I managed to acquire me some technology over the Christmas holiday. My Verizon “New Every Two” plan was up, and I was mercifully allowed to purchase a new phone. I know there are many financial reasons that the plans are for two years, but it’s almost ridiculous to have the same phone for […]
I managed to acquire me some technology over the Christmas holiday. My Verizon “New Every Two” plan was up, and I was mercifully allowed to purchase a new phone. I know there are many financial reasons that the plans are for two years, but it’s almost ridiculous to have the same phone for that long considering it’s one of the fastest growing tech fields out there. Every two years your fantastic, next-gen smartphone ends up feeling like a DynaTAC in comparison!
Anyway, in an attempt to make myself feel more important than I actually am I decided on the Motorola Q. Long story short: it’s all I could afford from Verizon’s smartphone category. I also didn’t think I’d ever want to be in a situation where I needed to edit an Excel spreadsheet while commuting. If I do, then I should be looking at the classifieds since that can’t be fun for anyone! So this means that the Q runs the Windows Mobile OS, but not the Pocket PC version. Just a slight difference, and not one that truly concerns me. What I needed the phone for was email, organization, and note taking. I have to download an app that will allow me to compose notes that will sync w/ Outlook, and that’s all I need it to do. There are other phones that do email, but they still use a traditional cell phone keypad, and I wanted a QWERTY keyboard for ease of composing.
I spent several hours yesterday configuring my PC and Outlook to “Push”. For those that don’t know, Push technology automatically sends your emails to your phone from your Outlook (or whatever service/software used) as they are received. So as the phone is set up now, whatever I compose on the phone ends up on my PC Outlook, and vice-versa, which means they’re in sync. That’s true not just for email, but also for my calendar, contacts, and tasks. Some may rebel against that kind of connectivity, but I feel secured by it. I also like the security of knowing that my data is in several places including the phone, the PC, and online through the Verizon WirelessSync site.
So far it’s lived up to my expectations, perhaps even surpassing some. I have to confess that in anticipation of the new season coming in January, I’ve installed the 24 CTU ringtone! Yes, I am a geek. I am also presently looking at converting some of the original Mac and Power Mac start-up sounds into my text, email, and MMS receiving tones.
Why stay stock?
Technorati Tags: technology, smartphone, geektech, Motorola Q,
I can’t even think of a title for this post…
In the minuscule amount of spare time that is provided, I’ve been working on some business cards for myself. I’ve had some decent success in design variations, but what I’ve been struggling w/ the most is my logo. For those of that have tortured yourself […]
I can’t even think of a title for this post…
In the minuscule amount of spare time that is provided, I’ve been working on some business cards for myself. I’ve had some decent success in design variations, but what I’ve been struggling w/ the most is my logo. For those of that have tortured yourself by reading the Artboredom history this isn’t news, but to the uninitiated here’s a shortened ADHD version. The name is from a painting I did for my senior thesis poking fun at the art magazine Artforum. I recreated a typical cover also poking fun at myself by by stating, “I am the future of American painting.” From there I used the name when I produced some show flyers for a friend morphing it from just a painting concept into my own brand. Needless to say, it stuck.
This evolution leaves me w/ a logo that is a stylistic copy of another. From what I’ve gathered, this isn’t always the best route to take when developing your own brand. It’s not that I don’t like the Impact lettering, but it gives a different feeling than what I’ve been coming up w/ in my business card designs. But there’s more to this story.
If you’re familiar w/ the skateboard industry, you’ll know what I’m referring to. A company will create a logo to get the company started. At that point they’ll create numerous t-shirt designs all using said company’s name, but each shirt is a different incarnation. For example, the name could be in Olde English, block letters, dripping tags, or stenciled. You know the brand name, but each style represents a different facet of the company’s stylistic interests. The old school thought is to have one logo, and utilize that on everything, never changing it for fear of alienating your established base. My feeling is if your additional designs are true to your aesthetics and they’re consistent than by all means expand your visual range.
Problem is I can’t nail down a single style for my business card. In fact it feels like I’m suffocating myself by trying to pair it down to just one. Which is why I think I might create a series of different cards. I have a ton of different ideas that I want to produce just for myself, and I think it would be interesting to have a bunch of different styles. You could even think of them as being collectible, to a point. I’m sure that some clients might be a little confused by choices during that point in our meeting, but some might find it enjoyable. It’s up to me to figure out who’ll like what.
I’m guessing that the contact information should be the same for each though. (smiley inserted here)
Technorati Tags: design, graphic design, business card, logo design
He turns striking the match, deliberately tossing the it onto the bridge.
I can’t believe it took me this long to put everything together. I interviewed w/ a prominent web design company earlier in the year well before I had coded a single line of CSS. Here I was sitting in a board room, my […]
He turns striking the match, deliberately tossing the it onto the bridge.
I can’t believe it took me this long to put everything together. I interviewed w/ a prominent web design company earlier in the year well before I had coded a single line of CSS. Here I was sitting in a board room, my ImageReady built website glaring at us from the projector lit screen across the room; my first interview in my new chosen profession. I was running all the interview tips through my brain trying to remember everything, but not look like I’m trying to remember something while keeping my mind on the questions. The interview went well, but I could tell they needed someone more experienced (more than a handful of months), so I took advantage by asking the interviewer some questions. One answer stuck in my mind, but didn’t register until just this morning.
I commented on the tone of all their sites, as well as their clean aesthetic. I then asked whether or not they were doing anything in CSS. Mind you at this point, CSS was just a bunch of sites in a web gallery that simply looked cool to me. I had no idea about how they were put together, or even if this company was even using it. I can’t remember exactly what he replied, but it was similar to the title of this blog. It was almost like I was suggesting something that was too new, something that us “kids” were into that would never last. Funny enough, I was older than him.
I finally put it together this morning (or I simply remembered). I checked some of their sites, and they were created all in TABLES!! I couldn’t freaking believe it. They were at least using CSS for their text styles, and some rollovers, but nothing else. It was a mishmash of table based HTML, JavaScript, and Flash.
For me, it’s a way of looking back at the amount that I’ve learned in such a short period of time. Here I was giving a shaky response to “How’s your HTML?”, when I could ask them now, “How’s yours?” Yeah, this is a pat on the back for myself and I think I deserve it. Sure, I have a long way to go in learning all there is, but it’s good to realize that I’ve already gotten somewhere.
Technorati Tags: design, web design, CSS,
