Posts Tagged ‘design’
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Google, two days before the announcement of the iPad by Apple, put mock-ups of a new product that would ride on the hype of the device–a browser-based Chrome OS for tablet computers.
Chrome OS was designed primarily for netbooks. Netbooks will not be the extent of it’s use however–it will work with an array of web enabled devices–each with very different input methods, available screen space, and processing power.
Stephen Shankland writing for “DeepTech” at CNET believes that Chrome OS may be a better sell for tablet computers than netbooks, because netbooks are often used as a primary computer which may make a browser-based OS a less appealing option.
Tags: browsers, design, development, web, web design
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Monday, February 1st, 2010
Microsoft is seeking to reinvent the bar code.
In essence, Microsoft seeks to make the bar code more stylish–allowing businesses to use the area of packaging dedicated to the bar code to appeal to consumers as well as be a content transmission device between businesses.
Microsoft Custom Tags will allow graphic artwork to be incorporated into the bar code. Custom Tags will work with current mobile Tag Readers. Although there are guidelines for proper usage of the Custom Tag approach to bar code and machine readable codes, this will provide more flexibility to packaging design and manufacturers.
Tags: advertising, branding, business, design, marketing
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Monday, January 11th, 2010
Fast Flip is a horizontal scrolling tool that was recently added to Google News. This tool allows a user to scroll through visual thumbnails of source news websites and quick filter the options based on a set of predefined criteria such as “Most viewed,” “recent,” or top search interests such as “Glenn Beck” or “fishing.”
The tool was designed to allow users to read the news stories online in the way they would in print–providing a related visual experience.
Fast Flip was introduced to the Google Labs back in September (2009) and appeared to be based on technology very similar to Searchme or Viewzi.
Tags: design, publishing, search, seo, web, web design
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Thursday, January 7th, 2010
Since Vista, Microsoft has included “GodMode” settings to give developers shortcuts to numerous internal settings of a PC. GodMode functions can give quick access control to a range of items such as identifying biometric sensors, changing the mouse icon or managing power.
Most of the GodMode functions are largely undocumented for the general public. The first step is to create a new folder. Then give it a name, and also include a text, godmode string.
To create the Godmode folder:
{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
List of strings:
{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}
{0142e4d0-fb7a-11dc-ba4a-000ffe7ab428}
{025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844-36FE4BEC8B6D}
{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
{1206F5F1-0569-412C-8FEC-3204630DFB70}
{15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28-805e482dafd4}
{17cd9488-1228-4b2f-88ce-4298e93e0966}
{1D2680C9-0E2A-469d-B787-065558BC7D43}
{1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87}
{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
{241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}
{4026492F-2F69-46B8-B9BF-5654FC07E423}
{62D8ED13-C9D0-4CE8-A914-47DD628FB1B0}
{78F3955E-3B90-4184-BD14-5397C15F1EFC}
Tags: design, development, engineering
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Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
As part of the fall dress up, the Bing search website will undergo some design updates.
One big update involved the MSN video site. Microsoft announced that it will be merging its video search efforts with its MSN Video site that will be framed in the Bing brand. Bing Video will offer new content options through deals with Hulu, CBS, MySpace, DailyMotion, and YouTube–featuring both viral clips and full length features.
Tags: design, video, web, web design
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Monday, November 9th, 2009
Microsoft is trying to use the popularity of Facebook to boost its Silverlight and WPF products. The giant just released a web development kit for Facebook that allows for the building of applications using ASP.NET, Silverlight, WPF, and WinForms. The kit also gives access to source code for Microsoft based APIs, components, controls, and samples for use in developing Facebook apps.
Tags: design, development, social, web, web design
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Thursday, October 29th, 2009
There is a certain freedom of abandon that Halloween provides. It is a time of playfulness and wicked fun. Corporate web companies have also joined in on the fun as a way to strengthen customer relationships and become more personable and even a bit silly. Google has a history of changing it’s corporate logo on holidays or commemorative events. Below are some samples of corporate playfulness / relationship-building design-gusto for the Halloween season.
Mailchimp 2009
Other examples of Halloween / Holiday corporate logos for the web.
Tags: design, marketing, web, web design
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Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
The Motorola Droid smartphone on the Verizon Wireless network received some good reviews due in part to the updated Google Android (2.0) mobile OS. The Motorola Droid was the first phone to use Android 2.0. Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA also use Android but have not upgraded to the new software.
The upgrade to Android offers a performance boost and some new features, such as the voice command turn-by-turn directions for Google Maps. Another feature supported by the upgraded Android OS was the integration of multiple social-networking and e-mail accounts into the phone’s contact list. The camera will now come with built-in flash, digital zoom, scene mode, white balance, color effect, and macro focus.Also, a hugely important feature for the business world has been introduced–Android 2.0 will now support Microsoft Exchange.
Tags: design, engineering, mobile, software, technology
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Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
The US Department of Defense is making a serious effort to improve open-source adoption. It will be issuing new guidelines to make it easier for the department to use open-source software. The department has stated that open-source meets the purchasing requirements set forth by the department and will help them better identify and eliminate threats and become more agile to changing requirements.
CNET noted the irony of such efforts since Linux was one identified by the US Department of Defense as one of such threats in the past. (Source of remarks: CNET: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10384067-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20).
The Defense Department stated that open-source software will also bring some clear advantages that proprietary software may not be able to offer. Such benefits of open-source software include:
– suitable for rapid prototyping and experimentation
– a cost advantage
– unrestricted ability to modify software source code
– reduction of proprietary restrictions
– identification and elimination of defects through peer-review system
Tags: collaboration, design, development, engineering, intelligence, software, technology, web, web design
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Monday, October 5th, 2009
Adobe may have won support from Google, Motorola, Nvidia, Palm, RIM, and Qualcomm for Flash 10.1 software for smartphones and mobile devices. Flash is not currently available on most all phones. Flash video acceleration has not be widely available on mobile devices.
Adobe has also created a campaign titled “Open Screen Project initiative” to have manufacturers allow Flash to be open to developers. Google has already agreed to join the Open Screen Project initiative, and phones running Android will be shipped with Flash early next year.
Tags: browsers, design, telephony, video, web, web design
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