Tumblin'

I heard of Tumblr when it first came out but didn't pay much attention to it (like I didn't do with most web 2.0 things then), and I can't even remember how I stumbled across it now, but I think it totally rocks. It's not as minimalistic as Twitter (which is quite worthless in my opinion), nor is it as "heavy" as a regular blog. A tumblelog, as they are called, is still a blog in most ways but the mentality is different. It's for the quick and dirty, day to day stuff. See a good video on YouTube, put it up on your Tumblr. Find a cool site, link it on your Tumblr. Read a good quote, post it in your Tumblr. Still doesn't sound like much different from what you do with a regular blog, but the interface is easier. On the dashboard you pick the category, and that post is formatted accordingly.

Having been a blogger for many years (and giving it up less than a year ago because I felt I was "over" the whole blog), Tumblr fits my needs perfectly, and hopefully my Tumblr will be something I'll update with frequency, rather than the slow death of a rarely updated blog. The only downside to Tumblr so far is that there's no comment function, it's only a one way communication. A stream of consciousness blog, as someone described it.

There's even a Mac widget for easy posting, although it only features regular text posts at the moment, not all the categories. There's no standalone AIR app either, which this definitely needs. Maybe I'll try and make one, if I ever find the time.

While my own Tumblr page blows visually at the moment, there are some really nice-looking ones out there, such as this isn't happening and paul giacheiro.

Links of Interest

Naked Light is a new rival software to Photoshop for photo editing, or rather a rival to Lightroom or perhaps Photoshop Elements. Currently in very early beta stages, it promises non-destructive editing, live filters and "infinite resolution". Looks pretty interesting, though they really need a new name for it. Naked Light?

Zamzar is another in the long line of web-based conversion tools, but unlike most i've come in contact with before this one promises a lot. I didn't count, but it can supposedly convert between a great number of file formats, from image formats to video files.

Blurb is not new, but I just really love what they promise, which is allowing anyone and everyone to publish their own high-quality books. I haven't had any reason to use them yet, but it looks brilliant if the printing is high quality as it looks.

LogoPond is a place for anyone interested in logotype design. Users share their creations, give feedback and go here just to look around for new ideas. It could really use a major re-design to the user interface (which is cumbersome) but it's still well worth checking out from time to time if logos are your kind of thing.

Speaking of logotypes, Identityworks and CIDOC are two nice resources if you want to check out corporate brand manuals. As these are often well-guarded and off-limits their selection is fairly limited, but there are some really good ones. Reuters is one of them, offering their entire brand manual online for all to see.

Vector Magic is a Stanford Computer Science department creation that appears to kick Adobe's ass (and others) when it comes to vectorizing bitmap images. I haven't tried it out yet, but it looks very promising looking at the sample images they show.