Sketch 2-1, added some random blur effect.

Sketch 2-2, changed colors a bit, still using the follow mouse effect.

Sketch 2-3, automated the movement and size of the circles still with the blur filter.

So I open up processing to see how technical I am or maybe exercise and learn to be more technical and creative at the same time. And upon booting up, I found an old sketch that I did, I guess at another point when I felt the need to escape or was feeling frustrated. The short sketch involved dots with random sizes and hue. As I move the mouse around, the dots “paint on the canvas.” Look:

Pictured above is not the much talked about Google Chrome OS. It is, in fact, just one of the windows inside the Google Chrome browser. While browsing, I right-clicked inside the screen to reveal a menu and saw “inspect element.”

When the announcement of Google Chrome OS came out, it did cross my mind on how it would look. So far I like the implementation of the browser and as you can see it does look more like a Mac OS interface rather than a Windows one which it is running on. Yey!

When a company is filled with engineers, it turns to engineering to solve problems. Reduce each decision to a simple logic problem. Remove all subjectivity and just look at the data. Data in your favor? Ok, launch it. Data shows negative effects? Back to the drawing board. And that data eventually becomes a crutch for every decision, paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions.

I have heard similar stories of designers, some of whom I know personally, that work inside big corporations having similar gloomy outlooks. I cannot clam to know how that might feel like… but I guess it would suck. But personally I think Doug has to see his contributions, no matter how minuscule, as world changing. He helped designed Google Calendar… now, can you imagine how the world would be without the great work he put into it?

Just a couple of weeks back, I blogged about how I was moving my files to a PC.  Well that experience convinced me that I really need an upgrade.  Although the PC experience was not too bad there was the occasional screen freeze and yes I got “the blue screen of death” about 3 times… possibly because that was a really old problem.  Anyway, during that time and this week, some of the local distributors of mac lowered the price of the previous models of MacBook Pros since the introduction of the Multi-Touch ones.  It was too good an opportunity to pass up.  So I got myself one.  Yup… the exact same one which I said would be “My Next Apple” about a year ago.

The performance boost was expected of course since it is a significant jump from my old Powerbook G4.   But what amazes me is the software really.  After an installation of a few key software packages, it was back to work for me.  It was like I was transported back into a familiar room except the furniture was new but still in the right place.  Getting familiar with Leopard (vs my previous Tiger installation) was a breeze.  No need to learn anything new.  That’s good for someone like me who needs to get back into work right away.  I have yet to migrate all my data, specially my email, but I think this is a good time to start fresh.  Now back to loading up my CDs in iTunes…

It does actually seem faster to do browser based stuff with the desktop considering most web-apps are built for Windows in a way. Firefox seems faster on th PC than on the mac ergo Gmail is faster, wordpress is sturdier… etc. Or could be that this machine has a more stable LAN connection versus the WiFi on my mac. I don’t know.

But what I do know is that I either need to cleanup my Powerbook or buy a new MacBook Pro 15″.  I’ve been thinking about the latter for a while now… actually since Apple released an SantaRosa LED backlit one. But with all the bills and other things I have to pay for I’ve been holding off on getting one.  Now Apple just released an update to the Macbook Pro, based on Penryn Intel chips with a multi-touch pad, but I think I would settle for the SantaRosa ones.

I for one love Yahoo! products, not particularly its search engine, but I think it did some great web 2.0 acquisitions like delicous and flickr. So I think it is a good move by Microsoft, and probably a good idea for Yahoo! to take the offer as well since they have been lagging behind Google as well as recent news of Yahoo! laying off a thousand employees.

This is not the first shocker Microsoft pulls on us, remember last years deal with Facebook? Valuating Facebook at $15 Billion, which I personally think was ridiculous.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what will happen next and how this might affect our daily web lives as well as our ‘office’ life.