A collection of my favorite bits from around the web, in no particular order…
Josh Nimoy on the secrets behind the special effects in Tron Legacy
An uber-geeky, but fascinating look at some of the technologies behind the scenes in the movie. Hint: that stuff you see on the screen isn’t just gobbledy-gook. (via: core77)
Why We Recommended Tumblr for the New USA.gov Blog
I <3 Tumblr and am glad to see that it has really taken off over the past few months (even if it has meant more tumblebeast sightings that performance has taken a hit.) And now, with a new “government friendly” terms of service, it sounds like it might turn into the provider of choice for those agencies looking to get a quick and easy blog started. (via: David Chartier)
lorempixum
If you’ve ever dealt with having to create or manipulate placeholder images for a website or a print layout, then you should check out this site. Input the dimensions manually or use the Placeholder Generator tool to quickly get your image. (via: Greg Babula)
Especially relevant since I seem to be getting a handful of new connection requests each day – some from friends and colleagues, some from random strangers… How I use LinkedIn has definitely changed over time and will continue to do so as my needs change and the service itself changes.
I don’t spend much time on Facebook, so emails and notifications really pile up when I finally do get a chance to browse around. I’d previously been using Gmail filters to keep these notifications out of my inbox, but then I never actually took the time to go through my Facebook folder.*
This Lifehacker article will walk you through turning off (most) email notifications and using RSS instead. And, with one more step, condensing that RSS feed into one daily digest. Excellent!
*Happy Birthday/Happy Anniversary/Congratulations/Condolences/Get Well, etc. to everyone who I’ve missed an important life event from.
The paywall is coming… The paywall is coming… The NY Times switch to a digital paywall happened yesterday and, not surprisingly, generated a lot of discussion (although I think the overall effect will not be as magical or depressing as predicted.) These two articles provide some interesting ideas on the business model and the potential different paths to profit.
I love Tumblr and have maintained my site pretty regularly for several years (I even prefer it to Posterous for short-form stuff), however, it’s not typically a tool I would recommend for small businesses. Tumblr has a definite sense of community and a unique culture, so if your business is a match with those, Tumblr can be great. If it’s not a match, well…
Booking travel always seems like it’s much harder than it needs to be. And, while finding flight information is getting easier, finding a place to stay can still be a pain. Enter Hipmunk, a simplified search tool for flights and hotels. One of the cool features, visual data overlays for food/tourism/shopping, etc. (Hat tip to Joe Lazarus for this one.)
