Cool links of Today
Saturday, June 7th, 2008
This one in particular stands out for me today; Lego repairs I wish more people took such an active role in their public spaces!
Archive for the link Category
Two cool links
Friday, June 6th, 2008
This one comes from BoingBoing.net via Larryfire, but I couldn’t find the original on Larry’s site, and proves Whipple’s maxim that good advertising doesn’t have to be dumb or crass to be interesting.
And the second link is a slightly charming story about how a tricky problem can be handled elegantly and with respect.
The Incredible Hulk (take 2)
Saturday, March 15th, 2008
The trailer for the new new Incredible Hulk movie hit the web earlier this week (catch it here). The trailer’s pretty extensive and according to Empire they held off releasing it for some time, as they wanted to get the SFX perfect. I was impressed with this movie as soon as I heard about their choice for Dr. Banner; Edward Norton. He’s a good actor, with a great angry side bubbling under, although I’ve got to admit that I’m anxious to see just how geeky he can be. That’s something that most of the films (Fantastic Four and the previous Hulk movie) didn’t hit right. Spiderman did better, but Bruce Banner is supposed to be one of the world’s biggest brains. His idea of a good time is a lab coat and a gallon of coffee. Eric Bana (another of my favorite actors) didn’t pull this off, I’m hoping Norton will.
Another big problem most fans had with the last film was the CG Hulk. I disagree with claims that he looked like Shrek on ‘roids (though it’s a great sound bite). People threw the same ‘it looks cartoony’ lines at Spidey’s beautiful effects. Personally I think that CG has now caught up with our brains. If Spidey was CG’ed doing something that a guy in a suit could do, there’s no way you could tell the difference. It’s because you know it’s not possible for someone to swing from building to building that you think you can tell it’s CG. And that problem is compounded when it’s a two tonne green skinned Hulk. That said the new Hulk looks awesome, and clearly based on my own physique.
However good the movie is, its true success is that people are really excited about it, and considering the commercial flop that the last movie was, and the fact that it’s only been five years between releases, that’s pretty impressive. Looks like Marvel are going to be wiping the floor with DC for some time to come, in the theaters anyway.
Some tips on Netvibes
Thursday, March 13th, 2008
I’ve been using Netvibes for over a year now, and I love it. It’s not solved all my web needs, but it’s dramatically shortened how long my setting up with my morning browse takes. Netvibes collects all my links, Rss feeds, contacts, calendars and to do lists on one fancy page. There’s a lot more it can do to, including Unit Conversion, Podcast streaming and file sending, but for now I’m going to show you how you can use Netvibes to streamline your morning browse.
Keep it Short Stupid.
I have one golden rule. I will not scroll. There are lots of really good aggregation pages out there, and if you choose wisely, they’ll do all the work for you. But if you choose poorly, then you’ll get lots of duplication in feeds and this will lead to a really bloated useless page. An example of this would be Unclutterer picking up a link from Lifehacker which was originally on Make. There’s no way to eliminate all the repetitions, you’ll just have to work them out. Which brings me to my next rule.
Stay Active or Get Cut
If a feed isn’t active I cut it. Netvibes lets you click on the numbered part of the tab (which tells you how many unread links there), to mark all links as read. This is a great way to see which feeds are active. Typically after my morning browse I mark all pages as read. If I wanted to read them, I’ve read them. That way I know next time what’s new in just a glance. Netvibes also shows how old a link is. This is a really great way of seeing how often a feed updates. If there’s more than 2 (of seven) that are over a month old, question how much space it uses, and how much you view those links. If you still really want it, then only show a few links. Which is tip number three.
Only as much as you need.
Netvibes feeds’ let you show from 1 link to 40. Use this to customise the feeds so that they take up an appropriate amount of space. If something’s only updated once a month, then give it just one link. Every minute? Maybe you want 7 links. Remember that because you can see the number of new links (the number in the bracket) you’ll always know if there are more new links than those showing.
Distinct Pages.
I try to keep my links sorted into distinct pages. There’s always some overlap (Tech and Web Design, and Web Design and Design), but by keeping them as separate as possible I can switch into that mindset. Which is great for switching off (my ‘Fun’ page) or switching on (my ‘Web Design’ page). When I’m on that page I know that’s what I’m supposed to be dealing with, and don’t stray from it.
Have a default.
I have a default page that has my working setup. This is my online desktop, with several to do lists, calendar, lots of webnotes, bookmarks and an address book. When I’m working I keep FF on this page, because it’s my launching platform for everything else. By keeping the bookmarks and contacts Widgets minimized, click the top left corner of the Widget, they stay out of the way. I then divide the page into four columns; Today, Work, Personal and Planning.
Today has a To Do list and two Webnotes. The To Do list contains just items for today, and usually grows more than it shrinks. I keep a divider (a to do item called ‘==========’) to seperate a top section of things I must do. One Webnote is titled Things I’ve Done, and once I’ve completed something, I put it in there if it’s been especially arduous or there was a complex solution I want to remember. The second is for random links and thoughts that I’ve accumulated throughout the day.
Work has a Webnote for each active project I’m working on, with the last thing I worked on open, and the rest minimised. I try to keep a report of where I’m at, what needs to be done, and potential bugs whilst I’m working on things and that all goes here. As well as the last thing I did. This is so important because it’s really easy to leave a project and come back only to find yourself totally lost.
Personal is a little less structured, with a webnote for random thoughts, a flickr Widget displaying images by keyword (Sunshine just now), a Quote of the Day and my saviour the Facebook Widget. The Facebook Widget is the equivalent of a nicotine patch, in that it stops me from feeling the urge to check Facebook every three minutes. If there’s an update I’ll know about it.
The final section is planning. By keeping my bookmarks and contacts (which can both be imported) minimised, the focus is kept on my Calendar. This enables me to see at a glance what’s going on, and whose birthday I’m forgetting.
Some Quick Tips :
Give the columns titles by creating blank webnotes and minimising them.Choose a colour scheme for the panels on each page. That way you’ll know what page on your with a quick glance.
Let the netvibes team know that you love them!