Electric Weekend is the blog and link collection of Phil Bowell. Phil is a graphic designer based in the UK and is a Christian. Find out more.

Posts from March 2008

Feels Like Summer

It’s interesting how a few blog posts and a change in the weather can spark a thought and approach to something. I’m specifically talking about work here, and focusing further, inspiration.
Everything started on Saturday evening when I came across a post on Hivelogic entitled “Offices and The Creativity Zone”. As I read the [...]


the message is distorted • avalonstar:distortion

the message is distorted • avalonstar:distortion
Bryan Veloso and Avalonstar have returned. I awlays like seeing new designs, particularly on blogs because they are so personal. When I dropped into Avalonstar this morning my jaw dropped. It looks fantastic. Welcome back Bryan!


The Unstandard WordPress theme

Derek Punsalan has released another stylish Wordpress theme.
This one is aptly titled The Unstandard as it breaks away from the typical text heavy blog pages and instead presents an image as the excerpt. I suggest you check it out as it looks like a good base to jump from if you are wanting something [...]


Evaluating the Wordpress 2.5 Interface

Kyle Meyer takes a look at the new Wordpress interface for the new 2.5 version.
Some interesting points made. I haven’t looked at the new version but I’m intrigued by some of the points Kyle makes in his review. I don’t use the WP admin interface much now I use MarsEdit, but I’ve always [...]


MacBook Air Un-boxing

Fraser Speirs details his MacBook Air un-boxing.
I’ve not really read many first impressions like this of the MBA, maybe I’ve had my head in a box, but it seems and sounds every bit as cool as the product is. The extent Fraser goes to inorder to save drive space is amusing, I wondered why [...]


iPhone Developement

Craig Hockenberry on exactly why Apple don’t let developers run background apps.
He makes some very interesting points about the reasons why he believes Apple didn’t include such a feature. He also makes another excellent point about iPhone development:

It takes several months of actual iPhone development before you eventually realize that the iPhone requires a [...]


Airport Express Goes ‘N’

Apple have finally updated their Airport Express to the 802.11n spec that the Time Capsule and Airport Extreme use.
This makes the excellent little device an even better accessory to your Macs and stereo. It was the weak link but now looks a lot more appealing. I’ve had my ‘G’ spec Airport Express for [...]


The Tale Of A Switcher

David Alison a hardcore Windows guy talks about his switch to the Mac.
It’s an interesting piece and actually I think he really gets his Mac. I’ve often been asked the same question about why I like my Mac’s so much. Each time I try to answer I don’t seem to be able to [...]


Sketchnotes

Mike Rohde’s SXSW sketchnotes. These are fantastically inspirational notes. I got lost just looking and reading them and I feel like they really gave me the essential parts of the seminars. A great way of documenting talks and events.


Publicis & Hal Riney

Publicis & Hal Riney
Great piece of web development that makes use of that iSight built into the top of Macs (or webcams on PC’s). Genius idea although it’s a little slow in loading everything it’s a still a great proof of concept.
(Via Shawn Blanc.)


From Moleskine to Market: Type Creation

Kris Sowersby from I Love Typography documents his design process for a new typeface.
He tells us how he begins, what he does and I found it a thoroughly fascinating read which answered a few question I’ve recently thought about (maybe I’m a budding type designer!?!).
I found this quote particularly pertinent and really think what it [...]


Dropbox

Dropbox looks like a great way to keep files in sync across multiple computers.
I’ve been on the lookout for something like this ever since I got my iMac to use as well as my iBook. This looks like the effortless type of syncing I’m after, although I wish it worked across a local network [...]


TORN MIME feat. NATALIE IMBRUGLIA

Fantastic video of a mime to Natalie Imbruglia’s torn. Great song, very funny mime. Great hoe Natalie joins in and is in the whole spirit of it all.
(Via my mate Mark!)


Penguin Classics

A fantastic Tumblr theme based around Penguin Classics.
It really is brilliant. I really like the way the colours are used to reflect the type of posts. If only more Tumblr themes were as pleasing on the eye as this one is.
(Via Naz Hamid.)


Faceless

Yesterday I encountered something at the bank which made me really think about the way some services are provided. More specifically it’s made me think about how technology is being introduced and taking the place of humans.
As I’m sure many of you know, I like technology. It fascinates me and I believe used [...]


NewsFire goes free

My previous favourite RSS reader, NewsFire, has gone free.

Today’s a big day for NewsFire. After much internal debate, I’ve made the decision that as of today, NewsFire is totally free. No feature restrictions, no ads, no cut-down ‘lite’ version… this is the real deal.
NewsFire used to be my weapon of choice, but when NNW went [...]