Bluefaqs » misc

50 Amazing Home Office Workstation Setups

Shawn Ramsey — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:33:26 +0000

[tweetmeme]

While we like to write about web design here at Bluefaqs, I thought that it would be a nice break from the norm to showcase just where some of the action takes place in the home of a designer. As more people are turning to this idea of working from home both part-time and full, the home office setup has become the center point to where some amazing ideas have formed and taken shape.

I literally crawled through thousands of submissions to see how people go about creating this personalized space, focusing on lighting, monitor setups, decorations, peripherals and anything that makes it a beautiful productive place to get things done.

If your looking to setup a new home office from scratch, or are just in need of a redesign, here is a showcase of 50 Amazing Home Office Workstation Setups to help inspire you.

01. Leopard Fever | Crouching Donkey

02. Apple UMBP Setup | psleda

03. My Office v.3.0 Panorama | nuntius

04. My Desktop | Quattro Vageena

05. Temporarily Together | raw reflex

06. MacBook Pro and Benq E2200HD-1 | psleda

07. Apple Cinema Display Setup | veryMickey

08. New Office Setup (Sept. 09) | penningtonj

09. iMac | MB!

10. Workstation | ^_^

11. The Emotion Studio | timsamoff

12. My New Desk Done | steve price82

13. Spring in Cincinnati | ekalb

14. Home Office Full View | Salman S. Qadeer

15. New Silly Mac Setup 2 | michaelbystrom

16. iMac 24 2.4 | Rikyman

17. One More | Chris Marshall

18. The Serene Workspace | Schodts

19. Apple Setup with Ergotron Desk Stands | psleda

20. My Workspace | tuartboy

21. My Desk | Justin Griswold

22. My Messy Workspace | bigbold

23. Monitors Overview | mitch haile

24. IMAC08-004 | nycGRAEME

25. Home Studio | COPPERLINE

26. My Desk | kihlbom

27. Bedroom Workspace | LewSpeight

28. Setup | DeclanTM

29. Ikea Desk In The Home Office | Vince Welter

30. Workstation 2009 May | rus-star-dot-com

31. My Desk At Work | wallywallywoo

32. The (New) Famous Home Office | Stefan Didak

33. Minimalspace | Nick Humphries

34. My New, Even More Awesome Setup | Cold Eskimo

35. Setup: Revision Four | Will Dawson

36. New Setup | Rob ‘n’ Rae

37. New Mac Pro 8-core | JoshTrefethen.com

38. Office At Night | dehlz

39. Updated Apple Workspace | humedini

40. Workspace | B.Romain

41. My Desk | mathew.cotterill

42. My Home Office | dziner

43. My Desk, My Stuff | larissaherbst

44. My Office At New Place | dehlz

45. Desk Close Up | Anthony Grimes

46. Friday Evening Desk | Lalogo.fr

47. … | Works*

48. Home Office – 08 | Andrew Egenes

49. The System Attic | purplelime

50. Desktop | Normanbolditalic

30 Functional Concrete Textures

Shawn Ramsey — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:05:15 +0000

If you’re needing an urban/ grungy feel for a design that you’re working on, you might consider using a concrete texture as a starting point. I’ve used several of these textures in past designs and thought that it would be a good idea to go ahead and round them up for easy access. This list is made up of some of the better looking stock concrete textures that I have come across.

You may also be interested in some of my other posts that feature textures:

Keep up with all of the posts by subscribing to the RSS.

Concrete Textures

by frozenstocks

by quansie

by fantasystock

by mdpratt

by pqueiroz

by mdpratt

by jaqx

by superstar-stock

by hope72

by wchild

by mifti-stock

by poprostubono

by martinlsaac

by blackpa

by kameleonklik

by irie stock

by logicalxstock

by gp stock

by funeralstock

by tnemgarf

by hope72 stock

by cranial bore

by scarystock

by pqueiroz

Concrete Texture Packs

7 textures by lilshadow

4 textures by ro stock

10 textures by fudgegraphics

5 textures by frozenstocks

5 textures by powerpuffjazz

35 Vintage Tech Ads

Shawn Ramsey — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:42:34 +0000

The technology of yesterday is rarely given the respect that it deserves, as it helped to inspire the gadgets that we can’t seem to take our hands off of today. No PS3 without the Atari, no iPhone without the brick phones of the 80′s and no MacBook Pro without the Apple Lisa.

Even though these early gadgets paved the way for the technological advances of today, I still can’t help but get a laugh out of 55lb. laptops and 64kb of storage that was considered top of the line tech 30 years ago. Without further ado, here is a collection of 35 Vintage Tech Ads featuring print ads and commercials.

Computers

IBM 5100 Portable Computer

Weighing in at 50 pounds, the IBM 5100 Portable Computer made its debut in September 1975. Available in 12 different models, the 5100 had a maximum capacity of 64k of storage. This “laptop” could be yours for a cool $8,975 – $19,975.

IMSAI 8080

The IMSAI 8080 was an early microcomputer launched in early 1975. Some of its uses include small business data processing applications, computer sciences education and development and military and general government applications. If the IMSAI looks familiar to you, then you may recall seeing it in the 1983 pop culture movie WarGames starring Matthew Broderick.

Apple Print Advertisement

Ben Franklin using his Apple Computer to work on kite design.

TRS-80

Made by the Tandy Corporation and sold through their Radio Shack stores, the TRS-80 was released in 1977. It included a full-stroke QWERTY keyboard, smaller size, and a monitor. Starting price $600.

Hewlett Packard 9000

Hewlett Packard showing off one of their 80′s model computers.

Harris

The number-crunching power of the Harris computer.

Exxon Office Systems

Apparently Exxon once made computers. Fully stocked with a dictionary, an electronic mailbox, a program for keeping calendars and scheduling meetings, and a tickler file. I need to call and make sure that my current computer came with a tickler file.

Processor Technology Sol

“If you’re an engineer, scientist or businessman, the Sol-20 can help you solve many or all of your design problems, help you quantify research, and handle the books too. For not much more than the price of a good calculator, you can have high level computer power.” $1,495 fully assembled and tested.

Osborne Executive Series

Imagine lugging this thing around. At least they added the “big, 80-column, eye-easy amber display” in this model.

Texas Instruments TI 99/4

Released in 1979 at a price of $1,150. It was followed by the TI-99/4A which added an additional graphics mode,”lowercase” character comprised of small capitals, and a full travel keyboard.

A few vintage TV computer commercials:

Kevin Costner in an old Apple commercial

Magnavox personal computer ad

Commodore Vic20 Commercial

Steve Ballmer sells Windows 1.0

Communication

AMTS Car-Phone

I could not find much info about AMTS, but apparently it allowed this guy to start work well ahead of his fellow employees.

Motorola DynaTAC 8000X

In 1983 the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X received approval from the FCC and become the world’s first commercial handheld cellular phone. You may recall seeing this phone on TV, it was used by Michael Douglas in the 1987 movie hit Wall Street, Zack from Saved by the Bell called Kelly on this phone several times, and more recently Tommy Vercetti made use of it in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Dial Page

Is seems as though Leonard Nimoy (aka “Spock”) was pushing beepers in his early days.

Western Radio Radivox Walkie Talkie

Broadcast through any radio and talk to your friends from up to a block away. It’s like magic.

Bell System

Bell was apparently transforming small towns in 1979.

Some vintage cell phone commercials

Centel – brick cell phone

Mobile Phones of 1986

Gaming

Magnavox Odyssey 2

Magnavox brought the first home video game system to the market in 1978, named the Odyssey. The Odyssey 2 was next in line and was designed to play programmable ROM cartridges.

Telstar Game Console

Produced by Coleco, Telstar is a series of video game consoles released from 1976 to 1978. There were 14 consoles released in the Telstar branded series.

Vectrex

The Vectrex Arcade System came with its own integrated vector monitor. The mom in this ad is a little too excited about the family’s new arcade system. You could pick one of these up in 1982 for $199.

Atari

Atari Inc. was founded in 1972 and their gaming system eventually became a rising star to gamers.

Nintendo

The Nintendo Entertainment System sweeped across North America in 1985 and featured several classic games such as Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt and Donkey Kong. Here you can buy the action set for a mere $99.99.

Some old gaming commercials:

1978 Atari Commercial

80′s Nintendo Commercial

Game Genie

Various Old Technology

Maxell Compact Floppy Disk

Data storage in 1983.

Honeybox

Experience three-dimensional sound reproduction.

Computer Accessories

Keep your floppy’s safe with these storage devices.

Printer Ribbons

I must be too young to remember these.

PC-Draw

State-of-the-art 1983 Pen Tablet?

Tech Catalog

High-tech gadgets in their day.

More Resources:

digitize.textfiles.com – a large collection of vintage tech ads.
oldcomputers.net – a collection of old computer ads.
Top Ten Laughably Bad Tech Ads

It won’t be long before the smart phones, gaming systems, Blue-ray players and other modern gadgets of today will be placed on their own list and ridiculed for their slow processors, minute memory capabilities and sheer ugliness.

40 Beautiful Customized Desktops

Shawn Ramsey — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:16:50 +0000

We all like to change up our desktops every once in a while with a new wallpaper or maybe even a fresh set of icons. These are all small things that can be changed to make the desktop experience a little more tailored to our individual likings. Some people like to take it a step further and make theirs come to life.

Using desktop tweaking software such as Rainmeter, Object Dock, Rainlender and a few others (more on these programs at the bottom of the post) some users have taken their desktop to a whole new level. I’ll let their work speak for themselves as I present to you my collection of 40 Beautiful Customized Desktops.

Lightning Sunset (Desktop 12)

The Mac Meets Windows Dual-Desktop

June Desktop

Desktop JUNE 2009

Windows Desktop in Monochrome

Big Red

My Current Desktop

New Desktop

DesktopNov24

“Time Floats By” {7-1-09 01}

Dec2008Desktop

White Out

Airship Bow

Faded and Desaturated

Black + White

Desktop 3

Desktop

Room of Shapes

Fanta Morgana (Desktop 16)

Come Together

Jacksterson’s Requium

Desktop

BrownAzul

Windows 7 Desktop

Starlight

Lonestar Desktop

RH: Phoenix Nebula

Home Server Desktop 1

Birdy – Left

Windows Seven

HomeDesktopFeb

Music & Rainbows

Naturelle Wallpapers

Project Curve 1.0

01-27-09

Enigma Desktop 2

Water Droplet Desktop

Wing (Desktop 14)

LS: Enigma in Rainmeter

FM: Variations on a Theme

How Do I Customize My Own Desktop?

Want to make your own? Here are three free utilities used to create and customize your own personal desktop.

Rainmeter -”Rainmeter is a feature rich system meter with support for multiple layers of png images (just like Rainlender). It can measure all of the basic system statistics such as physical ram, virtual memory, swap, and hard drive space. When coupled with MBM5, it can measure system temperatures and fan speeds. Rainmeter also has the ability to display the time as an analog clock with second, minute, and hour hands. Also available as a Litestep module.”

ObjectDock – “ObjectDock is a program that enables users to organize their shortcuts, programs and running tasks into an attractive and fun animated Dock. By allowing users to have more control over how they organize their desktop, users can take control of their desktop icons and shortcuts to have them be available when where and how they need them. This, all with the unique style and top-rate performance that ObjectDock is known to deliver!”

Rainlender – “Rainlendar is a feature rich calendar application that is easy to use and doesn’t take much space on your desktop. The application is platform independent so you can run it on all major operating systems: Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.The appearance can be customized with skins and you can even mix different skins together.”

25 Websites To Have Fun With Your Pictures

Shawn Ramsey — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:10:12 +0000

Looking for a way to spice up your photos for free? You don’t have to have Photoshop or some other photo editing software installed on your computer to do the job. Luckily, there are multiple websites on the net that allow you to change up your images in a myriad of ways. Most of them consists of some creative templates that you can plug your images directly into.

To make it easier for you to find these free websites, I present you with my compilation of 25 Websites To Have Fun With Your Images.

1. Magmypic

This site allows you to create fake magazine covers using your own personal pictures.

2. Yearbook Yourself

This is a cool site that lets you create old black and white yearbook photos of your own images. This is currently down, but will be back up this summer.

3. Hairmixer

Swap celebrities hair, or upload your own pictures to swap hair with others.

4. Fun Photo Box

Upload a picture, choose a special effect and watch Fun Photo Box do the rest.

5. PicArtia

PicArtia is a free photo collage maker that allows you to create your own photo mosaic.

6. PhotoFunia

This site offers numerous effects to change up your photos. Some effects include animated GIF’s, placing the face of your picture into a moving body.

7. LoonaPix

Drop a photo of your face into any of the various fun templates.

8. Body Switcher

Drop your face into any of the 500 templates online and free.

9. Hollywood Hair Virtual Makeover

Take your face and wear the hair of your favorite celebrity.

10. Moron Face

Distort your face however you choose. If you create something your proud of, place it on a t-shirt, mug or postcard.

11. Blingee

Bling out any of your photos by adding glitter, comments and graphics.

12. Face In Hole

Place your face on the body of numerous people. Categories include Advertising, Art, Books & Magazine, Costumes, Film & TV, Kids, Miscellaneous, Music, People & Celebrities and Sports.

13. Personalized Money

Place your face on a bill.

14. Write On It

This site allows you to create your own fake pictures, captions, magazine covers and other funny jokes.

15. Dumpr

Another cool site to change up your pictures. Just upload your photo and let the magic happen.

16. AnyMaking

Turn your picture into a vintage pic, wanted sign, liquify or puzzle effect.

17. Montagraph

Make and share photo montages on this site.

18. piZap

Another free online photo editor.

19. My Heritage

This site uses face recognition technology to play with your photos. Included in the site are Celebrity Morph, Celebrity Collage, Look-a-Like Meter, and Tag Photos.

20. Front Page You

Put your face on the front page of over 100 different magazine covers.

21. Funny Photo

Plug your face into numerous different templates to create funny pictures. Some templates use face recognition to make the process simple.

22. Letter James

Plug your own text into several different templates. You can also create calendars, photo albums, e-cards ect.

23. ImageChef

Choose from 100′s of templates to plug your photos or text into.

24. Fake Magazine Cover

Just as the title says, choose a magazine and plug in your picture.

25. Photo505

Yet another site for plugging in your photos into creative templates. With all of these choices, you’ll be busy for days.

Most of these sites won’t yield high quality results, but there great for creating quick, funny images to share with friends.