Eli Foner

Fluid Dance

Eli Foner — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:18:31 +0000

© Eli Foner for Eli Foner, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Featured.

WordPress Plugin: Cumulus - 3D Tag Cloud

Eli Foner — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:39:17 +0000

This interactive flash plugin - WP-Cumulus by Roy Tanck - displays a three-dimensional infographic sphere composed of your tags. Very cool.

The sphere responds to the cursor position by revolving in the opposite direction. When you hover over a tag, it is highlighed with a box, and 'floats' toward the front. As you follow (continue hovering) the tag toward the center of the sphere, it slows and eventually stops.

See it in action by hovering over the 'Keywords' tab on the sidebar and on the archives page.

The sphere looks better as you increase the size, see both the screenshot below and on the author's site. I've inquired about how to call the plugin with custom options to make it appear larger on the archives page.

The WP-Cumulus plugin works for WordPress versions 2.3+, and has been ported to Movable Type.

WordPress Theme: Futurosity Vero

Eli Foner — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:09:16 +0000

Futurosity Vero: Yet another clean, minimal WordPress Theme by Robert Ellis of Futurosity. That makes THREE kick ass themes released in as many months but who's counting, right?

View the result here - thoughts?

Futurosity Vero utilizes both the Blueprint and Sandbox frameworks - you can tell a lot of thought and planning went into this theme. I've made only minor tweaks, and enjoyed looking under the hood:

Enabled home page 'current month' link / functions.php (manual)
.current_page_item a styling in the paged nav (top right) / functions.php (this really should be fleshed out and allow any current page / item / navigation styling)
Excluded pages from main navigation (top right) / functions.php
del.icio.us links above comments / home.php
Separated category and tag (keyword) lines / single.php
Moved RSS icon to bottom / global
Removed 'about' block / sidebar.php
Added Mint stats to footer / footer.php
Added weighted keyword list (30) to archives page / sidebar.php

Further ideas:

Cabel's FancyZoom for inline image thumbnail previewing (main content box is only 350px wide)
Conditional navigation highlighting
Comment Quoter
Ad block
Not so bad if you have old media (pics/video) at 435px or even wider - plenty of room on the right - saves you from going back and redoing old content.

Low res screenshot (home, single, cat, links):

© Eli Foner for Eli Foner, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Design, Featured.

MacBook Pro (Touch?) Ideas

Eli Foner — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:10:19 +0000

This MacRumors Forums thread highlights a number of interesting concepts for future generations of Apple's MacBook Pro lineup.

The large touchpad would be handy for everything from design (zoom or details) to audio/video editing (controls) and even web-browsing (large back/forward/bookmark buttons).

What are your thoughts on the direction Apple will take?

© Eli Foner for Eli Foner, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Asides.

Upstart Blogger's MacBook Air Contest

Eli Foner — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 04:10:26 +0000

Started in 2004, Upstart Blogger was recently acquired by professional jazz trumpeter turned blogger Ashley Morgan. The site's previous owner and theme designer Robert Ellis now runs Futurosity. Details on the acquisition are covered in this post and for those curious, the price was USD$14,500. To the casual reader it may seem like a lot of money, but Ashley has a vision, saw an opportunity and is in the process of capitalizing on it.

Upstart Blogger is about how to start a blog, and how to become a blogging upstart—a blogger who achieves success rapidly. I’ll cover everything from creating and launching a new blog to maintaining, promoting, and profiting from a successful blog.

Upstart Blogger employs a number of methods to generate incoming links, traffic, and money:

WordPress Themes

As WordPress gains popularity, more people will be introduced to Upstart Blogger's free collection of seven minimalist WordPress themes.

UB Futurosity Magazine - based on a 6-column grid
UB July07 - ajax sidebar experimentation
UB Takimata - Sandbox design competition entry
UB Modicus - available in two and three-columns
UB Modio - clean with sliding sidebar
UB Minim - simple and lightweight
UB Purus - ugly duckling

Users (you) download theme from Publisher (Upstart Blogger). The theme install links back to the Publisher's site. Both the Publisher and Author (Robert Ellis of Futurosity) gain noteriety and a link. Yay. I won't be surprised if a custom theme were chosen as a contest prize, which brings us to free stuff.

Giveaways

People (users) like free stuff. Really free stuff, i.e. it costs you nothing (shipping is a maybe). And they also like winning things - or even thinking they might win.Monthly contests and product giveaways combine these elements into a recipe for success. Previous prizes have included an Apple iPhone, some iPod Shuffles, and a couple lucky winners even got a free month of hosting (actually $6.95 via paypal)!

This month's prize is something that you don't often see in a blog contest - a shiny new MacBook Air. Yes, the newest latest $2,000 fits-in-an-envelope laptop from Apple. Big prizes should generate lots of buzz about the UB giveaways - at this rate who knows what the next item will be - car - house - internet property?

Hosting Affiliate Links

Publisher signs up with Affiliate (in this case AN Hosting which owns Midphase and a few others). Publisher chooses creatives and places them on the site. Users click on ads (reliable hosting @ $5/month with few limitations) and get a good price on hosting, and Publisher gets a sizable commission. Win-win. And for those people who think ads are ugly, you're right, but that's the game.

Community Blog Projects

Ashley's Building 30 profitable blogs from scratch in 30 days idea is genius. He helps 30 bloggers establish their internet presence and gets 30 hosting referral commissions (users get three months free), and any links these users generate.

Verdict

Ashley Morgan and Upstart Blogger provide a wealth of personal, tech, business, and wordpress resources and have big plans for the future. Subscribe to the Upstart Blogger RSS Feed and stay tuned. While you're at it, you can add the elifoner.com feed for more half-baked attempts at winning a free computer!

Widerbug: Widescreen Firebug

Eli Foner — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 14:53:13 +0000

The popular Firebug Firefox extension has been flipped on its side, Widerbug uses a vertical 3-pane view similar to Mail.App's Letterbox.

© Eli Foner for Eli Foner, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Asides, Design.

Protect your WordPress installation

Eli Foner — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:48:46 +0000

Matt Cutts on three easy and important ways to protect yourself if you run WordPress:

Secure your /wp-admin/ directory.
Make an empty wp-content/plugins/index.html file.
Subscribe to the WordPress Development blog.

Art Benjamin, Mathemagic

Eli Foner — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:54:18 +0000

The 4 'random' digit x 3 digit 'random' problem explained in the video comments. I found it interesting to hear his Mnemonic¹ code usage in the last 'trick' (squaring a 5-digit number).

A mnemonic is a memory aid. Mnemonics are often verbal, something such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something, particularly lists.

© Eli Foner for Eli Foner, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Featured.

New Halo 3 Maps

Eli Foner — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 23:01:57 +0000

Monday, more information was released on the three new maps available for Halo 3. I'm eager to try them out - it can get annoying playing Snowbound six times in a row. From the Bungie site: In the US, the Heroic Map Pack will cost 800 Microsoft Points ($10 USD). Eventually, these maps will all be released for free, as they were with Halo 2.

Rat’s Nest

Rat’s Nest is a massive level set in the corridors and tunnels of a Human Base near Kilimanjaro. You may recognize parts of it from Halo 3’s Campaign mode. Effectively, it’s a giant Oval, kind of like an underground NASCAR track, with lots of vehicles and plenty of tunnels criss-crossing the center area. It’s designed for big team games, Objective and Slayer, but also works brilliantly for game types like Infection and Territories.

Foundry

Foundry is a very unique map – designed from the outset to be the most customizable Halo 3 Forge map ever created. It’s a large Warehouse, which can be empted quickly and then rebuilt any way you like, with a brand new palette of objects such as walls, ramps, Mancannons and more. Stuff you never had access to before and objects that can be used to create fully functioning level designs, rather than simply altering our existing map.

Standoff

Standoff is a big-ish symmetrical map, great for Team Slayer, excellent for Objective games and big enough for a couple of vehicles. It has locked-down Bunkers for bases and lots of cover for players trying to make their way from one base to the next. Although some say it has a similar feel to Blood Gulch, the geometry and terrain is very different.

© Eli Foner for Eli Foner, 2007. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Featured.

Carrera GT

Eli Foner — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 12:51:58 +0000

Flickr page for this photo, which belongs to the Carrera GT photoset.

Audi RS4

Eli Foner — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 12:35:27 +0000

Two half-decent iPhone pictures.

I'm drawn more to the new S5 than the RS4, even with less horspower¹ for the sleeker lines, aerodynamic profile, shorter grill and yes, the under-lamp LED headlights.

Audi RS4 via Flickr user Auto Exposure Canada

Audi S5 via Flickr user Turboff

(RS4: 420 hp / 317 lb-ft vs S5: 354 hp / 325 lb-ft)

© Eli Foner for Eli Foner, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Featured, Photography.

Graduation Panography

Eli Foner — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 16:48:35 +0000

Sam, after some temporary setbacks, recently graduated from Concordia University's John Molson School of Business. with a Bachelor of Commerce / Major International Business, Minor Modern Arabic Language and Culture. The resulting panography (click for Flickr page) is a combination of three shots.

© Eli Foner for Eli Foner, 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Featured, Photography.

Get 'iTunes-style' scrollbars in Leopard's Finder

Eli Foner — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:08:15 +0000

OS X Leopard's Finder is inherently intuitive and easy to navigate, but for some reason shipped with old Aqua-style candy scrollbars (1) when most everything else resembles iTunes (2). Fear not, a crafty Mac user has come up with the fix.

Figure 1 Original Leopard Aqua-style scrollbars

Figure 2 New iTunes-style scrollbars

Note: As with any other modification to the original system files, it's a good idea to back up the original (I moved mine to my .Mac /Backup folder for safe keeping).

Source: Download / Discussion: MacThemes2 / via OSXDaily

Raymond

Eli Foner — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 18:54:21 +0000

From BIF Pictures, creators of 90 degrees and dynamo, comes Raymond, a crazy short film starring a lazy swim instructor who dreams to swim with whales.

Cannonball Run

Eli Foner — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 21:07:20 +0000

Alex Roy attempts to break the long-standing "totally illegal" record for driving from Manhattan to Santa Monica. [via Wired]

His mission is intended as a triumph of the mind over the base adrenal impulses of common speeders. His route is nothing like the careless line a spring-breaker might plot across a Rand McNally — it's a painstakingly GPS-mapped and Google Earth-practiced manifest desti-document, waypointed mile by mile for detours, construction, and speed traps.

CSS Frameworks + CSS Reset

Eli Foner — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:34:06 +0000

Smashing Magazine on CSS Frameworks + CSS Reset:

You don’t have to write the same CSS-code or (X)HTML-Markup over and over again. Whatever project you’re starting to work with, at some point you have to define classes and IDs you’ve already defined in your previous web-projects. (more...)

© Eli Foner for Eli Foner, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Asides.

Registration Lapse Redesign

Eli Foner — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 03:42:11 +0000

A couple days ago I sat down to install the newly-released WordPress 2.3 beta 1. Upon attempting to login, I was greeted with the landing page shown above - complete with a pretty girl on ~~the home~~ every page... Oops. As seen by my copy of Mint, actual downtime was only an hour or so.

best of craigslist : lvl 8 ogre mage seeks moon queen or druid

Eli Foner — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:24:28 +0000

Yet another thought-provoking Best of Craigslist posting:

I am a lvl 8 warrior seeking my adventuring companion for game play and fornication. I partake in only adventure/fantasy role play, no creepy goth stuff, it’s too weird. Only sanctioned spells allowed, costume dress optional but preferred. I have the body of a wandering Norwegian brawler and short brown hair. Please be quite buxom and imaginative for play and enjoy fantasy role play aesthetics. Please send pics, leves, preferred adventure type and spell list. We could go get dinner (under $20), and watch a movie. Also I’m allergic to cats.

OMFG Magazine

Eli Foner — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 00:57:25 +0000

They were probably sitting at the boardroom table kicking around ideas for a name, and had them narrowed down to "LOL", "WTF", "STFU", and "ROTFLMAO" before finally sticking with the classic "OMFG". [via Geekologie]

Guinea Pig Battle

Eli Foner — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 22:45:42 +0000

Three guinea pigs duke it out over a small piece of cucumber. [via]

Prison Break Season 3 Update

Eli Foner — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:19:55 +0000

The answer to the question that has been on every prison break fans lips is right here. Yes there will be a season 3.

Prison Break Season 3 (which may have a different name announced soon) will premiere on 17th September 2007, 5 months after the season 2 finale. Most of the conspiracy storyline (about 90%) will be wrapped up by the end of season 2, and the third season will have a completely new plot. Scheuring says "The audience will definitely get closure. It'll feel like this is the endgame of the story, and yet there will be a few unanswered questions;" [via PrisonBreakManHunt]

© Eli Foner for Eli Foner, 2007. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Asides.

Bose active suspension

Eli Foner — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:12:23 +0000

Apparently Bose (quality audio products) also make car suspension (?!)

Couch to bunk-bed transformer

Eli Foner — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:58:04 +0000

The Doc and Doc XL are sofas with removable covers and integrated / patented mechanisms which transform them into a bunk bed. Both feature an integrated supporting ladder and protection guard. You can find many more innovative and space-saving furniture designs from Clei UK.

Tumblr-inspired Quick Post WordPress plugin

Eli Foner — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:46:02 +0000

Inspired by the Tumblr bookmarklet, this Quick Post WordPress Plugin allows you to quickly post text, images, quotes and videos to your WordPress site.

Backwards Bowling

Eli Foner — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:39:47 +0000

Average: 184 / High Score: 279

Microsoft Multi-Touch: Surface

Eli Foner — Wed, 30 May 2007 16:06:37 +0000

Today at the D Conference, Microsoft is set to unveil the Surface Computer, which ~~deploys~~ emulates multi-touch technology to allow enhanced usability and user / data / machine interaction.

What is multi-touch interaction?

A video is worth a million words, rather than explain the concept, I'll direct you to watch the following videos:

Microsoft Surface

Video courtesy Popular Mechanics. You can also watch an 18 minute demo of Microsoft Surface at Microsoft's On10.

Jeff Han - Perspective Pixel

My fascination began after watching Jeff Han's TED Talks unveiling of multi-touch interface design in August 2006.

Apple - iPhone

Similar technology powers Apple's new phone / ipod / internet device, and Apple's Phil Schiller delves into the iPhone.

MBP Laser Etching

Eli Foner — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:50:00 +0000

[via Flickr user ldandersen] Also: related video of Leah Culver getting her MacBook Pro laser-etched.

Switcher's Tip: Quickly Access Menus

Eli Foner — Mon, 28 May 2007 10:34:00 +0000

Recent switchers know that on a PC, if you press the alt key, it automatically highlights the first menu allowing you to access sub-menu items quickly and easily. Mac OS X does the same thing. Simply press control + F2 (laptops press function + control + F2) to highlight the Apple menu. Once there, (more...)

Stefan Sagmeister - Happy design

Eli Foner — Mon, 28 May 2007 09:20:00 +0000

Yet another brilliant TED Talk - Stefan Sagmeister on "Yes, design can make you happy".

Injection Design

Eli Foner — Sun, 27 May 2007 14:25:00 +0000

Injection Design is the online portfolio of Chan Karunamuni. Great work!

Aperture rating strategy

Eli Foner — Sun, 27 May 2007 08:43:00 +0000

Three Stars Is Enough

After reading Bagelturf - Five Star Rating Is Overrated, I've decided to begin reducing my Aperture rating system to three stars (with of course rejected and 0-star), for a total of 5.

Here are the rating buckets that I now use:
X - Junk - Throw it in the trash
0 - Archive - Storage is cheap
* - Keep - Too good to trash, not good enough to show
** - Show - Good enough to show people
*** - Brag - Good enough to say Look At That, I Did That

That's all there is to it. I can rate in two passes with this system, instead of four or more with five stars. The first pass handles all the rejects and applies one star to anything I would ever want to show anyone. It's a very simple and fast decision to make. Then I select everything that has not been rejected and add one star, so I am left with one-star images marked as Keep, and all the Show and Brag images with two stars. On the second pass (filtered down to the two star or better images, now about 20% to 25% of the original quantity) I add one star to the images that I think are good enough to brag about -- a few percent. I caption all the Keep and above images (but very broadly so I can do 50 at a time), keyword the Show and above images, and adjust the Brags.

The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version)

Eli Foner — Sat, 26 May 2007 08:22:00 +0000

This entry was hand-picked from the stream.

Prison Break announces Season 3

Eli Foner — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 17:16:45 +0000

I was happy to find out that Prison Break is confirmed for Season 3 - to be filmed mostly in Panama. Season 3 series creator Paul Scheuring has commented that Season 3 will consist of most of the original cast with new additions and that the overall theme will be "redemption". The plot will continue from the second season finale, where most of the main characters have ended up in Panama. Although the conspiracy storyline has not finished, the third season's plot will be "as different in tone as Season 2 was from Season 1".

© Eli Foner for Eli Foner, 2007. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking ? Technorati BlogPulse Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Asides.