The Graphyte» The Graphyte

Avatar

The Graphyte — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:51:24 +0000

Avatar is easily going to be the years best Sci-Phi movie, considering they give up the plot within the first 5 seconds of the trailer. Expectations are still high, and it definitely looks like a great film, pushing the scope and the depth using 3D. The story might touch many hearts as its something we've seen before in our own history, An outside force (the government) set off a campaign to exile or commit genocide of indigenous people off their own land just to be able to harvest there natural resources, sound familiar?? The movie wil surely inspire, and looks great so far here's the story so far.

The story's protagonist, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a former Marine who was wounded and paralyzed from the waist down in combat on Earth. Jake is selected to participate in the Avatar program, which will enable him to walk. Jake travels to Pandora, a lush jungle-covered extraterrestrial moon filled with incredible life forms, some beautiful, many terrifying. Pandora is also home to the Navi, a sentient humanoid race that are more physically capable than humans, although considered primitive. Standing three meters tall, with tails and sparkling blue skin, the Navi live in harmony with their unspoiled world. As humans encroach deeper into Pandora's forests in search of valuable minerals, the Navi unleash their formidable warrior abilities to defend their threatened existence.

Jake has unwittingly been recruited to become part of this encroachment. Since humans are unable to breathe the air on Pandora, they have created genetically-bred human-Navi hybrids known as Avatars. The Avatars are living, breathing bodies that are controlled by a human "driver" through a technology that links the driver's mind to their Avatar body. On Pandora, through his Avatar body, Jake can be whole once again. Sent deep into Pandora's jungles as a scout for the soldiers that will follow, Jake encounters many of Pandora's beauties and dangers. There he meets a young Navi female, Neytiri, whose beauty is only matched by her ferocity in battle. Over time, Jake integrates himself into Neytiri's clan, and begins to fall in love with her. As a result, Jake finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth, and the Navi, forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of an entire world.

Avatar is set during the 22nd century on a small moon called Pandora, which orbits a gas giant, and is inhabited by the tribal Na'vi, ten foot blue humanoids that are peaceful unless attacked. Humans cannot breathe Pandoran air, so they genetically engineer human/Na'vi hybrids known as Avatars that can be controlled via a mental link. A paralyzed Marine named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) volunteers to exist as an Avatar on Pandora, falling in love with a Na'vi princess and becoming caught up in the conflict between her people and the human military that is consuming their world.

Web Dev Tool for Firefox

The Graphyte — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:22:44 +0000

Web devleoper tool bar for Firefox

Every week I highlight a free or inexpensive software product that I like to use as a Web developer. And I realized this week that I'd been leaving off one of the tools I use nearly every day - the Web Developer Toolbar. This is a Firefox Add-on and you can install it in Flock and Seamonkey as well. And as I said, I use it constantly. It has features like:

Disable different actions like JavaScript, refreshes, page colors, CSS, and more
Work with cookies right from the bar, like deleting them, turning them on and off, even adding them
Play with CSS, forms, and images on the page
Get all kinds of information about the page as you're viewing it
Outline specific elements (like tables, headings, links, and frames)
Validate HTML, CSS, accessibility
Even change the viewport size to approximate different resolutions
And so much more

Even if you're a developer who doesn't believe in using add-ons in your browsers, you should consider including this one. It provides so much value in a very small footprint. The only days I don't use it are the days I don't turn on my computer.

Every developer should use the Web Developer Toolbar

Scraped from Source Here

Get Validated

The Graphyte — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:40:04 +0000

Designers listen up, code isnt perfect thats why its poetry, getting your site validated might save you a long night of Redbull and Mountain Dew hyrbrid cocktails. Its always wise to make sure your site isnt a sloppy alphabet soup mess, and there are several sites that can preform the validation process for you at no cost what so ever, the only price of admission is realizing you might have to work longer hours on cleaning up some of the chicken scratch you have add to your site.

Now it generally takes a pretty good coder to clean out the garage of junk code, and I myself wear as many as 6 hats all at once, so I'm constantly covered in post it notes reminding me to validate every so often to make sure your code is clean enough that search engines don't treat your site like the red headed step child. I've used http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ tons of times and its helped out a great deal. Make sure you get that parking ticket validated compadres.

Get Refurbed

The Graphyte — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:07:46 +0000

For those of you apple enthusiasts, apple has quickly dominated the market and for good reason, they make amazing products. No one can deny that Apple products are sleeker and sexier, and many products are trying to emulate what Apple has done and for good reason. Laptops are quickly starting to look and feel like macs and proof of that is even in Windows Vista with use of widgets as well as Windows 7 which incorporates some of the same navigation that OSX did for mac. Now I'm no sales rep for Apple by far, but I do love their products.

That being sad, macs are not cheap by any means and should be considered an investment. In my experience, they have always been extremely stable and less likely for you to catapult your machine into a active volcano. If you have always wanted to be in the market for a Mac but just thought Apple products to be too pricey, Apples website has a refurbished area where you can shop for refurbished products. Generally shaving off a considerable amount off the original price tag, its definitely worth your while to keep a close look at the site.

Apple has an impeccable reputation for refurbished products and you can consider any product you get, to be in assembly line condition once you receive it. I've purchased both a Desktop G5 and Macbook Pro which came in immaculate condition, undistinguished from a new one if not for the box they came in, which indicate refurbished on the box. If you've always been curious but not in the market for a Mac, you can keep your eyeball pasted to there site here for new additions to there warehouse of goods and special deals.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals

Whats new in CS4

The Graphyte — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:26:14 +0000

What's New In Adobe Photoshop CS4 - Photoshop 11 An overview of all the new features in Adobe Photoshop CS4 by Philip Andrews

Here is a comprehensive look at all the new features you will find in Photoshop C4 and Photoshop Extended CS4, from Photoshop expert Philip Andrews, author of Photoshop CS4 Essential Skills. ‘New and revised’ for CS4 When first opening Photoshop CS4, existing users could be forgiven for thinking that the most significant changes to the program are cosmetic ones. After all, you are immediately confronted with a different user interface and if you are a Macintosh aficionado, you also get a completely new way of interacting with the program. But these aren’t the only changes for CS4.

Workflow is king! Non-stop editing In fact, look a little closer, and you will find that in many ways this revision turns much of the old way of working on its head. In previous versions of Photoshop the process of editing an image often required that the user navigate a path through a series of adjustment dialogues, saving their changes along the way.

Each step started with selecting an adjustment type, for instance, the Levels feature. Next, changes were made to the picture using the settings in the dialogue before clicking the OK button and applying the alterations. Once Levels had done its thing, the user would select another adjustment type and continue the process. The whole workflow was very much a series of steps with each change being committed to the photo before the next one could be commenced.

CS4 changes this whole approach. Now, with the addition of the Adjustments and Masks panels image editing becomes a non-stop affair. You can switch between all the adjustment types (Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation etc.) grouped in the Adjustments panel without the need to first commit your changes. Each adjustment is dynamically and non-destructively applied to the photo, providing a ‘tweak and tweak again’ workflow where image makers can combine a range of changes gradually adjusting each with reference to their combined effect. Cool! This approach is much more reminiscent to the way that Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom works and represents the future of professional image manipulation.

Adjustments Panel

The new Adjustment Panel is a key component in the workflow change in Photoshop. Featuring not just existing core adjustment features such as Levels, Hue/Saturation, Exposure, Black and White, Channel Mixer, Selective Color, Color Balance, Photo Filter, but a completely revised version of the Curves feature and a brand new Vibrance adjustment tool.

For existing Photoshop users getting the hang of how to operate the Adjustment panel may take a little while, but once mastered this new approach will provide both efficiency and quality gains way beyond the effort needed to get over the initial hump in the CS4 learning curve.

As well as grouping key adjustment features together, the panel also provides ‘on image adjustments’ for Hue/Saturation and Curves features. This provides the user with the ability to click onto image areas in the photo and apply changes by dragging the mouse pointer either up or down or side to side. Also included is a wide variety of customizable presets providing more than 20 different starting points for typical image enhancement tasks.

Masks Panel

The new Masks panel is now the centre for mask based activity irrespective of whether the masks are pixel or vector based. Here you will find dedicated sliders for altering the density and feather of a mask which in turn will change the strength of the masked effect and the softness of the mask’s edge. The powerful Refine Edge feature that was added to Photoshop in the last version, can also be accessed from the panel, as can the Invert feature that switches masked and unmasked areas.

To help with color based mask creation a updated version of the Color Range feature is also located here. The feature has been redesigned to improve its accuracy and power. As well as including the Fuzziness slider present in previous versions, the feature now contains a Range control and a Localized Color Clusters setting, both of which are designed to allow you to hone in on the specific colors and their placement in the photo that you want to include in the selection. With the importance of masks as a key part of every non-destructive workflow it is great that Adobe has provided an easy way to target and alter this mechanism for modifying adjustments.

A new face for Photoshop

CS4 sports a new interface for Photoshop and Bridge. Called the Application Frame, the new Photoshop user interface combines:

The ability to float, dock and group image windows together with a new Arrange Documents feature to help distribute the windows around the screen,
A new Application Bar which integrates the features and functions of the title and control bars found in previous versions of Photoshop,
A Screen Mode utility that can be used to individually control the display of documents on multiple monitors,
New Adjustments and Masks panels, and
A task based workflow approach to saving, displaying and using workspaces.

And Bridge as well

The changes for Bridge are a little less radical, but still the aim is to employ a workflow approach image management and processing inside the program. This is easily seen in the new workspace options buttons that sit across the top of the screen. When selected, these options quickly organise the many Bridge panes and panels to suit different tasks.

As in previous releases you don’t have to rely on ‘out of the box’ workspace presets, you can easily create your own arrangement that suits your own screen or screens (multi-monitor support is included). Bridge now contains a dedicated Output workspace which provides the ability to create Flash based websites and PDF based documents (presentations and multi-page) without having to leave the program and go to Photoshop. This continues the trend found in previous versions of Photoshop and Bridge where more tasks are capable of being performed in one or the other program.

When you add Adobe Camera Raw into the mix, there is no denying that image processing is no longer a Photoshop centric event. Instead pro photographers will increasingly find themselves moving images between programs depending on the nature of the tasks that they wish to undertake. As far as image management goes, there are also new ways to display images when sorting with the Review Mode (also called the Carousel View) and the new Search field adds operating system like functionality inside the browser space.

GPU powered display

Adding to the new look and feel is the way that Photoshop CS4 makes use of the awesome power of the modern graphics card to help display pixels on screen. Users with a recently released graphics card containing at least 256Mb of onboard memory and a supported GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) will be able to take advantage of the changes which include:

Fluid Canvas Rotation – the option to rotate the canvas non-destructively to any angle using the new Rotate View tool from the Application Bar or under the Hand tool in the toolbar.
Smooth Accurate Pan and Zoom functions – Unlike previous versions where certain magnification values produced less than optimal previews on screen, CS4 always presents your image crisply and accurately. Yes, this is irrespective of zoom and rotation settings and available right up to pixel level (3200%).
Animated Zoom and Toss functions – Because of the extra power gained from leveraging the processing abilities of the GPU you can now ‘toss’ the enlarged image around the screen with the Hand tool in an animated panning motion. Zoom changes are animated with the photo sliding and then snapping into place.

Recomposing your picture after capture

With the new Content Aware Scaling feature (Content Aware Scaling) you can now push and pull different image parts around the canvas and have Photoshop fill in the gaps. Yes it seems strange but it is now possible to move, stretch and resize different sections of your photo at different rates.

This is drastically different from the Free Transform command, which when used in conjunction with the Shift key always resizes all picture content at the same rate. Content Aware Scaling (CAS), which is also known as Seam Carving, changes all this.

The image is scaled by keeping detailed areas the same and up or downsizing the parts of the photo that are feature less. CAS works with images, layers and selections in RGB, CMYK, Lab and Greyscale modes and at all bit depths, but not with Smart Objects, 3D or Video layers.

There are two controls in the tool’s options bar that help ensure that only the areas that you want to be squashed or stretched are scaled by the feature. They are:

Skin Protection (person icon): This setting attempts to keep any skin tone areas in the image from change during CAS actions.

Protect drop down menu: Provides a list of current alpha channels associated with the photo. Selecting one of these entries will force the protection of the masked image parts stored in the alpha channel during CAS scaling.

Fisheye lenses and Spherical panoramas One of the standout changes for CS3 was the much improved Photomerge feature. In that release we saw vastly improved stitching abilities and a new form of sophisticated blending that provided truly stunning results. In CS4 the wide vista photography revolution continues. With vignetting and geometric distortion correcting now included, Photomerge has again been updated. The feature can now create 360 degree panoramas, automatically detect, and account for, source images taken with fisheye lenses and has a new Collage option which allows for rotation and scaling of source files as they are being montaged.

Maximum depth of field

In related changes, the layer auto-blending options (Edit > Auto Blend Layers) in Photoshop gets an extra mode designed to combine photos of the same scene but with different focus points to create an image with extreme depth of field (DOF).

That is, the result displays the visual sharpness from the very front of the scene right into the distance. Using this new feature you can capture a series of images of a subject with a wide aperture, that typically produces a shallow depth of field effect, and combine the results to create a photo that combines the DOF of all source photos. What’s more the feature automatically color corrects the source files while blending as well.

Adobe Camera Raw 5.0

As you would expect, the version for Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) that accompanies Photoshop CS4 brings the Raw utilities feature sets and functionality in line with that available in Lightroom 2.0.

This means that the two key very popular localized adjustment tools found in Lightroom, the Adjustment Brush and Graduated Filter, now also appear in ACR. The Adjustment Brush allows the user to paint on a range of adjustment changes (Exposure, Brightness, Saturation, Clarity, Sharpness and Color) to specific areas of the photo.

The Graduated Filter applies a selected effect (darkening, lightening, changing color etc) via a gradient that starts with the effect fully applied and transitions to no effect. Also new for this release is the ability to apply Vignetting changes to images after they have been cropped in ACR. This solves the problem of applying aesthetic darkening of a photos edge to only have the effect cropped, or worse, partially removed when the photo is cropped. There are also Roundness and Feather sliders to adjust the shape and softness of the edge of the vignetting effect.

Integration with Lightroom 2.0

As you would expect, with the changes in ACR 5, the abilities of this utility and Lightroom 2 are almost exactly the same. Thankfully the changes made in one program is also reflected in the other. This means that you can freely pass your Raw photos between Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop with the changes being respected in each program. Lightroom 2.0 also includes more ways to pass photos to Photoshop. You now have the option to open a Lightroom managed file in Photoshop as an embedded Smart Object. You can also pass a series of photos to the Merge to HDR or Photomerge features.

Revamping old favorites

It seems strange to even be mentioning ‘old skool’ features such as the Dodge, Burn and Sponge tools in a summary of what is new in CS4. After all, for the last few releases we have been busy advocating alternative non-destructive ways of adjusting your images rather than encouraging readers to employ these tools, but it seems that there are still users who prefer their ‘simplicity’. So to modernise their adjustments all three tools get a revamp that promises better control and more predictable results than their predecessors.

Burn and Dodge get a new Protect Tones option designed to reduce the muddiness that plagued so much of their work previously. The Sponge tool is dragged into the 21st Century with the addition of a Vibrance switch which converts from making basic saturation changes to concentrating adjustments on pastel or desaturated colors. That said, we still put these tools along with the Brightness/Contrast feature in the ‘yes, better than before, but still not enough control for me box’. There are many more advantages in using other non-destructive approaches that provide similar results but protect your pixels.

Even Smarter Smart Objects

With Smart Objects being the basis of many non-destructive workflows it is good to see that some changes have been made in this area as well. In CS4 you can now apply Perspective transformations to a Smart Object.

This is a change from CS3 where scaling was the only option available. Added to this is the ability to work with linked layer masks and sample the content of the layers within the Smart Object with the new Eyedropper tool.

Though the improvements may seem small, at least there is continued development in this important area and the changes will definitely increase the variety of techniques that can use Smart Objects at their base.

Live Preview Cursor Tips

One of the great options available with the Vanishing Point feature was the way that the Clone Stamp displayed a preview of the sampled image at the cursor tip.

This provided the user with much needed visual information when trying to line up sampled image parts with background information during stamping actions. In CS4 we now have Live Preview Cursor Tips available with both the Clone Stamp and Healing Brush, this means we have the same alignment aids outside of the Vanishing Point feature.

Supersizing Photoshop’s Print Options

Printing is one of those photographic activities that we all assume, to our detriment, should be very simple. In reality the act of printing should be approached with all the care and control that we are used to bringing to other processing steps such as enhancing or editing.

The changes in the Print dialogue of Photoshop CS4 helps users create better quality prints in three distinct ways:

The print dialogue has been streamlined so that more of the information you need is to hand when first opening,
Files that are stored in a 16bit color depth can be printed directly from Photoshop, and
Out of Gamut colors can be previewed inside the print dialogue.

Share my Screen Building on the popularity of the Adobe Connect technology that allows users to capture the activities on their screen, mix it with live narration and distribute it around the world to interested parties who view via their web browsers, Photoshop now has a dedicated ‘Share My Screen’ feature inside the program (File > Share My Screen).

The feature instantly connects those users who have signed up for a free account with up to three other web connected users. From that point on your screen and/or web cam, microphone, white board and chat comments are shared with the others.

I can see that this technology will be very useful for pro photographers talking clients through editing changes to key images, or tutors to help students learn new ways of adjusting their photos.

Photoshop CS4 Extended

Just like CS3, the latest version of Photoshop comes in two different versions – Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended. Photoshop ships with all the new features listed above and the bulk of the programs core image editing and enhancement technologies. It is suited for the majority of photographers and contains more options than they will ever use.

The Extended version builds on this base feature set with extra tools that are essential when Photoshop is used in conjunction with allied imaging areas such as video production, medical and scientific imagery and 3D modeling. CS4 extends the feature sets in these areas, especially when working with 3D models.

3D Editing and Compositing

The new and enhanced 3D tools found in Photoshop CS4 Extended are designed to allow the image maker to work with 3D images just as easily as they have traditionally been able to work with 2D pictures. New workflows remove the need for complex dialog boxes full of settings. In their place are tools that allow you to interact directly with 3D models and easily composite these models within 2D scenes. Users are now able to edit properties such as lights, materials and cameras, and in the process create high quality rendered images thanks to a new ray-tracing engine.

Enhanced Motion Graphics

CS4 increases the ease with which videographers are able to drag motion based images into Photoshop and provides them with more of the type of tools they need to work on these frames. Photoshop can now work more easily with non-square pixels, any audio associated with video footage, and it is also possible to animate 3d objects, camera position, render settings and even cross-sections.

Volume Rendering

Volume Rendering is new for Photoshop providing the ability to convert text, shape or pictures into a volume. Video professionals can use this new functionality to quickly create three dimensional text, where as photographers in the medical area can combine several different scientific scans into a 3D model that can be viewed from a range of angles.

Data analysis and Counting

Though not the most thrilling area, the ability to count the number of times a specific item appears in a frame is a task often undertaken by users analyzing scientific images. Count and Analysis tools were introduced in CS3, in CS4 their abilities have been expanded to include multiple color coded counts. The results can be stored in a reference file and then collated in the Measure Log panel for comparison.

(Taken from the book, Photoshop CS4 Essential Skills by Mark Galer and Philip Andrews.)

Scraped from PhotoshopSupport.com

Back to Black

The Graphyte — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:03:28 +0000

Its been over a year now since I have started using Wordpress as a web design instrument and since then I have made several changes to the theme I initially downloaded to get started. As we all know, when you install wordpress you have a built in default theme to work with, but you also have the option of downloading hundreds of free themes. At the time I found the Mimbo Magazine Theme created by Darren Hoyt , which was just what I was looking for. Thanks to Darren for creating and sharing such a great theme. I had minimal knowledge of CSS and using wordpress but if you tinker with anything long enough you eventually get your handle on things.

Since the original download I've changed the face of site quite a few times, and will continue to do so over time. No one website ever stays the same, it loses its appeal and I think the same can be said for Blog sites as well. I was nick named The Shadow Master while I worked for Thirteen WNET, perhaps for my constant determination to bring some depth and realism to anything I worked on.

Its all about depth... being able to push another dimension into a piece is always challenging and rewarding. Photoshop and Illutstrator are like arm and hammer to any designer.

At First Glance::

As you start out from right to left the initial green and white color theme for Darren's original theme was what I started out with. I loved this theme as it was one of the first of its class that I started seeing being used for wordpress. I like the simple magazine style article arrangement and was immediately drawn in to the possibilities.

Back to the Drawing Board::

First steps were getting some signature header up there at the top and then getting away from boring rectangles and square shapes. I like adding icons and images that feel a bit more visceral and less like your just looking at an online app. I started rounding out the article images to appear on the site and testing out how it felt at this stage i was interested in the scrap book feel.

Color Theory::

Most blogs have monotone or duo tone color styles and tend to look plain. Use of color can be an exact science and definitely dictates the flow of a site as well as the ease of use in order for visitors to read your content. I like a lot of color and started thinking of how I can incorporate funky colors into the site.

Changing Things Up A Bit::

After modifying the header I still felt a lot could be done to this theme to help bring out the content but as any designer would do I tried to create a signature look. Bringing lots of color into the background was able to bring the content out and I received great feedback, so I knew I was on the right track.

Irony at its Best::

Sometime after going color crazy I was drifting back into wanting the site to look sleeker and more like something out of a Sci-fi movie. I was attracted by lots of white and gray. I wanted to give the site more depth and create a sort of interface as opposed to a just a homepage.

Wide Body::

The first difference here is that I incorporated more of the background into the design. Generally you will see that the body of content will meet both sides of the browsers unless on higher resolution. The downside of that however is that not many will see it, generally if your on a 1024x768 resolution you will only see a fraction of the background and the walls of the main table will be closer to the ends of the browser from left to right. However I decided to stick with it, for those who are on big boy resolution you wont miss a thing. I have worked on wide screen monitors for years and it can be misleading and cause you to forget about your intended audience. Since this is my own portfolio site I went for the wider look, and all was well.

The Color Wheel::

At this point i still struggled a little on what to do with the color of the site. I felt there was just too much white on the page and not enough focal attention on content. White is definitely easy on the eyes but all too boring. Going with baby puke green seemed like a good idea at the time, but quickly lead to going Aquafresh. I dig blue anything, but it still wasn't gelling (pardon the pun). I felt like I was still missing the depth for a techy interface. The side grills were inspired by Pc towers, which have always reminded me of Car grills. I was still trying to get a sleek finish on my interface.

Back to Black::

Going black was a bit accidental but most likely premeditated simultaneously. I inverted a screenshot of the last theme and was immediately taken back. The side grills and new lighting arrangement on the banner looked significantly better and brought out the focus on the body of content again. So it was back to the drawing board, I re-colored my layout in black using shades of gray and lighting it just right, and finally felt like I got the look I wanted. It's been a favorite for most visitors, and though it can be a bit tough to read white on black as mentioned by a former work colleague and friend I think its worth the sacrifice being that this is my body of work and less of content driven blog. Hope you have 20-20,

Droid leads to Roid

The Graphyte — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:55:29 +0000

Surely having just about every thinkable application on your mobile phone is going to lead to extended restroom breaks both at home and in the office, so make sure you wash your hands after asking your friend to show you their new droid phone. I personally had a hands on look at the droid and Motorola definitely stepped their game up.

While the phone itself is incredibly responsive and has smooth transitions compared to other touch screen phones, it still not the best multi-app phone. Its certainly not the iPhone killer, it has great potential but falls short, when comparing to the iPhone. I think iPhones are the leading multi-app phones and will continue to do so for a while. It seems like other companies have a hard time trying to replicate what Apple has done, but they continue to try and beat them at there own game. Here's the latest review from cnet on the droid and how it stacks up.

Scraped from Cnet.com

You have to hand it to Verizon Wireless: though the Google Android operating system now extends to a handful of devices, the carrier was able to get the tech world "excited" about its first Android phone. First known as the Sholes, the Motorola Droid swirled into the gadget rumor mill this summer. And even as Verizon unveiled its television commercial attacking the iPhone, firm details on the Droid remained few and far between. That is, until now. Officially announced on October 28 and set for a November 6 release, the Droid delivers on much of the hype. The display is gorgeous, the Android 2.0 updates are excellent, and the handset is lightning fast, particularly for an Android phone.

We'll refrain from using the dreaded "iPhone killer" expression, but comparisons between the two devices are obvious, and we see the Droid as a real competitor to Apple's device. On the downside, we weren't crazy about the keyboard and dialpad accessibility, the calendars aren't fully integrated, and we'd prefer to see dual-mode (GSM/CDMA) capability. But for Verizon's first pass at Android, the Droid more than delivers. And even better, it's a clear departure from Verizon's locked-down past. At $199, the Droid is on par with T-Mobile's Android device, but it's slightly more expensive than Sprint's devices.

Design and display:

At first glance, you might not think the Motorola Droid's design amounts to much. Its build is rather dull and the sharp angles result in a boxy look. But this is a smartphone with a lot of surprises, the biggest being the positively gorgeous WVGA display. At 3.7 inches, it surpasses even the iPhone and is firmly in the bounds of what we consider to be an acceptable size for a touch-screen display. Color support is generous (16 million hues) and the resolution (440x854 pixels) is some of the richest we've seen. We aren't kidding when we say that this display is bright and brilliant with vibrant colors and sharp graphics. It also lends itself well to the welcome Android 2.0 interface updates (more on that later).

As we said, the Droid's display is spectacular:

Of course, with such a large display, the Droid is rather big (4.56 inches tall by 2.36 inches wide by 0.54 inch thick), but that's a small price to pay for the top-notch display. You'll notice that the Droid is heavy (5.96 ounces) compared with other smartphones, but the trim design keeps it portable. We also welcome the solid feel in the hand, even if the slider mechanism is a bit quirky. The actual sliding motion is quite stiff, but the front face doesn't really lock into place on either end. Indeed, we noticed that even a gentle nudge can start to close the Droid. No, it's not a big deal, but it's something to consider.

The Droid is slightly larger than the iPhone.:

The capacitive display's touch interface is quick and responsive and we love the added multitouch capability. As with previous Android phones, there's vibrating feedback only for certain functions (like a "long press"), though you can turn off the haptic feedback completely if you desire. When we selected items and scrolled through long lists, there was no lag time in performing the command (more on that later, as well). You also can customize the display's brightness, backlighting time, and animations. The accelerometer will adjust the display's orientation as you rotate the Droid in your hands, but you can turn this feature off.

Outside of the upgrades from Android 2.0 and the Droid-specific tweaks, the basic interface will be familiar to Android users. You get only three home screens--we prefer the five we got on the Motorola Cliq--but you can customize each pane with widgets. And, of course, the central pane has the Google search bar. The main menu is accessible via the pull tab at the bottom of the display. The menu's design is mostly unchanged. You can move icons around and add shortcuts and folders.

Keypad and controls.:

Below the Droid's display are four touch controls: Back, Home, Search, and Menu. They perform the same functions as on other Android phones, with the search and menu keys being the most useful. The former activates Google search with just one press, and the latter opens relevant menu commands for various handset modes and features. Though the touch controls are responsive, they're not very big. And at the end of the day, we'd prefer actual physical buttons. We know this all comes down to a personal preference, but that is ours.

The Droid has four touch controls below the display.:

In a baffling change from previous devices, the Droid does not have a physical Talk control. Instead, you'll have to access the calling functions through a widget on the display. We're not in love with this change, mostly because we prefer to be able to call up the phone dialer without having to go through the home screen. For example, you have to close the browser if you want to make a call while viewing a Web page. The phone dialer interface is mostly the same. The buttons are square rather than round, but you get access to your call log, voice mail, contacts list, and favorites.

We don't love the Droid's keyboard just yet.:

When you open the Droid to display the physical keyboard, the screen orientation will change automatically. Though many users will welcome a physical keyboard, we weren't particularly impressed. The keys are flush and squashed next to each other, which makes it difficult to text quickly or by feel. Also, though the buttons do give a slight downward "push," they're a bit slick and we were thrown off by the "dummy keys" on either end of the bottom row. On the whole it is a better experience than the T-Mobile G1, but typing is not nearly as comfortable as with the Cliq or even with the Samsung Moment. Sure, you'd probably get used to it eventually, but on the first pass we have our reservations.

The letters on the keys are large and backlit for dialing in the dark. Four rows of keys do mean that numbers and common punctuation and symbols double up with letters. That's common on smartphones, so we won't make a big deal and we like that the top row of keys isn't too close to the slider. Fortunately, there are a fair number of additional controls. We welcome the two Shift keys and the two Alt keys (they sit in pairs on either side of the keyboard), the large and convenient space bar, and the menu and search keys. You'll also find the usual back and delete buttons. Additional symbols, however, require a separate virtual keyboard.

Speaking of which, the Android virtual keyboard is largely the same, but Google says it revamped the keyboard layout for faster, more-accurate typing. We haven't noticed specific design changes just yet, but we'll explore a bit more. Also, as Google puts it, "the multitouch support ensures that key presses aren't missed while typing rapidly with two fingers." When using either keyboard, Android 2.0 offers a better dictionary that includes contacts names.

The toggle and central OK button next to the display is easy to use. It can help you browse through the menus and select items, but with the exception of games, we barely used it given the fantastic display. It's flush as well, but it's quite large and accessible. On the downside, however, it does shrink the width of the keyboard. Some users may not mind, but we noticed its impact.

The Droid has a 3.5-millimeter headset jack.:

The remaining physical controls consist of a volume rocker and a camera shutter on the left spine. Both are almost flat, but we could find the rocker when on a call. The Micro-USB port is used for a USB cable and (thankfully) the charger. You also use it to connect the Droid with the multimedia dock. We're pleased with the 3.5 millimeter headset jack on the phone's top end. Not only can you use your own headset, but it's also in a convenient place. A stiff power control sits next to the port, while the camera lens, flash, and stereo speakers rest on the rear face. Unfortunately, you have to remove the battery to access the microSD card slot.

You must remove the Droid's battery to access its memory card slot.

Features:

The Motorola Droid offers a number of the same core features as previous Android devices, such as the HTC Hero and the Samsung Moment. However, it's distinct in that the Droid is the first smartphone to run Android 2.0, which brings a crop of new features and interface enhancements. For this review, we'll concentrate more on the new rather than the old, but to learn more about some of Android's main functionalities, please check out reviews of other Android smartphones.

Android 2.0 updates:

As we mentioned earlier, the home screen and main menu on Motorola Droid don't look terribly different from, say, the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G's at a glance. However, as you use the device, you'll notice subtle changes and enhancements that make the user interface a bit more refined and streamlined; the gorgeous display doesn't hurt, either.

Also, although it's a Motorola phone, the Droid does not use the MotoBlur software that we saw on the Motorola Cliq. Part of the reason is that the Droid is targeted for a bit of a different audience than the Cliq (read: older, more business-oriented) so it didn't really jibe with the experience that Moto and Verizon want to offer to its customers, and we think that was a good decision. In MotoBlur's place, there is a Facebook widget on the Droid that you can use to update your own status and scroll through your friends' updates. Other preloaded widgets and shortcuts include YouTube, a corporate calendar, and something called "Power Control" where you can turn on/off your wireless connections, adjust brightness, and so forth--quite handy.

Some other minor changes include the slightly revamped onscreen dialer mentioned in the Design section, as well a new lock screen that features a sliding curve that allows you to unlock the phone as well as adjust the its volume simply by dragging your finger from one side of the screen to the other.

E-mail, calendar, and contacts:

Perhaps one of the top highlights of Android 2.0 is the expanded capabilities of the personal information management tools, including e-mail, calendar, and contacts.

Scraped from Cnet Reviews

Never Ending Duty

The Graphyte — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:21:25 +0000

War truly is hell. Anyone who has experienced military conflict firsthand can tell you that. Thankfully, most of us have never had to crawl in the muck of a battlefield or exchange gunfire with an enemy; it is an experience that few of us could handle, both physically and psychologically.

There are countless numbers of books, movies and video games that allow us to experience the horrors of war from the safety of our living rooms. Done right, these fictional depictions not only showcase everything that is good about war--the camaraderie that exists between soldiers and their selfless heroism, for example--but they also serve as a powerful reminder of just how damaging and terrible war can be. Call of Duty 4 At A Glance

PROS: * Graphics are outstanding. Visually one of the best Xbox 360 games around. * Single-player campaign is deep and satisfying. Concerns about the mode's length are assuaged by its overall quality. * Multiplayer component offers a wealth of features. It should prove to be outstanding once the servers become fully populated. * The move to a modernized setting makes the franchise relevant again. * CONS: We couldn't find anything. Seriously, we tried to find something wrong with this game but we couldn't. * But if we do, we'll let you know.

No developer has had more success in recreating the tension and terror of a battlefield than Infinity Ward. Its founding members helped define the World War II genre with the groundbreaking Medal of Honor: Allied Assault while the first title developed under the Infinity Ward label, Call of Duty, cemented their reputation as one of the most skilled and talented development houses around.

After three titles set in the war torn battlefields of the past, Infinity Ward is taking a decidedly modern approach with Call of Duty 4, a title that Assistant Editor Travis Moses is declaring as the best shooter of 2007. Yes, according to Travis, Call of Duty 4 is better than Bioshock, Half-Life 2 Episode 2 and even Halo 3.

So what is it about Call of Duty 4 that makes it stand out from the rest of the pack? For starters, the intense single-player campaign offers up an action packed experience that features a tremendously compelling narrative; there are moments in the game that will send chills down your spine.

Then you add in the the amazingly deep multiplayer that rivals Halo 3's in terms of reach and scope. Suffice it to say, if you are an online shooter junkie, Christmas has come early for you this year. So click through to the next page and get ready to read Travis Moses' detailed field report on the latest installment in what has quickly become the premiere war franchise in all of gaming!

Scraped from GamePro Reviews

Blacklisted

The Graphyte — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:05:03 +0000

If you are a Wordpress developer, designer, or blogger, new or old, one area of concern is that wordpress has many loop holes for spam bots and hackers to get a hold of personal data. Recently while developing another site I encountered such an issue. Security is one area that should not be over looked when starting or managing your wordpress site. Plugins are a major component to wordpress, with hundreds available at no cost, you can easily download hundreds of plugins without any real knowledge of the developer or the possible loop holes or back doors to those plugins that can potentially allow hackers to access your data. Plugin Developers can have the best of intentions when creating apps that can maximize the functionality of your web site but also not every developer has the time, or has been paid, to fool proof those plugins. Leaving weaknesses in the structure and creating a soft spot in the shell of you're website.

One problem I detected was an unwelcome Iframe on the site I was working on. It was hidden within the index file in the root folder of the site, but thankfully it was detectable using the firefox web developer plugin for the firefox browser. Again I say it was detectable, but I had no idea where it was within the theme I used for this site. The iframe itself was 1 pixel in height and 4 pixels in width, located at the top left corner of the browser. The developer tool merely pointed it out, but did not let me know where the foreign script was hidden. From my research online, thankfully I found some helpful tools that can actually help detect where hidden iframes are hidden within your site.

NoVirusThanks

No Virus thanks is one option you have for locating hidden iframes that house potentially malicious scripts. The name isn't the most attractive as is it may just scare you away but its safe and extremely helpful. You will be provided with a search box where you input the site name and or file and it will search the site for hidden iframes, bare in mind you can also search for malicious code page by page. For example if you have a particuar page that you would like to search inside a theme folder you can input the address to that file as well. Every file or folder can be scanned by inserting address into the search field. By the way thanks to sites like NoVirusThanks & Unmask Parasites for providing tools like this.

UnmaskParasites

Another option that provides the same assistance is Unmask Parasites. I made these two sites available for designers or developers less fortunate to have found a solution early on in there troubles, but also to create awareness, and hopefully derail unlawful entry into your site or database.

Getting Blacklisted

Now this is only part of the problem, when you encounter hidden scripts or code that is malicious in nature you will have a second issue to address. This is where getting blacklisted comes into play. This term refers to searching engines basically putting you on a blacklist and sighting your web site as a malicious site with faulty code or harmful coding. This may possibly lead to a MalWare warning when visiting your site. This is one of the warning signs I noticed when dealing with this code. The more research I did, the more aware I became of how large the issue is. Wordpress is one of the most widely used blogging apps for websites, and its security weaknesses have been exploited because of its popularity.

The strongest advice I have to offer is to update whenever possible, and updating wordpress has become impressively easier. Wordpress now handles updates internally with little effort, so there is no excuse for not being up to date with the latest version. These updates address security patches and have aggressively tackled weaknesses in the framework, but its not perfect and certainly not hack proof. Here are some helpful plugins for your blog, that can help you sleep at night after reading this. If your are lucky enough to find where the invasion is coming from, that should help you get off the endangered species list, once the scripts are removed from your site search engines will remove you from the blacklist and you will be able to regain any lost ground. Hopes this helps, Happy Hunting!

1. WordPress Database Backup

URL: http://www.ilfilosofo.com/blog/wp-db-backup/.

Description: This plugin does exactly what it says, it backs up your entire WP installation. This has got to be one of the first plugins you install upon first installation. You can back it up to your hard drive, on a server or even to a specified email address. Whether it be a rogue plugin or a hacker (or yourself) that crashes WP, WP Database Backup will reinstate everything as it should be. I like to think of it as my “WP system restore“.

2. Semisecure Login

URL: http://jamesmallen.net/2007/09/16/semisecure-login/.

Description: Semisecure increases the security of your WP Login, it uses client-side MD5 encryption on the password. JavaScript is required to enable encryption. When JavaScript is not available, the password is transmitted in plaintext (as normal), but authentication still completes in this case.

3. AskApache Password Protect

URL: http://www.askapache.com/wordpress/htaccess-password-protect.html.

Description: This will secure your WP Admin with a very powerful htaccess password protection, preventing all unwanted bots from entering your site.

4. Force SSL

URL: http://almosteffortless.com/wordpress/force-ssl/.

Description: For those will an SSL certificate, the Force SSL plugin for Wordpress forces for an HTTPS connection for security purposes. This is useful for those who with to enforce a higher level of security regarding the delivery of Wordpress content to the browser.

5. WP Security Scan

URL: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-security-scan/.

Description: I love this plugin, it scans your site for security issues and checks passwords, file permissions, database security, WP version hiding and WordPress admin protection/security. It also makes me a little paranoid.

6. Secure Files

URL: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/secure-files/#post-271.

Description: This plugin allows you to upload and download files from outside of your web document root for security purposes. When used in conjunction with a plugin that requires a user to be logged in to see your site, you can restrict file downloads to users that are logged in.

7. WP-SpamFree

URL: http://www.hybrid6.com/webgeek/plugins/wp-spamfree.

Description: I had heard a lot about this plugin before I tried it, it said it is better than Akismet. To be honest I never noticed much difference (I get 500+ spam a day at the moment) between the two. User choice I suppose. I wish there was a way to stop the spammers instead.

8. BackUpWordPress

URL: http://wordpress.designpraxis.at/plugins/backupwordpress/.

Description: Almost identical as the first plugin, just not as straight forward. The list of features goes on and on, this is for the WP Pro. Some features: Database backup including uploaded files, plugins, etc.; EMail notofication on new backups; Trigger backup manually; Set schedules for your backups; restore backups; Staggered SQL import; Automatically continue unfinished backups in background; Language Support. (And thats just the Easy Mode, wait until you see the advanced).

9. Anonymous Wordpress Plugin Updates

URL: http://f00f.de/blog/2007/10/02/plugin-anonymous-wordpress-plugin-updates.html.

Description: Anonymizes the plugin update checking system which is a new feature in WordPress 2.3. The plugin prevents WordPress from transmitting a list of active plugins, the blog url and WordPress version. Ideal for privacy-aware administrators of WordPress installation.

10. Replace WP-Version

URL: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/replace-wp-version/#post-2859.

Description: (We have all read about the security issue of showing your WP version, this resolves it). If you’re running an older version of WordPress, anyone can view source to see what attacks might work against your blog. This plugin replace the WP-version with a random string < WP 2.4 and eliminate WP-version > WP 2.4

These are only Ten great plugins to look into when trying to secure your site, thanks to Specky Boy for compiling this list. You can also search wordpress plugins for more security options, and always keep in mind that you should cross reference all plugins to be added to your blog.

Get Checked

The Graphyte — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:21:03 +0000

I just recently finished the album cover and logo for musician Mike Check, which will be on a CD release in the coming weeks, as well as a newly anticipated web site http://MikeCheck1212.com to follow the CD. I've been a fan of the music for some time now, and will likely add featured tracks from the disk on the site, its compelling and new and that's just what the graphyte likes. The CD humbly named Check Me Out will have sixteen tracks and a versatile sound, as he plainly puts, check him out, and get checked.