Humble Indie Bundle #2

Humble Indie Bundle #2: "

“Pay what you want. If you bought these five games separately, it would cost around $85 but we’re letting you set the price!

All of the games work great on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

We don’t use DRM. When you buy these games, they are yours. Feel free to play them without an internet connection, back them up, and install them on all of your Macs and PCs freely. There is no time-limit on your downloads.

You can support charity. Choose exactly how your purchase money is divided: Between the game developers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or the Child’s Play Charity. Also, if you like this deal, a tip to the Humble Bundle itself would be much appreciated!”

Five great games, you name the price.  Proceeds help the developers and the Child’s Play and the EFF.

What are you waiting for?  Get it now!

"

Saving your iPhone Battery Life

The basic idea is this: anything running on your iPhone uses up the battery, so we’re going to go into the Settings app and turn some things down, and turn others off altogether. The more you turn off, the longer your batter will last — but of course the less you’ll be able to do. It’s a balancing act but one that can help you squeeze out a little extra juice when you really need it.

Set Auto-Lock to 1 minute
Turn off any extra sounds, like keyboard clicks
Turn off the iPod EQ
Use headphones instead of the speaker if you have to listen to audio or music
Turn down the screen brightness
Turn off Bluetooth when not using it
Turn off Wi-Fi when not using it
Turn off 3G when not using it
Turn off Location Services when not using them
Turn off Push Notifications
Set all email, calendar, and contacts accounts to “Fetch” (turn off Push)
Double-click the Home Button to activate the multitasking dock, hold your finger on an app to enter “jiggly” mode, and kill any apps that might be running in the background, especially VoIP (like Skype), streaming audio (like Pandora), or navigation (like TomTom).

If you’re really desperate, put your iPhone in Airplane Mode and save the radios for when you need them (works really well). If you’re really desperate, you can also turn your iPhone completely off until you need it (it will still use a tiny amount of power but far, far less than anything else).

Politics and Religion

It is often a matter of etiquette when bringing up politics or religion into a dinner and or party conversation, or any conversation for the matter of fact. They are the two subjects which people feel so strongly about that nations have been forged out of them and wars fought. But this ... i dont know how orwhat to say about this... i just saw this headline and i am speechless... simply speechless... i .. what!?!?! how ... where the hell is she getting support from and how did the .... WTF!?! is this the work of Stephen Colbert? Im just waiting for the aha moment...? What?

I found this this morning on thedenverchannel.com site
Full article at: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/politics/22200783/detail.html

The Plight of the Designer

I happened to read an amazing collection of bizzare and weird client requests that other designers have recieved (http://bit.ly/82SjGM). Sadly I have heard at least half of these if not more. everything from the very ignorant to the flat our stupid. But you know what? I try to look at it this way. If your a talented brain surgeon who refuses to understand how the internet works... hey thats fine, I cannot perform brain surgery, and I'm thankful there are people who can should I ever needed. But if your a (insert generic job title) and you convince yourself that your 2 years of community college in your filed also includes a specialization in the field of design, theory, art history, psychology, social trends and media... well then... I humbly step aside. However you hired me!

Its seems more often than not people try to throw in their ideas and personal likes and dislikes in to the creative pot. There is a time for that in every design process. Every designer wants to accommodate with the wishes of the client. But people must realize that designers are trained to make things work. There may be elements and ideas of the client that simply don't work. Sure we can give the client anything they want, the design might fail horribly, does that matter to you?

I find myself working on a model of the state capitol for the elections later this fall. It will be used as a graphic airing in TV spots and the news. Im a graphic designer, yet i had to adapt to using 3d software to become a modeler, using blueprints and architectural models, referencing architectural objects on the building which refer back to my old art history books of roman art. Using reference pictures of doric, ionic, and corinthian columns. Using textures of known materials. Working with lighting. Animating the subject. Camera movement and placement. Video editing. Not to mention the basics of composition, color, and text. All these things just to get a picture of the capital building. And this is just a single project.

When I have to work on any project, i become a pseudo expert in the subject. Whether it be medical, architectural or scientific. I have to know how the heart works, how the planets rotate and how that gizmo in your large machine functions in order to be able to convey the same knowledge in layman's terms to my viewer who does not want the complete history of it. time is money.

So the next time you tell me that my idea doesn't work because you have a personal conflict with a color you don't like, think about your field of expertise and all that encompasses. If you mow lawn, drill me about my lack of watering my plants, not composition of typography.