Steven Voyles

In addition to the recent rumors of a Google phone, it looks like the web giant is planning to get into the netbook business as well.  The IBTimes is reporting today that specs have been leaked for a Chrome OS-based netbook due to launch during the 2010 holiday season.  Among the standard netbook features you’d expect, this baby also has a 10.1″ HD-ready multitouch display, a 64GB SSD, and 2GB of RAM standard.  If the reported sub $300 price tag turns out to be accurate, you can bet I’ll be first in line to pick one up next year.

Via: Slashdot

Original Article: IBTimes

More Details:

Wired

I have been a huge fan of agile development and the Scrum methodology ever since I first started working with it years ago.  The iterative nature of Scrum development lends itself so well to both obtaining and implementing user feedback that it’s hard not to like it.  I just finished listening to a great interview with Michael Vincent over at Usability Counts where Michael and Patrick Neeman discuss how the use of an agile methodology like Scrum can enhance usability.  Here are some of the key topics, but you should definitely hit the link below to listen to the podcast:

• How Scrum decreases the time between finding and correcting usability issues.
• The increased visibility into the development process given to users by teams using Scrum.
• The increased level of buy in for a project that can be obtained using a Scrum methodology.

Podcast: About Agile And Scrum With Michael Vincent | Usability Counts | User Experience, Social Media

Smashing Magazine just published a great guide to help those of us using GIMP to get it to act a little more like it’s much more expensive conuterpart, Photoshop.  For those of us that have been using GIMP for a while; some of these tips may be old hat, but even the most seasoned GIMP users may find something helpful.  The tweaks they cover are listed here, but hit the link for more details.

1. Add the PSPI Plug-In – Allows GIMP to use Photoshop plug-ins.
2. Install Layer Styles – Add Layer Effects to GIMP such as: Drop Shadow, Inner Glow, Outer Glow, Gradient Overlay, Stroke, Bevel and Emboss, etc.
3. Add CMYK Color Separation – Invaluable if you need GIMP for processing for high quality prints, etc.
4. Install Liquid Rescale – Helps eliminate distortion when altering an image’s dimensions by eliminating unnecessary pixels in certain areas.
5. Add Essential Brushes – Add new brushes to GIMP.
6. Anchor Windows – Dock those free floating GIMP windows.
7. Install Animation Package – Create animations in GIMP.
8. Enable GEGL – Image library.  See GEGL for more details.

Handy Tweaks To Make GIMP Replace Photoshop | How-To | Smashing Magazine