‘Change is good.’ So they say. Delicious, the number one most popular bookmarking site has a new design which launched today. Luckily, I got a chance to screen capture the old design so I could compare the two. Overall, I like the organization of the new site. You can find things more readily. The links that your friends send are no longer buried. Navigation is much better on the new site. I also like that the bookmark page lumps your links by the date you posted them. I do have a few complaints, however. First of all, why does the new Delicious have to look so Web 2.0? Don’t we have enough of that style of design already? Secondly, I don’t like that the Save a new bookmark link is on the upper right corner away from your bookmarks. After hitting save, you also have to go through a useless screen, that makes you hit ‘next’ in order to label your bookmark. Thirdly, I’m missing the more obvious color delineation from the links you’ve clicked and one’s you haven’t yet. In the new version, it’s so subtle you can’t tell the difference.
Part of why I liked the old design is that it was fairly bare bones. It was more about function and just getting on with life. The new design is a lot more flowery. There are friendly looking icons everywhere and tabs and cute looking design elements. I know this sounds odd coming from a design snob, but what happened to the minimal no B.S. site that I loved? Don’t get me wrong, I do like some of the new features. I just wish they had improved the organization of the old site and left it at that. Maybe I’ll learn to love the new design one day. But for now, I feel like being disgruntled and stubborn.
- C. Lin
Dickson Despommier, a professor at Columbia University, and 82 graduate students designed a vertical farm concept based on LA’s Capitol Records building. Like other designs of vertical farms, such as the one presented by the Center for Urban Agriculture in Seattle and another concept by Atelier SOA Architects in Paris; the high-concept design would ensure protection for a cities’ food supply against floods, droughts, and pathogens. Each vertical farm would be sustained through renewable energy sources i.e. solar panels, wind turbines, and salvaged rainwater. The overall idea is not solely for high-rise downtown city farms, in fact, ‘they’ are hoping you put a small-scale version in your backyard. Welcome to the future of sustainable living.
Many of these vertical farm concepts boast fresh ripe un-treated edibles, purifying district air by the provision of plant oxygen, and the extinction of transportation for food supply, not to mention integrated living quarters. With all of these great promises of alternative living it’s a wonder why we’re not ready to build these by the droves.
- B. Juergens
At Vox, we believe that change is a good thing. After all, you wouldn't wear the same t-shirt day in and day out, so why should your blog have to suffer the same fate? Give your blog a new look with one of our latest themes (found under "New"), or pick from any of our hundreds of themes designed with your passions and personality in mind.
Until then... Enjoy!
-daisy
I recently purchased a new monitor for my home office and boy was it frustrating. The thought of buying something new is fun and exciting and I'm envious when I see others getting boxes of goodies at work. Of course I couldn't just buy the first monitor I saw, I had to do tons of research to avoid buyer's remorse. I started my exploration for the right monitor with high spirits. By the end of one week, my spirits were crushed. Not only was I drowning in conflicting reviews from "experts" and users, but the manufacturers seem to number their products with the goal of confusing consumers. Why can't they just number their models intuitively and make it very clear what the differences are?
Especially with electronics, consumers can have dozens of products with dozens of features to choose from. Having to choose can get overwhelming and confusing. It would seem like making the buying process easy would benefit everybody. I had an easier time buying a new car than buying a new monitor. It came down to asking some very tech savvy friends for recommendations to narrow things down. My buying adventure ended a few weeks later on a weekend trip to Costco. I saw what I thought was one of the recommended models. It's wasn't even on the Samsung website at the time yet it's an update to a previous model. See what I'm saying? After all the frustration there was a happy ending, I'm very pleased with my choice.
- S. Osako
Gimme a V! Gimme an O! Gimme an X! What's that spell? VOX!
What better way to tell the world how much you love Vox than to announce it on Facebook? That's right: Vox now has an official Facebook page! Become a fan of Vox.com on Facebook and let your friends know what you really care about: staying connected with friends and family through blog posts, photos, videos and comments.
Once you're a fan, you can also add photos and videos to the page, write on the wall, and connect with other Voxers in ways you may not have previously. Plus, it's a great opportunity to let people know about your Vox blog, or start discussion topics. To become a fan, just visit the official Vox.com Facebook page and click the "Become a Fan" button in the upper right hand corner.
Once you've joined, why not post a response to the current discussion topic? Just post a link (and a brief description, if you'd like) to what you consider one of your all-time best Vox posts.
What are you waiting for? Become a Vox.com fan on Facebook today!
VECTORTUTS brought to you by
PSDTUTS is a great resource for those of you who are in need of Illustrator
help. Much like PSDTUTS, the site has tried and true tutorials with loads of
tips and tricks that even the savviest user could benefit from. When I personally
tested out one of the tutorials, I was amazed at how it broke down complex
illustrations into steps that I could understand and grasp quickly. It gave me
the tools to be able to create illustrations with simple shapes and shading
techniques. Even if you’re not a talented illustrator, you could pull off
realistic Illustrator drawings by knowing how to implement these techniques. There
were a couple of points I felt needed improvement. For example, the tutorial
asked the user to choose a few different shades of yellow without citing the exact
Hex number. Missing crucial color information can really change an
illustration!
Regardless of your skill level, I highly recommend trying out one of the tutorials, even if it’s just to practice your Illustrator ninja skills!
- C. Lin
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
After seeing marvelous Marvel characters such as Daredevil, Elektra, and Ghost Rider get not so great reviews on the silver screen, Marvel comics has decided to take matters into their own hands and create Marvel Productions. This new force to be reckoned with in Hollywood has already achieved groundbreaking success with the recent release of Iron Man, as well as the release of The Incredible Hulk. Even fans were unclear how much this new installment had to do with Ang Lee’s ‘Brokeback’ Hulk from 2003. Will it be a sequel or a completely different re-imagining? Marvel did have more creative control over this film than the other; bringing this installment closer to the original continuity. After gaining a solid reputation as a director from his high-octane Transporter movies, Louis Leterrier promised to direct the kind of action-packed Hulk movie that comic book nerds across the planet have been aching for.
When I watched the Incredible Hulk, I was blown away by the intense action, and a very pleasing aesthetic. The new Hulk character design in the movie bares a much closer resemblance to the way he had been illustrated in recent issues — specifically to the way he was portrayed by popular comic book artist Michael Turner, (who just recently passed away at the age of 37). The Incredible Hulk was a non-stop action thrill ride, without a lot of time misspent dwelling on Bruce Banner’s irrelevant psychological issues, despite the obvious. The movie was only about 110 minutes long, unlike its predecessor; it got right to the point, even bringing the viewer up to speed on the story during the opening credit montage. The plot does not really have much to do with Ang Lee’s version. It is based mostly on a mix of the comic book continuity and the 1970’s television show starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno (who incidentally both make cameos along with creator Stan Lee).
There were also rumors of several Easter eggs in the Hulk. For example, in Iron Man, there was a quick view of Captain America’s iconic shield on Tony Stark’s. I kept my eyes peeled throughout the Hulk staying after the credits, only to learn later that the Easter egg featuring an actual appearance by Captain America frozen in a glacier was cut from the movie altogether. While Cap failed to make an appearance in the theatrical release, a nice bit of fun for the fans was the appearance of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Tony informs General Ross about his plans on assembling a team. With the slightest bit of comic book knowledge, we can assume this is alluding to an eventual Avengers movie. In order for that to happen, the Avengers roster might need to be established first in several solo movies like Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Ant-Man and the Wasp, as well as other Avengers like the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and the Black Widow.
While being a very entertaining movie experience, the ending of the Hulk might leave the viewer with some questions like, “how did all those pedestrians and army guys end up on that roof-top all of the sudden?” or “after seeing how powerful Abomination was, how was Hulk able to simply knock him unconscious by choking him with a chain? He is left alive, so how can something with that kind of strength be safely imprisoned?” Regardless of a few contradictory elements from the movie, I generally declare The Incredible Hulk to be a success, while not as large of a success as Iron Man, this new Hulk movie more than makes up for the last one.
For those of you who enjoy the movies based on comics that have been in abundance over the years, I (and many other nerdy fanboys) strongly urge you to pick up some comics and start reading the stories that spawned these multi-million dollar franchises. These movies, for the most part, are always quite excellent, but ask any reader, and he or she will tell you that the original stories are way better!
- J. Tepper
Jen and I took Sophie to see Wall-E last weekend. She did great!
