Welcome to the second Music of the Week for 2010! I’ve always been a huge music fan, it has helped me get through some of the darkest points of my life and been a huge enjoyment during the best. Using iTunes and Last.fm I keep track of my week to week listening habits so that I can share them with you.
The second week of 2010 once again saw Staind as my top music choice for the week. There was also a rise in Nine Inch Nails, a group that will always be in my top ten…every single week. That is how much I love them.
The Ke$Ha experiment from last week has ended. While the music is ok, it isn’t anything that I can really get into. Sure she may be similar to Lady Gaga, but in my opinion Lady Gaga is so much better.
A few months ago I became curious about other designer’s design software usage. Reason being because of the debates I had been a part of at the time about upgrading or not upgrading to Adobe CS4. I’m one of those who decided to stay with CS3 because I didn’t see a worthy reason of paying the price to upgrade to CS4 when it really didn’t have many features that seemed worth it to me. Sure, I could get it by other means, but I don’t even think it is worth all that trouble.
Anyways, I wanted to know if I was part of the majority or the minority when it came to my thinking on design software usage. So I decided to ask my fellow designers on Twitter what design software they use. With some help from Sheri Strykowski (writer_sheri), Gerrel Saunders (gaksdesigns) and Dwyndal (Dwyndal) I gathered 79 responses on the matter. Below are the results:
Adobe CS4: 44
Adobe CS3: 26
Adobe CS2: 7
Other:
Adobe CS: 1
Corel 14: 1
As you can see Adobe CS4 was by far the most used proving that I am part of the minority and most are willing to pay the the money for the latest (or at least that is what we are going to go with). Personally, like I said earlier, I don’t see anything in CS4 that makes me go, “Wow! I have to update!” That being said, I will be upgrading to CS5 when the time comes, because already you can tell that it will be well worth it. Lets just hope that Adobe realizes that they need to lower the price of their software when CS5 does come out.
But, enough of what I think, below are some thoughts shared by others on Twitter:
Feel free to share your thoughts and what design software you use in the comments section. I look forward to reading them.
Welcome to the first Music of the Week for 2010 and the new decade! I’ve always been a huge music fan, it has helped me get through some of the darkest points of my life and been a huge enjoyment during the best. Using iTunes and Last.fm I keep track of my week to week listening habits so that I can share them with you.
The first week of 2010 saw me going back to some music that I started listening to back in middle school in the form of Staind. I became a fan of them shortly after I became a big fan of Limp Bizkit (yes I was huge Limp Bizkit fan back then). Listening to Staind helped me get through my own problems at home and helped me keep my depression in check (at least somewhat). Today, I listen to them more from an artistic perspective and I really listen to the words that come from Aaron Lewis, pure poetry in my opinion.
This week I have also been looking into a new artist by the name of Ke$Ha. I have heard here name a few times this week and heard comparisons to Lady Gaga, who I’m a big fan of. So far, I do see some of the similarities, but I’m not sure yet if I’m ready to put more behind her music, so far I feel that something is missing from the music I’m listening to. But, I’ll give it some more time.
Last Monday afternoon something great came out of beta for all on the internets (yes I say internets instead of internet) to enjoy. No, I’m certainly not talking about Google Wave, as I have yet to even be able to get into the beta. I’m talking about GetGlue.com, a social recommendation network for people to discover new things (music, movies, videogames, tech, people, etc.) and talk about their interest with others as they browse sites like Amazon, Last.fm, Netflix, Wikipedia, IMDB.com and many others (see the full list of supported sites). GetGlue.com works in conjunction with the Glue browser add-on, also known as the Gluebar (currently available for Firefox and Internet Explorer), as you make your way across the internets you will see the bar appear at the bottom of the browser while you are browsing through books, music, movies, people, etc.. The bar will not only allow you to discover new things similar to your interest but also people with similar interest to yours. You can also read reviews, see what your friends have to say and even find out where you can buy whatever it is you are looking at. All of this can either be done through the Gluebar (so you never have to leave the page that you are on) or on GetGlue.com.
I have been using the Gluebar add-on since it’s inception last year. It was an interesting add-on that had an integrated profile system that overlayed on top of the browser. While it allowed you fast access to people’s profiles, it was very limited in features and it was quickly obvious that if Glue was to grow the people at AdaptiveBlue were going to have to figure out something new to do with the profiles. Thus, the “re-birth” of GetGlue.com, whose sole purpose before was just to be a gateway for people to download the add-on. Now when you view someone’s profile (or your own) you can do so as a webpage, along with being able to hover over a person’s icon on the Gluebar. While both ways will provide you with some of the same information, the webpage version of a person’s profile will provide more in-depth information. The information you can view includes things like: a person’s stats (page visits, likes, comments, etc.), stickers (something along the lines of Xbox Live Achievements), a stream of their recent activity or interest and of course profile information.
In the last paragraph I mentioned stickers, these are something you earn as you browse the internets and/or use Glue. These, as I said before, are like the XBL Achievements or badges that you get for accomplishing certain feats in other places. To earn these stickers you have to do things like: view a certain number of movies, books, shows, etc., browse people’s profiles on GetGlue.com, like and comment on items online using the Gluebar and pretty much just surf the internet. You don’t have to worry about TRYING to gain the stickers because you will easily do so as you just surf the internet and use Glue.
Along with gaining stickers something else you can also do is become a Guru for something. Now, don’t worry, you don’t have to go through some sort of test or anything like that. All you have to do is just converse about a certain book, TV show, person, etc. and show that you know what you are talking about. There can only be one Guru per item on GetGlue.com, so when you become a Guru of something you are the one that others can look to as knowing what they are talking about. Hell, you can even brag to your friends on Facebook and Twitter with a press of a button when you gain new stickers or become a Guru.
As you use the Gluebar and browse around GetGlue.com you will continue to discover many great little details throughout the service. Like the ability to watch Youtube videos of a movie, show, band, etc. without having to leave the page you are on. The “Things in Common” section that is on everyone’s profile, allowing you to easily see just how much you have in common with that person. And everything about Glue just looks great, the people of AdaptiveBlue really put a lot of thought and effort into not only bring forth a great functioning service, but something that is also very visually pleasing.
So, if you aren’t already a Glue user you need to get over to GetGlue.com now and give the service a try. You won’t regret it and I guarantee that in short time you will discover a lot of things that you never knew were out there. Hell, just today I discovered a brand new (to me at least) band and currently I have Amazon open in another tab with music waiting for my purchase. Oh, and one last thing, feel free to check out my profile on GetGlue.com and follow me if you think we have some similar interest. Yes, yes, I had to get in the cheap plug for my own profile.
It has been a long time since I last posted to my blog. I have been wanting to do regular blogging since I became a full time designer again as a web designer. I didn’t think this was going to be the reason I jumped back in, but it is, so here I go.
Friendfeed is the best way to share EVERYTHING on the web. I get more information, more randomness and more enjoyment out of Friendfeed then I do Facebook, Twitter or any other social networking site. No offense to my Facebook friends, but when it comes to sharing cool/interesting/important stuff, most of you suck.
Friendfeed is the only site out there where you can build a relationship with someone you don’t know. Facebook is meant to pretty much be used to talk and share with real life friends, co-workers, old high school friends, etc. And Twitter is just a bunch of random noise. On Friendfeed I have met many great people and that I have had some great times with online. I’ve learned from these people, I’ve shared things with these people that I can’t share with others because most of my friends don’t really share the same interest as me.
Finally, Friendfeed is/was innovative. It started many things that Facebook is now doing with it’s service. I fear, like many others, that once Friendfeed is gone and the only other “big” social sites are Twitter and Myspace, Facebook will stop innovating it’s service and pretty much just concentrate on ways to make money, as in more ways to advertise. Companies tend to buy other companies because they are afraid of the competition. And when a company is as big as Facebook is the best way to get rid of your innovative competition is to buy them out and drag everything into your company and destroy it.
I know that some of you out there will just laugh at me. But, Friendfeed has been a fantastic part of my life. I was there during the elections last year, I was there through pretty much every major event in the last year. Friendfeed has made my experience of these events so much better then they could have been. And even better still, it has given me the chance to easily see different perspectives on everything going on around me.
Also, where am I going to go now for my LOLcats and my awesome dorky memes?!?
Monday will mark a new chapter in my life. I hope that which ever direction it goes in it is a long chapter that isn’t interrupted by another layoff. I don’t know which path I will be going down yet, but after thinking on it the last few days I do think that both will offer their own unique challenges and both will be good for my growth as a Graphic Designer.
I feel that this may also be a good time to launch my new website design. Although it isn’t finished yet I feel that it is coming along nicely and I think this may finally be what I’ve been wanting. It is even better that I can take my time with this one and I don’t have to cram a new site in one night. New ideas are coming to my mind as well for many things. But, all that will come to fruition in due time.
So, I spent the last couple hours both installing Wordpress 2.8, which presented problems that I had to use Google to fix, and cleaning up some code and getting rid of widgets that were bogging down my blog. I have had complaints in the past from people saying that it loaded up pretty slow and I myself had been noticing that as well.
So a lesson learned? Yes, that lesson being don’t put a bunch of javascript intensive, data pulling, widgets on your blog if you don’t want to anger those who may try to visit.
In other news, I’m working redesigning my website…again. I’m still not happy with the last redesign and I’m planning something that is going to be much different then what I currently have.
I’m interested in knowing, when you look at Graphic Designer’s websites what do you typically like the most? What do you look for when you first visit their site?
Now that I have moved everything of mine under mathewballard.com I’m left to figure out what to do as a blogger. I’ve decided that I’m going to really make sure to concentrate on Design (with tutorials and my thoughts, etc.) and photography with a sprinkle of other things. But, before I really blog on even a semi regular basis I must really get all my things in line.
A new logo is coming, a redesign of my website is coming less then a week of designing it in the first place. I’m freelancing a lot more now then I ever have before as well. Although I’m no where doing enough to forget about getting a full time job somewhere. But, who knows maybe that is the direction that things are going to go for me.
Thanks to someone who I recently came in contact with I’ve learned a lot of new things from someone who has been in the industry for a long time. Not only design wise, but marketing myself wise as well. This is really a big turning point in my life and I have to make sure to take advantage of it.
I will, and soon I hope that it will all come together in one awesome package.
This is a logo that I recently created for a local youth soccer team. The soccer team is part of one of those leagues where all the kids just run around around kicking the ball in groups with no goalie and no score kept. The client wanted something cute, and I think I hit what she want, because when she saw it she let out a big, AWWWWWWWW!
Today, around 11:30 AM EST Friendfeed opened up its new beta UI to the public. And boy did people go crazy over it, both those that liked it and those that seem to hate it. I personally really like it and think that the people behind Friendfeed have done a great job in moving the social site to a better direction. Now, I’m not going to go over all the changes that have been made, as those of you who are reading this have already read up on all the newness to Friendfeed, if you haven’t you can read up on it at Techcrunch.
The purpose of this particular blog is just to give my thoughts on what I like about the new Friendfeed and the things that I would liked to either see changed or improved. Now, one does need to remember that this is all in BETA, which means that things will continue to change and improve. And who knows, by time I finish this post all my suggestions and wants may be taken care of…but that is highly unlikely.
Anyways, on with the my thoughts on everything. First the five things that I really like about the new Friendfeed:
The Real Time Feed. Yes, I like the RTF. Why? Because it has made me more active and it actually gets me to see more then I would have before. When the RTF came about months ago I didn’t like it and never really used it. But, it has been improved greatly this time with post sliding around as they get comments and new ones falling in every once in a while. You can even pause the feed for as long as you want with a simple press of a button.
The Look. The new look is very simple yet pops more then the original.
Direct Messaging. You can now Direct Message other users that you are following. It is very simple to do and you can even do so without having to go to the persons page. And all conversations are kept in one single thread. Kinda of like Wall to Wall on Facebook.
The Ease of Posting. It has been made easier to post items to a feed now. You can select multiple feeds to post to, upload multiple photos at one time much faster and you can select which times get pushed to your Twitter feed, if you do that sort of thing.
There are many other new features to the new Friendfeedbeta, these are just the ones that I like the most.
Now, for the fun part. The part where I complain about the things that I don’t like about the new Friendfeed. Actually, in all seriousness most of these are just improvements that I would like to see to the current features implemented into the beta.
More Control Over the Real Time Feed. Although I do like the RTF much more this time around, I do think that the user needs to be able to control it more. Being able to control how often new content is updated would be a big plus for me.
The New Subscriptions Box. So far the new subscriptions box shows all the rooms and users together. No longer are users and rooms separate and they are in order of your activity with that room or user. I really would rather have the older system of having users and rooms separated and having them in the order of which the have updated.
New “Friends” Section. In the current Friendfeed you can select all your friends and then send them invites like that or just select a group of friends and move them to a list. But, now (as far as I can tell thus far) you can’t do any of that anymore and those task have been made harder and longer then they need to be.
No Stats. Currently there are no stats to view other then how many likes and comments you have total on Friendfeed. You can’t even see the amount of Likes or comments in the past week.
The Filtering System. The filtering system has been updated, slightly. You can make filters out of searches and even create filters with just people’s likes. But, you still can’t just make a filter for one service. At least not without jumping through dozens of hoops to do so. I still want what I discussed in my previous post.
Customizable Backgrounds. Yes, I want to be able to change the background of Friendfeed without having to use a 3rd party browser plug-in. I would at least like to change the color from the current gray to something else.
Services, Services, Services. So many things with the services have been changed. No longer is there a little icon telling you want service a post came from. And when you go to a person profile you can’t see all the services they are bringing into their feed with out clicking through their profile. Also, when you click on the service icon on their profile you it takes you directly to that site instead of just showing all the items in their feed. This I would like to see changed back to the non-beta system at least.
Before I go I do want to say one last thing in response that many people have been saying today about the new Friendfeedbeta, “Just because it does something similar to Twitter doesn’t make it Twitter like. Seriously people! You can’t comment on twitter items, you can’t like twitter items, you can’t do the same interactivity with Tweets as you can with post on Twitter.”
Friendfeed is not like Twitter and it doesn’t look like Twitter.
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