Katelyn M. Thompson’s Blog

I tend to get cold at work. I’m not sure what it is, but in the winter you can usually find me wearing my jacket around the office. I did the same thing in high school. I just get cold. Even with my jacket, my right hand has been getting very cold. Since it has to be controlling the mouse I can’t put it in my jacket pocket or sit on it as I sometimes can do with my left hand. I was thinking about gloves, and thought it would be really cool if there were gloves that could be heated by plugging them into a USB port.

A quick Google search revealed the USB-Heated Fingerless Gloves from perpetual kid.

However, these are wool, as are most gloves, and I am allergic to wool. So that won’t do. I got to thinking, why couldn’t the mouse itself be heated? So another Google search, and voilà an entire blog dedicated to mouse hand warmer products. It features the Heated Mouse which is sold for only $24.99.

I consider myself to be somewhat of a freelance web designer. I’ve created my own website and some websites for friends and family. There’s been a lot of talk about HTML5 and how it’s going to change the world. I’ve been a little late to the game in this new language. Thanks to @taliabethralph I came across html5rocks.com which has implemented some new features and demonstrates them in their slideshow.

It all seems very cool, the ability to have rounded corners and especially the ability to have any font face, regardless of if it’s supported on the users’ computer. I’m hoping that when I take Web Design as part of my Graphic Designer Certificate at SMFA they will cover HTML5 in depth. I look forward to implementing these in my websites and creating some new ones as well!

I am 18-24. I never had a smartphone. I spend most of my time on Twitter [Twidroyd]. I prefer Swype to a physical keyboard. I’ve spent $0 on Android apps. I have 90 apps (everything under the apps button). I’ve never made a purchase or payment on my phone. I play Solitare and Jewels.

Mobclix shows how I measure up:

via @KatieMartell

Well, today marks the first official day of winter in Boston, at least in my mind. Baseball is done for the year in Beantown. I saw a great game yesterday with the Sox beating the Yankees and also taking away their AL East crown. The only bad thing about that is that we didn’t get the crown ourselves. Another good thing happened, I won my Fantasy League for the 2nd year in a row. My brother also informed me that he wouldn’t be running The League next year, so I’m planning to take it over. Anywho, here are the results.

I just returned from a quick bike ride. Being that it’s turning to fall, I bundled up a bit and added a sweatshirt to my usual biking attire. Well about halfway into my ride my ears were burning from being so cold. I wondered if there was a solution. Could I cover my ears without hindering my safety?

After a quick Google search, I came across the Bike Helmet Earmuffs which actually affix to the chin strap.

Now, I either need to learn to knit or find someone to make them for me. In case you knit, I’m allergic to wool 😉

via Creations and Ruminations

Great! You don’t have to advertise your mobile site to me on your website, just take me to it when I’m on my mobile phone!

While checking out the Staples Center website I came across this indicator on the top right of their site. Really?! Isn’t it kind of a given that you have a mobile site? And why do you need to indicate this to people on your main website? Shouldn’t your technology be good enough that you can notice that I’m on a mobile device and just bring me to your mobile site? It’s not like I’m going to visit your site from my computer.

Well, now my post could end here. A simple gripe about how people just don’t get mobile sites. But, I’m going to take it one step further, and expand upon the implementation of mobile site. I actually visited the mobile site from my computer, just to see what it was like. (Now, as a note, I kind of feel bad picking on the Staples Center but #1, the Lakers play there and #2, it just happens to be the one site that I’ve visited recently like this. I’m sure there are many, many others out there.)

Here is the header from www.StaplesCenter.com.

And now the landing page for mobile.StaplesCenter.com

Why is this a problem?

Since getting my Droid back in February, I’ve been using my PC less and less. (Note: I’ll be getting a Mac very soon and hopefully I’ll be using it more since it’ll be AWESOME!) Perhaps I’m expecting too much from mobile sites, but I expect to be able to do pretty much everything I can do on the “normal” site, just faster and easier and with less clutter. Actually, designing web sites optimized for mobile could actually be a good direction for designers to head. But I digress. Why should I have to suffer with reduced functionality and features just because I’m using a “phone”? It just doesn’t seem fair.

Now I could understand this approach 4 years ago when people were accessing the Internet from their Moto RAZRs with small screens and slow networks. But today’s phones are much more powerful than computers were just a few years ago.

One other thing about mobile sites that annoying me just as much as reduced functionality is the inability to zoom! Why must you fix the width to my phone? Sometimes I need to see the words a little bit bigger. WordPress Blogs (including my own) and Mashable are two sites that come to mind.

Do you have any sites that you use that are like this? Any other gripes you have about navigating the Web on your phones?

There are a lot of cool things you can do with photography. As I mentioned I can’t wait to have the time to do some stop/motion animation. Also, I’ve been wanting to paint with light for a long time. It just requires the right tools, and some patience, and the ability to see things as a  mirror. Check out this cool Batman photo by minamac88.

For those of you interested in this, here are some tutorials: DIYPhotography.net, Instructables, and Amateur Snapper. Most of the ones I’ve seen suggest using a flashlight, or a LED colored light. I thought it was interesting that Batman is done using a sparkler, which for many people, are readily accessible at this time of year.

via Gizmodo

WARNING: This video contains very vulgar language!

I couldn’t help but share this video here, because it showcases the love that some people have with the iPhones. I may or may not be one of those people if I had enough money to continually purchase these and also afford the insane AT&T plan that goes with it. But, I’m happy with my Droid, and can’t wait until I get a phone that supports video chat. But alas, I must wait about a year and 3 months until I’m eligible for an upgrade.

via Kat

Recently I had a need to create some tag clouds. I came across a number of different tools. As I discovered each of them, I kept finding a better alternative. Below I’ve provided some information about 3 different tools which will allow you to create tag clouds. Happy creation!  

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“Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don’t like to do.”

-Albert Gray