Happiness is...
a backed-up hard-drivePlease, sweat the small stuff
Cammeron Moll has some good advice about sharpening images before adding them to your website. Check out his comments, because his readers have some unique and interesting tips as well.New Icons for PodFeeder
Why Does Windows Still Suck?
So about a year ago, the SO finally upgraded her Net connection to DSL, carefully installed the Yahoo! DSL software into her creaky Sony Vaio PC laptop and ran through all the checks and install verifications and appropriate nasty disclaimers.
iPod Shuffle
Would it be crass if I used this opportunity to mention that I have in my possession an iPod Shuffle. And that it is as cool as you think it is?
ATPM reviews MarsEdit
Wow, some really kind words by ATPM came to me via Brent Simmons' Inessential.com.I really glad that the metaphors in the NetNewsWire/Mars Edit Icons were recognized. It's something that I put a lot of thought into, and I'm heartened to see that people enjoy them.
(Via inessential.com.)
I've been really fortunate this month with all the icons jobs that have come my way. I really like working on icons. Producing icons has been a welcome change of pace from my normal routine of web/template design.
Icons require creativity within a strict set of established norms. While that sounds confining, it's not. Plus, discovering the proper metaphor to convey what an application or buttons does is an interesting process, that requires a lot of imagination.
This weeks IpodderX icon was a good example of metaphor and design gelling into a cool icon. When that happens icons can be very fun to work on.
Whereabouts
So I was glad when Jeff Hokit of Recurring Dream asked me to rethink the icon for his Whereabouts application. His previous icon was cool, but didn't convey what the application did, which is best described as "iSync" for Vcards (contact info).
Whereabouts helps you share address cards on the Internet. Friends and colleagues can automatically keep up-to-date with changes to each other's address, email, and phone numbers.VCards already have an established icon in Mac OS X, so making making a Whereabout icon that conveyed the refreshing of Vcards was an almost automatic process. I like it when that happens.
A New Icon for iPodderX
This weekend I worked on a new icons for a pod-casting application called iPodderX.
Pod-casting utilizes the media capabilities of the now ubiquitous XML based RSS feed. Individuals can now create and distribute audio/video though their RSS feeds, and others can subscribe to it. IpodderX automatically downloads the content you subscribe to, and places it on your desktop or iPod for later consumption.
Download iPodderX here, and give pod-casting a try.
I'm told a version of iPodderX with my new icon will soon become available (I can't wait).