Terralever Blog

November 30, 2007 | Taken from refactor by Joel Neubeck

PhizzPop Design Challenge

The PhizzPop Design Challenge pits top interactive, Web, and design agencies against one another to push the limits of technology and creativity in a battle royale. Think Mad Max for design.

The regional teams have been selected and Terralever was selected. To get prepared Scott, Craig and Myself will be attending two days of training in Los Angeles on Microsoft Expression Blend, WPF and Silverlight. On December 3rd the Terralever team will be given a design problem and will have 3 days to come up with a solution. On the fourth day we will return to Los Angeles and present our design to a panel of judges. The winners will compete at the finals in Austin March 8th 2007 at this years SxSW conference.

November 10, 2007 | Taken from SEO Diva by Kay Frenzer

Health Checkup for Your Web Site

Aaron Wall has a great new application on his SEO Book site called Web Site Health Check (beta).

It’s simple to use, screamingly fast, and gives some helpful information including duplicate titles and META tags. I was feeling pretty smug about that until I discovered some extra pages I had put into the folder years ago were being indexed and showed duplicate titles/tags. Uh oh! 

November 10, 2007 | Taken from On a Mac by Scott McAndrew

Leopard Dock and Menu Bar user interface options

I installed Apple’s latest version of OS X, version 10.5 or “Leopard” last week. I’ll sideline the oh-so-popular debate about questionable UI changes in Leopard, and instead post quick ‘fixes’ I found regarding two things I wasn’t a fan of:

Change OS X Dock for Leopard

Not a fan of the new 3d dock? Try a 2d dock that is available but unfortunately not exposed as an option. Here’s all you need to do:

1. Open the Terminal application located in your Applications > Utilities folder
2. Type:
   defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES
   killall Dock

The first line requests that a 2d rendition of the Dock be used. The second line terminates and then restarts all instances of the Dock.

Change Leopard’s Translucent Menu Bar

The Apple hacking community has yet to find a quick Terminal command to revert to an opaque Menu Bar. What can be done is a quick modification to your Desktop Wallpaper which will achieve the same effect. Some have scoffed at this method. My take? It’s clever and easy: thumbs up.

November 10, 2007 | Taken from The Dolphin Safe Blog by Chris Jones

Social Networking 101

Terralever is hosting a Facebook Developer’s Garage on Nov. 14th, so I’ve been spreading the word and telling friends about the event. Friends who are in their thirties now, so not all of them get this social networking thing.

I am a big fan of these videos made at The Common Craft. Each low budget, but highly creative video explains in plain English how things work. If you are late to the social network scene or know someone in need of a social network, this video will make it clear why they are important, even for us older folks.

November 07, 2007 | Taken from context by Scott McAndrew

One Laptop per Child and one for…

You may know it as the “$100 laptop.” But, let’s call it by its lesser-known name, the XO as it never made it down to the $100 price point. The computer, aimed at providing laptops for needy kids by way of the One Laptop per Child project, has been the cause of speculation, criticism and praise. MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of the non-profit One Laptop per Child foundation, is the driving force behind the XO, which boasts some interesting features for a laptop which cost less than many computers which rightfully find file under the category “toy.”

What’s the XO got going for it? A lot. Again, it’s not going to replace your business productivity laptop anytime soon (nor is that its intention), but it has plenty for its sub $200 price tag (David Pogue sums it up well). A few standouts:

• High-resolution (1200 x 900 200 dpi) reflective, sunlight readable display
• Sealed keyboard, sealed case construction
• WiFi (802.11 b/g) and Mesh (802.11 s)
• Can be charged without an AC outlet (physical process)
• Integrated game pad
• Integrated touch pad
• Speakers
• Integrated 30 fps video and still camera

It’s not running Vista or XP, nor is it running OS X or Linux. The OLPC’s operating system and software is all open source. It’s a laptop for education geared toward countries where technology is inaccessible, and, conditions may be less than hospitable for the device.

Now, a bit for the philanthropists and the geeks. There’s a few ways you can score some good karma with the little laptop that might:

Philanthropists: You can donate an OLPC for a child in need. They’re $200 each (of course, you can donate more than one).

Philanthropist Geeks: You can donate an XO for a child in need, and get an XO for yourself with the “Give 1 Get 1? program. $399 pays for both laptops (yes, it is a tax write-off). This is a limited time program starting on November 12th.

I’m anticipating some great XO stories next year and sincerely hoping the domestic “look what I did with my XO” stories are the exception, not the rule.

Learn More:

One Laptop per Child
Give 1 Get 1 Program

November 06, 2007 | Taken from The Dolphin Safe Blog by Chris Jones

The Creative Mind

We are all huge fans of Adobe products at Terralever, and many of us depend on their software daily. With such a great product line, it should be no surpise that Adobe has a very engaging interactive site. The Creative Mind microsite showcases Adobe’s Creative Suite software package, but from an abstract POV- inside a designers head. Sure, you can watch explanatory videos and read info about the software, but you will most likely be sucked into the demostrations you create yourself using each product. These self-made presentations speak the language of the designer because you build them using the right side of your brain. So it makes perfect sense to the audience they are speaking to. Despite the site being loads of fun to play around on, you actually learn a lot about the new features of Adobe’s Creative Suite in the process. This site is the perfect match for the product it represents. Go here to explore your creative mind.

November 01, 2007 | Taken from The Dolphin Safe Blog by Chris Jones

iGot iPhone

I recently ran out of excuses for not getting an iPhone. After the price dropped to $399, I waived the white flag and was forced to pull the trigger. My contract was up with T-Mobile, I needed a new cell phone, what else should I wait for? So I made the leap and all I can say is the device lives up to the hype, and actually exceeded my expectations. After the success of the iPod, I was a little worried this could be Steve Jobs version of The Phantom Menace. But it’s not, it’s more like The Empire Strikes Back. If you are waiting for the next generation to come out, you are wasting your time. But if you are going to stubbornly stick to your guns on that game plan, here is a sneak peak at the rumored sequel… The iPhone Quattro.

8 Gigs! 4 Blades!!