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non-Adobe HTML 5 animation tools – Purple vs Hype

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

We can’t complain for the lack of tools to create rich HTML5 animated content. Even Adobe finally decided that flash is better for other things (like creating cartoons) than web site animations and transitions. Their “Edge” is actually a sign that they gave in to Steve Jobs’ and realized there IS a market for non-flash web animation after all. So it was the iPhone that changed the way we look at the web and influenced the new standards. Good.

We covered Hype a while ago, and now it seems that there’s another tool to create rich HTML5 content and now Mac App Store is promoting “Purple” – another pro tool for HTML5 animation. It seems that the interface is a little bit more refined visually than in Hype. Think – Pixelmator – with all those dark windows and panels it looks quite nice. As far as the performance goes though, I checked out the Purple gallery on my 2011 Macbook Air (core i5) and it performed pretty slow. Hype is much better in that regard, but Purple was just introduced so I hope they’ll work on performance in future releases. Aside from that it seems that as far as functionality goes both Apps are pretty similar, so it doesn’t really matter which one you buy, but Purple is now half the price (introductory) of Hype, so if you buy it now it will be a bargain at 15 Eur.

You can download Hype for 30 Eur here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hype/id436931759?mt=12
And Purple is available here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/purple/id433132196?mt=12

Posted in App, creativity, design aid, Technology | No Comments »

WordPress index.html vs index.php struggle

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

Usually when we make wordpress websites we don’t really want people to see the website in the making – so we create an index.html splash page with “under construction” or something of that sort and then we go back to tweaking index.php

Well for a while now (since wordpress 2.7) that’s not really possible because if you access www.mydomain.com it’ll in fact show the splash page, but when you go to www.mydomain.com/index.php it’ll also redirect itself to that splash index.html file.
All the other wordpress pages and permalinks work, but without the main page it’s kinda hard to edit now isn’t it?

I was searching for an answer for a LONG time and it turns out there is one.
http://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/9203 – here it is. If it’s all black magic to you or you’re just lazy (who isn’t?) I’ll simply tell you what to do :

Go to wp-includes folder on your server, find the canonical.php file and then find a line that goes something like that:

$redirect['path'] = preg_replace('|/index.php/*?$|', '/', $redirect['path']);

and replace it with

$redirect['path'] = preg_replace('|/index.php/$|', '/', $redirect['path']);

It’s just removing two characters but the result is a working splash page and a working index.php

Ain’t it just great?

Tags: html, php, tutorial, Wordpress
Posted in design aid, Know how, Technology, tutorial | No Comments »

Garageband for iPad

Sunday, March 13th, 2011

I was so excited for GB that as soon as it hit the app store, I got my hands on it and I can only say : Whoa!
But it’s not the fact that it’s such a great app by itself that is appealing. This is a complete package – many instruments, many ways to tweak and multitrack recording. That all combined (though limited) can mean only one thing. Someone will make an even better app in the near future because apparently tablets are our future. They already accept MIDI and some USB sound cards, so the next logical step instead of bringing a laptop along for gigs is taking a tablet + a smaller, usb powered audio interface. Touch interfaces can bring many instruments in one, additional drums, kaoss pads, synths. This could be a good addition for both DJ’s and electronic musicians.

Oh and those smart instruments – they suck. Sorry. Those chords sound nice, but lifeless. There’s no beauty in ultra-perfection. Skip these and play the real things :) Even if lousy.

Oh and “sampler” here is actually useful. You can record your own soundbanks and play that live. Awesome’o 2000! :)

Tags: music
Posted in App, Creative processes, creativity, Technology | No Comments »

Tablets are coming

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

As predicted there are a few nice tablets out there with the recent announcments of Motorola Xoom and HP TouchPad joining the already successful iPad. These look and work well and will surely add to the revolution. So is it time to start rebuilding our user experiences on the web yet? Well we can start by using more and more HTML5 / jQuery options. And maybe take a different approach to content. Exciting times to be in the center of the new computing revolution. And I hope to see many great web designs for tablets soon.

Tags: tablets, technology
Posted in Technology, Thinking | No Comments »

A blink of the future

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Remember all the sci-fi movies in which people are talking to holographic clerks and whatnot? Well it slowly starts today, which basically means that if someone has a cool idea for a movie, sooner or later it will make it to mass production. Sure they’re pretty flat today, not really 3d, and they won’t tell you that you’re their only hope, but still it’s a change towards more machines in our daily lives. And what if they rebel ? :)

Tags: future, hologram, technology
Posted in future, Technology | No Comments »

Funny Blackberry and Apple spoof

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Watch this video, it’s actually a funny take on the technology wars. Something else for a change.

Tags: funny, spoof, video
Posted in Advertising, creativity, Technology | No Comments »

The future is now ;)

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Take a look at the video above and you’ll see that Microsoft’s Kinect is the best thing that came out in 2010. Sure I love the iPad, but still this is far more revolutionary and due to easy hacking people use it for more than punching virtual characters in the face with their own hands.

In fact there are more and more examples on how it can bring the futuristic interfaces from some movies and tv shows to reality. And it’s gonna happen sooner than later. This is kinect controlling a 3d projection.

Tags: future, interface, technology
Posted in Creative processes, creativity, future, Technology | No Comments »

an iPad simulator in CSS and JS

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

Whoa, that’s a pretty cool example of what web-apps are capable of. Sure this is actually pretty pointless, but proving it can be done, it opens a window for more advanced web applications of the future. Check it out here:
http://alexw.me/ipad/

Tags: CSS, iPad, js, simulator, web app
Posted in App, Creative processes, Design from the web, Technology | No Comments »

Word Lens

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

Augmented reality at it’s best. A translation tool that translates what we see, on the fly. This is the future kids! Word Lens currently only has a demo in the app store, that only reverses a text it sees but it’s still impressive. The demo is free, and I’m sure to pay them any price for the final app.

Posted in creativity, Technology | No Comments »