[Recap] October 2007

October 2007 Recap is here ^^ full of fun and great freeware tools, this should be good for those of you who may have missed one or two posts here at zlythern ;)

1. Flash

The Infinite OZ, Oct 18

Inspired by the Zoomquilt 2, The Infinite OZ features the artistic visions of nine acclaimed international artists, a collaboration that brings to life the world of L. Frank Baum's classic adventure, as re-imagined by the SCI FI Channel miniseries event Tin Man. The Infinite OZ have a more realistic feeling of being in another world ;) with all the snow, the windmill spinning, etc. Nicely done !

2. Flex

Vector Magic (Beta) IS AWESOME !, Oct 29

Vector Magic is the result of a Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Laboratory research project by James Diebel and Jacob Norda. Vector Magic is capable of tracing images and convert to a vector file, and with a PRECISE results !

3. Fun

Build Your Wild Self, Oct 19


I'm an Ibex-po-sha-ger-li-flam-peacock

What's Wild About You ?

Congratz ! You're All Genius !, Oct 30



According to The Blog Readability Test that is ;)

4. Games

Spot 5 Differences by IvoryDrive, Oct 12

IvoryDrive definitely crafted the MOST HARDEST and BEAUTIFUL spot the differences game ! The subtle artwork, the softness, the beautiful, i think that's what makes Spot 5 Differences by IvoryDrive HARD to solve, but always make you want to play it again ;)

5. Personal

You Can Tell Me Now, Oct 22

Once in a while, i got some tips from my reader in my inbox ;) Thanks ^^

So, i thought i might as well add some form :) In case some of you couldn't find my email ;P

Just a click on the right sidebar, write your name, and tell me what have you found while browsing ;)

6. Photoshop

How to Enlarge Vector Picture Easily Without Losing Quality, Oct 8

Sometimes when you're working with photoshop, and find a nice vector image which is free, and you already had the whole idea of what to design with all the materials, you had a problem! The vector image that is free is not big enough in terms of resolution!

7. Quiz

What Kind of Blogger Are You ?, Oct 23


Professor Blogstein have 7 simple questions :)

Fun little badge will be given as a reward ;)

8. Tools

Write Your Name in Arabic, Oct 3

All you hafta do is enter your name, and voila ! The arabic version of your name will be prompted just as you type ;)

While the result are not in the arabic letter at all, which mean you cannot copy paste the result, but still this is quite handy if you need a free arabic name ;)

Tabs Have Never Been Easier !, Oct 10

Overall this is very nice tool, if you happen to need a tab fast :D There's not much can be done on tabs i think, but it will be nicer if we can have more style for the tabs (something like Button Boost done quite well), and maybe a nice gallery to show off too like in Tartan Maker ;)

FLV Player is 2.0 !, Oct 16

The need of option to remember last used volume ? It's there ! Another BEST thing in this new player ? You can DIRECTY copy-and-paste a YouTube url ! It will retrieve the video and played it ! Brilliant !

_________________________________________________________

That is all folks, October 2007 recap ^^

Hope you do all enjoy the posts ;) And to those of you who celebrate Halloween, here's a picture for you :D

Happy Halloween 2007 !

Congratz ! You're All Genius !

According to The Blog Readability Test that is ;)

_________________________________________

If you wanted to know more on How to Measure Your Post's Readability, feel free to check my old post :P

Vector Magic (Beta) IS AWESOME !

Few days back, i was posting a screencast on How to Enlarge Vector Picture Easily Without Losing Quality, this is one way to be able to enlarge an image IF you DONT have the original vector image !

Today when i go through my feed, Simon Willison posted an AWESOME tool to CONVERT ANY IMAGE TO VECTOR ! Brilliant ! And you know what ?! It's Flash ! Flex to be precise ;)

Vector Magic is the result of a Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Laboratory research project by James Diebel and Jacob Norda.

Vector Magic is capable of tracing images and convert to a vector file, and with a PRECISE results ! Just upload your image and Vector Image will do the converting :D

I will try to give a few Highlights of what this Vector Magic is capable of (it's still even in BETA and am already very impressed)

1. Image Classification



First thing after you upload a picture if will automagically detect your picture's type. Currently they still only have 2 types, photograph and logo. This is not 100% accurate, so be sure to double-check, after it do the detection. But it should get the choice right most of the time ;)

2. Bookmark !



This simple information is brilliant ! If you had big picture to vectorize, and you can't even see the progress bar running, usually you leave the page open. But not anymore ! Just hit Ctrl-D and do somethin' else with your browser ;P

3. Zoom and Swap Your View !



After you get the result, the only thing you can do to check whether this Vector Magic did the job right or not, is to ZOOM in the result ;) Because you can see the quality of the vector more accurately if you can ZOOM in ;) And of course you have to compare it with the original image. And the Bitmap button did was a useful button ! Just a click, then you can view the original image :D NICE !

4. Geeky Enough ?



If you're curious, then play around ;)

5. Still Not Enough ?



Learn more about Vector Magic, they have a very descriptive screencast ;)

___________________________________________

The result is very nice :) maybe because the original image is nice too :P It might not look very good here (because i scale-down the image) Try to see the real size result by clicking me :D

Bottom words, you should really give Vector Magic a try ;)


[via: Simon Willison's Weblog]

What Kind of Blogger Are You ?

Professor Blogstein have 7 simple questions :)

Fun little badge will be given as a reward ;)

	Greed: -4 (Passion VS Profit) You're not in this for the money, for you blogging is all about the passion! Sure you might make a little pocket change now and again, but you know that it's the content, the audience and the people that are what makes blogging great!
Experience: 2 (Newbie VS Experienced) You've been blogging since Nick Denton was in diapers. When it comes to blogging experience, you are the authority on blogging. Heck you probably even have a blog where you give advice about blogging!	Sociability: 5 (Hermit VS Social) You love web 2.0 stuff like Digg and Delicious and you're involved in more blogging groups, networks and activities than anyone else you know. With all your connections, you make Neil Patel look positively anti-social!

[via: CSS Juice]

You Can Tell Me Now

Once in a while, i got some tips from my reader in my inbox ;) Thanks ^^

So, i thought i might as well add some form :) In case some of you couldn't find my email ;P

Just a click on the right sidebar, write your name, and tell me what have you found while browsing ;) And i'll do my best to catch up and post it ;)

The form is provided by Wufoo, the easiest way to build a form :D i'll put up a how-to next time ;) so stay here, and have a nice day ^^




p.s: don't forget to Tell Me those interesting thing you found ;)

Build Your Wild Self

I'm an Ibex-po-sha-ger-li-flam-peacock

Ibex horns - Your Ibex horns can grow up to three feet long. Unlike antlers, which are shed every year, you get to keep your Ibex horns for life.

Polar bear ears -It gets cold in the Arctic (down to 35°F below). For warmth, your polar bear ears are small and covered in fur—even on the inside. When diving, the ears close to keep cold water out.

Sand tiger shark teeth - Your smile is deadly. Your spiky sand tiger shark teeth are perfect for gripping fish and other slippery prey.

Siberian tiger paws - It's no fun getting stuck in the snow. That's why your Siberian tiger paws are extra large. They work just like snowshoes and prevent you from sinking.

African lion legs - Your African lion legs are extremely powerful and have long, retractable claws to help you bring down prey. Careful not to poke your eye out with those things!

Chilean flamingo wings - Your Chilean flamingo wings have dark feathers on their underside. Males use them in courtship displays by flapping their wings to make black flashes that attract the ladies. Ooh la la!

Peacock male tail - Your peacock tail feathers can grow to be 60 inches long. Each feather has what looks like an eye on it. They help scare away other animals that might want to eat you.

Build Your Wild Self !

And have a Fun WILD weekend ^^

[via: The Presurfer]

The Infinite OZ

A little while ago, i guest-posted on RGS about The Zoomquilt Series.

The Infinite OZ. features the artistic visions of nine acclaimed international artists, a collaboration that brings to life the world of L. Frank Baum's classic adventure, as re-imagined by the SCI FI Channel miniseries event Tin Man.

Inspired by the Zoomquilt 2, The Infinite OZ have a more realistic feeling of being in another world ;) with all the snow, the windmill spinning, etc. Nicely done !

And in case you wanted to get the images for your wallpaper, i'll give you a hint, there are a total of 60 images (from image0.jpg to image59.jpg) being used in The Infinite OZ ;)


[via: Ursi's Blog]

FLV Player is 2.0 !

Martijn de Visser the creator of the first standalone FLV Player, now is back with FLV Player 2.0 ! Yes, the FLV PLayer is 2.0 !

This new FLV Player 2.0 settings offer you some goodies !

I especially found the need of option to remember last used volume ! And it's here now ! Very nice !

Another BEST thing in this new player ?
You can DIRECTY copy-and-paste a YouTube url ! It will retrieve the video and played it ! Brilliant !

Not to mention you can do a CTRL-Enter too ;)

Say goodbye to the old FLV Player 1.3.3 :) The new FLV Player is BLACK ! Elegant ! Simple !


Go get the FLV Player 2.0 while it's FRESH ! :D

Spot 5 Differences by IvoryDrive

IvoryDrive definitely crafted the MOST HARDEST and BEAUTIFUL

of all those Spot The Differences game genre !



The subtle artwork, the softness, the beautiful,
i think that's what makes Spot 5 Differences by IvoryDrive
HARD to solve,
but always make you want to play it again ;)

Just like all of Ferry Halim's games.


Have a nice weekend everybody ^^

Tabs Have Never Been Easier !

The famous duo Alex 'Pit' La Rosa and Fabio Fidanza, the brain behind the Stripe Generator (find out more here), and introduced the TARTAN movement (find out more here) :D has done it again !


The newest addition is the Tabs Generator ! Boy, how their tag-line hit the bullseye ! Tabs Have Never Been Easier !


Although the interface is not as AMAZING as the previous stripe generator and tartan maker. The feel of easiness still there. And that is all we need ;)

Every time you change some of the value, there'll be a Refresh button to generate the new tab ;) This is good, as we don't have to wait everytime we change a value, then the picture will load again. We can just set the whole value, and hit Refresh ;) Well, maybe a minor change here and there, and Refresh again :D

________________________________________________________

Overall this is very nice tool, if you happen to need a tab fast :D There's not much can be done on tabs i think, but it will be nicer if we can have more style for the tabs (something like Button Boost done quite well), and maybe a nice gallery to show off too like in Tartan Maker ;)

How to Enlarge Vector Picture Easily Without Losing Quality

Sometimes when you're working with photoshop, and find a nice vector image which is free, and you already had the whole idea of what to design with all the materials, you had a problem!

Usually it's one problem, the vector image that is free is not big enough in terms of resolution (this happens a lot for the free one :P). And you're not in a mood to search another big one, or don't have enough time to do so.

That's one problem i always run into :P Since i can't do much on making my own vector. So, after knowing a little trick on photoshop, i tought i will share it will you :D


It's my first Screencast too :P I hope you all enjoy the photoshop tutorial ;)

Source Image	Cropped Image	Photoshop Source (.zip)

Write Your Name in Arabic

[Update 2007-10-09] The link to Efendi in Arabic is back again ;) Thanks Reem :D

A little while ago i posted about My Name in Arabic.

The site have gone through a lot of changes. Reem had a long break on providing the service for free. Then Reem decided to take a small fee in exchange for the service, which make sense for me, since Reem provided your name with a nice font with a beautiful frame, and even provided it with a .pdf .doc and .jpg :)

But now Reem is announcing that My Name in Arabic is free of charge again ;)

And the site is really is Undergoing Changes. Previously the Archive have many many names, including my own (dead link now), which is now disappear. Efendi in Arabic is up again now ^^.

I recall there are quite many of western name have been done back then, so you can always find it first. But right now, it's like going back to zero again. And am still not sure if Reem still working about this.

Meanwhile, Nomadturk left a comment, pointing out to a nice Arabic Name Generator ;) Thanks for the hint Nomadturk :)

Arabic-o-matic will the job for you, all you hafta do is enter your name, and voila ! The arabic version of your name will be prompted just as you type ;)

While the result are not in the arabic letter at all, which mean you cannot copy paste the result, but still this is quite handy if you need a free arabic name ;)

There are some notes about this though

This gadget may be used to write your name in Arabic letters, but be careful... Arabic has only three vowels, a, i and u. That's why the "i", "y" and "e" keys here just trigger the same Arabic letter. So do "u", "o" and "w".

Such contraptions cannot work very well, first because you need to know a lot of things about the sounds of the Arabic letters to cast your name into Arabic letters the right way, and second because the font is not very good.

So Reem's My Name in Arabic provides more accurate result, since Reem knows real well on how the sounds of your name is, and write it precisely on arabic letter.

You can see my name in arabic which Reem did for me إفندي (note that i can copy paste it ^^)

I think those of you who can understand Arabic will definitely choose Reem's My Name in Arabic version ;)

__________________________________________________

So, if you really need it fast and free arabic name generator, then Arabic-o-matic will do just fine while you wait for Reem to do your name ;)

[Recap] September 2007

September 2007 Recap is here ^^ a little bit late :P but then again, this should be good for those of you who may have missed one or two posts here at zlythern ;)

1. Art

Beethoven's Hair, Sept 19

On March 26th, 1827 Ludwig Van Beethoven died in Vienna. The day after, a twelve year old boy cut a lock of his hair as a souvenir. 167 years later the hair was sold at an auction in London. From hand to hand, from country to country, and from century to century. This is the story of that journey.

2. Comic

The War of the Worlds, Sept 24

The War of the Worlds (1898), by H.G. Wells, is an early science fiction novella which describes an invasion of England by aliens from Mars. It is one of the earliest and best-known depictions of an alien invasion of Earth, and has influenced many others, as well as spawning several films and a television series based on the story.

3. DIY (Do-It-Yourself)

Cut and Glue a Toypaper Yourself, Sept 21

It all started when John McGhee create a monster on one rainy Sunday in 2006. And the name is Humbles. Humbles was a lonely Love Monster, he is a very sociable and happy character, and likes being on desks, coffee tables or inside refrigerators - anywhere where he can say hello.

Howtoons is FUNtastic !, Sept 7

DIY projects have never been this fun ! They provide the idea behind, list all the materials, guide you on how to DIY, and all of this was presented in a comic strip, thanks to professional DC Comics artist Nick Dragotta ;)

4. eBook

More eBooks From Professor Solomon, Sept 17

Have you finished reading The Book of King Solomon i introduced to you ?

If you do, then Professor Solomon have another 2 ! Yes ! TWO ! For you ;)

The Book of King Solomon, Sept 10

Solomon addressed the two women. "This is a difficult case," he said. "We have no witnesses—no evidence as to which of you is the mother—no way to ascertain which of you is telling the truth and which is not. So we must seek a compromise, rather than justice. A settlement. Do you follow me?"
They nodded uncertainly.
"Captain," said Solomon, "divide this living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other."

5. Freeware

Grow a World from Network Traffic, Sept 26

Packet Garden captures information about how you use the internet and uses this stored information to grow a private world you can later explore.

Strip Annoying >>>> with emailSTRIPPER, Sept 3

emailStripper is a free program for cleaning the "Strip Annoying >>>>" and other formatting characters out of your emails. It will restore "forwarded" or "replied" emails back to their original state so they're easier to read.

6. HTML

HTML Playground, Sept 5

HTML Playground is a nice way to present a reference ! It is an (X)HTML and CSS reference by example ;) A perfect companion for learning the YAML (X)HTML/CSS Framework ;)

7. Personal

Smiley Turns 25, Happy Birthday !, Sept 18

"I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: :-)," wrote Fahlman. "Read it sideways."

Who would've thought that it began with some "joke marker" ? ;)

Happy Programmer Day, Sept 14

Programmer Day is the 256th day of every year, September 13th or the 12th on leap years.
If we’re celebrating the 256th day, why does the logo have 1111 1111 (255) instead of 1 0000 0000 ? What are programmers if not detail oriented?

8. Quiz

WEB 2.0 Design Quiz, Sept 11

Take a minute to complete our new special Web 2.0 quiz and figure out how smart you are on this issue. We have composed this quiz with the help of the world’s best Web 2.0 experts - although they most likely have no idea they were involved. Even so the results are believable. After you take this test you will receive a special code with the results on an icon that you can place on your website so that every visitor can see how aware of the Web 2.0 issues you are.

_________________________________________________________

That is all folks, September 2007 recap ^^

Hope you do all enjoy the posts ;) Have a bright Monday ^^