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Friday, October 26, 2007

Halloween: Print Your Own Halloween Mask [Friday Fun]

More Halloween fun courtesy of LifeHacker.com...

Print Your Own Halloween Mask [Friday Fun]

CreateMasks_img1.jpgForget a store-bought mask for Halloween: Put that photo printer to good use and make a custom mask of your dog, your boss or your favorite celebrity. Microsoft offers instructions on how to print out a handheld mask glued to a piece of balsa wood (or tied around your head with ribbon) with the right photograph. We shameless nerds can download some Star Wars character mask templates for free in the, ahem, kids section of the site. (Totally printing out Chewbacca this weekend and cutting out the eye holes.)




(Via Lifehacker.)


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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Real World Example: Computer-Aided Embroidary

Just to show you how technology has become an intimate part of our lives, I wanted to relate a support call I had today. A client called about checking out a new Windows Vista laptop she purchased, along with the device pictured here...a Husqvarna Viking Designer I USB.

While the PC issue mainly had to do with lack of memory, the embroidery machine fascinated me. Here was what looked like a sewing machine, but instead of the usual direction and thread tension controls was a sizable LCD screen. On the side was a USB port, exactly like you would see on a printer. In fact, that was exactly what this machine was...a printer.

The machine even has firmware that has to be updated, just like your Internet routers and high-end printers. To apply the upgrades, we "booted" the machine into "software update" mode and then shipped over the firmware from the PC.

It just goes to show that even the most fundamental crafting is finding a way to put technology to use.

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Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Cool Tool: Create newsletters online with LetterPop!

Here is an interesting web site that allows you to design and email cool newsletters to friends an family. Who needs Quark Express when you can use this right from your web browser. As the article below mentions, it is beta and a bit limited, but a sign of cool tools to come this year.

Create newsletters online with LetterPop!

Need to whip up a newsletter in a matter of minutes? LetterPop! gives you the tools. If you can drag and drop, you can create a pretty dazzling newsletter with this web-based app.

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(Via Lifehacker.)


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