December 2008 Archives

 
 
1988 saw the launch of an early version of Photoshop - with the toolbar you can see on the right.

A score of years later and the toolbar looks like the one on the left.

Remarkably - over such a long time - the basic interface has remained largely the same and is widely felt to be easy to use.

Will it still be with us in another 20 years?

Read more about it here at Gizmodo.

You should not be surprised that Fireworks (we use in school) and Paintshop (another popular application) use very similar interfaces.

The holidays are nearly here and for me it's time for T-shirts every day.

Video games - still love 'em - though I usually need far more lives than this.

This humungous T-shirt can be seen and bought here.

The holidays are nearly here and for me it's time for T-shirts every day.

Le Tour - and highlighting a classic mountain climb too.

This sensational T-shirt can be seen and bought here.

The holidays are nearly here and for me it's time for T-shirts every day.

Simple and effective - they'll never know if you're messy or cool.

This unreal T-shirt can be seen and bought here.

The holidays are nearly here and for me it's time for T-shirts every day.

Le Mans and GT40 - a petrolhead's dream come true.

This prodigious T-shirt can be seen and bought here.

The holidays are nearly here and for me it's time for T-shirts every day.

A classic handheld and shown opened for a bit of circuit-bending.

This fantastic T-shirt can be seen and bought here.

Assuming retailers can take any more off their prices after Christmas you might be thinking about getting a Blu-ray player. If so, these two links might help make the process easier.

• the Blu-ray holiday primer from Forbes
• 10 questions about Blu-ray from USA Today

Last week on 3^rd December, Logitech made their billionth mouse.

You can see a rather neat timeline that shows a wide range of 'pointing' devices they have made over the years. And here you can see some of the ideas that never made it into production.

Why did I wait till today to mention this? Today is the 40^th anniversary of the first demonstration of a mouse by Doug Engelbart. His presentation also previewed many other technologies that we take for granted.

The evening of the 4^th December 1952 saw the cold fog form that was later to be known as the "Great Smog" or "Big Smoke". The cold meant Londoners burnt more coal - the commonest form of heating in post-war Britain - than usual and the pollution was trapped in the fog to create 'smog over the next 5 days'. It was so thick that it penetrated indoors and its toxic nature led to the deaths at the time of over 4000 people. Estimates suggest another 8000 people died as a result of the smog but at a later date.

The Wikipedia page is quite brief but has some very useful links at its foot.

I was a bit short of time preparing for this week and fell back to an old standby topic - what happened on this day.

On Thursday, 2 December 1697 the first service at the 'new' St. Paul's cathedral - designed by Christopher Wren - was held. The building was not fully completed until 20^th October 1708, Wren's 76^th birthday.

Read more about it all here at Wikipedia or visit the St. Paul's Cathedral homepage.

I was a bit short of time preparing for this week and fell back to an old standby topic - what happened on this day.