Patrick McDonald » Uncategorized http://patrickmcd.com Flash & ActionScript, Blogging & WordPress, Web Development & Design, Branding & Naming, and Whatever Else Comes To Mind. Tue, 18 May 2010 14:58:27 +0000 en hourly 1 Diffusion Curves: These would be Pretty Cool in Flash http://patrickmcd.com/2010/02/23/diffusion-curves/ http://patrickmcd.com/2010/02/23/diffusion-curves/#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:54:14 +0000 Patrick http://patrickmcd.com/?p=304 This isn’t the latest news, but if you haven’t heard of diffusion curves, watch the video. A diffusion curve is defined as “a bezier spline that stores colors on each side of the space it divides.” Neat.

Adobe was part of the paper, so I’m not sure if they own the technology or not. Here’s hoping they get the rights to it and include it in Flash in the future. Animating individual curves would lead to some great effects.

Check out their images (pepper, lady bug, woman) that you can rollover to see the how simple the underlying curves information is.

]]> http://patrickmcd.com/2010/02/23/diffusion-curves/feed/ 0 Dropbox is About to Have a Price Cut http://patrickmcd.com/2010/01/12/dropbox-is-about-to-have-a-price-cut/ http://patrickmcd.com/2010/01/12/dropbox-is-about-to-have-a-price-cut/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:18:33 +0000 Patrick http://patrickmcd.com/?p=301 Dropbox is great. I’ve been using their basic/free plan for a little while now. And I’ve been very close to upgrading to a paid version for more storage, but thanks to Google, I’ll be waiting a bit longer to make that jump.

Google is offering storage at $0.25 per GB per year; that’s $25 with Google vs. $240 with Dropbox for 100 GB. Now, Dropbox has more features with auto syncing and version history, but there are already 3rd party apps working with Google Docs so we’ll probably see similar features down the road.

My guess is Dropbox and ZumoDrive are about to get cheaper.

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You believe this is all CG? Amazing. Make sure you watch it in fullscreen.

]]> http://patrickmcd.com/2010/01/07/computers-are-cool/feed/ 0 Hello Design Kitchen http://patrickmcd.com/2009/09/21/hello-design-kitchen/ http://patrickmcd.com/2009/09/21/hello-design-kitchen/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:44:38 +0000 Patrick http://patrickmcd.com/?p=284 After a couple great years at VSA, I’ll be hawking my Flash wares at Design Kitchen starting today.

]]> http://patrickmcd.com/2009/09/21/hello-design-kitchen/feed/ 0 Google Launches Sports Calendars, iCal Still Better http://patrickmcd.com/2009/09/03/google-launches-sports-calendars-ical-still-better/ http://patrickmcd.com/2009/09/03/google-launches-sports-calendars-ical-still-better/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:17:50 +0000 Patrick http://patrickmcd.com/?p=272 I just noticed the alert in Google Calendar saying “New: Sports Calendars.” I gave it a look-see, but decided to stick with the iCal (.ics) format that I already added manually. In the image below, the red is the iCal format I already had for the Ohio State football schedule, and green is the new Sports Calendar version from Google.

Google vs. iCal

Google vs. iCal

The little football icon is cool, but otherwise I think the title offers too much information, cluttering things up and chopping off text. I already know the Buckeyes are playing in the game as that’s the point of the calendar. All I need to know is who they are playing, where, and when. What TV network I can watch it on would be nice too though.

]]> http://patrickmcd.com/2009/09/03/google-launches-sports-calendars-ical-still-better/feed/ 0 Gmail: So Fast it’s from the Future http://patrickmcd.com/2009/02/27/gmail-so-fast-its-from-the-future/ http://patrickmcd.com/2009/02/27/gmail-so-fast-its-from-the-future/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:13:28 +0000 Patrick http://patrickmcd.com/2009/02/27/gmail-so-fast-its-from-the-future/ Wow. Gmail is really fast today.

Gmail from the future.

]]> http://patrickmcd.com/2009/02/27/gmail-so-fast-its-from-the-future/feed/ 0 My New Gig http://patrickmcd.com/2008/01/02/my-new-gig/ http://patrickmcd.com/2008/01/02/my-new-gig/#comments Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:14:24 +0000 Patrick http://patrickmcd.com/?p=136 I’ve been freelancing at VSA Partners for the last couple months, and today is my first official day on their full-time roster as a Senior Developer. I’m looking forward to putting out some good work here.

]]> http://patrickmcd.com/2008/01/02/my-new-gig/feed/ 0 Fashionably Late? http://patrickmcd.com/2007/09/05/fashionably-late/ http://patrickmcd.com/2007/09/05/fashionably-late/#comments Thu, 06 Sep 2007 02:43:32 +0000 Patrick http://patrickmcd.com/2008/02/10/fashionably-late/ Or am I just late to the party? Either way, it’s about time I started blogging. I have set a few up for other people so now I can follow my own advice and try to set a good example for them.

We’ll see where this thing goes. I expect this site to end up being equal parts portfolio, web technology discussion, branding/naming/advertising discussion, and personal journal.

Here goes nothing…

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