Mike on TAP

This commercial isn’t real, neither are society’s standards of beauty.

Follow on twitter.com/JesseRosten

You’re probably heard some people talking or read on a blog somewhere about SOPA and PIPA. Maybe you’ve even wonder what they are. Here’s a vid to help explain.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Cliff Kuang has a post over at Fast Company about usability and ecommerce. It’s from Jan 29, 2009 but is still relevant.

Everyone gets exasperated by bad websites. But we think of those things as tiny annoyances, and assume that users will eventually get what they need. Not true: Tiny mistakes can cost businesses dearly—in fact one poorly designed button might cost $300 million.

Let my type that out for you – three hundred million dollars. That’s $300,000,000. That’s real money. Click the link below. It’s a quick read.

Source: Fast Company
Link to original article.

Damien Haw over at PSDTuts+ has a tutorial entitled Professional Photograph Restoration Workflow. It’s a tutorial on restoring an old torn photograph. This is a great way of getting on the good side of your new girlfriend’s dad and it’s another service you can offer to your clients.

Source: PSDTuts+

Dan Rose has put together rhe Photoshop Etiquette Manifesto for Web Designers is a collection of ways to improve the clarity of a PSD when transferred. You stay organized, your developer stays happy.

Dan has also made a PDF of his manifesto.

Source: Photoshop Etiquette

As you (should) know by now, Chrome is Google’s entry to the web browser market. It’s a heck of a browser and it keeps getting better and better. One of the cool things Chrome has is built in developer tools. The developer tools allow web developers and programmers deep access into the internals of the browser and their web application.

I have to admit that I’ve not much used the developer tools in Chrome but this nice little tutorial at Google may change that.

This overview of the Developer Tools points out its most popular and useful features.

Source: Google

Update: Free bonus!

SourceKit is a Chrome extension that taps into your Dropbox account and allows you to edit websites right in Chrome. In other words, it turns Chrome into an Integrated Development Environment.

More about SourceKit.

Has she had a nose job? Has she had liposuction? Are her boobs real? Hell, is she real? Short answer: No.

Apparently, a Swedish fashion chain admitted to using computer-generated models to showcase a range of items on its website. The virtual models are convincing but they all have the same body shape and pose. A real model’s head has been superimposed on the CG body and the skin tone has been altered to match her complexion.

Swedish website Aftonbladet first noticed the uncanny similarities of the models. Hacan Andersson, a spokesman from H&M, confirmed this by saying:

“It’s not a real body, it is completely virtual and made by the computer. We take pictures of the clothes on a doll that stands in the shop, and then create the human apperance with a program on a computer.”

Source: mashable.com

If you work a lot in Photoshop with large files, be sure to read this article on Adobe about key steps to optimize Photoshop CS5 performance:

1. Allocate your scratch disk correctly
2. Separate the Photoshop scratch disk from operating system virtual memory
3. Set the RAM percentage used by Photoshop
4. Defragment your drives regularly
5. Minimize History States
6. Avoid “Out of RAM” errors when running memory-intensive features
7. Reduce the number of open files
8. Clear all available memory: Purge Undo, Clipboard, or Histories
9. Run Photoshop by itself
10. Optimize Cache Level and Cache Tile settings
11. Reduce patterns and brush tips
12. Optimize GPU settings
13. Choose the appropriate Photoshop file type
14. Set the Maximize File Compatibility option
15. Turn off thumbnail display
16. Reduce color bit depth
17. Deselect Export Clipboard
18. Adjust or turn off font preview
19. Optimize image files

Source: creativebits – mac design community

Rean over at Hongkiat.com has a nice post about designing with (gasp) paper. He mentions four reasons why using pen and paper are more efficient than using computer when it comes to sketching, writing, designing, any activity that involves brainstorming. They’re listed here but make sure you visit the site to read the whole article.

1. It Combats Designer’s Block
2. It Greatly Saves Your Time & Energy
3. It Gives a Clear Perspective
4. It’s Here Whenever You Need It

Source: Hongkiat.com