Saturday, September 24th, 2005

Well, I’m done with school, which hasn’t sunk in yet I guess. I went to a little graduation shindig last night that was rather fun, and it was interesting to kind of get an idea of what everyone had planned for the next few weeks (and seeing Dustin drunk was … special). A lot of people are sticking around here for more school, but I personally am ready to get on with it.

I’ve been so busy here that it’s kind of hard to really wrap my mind around the fact that I don’t have anything going on next week, other than packing up and cleaning around here. I have my DMA presentation Thursday afternoon, and then the actual graduation ceremony on Friday (Orange County Convention Center, 2:30p), and will be driving back to Atlanta that afternoon.

I’m getting rid of almost all of my furniture - gone will be my bedframe, dresser, couch, coffee table and my cheap little entertainment center. That should make the move a lot easier, since the amount of “big” stuff being taken back is at a minimum. It also means that moving into the new place is going to be a gradual process, with me having to go buy a lot of the new stuff over the next week. Overall, I’m really looking forward to moving back to Atlanta. I’m not really thinking much past the 1-year lease I signed, however. At this point, I have no idea where I’ll be after that. I’m just excited to going back to an enviroment that I’m familiar with - friends, things to do, etc. Plus, it’s hopefully not going to be unbearably hot up there.

As far as work goes, I’ve got something lined up, which I will elaborate on further once I get up to GA. Looks like I will be working right out the gate, which is a good thing, although I was looking forward to some time to get the new place set up.

I have a lot of packing to do …

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Posted on September 24th, 2005 | 3 Comments »

Tuesday, September 13th, 2005

If you’re looking for a good, free font manager for OS X, there is a new kid on the block. fontexplorerX is a new font manager for OS X that is quite robust and has that OS X look and feel we’ve all come to love. Featuring “smart” font lists, such as ‘last imported’ & ‘conflicts’, a nice collections browser, and a nice setup assistant that would make a grown man cry…. you can’t go wrong with this app. So far, I like it a lot better than suitcase or font book, and it’s free.

The version posted on the Linotype site is actually a release candidate, so I suppose use it with caution. Depending on who you are, the neat/bad thing about this app is that it’s plugged into the Linotype font database, so you can buy fonts directly from within the program. Beats the heck out of having to pay for a fully featured font manager or having to look at ads.

It’s obviously more full-featured than Font Book is going to be, and it really does rival (or beat) Suitcase in features and easily wins in the ease of use and aesthetics department. Check it out!

Posted on September 13th, 2005 | 9 Comments »

Friday, September 9th, 2005

I’m sure someone on the internets haven’t heard of the new iPod nano. The thing is an absolute beauty. A quarter of an inch thick, 1.5 ounces and 4gb of sound storage … wow. It also has all of the features of the standard iPods, such as color screens, album art, etc etc. I haven’t been this interested in an iPod since the first ones were released in 2001.

Well, I jumped on the bandwagon as soon as I saw the new iPods had been released. I have a 40gb ‘regular’ iPod, but I’ve been waiting a while to get something smaller and even easier to carry. While even after selling my old iPod, I’ll just pretty much break even, I think the tradeoff for size, the color screen, and battery life (14 hours) is well worth giving up the massive storage of my 40gb. Basically, over time I’ve come to realize that while it’s cool to be able to have all my music everywhere I go, I rarely listen to more than one or two playlists, coupled with a few new albums. Having something that can truly fit in any pocket (while the old iPod marketing claimed you could, I dare you to do it all the time) is going to be really nice.

Pictures are at the end of this article. You have to see this thing to believe how small it is. I’ve only had it for a day, but it’s funny … the 40gb iPod seems like a brick now. I was cleaning it up before listing it on eBay and the thing seems massive compared to the tiny nano, not to mention the fact that the monochrome screen looks like a joke compared to the tiny but brilliant screen. I recommend this little fella 100%. Best way to put it:

Just because I can carry all my tunes on one iPod, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I want to. The form factor and long battery life alone make this worth buying.

Also, might I add that the new iTunes 5 is simply stunning. The interface has been tweaked to look a lot more like that of Mail 2, and is a lot cleaner, as well as adding a few new features that make my time listening to music a lot more enjoyable. The nested folders for playlists, along with better search capability alone make it a great upgrade. I’m still waiting for seamless playback (like you hear on CDs) and the ability for iTunes to search and find album covers to add to your mp3s just like other apps do. All in all, a great upgrade.

However, I’m starting to wonder what exactly is going through the heads of the UI designers over there in Cupertino. iTunes 5 isn’t Aqua (the standard look of most Apps), it’s not Unified (the ‘new’ look of some apps, but not all apps. And there’s not really any guidelines for when to use it). It’s not Brushed metal really, but kind of. It’s some sort of mix between Metal and Unified, and honestly I’m wondering what’s next. At some point in the past 3 or so years the UI guys just decided to throw out the interface guidelines, and it’s starting to show. One of the great things about Mac OS - interface consistency - is starting to show a lot of cracks.
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Posted on September 9th, 2005 | 3 Comments »

Wednesday, September 7th, 2005

I found out today that I have been selected as one of only a few of my fellow students to present my digital portfolio the week of my graduation. I must admit, I’m rather surprised that I was selected, but I’m not complaining. Given some of the projects that I have seen from other members of my class, to be part of this presentation is pretty exciting. Basically, our digital portfolios are regular CDs that you can put into a CD-ROM drive and it will load up an interactive environment that you can then browse through all of the work I have completed while enrolled here. From videos to interactive games to web sites, it’s all there to be seen.

Judging by the groups I’ve seen recently at presentations, the crowd will be a bit daunting, but I generally do fine during things like this. Since it’s not for a grade, and I’ll just be glad to be DONE with school, I doubt I’ll be that nervous. Also, the selected members have to come up with a poster for the presentation … the chosen few have discussed a few ideas, so that’s another little project that is creeping up on me. Funny thing, I thought this last month was going to be full of video games and sleep. All of a sudden, I have a freelance project to finish and 3 school projects.

It’s crazy that there are only 2.5 weeks of classes left, and 3.5 weeks until I will be moving back to Atlanta. I’ve said it a hundred times, but it’s amazing how fast time has flown down here.

Posted on September 7th, 2005 | 5 Comments »