Extra Future

Month: July 2010

  • Chrometric – Color-blindness Simulation For Web Developement

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    [This is a useful tool that belongs in every web developer’s utility belt.][link] Color-blindness affects up to 8% of the male population (ladies are safer, only 0.5% are color-blind). Any usability test document that doesn’t test for color-blindness isn’t very good. [link]: http://enably.com/chrometric/ “Chrometric”

  • The Evolution of Pabst Blue Ribbon’s Beer Advertising

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    [These brand retrospective-type posts are always worth a look, especially when the company is as old as PBR.][link] [link]: http://www.sloshspot.com/blog/11-07-2008/The-Evolution-of-Pabst-Blue-Ribbons-Beer-Advertising-77 “The Evolution of Pabst Blue Ribbon’s Beer Advertising | Sloshspot Blog”

  • Reddit on Quantcast, Alexa, Compete, Etc

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Spoiler: They’re all bullshit and have wildly wrong numbers.][link] [link]: http://blog.reddit.com/2010/07/experts-misunderestimate-our-traffic.html “blog.reddit — what’s new on reddit: “Experts” misunderestimate our traffic, and we don’t know why”

  • CSS3 PIE: CSS3 decorations for IE

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Enables some of the most useful CSS3 features for IE6-8, such as border-radius, box-shadow, and linear-gradient][link]. This will save me hours every week. [link]: http://css3pie.com/ “CSS3 PIE: CSS3 decorations for IE”

  • You’ve Either Shipped or You Haven’t

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Remember, folks: Real artists ship.][link] This is another example of the huge disconnect between those who create for a living and those who don’t. [link]: http://scraplab.net/2010/07/17/youve-either-shipped-or-you-havent/ “scraplab — You’ve Either Shipped or You Haven’t”

  • sonic xl

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [A modification of Sonic The Hedgehog in which the rings are now fried food][link]. Sonic eats them and gets fat. Eventually he gets so fat he can no longer move. I’m waiting for Sonic XL2: The Hoveround. [link]: http://www.auntiepixelante.com/?p=623 “auntie pixelante › sonic xl”

  • Steam’s June 2010 Mac Hardware Survey

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Very cool graphs with data collected from Valve’s opt-in hardware stats software][link]. [link]: http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/?platform=mac “Steam Hardware Survey”

  • Double Fine’s next projects: four ‘smaller’ games

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Double Fine is my favorite North American game studio][link], and it is gratifying to see them branch out like this. For a company whose output over the last decade has been 2 big-budget games, this will be a great exercise. [link]: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/15/double-fines-next-projects-four-smaller-games/ “Double Fine’s next projects: four ‘smaller’ games | Joystiq”

  • Appeals Court Strikes Down Indecency Rule

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [A tiny bit of good news on a dreary day][link]: >A United States appeals court tossed out the indecency policy of the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, calling it a violation of the First Amendment. Let’s hope we can make it stick. [link]: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/appeals-court-strikes-down-indecency-rule/ “Appeals Court Strikes Down Indecency Rule – Media Decoder Blog –…

  • Don’t Panic. We’ve Got Time.

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    >[The data that once suggested the Sun is orbited by a distant dark companion now raises even more questions.][link] The good news is we have about 15 million years before another one is scheduled. Personally I blame [Vogon][vogon] bureaucracy. (via [Warren Ellis][ellis]) [link]: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/25420/ “Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: The Death of Nemesis: The Sun’s…

  • George Steinbrenner Dead At 80

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Even as a visceral anti-Yankees guy, this brings me no joy. Steinbrenner demanded the best from his staff and players at all times.][link] [link]: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/sports/baseball/14steinbrenner.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all “George Steinbrenner, Yankees’ Owner, Dies at 80”

  • Micah Whipple

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    **Update:** [Blizzard has backed off from requiring real names on their official forums][backed]. [backed]: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25968987278&sid=1 “Regarding real names in forums” [Blizzard’s new ReadlID requirement][realid], which requires WoW forum users to post using their real first and last names, is not a popular idea. Apparently the company are running with it, though, and to show how…