This video, by artist Isao Hashimoto, charts every nuclear detonation from the US's tests in 1945 to the modern era. Even if you're versed in history, it still offers a perspective that's tough to entirely grasp in numbers alone. More »


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Myths be warned! At Comic Con last Saturday, MythBusters stars Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage, Grant Imahara, Tory Bellici and Kari Byron took the stage to promote their show’s upcoming season. The gang also announced that they have renewed their contract for a full seven years with the Discovery Network. Appeasing the Comic Con crowd, Adam Savage clamored that they were willing to take on more superhero myths. Anyone out there a fan of the ‘Busters? Any favorite myths?

[Via Reddit]

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It is officially official. Sprint has announced that it will be “the first wireless carrier to bring Android 2.2 to customers [...] beginning Tuesday, Aug. 3.” Yesterday, leaked slides indicated that August 3rd was Sprint’s targeted go-live date, but a post on the company’s blog has made the date official. Go ahead EVO 4G owners, feel free to gloat in the comments. We’ve got the full post linked up for you.

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What if your phone automatically went silent when you step into the movie theater? Texted your significant other when you finished your long commute? Or automatically turned down the volume when a particularly loud friend called? It can; here's how. More »


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Along with updated iMacs and Mac Pros — not to mention a new Magic Trackpad — Apple announced that it will be updating its Cinema Display to a full 27-inches (the current model is 24-inches). The new screen is LED powered and boasts a built-in iSight camera, microphone, speakers, USB 2.0 hub, and MagSafe connector for Apple laptops. The screens resolution will be 2560 x 1440 and (obviously) in the 16:9 aspect ratio. The display meets Energy Star 5.0 specifications, will be priced at $999, and will be available in “September.” We’ve got the full press release after the bounce.

Apple Unveils New 27-inch LED Cinema Display

CUPERTINO, California-July 27, 2010-Apple® today unveiled a new 27-inch LED Cinema Display with stunning 2560 x 1440 resolution and 60 percent more screen real estate than the 24-inch LED Cinema Display. Featuring a built-in iSight® video camera, microphone and speakers, powered USB 2.0 hub, and universal MagSafe® connector, the new LED Cinema Display is an ideal companion for the MacBook® family or a Mac® desktop, and is available for $999.

“With built-in MagSafe charging, iSight camera, speakers, and USB ports, the LED Cinema Display is ideal for MacBook and MacBook Pro users,”said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With its massive 2560 x 1440 resolution, the new 27-inch LED Cinema Display is a perfect fit with our powerful new Mac Pro, and it gives iMac users an easy way to double their screen real estate.”

The new, larger 27-inch LED Cinema Display features a beautiful 16:9 edge-to-edge glass display on an aluminum stand with an adjustable hinge that makes tilting the display almost effortless. The LED Cinema Display has vivid colors and exceptionally high contrast and uses a premium display technology called in-plane switching (IPS) to provide a brilliant image across an ultra wide 178 degree viewing angle.

Designed as a companion for any Mac notebook or desktop, the 27-inch display includes a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, an integrated MagSafe charger to keep Mac notebooks charged, built-in Mini DisplayPort connectivity for video and audio input and a powered three-port USB 2.0 hub so customers can charge their iPhone® or iPod® even when they take their MacBook with them.

The new LED Cinema Display now includes a new ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts the display brightness based on external lighting conditions and uses only as much energy as necessary to provide an optimum viewing experience. Made with mercury-free LED technology, arsenic-free glass and highly recyclable materials, the LED Cinema Display meets stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.* The new display contains no brominated flame retardants and all cables and components are PVC-free.

Pricing & Availability
The new LED Cinema Display will be available in September through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $999 (US). The LED Cinema Display requires a Mac with Mini DisplayPort.

*EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit www.epeat.net.

If you are a user who measures their computers performance in flops, then listen up. Apple has announced that they will be refreshing their lineup of Mac Pro computers this August. The new machines will have up to twelve, count em’ twelve, processing cores and offer a 50% speed increase over the current line. Pricing starts at $2,499. We’ve got the full press release below…

Apple Unveils New Mac Pro With Up to 12 Processing Cores

CUPERTINO, California-July 27, 2010-Apple® today unveiled a new Mac® Pro line with up to 12 processing cores and up to 50 percent greater performance than the previous generation.* Featuring the latest quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors, all-new ATI graphics and the option for up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD), the new Mac Pro continues to deliver amazing performance and expandability for the most demanding consumers and professionals.

“The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and configurable Mac we’ve ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With up to 12 cores, the new Mac Pro outperforms our previous top-of-the-line system by up to 50 percent, and with over a billion possible configurations, our customers can create exactly the system they want.”

At the heart of the new Mac Pro’s performance are next generation quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors running at speeds up to 3.33 GHz. These multi-core processors use a single die design so each core can share up to 12MB L3 cache to improve efficiency while increasing processing speed. These systems feature an integrated memory controller for faster memory bandwidth and reduced memory latency; Turbo Boost to dynamically boost processor speeds up to 3.6 GHz; and Hyper-Threading to create up to 24 virtual cores. The Mac Pro now comes with the ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics processor with 1GB of memory and customers can configure-to-order the even faster ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of memory.

For the first time, Mac Pro customers have the option to order a 512GB SSD for the ultimate in reliability and lightning fast performance. With the ability to install up to four SSD drives in the system’s internal drive bays, the new Mac Pro can provide ultra high-speed disk bandwidth and random disk performance, two times faster than the average performance of a standard disk drive.** Mac Pro also now features two Mini DisplayPorts and one dual-link DVI port. The additional Mini DisplayPort output allows customers to connect two LED Cinema Displays without an additional graphics card or adapter and the dual-link DVI port supports legacy DVI-based displays up to a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels.

Every Mac Pro comes with Apple’s innovative Magic Mouse and customers can also order Apple’s new Magic Trackpad as an option. The Magic Trackpad brings the intuitive Multi-Touch™ gestures of Mac notebook trackpads to the desktop. With its glass surface, the wireless Magic Trackpad allows users to scroll smoothly up and down a page with inertial scrolling, pinch to zoom in and out, rotate an image with their fingertips and swipe three fingers to flip through a collection of web pages or photos. The Magic Trackpad can be configured to support single button or two button commands and supports tap-to-click as well as a physical click. Magic Trackpad is available separately for $69.

Continuing Apple’s commitment to the environment, Apple’s desktop lineup is a leader in green design. The Mac Pro meets stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.*** The Mac Pro enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and the interior is designed to be more material-efficient. The Mac Pro uses PVC-free internal cables and components and contains no brominated flame retardants. The new Apple Battery Charger provides a convenient and environmentally friendly way to always have a fresh set of batteries for your Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. The Apple Battery Charger is available as an option for $29 and comes with six long shelf life rechargeable batteries.

Every Mac also comes with Mac OS® X Snow Leopard®, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife®, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto®, with breakthrough ways to organize and manage your photos by who appears in them and where they were taken; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand® which offers a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar.

Optional Apple professional applications include Aperture®, Final Cut® Express, Final Cut Studio®, Logic® Express and Logic Studio®.

Pricing & Availability
The new Mac Pro will be available in August through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The new quad-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:

one 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3530 processor with 8MB of fully-shared L3 cache;
3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 16GB;
ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
18x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire® 800 ports;
AirPort Extreme® 802.11n;
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.

The new 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $3,499 (US), includes:

two 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5620 processors with 12MB of fully-shared L3 cache per processor;
6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately);
1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
AirPort Extreme 802.11n;
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Magic Mouse.

Configure-to-order options include:

one 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3565 processor for the quad-core Mac Pro;
one 3.33 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon W3680 processor for the quad-core Mac Pro;
two 2.66 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon X5650 processors (12-cores) for the 8-core Mac Pro;
two 2.93 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon X5670 processors (12-cores) for the 8-core Mac Pro;
two ATI Radeon HD 5770 cards with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
one ATI Radeon HD 5870 card with 1GB of GDDR5 memory;
up to 16GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory for the quad-core Mac Pro;
up to 32GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory for the 8-core Mac Pro;
up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD); or
up to four 1TB or 2TB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm;
Mac Pro RAID card;
dual-channel or quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel card; and
up to two 18x SuperDrives with double-layer support.

Accessories include: Magic Trackpad, Apple Battery Charger, wired Apple Mouse, wireless Apple Keyboard, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, the AppleCare® Protection Plan; and pre-installed copies of Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server; iWork®, Logic Express 9, Final Cut Express 4 and Aperture 3. Complete options and accessories are available at www.apple.com/macpro.

*Testing conducted by Apple in July 2010 using preproduction Mac Pro 12-core 2.93 GHz units and shipping Mac Pro 8-core 2.93 GHz units, all configured with 6GB of RAM. Based on render performance of Maxwell Render 2.0.3 using Benchwell’s sculpture.mxs. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.

**Testing conducted by Apple in July 2010 using preproduction Mac Pro 12-core 2.93 GHz units configured with 6GB of RAM, 1TB 7200-rpm hard disk drive and 512GB solid-state drive. Testing conducted using Iometer 2006.07.27 with a 30-second ramp-up, 5-minute run duration, 128KB request size, 8 outstanding IOs, and 150GB test file. Average rotational media performance calculated by creating the test file on the outer, middle and inner sectors of the drive and averaging the results from all three measurements. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.

***EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit www.epeat.net.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

When the Apple Store went down this morning, we were expecting to see several things: an updated Mac Pro, an updated iMac, and a new 27-inch cinema display. Well, the Store is back… and here’s what the gang in Cupertino came up with:

• iMac — Both the 21.5-inch and 27-inch models have received a fairly significant processor bump. The 21.5-inch iMac will be available with a 3.06 GHz or 3.20 GHz Core i3 processor, the 27-inch model will also be available with the 3.20 GHz Core i3 as well as a 2.8 GHz Core i5 quad-core offering. All models will come standard with 4 GB of RAM, at least a 500 GB hard drive, and will have a hand-full of configurable options if ordered online; including a Core i7 processor.
• Magic Trackpad — Rumored some time ago, the Magic Trackpad allows you to click, scroll, and swipe on your desktop machine just as you would on your laptop. The device is 80% larger than the trackpad on the Macbook Pro and runs on two AA batteries. Here’s Apple’s take on the new device: “Magic Trackpad gives you a whole new way to control what’s on your Mac desktop computer. When you perform gestures, you actually interact with what’s on your screen. You feel closer to your content, and moving around feels completely natural. Swiping through pages on screen is just like flipping through pages in a magazine, and inertial scrolling senses the momentum in your fingers as you move up and down a page.” The device ships in 24-hours and is priced at $69.
• Battery Charger — An Apple branded AA battery charger was also released today, for… you know, environmental reasons and stuff. Not to much to report on it, but it looks cute.

There you have it, let us know what you think. Anyone going to be busting out the credit card today?

Read [iMac] Read [Trackpad] Read [Charger]

With the #1 and #2 wireless carriers scrambling to beef up their network and limit data usage by instituting tiered data plans, Sprint/Clearwire is sitting pretty on to a treasure trove of 100-120 MHz of spectrum across much of its coverage area. In this dawning age of data hungry devices, Sprint/Clearwire has three to four times the spectrum resources of its closest, upcoming competitor Verizon Wireless and could theoretically build out a network capable of supporting 540Mbps of capacity per cell. With all that available capacity, Sprint/Clearwire is in a prime position to buck the the trend of tiering data and offer a competively priced, unlimited data plan that provides consumers with the best price per bit. If given a choice, what would you chose – unlimited WiMax/LTE data from Sprint or capped LTE data from a competitor?

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Google has released an update to its Android and BlackBerry Google Voice applications, and is promising faster connection times. As Google states, “Our mantra is faster = better.” Here’s how the updated clients will expedite calls:

Until today, the Google Voice app had to make a request to the Google Voice server every time you wanted to make a call to send us the phone number you wanted to dial. Then the call would be connected via a Google Voice access number. With direct access numbers, we assign a unique phone number to every person you call. This means that we no longer need to use your data network to access the server each time you make a call, so calls will be placed much faster.

We’ve got the rest of the press release queued up for you after the bounce. We’re curious, how many of you give out your Google Voice number exclusively?

Faster dialing with Google Voice on Android and Blackberry devices

Thursday, July 22, 2010

At Google we are obsessed with speed. Our mantra is faster = better. This is true for our Google Voice mobile apps as well. When you want to make a call, your phone should connect you as quickly as possible, whether you’re calling via Google Voice or not.

Today we are launching an enhancement to the Google Voice mobile app on Android and Blackberry phones, which makes placing calls much faster. We call this feature “direct access numbers.” Here’s how it works:

Until today, the Google Voice app had to make a request to the Google Voice server every time you wanted to make a call to send us the phone number you wanted to dial. Then the call would be connected via a Google Voice access number. With direct access numbers, we assign a unique phone number to every person you call. This means that we no longer need to use your data network to access the server each time you make a call, so calls will be placed much faster.

The updated Android app is available from Android Market starting today. For Blackberry users, you can download the app by visiting http://m.google.com/voice from your mobile device. You will need a valid Google Voice account to use the app, and at this time, Google Voice is available in the US only.

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Omer Cetin, a talented icon designer, is sharing 2 sets of beautiful icons with a total of 110 items:

• PixeloPhilia (66 icons)
• PixeloPhilia2 (44 icons)

The icons are in transparent PNG format,  32*32px size and including items like documents, media, devices and much more.

Special Downloads:
Ajaxed Add-To-Basket Scenarios With jQuery And PHP
Free Admin Template For Web Applications
jQuery Dynamic Drag’n Drop
ScheduledTweets

Advertisements:
Professional XHTML Admin Template ($15 Discount With The Code: WRD.)
Psd to Xhtml
SSLmatic – Cheap SSL Certificates (from $19.99/year)

Tags: PNG
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Did you know that becoming a designer is relatively easy? You go to school (some people even skip that part), you interview for a job or start your own freelancing business, and then you start getting paid in exchange for making stuff look cool.

That’s about it.

Or is it?

Becoming a great designer — like becoming great at anything — takes a lot of practice, hard work and dedication. Maybe you are a student wondering if a design major or minor is the right way to go. Or maybe you are already a designer but you’re wondering whether a career as a designer is really right for you.

If you get through reading this article and find a couple reasons why you shouldn’t be a designer, it’s probably no big deal. If, on the other hand, you find that the huge number of these reasons apply to you, you may want to re-think design as a career.

1. You’re Not Artistic

I know this seems like a no-brainer, but it’s worth discussing. Some people have the mentality that designers and artists fall into two completely different, only vaguely related categories.

In reality, that type of thinking couldn’t be farther from the truth. Designers are artists — or at least they should be. Just because so much of what designers do these days takes place on a computer doesn’t mean there is no art involved in the modern day design process.

Many of the best logo and website designs start as sketches on a blank piece of paper. If you take the time to notice, you will see that many of the software applications designers use take cues directly from the art world. For instance, Photoshop and Illustrator — industry-standard software in the design field — both have painting-inspired features and vocabularies.

2. You Don’t Have Passion for Design

To be a great designer, you’ve got to have passion for creating things. Having passion is more than just liking or tolerating something. Passion pulls you in full-throttle, and makes you thirsty for more.

If you aren’t incredibly passionate about becoming a designer, don’t become one.

Burnout is a big obstacle for many designers; just wait until you’ve been working on the same type of project for months on end. That’s when you start to feel burned out and that’s when your passion will fuel you to push forward.

3. You’re Easily Distracted and Have a Hard Time Meeting Deadlines

Design requires the ability to focus, oftentimes for long periods at a time. It’s not to say that people with ADHD can’t be good designers as many believe that individuals with ADHD can hyperfocus on things they’re interested about — which is a big plus.

Are you planning on working for a local advertising agency? Ask yourself if you can sit through the time required to tediously and meticulously add realistic shading, remove skin blemishes, tweak typography and play with color combinations on an ad piece or a poster design until you reach pixel-perfection, sometimes over a weekend to meet a deadline.

Don’t get me wrong, design isn’t all work and no play, but there are times when you’ll need to concentrate hard on finishing a task for an extended period of time.

4. You’re Not a Good Communicator

How well do you get along with people? Do you work well in groups? If these questions sound familiar, you must have applied for a job sometime in the last few years. Business owners are putting a premium on communication skills these days, and it’s really no different for designers.

There are times when you’ll be working solo, but there will also be times when you’ll need to collaborate, take orders, give orders, and so forth.

When I say you need to be a good communicator to be a good designer, I’m not talking solely about being able to effectively talk to clients and people you collaborate with. I’m also talking about the medium of the work itself. After all, design is essentially a form of communication — the only difference is that design is visual instead of verbal.

5. You Don’t Respond Well to Criticism

When someone tells you there is room for improvement, do you feel the urge to punch them in the face? Criticism — and the ability to incorporate insights gleaned through critiques of your work into your projects to make them better — is an everyday part in design.

Obviously, you can’t go around punching people in the face all day, so do you have what it takes to understand the role that criticism plays in design? Nobody likes to be told their ideas are no good, but sometimes it’s not worth arguing.

If you are a freelancer, for example, your client (who is not a designer) may want to make some changes that don’t work well, or give you some harsh (even if inaccurate) criticisms. It’s best to roll with the punches so you can get paid for that project.

Alternatively, if you work as an in-house designer, your superiors are probably going to be standing over your shoulder telling you what works and what doesn’t (even if you don’t agree). It will take time to work your way up the ladder until you are the one who calls the shots — in the meantime, can you take the heat?

6. You’re Bad at Brainstorming

Designers need brainstorms like koalas need eucalyptus — without the ability to brainstorm effectively, you’re as good as dead.

Every design starts as an idea. Originality is everything in the design world. Even the best designers get stuck at times, but the truly great ones drive a mental bulldozer right through any roadblocks and keep going strong.

So, if you’re driving a mental tank, you’ll make a great designer, but if you’re riding in a mental clown car…

7. You’re Always Disorganized

Designing requires good organizational skills. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. It all starts with your workspace. If you work in an organized environment where your stuff is easily found, you’ll be more productive. But it doesn’t end there.

You’ve got to organize your schedule as well, but there’s more, much more — design itself is an organizational task. You’ve got to organize information in a way that makes sense to people who view your designs. Design is, to a large extent, the art and science of visual organization.

8. You’re Lazy

Laziness is the enemy of good design. Students, I hate to break it to you, but gone are the summers where the most important thing to do was catch up on daytime television. Once you graduate from college, you’re going to be working full time.

If you choose design as a career, you’re going to have tasks to accomplish (surprise, surprise). It’s something like schoolwork except if you don’t "turn it in" on time, you’ll get an F for Fired. It’s that simple, really.

If you want to get paid as a professional designer, you have to work. And you can’t just work, you have to do good work. To do good work, you have to practice, put in the hours and not give up.

9. You Hate Not Being Physically Active on the Job

Designing is not running. It’s not swimming, it’s not hiking, it’s not snowboarding. It’s not a physically strenuous  job. You’ll spend the majority of your day in a chair getting to know your computer monitor, mouse, keyboard and pen tablet a little better.

If you want to maintain your physical fitness, you’ll have to do that on your own time.

10. You Don’t Like Learning

If you barely survived college — and let’s be honest here, it’s literally not rocket science, design is one of the world’s easiest majors — you may not like what I’m about to say next.

Design requires a lifetime of constant learning to maintain relevance. Some people enjoy learning (especially if they are passionate about what they do for work), but others shy far, far away from it.

New versions of programs are always just around the corner, new technologies are born and designers must learn how to create for new mediums all the time. Learning new things and changing your set ways (if having set ways is even an option as a designer) is a huge part of the job.

Some Parting Words

Design, like any profession, takes dedication. You should only consider a career as a designer if you are truly passionate about design, have strong communication skills, can organize yourself and information and love to learn new things.

What are other traits that designers can’t afford to have? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Related Content

• Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Expand Your Design Business
• Why Designers Should Learn How to Code
• How to Design for Your Worst Client: You.
• Related categories: Productivity and Project Management

About the Author

Chris McConnell co-founded the Brandeluxe network of sites, which includes Freelance Review, Design News Source and Daily Design Advice. Be sure to follow @Brandeluxe and @DesignNewsSrc on Twitter.

The Old Spice Man (you know, the guy “on a horse”) has been making rounds on the internet the last few days, and he stopped by online community Reddit to answer user questions. One question/request was: we need your audio to build our own voicemail messages. And so the Old Spice Man voicemail generator was born. If you’re bored, hit up the read link to generate your own custom Old Spice voicemail. This voicemail is now diamonds! Do do do doot doo do do dooot.

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With the dominance of Apple’s iPhone in the recent years, Google’s Android OS seems to have been left in its shadows. However, this is only because the iPhone was released long before any Android device. Nevertheless, as the popularity of Android grows (and its growth is staggering) so does its range of apps.

In this article are the top 10 Android apps for people who make websites, enabling them to be productive whilst on the go.

1. AndFTP (free)

Do you need access to your web servers on your Android mobile device? AndFTP is just the app for the job. Capable of uploading, viewing, and updating files from anywhere, it can be a lifesaver if you need to edit your (or your client’s) site without a desktop/laptop handy. It also supports multiple domains from FTP, SFTP and FTPS connections and has an excellent user interface for a first-generation Android app.

2. SilverEdit (free)

A simple source code editor app, SilverEdit lets you code up full HTML, CSS, PHP files that you can save to your phone or send to your email account. Combined with AndFTP (above), you can build and push websites with your Android handheld device! At the moment, it still suffers from functionality problems on certain Android devices, but is getting more stable with each version release (version 3 is currently in development).

3. Photoshop (free)

Adobe brings the ever-popular Photoshop to the Android platform. Unfortunately–but as to be expected–it has limited functionality compared to its desktop counterpart, but does include the essential basic image processing functions such as crop, rotate, filters, and image saturation adjustments. It also allows you to share your work on Photoshop.com.

4. View Web Source (free)

If you come upon a mobile site that you want to study whilst you’re browsing the Mobile Web, View Web Source allows you to inspect and download the entire source code of the page to its text editor. It gives you the ability to edit and manipulate the code, make comments, and save the file on your phone (or send to your email account).

5. Mobile GA (free)

The trusty old analytics favourite–Google Analytics–is now available on the Android platform. Google Analytics is the best free web service (hands down) for studying your website traffic statistics. Mobile GA (Google Analytics) uses the Google Analytics API for securely transmitting your site data without the need for third-party intermediate servers, maintaining the privacy and safety of your data.

6. Dropbox (free)

A popular app for web designers and other creatives, Dropbox–the ubiquitous cloud-based file backup tool–allows you to access a remote folder with documents you have stored on the server. Simply save files on one computer and you’ll be able to access the saved files from any computer or mobile device. The free Android app gives you mobile access to your Dropbox account. It’s a must-have tool for those who work with files and documents that need to be shared across multiple computers and devices.

7. WordPress Mobile (free)

If you maintain a WordPress site, WordPress for Android is an open source app that allows you to write new posts, edit content and manage comments, all through the lovely WordPress UI. It’s great for blogging on the go.

8. Thinking Space (free)

As a web designer, you can’t turn off your magnificent creative brainpower and you’re always brewing up creative ideas for site designs wherever you are. Thinking Space is an Android app designed for recording brainstorms and for mapping out your garbled thoughts so that when an idea hits, you’ll have a structured medium to convey them in. An excellent feature of this app is the ability to sync with Google App Engine; this means you can upload your data to the cloud and access them from anywhere via your Android mobile device or through FreeMind (the open source desktop version of the app).

9. Typography Junkies (free)

Every designer should have a good typography source of inspiration; web typography is an important part of design. With Typography Junkies for Android, you can keep up-to-date with the very latest in font news by way of videos, images, social media and much more.

10. HTML Test (free)

Need to review your HTML prowess? HTML Test is a great Android app to have if you’re just starting out in this whole web design game. The app will test your knowledge about HTML, giving you multiple-choice questions that you have to answer within a predefined time.

If you’re an iPhone owner, be sure to check out a similar list called 10 iPhone Apps Every Web Designer Should Know About.

Related Content

• Getting Started with the iPhone SDK
• How to Make an HTML5 iPhone App
• Mobile Web Design: Is it Worth It?
• Related categories: Tools and Web Design

About the Author

Rob Thomas is head of photography for Designbysoap.co.uk, specialising in architectural and music photography. He’s also a search engine optimization engineer, often helps out with their digital marketing and loves graphic design. Follow him on Twitter: @designbysoap.

Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse sat down with the Financial Times and re-confirmed the wireless provider’s option to pursue LTE if and when the time is right. According to Hesse, Sprint and Clearwire are in the enviable position of having access to ample 4G spectrum that is able to support LTE on top of the current WiMAX network. This over-abundance of 4G spectrum, and the possibility of deploying LTE, is causing analysts to re-consider the potential for a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile. Rumors of a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile surfaced in 2008 but the talks reportedly stalled because the two companies use two very different and incompatible wireless technologies (*cough*Nextel*cough). If both carriers adopt LTE, a merger is more likely as Sprint would receive a boost from T-Mobile’s 33 million subscribers and T-Mobile would gain much needed access to 4G spectrum. Hesse acknowledged that there was a “logic” to the merger but failed to comment on the possibility that the two wireless providers are in discussions.

[Via Phonescoop]

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An important activity that all freelancers need to do–no matter what their freelancing field may be–is to read and educate ourselves. Reading is a great source for freelancers to get motivated, inspired, and learns tips and techniques for becoming a better professional.

There are many excellent resources on the web dedicated to the Freelancer. From getting inspiration to dealing with creativity burnout, you will find it all on the internet; there is a lot of information spread throughout the nooks and crannies of the online world, covering all the topics you could possibly think of concerning freelancing.

I have organized a list of great articles that will be very helpful to freelancers, containing hundreds of tips, tools, and lessons. This article could certainly be called the freelancing treasure box because every item shared here is a gem to read.

Starting as a Freelancer

The route to starting out as a freelancer is made easy with the great advice from these articles.

1. How to Start a Freelance Company

2. A Comprehensive Guide to Starting Your Freelance Career

3. 25 Awesome Tips to Become a Successful Freelancer

4. What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Freelancing

5. Are You Just a Freelancer or a Successful One?

Freelancer Inspiration and Creativity

The essence of gathering inspiration and becoming creative could never be simpler with the tips shared below.

6. Ways for Freelancers to Get Inspiration for Design Work

7. 10 Ways to Stay Creative While Exhausted

8. 15 Ways to Improve Freelance Creativity

9. 10 Tips to Avoid a Creative Block

10. 25 Must Read Books for Designers and Freelancers

11. 33 Excellent "Out of the Box" Ways for Creatives to Find Inspiration

Freelancer Thoughts and Tips

What goes on in the mind of a freelancer? What are the best tips you can get from freelancers themselves? Check them out below!

12. Wise Words from Freelancer to Freelancer: 8 tips to Help You

13. 10 Blogs Every Freelancer Wish Existed

14. 20 Quick Tips for Aspiring Freelancers

15. How to Beef Up Your Freelancing Skills

16. Essential Habits of an Effective Professional Freelancer

17. Freelancing: How to Deal with Long Working Hours

18. 15 Tips for Freelancers: What to Do in Slow Days and Dry Times

19. Spring Cleanup: 30 Must Do Tasks for Freelancers and Creatives

Combating Freelancer Burnout

Feeling drained out? These great formulas will kick away your worst enemy: Fatigue!

20. Freelancer Burnout: 8 Great Tips to Overcome It

21. 10 Most Common Health Hazards of Freelancing

22. 30+ Things You Have to Know About Being a Freelancer

Freelancer’s Hunting Ground

Do you know where to get jobs? These are the places to get you started.

23. 50 Freelance Job Sites for Designers & Programmers: Best Of

24. Get Hired: 15 Best Job Boards for Freelancers

Promoting and Branding Yourself

Making yourself known is essential if you would like to gain more exposure and incoming business. Learn all about self-promotion in the articles below!

25. The Art of Branding Yourself and Your Freelancing Business

26. Marketing Rules and Principles for Freelancers

27. 15 Guerrilla Marketing Tips for Freelancers

Dealing with Clients

Is the client your best friend or worst enemy? Read about tips and ways on how you can better work with your clients.

28. Identifying and Dealing with Different Types of Clients

29. 12 Breeds of Client and How to Work with Them

30. How to Find Local Clients for Your Freelance Business

Freelancer’s Tools

Be more productive and make your life easier with these tools at hand!

31. Cool PC Apps: The Top 50 PC Applications for Freelancers

32. Ten Essential Items Every Freelance Office Needs

33. 90 Useful Freelance Tools

34. 14 Applications for Project Management and Collaboration

35. 30 Freelance Work Websites and Resources You Should Know

36. 5 Tools for Freelancers To Manage Their Time

Freelancer’s Failures

If all else fails, pick yourself up and learn from the mistakes you made. Better still, you can learn from other people’s mistakes without the need to go through them yourself.

37. Five Ways to Guarantee Your Failure as a Web Professional

38. 20 Reasons You Shouldn’t be a Freelancer

39. How to Overcome 20 Reasons Not to Become a Freelancer

40. Critical Mistakes Freelancers Make

Bonus: Freelancing-Related Articles on Six Revisions

Here are a few articles on Six Revisions not mentioned above that will be helpful to you in your journey into freelancing.

• A Beginner’s Guide to the Business Side of Freelancing
• Why Branding Yourself is Important
• 10 Ways Designers Can Earn More from Projects
• 20 Invoicing Tools for Web Designers
• Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Expand Your Design Business
• The Crowdsourcing Quagmire

Share Your Freelancing Wisdom!

Whether you are a seasoned freelancer or thinking of joining the ranks soon, these articles will surely give you all the motivation you need to start and remove any doubts you have about freelancing. Which gems have you particularly enjoyed above? Are you a seasoned freelancing pro with tips you can share with us? Are you starting your journey into freelancing? What important lessons have you learned?

Related Content

• Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Expand Your Design Business
• A Beginner’s Guide to the Business Side of Freelancing
• How to Start a Freelance Company
• Related categories: Resources and Project Management

About the Author

Aidan Huang is an editor at Onextrapixel. His newest project, InspireMonkey, is aimed at sharing exciting, inspirational, and noteworthy information with the community. You can subscribe to the RSS Feed of OXP and InspireMonkey and follow them on Twitter as @InspireMonkey and @onextrapixel for more exciting information.

Microsoft seems to be in a bit of a pickle – it has a fancy, schmancy OS in Windows 7 but a majority of its prized business customers are still clinging onto the now nine years old Windows XP operating system. On Monday at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, Tammi Reller, the CVP of Microsoft Windows, dropped the bomb that 74% of business PCs are still running Windows XP. The reason for this slow adoption was not provided but presumably it has to do with the poor reputation that has plagued Windows Vista and possibly its successor Windows 7, which, thought its not being adopted, has fared better than its counterpart in the reputation department. Economics may also play a part as businesses have apparently been slow to upgrade hardware with the average business computer boasting of 4.4 years of faithful service. Rather than take a pessimistic view, Microsoft is putting a positive spin on this circumstance and viewing it as an opportunity to compel businesses to jump into the latest generation hardware and software. Microsoft is pretty upbeat- according to CEO Steve Ballmer, the software giant expects to sell 350 million Windows 7 licenses in 2010 alone.

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Apple announced last week via a support bulletin that it is replacing defective Time Capsules manufactured between February 2008 and June 2008. The defective units are plagued by a power problem that causes the unit to either not power on or power off unexpectedly. If you experience this problem, contact Apple, an authorized service center, or setup an appointment at your local genius bar to arrange for a repair or a replacement. Good news for those who already paid for a repair; Apple is going to issue a refund for the complete cost of the repair service. Hit the link for the contact information, serial numbers of affected units, and more on Apple’s support site.

[Via TUAW]

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Creativity, no matter you're a designer, developer, photographer or .. can help you get inspired easily.

To see the talent in "many different areas together" (graphic design, copywriting, packaging, etc.), advertisement are great.

Creative Ad Awards is an impressive showcase of beautiful advertisements with over 1500+ items that's growing regularly.

They are very well-categorized with the sector, creative director, agency, client and location.

Tip: Under the "Articles" menu, it is possible to find collections of attractive thematic advertisements.

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adeelarshad82 writes "The Bluetooth SIG announced the formal adoption of Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0, which begins the qualification process for new, low-power devices. Bluetooth 4.0 [zipped PDF of the spec] was formally announced in April, and added a new, ultra-low-power aspect to the short-range personal-area-network technology. According to the SIG, the new 4.0 core specification should allow devices to run on coin-cell batteries for years with a new ultra-low-power duty mode."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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lawpoop writes "Russell Kirsch, inventor of the square pixel, goes back to the drawing board. In the 1950s, he was part of a team that developed the square pixel. '"Squares was the logical thing to do," Kirsch says. "Of course, the logical thing was not the only possibility but we used squares. It was something very foolish that everyone in the world has been suffering from ever since.' Now retired and living in Portland, Oregon, Kirsch recently set out to make amends. Inspired by the mosaic builders of antiquity who constructed scenes of stunning detail with bits of tile, Kirsch has written a program that turns the chunky, clunky squares of a digital image into a smoother picture made of variably shaped pixels.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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