Sink or Swim

Things a web designer should invest on when working from home.

1. A powerful enough machine that can handle multiple graphic software and web development tools.

2. You can never have enough file back ups. Aside from your extra hard disks, go get an online backup service as well.

3. Although you can get cheaper or even free photo editing tools, nothing beats Adobe Master Suite collection – Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Illustrator.

4. An antispyware software to protect not just your files but your clients as well when uploading to their servers.

5. Hosting and domain name for your portfolio. You can also use the hosting space for uploading your artwork and assets.

6. Generator or UPS for unexpected power shortages.

7. Fast and reliable internet connection.

Someone’s enjoying too much Internet these days. So much that she has been hogging the laptop in the hallway but since she’s a relative, my husband couldn’t complain. I understand her because Internet makes everything convenient for you. Whether you’re looking for cheap airfare, free insurance quotes, real estate listings or researching, you can do all that without leaving your home. So now that my aunt-in-law has somehow conquered the Internet, I am gonna drop hints that she should consider getting herself a new laptop and a wireless connection so she can do all these in her own house. Not that we don’t want her visiting all the time but I’m sure my husband will be relieved to know that he can use his laptop when he wants to.

Had enough of twitter or simply want to try something new? See below for a list of online tools that can help you send updates about yourself via brief text messages, photos or audio clips. I got this from this post and got immediately excited. I am lazy when it comes to blogging that I prefer short messages for simple daily updates.

Dailybooth – Take and upload a photo of yourself everyday. Very nice especially for cam-addicts such as moi.

MySay – Different in such a way that you update by calling MySay and well, say how you are doing today. Then your friends and family can listen via phone, email or web.

Hictu – you need a webcam for this one. This is the twitter equivalent for vloggers. read more »

Ever wondered how the masters work? See here for the full list and some of my favorites below:

www.spoongraphics.co.uk

webdesignledger.com

This one is so cool – www.bartelme.at

www.css-tricks.com

www.cssbeauty.com

Most of the workstations from the list look just like your average designer’s workstation. But this one above, from the creators of cssbeauty.com is my top favorite. I just love everything about it = lamps, brick walls industrial/contemporary look.

Did you notice the one thing that they have in common? Yeah, they all have iMacs. I will show you my workstation but I’m afraid you’ll find it too boring.

Have you seen this amazing piece of technology? The Wacom Cintic Tablet has been on my list of things to buy but know that I will never afford it.

*photo from the http://www.photoshopsupport.com blog.

The Cintiq 12WX has everything that I’m looking for a pen tablet – light weight, wireless, direct pen-on-screen input, stand-alone monitor (can also be used for multi-monitor environments). The best feature I think is the precise inking resulting to “natural art like” graphics. It can be tilted up to 60 degress and offers brush and eraser strokes. According to the article from Photoshop Support, the cost is $999, which is actually the more affordable version. I’m really serious in getting one, if only I can decide what to get first – iMac or this. There are so much stuff that I can do with it. It can act as a drawing pad so I can draw as many artworks as I like, design t-shirts and even trace any printed illustrations using the overlay function.

I almost had an iMac. Last week when we went to the mall, I noticed that my husband looked pretty excited. When we reached Glorietta, I realized why. There was a BPI madness again on all computers and accessories. We were in search for a cheap 22″ LCD monitor so we jumped from one booth to another, hoping we can find a good deal. And what did I see?

This.

20-inch: 2.4GHz iMac. My dream machine. Well, next to 24-inch: 3.06GHz of course. It’s still pretty huge and the best part is, the store is offering it at a 0% interest. For only Php5,800 ($128++) a month, I can have an iMac. My own iMac. The one that I’ve been saving up for so long but no matter what I do, I just kept on spending on other trivial things. My husband said the monthly payment is even lower than what I used to pay for my notebook. So it’s all good. Great deal, awesome machine. The thing is I had second thoughts. I haven’t played with Mac before and know it will take me months before I get used to it. And then I’ll need to buy new graphic software, accessories, etc. Okay so I’m just making excuses, I know. While writing this, I wonder if I made a mistake on not getting one?

Welcome the latest Go Green gadget.

At only $699 with monitor, this latest piece of technology uses Intel’s latest mobile processor, is 80% smaller than a traditional PC and comes in seven different colors. Dell markets this as an environmentally friendly PC. It will use 70 % less energy than any mini-tower desktops and the packaging totally recycled. Dell is known to push out green initiatives and no better way to do it than on a mini-desktop.

More on CNET blog

Have any of you had a bad experience with refurbished Apple products? A friend will be coming home this May so I want to take advantage of the free shipping.

Here is what I’m eyeing:

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
15.4-inch widescreen display
2GB memory
120GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 128MB of GDDR3 memory
Built-in iSight Camera

Imagine, you can have a Macbook Pro for only $1499? I wonder how good (or bad) refurbished products are?

I can also go for something cheaper.

Refurbished MacBook 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo – White
13.3-inch glossy widescreen display
1GB memory
80GB hard drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
Built-in iSight camera

This one is for only $799.

They are both certified Apple refurbished products and covered by Apple’s one year limited warranty.

Apple Certified Refurbished Products are pre-owned Apple products that undergo Apple’s stringent refurbishment process prior to being offered for sale. These products have been returned under Apple’s Return and Refund Policies. While only some units are returned due to technical issues, all units undergo Apple’s stringent quality refurbishment process

It’s not that I don’t trust Apple. In fact, I love them to bits. I just need to research on what other customers say about refurbished products because even if we’re talking about $800 here, it’s still a huge amount of money.

Don’t you just love that tagline? I just saw it from Apple’s Macbook Air website. Their creative people must be getting paid a lot of money.

Anyway, Macbook Air is just the coolest notebook by Apple. It’s the world’s thinnest notebook with 13.3-inch widescreen LED display, full-size keyboard, and large multi-touch trackpad. It weighs 3lbs and would you believe, can fit into a large envelope? I’m not kidding. I saw the demo on TV. The Intel Core Duo 2 chip has been customized to fit the Macboook Air so you don’t have to worry about sacrificing performance. It’s also built for the wireless life whether you’re video blogging, renting movies or backing up files into an external drive.

The best thing is, I CAN afford it! LOL. Only because the dollar to peso conversion is so low.

Want to oggle some more? Read here

Oh, yes, I am crazy about anything that has to do with Apple. I blame my boss for this recent addiction of mine. Not that I own any Apple product except for an iPod, but still, it won’t stop me from checking out what’s new, hoping that I can get hold one of them soon. Plus, Apple.com is my top favorite website design of all time. Everything is so web 2.0 – lots of white spaces, huge boxes, fonts, gradient surfaces, shiny graphics and icons. It’s worth taking a daily trip just to inspire myself.

So now, on to the latest news – Apple TV

What Apple TV does is let you rent movie directly from your TV. It has an interface that allows you to browse, rent, and watch movies from every major movie studio such as Touchstone Pictures, Walt Disney, Universal, Paramount and more. The movie rentals are $2.99 for library titles, $3.99 for new releases and $1 for HD titles with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Movies are downloaded instantly and the faster your Internet connection, the better! And for TV show addicts like myself, you can also buy your favorite TV show for only $1.99 each. Still not enough? How about access to free content like YouTube, podcasts, photos, music videos? Yes, they have those too!

Yummy! My husband will definitely drool over this.