Design Rockstar

I love Flash games, and I also am a fan of quick thinkers. But this particular game depicting the tragic hostage crisis in Manila is just disrespectful and insensitive. Just 4 hours after the bloody ending to the hostage, I stumbled upon a Flash game upload at Newgrounds.com designed (modified) to add insult to the injury. The designer called it "Bus Hostage by Policeman." So while the world is grieving watching the event on live TV, this dude is already modifying his game - thinking it would be viral.

The gameplay is exactly like how the Shoe-throwing to President Bush, and Punching of President Gloria Arroyo is done. The player targets and shoots the police hostage-taker as many as possible. The instruction says: “Seeking to arm-twist authorities into reinstating him back, a dismissed policeman has taken a bus with 25 passengers hostage here. Can you stop him and blow his brain?”

The author of this game uses a Philippine flag in his/her avatar and uses keybol as handle. Maybe this developer tries to create a venue where people can force out their anger about the hostage taker. But not hours after it happened boy!




Here are screenshots of the 3 most popular Flash Games done with the same gameplays:

Friendster, the social network powerhouse in South East Asia for a time (115 million members; 75 million of them in Asia), is going into another direction.

They call the change, Project Neutron. Basically, MOL Global (the Malaysia-based company that acquired Friendster), is transforming Friendster into a social gaming portal over the next three to six months. It will offer virtual currencies to be used to purchase online goods, games and apps.

However, from the report of Philippine Star, it is most likely to develop itself into a Social Shopping website with the games just upfront.

Will this bold move reincarnate the brand or lead them to the finish line? Or should they call this an Advergaming Portal instead?

(Original image courtesy of: http://picsdigger.com/image/51281f12/)

I just scored on theThreadless' t-shirt slogan-making program. You too, can. Simply login to the website, or sign-up to become a member. Find the link "Score and Submit Slogans" under Participate Menu, and there type in your most creative, original and catchy slogan.

Your entry will be displayed on a gallery where members can vote to like it (I'd wear it) or dump it ( uhm, stupid). If selected, you will receive $500 from Threadless. You may submit as many entry as possible.

You may start by voting for my entry:
"I refuse to be an accomplice of failure."

Pixatology, the Philippines’ first iPad development group, has announced the 2010 Pixatology iPad Challenge, a 7-month application development contest for iPad.

In line with recognizing the talents and skills of the Filipinos, this contest aims to put the Philippines as a major player in the growing new market; and encourage developers to begin designing apps for the iPad. Amateur developers, students and hardcore Apple fanatics are highly encouraged to join this challenge

Participating developers will have a chance to get access to Apple’s software development kit as wells as the tools, education, experience and marketing support they need to develop and release apps for Apple-based devices like the iPad.

One big reason why I want to go to US is Carsonified. Ye, because they ALWAYS do all the events every web designer want to go to. One of my favorites is The Future of Web Design. It is coming back to New York this November 2010. The conference consists of 3 full days of essential web learning. A full day conference followed by 2 solid days of in depth workshops, all taught by the best in the industry - I mean the BEST.

You can clik the image below to book your seat to the conference:

This year's conference will take place at New World Stages in New York on 15th + 16th November. It's 2 full days across two tracks, so that's 4 times as much content as last year! There's also 4 full day in depth workshops so you can really get stuck in to the topic of your choice. Here's the larger than life lineup:

• Designing for Emotion
• Getting Down To Business: How To Be Successful With Web Design
• Advanced HTML5 Class
• How To Design Delightful, Usable Interfaces
• Graceful Degredation of CSS3
• Getting Started with HMTL5 and CSS3
• UX Masterclass
• Responsive Web Design
• 10 Tips for iPhone Interface Design
• Smart Tips For Wireframing
• How to Fake your way through Modern Web design
• Google Analytics Masterclass
• Beyond Usability: The Art of Experience Design
• How to Design Great WordPress Themes
• Web Accessibility
• What Will Web Design Look Like in 2 Years?
• Tips for Making Your Web Design Business More Successful
• The Future of Cross-Platform Front-end Development
• Freelancer Survival Tips
• The Changing Face of Typography
• Enhancing your Creativity
• Web Designers, Unite!
• Getting Started With iPhone app Design
• How to Run a Successful Web Design Business
• How to Get Started: Designing and Building an iPhone app
• Interface Design Bootcamp

Not much, isn't it? So if you wish to go, get your tickets now:

OrphicPixel's generous sponsor is giving away a 3 free subscription worth of $199 at Pixmac - the fastest, most usable and reliable microstock agency out there. If you’re looking for the best picture or just trying to sell your best shot, Pixmac is your perfect tool, with accurate search results and helping you at every step.

How to join?

1. Simply go to this website and leave a comment on the article
2. Follow @PixmacUS and @orphicpixel on twitter, and...
3. Retweet the post about the giveaway

The contest ends on 20th August 2010. 3 winners will be selected using the random generator from Random.Org on that day. Good luck everyone!

Since Facebook dislikes creating a "dislike" button, some online geeks proposed a "Meh" button instead (image on top) simply to express indifference or boredom to one's status. Would Facebook be willing? I found this website of App developers already offering that "Meh" button API for download.

Looks  like phishers are quickly settling in Facebook to do business huh! Well, long time ago. There’s a new Facebook link that’s been fooling us. It's actually an app that teases us to view 13 Worst Marriage Proposal Videos. (see screenshot below)


Clicking the link will direct you to laughallday.net - which is just redirected to a page of this app. The page instructs us to "Like" LaughAllDay to see the videos. Why bother liking something you really DO NOT like, when you can just browse Youtube and look for the Worst Marriage Proposal Videos. Some of my friends have already clicked, and there are 320,436 more (and is still growing) victims.

Nothing really happens after you LIKED the page. You've just spread the scam, spammed your and your friends' wall.

JoomlArt is calling for distinct designs to add to JoomlArt diversity (available at www.joomlart.com/demo). The site is looking for versatile design with clean lines, efficient use of space, subtle but varied colour schemes, typography and layout.

The winner submission will be coded and released as BONUS templates for JoomlArt members. All of contest template would NOT count to the monthly release templates.

Design Submission Rules:

• The entry submission must reflect the contest Topic
• Each submission can start with 1 design concept first, JA team will comment within 24hours to tell you to continue with the 2nd submission or not. However, the winner must have minimum 2 pages options, including:
  
  
  
  • 1st Homepage
  • 2nd Subpage with side elements and menu variations
• Sidebar elements are flexible, it can be login form, Search module, poll, Latest Tweets, Most Popular Posts/users, Tags, Recent Comments, Quick Contact or anything you can think of. 

MANILA DESIGN WEEK 2010: Design Everyday
07-13 August 2010

DAY 1

GRAPHIKA MANILA 2010
SATURDAY / 07 August / 9 am – 6 pm / SMX Convention Center
Seashell Lane, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City

Graphika Manila 2010 is an International Multimedia Design Conference which has been in the Philippines since 2005. This year, Manila Design Week 2010 and Graphika Manila 2010 have once again brought together notable and well-known graphic artists and designers from the different fields of the international and local multimedia and graphic design scene to speak and inspire artists and designers in the Philippines.

Some of this year’s keynote speakers are:
Tara McPherson, a New York-based artist named by Elle Magazine as the crown princess of poster art.
Danny Yount, an Emmy-award winner and self-taught designer known for his main title works in film, commercial and television.
Phunk Studio, a Singapore-based contemporary art and design collective named as “The Champion of Singapore’s Graphic Scene” by Creative Review in UK.

Tickets are for sale at Php 1,250 for student pass and Php 1,750 for conference pass. Check out Graphika Manila website for more details.

Power Mac Center presents
WALL LORDS PHILIPPINES
SATURDAY / 07 August / 1 pm – 9 pm / The Collective
7274 Malugay St. San Antonio Village, Makati City

Eight of the top Philippine graffiti crews will beat out one another to represent the Philippines in the biggest graffiti competition in Asia, Wall Lords 2010 in Shanghai this August.

Manila Beer, Power Mac Center and Bratpack present
MANILA DESIGN WEEK KICK-OFF PARTY
SATURDAY / 07 August / 9 pm – onwards / The Collective
7274 Malugay St. San Antonio Village, Makati City

The creative community gathers to officially kick-off Manila Design Week 2010 with a host of bands – United Freestyles, Chilitees, Sandwich, Pedicab, Gaijin, Imago, Duster and DJs – DJ Gugu, DJ Radical, DJ Ry, The Diegos and Dj Euric 6. Meet New York-based artist known for its vinyl toys, posters, comic covers and illustrations, Tara McPherson in a tribute exhibit at Vinyl on Vinyl at The Collective. Manila Beer, Power Mac Center and Bratpack will give out freebies and special discounts to those coming to the kick-off party.

Pick a product you want to design. Create your original images, upload it to the website (here). You can enter multiple times for more chances to win.

Your artwork must be original. Vistaprint can't accept anyone else's material in the design you submit to us (unless you have proper, written, legal permission), and you must be able to grant Vistaprint any legal rights needed for us to use your design.

Click here for full details.

It's the 3rd annual DBH 10K Contest and the prize just got bigger at $10,000. Sharpen those pencils and celebrate Design By Human's 3rd birthday with this highly anticipated tradition!

Submissions are now being accepted through August 22, 2010 (Midnight PDT). All contest submissions must be entered through DBH's online submission form and must conform to the DBH Contest Terms and Conditions in order to qualify for entry. Artists may enter multiple submissions. Late submissions will not be accepted.

• Grand Prize: $10,000 USD
• First Runner-Up: $1,000 USD
• Second Runner-Up: $1,000 USD
• Third Runner-Up: $1,000 USD
• Fourth Runner-Up: $1,000 USD

Design Guidlines:
In addition to DBH general rules and guidelines, designs are also subject to the following:

• The design(s) must be an original work created and owned by the entrant. Designs may contain up to 14 colors, including halftones and gradients.
• If your design is selected you will be required to submit the winning design in high-resolution (at least 300dpi at actual size).

Submissions Deadline: August 22, 2010 Midnight (PDT). Click here to submit your design to DBH.

The www.Websitetester.biz is a project by Alpha Market Research. From its Twitter account:

AMR is specialized in internet market research. We help our customers getting their website functional and tie all of this together with marketing knowledge.

They have 12,979 followers as of this date. Websitetester.biz, according to the website, is about a market research company from the USA searching for internet users all over the world, who get paid for testing websites and giving a short opinion. The website aims you can earn up to 1,000 US$ per month working 1 to 10 hours weekly.




The company's contact details are:
3651 Lindell Road
Suite D317
Las Vegas, NV
89103

Tel. +1 (702) 347 6767
Email service@alphamarketresearch.com

FLAWS: Upon seeing the website, one wouldn't have an impression that they do legitimate business. For one, why not use a .com instead of a .biz? The landing page is merely for data collecting and no other resource links are in it (i.e. the detailed explanation about the payment scheme). Most importantly, the form collects ONLY your account details (email) and none about how you are going to get paid.

Some people have signed up using their secondary emails (like how I did for testing) - so I really wouldn't mind if they spam that email all throughout. But think. There are already bigger research companies who are dealing with projects about Website Testing

Teetonic's main competition is non-stop. Upload your design, let the public rate it or hate it and we'll select and make the best ones every month - they will choose the best designs as winners and make them into tees.

What do you get in return

• If you win, you'll receive £100 straight to your pocket.
• Teetonic will give you 50p for every tee design of your's that they sell - so your earnings are almost unlimited.
• Teetonic will fire you off a nice tee with your design on it.

For those who don't quite make it there's always the chance to win an exclusive teetonic tee. Click here to get started.

What should you do?

• Idea: Think about what you like and what you would wear
• Design: Sign-up and get the Photoshop or Illustrator tee-shirt templates. Remember to keep your design to four colours or less.
• Promote: Upload your design to enter it into the competition. Encourage people to rate the design by using the promotion links.
• Results: The best designs will win a prize and be sold in the teetonic shop. Plus you get commission from each one of your tees sold!

Skywards is launching a global art competition to find the world's most exciting undiscovered artists. The winning artwork will feature on the next generation of Skywards membership cards. Apart from the global exposure and recognition, the winner will also receive a commission of US$ 5,000 per winning entry.

In addition, the winners will also have a chance to fly to Dubai and display their artwork and portfolio at Art Dubai, the leading contemporary art fair in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region in March 2011.

Earlier this year, Emirates redesigned its Skywards frequent flyer membership cards by featuring works of art from renowned contemporary artists such as Damien Hirst, Christopher Ries and Simone Cenedese. Now, with the launch of a global art competition*, we are furthering our commitment to the art world by giving new and undiscovered talent the unique opportunity to enjoy global exposure and have their artwork adorn our membership cards in 2011.