05 · 10

WebOS-based 'Hurricane' tablet coming from HP as early as this Fall

With the purchase of Palm, HP promised to "double down" on its WebOS.  They seem to mean business, already having killed the Windows 7-based HP Slate and, according to the Examiner, have already started building a WebOS tablet codenamed the 'HP Hurricane'.

Unless Palm already had some pretty significant tablet plans, that timetable seems awfully aggressive.  

Palm CEO, Jon Rubinstein last year told Slashgear:

he did tell us that webOS was designed to be a “mobile device OS” rather than solely a smartphone platform, suited to a broad scale of devices up to tablets and even larger. Describing larger-scale touch computing as “an exciting area,” Rubinstein said that Palm were watching the tablet market and that “we – or licensees – could look at entering that in future.” Since we reckon webOS’ interface – especially its background notifications system – bests those of iPhone OS 4.0 or Android, that’s a direction we particularly hope somebody chooses to follow.

PreCentral, Engadget

05 · 10

WordPress 3.0: The 5 Most Important New Features

WordPress 3 Logo

WordPress has long been known as a dedicated blogging platform, giving users the tools they need to publish their message and interact with readers.  However, with the official release of version 3.0, set to drop this month, the platform will be much closer, if not well within the territory of a content management system (CMS).

The list of new features in WordPress 3.0 isn’t very long in comparison to previous releases.  However, the changes that are coming will certainly have a significant impact, particularly if you use WordPress as a CMS.  Here is a rundown of the most important new features arriving in version 3.0.

Let us know in the comments which features of WordPress 3.0 you are most looking forward to.

1. Custom Post Types

By default, WordPress lets you publish two types of content: “Posts” and “Pages.”  In version 3.0, you can define additional content types with their own attributes.  For example, if you’re running a WordPress site for a design agency, you might create a custom post type to display portfolio items, another for employee pages, and another for client testimonials.  From there, you can customize your theme to better suit each individual post type.

You might even want to turn your WordPress site into something more like Tumblr.  This will be easy to do in WordPress 3.0 simply by creating custom post types for Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, Audio, and Video.

Thanks to custom post types, there are many new possibilities for how you use WordPress to publish any sort of content.

2. Menu Management

WordPress Menus Image

Menu management is one of the most exciting and talked about features in WordPress 3.0.  This feature gives you full control over your site’s navigation menus.  With an easy drag and drop interface, users can create menus that include any mixture of links to internal pages, external URLs, categories, you name it.  Then you can embed these custom menus as a widget wherever your theme allows.

So let’s say you’re running a site which has several informational pages, plus a blog, featured video posts, and you also want to promote your social media presence.  You can customize your main navigation to look something like this:

  • HOME
  • BLOG (links to the main blog page)
  • VIDEOS (links to the video category, or post type)
  • INFO PAGE
  • INFO PAGE
    • SUB INFO PAGE
  • TWITTER (links to your Twitter profile)
  • FACEBOOK (links to your Facebook Fan Page)

Changing the order, titles, and destination of these links is a piece of cake with menu management in WordPress 3.0.

3. Custom Taxonomies

While this new feature may seem a bit complex to non-developers, it certainly brings WordPress 3.0 closer to a true CMS.  Custom taxonomies allow you to create additional pieces of meta information.  By default, there are “Categories” and “Tags.”  Now we can add additional types, with the option of being hierarchical or not.

So what does this mean exactly?  Here are some examples of what you can do with custom taxonomies:

Let’s say you’re a film fanatic and you use your WordPress blog to post reviews and rate new movies.  You can create a custom taxonomy for “Rating,” then add R, PG-13, PG, G to every review.

Another example would be real estate listing websites.  In addition to photos and descriptions, you might use additional taxonomies to provide a list of specs on each property such as asking price, number of bedrooms, year built, etc.

4. New Default Theme: “Twentyten”

TwentyTen Theme Image

Twentyten is the long-overdue default theme packaged with new installations of WordPress 3.0.  It features a clean, yet bold design and introduces some nice functionality not found in many themes.  Two features built into Twentyten are particularly useful if you’re new to WordPress and don’t have the coding skills to customize your theme.  They are:

Custom Header Image

The Twentyten theme gives you the ability to easily change your site’s header image.  Packaged with the theme are eight interesting banner images to choose from.  You can also upload your own image.  This feature isn’t limited to the Twentyten theme.  It can be activated and included by theme developers as well.

Custom Background Image

Another nifty feature found in Twentyten is the ability to upload your own background image for your site.  You can also set a solid background color if you want.  While this is likely an easy thing to tweak even for those with only light knowledge of web development, it’s certainly useful for those who don’t want to get their hands dirty and edit CSS.  Again, custom background functionality can be included in other themes as well if activated by the theme developer.

5. Multi-site

You can’t discuss WordPress 3.0 without mentioning the new multi-site capabilities.  That is, you can manage several different websites (with different domains and/or sub-domains) all with a single installation of WordPress.  What was previously known as WordPress MU (Multi-User) is now merged with the core WordPress system in 3.0.  Enabling multi-site capabilities likely isn’t something for the average user, as it requires some tinkering with the code and configuring server settings.  That said, the average user likely isn’t interested in having multi-site capabilities.

So who benefits from running a multi-site installation of WordPress?  It’s perfect if you’re running a blog network, or manage a large news organization with many different departments.  Perhaps your business has each employee running their own blog with a unique design or even their own domain.  These are situations where multi-site functionality can be useful.

What Else?

Here are a few of the minor feature enhancements arriving in WordPress 3.0:

Get Shortlink (with your own domain)

We all know how useful URL shorteners can be, especially for tweeting links.  WordPress 2.9 gave you the ability to use the wp.me URL shortener.  WordPress 3.0 takes this feature a step further by allowing you to get a shortlink for your post based on your own domain name.  For example: http://mashable.com/?post=7127.  You don’t need to mask your URL with other services like bit.ly.  Now you can keep your branding intact when you tweet your links.

Author Templates

New in 3.0 is the ability to create unique author templates.  This is great if you’re running a multi-author blog and you’d like to apply unique styles or layouts to individual author pages.

Select Username and Password During Installation

Before WordPress 3.0, new installations automatically set your master account to username “admin” with an auto-generated password.  Now, you can define these during installation, saving you the hassle of changing them later.  It also adds a new layer of security.  WordPress sites have been known to be compromised simply because they use the most common username, “admin.”

Get the entire list of new features and changes at the official WordPress Codex page for 3.0

Which feature are you most excited to get your hands on in WordPress 3.0? Let us know in the comments!

05 · 10

NPD: Android phones now outsell Apple's iPhone in US

Does this surprise you? Me - Not at all.

Media_httpimagesapple_phteg

05 · 10

Android App Developers GUI Kits, Icons, Fonts and Tools

Hot on the heels of our previous GUI article, iPhone and iPad Development GUI Kits, today we focus on Android development. The idea is the same: To help streamline your app design and development, with a fairly comprehensive collection of Android GUI kits, icons, fonts, .psds and tools, that will allow you to focus on developing rather than having to design everything from scratch.

In comparison to Apples iPhone, the Android interaction design guidelines are far from being extensive nor are they as regimental. Androids guidelines are comprehensive and clear enough, yet they do allow a little room for some original design creativity – which is good. Of course, there is a reason why there are design guidelines, and they should not be abused (nice to be original though), the guidelines will help you to create a polished and uniformed experience for the user. (You can read more about the Android design guidelines below).

Android

Android GUI Guidelines

Android User Interface Guidelines »
The Android UI team has developed guidelines for the interaction and visual design of Android applications. You can view here for articles that describe these guidelines as they are released.

Android Icon Design Guidelines »
This guideline provides information to help you create icons for the various parts of your application’s user interface that match the general styles used by the Android 2.x framework.

Android Widget Design Guidelines »
This document describes how to design a widget so it fits graphically with other widgets and with the other elements of the Android Home screen. It also describes some standards for widget artwork and some widget graphics tips and tricks from the Android team.

Android GUI Tools

DroidDraw : Graphical User Interface Editor for Android

DroidDraw : Graphical User Interface Editor for Android


DroidDraw is a User Interface (UI) designer/editor that can be used to build GUIs for Android. It is standalone executable, and its available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.
Download DroidDraw »

AnDroidDraw

AnDroidDraw


AnDroidDraw is an Android application which integrates with DroidDraw (see above) and it allows you to download your GUIs directly from DroidDraw and preview your GUIs on an Android emulator or device.
Download AnDroidDraw »

Android Wireframe Templates

Android Wireframe Templates


If you use a pencil before you start to take your Android app to the digital realm, then here are some ready made Android wireframe templates to help you design for some of the handsets out there. There are a whole variety of devices to choose from, with different screen resolutions, and hard or virtual keyboards.
Download Android Wireframe Templates »

Android Full Gui Kits

Android GUI PSD Vector Kit

Android GUI PSD Vector Kit


The Android GUI Starter Kit comes with several button elements as well as different interface options for Android GUI and is based on elements of Android 1.5.
Most of the elements and phone illustration are made in vector path so they are easily resizable.
Android GUI PSD Vector Kit »

Google Android GUI PSD

Google Android GUI PSD


This Google Android GUI PSD has been inspired by teehan+lax’s iPhone PSD, it has the basic GUI elements, built using vectors to scale.
Google Android GUI PSD »

Fireworks Template for Android

Fireworks Template for Android


In this Fireworks template the Android user interface elements have been redrawn as vector images, with the folders the elements have been mostly labeled according to the Android vocabulary.
Fireworks Template for Android »

Google Android Stencil for Omnigfaffle

Google Android Stencil for Omnigfaffle


This is an Omnigraffle stencil set for Android prototyping.
Google Android Stencil for Omnigfaffle »

Android Sketch Stencil Version 1.0 for Omnigfaffle

Android Sketch Stencil Version 1.0  for Omnigfaffle


The purpose of this sketch style wireframe is to prevent the intended audience from thinking about visual design and encourages them to focus on the functionality and behavior being proposed.
Android Sketch Stencil Version 1.0 for Omnigfaffle »

Android GUI Prototyping Stencil for Visio

Android GUI Prototyping Stencil for Visio


Android GUI Prototyping Stencil for Visio »

Android GUI Icon-Sets

Android Developers Icon Template Pack

The Android Icon Templates Pack is a collection of template designs, filters, and settings that make it easier for you to create icons that conform to the general specifications given in the Android design guidelines. The icon templates are in both Photoshop (.psd) and Illustrator (.ai) file formats.
There are three icon-sets included in the download package, Standard Launcher Icons, Standard Menu Icons and Standard Status Bar Icons.
You can preview the icon-sets below.

Standard Launcher Icons

Standard Launcher Icons


Android Developers Icon Template Pack »

Standard Menu Icons

Standard Menu Icons


Android Developers Icon Template Pack »

Standard Status Bar Icons

Standard Status Bar Icons


Android Developers Icon Template Pack »

Android Developer Common Icon Set

Android Developer Common Icon Set


The design and style of these icons have been based on some of the icons that are contained within the Android SDK. In total there are 24 .png Glyphs with the option of the following sizes: 16×16, 24×24, 32×32 and 48×48 pixels.
Android Developer Common Icon Set »

Android Developer Common Icon Set II

Android Developer Common Icon Set II


This icon set contains icons designed for use in the Menu, Lists, Tabs (selected and unselected) or Dialogs, with the correct sizing sorted into appropriately labelled folders.
In total there are 15 glyphs and all in .png format.
Android Developer Common Icon Set II »

Android Icons

Android Icons


This Android developer icon set includes 30 .png menu icons plus the additional source files (.eps) for further customization.
Android Icons »

Glyphish

Glyphish


The Glyphish icon set have designed and carefully optimized specifically for use on toolbars and tab bars in iPhone apps, but would also be perfect for Android Development.
The 130 icons are 24-bit .png images are about 30×30 pixels for tab bar icons and about 20×20 pixels for toolbar and navigation icons.
Glyphish »

Android Application Icons Set

Android Application Icons Set


Android Application Icons Set »

iDroid icons for Android

iDroid icons for Android


iDroid icons for Android »

Android Breathe Icon Set

Android Breathe Icon Set


Android Breathe Icon Set »

Android Icon Templates

Android Icon Templates


Android Icon Templates »

Android Icons Set II

Android Icons Set II


Android Icons Set II »

Switcher Icon Set

Switcher Icon Set


Switcher Icon Set »

Gesturecons – Multi-Touch Icons

Gesturecons - Multi-Touch Icons


These vector based icons have been created to help in the design, development, implementation and promotion of multi-touch interfaces. You can use Gesturecons inside of your applications in order to demonstrate to users how to complete actions or prompt them to interact with an application when they approach it. You can scale them to any size and alter them in any way you wish.
Within the download package there are 52 high resolution vector icons entirely scalable and alterable (.pdf, .ai, .eps file types.).
Gesturecons – Multi-Touch Icons »

Android Fonts

@font-face Package for the Droid Font Family

This is an @font-face download package for Droid fonts. A series of official fonts that have been designed and optimized for use in application menus, web browsers and for other screen text for the Android OS. Also included in the package are the droid.css and droid.sass files with the CSS3 @font-face declarations.
You can see a preview of the Droid fonts below:

Droid Sans Regular & Bold Fonts Preview

Droid Sans Regular & Bold Fonts Preview


@font-face Package for the Droid Font Family »

Droid Sans Mono Preview

Droid Sans Mono Preview


@font-face Package for the Droid Font Family »

Droid Serif Preview

Droid Serif Preview


@font-face Package for the Droid Font Family »

Free Font Droid Serif by Google Android @fontsquirrel

Free Font Droid Serif by Google Android @fontsquirrel


Free Font Droid Serif by Google Android @fontsquirrel »

Android GUI PSD Templates

Google Nexus One v2 Templates

Google Nexus One v2 Templates


Google Nexus One v2 Templates »

Google Nexus One Template

Google Nexus One Template


Google Nexus One Template »

Google Nexus One

Google Nexus One


Google Nexus One »

HTC Dream Android .PSD

HTC Dream Android .PSD


HTC Dream Android .PSD »

HTC Dream PSD

HTC Dream PSD


HTC Dream PSD »

HTC Hero PSD

HTC Hero PSD


HTC Hero PSD »

Android Search Toolbar PSD

Android Search Toolbar PSD


Android Search Toolbar PSD »

05 · 10

How to Force Anyone to Follow You on Twitter - Twitter hack

This works, I have tried it!

How to Force Anyone to Follow You on Twitter

With a stunningly simple hack, you can make any Twitter user follow you in a matter of seconds. We're all gods on Twitter now.

I have no idea how a hole this large could be left in a service as popular as Twitter, nor do I understand why it hasn't been shut yet. What I do understand, though, is that Oprah is following me right now. So anyway, here's how it works:

• Open the Twitter web interface
• Type "accept username" as in "accept oprah"
How to Force Anyone to Follow You on Twitter


• Wait. You may get a server error, but that means it's worked.
• Check your followers list
• !!!

This command is either a remnant of a system that isn't in use anymore, or it exposes something fundamental about the way Twitter works. (Typing "follow username" lets you follow someone, too.) Either way, ha, holy shit.

Kyle Reddoch

I am an aspiring Web Developer, Android Fanatic, Family Man, and all around Web Geek! I also do Freelance Development work.

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