Essential design tools for freelance designers

"If you think math is hard, try web design." –Trish Parr

With PM Narendra Modi's Digital India campaign in place, almost every organisation is trying to go digital. Also, with the concept of smart cities cropping in, the internet availability and accessibility has become easier manifold. Therefore, to help the designers and to build the interests of the newbies, designing and marketing workshops are held frequently.

Image : shutterstock

We understand the apprehensions pertaining to freelancing and when it comes to choosing a designing tool, which is user friendly and economic, it's a gruesome experience. Henceforth, we bring you a list of design tools which can help freelancers with the same.

It is software as a service from Adobe Systems and is provided to subscription-based customers. With multiple utilities like graphic designing, video editing, web development, photography, and cloud services, it seems to be one of the most preferred and important tools for designers.

The package is a standalone kit and is complete on its own because of the inclusion of all the major features like Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, InDesign, Aftereffects, Premiere Pro, Animate, Dreamweaver, Fuse, Adobe Muse, Story Plus and many more.

It is a platform which provides you handcrafted designs from independent creatives across the world. With a total of 8,63,953 products spread across the categories of photos, graphics, templates, themes, fonts, and 3D content, it provides a wider range of options to choose from making it easier for the designers.

Sketch is a vector graphics editor for MAC OS, which promises to provide its users with all the free updates till one year, as per the new licensing system. The features like Mirror (for real-time preview on your device), reusable elements, and precision not only gives a user better control over the designing process but also, makes it one of its kind.

Google Web Fonts provides the user with a directory of open source designer web fonts which is majorly accessible to all. In case you want to widen your scope of choices, you can try Fontshop which provides a varied category of fonts namely ‑ web fonts, typefaces/ featured fonts, fontlists, newly released fonts, and finally the collection of free fonts.

"If a picture speaks a thousand words, an animation conveys an idea" is the vision on which the company works on. It provides the users with a concept of animated presentations, wherein the idea is conveyed through a story line by the cartoons. It enhances the user experience by providing economic audio visual content. Also, the fact that minimal technical skills are required for designing makes it immensely user friendly.

It is another design tool which provides provisions to design social media graphics, presentations, and other web content via a wide range of fonts and icons. Pre-designed images and illustrations are also there along with a set of filters to choose from.

Webydo is a user-friendly web design platform which enables users to create a responsive HTML 5 website, without writing cumbersome codes. The designs can be directly prepared in the browser and are to be dragged and dropped on the canvas thereby, generating a validated HTML code with a built-in CMS. The tool Webflow also works on a similar principle thereby, making the web designing easy.

This platform provides a collection of 28,245 website templates and themes supported by WordPress, Joomla, Magneto and more. The digital assets vary across the categories of code, plugins, videos, audios, graphics, photography, and 3D models.

Henceforth, it can be concluded that internet provides us with abundant sources of data for free. The only thing that matters is searching the right content in the due time. If you are on a strict budget, it's advisable to read the online reviews for the tools and go for the free trials before buying the tools.

Source: Essential design tools for freelance designers

Web Streamer for machine vision cameras from NorPix demonstrated live at VISION 2016

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Source: Web Streamer for machine vision cameras from NorPix demonstrated live at VISION 2016

Web-based startup HelpMeBuild helps design, build and renovate homes, commercial buildings

Prasoon Shrivastava, 37, spent three years working on realty projects as an architect in several countries. When he returned to India, Shrivastava found that the Indian architecture and interior design space needed serious renovation.

"The inefficiencies in project design and execution were far too many. Our architecture and interior design industry needed a new perspective and innovation through technology," says Shrivastava. To fill in this need gap, he founded HelpMe-Build, a technology-centric, Webbased, marketplace-cum-content platform for interior design and architecture that started operations in February 2015.

"The platform helps users in the ideation process as well as execution of their projects— residential, commercial, hospitality and institutional. From ideas to products to services, we offer it all," says Shrivastava, Founder and CEO. Founded with an initial investment of Rs 18 lakh, put in by Shrivastava, HelpMeBuild has evolved from a listing platfor m for architects, interior designers, landscape specialists, etc., into what the founder calls 'a managed social commerce' platform—in essence a marketplace plus content platform.

The informational content on the platform includes articles, videos and images on architecture and interior design. "Home owners and corporates get inspired by the numerous décor styles ranging from mid-century to modern and contemporary styles. There are ideas on how to incorporate these styles in their homes and offices," says Shrivastava. Users can ask questions, comment, like and share the ideas with their family, friends, consultants, etc.

The startup also lists over one lakh products— furniture, electricals, housekeeping, décor, among others—that can be delivered to more than a thousand pin codes across all major cities. "HelpMeBuild goes the extra mile in offering its users—including its offline clientele—the ability to execute the ideas and inspirations available o n the platform," says Shrivastava. A graduate in architecture and planning from Mumbai University, Shrivastava had a clear idea of what he wanted to do, but felt handicapped because he didn't have the necessary tech expertise. Not surprisingly, his biggest challenge was to get past this tech hurdle.

"My vision was clear about the business but executing a tech-driven project posed a real difficulty. I learnt things as we built the platform and it has been a steep learning curve," says Shrivastava. The tech was outsourced initially, but now it is managed by the startup's in-house team. "Over a period of time, as my tech understanding developed, I decided to have in-house teams of software developers just like we had our own designers content and operations people," says Shrivastava. Gurugram-based HelpMeBuild, which has a staff of 25 and generated a revenue of Rs 80 lakh in 2015-16, has just entered the Internet of things (IoT) arena to expand its product suite. It s first IoT offering is a touchscreen smart mirror, built by the startup's in-house tech team.

"The mirror can keep you updated with notifications from Facebook and Twitter, allow you to get your daily dose of news, book a cab, and do a host of other things. With IoT, we aim to help people embrace intelligent living," says Shrivastava. Among the current big challenges of this bootstrapped startup is managing its growth largely via word of mouth publicity. "Heavilyfunded startups are burning cash for consumer traction. We rely on referrals and it will take some time to establish HelpMeBuild as a brand," says Shrivastava.

The startup has set a goal of bringing 10 lakh users on its platform in the next three years. It is in the process of expanding to overseas markets, starting with West Asia. "Even as we chart our path to growth, we want to go through the conventional business methods—focus on quality and build trust among consumers," says Shrivastava.

Source: Web-based startup HelpMeBuild helps design, build and renovate homes, commercial buildings

Most Useful Web Tools and Services – Black Friday 2016

Today is a great day, it's Black Friday, the day when we all are searching for the best things on the internet and in every shop we can. We prepared for you 16 handpicked web tools and services that work brilliant for professionals but also for amateurs. Try them!

1.BeTheme

BeTheme is the most advanced, premium WordPress theme that is available on the market. It is packed with a really high number of useful features and with 230 included pre-built awesome websites, structured in 8 categories. Using the super 1 click installation feature, you can easily and quickly create beautifully designed websites, with no coding skills or experience. A powerful page builder is included, which be used to customize anything.Because of the pre-built websites and the b uilder, there is an unlimited number or websites that you can make. With just a single theme, BeTheme.Your website can look exactly like the demos, a thing that many people want, by just changing the existing content with yours.The Muffin Builder 3 comes with some new cool stuff : Wraps – the new containers that give you the liberty to create advanced content; A search tool for items finding – it saves a lot of time; Improved performance – It's faster and a Clean look which gives better readability.This is only a small part of what BeTheme can do for us all. You can get it for just $59, the standard license. Go for it!

2. Browserling.com

Are you a web developer or a web designer? How many times have you had issues with your webapp (or web design) working in one browser but not working in some other browser? For sure it's happened to you. You adjust HTML borders for Internet Explorer but then they don't work in Firefox, etc. Happens all the time. This is why you need to know about Browserling. It's an excellent tool for live interactive cross-browser testing. It offers access to all browsers in less than 5 seconds. Awesome, isn't it?! This powerful and useful tool lets you do quick cross-browser testing on all Windows platforms, all Internet Explorers, and all Androids. They say on their website that they're adding Linux, MacOS, iOS, and OSX support soon.Browserling is an enterprise quality cross-browser testing solution for a price of an expensive sandwich. It has all the features you can imagine – resolution changing, responsive testing, screenshots, and bug reporting tools. These guys are even offer a free plan with 3 minutes sessions for quick testing. No registration required, no credit card required, and there are no ads. You can just go to their website and start testing with one click.For Black Friday Browserling team prepared us a discount that you won't resist. They're giving 33% off with BFLING2016 coupon code. Get this special offer right now and start testing your websites!

3. OptinMonster.com

OptinMonster is the most complex, easy to use and useful tool to convert visitors or abandoning visitors into customers and subscribers. At your disposal, there are a lot of form types that you can display at the perfect time, on the right place to the targeted people. Building high converting forms takes only minutes, not hours and you don't need any codi ng skills or experience. There is a drag-and-drop included builder, optimized for creating forms for highest conversion rate.More than 70% of the abandoning people, won't return. That's why it's so important to use OptinMonster and convert them into your customers and subscribers. 300,000+ websites use this lead generation software to get more email subscribers.Stop losing clients, start using OptinMonster!

4. Snapito.com

With Snapito, you can easily get screenshots of any website you need without installing a browser extension or signing up for a service. It's a free service, for the moment at least, that works really nice and you can even edit the pictures before download. The editor has lots of features and it's easy and useful to use. LIVE API services will come in the early part of 2017.If you need automated web page screenshots, use ShrinkTheWeb, the guys who made also Snapito. Give it a try!

5. Themify.me

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are important days for Themify, that's why they have prepared special offers for their products. There are 2 coupons that offer never seen before discounts. First, it's named BLACKFRIDAY and it gives you no less than 50% discount on all Club memberships, plugins, and WordPress themes, excluding the Lifetime Master Club.The second one is BLACKFRIDAYLIFE, using this coupon you will get a discount of $150 for the Lifetime Master Club membership. This way, it will cost only $249.And even more, Themify is giving away an amazing number o f 10 Master Club memberships, that will give you access to all their products, including themes, plugins, add-ons and also PSD files.All these offers are available from today and end on Cyber Monday, November 28th, 2016. Get this outstanding offers!

6. uCoz.net

uCoz is the most powerful and flexible website builder around that gives you full control over your work. You can tweak CSS, HTML and other codes of the website yourself to bring literally any idea to life. The platform boasts a collection of attractive templates, a wide variety of modules, and a very rich toolset including an SSL certificate and robust SEO options. Start creating your perfect website tod ay, for free!

7. uKit.com

You no longer need to hire a web design agency or a developer to create a professional website for your business. With uKit website builder, you can do it yourself, without any technical knowledge. Intuitive drag-and-drop interface, robust business tools, over 250 industry-specific templates, powerful SEO, social media integration, and more. Go online today, it's free!

8. Simbla.com

Use Simbla website builder and you will get a fully responsive website in a matter of minutes. They have a free plan and awesome features like full security (really important), well-designed templates, responsive, free hosting and SEO tools. Test their services and you will get outstanding websites!

9. actiTIME.com

actiTIME is tracking time software designed to be flexible and easily customizable for any requirements. Thanks to intuitive interfaces it is really easy to use and there is no learning curve. It perfectly works for anyone who wants to keep track of time and stay effective. The good news is that there is a free version for small teams. Try it!

10. Colorlib.com

At Colorlib, you can find free and premium WordPress themes. There are many options, the quality and pricing are really good and the support team is like a family. Everybody wants to help. That's why they wrote on their blog a step-by-step guide of How To Make A WordPress website. Check them !

11. Simunity.net

What is Simunity icon maker good for ? For lots of things and everything is free, what can be more awesome than that ? You will find a free icon generator that can be used also for your clients and for resell with no license. Really, these guys are awesome ! Try and see !

12. USocial.pro

uSocial.pro lets you add Share and Like buttons to your website as well as make these buttons more effective with the help of the META data builder and the eye catcher technology. The META data builder makes your posts look appealing when shared — it will ensure a preconfigured description and an image are included in the post. The eye catcher technol ogy draws the visitors' attention to the buttons once they have read the post.

13. wpDataTables

Using wpDataTables, you can easily turn your site in a spreadsheet app without any coding skills and previous experience. It's one of the best WordPress plugins for creating tables, charts, and graphs. It costs just $35 and it has a lot of features. You should try it!

14. Thesquid.ink

If you love high-quality, handcrafted icons as much as we do, this is the place to spend some time. For just $45, you will get 2000 flat icons, t hat you can use in an unlimited number of projects. It's as easy as that to have awesome flat icons. First, pick the free pack of 50 icons and test their quality!

15. xfive.co

These guys have a really good history in delivering outstanding results for back and front end development projects, WordPress projects and they can also make other awesome things for you. They have important clients but even small companies appreciate a lot their job. Contact them and see what they can do for you!

16. Invoiceninja.com

Using InvoiceNinja, you will get well-designed invoices in no time. This platform has many features and it's really well secured, which is important, nobody wants to share secret info from their company. You should try it!

This day cannot end with you not testing at least 2-3 web tools and services from this showcase. These will improve your work and make your life easier and more beautiful.

Source: Most Useful Web Tools and Services – Black Friday 2016

Information Technology Support Analyst (Part Time)

LocationMain Campus

Position SummaryThe University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law invites applicants for the position of Information Technology Support Analyst.

This position's primary responsibility is to support the Daniel F. Cracchiolo Law Library by providing hardware and software support for the library staff, and assisting the Head of Library Technical Services in various IT special projects. This position's secondary responsibility is providing hardware and software support for Arizona Law personnel and assisting IT staff in various projects.This role also provides day-to-day maintenance of the computer lab and supervision of student assistant(s); in addition to, maintaining the fitness and operability of the computers and equipment, and providing assistance to students and instructors using the lab.

Outstanding UA benefits include health, dental, and vision insurance plans; life insurance and disability programs; paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; UA/ASU/NAU tuition reduction for the employee and qualified family members; state retirement plan; access to UA recreation and cultural activities; and more!

The University of Arizona has been recognized on Forbes 2015 list of America's Best Employers in the United States and has been awarded the 2015 Work-Life Seal of Distinction by the Alliance for Work-Life Progress! For more information about working at the University of Arizona, please click here.

Duties & Responsibilities

Installs, configures and performs routine maintenance on systems hardware and software including servers and operating systems. Creates and maintains user accounts.

Maintains, monitors and supports data and voice networks including client connectivity, authorization and authentication mechanisms.

Participates in designing, analyzing, implementing and maintaining applications systems. Writes and maintains computer code and tests applications.

Participates in the analysis, design, development, maintenance and administration of automated databases. Implements and maintains data structures including stored procedures and views.

Performs basic analysis, design, development, and maintenance of web sites.

Installs, configures and maintains workstation hardware, software and peripherals. Evaluates workstation support needs; plans and implements maintenance, upgrades and training programs. Resolves hardware/software problems.

Implements and monitors computer security and quality assurance procedures and maintains associated required documentation.

Participates in research of current and emerging computing technologies.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

Knowledge of the theory, principles and practices in area of assignment that may include systems administration, network systems administration, applications design/development, database design/development or administration, web site design/development and/or workstation/end user support.

Minimum Qualifications

Skill in providing information technology related customer service to users having varying levels of technical expertise.

Ability to analyze computer hardware and software problems.

Ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing.

Arizona Board of Regents Minimum Qualifications

Three years of information technology experience in area of assignment which may include system administration, network systems administration, applications design/development, database design/development or administration, web site design/development or administration and workstation/end user support;

OR, an Associates degree in Information Technology or related area AND two years of information technology experience in area of assignment which may include system administration, network systems administration, applications design/development, database design/development or administration, web site design/development and workstation/end user support;

OR, Any equivalent combination of experience, training and/or education.

Preferred Qualifications

At least two years of experience providing hardware and software support.

At least two years of experience in user support of Windows 7 and Windows 10 OS, as well as experience with Mac OSX.

At least one year of experience in user support of Windows 2013 and Windows 2016 Server.

Full Time/Part TimePart Time

Number of Hours Worked per Week20

Benefits EligibleYes - Full Benefits

Posted Rate of PayDOE

Type of criminal background check requiredName-based criminal background check (non-security sensitive)

Desired Start Date12/05/2016

Review Start Date11/28/2016

The University of Arizona is a committed Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution. Women, minorities, veterans and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

© Copyright 2016 Internet Employment Linkage, Inc.

Source: Information Technology Support Analyst (Part Time)

10 Tutorials That Can Get You Started With Sketch

Sketch app is famous for being one of the fastest growing design tools in the industry. But its fame and glory didn't go without a few hitches. Despite being an undeniable winner on the vector design scene, it's also infamous for making its users pay for tutorials.

The Twitter discussion, featured at SketchTalk puts some light over the myths behind this statement but the question remains – are there any good SketchApp tutorials that users can use for free?

The users' undisguised disappointment doesn't mean every single SketchApp tutorial will cost you an arm and leg. In fact, there are hundreds of free tutorials that can get you started with Sketch 3. And believe me, once you get a hold of the basics, you'll learn that your time, efforts, and eventual expenses for migrating to Sketch will be significantly outrun by the advantages of this new design software.

To provide you with a better understanding of the techniques and principles of the Sketch design environment, I've prepared you a list of handpicked design tutorials. They will guide you through the fundamentals of the software and aid you in completing tasks as simple as setting up your workboard or as complex as creating a whole new design project from scratch. Let's get started.

How to Build a Pattern Library in Sketch

Tutorial link: CreativeBloq

Created by: Richard Child

What you'll learn: 

In order to ensure your website design is consistent and easy to change, you need to know how to create your pattern library in Sketch. The pattern library is a collection of design elements, like navigation, headings, forms, etc. that can be reused to design pages. When changing the qualities of repeatable components of your design in other conventional design software you'll need to make separate changes to each object. What Sketch's Symbols feature does is allow you to create a library of reusable elements that you can change simultaneously. The designer Richard Child will guide you through the fundaments of working with the Sketch pattern library.

Draw in Sketch With a Limited Set of Shapes

Tutorial link: Medium

Created by: Yuki Erqiudao

One thing that makes vector design software so incredibly easy to use is the freedom it provides users in terms of content creation methods. Yuki Erqiudao, designer at Mind Labs shared his insights on creating illustrations in Sketch only with the use of rectangles, circles, and lines. Once you get familiar with the vector design environment, you'll notice that it's actually ridiculously easy to create illustrations with a flat design approach. This article will get you through all the basics, including a good load of shortcuts, to help you design your own illustrations in Sketch.

Guide to Login Form Interface Design For Beginners

Tutorial link: Web Design Tutsplus

Created by: Armando Sotoca

Creating a login form is on the to-do list of almost every designer but that's not the reason why this tutorial is so special. Armando Sotoca took the time to explain in detail every small step of the design process. From creating an artboard to managing the Inspector panel, and designing the basics of the layout, the author will guide you through every single action you need to take to create your own login form without leaving your questions unanswered.

Organizing Sketch 3 For iOS

Tutorial link: Medium

Created by: Timur Nurutdinov

Since its initial launch, Sketch has developed tremendously. Its newest version has introduced numerous innovative features that allow users to take advantage of a bitmap design environment, use Symbols to facilitate the design of repeatable elements, export design files in an effortless way, and more. Timur's Sketch tutorial will guide you through all of the above and go beyond that, providing you with valuable tips on managing your creative workspace with Sketch 3 for iOS.

Other honorable mentions: Design a Colorful Switch

Sebastien Gabriel's detailed tutorial will show you every single step of the process of creating a colorful switch icon in Sketch. You can check out his tutorial at Google Design.

Use Magic Mirror to Create a Poster Mockup

In his tutorial, Marko Vuletič shows the basics of creating a fully-functioning poster mockup in Sketch. He will teach you how to use Magic Mirror, an image perspective transformation tool for Sketch and make your realistic poster mockup in just a few steps.

Create Your Own Sketch Plugin

Liu Liu, a UX designer at Google, shares an inspiring story and a whole tutorial on how he made his own Sketch plugin without being a code guru. He claims anyone can do it, as well, so why not give this one a try? You can read his tutorial here.

Best Practices for Using Sketch

Nick Woodman's article is an honest and insightful guide through the fundamentals of using Sketch. Check out his seven best Sketch practices at his Medium blog.

Design Data With Sketch

Ivo Mynttinen shares some time-saving techniques for designing tables and charts in Sketch. You can read his tutorial here.

Resizing Symbols in Sketch

Jérémy Paul's handy tutorial will teach you how to rezise symbols in Sketch like a boss. His tutorial is especially useful for resposive web design as well as millions of other purposes. Read it here.

Craving more design tutorials? Read these:

Everything You Need to Know About Adobe Creative Cloud in 7 Tutorials

The 10 Best Parallax Design Tutorials Ever

Source: 10 Tutorials That Can Get You Started With Sketch

How to Make an Awesome WEBSITE for FREE!

Click here to build your FREE awesome website: http://www.wix.com Wix's intuitive, Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) software automatically builds a stunning, professional-looking custom website for you in just minutes! In this video, I'll give you an overview of Wix's ADI and how you can easily edit any part of your website using their super-easy, drag-and-drop editor and Wix's other easy-to-use features!

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Source: How to Make an Awesome WEBSITE for FREE!

Hands on: 15-in. MacBook Pro delivers on speed and design – for a price

There's a lot to like in Apple's new laptop lineup, from the updated internal architecture to the twice-as-big multi- and force-touch trackpad and the brighter, more color-accurate Retina display.

But the question I keep getting asked about the latest 15-in. MacBook Pro is whether the new Touch Bar is a gimmick.

The Touch Bar is Apple's replacement for the Function key row. Instead of keys, there's a 2170-x-60-pixel OLED multitouch display that dynamically changes based on app use and context.

Of course, that's not all that's new. There's also a flatter keyboard, new Thunderbolt 3  ports and even Touch ID — all neatly packaged in an enclosure that's both lighter and thinner than any previous 15-in. MacBook Pro and starts at the not-inexpensive price of $2,399. (This is also the first major redesign to the line in four years.)

But none of those changes, not even new Skylake chips, new GPUs or a weight reduction to 4 lb.– the kinds of things that usually get Apple buyers excited — compares to the Touch Bar for sparking interest in the MacBook Pro.

The main event: The Touch Bar

So let's get right to it. The theory behind the Touch Bar is sound: Instead of reaching for and touching the main display, there is an area directly above the keyboard (where your hands are already naturally positioned) that dynamically changes depending what you're doing.

Michael DeAgonia

Apple's Maps app has been updated to showcase the various uses for the Touch Bar.

Is it a gimmick? Technically, yes. But so is every new technology looking for a foothold in the habits of its users. The original Mac's gimmick was to be a self-contained computer when such a thing was rare; the PowerBook 500 was the first notebook to ship with a gimmick called the trackpad; the iPhone's gimmick was the multitouch interface; and now the Touch Bar is here to entice buyers.

A Touch Bar screen shot showing the standard configuration when the Maps app is open.

The more accurate question is: Is it useful?

After spending a week with the entry-level 15-in. MacBook Pro (256GB of storage, 16GB of RAM, and a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor), I've come to realize that the answer is nuanced. The Touch Bar can be customized in the Keyboard section of System Preferences and that customization is key to getting the most from it.

To begin with, if you're a traditionalist and don't want a dynamic strip, the Touch Bar can simply display actual function keys (from Esc to F12). You can also use it as an expanded Control Strip, so that it emulates the keyboard F-row system shortcuts found in earlier Apple laptops. If you're unfamiliar with the Control Strip, it shows display and keyboard brightness controls, Mission Control window management and media and volume controls.

The Touch Bar's default view is App Controls with Control Strip. In this view, there are four icons to the right of the Touch Bar for convenient access. This area can be customized in the Keyboard preference pane by tapping Customize Control Strip and then dragging the functions you consider most useful onto the Touch Bar. You can choose from Screen Lock, Launch Pad, Siri activation, volume and mute, brightness controls, Show Desktop, Start Screen Saver and several others. (I had mine configured to Brightness, Volume, Dictation, and Siri.)

Better yet, the Touch Bar can be customized within each app that supports it. Just go to View in the Menubar at the top of the screen and select "Customize Touch Bar…" The overall implementation is clever and well-done, and delivers more flexibility than you'd think.

I like the overall concept, but some current uses are redundant. For instance, when you open System Preferences and select a preference, the Touch Bar displays Show All, which, when pressed, takes you back to the main System Preferences window. When you're using Safari, the Touch Bar displays open browser tabs; and tapping on any one of them jumps to that tab in the browser on your screen. And onscreen dialogue boxes display even more options on the Touch Bar.

Michael DeAgonia

The Touch Bar and newly redesigned keyboard, with larger keys and reduced key "travel," are two of the more obvious changes to the MacBook Pro. Users will also notice that the keyboard has a more pronounced "clacky" sound.

This all sounds great in theory, but it's different in the real world. When activating a screen saver or showing the desktop, you could reach over and use the Touch Bar, sure. But it is faster to use multitouch gestures on the trackpad to do the same thing. For example, when I tried it out with the System Preferences and Safari tabs described above, moving my hand to reach for the Touch Bar took longer than using the equivalent keyboard combo. Since my hand was already on the trackpad, mousing to and clicking onscreen elements was faster than reaching for the Touch Bar. And in the case of the dialogue boxes, it was easier for me to make my selection by hitting the Return key than it was to reach over and tap. We're talking milliseconds here, but it's noticeable.

Essentially, the Touch Bar requires you to unlearn years of muscle memory. It has taken some getting used to, mostly because I've spent an entire lifetime not using a physical keyboard with a built-in touch area.

This sounds like I'm negative on the Touch Bar, but I'm not. I just find that it works best when it's acting as a shortcut for an action that eliminates multiple clicks and mouse travel. In other words, there has to be a good, time-saving reason to learn new movements. That said, I like having the options that the Touch Bar enables; I also like the contextually dynamic capabilities in each supported app — like being able to scroll through selections and interacting with what were previously static keys.

In fact, the more I use this laptop, the more I find myself eying the space above the Touch Bar and wishing it used up more of that space. Then I take that a step further and envision individual keys on the keyboard that could dynamically change like the characters on Touch Bar. After all, not every app needs the alphabet displayed at all times. So in that sci-fi sense, Apple could be opening the door for dramatically different keyboards. I like that idea.

Touch to confirm ID

To the right of the Touch Bar is a camouflaged power button that also doubles as a Touch ID sensor. It can be used to authenticate dialog boxes for software installs or authenticate Apple Pay payments, log in to your Mac, or quickly switch to another user account on the Mac.

Michael DeAgonia

Touch ID works much like it does on the iPhone once your fingerprint has been recorded.

Fingerprints can be added in the Touch ID System Preference much as they are on the iPhone or iPad, along with three options as to what Touch ID will authenticate. It hasn't gotten the attention it should, but it works well, is incredibly useful, and is one of my favorite additions to the MacBook Pro lineup. It also opens up Apple Pay on the desktop, meaning you can quickly and easily make online purchases – just in time for the holidays.

More nitty-gritty tech details

At 4 lb. and just 15.5mm thick with the lid closed, the new MacBook Pro looks sharp, has a smaller footprint than previous 15-in. models, and yet manages to feel even more sturdy. The one thing you can't fault Apple for is its focus on design and build quality. This notebook continues that tradition, and comes in two colors: the traditional silver aluminum, or the darker Space Gray. I prefer the latter because it's both newer and more stylish.

A few words about the hardware specs: The larger MacBook Pros feature sixth-generation Intel Skylake processors. The model I tested has a quad-core i7 running at 2.6GHz with the capability of increasing its speed to 3.5GHz when extra power is needed. There are build-to-order processor upgrades up to 2.9GHz (with a corresponding 3.8GHz turbo boost). Every MacBook Pro ships with Intel HD 530 integrated graphics, as well as an AMD Polaris Radeon GPU for more graphics and processing oomph.

This unit sports the Radeon Pro 450 with 2GB of video RAM, but you can upgrade to the Radeon Pro 455 or 460 chipset. The latter offers 4GB of dedicated video memory.

Those video cards power an updated LED Retina display with 2880-x-1800-pixel native resolution packed into a 15.4 in. display. That's 220 pixels per inch, and with the built-in scaling of the macOS, it delivers clear, sharp text and images. At 500 nits, the display is also one of the brightest ever shipped by Apple; and finally, it supports a wider color gamut than before (the P3 profile), translating to brighter whites and deeper blacks, and a greater nuance in colors. The difference between this year's models and last year's is noticeable.

The 15-in. MacBook Pros all ship with 16GB of 2,133MHz LPDDR3 memory, which cannot be upgraded in any way; SSD storage starts at 256GB on the $2,399 model and 512GB on the $2,799 version. There are custom configurations for 1TB and 2TB drives, but they'll cost you (for the model I reviewed, the 2TB option would cost $1,200 more). Since the SSD is soldered to the motherboard, you won't be able to upgrade later, so get as much as you need — and then some — when buying.

Michael DeAgonia

Don't try this at home. Trying to connect an older DVI monitor using a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 USB-C adapter didn't work. (That's the last-generation MacBook Pro.)

Lastly, there are four Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports — two on each side — and one 3.5-in. headphone jack on the right. The Thunderbolt 3 ports are compatible with USB 3.1 Gen 2 and  operate at speeds up to 40Gbps. Unfortunately, those are the only ports, meaning older devices will require dongles and adapters. The SD card slot is gone, too, as is the MagSafe magnetic charging connector. The good news is that any one of the new ports can be used to run external monitors, hard drives or storage arrays or to charge the computer. 

After the initial announcements, I certainly was less than impressed with the specs, both in terms of RAM limits and storage options — especially given the prices Apple charges. (Okay, I was downright angry.)

Beyond theory

While I was a vocal critic of the MacBook Pro's specs at first, it's clear that this Mac is more powerful than the specs imply. For instance, the graphics card didn't impress me on paper. But in practice, it works really well. Everything was smooth and responsive. It takes a pretty powerful machine to run four external 4K monitors at a time in concert with the built-in high resolution display.

This content belongs to the Source Link identified below, all rights are reserved.

Source: Hands on: 15-in. MacBook Pro delivers on speed and design – for a price

Pixelcarve Inc. Gives Premium Brands a New Edge

Pushing the limits to create unique and innovative brand experiences is at the core of Pixelcarve Inc.'s business. As a digital creative agency, technology is at the center of their business model, enabling them to help international brands tell their stories through custom websites, videos, print, and social media.

Delivering extraordinary marketing experiences requires cutting-edge, responsive technology. From editing video on location to fast renders and advanced web design software, tech is central to their daily practices. That's why they rely on the Intel® CoreTM family of processors and Intel Solid State Drives to bring creative ideas to life. Take a look at how Pixelcarve addresses major business challenges with regular investments in cutting edge tech.

Key Challenges of a Creative Agency

Creativity takes time, and doesn't always work within your project parameters. Here are a couple of Pixelcarve's most urgent challenges

Tighter timelines. With tighter timeframes on their projects and increasingly high standards of work, Pixelcarve needed tech that could handle their large volume of work and the most current programs and software.

High expectations. Prominent brands required Pixelcarve to deliver on high expectations and maintain their reputation as an elite agency.

Creativity Flows When Tech Keeps Up

Working quickly and channeling creativity immediately are at the center of Pixelcarve's work culture. If the tech requires loading and waiting times, the "aha" moment of creativity can slip away, potentially resulting in delays in the team's tight schedule. Pixelcarve CEO Curtis Priest firmly believes "When creative people have an idea, you want them to be able to try it out right away, not wait five minutes for software to load. Waiting has an emotional impact that is not quantifiable by dollars and cents or minutes on the clock."

That's where the 6th Generation Intel Core i7 processor came in. After upgrading in March 2016, rendering times on digital videos jumped three times faster than before, giving the agency a significant boost.

Productivity Improves With New Hardware

Team members are able to create better work through advanced technology. By editing 4K video natively, Pixelcarve can craft rough cuts and edits on mobile devices while sharing previews with clients in real time. This makes for a streamlined creative process, allowing for client approval on cuts while shooting and eliminating the financial and times costs of re-shooting video.

As Priest said, "We are telling a story, creating a narrative, creating an emotion using powerful music or powerful motion, and we use our films to imprint these memorable brand experiences on an audience or a customer base." This communication of emotion and intent is all made possible by dynamic, customizable computers that don't break the budget.

Discover more about Pixelcarve's journey to better tech, and get resources to help your small business thrive. Follow @IntelSmallBiz on Twitter for more. 

Source: Pixelcarve Inc. Gives Premium Brands a New Edge

Adobe CC Creative Cloud Universal Crack 2016 {Updated}

Adobe CC Creative Cloud Universal Crack Full version is a service from Adobe Systems that provides customers accessibility company's suites of software for graphic design, video editing, web design programs, and cloud services. Creative Cloud is located on Amazon.Com Web Services.

It works on the software like a service model, in which the customers don't buy a license for any copy from the software, but they are just leasing it throughout the subscription. Once the subscription ends and isn't restored, the consumer manages to lose accessibility programs plus some work held in proprietary formats that can't be combined with competing programs.

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Adobe CC Creative Cloud Screenshots:

How To Crack Or Register Adobe CC Creative Cloud?

Method 1: Adobe CC Creative Cloud Universal PatcherMethod 2: Adobe CC Creative Cloud Xforce Keymaker

Download Adobe CC Universal Patch Or Xforce Keygen From Below Provided Links.

Follow Given Instructions In.RAR File Carefully.

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Dansk, Deutsch, Inglés, Spanish, French, Français, עברית *, Magyar, Italiano, Nederlands, Norsk, Polski, Português (Brasil) Suomi, Svenska, Türkçe, Українська, čeština, Русский, عربي *日本語, 简体中文, 繁體 中文, 한국어.Not all languages are available for products.

You can download Adobe CC Creative Cloud Universal Crack Free from links given below…

Summary

Reviewer

Shafaqat Liaqat

Review Date

2016-11-21

Reviewed Item

Adobe CC Creative Cloud Universal

Author Rating

Source: Adobe CC Creative Cloud Universal Crack 2016 {Updated}

Win web design software from Incomedia!

Jewish News and Incomedia have teamed up to offer four lucky readers the chance to win Incomedia's latest web design software, worth £49.99!

WebSite X5 Evolution 13 is the ideal desktop software for easily creating websites, blogs and online stores in just five easy steps.

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There are no hidden costs from using the software, and no monthly or annual fees. Just open it, start designing, and then publish.

Find out more at www.websitex5.com/en

Jewish News readers can also download their own special trial right now at: http://go.websitex5.com/jewishnewsdemo13en/evolution

To be in with a chance of winning, answer the following question:

Terms and conditions: Four readers will win a copy of Incomedia WebSite X5 Evolution 13, worth £49.99. Prize is as stated and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or exchange in whole or in part for cash. By supplying your email address you agree to receive marketing information from the JN Media Group or any of its affiliates and carefully selected third parties. The promotion excludes employees of Miroma, their immediate families, their agents or anyone professionally connected to the relevant promotion. Proof of eligibility must be provided on request. Normal T&Cs apply and can be found at jewishnews.co.uk/about-us/promotions-terms-and-conditions. For full Ts and Cs see jewishnews.co.uk. Closing date: 1 December, 2016.

Source: Win web design software from Incomedia!

Affinity Designer Now Available for Windows

The Windows version of Affinity Designer is now available to purchase. Designed to work on 64-bit Windows 7 and above, Affinity Designer is part of a trio of professional-quality design software tools, alongside Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher. Ashley Hewson, Managing Director of developer Serif, says: "When we launched Affinity Designer [for Mac] we never expected the impact it has made. Seeing it so widely adopted by designers around the world – and all the incredible work people are creating with it – has been such a rewarding experience for the team here." To celebrate the launch, Affinity Designer for Windows can be bought for a discount price of $39.99 / £29.99 / €39.99 until 24th November.

Serif Press Release

Bestseller Affinity Designer comes to Windows

THURSDAY 17 NOVEMBER

Affinity Designer, the #1 bestselling professional design and graphics app for Mac, is now available to buy for Windows.

The fast, precise and feature-rich vector design tool has consistently been the top paid-for design app on Mac since launch. The response has been meteoric, including a coveted Apple Design Award and thousands of 5-star customer reviews on the Mac App Store.

For many professionals, Affinity Designer has become their go-to app for everything from creating concept art, print projects, logos and icons to UI design, web graphics and mock-ups.

And because Affinity Designer on Windows matches the Mac version feature for feature, PC users will experience the same thrilling speed, incredible tools and supreme accuracy which have given Affinity Designer its formidable reputation.

To celebrate the launch, Affinity Designer for Windows can be bought for a discount price of $39.99 / £29.99 / €39.99 until 24 November direct from https://affinity.serif.com/designer/

·        WATCH VIDEO: Affinity Designer for Windows https://vimeo.com/172731032

Ashley Hewson, Managing Director of developer Serif, says: "When we launched Affinity Designer we never expected the impact it has made. Seeing it so widely adopted by designers around the world – and all the incredible work people are creating with it – has been such a rewarding experience for the team here.

"We've released many updates to Affinity Designer since launch, adding hundreds of new features which users asked for. But by far the biggest single request has been for the Windows version so we're delighted to finally deliver that."

Experienced digital designers, illustrators and artists will feel instantly at home with Affinity Designer's powerful selection of essential tools. Buyers can also expect:

·        A complete vector and pixel editing toolset

·        10 million+ percent zoom

·        Non-destructive effects and adjustment layers

·        RGB, CMYK, LAB, Pantone and ICC colour management

·        Advanced typography, including text styles and text-on-a-path

·        Effortless PSD, SVG, EPS, PNG and PDF/X handling

·        Unlimited artboards with device pre-sets

·        Super smooth gradients and colour control

·        Standard and retina resolution pixel preview

·        Unlimited and saveable undo history

·        Incredibly powerful export capabilities

·        Symbols, including multiple versions and nested symbols

·        Constraints for pseudo-responsive design

·        Grids, guides and advanced snapping including pixel alignment

·        Fully customisable shortcuts.

"What might surprise some people is that the Windows version shares exactly the same back-end code as our Mac version," adds Ashley Hewson. "Not only does this mean perfect cross-platform file compatibility, it means the same memory management and rendering technology which give Affinity Designer its blistering speed." 

Designed to work on 64 bit Windows 7 and above, and available with support for eight languages, the on-sale version has been refined over a public beta testing period with more than 180,000 users taking part.

Affinity Designer for Windows can be purchased direct from https://affinity.serif.com/designer/. The usual price will be $49.99 / £39.99 / €49.99 with updates included – there's no ongoing subscription.

Affinity Designer is part of a trio of professional quality design software tools. Affinity Photo launched for Mac last year and is now in free public beta on Windows (from https://affinity.serif.com/photo/windows/) while Affinity Publisher is expected in 2017

The official Affinity Designer Workbook (from https://affinity.serif.com/designer/workbook/) and Mac version, now with Touch Bar support,are also currently available with an identical discount.

Source: Affinity Designer Now Available for Windows

Web design startup PageCloud lands $5.4M in Series-A funding

Mr. Fitzpatrick's company, PageCloud, announced Wednesday it has closed a Series-A round worth about $5.4 million Cdn, bringing its total funding haul since the firm was established in the fall of 2014 to about $11.5 million.

Key investors in the latest round include early stage U.S. firms Accomplice and Singularity Invest, along with the Economic Development Bank of Canada and the Toronto-based MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund.

Mr. Fitzpatrick said the new capital will help the 22-person firm that makes drag-and-drop web design and editing software beef up its marketing and development teams.

He said many of PageCloud's 15,000 customers are frustrated with more traditional web design platforms such as WordPress and Squarespace, adding there is a huge untapped market of people who might have thought about designing their own websites but have been wary of taking the plunge.

"We're actually starting to unlock this growing segment of the market that's never tried (designing a website) before because they were so horribly intimidated by all the technology," said Mr. Fitzpatrick, the firm's founder and CEO. "There's a huge, growing segment who want to do it themselves but never thought they could."

Investors said that kind of opportunity is what attracted them to PageCloud.

"It's a very big market that hasn't changed a lot since the advent of the Web, and it's time for a new, more agile (web design) option," Jeff Fagnan, founder and general partner at Accomplice, said in a statement.

Targeting that market has required a few modifications to the software itself, Mr. Fitzpatrick added.

Originally a "blank page" tool designed to build websites from scratch, PageCloud has tweaked its user interface and is adding features such as pre-built templates with embedded fonts and other graphic elements that can be dragged on to a page to give users a starting point.

PageCloud's 2016 revenues are projected to hit about $2 million, and the firm is in the midst of an expansion at its ByWard Market headquarters that will allow it to accommodate up to 65 employees.

Mr. Fitzpatrick said the next 12 months will be a "scale-up year" in which the firm will likely boost its headcount by about 20 in preparation for a steeper growth trajectory in 2018.

With the one-year anniversary of PageCloud's official product launch quickly approaching, the company is hosting a celebration on Nov. 24 at the Zibi presentation centre in Gatineau – a well-deserved chance to pause and reflect on the journey so far, Mr. Fitzpatrick said.

"Each time we pass through a gate, I think to myself, 'Holy crap, it's possible.' I'm still just as excited as when we started."

Source: Web design startup PageCloud lands $5.4M in Series-A funding

Gadget addiction prompts calls for a “slow tech” movement

Social media played a big role in 2016, from President-Elect Donald Trump's tweeting to the spread of disinformation on the web to the constant rush of daily viral stories, both entertaining and anxiety-inducing.

Clara Jeffrey, the editor of Mother Jones magazine, told the New York Times about the "sense of us being addicted to it, like a dopamine drip."

The power and addictiveness of social media now has some Silicon Valley insiders comparing the tech industry to big tobacco, fast food or even gambling, as in, eager to sell people on a pleasure that could be dangerous for our psychological health.

Tristan Harris was a "product philosopher" at Google who now runs an organization called Time Well Spent.

"My phone is a slot machine. Every time I check my phone I'm playing the slot machine to see what am I going to get," Harris said at a TEDx conference in Brussels. "I'm a designer, I know exactly how the psychology of this works, I know exactly what's going on. But it doesn't leave me with any choice. I still just get sucked into it."

Harris is making a plea to his colleagues in the tech industry to develop an ethical approach to designing their products.

"We're entering this time in Silicon Valley where there is this generation of tech elites that is getting older, having kids and increasingly has the peace of mind that comes from having a few million dollars in the bank, and they're now stepping back to take stock of what they've created. And in many cases they've been really taken aback by some of the more negative side effects of these software and services," said Bianca Bosker, former executive tech editor for The Huffington Post.

Bosker profiled Harris and his group in The Atlantic, and told DnA that while we blame ourselves for constantly checking e-mail, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and other apps, "tech addiction is not just the product of poor willpower or self-control. We live in this attention economy, which means that companies have this incentive to get our attention and keep it as long as possible. In most cases there are thousands of engineers on the other side of our screen whose whole job and work life is really to keep us coming back more and more for those tech hits."

Bosker called Harris "the ultimate tech insider." He studied computer science at Stanford University, worked at Apple as an intern, created a very successful startup and sold it to Google, and then worked at Google.

While some Google employees were receptive to Harris' ideas, "he found that he ran up against inertia internally," Bosker said. "Products that needed to be fixed took priority over this larger systematic rethinking of the status quo."

Photo by Donna Cleveland via Flickr/CC.

So Harris went on to co-found Time Well Spent, which claims to be "a non-profit movement to align technology with our humanity." It argues that engineers have a moral responsibility to think more carefully about how their decisions influence people's lives. It aims to create a sort of Hippocratic Oath for designers, a pledge to not waste users' time.

But are people sufficiently enraged at becoming addicted or are they enjoying being addicted too much to get too upset about it?

"I think the issue right now is, in general, people blame themselves for their tech addiction and they're not aware of the manipulation that's taking place. So it's hard to be outraged at this point. As consumers wisen up to the way that their self-control is being short circuited through software, I think there's reason to hope that we will see people really demanding change and asking companies to put a stop to some of that psychological manipulation," Bosker said.

So how does Google itself feel about the notion of an ethical framework for software design?

"I am aware of Tristin Harris's work and certainly actually very inspired by it. I think you know when design gets into these more moral and ethical issues I think it becomes particularly interesting and socially relevant beyond aesthetics and other questions like that," said Rob Giampietro, Creative Lead for Google's Material Design and its Design Outreach Team, based in New York.

Giampietro's team develops the user interface framework and systems that Google uses, such as the icons and color palettes used in applications.

"We've actually shared that design system with the world. And so there are over a million material design apps in the Google Play store right now that allows there to be a variety of perspectives and approaches to some of the problems that Tristan raises," he said.

In addition, Giampietro said, Google has simplified notification controls for the Android phones so that users can more easily disable distracting notifications; the company is making repetitive tasks easier through machine learning, such as scheduling meetings more easily; and is creating a systemwide awareness of what a user is doing at all points to avoid interrupting the user's workflow.

"I struggle with the same things that many users struggle with, in terms of limiting time on a phone or putting it down to spend time with family. I think that's a very 21st century problem. It has to do with an overwhelming amount of information and a different relationship to the work day. I think there are a number of social factors beyond simply interfaces. But I think we need to think about all of those holistically," Giampietro said.

"I'm a great believer in [Marshall] McLuhan's adage that 'we shape our tools and our tools shape us'… we're at the early stages of evolving with these tools and learning how to be better humans alongside them."

Source: Gadget addiction prompts calls for a "slow tech" movement

The Problem With Personas & How We Can Fix It

The idea of creating and using personas to help create a better user experience and engagement was birthed in the software industry 30 years ago. Computer software was clunky, hard to use, and had a terrible user experience. Allen Cooper, a software inventor and architectural consultant, interviewed actual users and used the information and feedback they gave him to help shape and create more user-friendly software. The persona was born. Over the years personas have become the foundation of good development not just in the software industry, but in the design and marketing worlds as well. While I believe they are essential to success, the way many develop personas is outdated.

Context is the key to effective communication. It sets the tone and the basis for understanding what is actually being said. Good marketing and design start with good communication. It's the duty of the communicator to set the context and tone of the message in a way that makes it more palatable for the end user. Persona development is key in helping marketers and designers create a better context for their message.

The Problem

Because of the lack of real research during the persona development process, many questioned the effectiveness of personas. If we are to create personas that are actually useful and user-driven we must be willing to do the hard work. This means not settling for assumptions and going deeper than surface level.

Persona development involves dissecting and breaking down intrinsic and extrinsic data. While the hard data such as demographics, job titles, and geographic location are easy to collect, it's the intrinsic data that is hard to collect and make use of. Just having one or two phone calls with a current or potential user isn't going to give you the information you need.

Personas are supposed to be as close a representation of your ideal client or users as possible. When interviewing people we have to remember one thing, they are human. While we hope they would give us authentic answers, an interview rarely produces 100% accurate results. What people say and what they do are usually very different. So trusting your interviewees to give you all the info you need is a dangerous assumption.

The Fix

People are emotionally driven creatures. We base much of our decision-making on how we will feel after making the decision. This is true for both intellectual or relational decision making. The more we uncover the emotional motivation for why our personas do what they do, the better we can understand their needs. Developing empathy skills is crucial for marketers, designers and researchers.

One practical way to hone your empathy skills is to learn how to listen. Listening is not about waiting your turn to ask another question or make a comment. Listening is about stopping, hearing and trying to understand the other person's point of view. As Zeno of Citium said, "We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say." When you listen more, people tell you more. It shows you value what they say and are interested in them. This allows them to open up and tell you the truth.

As I stated above, what people say and what people do are usually very different. This doesn't mean we should forgo the interview process during persona creation. It just means we shouldn't necessarily take our interviewee at their word. Today we have some amazing software that can help compare what people say and what they do online. This will help us find the intersection where their words and actions come together. When you find this, you are on the right track. Here is a list of a few of my favorite tools.

Hotjar: Hotjar is a heat mapping tool. It gives you an understanding of how your user naturally uses your site. You can even set up recording and watch how users browsed your site and content.

BrightInfo: Brightinfo is a personalized marketing platform. Where it's really helpful in persona development and understanding users is in the analytics. Using the data you can see where your users are similar in their likes and interests.

HubSpot: HubSpot is mostly known for marketing automation, but it also helps you understand your users. The timeline tools that show how an individual contact has journeyed through your funnel is very insightful. While the full software is an investment, they are getting ready to release a free version. Learn more here.

Google Analytics: Google Analytics is a great tool. The demographics, interest, and behavior data are very helpful in better understanding your users. Best part, it's free!

Traditional marketing segmentation and persona creation focused a lot more on demographics then psychographics. The internet has really made the world a lot smaller. This has blurred a lot of the traditional regional demographics, making them less reliable. If we are to understand our persona's real motivation, we must understand why they do what they do. This is where psychographics comes in. Personality profiling using Myers Briggs is a great tool, as is the Four Temperaments Assessment. These assessments will give you a clearer picture of the "why" behind your users' actions.

Personas are extremely important for marketing, advertising, and UX design. As the world evolves and changes, so must the processes. We cannot rely on outdated methods to deliver the same results. If we are truly going to be able to effectively reach our audience and help our customers engage, we must get to know them on an emotional level. Below is a link to our updated buyer persona template. It is designed to help you go deeper in your persona development. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Author: Ryan Shelley

Ryan's pretty much your average guy, except for the average part. He is the owner and founder of Shelley Media Arts LLC.  He is passionate about helping companies make a more personal connection online with their customers and prospects. Ryan is active in influencing and promoting human driven SEO, personalized marketing and empathic… View full profile ›

Source: The Problem With Personas & How We Can Fix It

Dell Alienware X51 PC – Review

What is the Alienware X51?

Alienware is one of the strongest global brands of gaming PCs, with a range that now stretches to multiple mobile and desktop form factors. While many gaming PCs come in giant towers, the X51 packs a top-of-the-line CPU and mid-range graphics into a desktop chassis that's not much bigger than a current-generation console.

The X51 line has been around for a while – Trusted covered the previous version back in September 2014. This update is really more about introducing up-to-date technology and a spec boost than a radical design overhaul. Our original criticisms of the previous version focused on its specification, which wasn't capable of gaming beyond 1080p resolution, lacked an SSD and lead to some toasty internal temperatures. Have these issues been resolved with new-generation hardware?

Related: Best PC games 2015

Alienware X51 – Design

The X51 is all about squeezing a capable gaming PC into a console-sized chassis. As with previous versions, its dimensions make it only slightly larger than a PS4 or Xbox One, with a width of 9mm and a height of 343mm (in vertical orientation).

If you've worked in an office at any point over the last decade, there's a high probability you've used one of Dell's slim corporate desktop systems, and the X51 borrows heavily from them. It has two sets of rubber feet for both vertical and horizontal placement. A glossy plastic cover runs around the side, featuring the iconic Alienware logo on the front that illuminates in blue, along with a plastic section at the top that's illuminated with LEDs.

The edges are curved at the front. The power switch sits on the right, its status indicated by a white LED. There are two front-mounted USB 3 ports and audio, but notably, the optical drive of last year's model has been given the chop. This reflects the modern dominance of cloud services such as Steam and Origin for gaming.

Related: Best gaming headsets 2015

Alienware X51 – Specifications

Quad-core Intel Skylake processors are the new performance champions for PC gaming, if only by a disappointingly slim margin over the previous Core i7-4790K Devil's Canyon chip. The X51 comes with a Core i7-6700K, but by default, it doesn't run at its full 4.2GHz Turbo Frequency. Instead it's limited to 3.9GHz, the lower clock speed is intended to keep down internal temperatures, which can be potentially problematic in small chassis gaming desktops.

The Alienware Command Centre software makes it easy to change this, however. With this R3 version of the X51 – there are four listed on Dell's site – the CPU has an all-in-one liquid-cooling system that allows that clock frequency to be raised to 4.4GHz. This software also lets you fiddle with various settings – the Alienware FX mode, for example, which changes the colour of the LEDs on the top of the unit.

As with last year's PC, Alienware has chosen a mid-range graphics card for the X51. The "Maxwell"-based Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 is a slight improvement over the Radeon R9 270 in the previous machine. It only has 2GB of GDDR5 memory, which isn't a huge amount by today's standards, but enough for solid 1080p performance. This card comes with 1,024 stream processors, 32 ROPS, 64 TMUs, a base clock of 1,127MHz and memory frequency of 1750MHz.

Related: Best gaming laptops 2015

It has 16GB of DDR4 memory, running at 2,133MHz. There's also a 256GB Samsung PM951 PCI Express SSD, plugged directly into the motherboard's M.2 slot. PCI Express SSDs come in all shapes and sizes, offering wildly different performance figures. Samsung's 950 Pro is the current king by a long way, with read and write speeds of well over 1GB/sec; the enterprise-grade SM951 isn't too far behind.

The PM951 isn't quite as good, though. While it's a PCI Express Gen 3.0 device including NVMe support, with quoted read speeds that are an impressive 1,000MB/sec, the 280MB/sec write speeds lag behind normal 2.5-inch SSDs. It's inclusion is probably down to saving internal space from the small M.2 form factor, rather than the performance. But those read speeds are still very nice indeed.

Additionally, there's a 2TB Seagate hard disk, an obvious essential for a large library of games or media.

Windows 10 Home comes as standard on all X51 configurations and Steam comes preinstalled as well. During testing, I was cursing Dell's inclusion of the McAfee antivirus trial, which had expired and kept popping up during benchmark runs requesting I pay them money. Not a chance, matey.

This content belongs to the Source Link identified below, all rights are reserved.

Source: Dell Alienware X51 PC – Review

Would You 3D Print Your Own Clothing with Kniterate?

November 12, 2016 all3dp.com

'Kniterate' is an online platform and machine that 3D prints custom clothing – design and create your own knitted scarf easily.

Wouldn't it be cool if you could make your own knitted scarf without actually having to learn how to knit? Well, start getting ready for winter because now you can design your own knitted clothes – with  Kniterate. 

Gerard Rubio, the creator of Openknit open knitting venture, has come up with a new version.

Now, all you need is the design software and the knitting machine. After that, you can begin rocking your own custom sweaters, scarves, and socks in no time.

Sure, there are several open source knitting machines already on the market, but Kniterate gives you an entire platform to work with. It promises both a knitting machine and proprietary web-based design software.

The aim is for the technology to be localized, allowing everyone to print and share clothing – something which has never been done before. Currently,

In about two hours, Kniterate can you a scarf so you can brave the winter elements. Check out the printing in action in the video below:

How Do I Print My Own Clothes?

Kniterate simplifies the idea of custom clothing. Design your own clothes using the online software or choose templates for different garments.

What's more, you can also choose your own details like pattern and size. The team is still working on the mechanics behind the design process and are still speaking to different manufacturers. Hopefully, this leads to future manufacturing partnerships.

Once you've finished your design, it's sent to the Arduino Mega-drive knitting machine. It has 80 five-gauge needles, which make the garment. Gerard hopes that by adding more needles – bringing the total to 240 – the prototype will become a lot faster.

"I'm personally very interested in the democratization of manufacturing technology and I'd like to see this new tool expand across many more fields," he says.

When it comes to the future, Gerard is still keeping his plans under wraps. However, he's sure about the upcoming opportunities these new machines create for clothing manufacturing.

"Kniterate is part of this revolution and we won't stop offering better tools and adopting others," he adds.

Source: Solid Smack

'Kniterate' is an online platform and machine that 3D prints custom clothing – design and create your own knitted scarf easily.

Wouldn't it be cool if you could make your own knitted scarf without actually having to learn how to knit? Well, start getting ready for winter because now you can design your own knitted clothes – with  Kniterate. 

Gerard Rubio, the creator of Openknit open knitting venture, has come up with a new version.

Now, all you need is the design software and the knitting machine. After that, you can begin rocking your own custom sweaters, scarves, and socks in no time.

Sure, there are several open source knitting machines already on the market, but Kniterate gives you an entire platform to work with. It promises both a knitting machine and proprietary web-based design software.

The aim is for the technology to be localized, allowing everyone to print and share clothing – something which has never been done before. Currently,

In about two hours, Kniterate can you a scarf so you can brave the winter elements. Check out the printing in action in the video below:

How Do I Print My Own Clothes?

Kniterate simplifies the idea of custom clothing. Design your own clothes using the online software or choose templates for different garments.

What's more, you can also choose your own details like pattern and size. The team is still working on the mechanics behind the design process and are still speaking to different manufacturers. Hopefully, this leads to future manufacturing partnerships.

Once you've finished your design, it's sent to the Arduino Mega-drive knitting machine. It has 80 five-gauge needles, which make the garment. Gerard hopes that by adding more needles – bringing the total to 240 – the prototype will become a lot faster.

"I'm personally very interested in the democratization of manufacturing technology and I'd like to see this new tool expand across many more fields," he says.

When it comes to the future, Gerard is still keeping his plans under wraps. However, he's sure about the upcoming opportunities these new machines create for clothing manufacturing.

"Kniterate is part of this revolution and we won't stop offering better tools and adopting others," he adds.

Source: Solid Smack

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Source: Would You 3D Print Your Own Clothing with Kniterate?