the.tino.blog

Check me out on Tumblr!

Konstantino — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:34:02 +0000

Hey peepz, check out my micro-blog on Tumblr!

http://konstantino.tumblr.com/

Design: iPhone “Stars” Wallpaper

Konstantino — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:20:53 +0000

Here’s a neat little wallpaper of the iPhone I whipped up in Photoshop. The iPhone image is from apple.com and the overall design is inspired by a banner seen in the upcoming WWDC (Apple’s world wide developers conference).

Safirefox: Choosing one Browser

Konstantino — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:54:00 +0000

If you were to ask me which browser was my favourite two years ago, I would say Firefox. It’s a beautiful browser with limitless customization. You can change the way it looks, add extensions to increase functionality, and it has a solid package throughout.

That was two years ago, though, and I was a Windows exclusive user. Today I run Mac OS X. I used to use Safari, then I began switching between Firefox for Mac and Camino. One of the problems that has plagued Firefox for Mac is that it doesn’t feel like it belongs on your computer. It feels like a port.

With Firefox 3, a lot of that changed.

Firstly, the user interface started to look a lot better. It fit in with Leopard’s UI. On top of that, it used up substantially less memory and added a lot of great new features that browsers like Safari and Camino just can’t compete with at the moment. (Heck, Camino still can’t even move tabs around).

Because of how cool Firefox 3 has been, I’ve found myself in a struggle to pick one default browser. Safari is amazing for what it is – a solid, native, sleek and simple browser that belongs in the OS X environment. On the other hand, Firefox offers easy bookmark organization, a smart address bar, scrollable tabs, as well as the themes and extensions that made older versions of Firefox so great. Sounds like Firefox is the clear winner, right?

I wish I could say that. Even with the amazing GrApple themes from Aronnax (which make Firefox look almost exactly the same as Safari), Firefox still lacks the native feeling that Safari has always had in OS X. Firefox 3 makes great efforts to do this, but it’s foundation stops this from happening. At first glance it looks perfectly fine, but as you begin to use it you start realizing that the contextual menus look off, the toolbar hiding transition isn’t apparent, and many of the form widgets just appear to be imitations.

While my current default browser is Firefox, just 15 minutes ago it was Safari. Two days ago it was Firefox again. I just can’t choose! I’ll tell you one thing though, they’re both great browsers and I’m happy with both. Now if Firefox and Safari were one browser, I’d be a very happy camper…

Hey, sorry I’m late!

Konstantino — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:43:33 +0000

Hey guys! So I guess I should be a little sorry for my absence, but let’s be honest; you don’t read this blog anyway. I love to blog though, despite my lack of posts in recent months. Today I’m here to tell you I will begin trying to regularly blog again. What does this mean for all of you? Awesome stuff, and by the pound.

I don’t want to talk too much about my personal life because quite frankly, my life is about as entertaining as a dead squirrel on the road. You look at it, feel sorry, and walk away – never to see it again. If you’re lucky you’ll hear a thing or two though. People need to see a few dead squirrels in the world sometimes, just so they know how bad our drivers are.

Am I making sense? I’m pretty sure I’m not. So I’ll check back on you guys later. Or, you know, you guys will check back on me.

Vlog: Why my parents are awesome

Konstantino — Mon, 26 May 2008 01:29:41 +0000

Here’s a little story as to why my parents are just so cool.

Work comes as Education week approaches

Konstantino — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:47:32 +0000

Next week is Education week for my school, and my music class is focusing on cultural music in the form of a keynote presentation. My group was assigned to do “Afro-caribbean” music. I honestly can’t believe how much work it involves. We were given several weeks to work on it. Throughout most of these weeks we would work in class to gather research. Of all the group members, only two of us really used our time properly. (Of course, I’m included in that “two”). As a result, I had to pay the price.

One of the group members really did no research and forced the two of us to do his research for him, while the other gave me his research the day before it was due. Being the perfectionist I am, I was left to put everyone’s notes together into the actual presentation.

I’ll tell you, it’s not very fun.

I spent three hours just getting the information into PowerPoint. It wasn’t too sexy, but all I had to do for the class due date was have my information and a few audio samples in there. Done.

So we present our “pitch” to the class. My teacher likes the information, and our background image is nice, but it isn’t visual enough. Of course it isn’t visual enough! I spent three hours regurgitating information, not Photoshopping a masterpiece! Although, I know that it didn’t look the best. Yeah, the background was nice, but it was basically a title and a crap load of notes for all…23…slides.

My presentation is to be played this Wednesday, so yet again it’s up to me to do all the work. I guess I can’t really blame my group though. I’m a visual perfectionist, and I won’t let my other group members present something crappy looking as long as my name’s attached to it.

I guess I have a disease or something. I should probably get that checked. Anyway, I’m “sexing” the presentation up now. It took me three hours, yet again — to get half the presentation done. Yay! There’s no way I’m going to re-haul the other half now though. My eyes are strained, and quite frankly I don’t know how I’m even writing this blog post.

Now you get to tell me how awesome I am. Go ahead.

Apple fails to keep it consistent – STILL

Konstantino — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:40:38 +0000

Okay Apple, I’ve had some gripes with you in terms of user interfaces. Let’s be honest, many people have. I know you’ve tried hard. In fact, Mac OS X Leopard is the closest to perfection in terms of GUI harmony you’ve ever put out. However, for a company who seems to pay attention to the smallest details in their products, you’ve left out a few (minor) problems.

Today’s issue has to do with iTunes. With iTunes 7, a brand new user interface was introduced. While this was slightly controversial, it had to be done. It was truly our first introduction to what Leopard would be looking like. So you think that it would have the exact same UI as Leopard, right?

Right?

Well, fundamentally it carries a similar look. But as shown in the image above, you can clearly see that it isn’t perfect. The gradient of the background looks a little different, and the text-engraving look Leopard is famous for bringing to the table isn’t there at all.

So, Apple, in your next version of iTunes, please correct this minor issue for me. Please?

I’ll put a cherry on top and everything!

User Interface Choices

Konstantino — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:41:12 +0000

You know, software companies never cease to amaze me. Whether their products turn out mediocre or amazing, the decisions they make along the way almost always can be questioned. Pictured right, we have a good example of this.

For those of you not familiar, this is a shot of Apple’s Mail.app toolbar. It compares the original toolbar button design proposal to the final version. Guess which one is the proposal?If you don’t have Leopard already, you may think the left-most buttons are what was used in the final version of the OS. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong. Although it makes more sense for this style of button to be used, considering it’s metal appearance is very similar to the rest of the buttons in Leopard, Apple has an issue with consistency. As a result, they made it so all rounded buttons had a distinct look to the standard metallic buttons, and that look is shiny blue…aqua…thingy.

My point is, although Leopard uses a more consistent window style, which is a big improvement from Tiger and older versions of OS X, Apple is a company which will possibly be cursed with a knack of making inconsistent decisions on an almost constant basis.

Oh well?

Do you file share?

Konstantino — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:41:17 +0000

So I was wondering what to write on this aging blog today. P2P application Acquisition was recently added to my dock by a friend, and as a result I began to think about file sharing. Is it right or wrong? Does it all depend on how you use it? And perhaps most of all, is it fair that your internet service provider has the potential to spy on your downloading activities? So my question for today is — do you file share? And if so, with what application? What protocol? Do you like Bittorrent, or perhaps a more direct approach with programs such as Limewire or Acquisition. And if you don’t file share, what’s your take on this issue?Call me up in the comments and we’ll have a rocking discussion.

Automated E-Mail – Too Much?

Konstantino — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:20:57 +0000

I recently posted something on Pownce that basically went along the lines of me failing to receive too many e-mails from actual humans. I may receive 10 – 20 e-mails a day, and almost all (or all of them) are automated messages sent from a website, such as Digg, Pownce, or Facebook. I know a lot of people will disable these notifications, but I find them useful – mainly because I wouldn’t visit the site otherwise (with the exception of Digg, which is my home page). Kay, so maybe I’m not the most popular person in the world. I get my human-sent e-mail once and a while, and heck, I’ve even had a few e-mail conversations. (We all know how common those are). I’m just wondering what the heck my problem is. I don’t think I actually have a problem, I just love my notifications and newsletters. Right? …Right?

Overview MacBook Air

Konstantino — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:26:52 +0000

So, here it is — the rumoured MacBook Air. It’s super thin, super sexy, and super expensive. That being said, I don’t see the point of buying one considering its steep cost. It has performance similar to the MacBook Pro for a similar price, but the MacBook Air only has one USB port, no Firewire ports, and no internal disk drive. Bleh, I say!Although, the wireless CD reading stuff is an awesome idea. Too bad it’s far too reliant on other machines.So what’re your thoughts?

What’s in store for MacWorld?

Konstantino — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:49:57 +0000

(Photo: The Archetype by Tom Bihn)Man, I can’t tell you how excited I am for MacWorld. There’s been rumors of ultra slim MacBooks, touch screen-based Mac portables, new cinema displays, and updates to current products. With the Mac Pro‘s recent update just days before MacWorld, we have to know Apple is setting aside the minor updates for some big stuff this year.So what are your thoughts? What do you want Apple to send out?

The Social Case

Konstantino — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:09:01 +0000

We all know that there are a crap-load of web 2.0 sites emerging from the intertubes. A lot of these websites emphasize the social aspect of the internet. One problem; there are so many to choose from, and a lot of them have different niches. For example, myspace and facebook are both very similar yet also very different. So how can we determine which ones we want to contribute to? Maybe you’ll even want to be a part of more than one site of the same niche. It all depends on the user, and their opinions of each website. It doesn’t take a genius to know that social website myspace has an awful reputation for presenting its users with poorly designed webpages. Myspace’s purpose is to let users share all sorts of contact while also communicating with the friends they make there. Facebook is similar to myspace, although Facebook locks its users into a single design. This is good because no one’s page can look ugly (although a lot of users add ridiculous amounts of applications), but bad because good designers can’t express themselves with this web app. Both very similar, yet very different. Then there’s social news websites, like digg, reddit, and mixx. While digg is the most popular among these, each have their own pros and cons. Again, it’s up to the user to decide which they like best. Smaller sites like mixx will likely be easier for a user to make an impact on the website (and home page stories). Sites like digg are hugely popular and will be hard to become popular in, but this popularity also means much more. Again, it’s all up to the user. I’ll go into one more sub-category of social websites. These are hard to explain; you really have to get into them in order to fully understand them. These sites are Twitter and Pownce. They allow users to post messages, links, images, and even events to either their friends, a specific user, or the general public. They both have desktop-based applications for easy posting. While I tend to prefer Pownce over Twitter, I’m a member of both. Sometimes it’s important to participate in both sides of the social spectrum because its better for your social contacts (so they aren’t limited to the website you choose).What am I trying to get at here? I don’t know, you choose.

A Rose by any other name is BANNED

Konstantino — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:09:02 +0000

In a recent discussion with several Diggers, great and small, we discussed some of the issues facing Digg today. The one that stood out as clearly a top priority is the rash of bannings without notice or explanation that have removed some valuable friends from our ranks.This is pretty serious stuff for diggers. Tons of top diggers who are really important to the community are getting banned left, right, and centre without an explanation. We have to do something.read more | digg story

Who doesn’t love Miley Cyrus?

Konstantino — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:03:46 +0000

Firstly, happy new year! Let’s hope 2008 rocks as much as 2007 did — maybe even more! Alright, so today I’m testing flickr blogging. I use digg blogging quite a bit, but since I love flickr too, why not give it a shot? Today’s photo is of the lovely Miley Cyrus performing “All I want for Christmas”. You can’t not love her. Seriously.

Why Wikipedia is Awesome

Konstantino — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:05:16 +0000

The comic will explain itself. I submitted this one with high hopes, mainly because it’s true. When you go to Wikipedia, you can’t NOT start looking at other topics.read more | digg story

Merry Christmas, Many Days Late

Konstantino — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:33:22 +0000

Hey guys, so it’s all over now! I’m less than a week late, but oh well. I received Mac OS X Leopard, a new keyboard, and iPod nano among other things! So what’d you guys get? Or what did you give? Shortest post ever.

Here we are, Christmas Eve

Konstantino — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:14:51 +0000

Gee, guys. It’s almost Christmas and I don’t know anyone who hasn’t told me they’re excited. Perhaps it’s a little odd, but I’m not nearly as excited for this Christmas as the last. I mean, I’m still excited, but this December hasn’t felt like Christmas for me. It’s going to be a white Christmas and the carols play on all around me, but I can’t put my finger on it. It’s slightly disturbing that all of Canada and parts of the US have been trying to remove use of the word ‘Christmas’, and maybe that’s affecting me a bit too much.

It’s been 3 years that my persona has existed within a blog, and although this has been the second iteration of that, the memories live on. Last year I posted on my blog a page called the memorial wall, and this year will be no different. Tomorrow, on Christmas day, you’ll find an updated the.christmas.wall page. This years wall is very different from last years, but the idea behind it remains the same – to thank all those that have supported me throughout the years. I really appreciate all you guys have done for me, keep it up!

Merry Christmas, and I’ll see you tomorrow!

EDIT: I’m disappointed, WordPress. Either they have a major error, or they’re also trying to sensor Christmas. I can’t tag my post with “Christmas”, only “Christma”. How about that?

The case of CS3′s icons

Konstantino — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 23:25:22 +0000

Come on Adobe, what’s the deal?
So we all know that the CS3 suit has come a rather long time ago. We’ve heard all sorts of complaints about the new icons. (Photoshop CS3′s icon, pictured left). I know the last thing you want to hear is that I hate the CS3 icons. We’ve heard it already. I’m here to say that I don’t — I really don’t.

I thought I would, though. And I did, for a time. When the beta came out, I thought to my self, “this is honestly the coolest temporary icon I’ve seen in a while”. I thought it was cool because I thought that it was nice of Adobe to give us a remotely viewable temporary icon, not because I thought it was an amazing icon overall.

The beta comes and goes, and the icon hasn’t left with it. Adobe, I think you forgot to change icon files!

But no, that’s the icon. In fact, a similar scheme is followed with each of the CS3 applications. People think to themselves, “what’s so creative about these Creative Suite icons?” There isn’t anything creative about them. I remember someone saying “this is what happens when the marketing team takes over the graphic design”. They’re coloured boxes with abbreviated names in them. Yippy?

So I thought I would hate these things. I really did. I even switched to Adam Betts‘ CS3 icon replacements. I loved them, and for months I used them. Yet suddenly, one day I think to myself – I’d really like to go default again. I couldn’t find the old icons anywhere, just replacements. Here I was, wanting to go backwards, and the world would only go forward.

In fact, at that time I was going backwards with a lot of UI features. For example, I ditched UNO (Mac OS X). I wanted to see what Apple had given me in the first place. I was becoming a purist.

Really, I think this is why I now love the CS3 icons so much. I’m a purist. I never got my original icons back until I reinstalled the applications. Being a purist, I don’t think I’ll be doing too much customization when I upgrade to Leopard.

Wow, I’m weird, changing tenses and all.

Math Teacher DIVIDES BY ZERO (Not Satire)

Konstantino — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:14:52 +0000

Schoolchildren from Caversham have become the first to learn a brand new theory that dividing by zero is possible using a new number – ‘nullity’. But the suggestion has left many mathematicians cold.

WHOA!