Have you used kuler? It's a color selection tool that helps you create harmonizing (or clashing, if you prefer) color schemes for your video projects, print work, web sites, bathroom, etc. You browse themes that others have created or you can share your colors with others on the site, in your work group, or keep them to yourself.

Now, you can save them directly to Illustrator, Photoshop or InDesign, so no more screenshots!

Download kuler desktop

Just an observation, but are capital letters moving out of the English language? kuler desktop is lower case although it's a name. I've been seeing this a lot lately. The capital letter in the middle of two words smashed together is still going strong (iTunes, MySpace, LeapFrog. Note: Toolfarm has NEVER had a captial F in the middle).

You probably don't know this, but I have a fascination with languages. I studied Spanish for 6 years and I know a bit of Japanese (my husband is from Japan) and I have dabbled in German and some French and Italian during travel, which were surprisingly easy to pick up due to the shared Latin roots with Spanish. I find the roots of languages very interesting, as well as how they have diverged over the centuries. Thanks to globalization, the pace of language evolution is going to be even more pronounced.

I was reading a very interesting article this week in Wired Magazine, How English Is Evolving Into a Language We May Not Even Understand. It's an English as a Second Language world, not Esperanto. "By 2020, native speakers will make up only 15 percent of the estimated 2 billion people who will be using or learning the language." The article focuses mainly on China and how many Chinese are learning English but have no one to speak it with. They pronounce things differently than a native speaker would and add words from their own dialect. It's known as Chinglish.

Computer jargon and the English language is having a similar effect. It already is to a huge extent - Google is now a verb, blog is in common usage and even the term globalization is fairly new. The mouse as we know it is not the mouse of 100 years ago. Other terms that are in constant use: browser, laser, internet, cyberspace, terabytes... you get the idea.

Could this happen to English grammar due to our highly technological lifestyle? Will we stop using capital letters like e.e. cummings? It has become common place for IMs and emails to be sent without capitalization or proper punctuation. cummings may have intended it as a gesture of humility, but most computer users are most likely doing it out of laziness, indiscretion or we've just become accustomed to being so casual with the language. Now products are named in lower case!

Your thoughts?

Labels: internet, Opinion

Ok, what's going on? Really? Avid drops out of the NAB 2008 show floor, and now Apple's done the same. I suppose some will say it'll be a quieter NAB... but what's behind these decisions? I think it's likely that if you don't have anything significant to show at NAB, you'll want to save your pennies for the time you've got mindblowing new products (like last year's FCS 2). But Avid's supposed to have some significant news any day now (they missed their Feb. deadline), and they have a lot to make up for over the years; they don't have to have the biggest booth, in the most trafficked spot in the South Hall. Many smaller spaces do just fine. Avid is emphasizing one-on-one communication with its customers, but the kind of traffic you can handle in a big hotel room screams to me that only large broadcasters are being defined as "customers". Doesn't that leave out the individual/boutique/post house editors?

Is this a commentary on the management and pricing of NAB participation? Apple has proven it can fully manage its announcements under it's own timetable, but no presence is "highly" predictive that the replacement to Shake (codename Phenomenon) isn't coming soon. I'll tell you the successor to Shake has a lot of expectations to fulfill. Apple usually hits home runs, but this needs to be a grand slam.



Now... supposedly I saw an invite/posting for an early breakfast meeting the Monday of NAB for Apple at one of the neighboring hotels. Other vendors and partners very likely will have Apple reps at their booths. Avid's off-the-floor presence will hopefully not disappoint show-goers who want to visit. But I have to admit, a cool wind blows....

Labels: Opinion