Author: jose

On Virtual desktops in Windows

“If only windows had a multiple desktop system, how happy would I be!”, I have thought to myself quite a few times… I wish I could have a tidy desktop, free of the zillion files that clutter almost all the available space, but if I moved those files I would surely lose track of them.

So, is there any app out there that could allow one to keep several different desktops within the same computer? As far as I know, the answer is “yes and no”, but at least the “Yes” side of the story could be enough for many users: Continue reading On Virtual desktops in Windows

Give the right answer, Joe

http://www.hardydetectiveagency.com/ocean/hollow/hollow2.htm

“Right! In your dreams! I’m not a nerd!” Joe jibed his brother good-naturedly.

Had Joe said “I’m a NaN”, he wouldn’t have received the answer he received. What was that answer? Ah, I’ll guess you’ll have to read the story, just as much as Joe should have read NaN! 😛

ps. in the same story…

“Bye, Nan!” Callie chimed and her slightly high-pitched voice was sounding a little shrill to Nancy’s ears.

“You know something, Drew? You’re like an open book right now.”

heh, it seems that actually Joe was reading NaN XD

On crafting Universes

http://www.solarvoyager.com/tutorials.asp

(…)it is useful for beginners and pros alike to see how other artists achieve certain results. These tutorials are only intended to be guides as you work through new processes and challenges. Upon these building blocks, you must add experimentation and a great deal of practice(…)

Solar Voyager hosts what in my opinion is the net’s best collection of tutorials on crafting realistic space scenes by means of 2D techniques. Most of them are focused on different approaches to rendering planets of all sorts, but fortunately there are several other articles which cover a broad field of subjects, from nebulae to asteroids to truly impressive star fields. As you’ll soon realize, following the articles will be a lot easier if you have Photoshop, since that´s the tool of choice in most of them; however, I’m sure that there’s no effect that you can’t achieve by using other programs, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

Besides from the tutorials, you should pay some to time to visit the rest of Solar Voyager, which covers all branches of space art: you´ll surely be surprised by the quantity and quality of many of the works shown!

As big as it gets

http://www.deepskyfrontier.com/

(…)9 quadrillion pixels wide by 9 quadrillion pixels tall.

A metaphor within a metaphor, this site makes one rethink the concept of vastness. In other words, we can tinker with the otherwise utterly unattainable immensities of the cosmos in our desktops, just because the designer (very intelligent designer, yep), has put them in a context that we can easily grasp. Try to scroll the page with the arrow keys: it will take you more lives than you can count to reach the end. Now grab the scroll bar with the mouse and get to the end in seconds, fast as if you crossed a wormhole (a mousehole, perhaps?). Incredible, isn’t it? All in all this is a marvelous site to visit: stand on its center and watch through the eons, and beyond!

ps. by the way, whatever you do, don’t hit the print page button 😉

Related Article: Small… but playful

The UFO camera

http://www.casadopinhole.net/ovni_eng.htm

This new version of the Ovnipan adds several new features: a improved transport system makes the camera even more pleasurable to use(…) The round design has been retained without changes, harmonizing perfectly with the panoramic function of the camera.

The ovnipan is a panoramic pinhole c the best looking panoramic pinhole camera I have seen so far. It surely looks like a UFO, or a futuristic house; in any case, the design is beautiful in its simplicity and, even better, it works! Here you can find several examples of images taken with the camera, a collection of surreal, yet vivid panoramas. The designers have also devised a special attachment, a rubber band which works as a “second-level” shutter, thus allowing the photographer to make collages. Great!

Related Article: Don´t be tarugo- throw your SatuGO!

Related Article: Throw the camera!

Planet Perplex

http://www.planetperplex.com/en/index.html

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabridge Uinervtisy, it deosn´t mttear in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltter be in the rghit pclae

A firned of mnie tlod me abuot Plnaet Perplex, and I beleive it is a vrey itnersetnig stie and you wlil like it a lot. It cnotians a good seletcoin of amisung gmaes, mind tirkcs and inrcdebile iamegs that sruely will keep you entrteianed for aegs. Ejnoy! (geez, that was hard to write) 😀

Related Article: The number of the Rose

Cars: Afterthoughts

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/cars/

Lightning McQueen, a hotshot rookie race car driven to succeed, discovers that life is about the journey, not the finish line, when he finds himself (…) in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs.

For the sake of honesty, I´ll say that I went to see Cars almost forced by a friend. Though I usually love animation films, the way the cars are portrayed looked somehow too bland, too gentle, so to say, and I feared that the whole would share that same spirit.

In fact, while perhaps mild, Cars is nevertheless a good movie. Continue reading Cars: Afterthoughts