Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer Conundrum

The Social Analyst is a column by Mashable Editor-at-Large Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer must feel like a worn-out punching bag after the week he’s experienced.

Ballmer’s bad week started when David… read more

Logitech Alert Security System Watches Over Your Castle, Day or Night

The Gadget of the Day Series is supported by the Energizer® Inductive Charger, which brings you the next generation of charging with Qi technology. Qi is the new universal standard for wireless charging … now that’s positivenergy™.

Product: Logitech Alert Security System

Price: Outdoor master system 750e with… read more

New Bing Ads Highlight the Power of Facebook Friends [VIDEO]

Microsoft plays up a key selling point over Google — Facebook integration — in a new round of TV spots for its Bing search engine.

The ads, the first for Bing from Crispin Porter + Bogusky (which has handled other Microsoft work, like Windows 7), illustrates Bing’s Facebook recommendations by showing… read more

Google Reveals Mobile Payment System: Google Wallet

At Google’s media event Thursday in New York City, the company unveiled Google Wallet, its mobile payment system, as well as more details about Google Offers. Mashable was at the event for the announcements. Here is a recap of what happened.

Announcements Recap: Google Wallet & Offers

11:52 a.m…. read more

70 Free PSD Web UI Elements For Designers

Nothing can beat the freebies as they not only save your time but also give quality results. These free to download PSD files are priceless and worth mentioning. Every designer and web developer is always looking for free downloadable PSD files that can make their design process easier.

Check this free… read more

Microsoft’s Web-Based Marketplace to Send Apps to Windows Phones

When Microsoft rolls out its Mango operating system for Windows Phone 7 this fall, the company will debut a new web-based version of its Windows Phone Marketplace at the same time, according to Microsoft’s Windows Phone Developer Blog.

The web-based Marketplace will let users select and buy any… read more

Windows App for DIYers Helps You Design & Build Cool Stuff

123D is a free Windows app from Autodesk that helps do-it-yourselfers design and make their own custom goods, including electronics, lighting, car parts, furniture and much more.

Although the app (which is on the Ponoko Personal Factory platform) is based on the same Autodesk technology used by engineers… read more

Introduction to DNS: Explaining The Dreaded DNS Delay

Imagine that your biggest client calls because they are having trouble retrieving their email. Or they want to know what their best-selling item is right now. Or their most popular blog post. Perhaps their website has suddenly gone down. You can hardly reply, “No problem, I’ll get back to you… read more

ChronoSync: A Viable Time Machine Alternative?

When Time Machine was released with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) back in October 2007, it was one of the highlights of the new release. Apple was the first company to offer a fully-functioning, built in backup utility into their operating system and in true Mac-style, they pumped it full… read more

Weekly Poll: How Do You Take Notes?

How Do You Take Notes?survey software

The internet is not lacking for high quality apps to help you keep up with all of your notes. From the popular Evernote to Simplenote’s plain text notes to less traditional apps such as Backpack and wikis, there’s tons of ways to… read more

Will Mobile Cloud Computing Ever Take Off?

The Digital Collaboration Series is supported by AceProject, a collaboration-oriented project management web application that empowers you to manage projects, tasks and time sheets. Create your free AceProject account here.

Over the past few years, companies like Google, Amazon and Salesforce have helped transform “the cloud” from a… read more

Ultimate Guide of Web Typography Tutorials, Tips and Best Practices

Web typography is nothing but implementing typography on web page. This is very important in order to identify oneself in the designing world. It is equally important that understanding and implementing typography successfully on your web page. This is an evolution in web designing to stand apart from all other… read more

Logitech C910 Webcam Delivers HD Video to Mac and PC Users

The Gadget of the Day Series is supported by the Energizer® Inductive Charger, which brings you the next generation of charging with Qi technology. Qi is the new universal standard for wireless charging … now that’s positivenergy™.

Product: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910

Price: $99.99 MSRP, available for less… read more

Microsoft Unveils Mango, the Latest Version of Windows Phone

Microsoft held dual events in New York City and London on Tuesday to introduce the latest version of Windows Phone 7 — codename “Mango” — to the world. Mashable attended the New York City event and got a firsthand look at what is next for the software… read more

25 Superb Mac Apps for College Students

Macs are becoming much more popular with college students nowadays, owing to Apple’s generous student discount (around 15%) upon purchase. But once you’ve bought your shiny new computer, you’ll be wanting to know which are the best Mac apps aimed at college students and which ones to download or buy.

Up… read more

Sharing your screen for free with Join.Me

Whether you need to lead a client through a presentation, go over iterations of a new design with some of your coworkers, or show your mother how to install Skype so she can videochat with the grandkids, we all need a simple and free way to share our screens with… read more

Does Angry Birds Work in Chrome?

Angry Birds is quite literally, a phenomenon. It’s strange how many people have shed countless hours of their time by flinging angered birds at virtual pigs protected by structures of varying size and type. The Rovio Mobile studio, developers of the popular game, started with humble beginnings in 2003 as… read more

Where are my Lightroom Files?

If you work in Lightroom a lot at some stage you’ll want to know where your Lightroom files are stored. Lightroom has plenty of pointers to help you find its files but these aren’t always as obvious as they might be. In this post, I’ll tell you where to find… read more

15 Great New Safari Extensions

Even though they’ve been late to the game, Safari’s extension support has spread like wildfire. People who are passionate about Safari are also passionate about making it the best in can possibly be. A robust community has formed here. And it’s my pleasure to bring to you, dear reader, a… read more

Distraction Management: How To NOT Procrastinate or Get Distracted

Whenever we are working on a design, facing a deadline, it is of the utmost importance that we stay on track and power through til the end. Doing whatever is necessary to keep us walking with progress over stalling with digression.

All too often, we find ourselves facing a… read more

Microsoft Offers Students Free Xbox With $699 PC Purchase

Microsoft is offering what may be its strongest incentive yet for students to buy a Windows PC: a free Xbox.

Starting May 22, the company will give a free Xbox 360 4 GB console, valued at $199, to high school and college students who buy a Windows PC… read more

Six Useful Tools To Create Distraction Free Writing Environment

Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and various other things on your computer distract you from important tasks that you turned on your computer for. When it comes to writing these distractions can be very problematic since writing requires your full attention. Normally writers distance themselves from all distractions just to be able… read more

50 Free and High-Quality Icon Sets

A beautiful and elegant icon set is an asset to any good web design. Creative use of an icon set can help make or break the overall look of the design. Freebie design components, especially beautiful icon sets can be found in nearly every designer’s toolbox, or if not already… read more

Meet the Developers: Keith Blount of Scrivener

In today’s interview, we’ll be speaking with Keith Blount – the writer and developer behind the phenomenally successful Scrivener. Created by the Literature & Latte team, Scrivener is a fantastic application for writers of all types, helping you organise your ideas and produce a piece of work to be proud… read more

Museum of Art and Archaeology of the Côa Valley

Despite being a project of 2009, I found it only this week and was impressed by the concept of the project. The Museum of Art and Archaeology of the Côa Valley is like the architects say, “an installation in the landscape. ” Simply amazing!

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Designed by portugues earchitect Camilo Rebelo, along… read more

Fantastical: Menu Bar iCal Events in Plain English

It is a rare but welcome occasion when an app is developed to do something I’ve always wanted an app to do. Fantastical is precisely that app. Often, when adding an event to iCal, getting frustrated with date and time fields, and giving up on adding any details but the… read more

HOW TO: Optimize Marketing Materials for Mobile Devices

The Mobile Content Series is supported by Mygazines, the better way to enhance and distribute brochures, catalogues, newsletters and other documents on every device. To complement this post, view an exclusive videocast, “Mobile Content Delivery: Native App Vs. Web App”.

It’s no secret that mobile is the future…. read more

45 Awesome Utilities for Tinkering With Your Mac

The “utility” software niche is one that is extremely active in the Mac application community. There is an abundance of fantastic utilities currently available, and that list is ever changing. We love this type of software at AppStorm, regularly reviewing different apps that let you tweak and tune your computer.

With… read more

Will Microsoft Buy Nokia’s Phone Business? [RUMOR]

A report by a Russian blogger with good sources inside Nokia has prompted rumors that Microsoft is looking to buy the Finnish giant‘s phone business.

The blogger, Edlar Murtazin, has a good track record: he predicted the Microsoft-Nokia partnership as long ago as December. Now he says that… read more

The Future of Journalism, Apps, and the Web

The web has put traditional journalism into a tailspin, and newspapers of all sizes are scrambling to find a way to monetize their content. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and more have created paywalls that require readers to pay to read all of their content each month, either… read more

Keep Your Mac Tidy With MacCleanse

“Fast” and “Mac” are words that get used together pretty frequently. Macs, in comparison to Windows computers, don’t tend to slow down over time – at least not in a noticeable way. But there are things that might prevent your Mac from running quite as fast as it did when… read more

Hulu Nears Deal With Networks [REPORT]

If you rely on Hulu to watch programs on NBC, Fox and ABC, your Internet television fix is likely safe for several more years.

Hulu is expected to close a deal by the end of the week with key network providers that extends its content licenses, reports All… read more

6 Minimal, Full-Screen Writing Apps for Mac

There are so many buttons, windows, and gadgets that can distract you when working at a computer. Have you ever tried to sit down and write something while an icon bounces away in your dock? It’s a frustrating experience. Minimalist, full-screen writing apps are great for keeping these distractions out… read more

Beautiful Houses: Villager 8 in Colorado

The idea in this series is to show beautiful and inspiring houses. Houses that are remarkable for its design, elegance, elements, concept or simply because they are beautiful. So if you like architecture, interior design and beautifully designed houses, you are at the right spot. Check out this week beautiful… read more

Evernote Web: Finally a First-Class Evernote Citizen

There’s millions of things each of us need to keep up with, but usually we actually only end up keeping up with the very most important things we’re supposed to remember. Sure, we usually remember the most important phone numbers, passwords, and ID numbers, but beyond that, it can be… read more

Netflix Arrives on Select Android Devices [VIDEO]

Android users, rejoice: Netflix is finally available — at least on select devices. U.S. Netflix users who have an HTC Incredible, Nexus One, Evo 4G, HTC G2 or Nexus S can download the app from the Android Market and watch TV shows and movies over 3G or… read more

World’s First Wi-Fi Mouse Has 9-Month Battery Life [VIDEO]

HP has revealed a wireless mobile mouse that it says is the first on the market to connect using Wi-Fi. The mouse won’t require an easily misplaced USB dongle, and HP says its nine-month battery life is a lot longer than Bluetooth or wireless USB mice.

HP claims… read more

Twitter Gives Mac Version a Facelift

Twitter has released the first major update to its Twitter for Mac client, adding support for multiple windows and better usability.

The update features some minor tweaks to the user interface, including a more traditional application title bar. The new title bar also acts as a navigation window… read more

Meet The New Chromebooks

Most of us spend more and more time each day in our browsers. We’ve dropped email clients for Gmail, write in Tumblr and WordPress more than Word, tweak pictures in Photoshop.com and Aviary, and more. YouTube and Netflix are the default place most people go to watch videos, and when… read more

50+ Fresh And Useful Adobe Illustrator Icon Design Tutorials

Designing an icon set may sound like an easy thing to do but in actuality it is much easier said than done. Many designers end up with a disaster, while some more matured and experienced designers successfully meet the expectations and deliver.

Generally speaking, a designer needs to learn the basic… read more

Google Chrome OS Notebooks Available June 15

After two years of development, the first Google Chrome OS notebooks will make their worldwide debut June 15.

Samsung and Acer will be the first companies to launch Chrome OS devices. Samsung’s device will sport a 12.1-inch screen with an 8-hour battery life, while Acer’s device will… read more

Self Portrait Challenge #2: EXPERIMENT WITH LIGHT

For the shot pictured above, I set my aperture at f/6.3 in order to darken the background around me, and set my shutter speed at 1/125in order to tame some of the highlights.

Today is the Second part in dPS’s Self Portrait Challenge – learn more about what it is, how… read more

Interview with Germán Covacevich

Germán Covacevich, also known as Cova, is a freelance illustrator and digital painter based in Rosario, Argentina with a portfolio that features a vast cross-section of disciplines and styles. And he also finds time to sing and play the guitar along with his band.

Germán Covacevich

I’ve asked him a few questions… read more

How Microsoft Will Change Skype

Lots of questions still surround Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype.

Did Microsoft pay too much? What does this mean for Skype’s competitors? And how will the software giant change the VOIP service we know and love?

After Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Skype CEO Tony Bates discussed the… read more

Microsoft Opens A PC Store In User’s Home [VIDEO]

Microsoft is taking a novel approach to selling its Windows 7 operating system by opening stores in people’s homes. At least that’s what will be happening in its new commercials.

A new campaign set to air Monday night during primetime on ABC, CBS and NBC features a British woman named Julie… read more

Got Cloud Storage? MiMedia Offers 7GB For Free [VIDEO]

File storage and backup service MiMedia is exiting beta and offering customers some improved pricing plans, as well as a free option that lets users store up to 7GB of music, movies, photos or documents in the cloud.

Online backup services have become popular over the past few… read more

Skype for Mac Has Unpatched Security Flaw [ALERT]

Update: Skype says it issued a hotfix on April 14, 2011 to address this issue, the company just didn’t prompt users to download the fix.

Mac users may want to be extra careful when using Skype, thanks to a nasty zero-day vulnerability in the Mac OS X version… read more

Ask the Web.AppStorm Editor #3

Over the past couple months, we’ve started a new Ask the Editor series across the AppStorm sites. As you may have heard, I’m the new editor of Web.AppStorm, and am excited to get to answer some of the questions you have sent in over the past several weeks.

In today’s edition… read more

Samsung, HTC and Apple Fuel Smartphone Market Growth [STUDY]

The worldwide smartphone market has grown 79.7% year-over-year, with smartphone vendors shipping a total of 99.6 million units in in the first quarter of 2011, market research firm IDC reports.

Although Nokia is still the world’s biggest smartphone manufacturer, with a 24.3% market share, its decline has been… read more

HOW TO: Build a Mobile App for Better Customer Support

Roberto Pieraccini is chief technology officer at SpeechCycle, a global leader in customer experience management solutions. He has been at the leading edge of spoken dialogue technology for more than 25 years, both in research as well as in the development of commercial applications. Follow SpeechCycle on… read more

Improve Your Browsing Experience with ALOT

In this cross platform, web app driven, fully integrated world, we are always looking for ways to get our information faster, get notified quicker, get up-to-the-second updates, and do more without having to bounce around to different websites. It’s why we use RSS, it’s why we use Twitter, and it’s… read more

Mini Keyboard With Built-in Touchpad Lets You Control All Your Devices

iTablet is a mini Bluetooth keyboard with a rear-facing touchpad that takes advantage of the fact that humans have opposable thumbs.

This versatile input device lets you control Windows 7 and XP PCs, iPads, iPhones, Android phones and tablets, interactive TV hardware and gaming consoles — just about… read more

Create a Vector Chopper with Illustrator CS5 and VectorScribe

Advertise here

This tutorial will cover a set of tools and techniques for creating a photorealistic vector chopper, such as Blends, Gradient, Gradient Mesh and most importantly we will meet the new VectorScribe plugin, which will make your job easier.

The VectorScribe plugin offers dynamic change in shape, fully managed, and correct… read more

Choosing the Right Tools for Your Mobile Project

Mobile web browsing is the next big thing. At least that’s what the pundits say. Recent data shows there are about 4 billion mobile users (almost half the planet) (source). In 2011, smartphone sales will surpass desktop/laptop computer sales, moving over 400 million units per year (source).

But haven’t… read more

Inspiring Product Packaging Design Ideas

Advertise here with BSA

Packaging design is one of the most important aspects of product marketing and the marketing mix for physical goods. When consumers go to a supermarket or a store, they do not see an innovative product or a tasty item of food. What they see is the… read more

Report: Facebook to Buy Skype? [UPDATED]

Two reliable sources say Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is talking to Skype about either buying the company or forming a joint venture, according to Reuters.

One of the sources said Facebook is considering a buyout of Skype at a price of between $3 billion and $4 billion. Others… read more

Meet the Designers: Jean‑Marc Denis of Sparrow

The role of the interface designer is not one that should be taken lightly – Without a great interface, chances are that you wouldn’t be using the apps you currently are. If the Safari address bar was hot pink and created in MS Paint, would you still use it? Probably… read more

Internet Explorer 9: Is Microsoft Back in the Browser Game?

For years, it seemed that Internet Explorer was the only browser most computer users would touch. The big E logo became the universal symbol of the internet, and the average computer seemed to have 13 browser toolbars and enough adware to make anyone hate using the internet. We tried in… read more

Rapid Website Wireframing and Prototyping with ProtoShare

Wireframing and prototyping are two very vital aspects in web design. They take away ambiguity and guess work from the design equation. Moreover, with a detailed wireframe model lot of rework can be eliminated leading to increased productivity of web designers, which in turn leads to increased profitability.

ProtoShare is an… read more

Useful Photoshop Tools and Techniques For Your Workflow

Productivity is a crucial asset of professional designers. Photoshop is an extremely powerful application for photo processing and image manipulation, and we can make it even more powerful by using handy tools, actions, plugins and templates to save time for solving mundane regular tasks. The better our professional tool set… read more

Welcome Your New Editor: Matthew Guay

At the end of 2009 I was fortunate enough to take over for Chris as Editor of Web.AppStorm. I’ve seen the site grow a lot since then and along with it so have our writers and the whole wide world of web applications. It’s been one of the best experiences… read more

Photobucket Challenges Trendy Mobile Photo-Sharing Apps With Snapbucket

Veteran photo and video hosting company Photobucket is getting hip with the mobile photo-sharing and filter-ific times by releasing Snapbucket mobile apps for iPhone and Android Tuesday.

Snapbucket, a distinct application separate from Photobucket’s existing mobile apps for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7, encourages users to… read more

Using CSS3: Older Browsers And Common Considerations

With the arrival of IE9, Microsoft has signalled its intent to work more with standards-based technologies. With IE still the single most popular browser and in many ways the browser for the uninitiated, this is hopefully the long awaited start of us Web craftsmen embracing the idea of using CSS3… read more

Discussion: What Type of Computer do you use for Design?

Mac ‘vs’ PC, ‘vs’ Linux, ‘vs’ Mobile Device… Is the competition really worth it? In the past, "Computer A is better than Computer B" may have been a fair argument, but with multi platform graphics applications and more power in a mobile phone than a room full of vintage computers,… read more

Creative Brainstorming: 50 Examples of The Logo Design Process

Everyone knows how important a logo is to your identity and brand. Every business, online and offline, requires a logo. A logo represents your company and products to potential customers.

Almost any designer can create a good logo, but it won’t necessarily be perfect. Creating an extraordinary logo requires… read more

How to Shoot Martial Arts

One of the most important things we have to remember if we want to stay inspired in photography is to give ourselves photo projects. Engaging in a photo project is a lot of fun and a lot of learning. A couple of weeks ago, a reader asked us… read more

BlackBerry Announces Latest OS, Thinnest Smartphones Yet

Research in Motion (RIM) unveiled two new BlackBerry Bold smartphones and BlackBerry 7 OS on Monday, in addition to announcing new Facebook and video chat apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook.

On paper, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones look like the most competitive offerings RIM has had… read more

Full Licensed MacX Video Converter Pro (Mac And Windows) Available For Free To Download

We have got a great honor to give an exclusive chance to download and enjoy MacX Video Converter Pro (Mac or Windows) for free to SmashingApps.com visitors. It’s a paid product, but now is being given away from May 2 to May 4, 2011. During this period, You can get… read more

The Perfect Office #86

We’ve seen some great gadgets and equipment for designers. So many cool stuff, that we could actually assemble infinite perfect office spaces! Every week we’ll assemble a perfect office, and we’d like you to help us. What equipment would the perfect office have?

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Not only gadgets and equipment, but also furniture,… read more

Review: Pogoplug Software Creates a Personal Computing Cloud

Pogoplug started its life as hardware. Plug a USB drive into it and it lets you access those files from anywhere. Now, Pogoplug is available in a software version, substituting your Windows, Mac or Linux machine for that hardware and letting you share pictures, music, videos and… read more

Microsoft’s Quarterly Profit Falls Below Apple’s for First Time in 20 Years

Microsoft reported a smaller quarterly profit than Apple for the first time in 20 years as the iPad ate into sales of laptop computers.

Microsoft’s net income for the quarter was $5.2 billion compared to Apple’s $5.99 billion. According to Bloomberg, that’s the first time in 20 years… read more

Useful Photoshop Tutorials for Designing Abstract Backgrounds

An attractive and compelling background adds depth to your graphics, banners or ads; and for this reason is of great importance. Sure there are some people who might not notice backgrounds, but the role they play in making the entire artwork look more interesting and visually alluring is paramount. They… read more

Ubuntu 11.04 Operating System Now Available for Free Download [PICS]

Version 11.04 of Ubuntu has hit the streets, and it’s packing new features that make it even easier to use. The free download was released to the public on Thursday.

This new version, affectionately known by its makers as “Natty Narwhal,” has a new Unity interface, where the… read more

Top 10 Apps: Web-based Task Managers

I’ve been jumping from app to app, for as long as I can remember, in search of the best web-based task management app. I’ve never really been satisfied until recently when I discovered Flow. Finding the perfect task manager is a little like searching for a unicorn — it’s just… read more

Flat, Shiny Keyboard Is Actually a Touchscreen [VIDEO]

If you like typing on a touchscreen, you’re going to love this thin Minebea Cool Leaf Keyboard.

Strangely enough, even though the keyboard itself is one large touchscreen, it doesn’t bring any of the versatility such a format (like the Razer laptop’s keyboard we saw… read more

Tap-Ahead Design Pattern: Mobile Auto-Suggest on Steroids

In contrast to desktop Web search, auto-suggest on mobile devices is subject to two additional limitations: typing avoidance and slower bandwidth. The new patent-pending design pattern, Tap-Ahead, uses continuous refinement to create an intuitive, authentically mobile auto-suggest solution. This helps dramatically reduce the amount of typing needed to enter queries,… read more

Coming Soon to YouTube: Major Hollywood Films?

In addition to hosting viral gems like “Friday” and “Bed Intruder,” YouTube could soon become a place to take in major Hollywood films — legally.

The Wrap recently reported that the Google-owned video-sharing site plans to launch an on-demand movie service, which will charge folks to stream big… read more

Acrobat X Pro

The Emperor Has New Clothes
Considering Acrobat 9 has been out for almost two and a half years (a long time—software years are like dog years), Acrobat X is surprisingly short of new features. Granted, Acrobat X (read ten) is a mature program and new, exciting features are harder… read more

25 Marvellous Mac Menu Bar Apps & Utilities

The humble menu bar is a fascinating part of the Mac OS X interface. It’s always visible, and holds a remarkably prominent position on your display – far more so than the Dock.

Some people love to keep it as empty as possible, while others have so many menu bar apps… read more

Showcase of Amazing Paper Made Artworks and Sculptures

Paper is a medium that most of us only use for jotting down our ideas and writing down notes, and think that there is no other use of paper except writing. However, some imaginative artists out there have created spectacular pieces of artwork out of paper. They refer to it… read more

CloudApp vs Droplr: Is There a Clear Winner?

Of course not! There never is. However, by comparing them we might be able to help you make a decision better suited to your needs. I, for one, have been torn between the two for quite a long time but always stuck with Droplr. We’ll take a look at the… read more

Difference between Windows and Linux Web Hosting

Difference between Windows and Linux Web Hosting

read more

Firefox 4: Welcome Improvements & Helpful New Features

In the Mac browser wars, there are many contenders for the crown. But the big three are Chrome, Safari and Firefox. On my desktop, I found myself using Safari and Chrome more often than Firefox because Chrome looks better and I could ditch Flash on Safari easily.

But more importantly, Firefox… read more

Blotter: Displaying iCal on Your Desktop

Time management is be a daunting task for many of us. I excel in writing down my appointments and time blocks into iCal, but if I don’t assign an alarm to them, I miss them. More than that, knowing that I have a lot crammed into a day discourages me… read more

Revealed: Google’s Secretive Data Centers [VIDEO]

Google has released a video that takes a rare behind-the-scenes look inside one of the company’s data centers, the details of which are generally cloaked in secrecy.

The purpose of the seven-minute video is to spell out the security, data protection and server reliability protocols Google follows in… read more

Bergdorf Goodman Invites Consumers to Design Fendi Bag on Facebook

Manhattan-based, high-end luxury retailer Bergdorf Goodman has launched a Facebook contest to crowdsource the design of its next Fendi 2Bag.

Fendi Frenzy: The Color Challenge invites consumers to choose the colors of the upper and lower halves, as well as the handle and ID tags, of the colorblock… read more

Microsoft Windows Phones Built By Nokia Due in 2012

Microsoft and Nokia signed a definitive agreement that seals the deal announced in February between the two companies, creating a formidable competitor against Google‘s Android and Apple‘s iOS.

Now, Nokia can migrate away from its aging Symbian operating system, embracing the Windows Phone software to create a new… read more

Artboard: Vector Art For The Masses?

People want to be able to do cool stuff with their computers. It’s why they bought them in the first place, right? The promise of power, being bestowed with abilities that up to now you didn’t possess.

One category of apps that has long been ruled by high-end software is graphic… read more

Win a Free Copy of ScreenFloat!

After reviewing ScreenFloat earlier last week, the developers have been kind enough to offer ten free licenses for us to distribute to a few lucky readers!

ScreenFloat is a simple piece of software that can help you take screenshots and keep them on top of any other window. It is good… read more

Filter Forge Contest Winners

Hello everyone and thank you for your patience these last several days (and weeks) as I sorted through all the entries for the filter forge contest to decide our three winners. It was a tough call and we had a lot of great entries but I’ve finally narrowed it… read more

Lightroom 3 ACE Exam Aid Now Available

The folks over at Examaids.com have announced their Lightroom 3 Exam Aid. Now, if you’re thinking “Hey, it’s about time – Lightroom 3 has been out for about 10 months now”, just know that Adobe doesn’t typically release the ACE exam for it’s products until 6-12 months after the product… read more

Astonishing Hotel above the Santorini Volcano, Greece

Who looks quickly think this hotel is only one more of those luxurious hotels around the world and with a beautiful view. But he is much more than that, perhaps because it is located above the famous caldera of Santorini Volcano, at Greece. That’s right, a hotel over a volcano!

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Project… read more

HOW TO: Optimize Your Content for the Cloud

PJ Gurumohan is the co-founder and CEO of GENWI, a cloud-based mobile presence creation and management platform. He holds two patents in wireless technology, has authored several journal articles, routinely speaks at technology conferences and has held various engineering positions at IBM and US Airways.

The smartphone is… read more

Nokia Gets Exclusive on NFC-Enabled Angry Birds Game

Nokia is hoping an exclusive offering with Angry Birds will give the brand a lift.

The company disclosed on its blog Tuesday that a new game, Angry Birds Free With Magic, contains 20 levels, 15 of which can only be activated by touching your near field communications-enabled phone… read more

Sync Media Across Devices With Nero’s Free Software

Nero, a software company known for its media suites, is launching a free app-based system on Tuesday that organizes and syncs media between multiple devices. Its Kwik Media Manager joins a host of other products that are aiming to free digital media from a particular device.

The manager… read more

The 3 Most Effective Approaches to In-App Advertising

The Mobile App Trends Series is sponsored by Sourcebits, a leading product developer for mobile platforms. Sourcebits offers design and development services for iOS, Android, Mobile and Web platforms. Follow Sourcebits on Twitter for recent news and updates.

A widely discussed article in Wired last summer posited… read more

Showcase of Creative Navigation Menus: Good and Bad Examples

Good navigation is the main cornerstone of an effective website. In practice, however, it’s often a tough challenge to come up with a meaningful, unambiguous way to organize, arrange, and display content to users; and it’s often not much easier to find a visually interesting solution either. The wide adaption… read more

Tutorial: how to create an awesome burning text effect in photoshop

Ok…let’s start!

Open this image in photoshop, then save the file as “fire_map.psd” and close it. We will use this PSD later as displacement map.
Now create a new document 1280 by 1024px.

Fill the background with the black then type “Burning” using a nice bold font. Here i used “bebas“.

Then download… read more

Practicing the Basics of Web Typography

Typography is an art form rarely covered in the spotlight. Web designers too often indulge into page graphics and CSS effects. Ironically page text is what carries the information you’re trying to spread, thus should hold much higher importance to your visitors. I find the problem isn’t with a lack… read more

HOW TO: Create a Printed Album From Your Digital Photos

The Digital Photo and Film Series is supported by Adobe® Photoshop® Elements. To connect with the product team, find creative tutorials, tips and information, join them on Facebook and Twitter.

Mobile photo sharing services like Instagram and Picplz continue to be a big app trend in 2011. Users… read more