What a song. What a vibe. What a soul. What a message. I don’t want to wait until I listen through every song on his album and I invent some dumb self-protective reason why it wasn’t what I first thought it was. It absolutely is what I think it is: it’s a revelation. It’s a reassurance to everyone who loves and plays “natural” music that the future of it is going to be alright for quite some time. I just clicked on all the previews on iTunes and I’m so excited to get to know the album.  Please buy records by people who write and play their own music. It matters more than you think. Tonight I had a rare “pull the car to the side of the road” moment. It’s been too long. So exciting.
  2. Having been buried in oodles of code, I’ve taken many strides towards figuring out which Mac code editor I like best.  Sublime 2 is pretty sublime but Espresso 2 is also excellent.  I haven’t lost sight of Coda 2 also.  With that said, monospaced fonts appropriate for coding can be tremendously helpful, thus see Inconsolata (which is free)
  3. MacRabbit also has what looks like a wonderful app for converting PSDs to PNGs for retina and non-retina displays in a simple and near-automatic way.  Check out Layer Cake
  4. Fieldrunners 2 has sucked me into the vortex that it is.  It’s dastardly fun and beautiful to look at – well worth the $2.99
  5. The super duper Canon 7D has become my new baby and I’m in love.  I upgraded from an older Digital Rebel and the difference is absolutely remarkable

An exposé of the online-shipping machine

General

Most modern-day Americans are in love with the cheap prices that e-tailers offer; however, it’s amazing to read the cost it comes at – most especially at the supply & logistics level.  If you’ve ever wondered how your cheap soap, or recent book, or new video game makes it to you so back-breakingly quickly, it’s because it is breaking backs of everyday Americans.

http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor

Free Dribbble Invite

Design, FileMaker, WWW

So I’ve been hammering away at the next version of InBloom and have a number of loose-ends to tie up.  But I need help finalizing a toolbar design and am reaching to the web: give your constructive feedback here (or on Dribbble) and I’ll put you in the running for a free Dribbble invite.

Designing in FileMaker is a beast unto itself: it’s vector-based, but flat colors only, GUIs have no horizontal component flow (only vertical), limited resize capability and nearly no-hide and appear capability worth considering. I’m really hammering at this design and it will be used on both desktop and iPad versions, most likely. But am still having trouble as to the myriad of versions that I prefer. The search field is very helpful and the little leaf will return the user to the home screen FYI.

With that said any and all constructive feedback puts you in the running, then I’ll raffle it off said way… probably with a FileMaker-based raffle picker!

Click any thumbnail to enlarge

Here’s to the crazy ones…

Apple, General, Mac, News

Here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.

They invent.They imagine.They heal.
They explore.They create.They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.

RIP Steve Jobs

A Farewell, Loving Ode to An Old MacBook Pro

Apple, General

Dearest MacBook Pro,
How I loved you so
You came at a time when
my last laptop just had to go.
S/He was also an Apple
but a Powerbook down low.

You came in your
15 inches of glory
and let me make a wedding video
that had everyone teary.

For four years, you killed every task
I threw your way,
but Aperture brought you to your knees
to my dismay.

You let me poke and prod
upgrading your innards.
but alas an EFI issue has
turned your logicboard backwards.

We worked and toiled through
project after project
but now you’ve slowly died to a
door-stop object.

I’ve tried and tried to bring you back
from this downward spiral.
But the repair shop is my last resort,
your resurrection is beyond my support

I would never write such words
over my chintzy Gateway
S/He’s 64-bit too
But soooo slow on the raceway.

I’m still sad to see you go,
you’re almost like family
But a 17″ MacBook Pro
has replaced you handily.

Thank you for exemplarily being
a beautiful tool of incredible service.
I have been loathe to replace you
unless there was a great purpose.

I hate to see you go
but love to watch you leave
I will cherish all we’ve done,
and continue to believe.

Think Different.