The latest on Tool Designers

Source: The Ledger ()

Among the millions of compact discs lying wrapped under Christmas trees this morning, a certain percentage will bear stickers warning of “explicit content.”

The recording industry might consider another label that would be particularly apt today: “Warning. The exasperation of attempting to open this package could lead to explicit utterances.”

The packaging of CDs can lead to unholy exclamations, even on this holiday.

First, the gift recipient must penetrate a layer of shrink-wrapped plastic that offers no good finger-hold.

Then comes the challenge of removing that ultra-sticky strip of tape across the top of the CD, a protective band seemingly engineered to disintegrate under pressure into numerous tiny fragments that cling to human skin as tenaciously as leeches.

Steve Martin, in a humor piece for The New Yorker, once imagined the triumphant entry into hell of the designer of CD packaging, with Satan lauding his “good work.”

Here on Earth, Heather Bradman of the FYE music store in South Lakeland said she often notices customers sitting in their cars after a CD purchase, frantically attempting to extract the product from its protective clothing.

Tom Dobbins, a manager at FYE, said the packaging is intended to deter shoplifters from filching the discs, while the similar concealment of DVDs serves the same purpose and also keeps the discs from getting scratched during shipping.

Dobbins, who gladly obliges customers’ requests to open CDs for them, said it really isn’t that difficult.

His instructions:

Use a fingernail (or other sharp object) to puncture the shrink wrap in the gap between the spine along the left and the front square. (FYE sells a tool with a blade encased that slices through the plastic.)

With the coating removed, place the disc on a flat surface and the front upward to pop it loose from the bottom left hinge. Pry it away from …

Source: PC World ()

In the technology industry, you can be pretty sure you’ve hit the big time when Microsoft develops a product specifically to compete with you.

That’s the position Adobe Systems found itself in this year, when Microsoft developed a new cross-platform browser technology called Silverlight to rival Adobe’s Flash, the de facto standard for developing and delivering video and multimedia content on the Web.

Adobe is exiting the year not only as the company of choice for creative professionals everywhere, but as an influential force to be reckoned with and a power player alongside Apple and Google, the companies leading the consumer-savvy, multimedia-friendly Internet wave of Web 2.0.

Over its 25 years, Adobe — a company known less for its dazzle than its dependability — has quietly turned itself into a multibillion-dollar software vendor on the strength of technologies that have become essential to computer users. Creative professionals would be lost without the graphic-design tools Photoshop and Illustrator, and Adobe Acrobat and PDF have made it easy for everyone to share documents cross-platform.

But with its acquisition of Macromedia two years ago, Adobe also took on another role — as pioneer of providing a next-generation platform for developing rich Internet applications. RIAs, as they’re called, provide more intuitive and multimedia-rich user experiences on the Web than typical client/server or desktop applications, and are now in high demand as users expect more from their multimedia Web experiences with the rise in popularity of sites like YouTube and Facebook.

Still, though the proud owner of PDF and Flash, two of the most ubiquitous technologies in the history of desktop computers, Adobe has never enjoyed the same powerful brand recognition as contemporaries that have also built widely used technology. Google’s search engine inspired the addition of the word “google” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Adobe’s technologies …

Source: PR-USA.net (press release) ()

ShowMyPC.com, a Silicon Valley Startup Launches Free Service for Scheduling Web Meetings

ShowMyPC, a web collaboration software provider has released a new service for scheduling and conducting web meetings over the internet. The service lets users instantly start a web meeting and share their computer’s screen with other users, who are invited by sending automated email notifications.

Every day, more and more people are working with customers and team members spread across the globe. Conducting face to face meetings is not an option any more. Therefore, web collaboration and Screen Sharing tools from companies such as ShowMyPC.com are making a big difference in the way people conduct their business and meetings with remote users.

Screen sharing is a very powerful means to collaborate with remote users. Once two users are able to see a common computer screen, they can instantly share any application in real time, share documents, work on the same spreadsheet to name a few. The possibilities are unlimited. In fact, ShowMyPC receives numerous “Thank you notes” for the difference it has made in it’s users’ lives.

“I can’t believe what a difference you’ve made to my business. Instead of hours of ‘Can you now tell me what you see on the screen’ I can deal with problems that arise in minutes. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” - A web designer from Melborne, Australia writes to ShowMyPC’s customer service. No wonder, the number of satisfied users using this free service is exponentially increasing every day.

Using the tool is a breeze. There are no registrations, no complicated installation steps. The user simply visits the ShowMyPC.com web site, clicks on a link to download a executable file and runs it. It cannot get any simpler than that. Competing products from Webex Gotomypc are not only costly, but complex to use.

The software and service can be accessed …

Source: Detroit Free Press ()

WOMEN AT WORK

December 22, 2007

BY KRISTIN BULL

It’s hard enough being a woman, especially when you’re working a messy man job.

Because, as Michelynn Maeder tells it, in the world of tool belts, manicures are out of the question. So are peep-toe heels, designer jeans and a good hair day.

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Four years ago, Michelynn, a stay-at-home mom, offered to help a guy friend who worked as a field supervisor for a heating and cooling company.

Today she installs heating and cooling systems.

“My friend told me I wouldn’t last a week, but I’ve been there ever since,” says Michelynn, 38, of Macomb Township.

A new kind of job: Michelynn (pronounced like the tire) worked in accounting before having two children, Justin and Shawna (now 19 and 14). Amid soccer practices and classroom volunteering, she predicted an eventual return to an office job. Instead, she spends her days in dark basements, among other somewhat scary places.

“I like it because it’s different every day,” says Michelynn, who works for Liberty Total Comfort Systems in Redford Township.

“Also, it keeps me fit; I don’t need to work out when I come home at night.”

Her uniform: Michelynn’s work wardrobe is simple: jeans and a T-shirt. “I try to stay as clean as I can, but at the end of the day, I’m just as dirty as the guys,” she says.

Her accessories? When needed, a hard hat. And always, steel-toe work boots.

“After you wear them for a while, you get used to it,” she says.

Finding girl time: When she’s not working, Michelynn is helping Shawna with her homework. Often, the mom and daughter go shopping.

“I still do girlie things,” she says.

“I haven’t had my nails done in five years. I used to get manicures all the time. Now just worry about keeping the dirt out of them.”

Speaking of dirt … : Michelynn once …

Source: Daily Mail ()

Create your own beautiful jewellery!

It’s not too late to start collecting for another fantastic offer from hot jewellery designer Claire Aristides - the brilliant Bejewelled set at less than half price.

The set, worth £62, comprises Claire’s new book, Bejewelled, and her tool set PLUS everything you need to make the Swarovski crystal gold filigree chandelier earrings, featured here. We’re offering it to readers for the fantastic price of £30, plus three Mail on Sunday tokens.

Bejewelled is a beautiful coffee-table book detailing 30 jewellery projects. It presents readers with a ‘tips of the trade’ approach to creating inspirational jewellery using a variety of materials, such as semi-precious stones, pearls and crystals. To see any of Claire’s range in more detail, you can visit her website by clicking here

To claim your Bejewelled set, simply send three differently dated tokens from The Mail on Sunday, which will be printed until 30 December.

Just download the tokens here and here and send them to The Mail on Sunday Bejewelled Set, PO Box 225, Alton. Hampshire. GU34 9AJ.

If you priority ordered your set, please write the priority number you were given at the time of calling in the top left corner of your envelope. All orders must be received by Friday 11 January 2008. Priority orders will be be despatched from the middle of March, with all other orders following in early April.

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Source: Wall Street Journal ()

In a new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, designer Olivier Theyskens describes a gray organza evening gown he designed: “My aim was to bring a sort of twisting movement all over the dress that would spiral upward and at the level of the waist, like wings, it would take off like a bird.”

The Costume Institute’s head curator, Harold Koda, writes that he sees in the dress an erosion of the boundaries between couture’s “lavish artisanal skills” and ready to wear’s “sensitivity to the mood of the contemporary woman.”

And on the exhibit’s blog, a critic calling herself Elizabeth volunteers this interpretation: “It is very poofy. It quite reminds me of clouds and churning ocean water … I love it!”

Fashion criticism has long been the exclusive realm of an insular band of journalists who traveled the big runway shows in Paris, Milan and New York and seemed to speak their own esoteric language. But the Met’s new exhibit, “Blog.mode Addressing Fashion,” is inviting anyone with an Internet connection to critique the clothes on display. With its new blog, blog.metmuseum.org/blogmode/, which went up this week, the august museum is also acknowledging that traditional fashion criticism is over.

“There’s a whole new field out there,” says Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator. He decided last summer to turn a retrospective of important garments acquired by the museum since 2000 into a three-way conversation of sorts between curator, designer and outside observers. “We wanted to further the practice of fashion interpretation and appreciation,” he says.

The exhibit features 65 garments arranged mostly chronologically, from a circa-1730 British waistcoat to Mr. Theyskens’s ballgown from a 2007 Nina Ricci collection. It contains work from prominent designers like Vivienne Westwood, Comme des Garçons’ creative Rei Kawakubo, and Donna Karan. Among the notable pieces are a 1947 dress by Hollywood couturier …

Source: WebWire (press release) ()

High-Tech Cameras Help Record, Monitor Marine Animal Activity; Prove to be Robust, Scalable, Cost-Effective.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif.-chfront of the Gulf of Mexico lies Florida’s Gulfarium, the world’s oldest marine show aquarium. The park hosts a variety of marine shows and animal attractions, including the famous Top Deck Dolphin Show featuring trained bottlenose dolphins performing in over 500,000 gallons of filtered water.

Last year, there was a potentially dangerous security breach at Gulfarium when several students celebrating Spring Break illegally entered the park after hours and swam around in the tanks with the sea animals, endangering both themselves and the marine life. Although one of the students left a wallet behind, authorities were unable to prosecute because they lacked documented evidence.

This incident prompted administrators at Gulfarium to implement a surveillance system to secure and protect the marine animals living there, some of which are federally protected by law. The camera system would also serve as a tool to share and diagnose animal behavior and ailments. Trainers and veterinarians would have broader insights into animal health issues while park officials would have a better method of monitoring the animal life from a central office without constantly having to patrol the grounds.

Lastly, the folks at Gulfarium wanted to be able to share streaming video of its marine animals in action on its website to help promote the park.

To find the right security solution, the marine park engaged a locally-based audio-visual company, the Petermann Corporation, that consulted with D-Link, a world leader in computer network solutions for business and homes. As a result, Gulfarium’s new surveillance system includes seven D-Link® cameras – four DCS-6620G Wireless G Optical Zoom Network cameras, three DCS-3420 Wireless Day & Night Internet cameras — and a D-Link …

Source: Trading Markets (press release) ()

IBM Innovation Center Benchmark Testing Showcases Performance and Scalability of Actuate Collaborative Reporting Architecture

Tuesday, December 18, 2007; Posted: 07:00 AM

SAN MATEO, Calif., Dec 18, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) — IBM | charts | news | PowerRating — Actuate Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTU), the leader in Business Intelligence, Performance Management and Reporting Applications, announced today the results of a benchmark test conducted at the IBM (NYSE:IBM) Innovation Center, reaffirming Actuate as the industry’s highest performing and most scalable platform for generating information applications. The tests focused on the collaborative reporting capabilities of Actuate iServer 9, which is based on Eclipse BIRT, the Eclipse Foundation’s open source Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools project - initiated and co-led by Actuate. As companies need to perform better with fewer available resources, they are faced with formidable competition and an increasingly web-savvy customer base. Open source technologies — specifically those focused on presenting information for self-service — are a more important consideration than ever. Organizations from banks to government entities are seeking to reinvent the way information is presented to their customers; and need to deliver it in an efficient, scalable way to an audience that expects the performance and interactivity presented by many of the popular web destinations today. Proven by this benchmark test, Actuate’s unique Collaborative Reporting Architecture, running on Actuate 9 iServer, can scale with near-perfect linear efficiency and support a user population of millions, regardless of the size or scope of their information applications. This scalability and unparalleled performance results in faster and more accurate report production, lower costs and user satisfaction for organizations in the financial services, government, education, healthcare/sciences, telecommunications and public sector markets. …

Source: PR Web (press release) ()

Try-Before-You-Buy Rug-Design Software Turns Anyone into a Skilled Rug Designer

Rug design used to be a specialist business until the online rug store, Funky Rugs (www.funkyrugs.co.uk), came up with the idea of letting anyone — especially interior designers — have a go. Funky Rugs new online design tool launches in January 2008 in time for the new season designs.

(PRWEB) December 12, 2007 — Rug design used to be a specialist business until the online rug store, Funky Rugs (www.funkyrugs.co.uk), came up with the idea of letting anyone - especially interior designers - have a go. Funky Rugs' new online design tool launches in January 2008 in time for the new season designs.

This is rug design at its most sophisticated. The new design software gives rug buyers and interior designers the tools to create one-off designs. The range of options is so huge, it's quite likely that any chosen combination of design, colours, and textures is likely to be unique.

Despite the sophistication, the design tool is extraordinarily easy to use. The first step is to choose an appealing rug design from dozens that are on offer. After that, online designers are free to change each individual colour using a simple colour palette, or to alter the overall look by choosing different textures. The range of textures includes wool, hemp, silk, and loop.

Rug designers can experiment with designs, colours, and textures for as long as they wish until they achieve a result with which they're happy. Then, they can see how their design might look in situ by placing it in a finished room. There are so many room styles and layouts to choose from, there's bound to be one that's similar to the designer's own room.

Even at this stage, designers can refine the look by changing rug colours and textures within any chosen room, or by how the rug might look in different rooms. A particularly useful feature is to see how …

Source: Chicago Sun-Times ()

Black and white and timeless all over
TRENDS | Prints, checks, polka dots, zebra stripes form a striking palette

December 14, 2007

BY EMILY BIDA

Whether it’s prints and checks, polka dots or zebra stripes, infusing the classic timelessness of black and white into accessories and furnishings has long been a staple of interior designers, but this season black and white has made a startling emergence.
The striking contrasts play well against each other as witnessed on the Web pages of Better Homes and Gardens, Ethan Allen, HGTV and in furniture showrooms and kitchen collections.

On the web

www.ethanallen.com, stunning black and white accent pillows are available at Ethan Allen, from $69 to $119.

www.crateandbarrel.com (search for Laurel), the Laurel swivel glider upholstered in a black and off-white botanical print, $899.

www.searshomecenter.com, try a beautiful zebra bed-in-a-bag set from Sears. Cost: $99 for twin to $139 for king.

www.furniture.com, find a tuxedo accent chair with black and white leaf print. Cost: $499.

After all, a black-and-white palette is a striking interior design tool that can be used to create a standout space, designers say.

‘’The starkness of both colors plays off each other to create an elegant, contemporary look,'’ said Lisa Rittierodt, interior designer at Ethan Allen.

‘’Homeowners are often afraid to commit to a certain color. The combination of black and white can be used as a base in a room or by itself. Black and white creates a clean look and is very striking,'’ says Victoria Veiock, owner of Wicker and the Works in Valley Junction,

‘’Be careful when using different black and white patterns, though,'’ Rittierodt said.

‘’You need to balance …