Archive for April, 2011
Five Free iPhone Apps For Instant And Text Messaging
iPhone owners have a large library of applications that serve numerous useful purposes. One category of such application is dedicated to helping people easily contact their friends via messaging.
Depending on their nature, these apps let you send instant messages to your friends as well as text messages. While most of the advanced apps carry a price tag, there are a few free ones as well that get the done quite effectively. Check the top 5 of such free iOS apps below.
IMO
For instant messaging across different type of networks you often have to install separate dedicated apps. But with IMO you get a single application through which you can chat with your friends on Facebook Chat, Google Talk, Skype, MSN, ICQ/AIM, Yahoo, Jabber, and Myspace. Check out the IMO instant messaging iOS application here.
HeyWire
For people looking for basic IM capabilities coupled with free SMS features, HeyWire will be an excellent choice. The app supports Facebook Chat and Gtalk along with letting you send text message for free and tweet via SMS. Get HeyWire from here.
Yahoo! Messenger
I regularly use the desktop Yahoo! Messenger to chat with my friends. Its iOS counterpart is an equally competent app that supports instant messages, video calls, voice calls, and free SMS messages amongst other features. You can visit the Yahoo! Messenger iOS app over here.
Palringo
Palringo is popular iOS app that supports instant messaging across numerous networks. Additionally it supports free text messages, along with picture and voice messages. Get Palringo from here.
Fuze Messenger
Fuze Messengers supports messaging across various networks with added feature of SSL encryption to secure your conversations. Check out the app by clicking here.
30 (Really) Amazing Tutorials And Techniques To Become A Master Of Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a comprehensive design tool that designers need to explore continually. The best way to explore new ways of using tools of Adobe Photoshop is definitely with the help of Photoshop tutorials that are extensively available on the internet. This post also features a collection of really New Photoshop Tutorials that you have not seen before. We hope that this collection proves to be very useful for you. These tutorials will help you in fulfilling your Image editing & photo enhancement related needs.
Create a Red Giant Star in Photoshop
In this tutorial you will leran how to create a red giant star in photoshop.
How to Create an Audi A1 Digital Car Painting in Photoshop
In this tutorial how to create a photo-realistic rendering of a car, in this case an Audi A1. This tutorial relies heavily on paths and should take about two hours to complete depending on skill level.
How to Create a Medieval Movie Poster in Photoshop
In this tutorial we will show you how to create a 3D grunge metal movie poster title in Adobe Photoshop CS5 by using the Repousse tool. Every movie poster needs a spectacular title whether it is in a grunge, metal, typographic style.
Create an Explosive Flaming Poker Card in Photoshop
In this tutorial we will show you how to create your own custom poker card from scratch by using the wide variety of shapes that come with Photoshop.
Create a Mysterious Fashion Photo Manipulation in Photoshop
In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use different custom brushes to create stormy weather, save your masks to save your time, work with different adjustment layers, and make adjustments only on small parts of the image to achieve the exact result you want. Let’s get started!
In this tutorial You’ll learn how to create the shape with the Pen tool and use different techniques for coloring and shading.
Design a Vintage Baseball Card in Photoshop
In this tutorial you will learn how to create a Design a Vintage Baseball Card in Photoshop.
Valentine’s Day Photoshop Ideas
In this tutorial you will learn how to create a valentine’s day photoshop ideas. Shiny heart on the dark background.
Design a Conceptual Album Cover in Photoshop
In this tutorial we will take a look at the step-by-step process of creating a conceptual album cover in Photoshop. Let’s get started!
Draw a Roll of Camera Film in Photoshop
In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a roll of camera film using Photoshop. Let’s get started!
Create a Paint Brush in Photoshop
In this tutorial you will learn how to create a paint brush in photoshop.
How to Apply Textures to Uneven Surfaces
In this tutorial you will learn how to create a apply textures to uneven surfaces.
The Cosmos: Create a Spiral Galaxy
In this tutorial we will show you how to create a spiral galaxy.
Painting “The Nightmare” in Photoshop
In this tutorial you will learn how to create a painting the nightmare in photoshop.
Create a Download Folder Icon in Photoshop
In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a download folder icon using different shapes and reflections in Photoshop. Let’s get started!
Create realistic glossy glass tomatoes with liquid in them, make reflections and shadows.
How to Make a Textured 3D Spray Can
In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to combine Illustrator and Photoshop to create a 3D, textured spray can. This tutorial requires some basic understanding of Illustrator and Photoshop as well as the pen tool. Let’s get started!
Create a Fictional Arctic Snow Frog in Photoshop
In this tutorial, we will combine several stock images and effects to create a fictional arctic snow frog in Photoshop.
Create an Ancient Egyptian Tomb in Photoshop
In this tutorial we will create an ancient Egyptian scene using stock images, textures, and some basic knowledge of perspective. Let’s get started!
Create a Flowerpot From Scratch in Photoshop
In this tutorial we will show you how to create a flowerpot from scratch using several techniques in Photoshop.
Create a “Minion” Character From the Despicable Me Movie
In this tutorial you will leran how to create a cute minion character.Let’s get started!
Create an Alien Invasion Photo Manipulation in Photoshop
In this tutorial you will leran how to create a destroying city manipulation by using some basic techniques like color correction, masking and brushes.
“Piece of the Artic” Pie Chart Photo Manipulation
In this tutorial we will show you how to create a piece of the artic pie chart photo manipulation.
Create a Vibrant and Eye-Catching Drink Composition using Photoshop
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a vibrant and eye-catching drinl composition using photoshop.
Create a Scenic Castle Hallway in Photoshop
In this tutorial, we will combine stock photography and some basic digital painting techniques to create a scenic castle hallway in Photoshop. Let’s get started!
Egg Planet Fantastic Globe Photo Manipulation
In this tutorial you will learn how to create a egg planet fantastic globe photo manipulation.
Milk Monster And Chocolate Splash
In this tutorial we will show you how to create a milk monster and chocolate splash.
Create a Powerful Mental Wave Explosion Effect
In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a powerful mental wave effect using Photoshop. Let’s get started!
How to Create a Beautiful Printer Icon in Photoshop
In this tutorial you will learn how to create this beautiful printer icon with reflections and shadows all within Photoshop.
Create a Stylish Coffee Cup With Smart Objects
In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a realistic coffee cup with a customizable label using smart objects in Photoshop. Let’s get started!
An Extensive Rumor Roundup About iPhone 5 (Infographic)
Apple products like Mac, iPhone, iPod, iPad etc always keep their positions in the technology news. Now a days, everyone is looking at the upcoming release of iPhone 5 and many people has different insights about it which they are sharing with the world. These unofficial insights about iPhone 5 are getting it to the higher level of popularity in the form of rumors before it will hit the market. Here, you can find below is a well an easy to understand example of infographic that covers almost all of the rumors going around about the upcoming iPhone 5. Not even this, they also added the blue progress bars for all the covered rumors to understand the possibility ratio that a given rumor will occur.
The credit goes to Nowhere Else who compiled all of these rumors about iPhone 5 in an amazing infographic. We would love to know what you are thinking while viewing this infographic. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter.
10 Free Web Services You Should Definitely Be Checking Out Right Now
Everyone today who surfs the web needs some cool tools to make their web surfing experience better. We often need help in areas such as inspecting web pages for the content we need, speeding up the page loading times, and so many other things. From tweeting endlessly to making and playing YouTube playlists, we need the web surfing space to be more convenient for us. Today we’ll be looking at a few apps and web services which you can use to enhance your web browsing experience.
You are welcome if you want to share more useful online services that our readers/viewers may like. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com, just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter and follow us on Digg as well to get updated.
Page Speed from Google Labs
This new experimental tool from Google Labs examines your website or personal blog and then gives you a deep insight into what can be done to improve the loading performance of your page. It is a very useful tool for all web masters as it gives users actions to perform based on a priority list. A must try free tool for use for all who want to improve their website performance.
TweetWhen
TweetWhen is a tool for enthusiastic Twitter users. It analyzes your Twitter re-tweet patterns and then gives you a trend analysis about which time of day you get the most re-tweets. Beautiful line graphs tell you the optimum time to get most re-tweets. Optimum for bloggers who want their blogs/articles re-tweeted.
B00mbox
Ever wondered on how you could create your own YouTube video playlist and watch all those great videos which you love in succession. With b00mbox you can do that. B00mbox allows you to quickly select, drag and drop all your favorite videos and create a playlist to share it with friends and even ask if they liked your effort or not.
Parkopedia
In the era of wikis, Parkopedia brings an ingenuity. It is the Wikipedia of car parking. It contains, possibly the most comprehensive collection of parking area maps on the globe. You can search about parking maps according to cities, specific localities and much more. Parkopedia also has Android, BlackBerry and iOS apps to help you find that sweet parking spot while on the move.
FullyFollow.me
Almost all of us have these days subscribed to multiple social networking websites e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Myspace etc. FullyFollow.me is a web service which lets users manage all their social network profiles from one single dashboard and update them/share stuff with others across all profiles with a single click. In order to use FullyFollow.me, you have to signup for a free account.
CSS Pivot
Are you a blogger who wants to quickly add CSS styles to your blog but don’t want to spend much time/money on it. Try CSS Pivot. This simple website with no fee can allow you to add styles in no time at all. A great and useful tool for all website owners out there.
Beetailer
Beetailer allows you to bring your business to Facebook and market it to an audience of millions for its promotion. Beetailer provides tools for analyzing how well your business is doing. Unfortunately, Beetailer is not free, but the level of service it provides, it’s well worth it’s charges.
Rewordious
If you’re a blogger who is looking to establish yet another blog, or you’re anybody else who just wants to find a suitable domain name for their website, then Rewordious is the place to go. It takes input from you in simple thoughts on what you want in your website and provides you some great domain names based on your requirements. This tool can be really helpful in deciding website addresses and ease a lot of pain off you.
Team Crossword
Bored of the work at office? Play crossword puzzle with your friends. You can start multiple puzzles and can try to solve them alone or invite your friends to help you solve the puzzle. Puzzles of different complexities are available and you don’t have to necessarily finish what you started. You can leave the puzzle for others to complete.
goPileus
If you’re someone who needs to share files with others on a regular basis, goPileus is the website to visit. You have got nothing to do except dragging and dropping the files you want to share and they will be instantly shared. Moreover, you can create boxes to keep your shared filed stored for a long period of time for future reference.
Instagram Makes Your Photography Passion More Enjoyable With Your iPhone
If you like shooting pictures with your iPhone, adding effects to them, and sharing the results, then there is a good chance you have multiple apps installed for each function. But this entire process can be made a lot easier and faster if you opt for an iOS app called Instagram.
Instagram is a free iOS application sized at 6.5 MB. The app provides a user-friendly interface through which you can quickly shoot pictures, add cool effects to them, and share with your friends. Instagram uploads your photos and lets you share them with other Instagram users; in this way the app acts like a social network.
You can share photos with people in your network, view their photos, and search the network for people, tags, and popular photographs.
One of the best features about the app is that it offers more than a dozen filters to beautify your photographs.
By adding these filters to your photos, you can get wonderful results and gather followers to be popular on Instagram. Furthermore, users can also optionally share the locations of the places where photos were taken. You can check into Foursquare when you post a photo with a location.
If you want to share pictures on other social networks, you can do this via the app too; sharing on Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Posterous, and Facebook is supported.
Instagram is completely a device-based app; in other words you use it entirely on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. If you want to access your Instagram through a desktop or laptop computer, then you will find a website named Extragram to be most helpful.
Extragram lets you browse Instagram photos in grid, filmstrip, and map views. Other features include the same Instagram functionality: you are able to view popular photos, search for people and tags, browse your photos and your friends’ photos, comment on photos, and share them over various social networks.
If you own an iPhone device, then the combined usage of Instagram and Extragram will be the best to shoot photos, add cool effect to them, and manage them through your computer.
Check out Instagram over here and Extragram over here.
30 Beautiful Logos Created With Inspirational Elements Of Nature
Nature is a great source of inspiration that inspire almost all designers whenever they need inspiration. Lots of web designs and logos are inspired by the nature or some elements from the nature. In this post, we have compiled a list of nature inspired logo designs that would surely inspire you. Many of these logos made use of trees and leaves while some other use different other elements from the nature including landscape, mountains, waterfalls to name a few.
You are welcome if you want to share more creative logos that are created with inspirational elements of the nature to impress our readers/viewers. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com, just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter and follow us on Digg as well to get updated.
Take A Child Outdoors PBS Logo
Southern African Biofuels Association
Evolution Of Computers, But What’s Next? (Cartoon)
Evolution in computers is one of the fastest known evolution on earth. In a short period of time a room sized computer is converted into a portable small sized one, which even we can grab in our palms in the shape of smartphones. But the question is, what would be the next step in this evolution? This cartoon illustrates the same effect in a hilarious and honest way.
This cartoon was designed by Ryot IRAS. We would love to know what you are thinking while viewing this illustration. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter.
Twitter.com Gets New Homepage Design (Screenshot)
Luckily, I got a chance to open the twitter.com with their new home page design about which hardly few people know till now. The first impression of the new homepage design looks very similar to Facebook homepage. Currently, it has not been officially announced anywhere but below you will find the screenshot of the new twitter home page. If you can not see the new design, please logout first so you will be able to enjoy their new design. Click here to see the larger view.
Update: Twitter support just tweeted that they reverted to the old design but you can enjoy the new design taken as screenshot below which you can not see anywhere.
We would love to know what you are thinking while viewing this new design of twitter.com home page. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter.
Win A Free Copy Of ThemeFuse Premium WordPress Theme For Your Blog
ThemeFuse is running a contest, where 10 winners winners will get the WordPress theme (worth $49 each) of their choice. Well, you guys know what they are offering? Lets say it once again for n00bs.
ThemeFuse was born from the passion for the things done right in every way. Starting from the original design concepts filled with details in every pixels, continuing with the clean code of the wordpress themes, and finishing with the best AfterCare Support there is.
Their aim is to shake up the premium wp industry, and show that wp themes companies don’t have to just keep making the same themes over and over again to be successful. According to their believes that the users want to try new themes, original themes, so it’s time to step up and bring some originality into the mix.
This contest will run from April 5, 2011 to April 15, 2011 and we will select the winners randomly by running MySQL query. Result can be announced any day before April 20, 2011 so keep visiting here or subscribe to our rss feed to get the latest updates. To participate in the contest to win free WordPress theme, All you have to do is :
Just tweet this:
Win a free copy of @ThemeFuse #WordPress Theme from @SmashingApps (RT to Enter)
1. Once you have tweeted, come back to this post and comment with a link to your tweet and put your valid email ID in the email box.
2. Make sure that you are following @SmashingApps and @ThemeFuse on twitter and subscribe our rss feed to track this contest and for future updates. If you don’t mind please hit the like button on ThemeFuse facebook page (they’ll notify the winners there)
3. And that’s it!
So, what are you waiting for now? Let’s participate in the contest and good luck!
50 High Quality And Free To Use Minimalist Icon Sets
These days the concept of minimalist is being incorporated in all array of discipline even in the designing of an icon. An icon is a small graphical element that must be chosen very carefully so as to convey the right message.
For a web design, an icon is the most adored component and keeping it simple and effective is the vision of every web designer. Here an amazing collection of 50 Free Minimalist Icon Sets is shared with you so that you will not be obliged to search them when you need them. Enjoy!
The Go Green! Icon Set (108 Icons)
108 Mono Icons: Huge Set of Minimal Icons
Geometrique Minimalist Icon Set
Download exclusive icon set made by Luka Pensa
A free icon package made only in CSS
Minimal Social Media Icons Pack
1000 Greyscale Silk icons for use in wireframing
25 Free Minimalist Vector Symbols And Icons
