The designer Gopinath Prasana has visualized what could be the iPod of next generation. It’s an iPod in a bangle which is being referred iBangle. It is basically a piece of Aluminum with a multi-touch track pad to play music.

The design is just a concept and I want to know where would battery be allocated. It will have wireless ear plugs as you can see in the image. Steve Jobs shouldn’t mind creating an iBangle as long as there are no buttons in it.

Source: Yanko Design

FontShop.com have now launched a useful application called FontStruct, this is a free online Flash-based tool that makes it fairly easy to create a TrueType font from scratch that too without too much of hassle.Well this is not targetted on the pro’s who are already into serious font designing. Although this could be cool tool for the newbies who prefer to create their own fonts, or just want to give it a shot.

FontStruct also include a social-network targeting on font sharing, rating, and Creative-Commons-licensing.

Apple have released Aperture 2, which is being seen as the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software that sports over 100 new features making it faster, powerfull and easy to use.

With a streamlined user interface and entirely new image processing engine, Aperture 2 also introduces new imaging tools for highlight recovery, color vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft-edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning.

Users can directly post their portfolios on the .Mac Web Gallery* for viewing on the web, iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV. At a new low price of $199, anyone can easily organize, edit and publish photos like a pro.

Aperture 2 is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) through the Apple Store. Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

Owners of previous versions of Aperture can upgrade to Aperture 2 for just $99 (US). Full system requirements and more information on Aperture 2 can be found at http://www.apple.com/aperture.

Looking for that web2.0’sh look for your website? It is now a trend everyone is now converting their pages into CSS and standards compatible pages, but still the majority of pages that you find on internet are badly designed. There are few biggest mistakes that one can make while creating website designs.

1. Slow-loading Web pages
One of the prime mistakes that is common with both beginners and professional websites is that people do not optimize there pages for the loading time, many use magazine like images which are large in size and uncompressed graphics. By keeping large graphics files the web page is bound to be slow loading. The page if carefully designed this blunder can be avoided.

2. Table layout
Tables Layout are still very common, these are structural elements and are not complaint with W3C. It is a wise thing to use CSS for layout instead of tables on your website, as it will make it accessible to all devices like PDAs, car browsers and Webtvs. You must test how your website looks on a mobile phone screen. CSS can be modified to adjust on each screen size and resolution type. Using CSS for layout also benefits on ranking better on search engines and also enable quicker loading pages

3. Bad color combinations
Many Website designers don’t pay much attention to the color combinations they use on their website. Others pay too much attention and still can not improve their work. Bad color combinations can lead to difficult-to-use pages. As a particular color identifies hyperlinks, with unused links and recently used links having different colors this are the website usage basics. The standard colors for links are blue for unvisited links and purple for visited links. Black or gray text on a white or off-white background is what people are used to, and it is the best choice. With this background color the standard link colors look just fine.

4. Using Frames
Another big blunder we find on websites is the use of frames which have plenty of usability problems, the pages are not printable and they can not be bookmarked, moreover the visited links across frames don’t change colors. Use of Frames must be totally avoided. Also the content in Frames is non search engine friendly.

5. Using Non-resizable text
Use of Small text is prevalent on many websites, it looks good and you can give a lot of information on your webpage, but as resolution increases small text becomes non readable. To enable your website accessible to all kind of users, devices and different resolution types. One must specify the font size in terms of %, em or a relative value (like small, medium etc.).

6. Using Images that have text information
Many website designers use images to display text, this makes the text non resizable and definitely not accessible to other users and on handheld devices. Text on images also appears pixelated and is too blurry to read. This text is also not readable by search engines.

7. Wrong ALT text
New devices like car browsers and users that use slow dial-up connections who usually turn off images have dependability on correct ALT text, in place of images. To ensure accessibility, the images must have a correct ALT description that describes the image and its function properly.

8. No search
Almost more than half internet users are so used to search function, by not keeping a search utility on your website you disappoint those who head straight for the search function to find what they are looking for instead of going by navigation. A prominent search bar enhances website usability and also helps in your conversion goals.

9. Meaning less 404 error page
A big blunder that people tend to do is either they don’t have a 404 page or if they do it is meaning less and adds no value to the website. Usually the 404 error shows up when a user reaches to a URL of a page that no longer exists or has been moved, this also happens when someone types an incorrect URL. Not all your users would know what a 404 error message mean so please don’t call this page as a 404 error page. You must inform the user on what happened and what he must do to reach where he intends to go. Such a page must have a call-to-action, like you could include a search function and few links to the homepage, site map, and most popular pages.

10. Website relying on JavaScript
Almost 5-8% of Internet users’ have browsers that don’t support JavaScript and no alternatives are used, web designer pay little attention to ensure accessibility to all. This can be a huge mistake, just to have a feel how it appears turn JavaScript off on your browser and open your website which uses JavaScript extensively. Extensive use of JavaScript makes your website non usable or accessible on most Handhelds.

Adobe Systems is briing out the early version of Apollo a software that allows to run Web applications online and offline which successfully overcomes the gap between Web applications and desktop computers.

The first release will be an ‘alpha’ version, with a beta is due sometime this summer. Version 1.0 is planned for the second half of this year.

The alpha version will run on Windows and Macintosh, and will allow people use HTML, JavaScript, and Flash programming, and display Adobe’s PDF format. A Linux edition is also in the pipeline.

The early version of Apollo is targeted mainly at Web designers and programmers, and will include a software development kit and ‘runtime’ software for running Apollo applications.

When the software becomes more widely available, users will be able to download a runtime to their desktop PCs to run Apollo applications.

The Apollo release is highly anticipated, especially amongst those who develop rich Internet applications or Web applications with some of the interactivity of traditional desktop applications.

Apparently, Adobe’s upcoming Creative Suite 3, slated for release later this month, will also allow people create Apollo content.

Hewlett-Packard Co. said Thursday it has agreed to buy high-end gaming PC maker Voodoo Computers Inc., giving the computer and printer company access to an elite group of hardcore hobbyists willing to shell out several thousand dollars for turbocharged customizable machines.Palo Alto-based HP did not release terms of the deal, which was announced after the market closed as a congressional panel finished grilling Chief Executive Mark Hurd and other HP insiders over the boardroom spying scandal that has claimed three board members and three top HP employees.

HP’s deal with Voodoo is part of a larger trend of big PC makers snapping up high-end gaming equipment companies to capture a lucrative market with higher growth rates and fatter profit margins, said Roger L. Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates Inc.

Vista Transformation Pack will give a new realm to your old Windows XP or 2003 with a new Vistalish look. This nice application visually enhances Windows XP to look Windows Vista. You can download Vista Transformation Pack for free and it is fairly easy to install. This application transforms most of the UI elements in Windows to a Vista look. If you have a previous version of VTP installed, Vista Transformation Pack 5.5 will allow you to easily upgrade without uninstalling previous version. You can also integrate Vista Transformation Pack to into Windows setup files.

• Boot screen
• Welcome Screen / Logon Screen
• New msstyles files (visual styles)
• New desktop and file icons
• New toolbar icons
• Progress Dialogs
• Sounds scheme
• System Tray icons
• New Wallpapers
• Windows Media Player Skins
• And much more

There are a few visual styles that are available in display properties and you can switch to the one you like. The installation is smooth but modifies several system files & icons. It will also give you a warning during the install process, so you must make backups before installing VTP.

Vista Transformation Pack Desktop

Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer