For those of you who may not know, Blizzard Entertainment is one of the largest, if not the largest computer gaming company currently. Their biggest held prized gaming titles include the WarCraft Series (perhaps you have a friend who is addicted to World of Warcraft, maybe?), Diablo Series, StarCraft, and the current StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty which was just released on July 27th world wide.

For the Designers/Developers:

I didn’t want to leave you guys and gals out!  The gaming posts are, for obvious reasons, focused on/for the gamers who visit JiveMug, but designers and developers… I HIGHLY recommend you take a look at these sites if you would like some inspiration and want to check out some absolutely AMAZING games!

The Low-down:

Well, Blizzard has decided that its time for a new patch. The new patch will soon be arriving, and it seems as though two races might be screwed out of a good position currently.  Basically, Blizzard decided ramp up the build time for Zealots, Marauders, and Reapers, while allowing Zerg build times to remain the same.  This is just an opinion, but it seems there will be a huge disadvantage now in early game battles once this patch is released.  Zergling rushes will now be more powerful due to a greater number that can be produced in the same time as they are currently, while the Protoss player and Terran player may struggle to build one Zealot or Terran unit to defend their choke point at their bases.

Its said that Zerg are currently the most “unbuffed” class in the game, however with this patch that may soon become a complaint of the past.  Siege tanks are looking great currently in open battle against ground units in late game; provided you have enough of them.  However, they are going to get hit with a bit of a debuff on their armor value, this way other ground units from Zerg, and Protoss stand a better chance against them when meeting for combat.

As for the Zerg, not to much has been done to their race stats for this patch other than the Ultralisk having the “ram” capability taken away.  Posters from their forums however, say this can be a buff since they will be able to do greater aoe dmg with their attacks against buildings, when used in greater numbers.

That is the quick rundown for this new patch, but you can view more by going here to the StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty “Situation Report”

Gamers and Designers, leave your comments let us know what you think!

Until the next post, “glhf” to my gamers out there… and keep on designing with those mad skillz gang!

-JiveMug

Just click the image to view each tutorial.

-Enjoy!

JiveMug

1.) Adding illustration to your web pages!

2.) Make a beautiful fantasy scene in Photoshop

3.) Time Machine Text

4.) Frilly Text Effect

5.) Create a Grunge WordPress Theme in Photoshop

6.) Add Awesome Color to 3-D Text!

7.) Design a Retro Strip for your Web Page

8.) Learn to Create a Cool Swirl Effect

9.) Create a Nice, Clean Web Page Layout In Photoshop

10.) Get More Business for Your Business! A great tutorial for teaching you how to make your own business cards!

Well, that just about does it for the first top ten list! Hope you enjoyed it and found it to be a great inspiration for the day!

The First Thing You Should Do With Facebook Places: Don’t Let Other People Tag You

So, everyone’s excited about the new Facebook Places, right? The Facebook service that lets you check-in, Foursquare style, at whatever hip Sushi bar/bicycle repair shop you happen to be in. Oh, and also other people can check you in, too.

Facebook places, which rolls out this evening, allows your friends (and only your friends) to tag you when checking into a place, much as they might tag you in a picture. This is terrible! Of course, you are notified whenever anyone tags you in a check-in, and you can always delete a tag. But, still. You’re probably not checking in because either 1) You don’t want people to know where you are. Or 2) You spent all your money on Star Wars memorabilia and can’t afford a smartphone, so you won’t see that someone’s tagged you until you get home anyway.

At the Facebook places launch event, an engineer equated tagging someone in a check-in with tagging someone in a picture. Not quite the same thing. Someone has to point a thing at you and take your picture. But anyone can go to the bathroom, tag you in a check-in, then a significant other/spouse/boss/stranger sees it and: Boom. Your life is ruined. A picture does not automatically tell someone exactly where you are, with whom, when, and whether you are having an awesome time, despite the fact that you should be at your girlfriend’s terrible art opening.

Why to do It
Here are a couple situations off the top of our head where someone else tagging you could bring social doom:
You are at the bar when you are supposed to be at your girlfriend’s crappy art show. Your chat with your friend Jane, who checks into the bar and tags you: “At this awesome bar, just talked to [Your name here] about his Star Wars memorabilia collection!” Your girlfriend sees this on Jane’s wall, walks over to the bar and dumps you on the spot.
You are having an affair with your wife’s sister. Your wife’s sister checks into her home and says “Having awesome sex with [Your name here]”. Your wife sees this on her sister’s wall and divorces you. (Also, a robber you’re friends with steals your Star Wars memorabilia collection because he knows you’re out having the affair.)
That second one is not very probable, but you get the point!
At the Facebook places launch event, an engineer equated tagging someone in a check-in with tagging someone in a picture. Not quite the same thing. Someone has to point a thing at you and take your picture. But anyone can go to the bathroom, tag you in a check-in, then a significant other/spouse/boss/stranger sees it and: Boom. Your life is ruined. A picture does not automatically tell someone exactly where you are, with whom, when, and whether you are having an awesome time, despite the fact that you should be at your girlfriend’s terrible art opening.

How to do it
Here’s how to make sure other people can’t tag you on Places. Plus, how to adjust the two other Places privacy settings. First, click on the Account tab at the top right and click Privacy Settings. Select the little blue “customize settings” towards the bottom of the screen that appears.

You’ll see a list of privacy options. Under the Things Others Share category, disable “Friends can check me in to Places.” Now, only you can broadcast your location.

You can also choose who can see your check-ins. Click the “Places I check in” pulldown under the Things I Share category. The default is “friends only.” Selecting “Customize” brings up a pop-up where you can exclude entire networks, individual people, or everyone.

Finally, you may want to disable the “People Here Now” feature. “People Here Now” allows any user checked in at a location to see who else is checked in there—even if they’re not friends. Make sure the box is unchecked next to “Include me in ‘People Here Now’ after I check in.”

There. Your Star Wars memorabilia collection is safe and you are ready to sneak around like the sexy Russian spy you may or may not be. Now if only there was a big button that could easily disable the whole damn thing.

Send an email to Adrian Chen, the author of this post, at adrian@gawker.com.
Republished from http://gawker.com

Jivemug Rant:

Okay, some might say, this is no big deal, if you are not doing what you ought not to do then there are no worries. WRONG!  This can be done at ANY place ANY time… make a trip to the bathroom and bam, someone has checked you in, invaded your privacy, and humiliated you or if that doesn’t bother you, maybe someone in your immediate family!  Facebook started out as a great tool for social networking, and it still is, but with many of the new, and somewhat recent features, it has only allowed for more gossip and backstabbing to occur.

Does this mean stop using Facebook all together? No.  But it does mean be smart! Don’t say stupid stuff or do stupid things, and if you do for Heaven’s sake, DONT TAKE PICTURES!  I’ve known several morons who have tried to get jobs and lost the opportunities because of the pictures and posts they have made on Facebook.  Like it or not, this is another way the companies you will work for do a “background” check now.  If you think a company will hire you or has to hire you, regardless of the way you live your life, think again.  They can check you in private, and do so at their own discretion.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve have been working and a potential new-hire comes in with an application and submits to a background check, but they don’t realize they are going to be “facebook checked” by their hiring bosses who immediately, after the new prospect walks out the door, get their other employee’s to get on facebook and check them out.  Much of what they see there will weigh in heavily as to whether or not the person gets the job!

So, to sum up the rant… DON’T BE NAIVE!

This is Honda’s UK site. One look at the site and you realize that dreams are made for those who take action, because dreams can and will become a reality with hard work! Honda proves that with their product.  Who would have ever thought a car could run off water?  Makes great sense though since hydrogen is combustible…ANYWAYS, onto the review, follow us!

The Lowdown: Lets take a look at the details of the site

Starting off we have the loading screen.  It’s worth it to check out the loading screen, you’ll like it, and make sure to not skip the little intro they have for you, it’s pretty cool!  The detail they put into the intro screen is really phenomenal.  The more sites I find with this type of work the more I am blown away by the abilities of Action Script developers.  The loading times for Honda’s site is excellent, especially given the amount of content on the other side!

It gets even better on the other side of the pre-loader.  The site design is very nice and well thought out, with great pastel colors to really give it that feeling of a “go green” mentality.  Each road is colored and follows the concept that every road leads to something; overlapping and interlocking with one another.  Honda doesn’t believe in the saying “you can’t get there from here”.

Navigation:

The site is pretty easy to navigate.  You’ve got your main links in the top left and a few others in the bottom left of the screen.  The site mostly focuses on the content area, which is good, since you can move in and out of scenes just as easily as you could with the nav links in the top.

The site is all flash based, but thats cool, we’re here to inspire you guys and gals with new ideas!  If you like a mixture of flash, HTML, CSS, and the other stuff then check out their main site.  That sites not bad for the main site layout; it might inspire those starting out with HTML and CSS, but I digress…

Animation:

Throughout the site you have the “worker’s” running up and down steps, making noises, lifting objects and more.  It’s quite humorous and actually, you’ll find yourself being put into a better mood!  The use of interactivity on the site is excellent… if you’re questioning that, just click on “Solar” in the navigation at the top left and make sure you download the plug-in, then get blown away!

Honda added some great little puzzles into the site as well. The puzzles they added are:

• Slider Puzzle
• Sun Puzzle
• Colour Puzzle

All classic games, but really fun and keep you entertained while you’re there!

Downside:

• Wish we would have found this site sooner!  That’s okay though…
• All Flash (not SEO friendly)

Truth be told… we’re here to inspire you through excitement and motivation. We want designers and developers everywhere to get excited about what they do!  Honda’s “Home” UK site is another great site, you can check it out by clicking here, you may find it inspiring as well!

The Round-Up:

For designers and developers, if you’re into Action Scripting then you’re going to love this site! For the newbies, just think of the possibilities that await to be under your command! This is sure to get your brain hemispheres working once your optics get caffeinated in this mass of design inspiration!

Hope you enjoyed this weeks review!

Our Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Valyard is owned and operated by Valentin.  He is a flash/flex developer and as such he is a true inspiration to all who visit his site!  He has been working in the web-design industry since 1999 and has sense developed amazing skills as a flash programmer using Action Script 2 and 3.0.  Since that time he has done projects ranging from simple banner ads to complex web applications for his clients.  One look at this guys site and you’re going to find out he’s everything you expect him to be!

The Lowdown: Lets take a look at the details of the site!

When you open the Valyard site you’re immediately met by ambient noises that pull you into a science fiction mode.  Much like our last review, the sci-fi fans will love this site as well.  His creative use of elements from the games he plays is pretty sweet too.  Check out his about section for example… he uses the floating islands from the “Nagrand” zone of WoW ( World of Warcraft ).  Nice implementation into the site!  The interactivity the user experiences is another sign of this savy designers abilities.  Every page is loaded with clickable “stuff” even the areas left black… click them and a ripple effect occurs.

Navigation:

His site is fairly easy to navigate and, unlike the typical website of today, he doesn’t limit himself to the idea of a header, content area, and footer sections.  Valentin straight up goes for the knock-out by giving you a great content area.  Everything you need is right there, and easily accessible.

As for the sites colors and layout… EXCELLENT!  Two thumbs up!  His color combinations are awesome; intense and flashy.  One thing that was noticeable about the site is it’s attention to detail.  If you notice, there are a LOT of elements used in his site, but you never find yourself focusing on just one thing, so there are no real distractions.  Thats a mark of a great designer!

Be sure to check out his portfolio section in his “What I Do” section.  The use of his drag and drop method is another one of his action-scripting techniques he used to trap you into playing with his site!  Simple click a thumbnail and drag is to the thumbnail box and presto! you have the fullsize thumbnail.

Animation:

Okay, so for the animation section, there’s a lot that could be said here. We’ll try to keep it brief…  From the second you press the “enter” button after typing in the address you come to the loading screen.  It’s pretty stinkin’ cool honestly, but the best is yet to come!  Once entering the site you’re going to notice as we said the ambient noises… watch closely though as the elements are in sync with the music when they load.  This guy did his homework for sure.  His timing is perfect for each element that slides, pops, scrolls, or what have you!  He didn’t leave anything out. Then comes the grand finale… his main invention, which presents the navigation for the site.  It looks like some sort of crazy portal/spaceship if you will.

Downside:

The only downsides to the site is that it has a boat-load of content so it takes time to load and it is made for much higher resolutions… so those with 1024×768 standard viewing these days… you’re going to need to upgrade if thats the maximum your monitor can view.

The Round-Up:

All-in-all this is a beautiful site!  Aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, and an amazing use of ActionScripting that makes you want to scream give me more!  We give this site two thumbs up and suggest you visit it now if you haven’t already!  Hope you enjoyed the review!

Our Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

2Advanced Studios Progressive Design Technology.  The company has two global locations; one in the U.S.A.,  located in Aliso Viejo, CA  and the other in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan. 2Advanced Studios has been making it’s mark on the world wide web since 1999, and has evolved into a major design firm, serving some of the biggest names out there.

The Lowdown: Lets take a look at the details of the site!

A moment of silence is in order for such a site as this…

Okay lets talk about it.  Man-o-man I personally was taken aback by the creativity used in this site. Right away you feel like you are in control of a sci-fi secret operation in the works. The music in the background, and menus that drop down, pop out, and scroll really pull you in and make you feel as if you are apart of some secret organization.  Okay, we know that sounds a bit over the top maybe, but the fact remains, 2Advanced Studios really did hit a home run with their site, especially for those sci-fi fanatics out there. Lets really break it down though…

Navigation:

Everything is in working order here. There are no areas of the site that leave out links to important sections. Very well organized.  Click on “Expand Navigation Array” in the content area and let the fun begin!  Every page has something new to offer its reader.  The footer contains some great links as well; for each page you visit you have an option to download the background as a wallpaper to your computer; not an option you see very often.  Also, preferences are given to the user to select the type of language, music settings, and navigation persistance… You can actually customize the site to some extent so it suits your fancy!  We could tell you more about whats on the site, for navigation purposes, but that would just spoil it for you.  We’re going to let you check the rest out!

Animation:

Attention to detail is key when making any website and these guys have obviously done their work.  Nothing goes unaccounted for in 2Advanced’s site.  From the dim flash of the company’s global location areas in their contact window of the footer, to the windows displayed in their portfolio dealing out great mouse-over effects this site is a sure eye-pleaser to anyone that visits.

Downside:

If we said there was some sort of downside to this site, we would be lieing!  Simply put, we couldn’t find any.  So we have to say we found an upside if nothing else.  Their contact section… features two things which are important to any potential client and they hit the nail right on the head.  They provide their physical address,as well as email, along with an email form they created so the potential client can use from their site.  We’ve seen many sites on the net that do not offer these option as they indeed should!  Great work 2Advanced!

The Round-Up:

Well, all good things must come to an end, and todays review as definitely been an interesting one!  If this doesn’t caffeinate your optic neurons then someone call for life support!  This site sounds the wake-up call for designers everywhere to throw back that coffee you may be drinking and burn the midnite oil, because hard work yields its rewards!  Just take a look into their portfolio and see.

Our Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Glaceau water is the owner of Vitamin-water, which we are sure you have seen at some grocery or convenient store near you.  Well, this site offers a simplistic layout which will wet your appetite for great concepts.

The Lowdown: Lets take a look at some of the details of the site!

Okay, as far as layout goes, it’s an A+ straight off the bat.  The site is flash based so you will need flash player to view it, but lets face it who doesn’t have flash player these days (if you don’t get a new computer!)?

Navigation:

Their navigation is very user-friendly when first entering the site, so the average Joe will have no problems finding his way around;  he doesn’t have to worry about pulling his hair out with a cluttered design and to much frilly nonsense.  Navigation areas for the page are located in the top, bottom, and right side of the browser screen.

Animation:

Glaceau’s use of animation with ActionScript is clean and smooth, much like the drinks they sell!  You’ll notice the color changes when navigating through their different product lines.  Click on a bottle that is blue and the rest of the navigation and animations then become blue. Click on a yellow one, and everything turns yellow.  It’s an excellent color change scheme that doesn’t allow you to grow weary of browsing their site with the same ole color every page you visit.

When you navigate to the “Vitamin-Water” section of their site, you’ll notice the scrolling effect used to browse through different flavored beverages.  You can browse through them by clicking the specific bottle or by using the backward and forward arrow buttons.

The color of bottles are arranged in such a way as to create rainbow effect which is really cool.

Downside:

We only found ONE problem with the entire site.  When you first arrive on the main page after loading you will see 3 beverages displayed. The only way to make the animation move is by clicking one of the 3 bottles displayed.  BIG DEAL, we hear you, why nit-pick?  Well it isn’t nit-picking, it’s more of a suggestion, we think.  Instead of making the ActionScript work so the user much click on a bottle for the animation to start, why not have the bottles revolve by clicking two buttons like the sub-pages already have implemented in them? Another suggestion would be the implementation of a dragging option… The user clicks the area and drags to make the bottles rotate.

The Round-up:

All in all this is a great site! Well designed, and scripted.  It truly brings out the thirst in the viewer.

Hope you enjoyed the review today… NOW GO CREATE STUFF!!!!

Our Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Saizen Media is an internationally acclaimed and award winning design firm that specializes in highly cinematic and detailed oriented imagery. The company has offices in both Milan, Italy, and Yekaterinburg, Russia.

The Lowdown: Lets take a look at some of the details of the site!

First things first… We’re talking WOW appeal; eye-popping optical stimulation here folks! The second this site loads you know you are in for something very special.  Saizen media has definitely done their homework in the area of 3D animation for the web.  Their use of high quality graphic integration into their sites will blow you away.  Their colors on the site are dark, but that’s okay, because it draws you straight in to the site.  With the music that plays in the background as you browse through their site, you feel as if you are apart of something bigger than yourself.

Navigation:

Their navigation is a basic header, content, footer style approach as are most sites published on the web today, so it’s user-friendly approach is clear cut and down to business.  From the get-go you find yourself at the main page which seems to be their portfolio.  Not a bad choice for the main page, different, but not bad.  Browsing the portfolio is easy with the back and forward buttons that appear.  If you can’t see them then you need glasses, cause they are nice and large so anyone will know how to browse their site; they fit the sites resolution perfectly.

Animation:

When you visit this site the first thing you’re going to notice is their ActionScript work.  Great use of ActionScript here! For every link you click on in the navigation header or every link in the content section, a smooth transition takes place.  We did not run into any choppy motions between flash scenes when checking out the site.

Their site Night Wish, which won an FWA site of the day award is, without doubt, one of the greatest examples of their 3D animation skills as designers.  Once you enter this particular site you feel as if you are drawn into a fantasy world and surrounded by a new way of life.  You need to make sure you browse their portfolio on that site… You will love it. We’re don’t want to spoil it for you, just check it out!

Downside:

Unfortunately there is ONE tiny downside to the site.  Nothing major, but would be helpful for first time visitors on arrival.  There is no “about” link in the header, which is often, almost always, on the main page. In order to view their “about” section you have to visit the Night Wish site.  While it is pretty self-explanatory what they do, it is always nice to have the about page link in an easily accessible spot on the main page.

The Round-Up:

We give this site two really big thumbs up!  All in all it’s an excellent site, with a lot of advanced flash, and action-scripting techniques.  You’re going to be so inspired after having seen their site that you may be stuck in your office for days with great new concepts for your up-coming projects!

Hope you enjoyed this review and be sure to give us your feedback!

Interactive Gardeners:

Visual23 is owned and operated by Robb Bennett, a renowned flash developer with an amazing set of skills.  Robb is the interactive director of Visual23 and works along side his business partner Marsha Bennett.  Robb’s skills include being an amazing flash developer, with specialization in Flash, PHP, MySQL, AJAX, CMS, SEO, and web-design.

Business partner, Marsha Bennett, is VP of Sales and Marketing for Visual23.  She has been in advertising and marketing for over 13 years and has worked for such places as Orlando Sentinel Communications, and the Atlanta region of Cars.com.

Their company is based in Atlanta, GA.

The Lowdown: Lets take a look at some of the details of the site!

When first arriving at the site you will notice the greeting of calming earth tones, which sooth and relax the viewer and invites them in to view more.  The design itself is a simple layout, yet extremely effective since the users don’t have to search for hours to find a link to another page on the site as a result of clutter.  If you are looking for more inspiration when visiting this page just take a look at his work section.  It is sure to please and inspire the viewer with the many projects Robb has accomplished and published in his portfolio!

A few of Robb’s awards include:

• Webby Award Winner – Best home/welcome page -2008
• Webby Award Winner – School – 2008
• FWA Site of the Day
• Silver Charlie Award 2005
• Silver Addy Award 2005

Living the Dream:

Visual23 is thriving and they couldn’t be happier. Robb’s dream of being the best designer out there is shining through with the great content he provides for the masses; he has truly earned his reward! Just take a look at that portfolio if you have any doubts!

Be sure to visit the site! You won’t be disappointed!   http://www.visual23.com

Downside:

Some may choose to disagree, but when visiting this site, I find nothing wrong. The transition from scene to scene is smooth as butter. Load times are fast,  and the site is extremely user friendly. No complaints here!

The Round-Up:

Straight forward and to the point! Great layout, and easy navigation!

Two thumbs up to the Visual23 crew!

Our Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars