Camera Phone Fun -  Chinese Food

Continuing our “Why It’s Fun to Have A Camera In Your Phone” theme, we bring you this culinary geographical/zoological puzzler.

Syncing Your Sent Mail on Your Computer and iPhone

I’ve had my e-mail synced up between my iPhone and Mac for a while now, but for some reason I could never get my sent mail to sync. I mus have missed the boat on this one because it’s actually not that hard, and I’ve found that Leopard makes it less panic-inducing (I’ll explain later).

So when I knew I was getting an iPhone around last November, I went ahead and changed my 47m mail to an IMAP account so it would signal read/unread e-mails on all my devices. Apparently living in the dark ages, I had pretty much just used POP mail before that, keeping regular backups of sent and received mail in manual folders. A lame system? Yes, but it worked for me and kept the mail server flowing freely. And so was my first stupid mistake: I just switched it and didn’t backup anything first. Since I had been using POP mail that pull the messages off the server and removes them after so many days, a bunch of my e-mails were gone! Whoohoo! Fortunately I got lucky; we were in the middle of switching hosts and the old host still had the mail servers active so I made an account tapping into their system and got the messages back.

Retro Photoshop Fun -  From Dull Digital Photo To Sweet Old School Album Cover

I love having a digital camera, but it is definitely lacking in the vibe department. Old school film camera’s like the Holga and the Diana have a great feel to them, especially when they are cross processed. So I’m going to show you some ways to fake the funk and give your digital images a healthy dose of awesome sauce. (I’ve been listening to Fundamental Elements and I blame them for making me say things like “Fake the funk” and “awesome sauce.”)

Let’s start with a picture I took of Mr. James.

Reasons Why it’s Fun to Have a Camera in your iPhone

Most of us have gotten used to carrying around a phone that also has a camera in it. Makes for great quick shots when you wouldn’t normally have time to grab your regular camera. I happen to have an iPhone, and yes I know it’s camera isn’t that great, but hey it was better than the old Razr’s so there you go. Plus I can show people in style by flipping, zooming and pinching. Yeah that’s right .

So anyway, I’ve been accumulating some really random pictures I snapped on the fly and thought I’d share them. Enjoy!

Web Designer Wall Lists Two 47m Sites in Their 2008 Trends Article

Web Designer Wall has a great collection of web design trends for 2008, and we just happened to make the cut! Actually the 47m site and the EdgePoint Church site are both listed. So we’re pretty psyched, to say the least. It’s been a whirlwind of a year so far, and it just keeps getting more amazing everyday.

Indiana Jones and the Message on the Bottle

I will readily admit that I am a total nerd. I was totally psyched about the new Indiana Jones movie that came out a few weeks ago. I went out and bought the first three and watched them in like two days. Watched all the extra stuff on the DVD’s. I can’t even tell you how many childhood memories those movies brought back. It was great!

But when I finally went to see the new one, I found myself a bit disappointed. Some of the scenes were so ridiculous that I just couldn’t get past the impossibility of them. The atomic refrigerator? The monkey vine-swinging thing? Three ginormous waterfalls? I mean, seriously! Yeah I knew the first three had implausible moments, too but not like this! Or were they?

Vimeo’s Code Art

I’ve been looking for a higher quality alternative to YouTube, and have really been digging Vimeo. So while I was there, I did like any other self respecting web designer/developer would and had a look at the source code.

It was there that I found this:

A Non-Profit’s Guide to Websites

Non-profit organizations have a special place in our hearts here at FortySeven Media. We love it when people decide to change their world for the better, and do our best to help them however we can. Several months ago we completed the Knoxville Leadership Foundation's new website. Shortly there after Dan Myers, the Director of Communications and Operations at KLF, asked us to be part of a seminar for non-profit organizations to better equip them to use their websites. The following is a condensed version of that session. We had a grand time chatting with everyone there and hope you enjoy the information! The slides of the presentation and the handout companion are available in PDF format at the end of the article.

1. Evaluate Your Current Website

Before we jump too far into this, let's take a moment to think about your current website. Are you excited about it? Do you tell people about it or do you try to not bring it up? When was it last updated? These are great indicators of the current condition of your site. Most organizations can answer these questions instantly. The short version for most, is “No, we aren't excited about our site, it's awful!” The good news is that it doesn't have to stay that way. Let's look at a few ways to get your website tuned up and working for you.

Awesome Hand Carved Logo

Ever wanted your logo hand carved from a massive piece of wood by natives of Papua New Guinea? Ok, so maybe it wasn’t the first thing on your list, but dang it’s cool. My wife’s sister and her husband are missionaries in New Guinea and are back in the states to make the rounds to all their supporters and show them what they’ve been up to. Too many “and’s” in that last sentence? Probably. Regardless, we just got this in yesterday and had to share.

The Depths of Our Typography Nerdliness

The following is a true story.

I had picked up Thrice’s new album and we had been listening to it yesterday while we were working. It is one of those albums that you immediately know is good, but need need a few more listens to really grasp its depth. So when I left a little early to move a piano, Jon decided that he would borrow it and return it today, which is totally fine by me. But what really struck me was the note he left. Well, not really the note itself, but its typeface. Instead of the completely dull and lifeless default font that Stickies uses, I saw this:

Companies That Just Don’t Get It

Recently I had an encounter with a company that had a website, but didn’t understand the web. I promised them in an oh so nice email that I would write a blog post on the whole thing, so enjoy .

So my wife has a site that talks about the benefits of cloth diapers over disposable. She became a member of the Real Diaper Association (no I’m not going to dignify them with a link) who provides members with some very nice researched information to back up the above claims. Things like the chemicals used cause cancer, they take 200-500 years to decompose, scary stuff like that.

To make a long story short, we used their reasons, clearly citing them as the authors and giving them a prominent link back to their site. And then we got this email:

The Rather Difficult Font Game

If any of you good people out there don’t read the insightful Daring Fireball, you might have missed The Rather Difficult Font Game, which is aptly named. I normally consider my type-fu to be excellent, but I too was humbled. 33 out of 34 for this type ninja.

The Very Secret Order of Creatives Understanding

I don’t know when The Committee For Establishing Rules sat down to dictate that businesses must be staunchly boring and devoid of personality, but I’m glad to see that Veer missed the memo on that one. They are one of a few a larger companies we do business with that have managed to keep their charm. More than that, they know how to have fun.

Top 10 Tips for Creating Kick Awesome Websites

Thought we’d share just a few tips we’ve come across as we design each day. Seth Godin says lists are cool so I’m going to try one.

1. Think like a website. Try to keep in mind the limitations and strengths of the web when designing. For example, look for backgrounds that can repeat easily, or avoid designs that have a lot of overlapping transparency (at least until IE6 isn’t on so many computers).

2. Web typography. Your web typography will set your design apart from other studios. Study optimum line heights, widths and look for inventive ways to guide the viewer through your layout only using CSS rules. There’s something refreshing about only having 3 or 4 good fonts to work with. Flash replacement (sIFR) is alright, but don’t overuse it.

Do Not Ask For Pallets

There is a company very close to my house. I drive by it on an almost daily basis. I don’t know the name of this company. I don’t know what they do. All that I know is that they do not want me to ask for pallets.

As you can see in the picture above, this sign (and the two or three more just like it) are posted on the chain link fence surrounding their property. It’s the only signage you can see from the road and it isn’t a necessarily friendly welcome, you know?

Universal IE Hack And Other Hot Tips!

Fadtastic.net has put out their “HOT TIPS for Your Website in 2008.” Remember the date here friends.

Anyhow, check out the Universal IE Hack, it’s the CSS I wish I could put into every site we code. Just kidding; we love you IE6. Except we’d rather gouge our eyes out with a spoon than “fix” another site for you ever again

Smashing Magazine Loves Us!

I was just informed that Smashing Magazine is using the EdgePoint Church site as an example of great grid based design. Awesome! Kudos to EdgePoint for giving us the freedom to give a church such a kick awesome design. We’re honored that Smashing magazine would include us as one of only 3 case studies. Kind words, for sure: “The grid is escaped with the use of angles and placement of the illustrations and photography that surround the layout. The header has a free flow design that opens up the top as a creative space.” Thanks, guys!

Mac OS X Leopard ExpressionEngine Folder Icon

Here’s a little goodie for you ExpressionEngine developers on Leopard. A pretty folder icon to put all your plugins, modules, extensions, etc… in.

Quick rundown for those who don’t know how to change folder icons:

A Few Thoughts on my AppleTV

So the other night the wife and I were at the Apple store looking for Time Capsules for 47m. Happened to see the new AppleTV setup while we were there, and the HD movies looked incredible. I mean, jaw droppingly good. Yeah, I know BlueRay is better, but seeing Transformers in “almost” HD compared to the standard def movies I was used to; I was hooked. No more trips to Blockbuster, I nudged the wife (Gently nudged, of course)!

FortySeven Media Selected as a Finalist at Unique CSS

I meant to post this earlier, but we were nominated for the month of March by Unique CSS. Basically, they pick only 8 of the best sites they find and let people vote for the winner each month. Now, I know we’re halfway through March, but there’s still time! We need your help to win this thing. Do I sound like a politician yet?