June 22, 2006
BumpTop Prototype
There is some really interesting research happening in the area of user interface metaphors. With the advent of really powerful computers and very fast video cards it is becoming easier and easier to use these expensive resources for more basic things like general graphical user interfaces. We are already seeing this with full graphics accelerated desktops as used in Apple's OSX and Microsoft's soon to be release Windows Vista. But these user interfaces are still based primarily on the standard windows metaphor. BumpTop is different as it uses the more physical piles metaphors. This is based on the concept that in people's offices normally piles of documents are created and physical location and orientation become the primary cues for finding things. BumpTop uses these same metaphors in a pen based user interface. What results is a very clean and interesting user interface which makes lots of sense for tablet PCs or some of the newer displays that are either using large touch screens that support multiple user inputs or screens that use cameras to track gestures for inputs.
The best way to understand is to have a look at the video that shows the possibilities of the BumpTop interface.
Links
BumpTop Page
June 21, 2006
Script.aculo.us: Javascript Library
Script.aculo.us is one of the more well known JavaScript libraries. Like many other JavaScript libraries it is built upon the Prototype library. There is good support for this library if you are using Ruby as your server side scripting language.
Links
Script.aculo.us Home Page
Swat: Javascript Library for PHP applications
Looks like I am finding all sorts of JavaScript libraries to add animations, AJAX and other support to your web pages. This one is for developers who are using PHP as the server side language for creating your pages.
Links
Swat Home Page
Rico
Rico is yet another Javascipt library for adding AJAX support, drag and drop and other JavaScript user interface components to your web apps.
Links
Rico Home page
Moo.fx: Lightweight Javascript Animation Library
This is a cool little library that builds on the prototype javascipt library to create lightweight javascript animations. Useful if you want to easily add animations to your web-based applications.
Links
Moo.fx Website
June 18, 2006
Sofa Control: Another Apple Remote Application
Seems like more an more people have been wanting to use Apple's Remote for more than just Front Row. Recently I blogged the Remote Buddy software, which is pretty impressive, well now there is another contender called Sofa Control. I still believe that Remote Buddy is a much cleaner produced application; however, Sofa Control has good AppleScript support allowing it to control other applications easier. Sofa Control also allows the user to add new applications and script up the actions they would like performed. In my mind open applications that allow the users to extend it's functionality is always a winner. The downloadable version allows you to operate for a full 30 minutes before ceasing to work, plenty of time to try it out.
Links
Sofa Control
Remote Buddy
June 17, 2006
Eclipse on Mac Intel
Ok so I haven't been using Eclipse on my mac for a while, actually since I upgraded to the new intel-based MacBook Pro. To my disappointment the 3.1.2 release of Eclipse that I was using crashes when trying to start it. After digging around I have found out that this is because that version of Eclipse does not support mac intel; however, the 3.2 release candidates after RC5 do. Therefore if you wanting to use Eclipse on one of the new intel-based macs then you are going to have to start using the 3.2 stream of eclipse even though it has not finished production. I hope that this will not screw up any plugins that you rely on.
Links
Eclipse 3.2 Project Plan
Eclipse Home Page
June 15, 2006
Removing iSight from MacBook Pro
I work for a company that does not allow the use of camera's in mobile phones or laptop computers. Therefore when the Apple MacBook Pro and MacBook were released with in-built cameras I was VERY disappointed. I also use a big mix of both windows and mac applications therefore the intel-based mac laptops would be perfect for my work. I have been trying to chase up through my Australian Apple contacts to find a solution to remove the camera or have a laptop built to order without the camera in the first place. I still have not had a confirming reply to my questions. However today I once again went trawling through the forums and found a tidbit of information from a site called ifixit.com. This site contains a visual manual on how to replace the logic board of a MacBook Pro. One of the steps is to remove the laptop screen and as part of this process you disconnect the built-in iSight camera and there are pictures of this. This means that you can physically disconnect the camera to render it useless. However this does not meet my companies guidelines to the letter because the camera is still present it just does not work, it is a step in the right direction though.
Links
ifixit.com Remove Display Page
Apple Support Forum Thread on Removing Camera
June 12, 2006
File Sharing: The Slow Way
Quite often I need to share large files with friends and colleagues but where I work it is too hard to setup an FTP server, which would be my preferred option. Here comes dropload.com to the rescue, this site allows you to upload a file, which is less than 100Mb in size and allow someone else to download the file. The only stipulation is that the receiver must have an email address. The site will delete files uploaded after 7 days even if the file has not been downloaded by the recipient, which is both good and bad. This is pretty good but my problems is that there is no real security on the files that you are sharing other than the email address and 100Mb is not necessarily large enough for some of the files that I share. Nonetheless it is still a great site that solves the problem of sharing semi-large files between people.
Links
DropLoad.com
June 08, 2006
Google Browser Sync
Google has created another Firefox plugin that allows you to synchronise your browser's bookmarks, history, persistent cookies and saved passwords across multiple computers. This is great if you use multiple computers; however, Google warns that this plugin currently slows down the startup of firefox due to it synchronising the browser settings.
Links
Google Browser Sync
June 07, 2006
Remote Buddy: Enhanced Front Row Remote Functionality
Remote Buddy is a great little mac application that extends the capabilities of the Apple remote that comes with the new Front Row enabled macs. Remote Buddy provides features to control more applications with the remote and even to control the mouse. It uses a very clean and easy to use interface to lead users through the use of the additional functionality creating a pleasant experience for the user. The site has a good video of it being used so for all those who do not have a remote can dream about that new mac they want to buy :) .
Links
Remote Buddy
Apple Mail in Widescreen
I have a widescreen Apple Macbook Pro which is sweet and I also use Apple's Mail program for my home email. Well when I found the Letterbox plugin for Apple Mail I did not even hesitate to install it and what do you know, it works without any pain whatsoever. If you too have a high resolution widescreen monitor then and use Apple Mail then don't think just click on the link below to get your own version of Letterbox running.
Links
Letterbox
Colormixers
This is a cool little page that allows you to select a primary colour and then the page will select secondary colours that compliment the first based on standard colour matching rules from art and graphic design. The page even gives you a preview of the colour choice if you were to use it in a web page. If that was not good enough you can also export the colour selection for use within Photoshop, Illustrator or as a text file (web development). Great for new to graphic design or web development
Links
Colormixers
June 06, 2006
AjaxLoad: Activity Image Generator
If you are developing Ajax-based web applications then you are no doubt needing to display activity to the user when they click on a button or page widget. This is because without this feedback there is nothing to indicate to the user that anything is actually happening. For example you could have a button called “Save” that uses an Ajax message to save the current data back to the server and waits of a confirmation from the server. If no visual feedback is provided then the user has no idea if anything is happening until the browser receives the final response from the server. Therefore we need some sort of animation to indicate that the browser has not crashed and that something has happened, hello AjaxLoad. AjaxLoad is a simple web application that given a foreground and background colour will create an animated GIF image that you can display to a user (such as the image below).
There is a reasonable number of different styles to choose from so you should find something that will meet your needs
Links
AjaxLoad Site
MacTF-EPG Currently Not Working
As I am a Topfield PVR and Mac owner I really like the software produced by Nathan Oates to support both platforms. My favourite program of his is the MacTF-EPG program that allows you to easily download an electronic program guide from the Internet and upload it to the EPG. The program works great (although intel version is buggy) except in the last couple of days it has stopped working. I have contacted Nathan and it seems that there is some problem with the EPG feed that is being downloaded, and hopefully it will be fixed in the next couple of days. Lets all hope because I really miss the complete EPG on my Topfield.
Keep up the great work Nathan.
Links
MacTF-EPG Home
June 04, 2006
Spiffy Corners
So you are using lots of CSS in your site and you want to have rounded rectangles for menus or bounding boxes. Well most of the tutorials that use CSS do this but they are not antialiased. Well with the code shown in Spiffy Coners you can have CSS only rounded corners that are antialiased (smooth) without having to create individual images.
Links
Spiffy Corners
