Windows

I Visit HP and Explore How They Design Products

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Hewlett-Packard Product Development from RHED Pixel on Vimeo.

Richard Harrington discusses Hewlett-Packard's product development with Ronald Rogers at HP's headquarters in Fort Collins, CO.


A few weeks ago I visited the design labs for HP. I got an impressive look at how they design, test, and build computers. I also saw things to come and must say I am very glad that we have a company focussing on building machines for video and animation pros.

Have a listen to a detailed interview about how HP works and judge for yourself.

New Drobo Units Announced

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Two new Drobo Units are released. I first saw these a few months ago (we've been helping with the videos for launch).
We run our whole office on Drobos, love them. Incredibly reliable and easy to manage.

These two new units are awesome!

Drobo 5D

High-performance, desktop storage for professionals
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  • 5 drive bays
  • 2 xThunderbolt
  • USB 3.0
  • Thunderbolt and USB cables included
  • SATA or solid state
  • mSATA solid state drive (Turbocharges cache)
  • Power Fail Protection
  • Mac OS X Lion & Mountain Lion
  • Windows 7 & 8

Drobo Mini

Portable performance storage with data protection.
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  • 4 drive bays
  • 2 xThunderbolt
  • USB 3.01 x USB 3.0 port
  • Thunderbolt and USB cables included
  • 4 2.5" SATA or solid state drives
  • Mac OS X Lion & Mountain Lion
  • Windows 7 & 8

Managing App Development

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Managing App Development


Here are my slides from the 7th ANNUAL INNOVATIONS IN E-LEARNING SYMPOSIUM. Sponsored by the Defense Acquisition University and the George Mason University Instructional Technology Program.

With the increase in mobile computing the use of apps has significantly risen. Whether you're targeting mobile phones or tablets, an app can be a cost-efficient way to reach your audience. In this workshop, you'll learn the major steps involved and how to manage application development(even if you're not a programmer yourself).

Join Richard Harrington, a certified project management professional as he unlocks the development process.

  • Learn how to identify your distribution options and register as a developer.
  • You'll also learn how to target your audience and refine the functional goals of your application.
  • Learn how to assemble your development team and efficiently develop graphic and video assets.
  • Discover multiple methods for authoring applications including software as a service, authoring tools, and programming.
  • Learn how to test your apps then submit them to marketplaces for distribution or use ad hoc methods for small groups.
  • You'll also learn practical approaches for marketing your application to your target audience.


You can download the PDF here

A Great Deal for Organizing Your Media

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A colleague of mine, Peter Krogh has a great deal going. His excellent book called The DAM Bool is being bundled with Expression Media. Here are the key facts.

The DAM Book – In The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers, Peter Krogh updates his ground-breaking book on creating and managing digital photography collection. Peter guides you through the entire digital photography ecosystem, showing you how hardware, software, file formats and workflow practices can work together to keep your images safe, and to let you get the most from your pictures. The second edition has been almost entirely rewritten, updating the material for the changed technical landscape. Chapters were added that covered the use of Lightroom, as well as an entirely new chapter on backup and validation of image files. Peter also covers the use of GPS devices and software to geotag your images.

Expression Media 2 software – When you buy The DAM Book during the month of October, you'll get a fully-licensed copy Expression Media 2 for free. (A $199 full retail value). Expression Media 2 is the a cross-platform application for managing your digital photos and media. Create easy-to-use catalogs of all your photos, movies, audio files, and many more file types. Expression Media 2 was recently purchased by Phase One from Microsoft.

Act now to take advantage of this limited time offer – Expires Sunday, October 31.

Free Font Converter

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Have an old font that's not working right? Maybe it's PC-only and you're on a Mac. Here's a free service to convert fonts –

FreeFontConverter.com allows you to quickly convert between many font formats without the hassle of installing any software on your computer. Our service works on any operating system including Windows, Mac and Linux. Our font converting service works for all of the common font formats including TrueType (.ttf), OpenType (.oft) and PostScript (.ps). We can also convert many of the less well known font formats including Suitcase (.suit) and Data Fork (.dfont) fonts.

Thanks to Rod Harlan for pointing this one out.

How To Avoid Bad Powerpoint

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Seven Deadly Sins of PowerPoint

  1. Too few slides
    2 Too many words
    3 No ‘road signs’ (where are you going?)
    4 Reliance on gimmicks (skip sound effects)
    5 Ignoring design
    6 Not rehearsing
    7 Forgetting your audience

The Rules of Presentation Design

  • Limit fonts used
    • Use a heavy font
    • Avoid stock templates
    • 3-7 bullets per page
    • A bullet is 2-5 words
    • Readability test, (stand 15 feet away from the screen, can you read it easily)
    • Design for the back of the room
    • Create your own templates
    • Use builds or simple animations to bring bullets on line by line
    • Justification & capitalization (be consistent)
    • Consider screen vs. print
    • Use transparency
    • Ease to change
    • With multiple presenters, utilize a style guide and templates