Cell Citation Notepad to Enforce Cell Phone Laws

I can't think of a better way to do a service for you and those around you than to punish/embarass rude mobile phone users.

These Cell Citation Notes are a great way to do just that - and in no uncertain terms too. While the notes themselves cost $4.50USD for a set of 50, it should also be possible to print them yourself at home.

It should be pretty fun to write up a ticket to give to the offender, detailing what they were doing wrong (the conversation section is pretty funny!).

Would you buy it? More importantly, would you ever pluck up the courage to hand these out? (via)

Innovative clock screensavers

In the past, the role of a screensaver was very important. It was invented to prevent screen-burning. Very old CRT monitors were susceptible to having areas of the screen ruined by displaying non-moving text and graphics continuously for long periods of time. The screensaver’s job was to either blank the screen or fill it with moving images or patterns when the computer was idle.

Nowadays, screensavers are used for entertainment. Modern monitors don’t suffer from screen burn and so we don’t have a real use for them anymore.

Many people also use their screensavers to tell them the time. However, the default screensaver-clock isn’t very appealing at all to look at (at least in Windows).

Terribly ugly isn’t it? Luckily, there’s quite a few innovative clock ideas you can choose from (prepare to scroll…)

Word Clock

Word Clock is one of those gems that you had no idea existed, but when you find it, wish you had found it years earlier.

This screensaver’s design is an absolute masterpiece. Every second, the clock updates. For example in the picture above, the highlighted “fifty-seven” will go back to grey and the “fifty-eight” next to it will highlight itself in red.

Another intriguing option offered by Word Clock is the rotary version. It has a similar feel as an old analog clock.

Everything about the screensaver is customisable – from the typeface to the colours, the size and position to text-transformations (uppercase, lowercase), making it three times as useful.

• Download Word Clock (available for Windows and Mac OS X)

Fliqlo

This is a much simpler design than Word Clock, however it is still a very nice and simple design. It is also extremely light on system resources.

As for customisation, there isn’t much. The good news, however, is that it’s integrated into the screensaver itself. When the screensaver’s playing, hit the up/down arrows to change zoom or the left/right arrows to toggle between 12 or 24-hour clocks.

• Download Fliqlo (available for Windows and Mac OS X – choose the left-most cassette)

PolarClock

PolarClock takes a very unique approach and presents its information in a beautiful set of coloured concentric bars. The bars change colour depending on the position they’re in.

Be warned, however, that this isn’t light on system resources. My relatively lightweight system (1.8GHz, 2GB RAM, Mobile Intel Graphics) struggled to cope with PolarClock.

• Download PolarClock (available for Windows and Mac OS X – also as a dashboard widget)

Further reading

• Top 10 Creative Ways To Display Time – by Smashing Magazine
• Christiaan Postma design – really interesting flash animation
• World Clock photo pool on Flickr – collection of photos of World Clock in use
• Robot stonehenge clock – a programmed robot to adjust the time, very cool

Asus Eee PC: Overview

In June 2007, Asus released the revolutionary new Eee PC. Originally intended as an ideal first computer for elderly citizens and children alike, the Eee PC has instead proved very popular among power users of Linux and a few business users.

What is it exactly?

The Eee PC stands for Easy to learn, Easy to work, Easy to play. Realising that most people use laptops for internet-based applications such as Web Browsing, Emailing, Instant Messaging, etc, Asus built this machine around those kinds of requirements. It is touted to offer Complete Mobile Internet Enjoyment.

Why is it so 'Revolutionary'?

The Eee PC is a great little piece of kit.

By little, I actually meant tiny. The sub-notebook (?) is not much larger than a hardcover book, and much smaller than conventionally sized laptops. The keyboard is also said to be fairly decent, despite the smaller size. The same can be said for the trackpad.

Weighing in at just 920g and running a 900MHz Intel Celeron Processor with (typically) 512MB worth of RAM, this laptop ought to cost more than what is being asked for it.

It's cheaper than some mobiles and much cheaper than anything in its class. It isn't meant to compete with bargain notebooks, although it will inevitably be compared to one due to its low price.

How good is it for a Photographer?

For digital photographers who have been searching for an ultra-portable solution to back up their data on the go. It's especially suited to the travelling photographer who needs the small size. However, there are a few drawbacks, especially for a photographer.

Drawbacks

• 7-inch screen not great for extended photo viewing & editing — 800x480 resolution not perfectly ideal, but still seems to be serviceable.
• Limited hard drive space — because of the nature of solid-state memory, the Eee PC typically comes packed with just 4GB worth of internal memory. At least it's easy to overcome this with cheap external solutions.
• Slightly cramped keyboard & trackpad — but not too bad according to reports.
• Most significantly, it doesn't come with Windows XP pre-installed. Instead, it is running a custom version of the Linux OS. This keeps the price down since Linux is free. It is possible to install Windows XP though, and the Eee PC even comes with instructions on how to do it.

Recommendations

If you're looking for an ultra-portable laptop that still offers decent usability and is pleasant and fun to use, almost certainly get the Eee PC. If you really demand a lot of power from your computer and rely on Windows software, then consider a pass. However there are thousands of alternatives to the Windows software. Open Office is pre-installed, for example (replacing MS Office).

It's a seriously compelling device.

• Suitable for: People who need it uber compact and lightweight, and have only basic needs (email, internet, document work, photo/video viewing, etc). Also for photographers looking for this kind of portability.
• NOT suitable for: Demanding users, gamers, and people who rely heavily on Windows-only software (although thousands of free Linux-based alternatives exist).

Find out more

• http://eeepc.asus.com/global/
• http://www.cameralabs.com/...Asus_Eee_PC_for_photographers
• http://arstechnica.com/...eee-pc-review
• http://www.pcpro.co.uk/...asus-eee-pc-701

Additional images

(All pictures open links in a new window to their originating website)

SplashUp Review: the future of picture editing?

Previously known as "Fauxto", SplashUp can (in a nutshell) be defined as a Flash-based, browser-integrated image-editor. It's one of the better ones out there and can be almost be called "Photoshop Lite".

During the recent times, a lot of web-based image-editing programs have been sprouting up. And why not? Web-based solution don't need any additional software to run.

SplashUp offers you the option to open an image from 6 different places. You may open a from some photo-sharing sites (such as Flickr), locally, or else by providing the photo's URL. However I wasn't able to open an image directly from Flickr, SplashUp just kept on giving me error messages. Using a photo's URL works fine though.

SplashUp is the only online photo-editor I know of which supports:
- Layers. Plus: blending modes, advanced layer effects, and opacity changes.
- The ability to open multiple images at the same time.
- A windowed environment, made possible by Flash.
- The creation of images from scratch.

It also offers pixel-level editing, using a variety of brushes and gradients. It also has some pretty advanced text control.

Much like all free services, this program isn't without its flaws/bugs. For one thing, it is missing a couple of major features. One feature missing is keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts help streamline your workflow, they save time and mouse clicks. Everyone knows that CTRL+Z is an undo, why they didn't implement these in SplashUp is anybody's guess.

Another feature which is amiss is probably a limitation of Flash itself. SplashUp is missing the context-sensitive right-click menu. When you right-click in Photoshop, you get a menu that's relevant to the tool selected, such as settings for the brush tool. SplashUp sadly misses this useful feature. Flash probably needs this menu for itself. Being totally implemented in Flash, it has to accept the limitations that its programming language has.

Its largest fault however, is that it's buggy, and quite unstable. Specifically, after a while of using it, it tends to crash very often, requiring a restart. Given time, I'll bet that the developers can iron out the bugs. Lastly, the sharpening option sucks big time. There is a workaround - duplicate the layer, apply the 'Sharpen' filter, and reduce the opacity. But who likes workarounds?

Conclusion

SplashUp is a fantastic achievement. It's speedy, resource-light, and offers a vast array of tools and advanced controls that many paid-for programs don't even offer. It wouldn't be unfair to call it a 'lite' version of Adobe Photoshop.

Of course, SplashUp has it's share of negatives, of which there are many. The main one for me was that it's rather buggy and unstable. I hope that future versions will improve on this aspect (there are sections for bug reporting and feature requests, by the way).

Because all you need is a web browser and a Flash player, it can be run from most computers. This makes it great for a quick edit to a photo of yours (even for example adding a watermark), wherever you are.

Highly Recommended (with reservations)

Go to SplashUp now!