86 Words

SocWall is a cool idea and a cool site. The idea is social networking mixed with cool desktop wallpapers.

You can browse by category, or by ration (widescreen, standard, etc), or you can just look through all of the images. For any image you particularly like, give it a thumbs up (and the score changes right on screen), or a thumbs down for any that particularly grates on you.

For the ones you do like, download an use on your desktop!

The front page jumps right into the pictures (and the ratings)
(click to enlarge)

I LOVE this image - I’ll NEVER be able to find my icons!

A couple of the Windows wallpapers were so nice they made me wanna switch back to Windows!
(Okay, not really, but it DOES look nice, doesn’t it?)

- www.SocWall.com -

Tags: Collections, Reference, Just Cool, Art / Visual, Cool Sites, Life Tips, General by Jai
58 Comments »

BlockPosters is a cool webapp for anyone who has topic they would like to use for decorating?

What?!?

Okay, find a digital image from anywhere (google images, flickr, your camera). Go to BlockPosters and tell it how many sheets of paper wide, and how many tall you would like to print the image.

Some of the pictures in the gallery show using this ability in ways that work really well for attractive decor - even in some pretty classy settings!

Sometimes the actual topic of the image doesn’t matter so much as the aesthetic!

Other times, blending topic and aesthetic are more ideal

Um… Okay, I guess if you like bananas…

It’s important…
Sometimes you want…
Hell, I don’t know.

- www.BlockPosters.com -

Tags: Virtual, Generators, Reference, Just Cool, Art / Visual, Software, Life Tips, General by Jai
40 Comments »

David Austin, an artist makes incredible stuff out of chain mail, from tapestry inlays to chess sets (including board and both colors of pieces); from sculptured castles to baskets (after which he named the site - ChainMailBasket.com). He makes other stuff too - Jewelery, clothing, vase coverings, and even household items!

Oh yeah, and armor (including a rainbow one he did in anodized aluminum of multiple colors!)

Here’s the pics:

The complete chess set (the first one - he’s working on a second now)

A closer view of the pieces from the first set - me want!

The silver colored castle - simpler than the copper one, but easier to visually absorb…

This one is more detailed, but also harder to visually parse. I wonder if it’s bendy!

And one of his (many) baskets (for which the site is a namesake)

- www.ChainMailBasket.com -

Tags: Collections, Reference, Art / Visual, Links, Geek Stuff, Cool Sites, General by Jai
45 Comments »

Personas is a neat web app that has you enter your name (or presumably any two words, since it accepted “Zombie Lips” without hesitation), and returns a ColorBar that represents what the internet has to say about you.

The app searches for references and then adds colors to the ColorBar for each associated category it locates, sized by ratio to the other categories.

When it’s done, you have a nice, tidy, and visually attractive thumbprint of your onlline life!

The interface is very simple, it asks only the one question…

Then things get chaotic for a bit (this is all animated as it builds my colorbar)

And apparently, this is the ColorBar version of me, all annotated and colorized!

- Personas -

Tags: Weird, Virtual, Multimedia, Collections, Reference, Just Cool, Net Life, Software, Cool Sites, Life Tips, Art / Visual, General by Jai
1 Comment »

Megapixel is a an in-browser game using the UnityWeb driver (a lot of the good games are starting to go that route - it’s kind of an alternative to flash that’s designed for gaming).

The game puts you in a black room with colored pixel-enemies attacking. You fight back with cool pixel-weapons (seems appropriate, right?), and it doesn’t take long for the fighting to get frantic (but it definitely stays fun and visually interesting!)

If you like cool, brainless games, check out MegaPixel!

The bizarre graphics start right at the beginning (and add a LOT to the FEEL of the game!)

Shooting down at a generic attacker with the standard weapon

Using the more powerful green “laser” weapon against an early boss coming down from above

- MegaPixel -

Tags: Virtual, Weird, Multimedia, Reference, Just Cool, Net Life, Geek Stuff, Software, Video Gaming, Art / Visual, General by Jai
49 Comments »

With it’s “Harry Potter” like feel, “Charming” really fits!

Wizard101 is a very different multiplayer game with a… Charming personality. It’s kid-friendly but I’m still finding it possibly the most thoroughly enjoyable multiplayer game I’ve ever tried!

You, as a magic student, use a simple CCG system for spellcasting and wander around completing missions to protect the realm.

The fully 3D graphics are… Charming, as is the entire feel of the game.

If you DON’T LIKE MMOs, you should give this one a try!

Talking to a guard who asks me to help with the ghost problem in Unicorn way

Bringing up my map of the local area, I find my destination and head toward it

Now, in combat with one of the ghosts (Lost Soul), I look through my drawn spell cars (I ended up choosing FireCat, the card on the left - click the image for a better view).

Here’s my FireCat as I cast him, just before he pounces on (and annihilates) the ghost (with a lot of exciting pyrotechnics)!

- www.wizard101.com -

Tags: Just Cool, Virtual, Reference, Net Life, Art / Visual, Software, Cool Sites, Video Gaming, General by Jai
50 Comments »

If you’re like me (and very few people are, so congratulate yourself!), you’re sick of all of the fuss over URL shorteners. If somehow you’ve missed the billions of them out there, they do is take a normal URL and give you a much shorter way to type it.

Anyway, I am pretty tired of hearing about these things, so HugeURL.com makes me happy. It takes a url and makes it VERY LONG!

Useless? Perhaps, but sometimes it’s important to just take a stand!

This was the URL I got for www.86words.com
(unfortunately, I had to fake it with a screenshot, WordPress wouldn’t format it correctly and still have it work).

- http://HugeURL.com -

Tags: Weird, Virtual, Humor, Generators, Reference, Collections, Just Cool, Net Life, Software, Geek Stuff, Cool Sites, Links, Life Tips, General by Jai
58 Comments »

OdoSketch is a free, web-based drawing program that has a few features you would expect, and a whole ambiance that you wouldn’t!

The expected features include selections of colors, multiple brush sizes, ability to save and / or export (it exports html to allow you to imbed your creation in your web page), etc.

As far as the unexpected ambiance, the only thing I can say that might help is that it creates very organic-lookign art (See pics below to see what I mean).

Right from the title the app is themed approprately!

These are a few of the featured gallery pics - on the site, you can click on them to go to the full view
(which you then see rendered the way the artist did it, not just blinked up on screen!)

This is where you can have it export the HTML for your web embedment (is that a word?)

My meager attempt at a drawing - hey, I was working with a mouse, it ain’t easy!
(It does look SLIGHTLY better if you view the full size)

- OdoSketch -

Tags: Virtual, Retro, Reference, Just Cool, Net Life, Software, Cool Sites, Art / Visual, General by Jai
47 Comments »

POTRTP: Picture Of The Random Time Period (whever I find ‘em)

Okay, so the title was a bit sensationalized, but it’s a cool pic anyway!

Enjoy!

Left to right: Han Solo, Darth Vader (except voice), Chewbacca, Leia, R2D2, Luke Skywalker

Tags: Reference, Picture Of The RTP, Art / Visual, General by Jai
54 Comments »

POTRTP: Picture Of The Random Time Period

This image has me tempted to create a new category: WTFOTRTP!

Enjoy!

That’s a goat, people. A freaking goat!

Tags: Reference, Picture Of The RTP, Weird, Art / Visual, General by Jai
70 Comments »