Despite the fact that we supposedly live in a free democracy and that a large portion of people have angrily opposed this law coming into effect, it seems that every phone call, email and web search you make will be monitored.
This data will be stored for a year and available to 653 public bodies and they will be able to do so very easily, without requiring a judge.
In case you have become numb to the growing lack of civil liberties in Britain, this is a disgusting abuse of power and it is both undemocratic and representative of the failing nanny state we live in.
Pop Gun Volume Three, is the third in a series of anthology comic books by Alberto Mielgo.
He certainly has a distinctive style and a passion for what he does, the books are relatively hefty with quite a few pages. He has a vibrant and sketchy style, it’s makes for a more interesting narrative.
Droplr has launched for Mac. It is an incredibly useful tool to allow file sharing with anyone (whether it is that new audio track you made in GarageBand or a screenshot of a new blog design you like). It integrates seamlessly into Twitter, but if you’re not a fan of Twitter (god forbid), then there is always the clipboard.
The design is fantastic, from their website and their logo to the elements of the application (such as the notifications), everything is just perfect. I rarely see an application that is so appetising in terms of design. Once you’re logged in, you have your own little management area too (which is also a wonderfully tantalising piece of web-app design).
It’s not just a gimmick wrapped in aesthetics, it is well and truly a useful application. As a matter of fact, calling it “useful” may be an understatement, but don’t take my word for it, go and download it. Did I mention it is free?
Abecederia is a beautifully presented graphic novella which has proven popular in France and Germany. It has been translated to English and can be purchased from Nobrow for £10.00 ($16/€12).
Aesthetics are incredibly important and becoming increasingly more so (if that’s possible). This article is about GUI, not function. Most of these browsers would get top marks for features.
A design is what makes an application usable, whether it appeals or not, and for better or worse, a lot of purchase decisions are based on who a product looks. It isn’t as absurd as you may think and this is no truer than on the Mac (and for your browser, one of the most used applications).
Apple’s Safari is still the most Mac-like application, it integrates fully into the Mac OS X environment and I’m not just being an Apple suck up either, their capsule styled buttons in Apple Mail are pretty poor, but their browser features a simple polished user interface.
One problem, however is that the button to add the website to bookmarks is permanently attached to the address bar and I see no need for that, it’s extra unnecessary clutter. Their minimalist mantra fell over a bit there.
Again, this is based on design. If we were talking about features, I’d have to point out the inability to add other search engines to its search box. Oh, I just did.
Camino 2 is a Mac-like product, but it’s more for the Tiger Aqua look than for Leopards Unified environment. Their design is clean and it works, but it needs updating. Not to say that it doesn’t work now, it wouldn’t look too out of place, but updating the design would be rather simple in comparison to the massive development that took place in developing version 2.
Mozilla Firefox has an appalling design, but at least they have tried to make it Mac-like, it’s just that they have failed. Firefox is a great browser, but their Mac version doesn’t live up the expectations (design wise). It is clumsy, oversized and they seem to have just rounded the corners off everything and said, “That works”. It is a great shame, because early beta versions of Firefox were a lot better looking and would have received higher marks.
Then steps in Google Chrome, it follows a strict minimalist ideology that works, similar to Safari and they have done quite well to make it look ‘nice’, but it doesn’t fit. It stands out like a sore thumb on your desktop. It doesn’t look like a Mac application, it looks slightly butchered, like a kids jigsaw piece that has been hacked at to fit in somewhere where it shouldn’t be.
Google has launched it’s live search service that lets you search for terms and get live results.
In the past, it would take a while for search results to update themselves, weeks in some cases. Now you can get quick and relevant information, up-to-the-second. Whilst this seems quite mundane, the server power and technical ability shouldn’t be underestimated. What Google has done is rather brilliant.
To use it, simply search for something and click on ‘Show Options’ in the results. You can then select ‘Recent Results’ which will display the most recent results (to the second). There are other options too, experiment with them, it’s relatively interesting.
The OZO watch by Anton Repponen is possibly one of the most fantastically designed watches I’ve seen. Unfortunately it is only a concept watch. Check out his O2 watch too.
