TKHamilton is under construction – enjoy the work :)

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Todd

I’m redesigning the site for a couple reasons: 1. it’s been a year or two 2. the old design needed a plugin to look ok on mobile devices. The new design (which you are looking at) is a work in progress, and I made the decision to do the work publicly. Why? Well, being a designer, it can be very hard to take time from projects to work on your own site, so, many designers hem and haw and never get it done. If I develop live, I have an extra motivation to get it done quickly ;)

The new design is based on the Skeleton Theme Framework, which is a free, CSS based, responsive theme. If you click the Home link above, you will see the homepage I am designing now, which features a slider that is also fully responsive.

So, apologies for anything that doesn’t look quite right, or text that makes no sense, the site will be right soon.  If you are interested in where this design will go, check back now and then, I’ll probably post more about the choices I make, and the features I implement.

 

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Pro Tip: Healthy Eyes for the Late Night Hustler

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Todd

I’ve been playing around with something cool, it’s supposed to make my late night computer sessions more healthy for my eyes, and so far, I’d say it’s working.  Meet “F.lux”, a multi-platform app designed to make your computer monitor’s glow less irritating to the eye.

From the F.lux website:

Ever notice how people texting at night have that eerie blue glow?

Or wake up ready to write down the Next Great Idea, and get blinded by your computer screen?

During the day, computer screens look good—they’re designed to look like the sun. But, at 9PM, 10PM, or 3AM, you probably shouldn’t be looking at the sun.

F.lux fixes this: it makes the color of your computer’s display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.

I’ve been running F.lux for a week now, my night lighting preference set to “fluorescent” to match the CFLs in my office. I’ve noticed that I feel a great deal less of the “burning” sensation I feel in my eyes after 3-4 hours of nighttime code work.  Also, I’ve noticed I am sleeping more soundly over the last 3 nights, which is a big plus.  Am I sure it’s the app? No, but if it’s helping then I am grateful.

If you do late night computer intensive work, then I urge you to give this a try.  It’s available for Mac, PC, Linux and more here.

Oh yeah, they have a great logo and tagline:

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Official: “switch to one space” announcement.

Posted on September 7, 2011 by todd

Can you tell the difference between:

This:  My startup is like facebook on steroids. Do you know any great coders?

and

This: My startup is like facebook on steroids.  Do you know any great coders?

If so, then you are more observant than I am, and you noticed the # of spaces between sentences. I was taught in high school english (1994)  that when writing you should always use 2 spaces between sentences. Then someone tweeted this link in June or July: “Space Invaders – Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period.” (I think it was @joshsternberg or @swiper_bootz? sorry if I got this wrong) a Slate article from January. Ah yes, I learned the error of my ways, but now to fix! Turns out correcting 17 year old behavior is really hard.  See! I did it again!

Anyway, to help my personal crusade I’m announcing to the world, that I will try REALLY hard, to use only one space after a period.

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A new foundation: The Age of the Platform

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Todd

Late night hustler, Rush enthusiast and energy dynamo Phil Simon (philsimonsystems.com) has written a fourth book, “The Age of the Platform” which is verging on funded on kickstarter.  Disclaimer: I am a backer.  The Age of the Platform has my support because of 2 reasons:

  1. I backed and read his last book “The New Small” and he exceeded my expectations
  2. During quite a few conversations with Phil about internet technologies as they relate to the real world, he has consistently impressed me with his ability to make the shifts and trends of the bleeding edge relevant to the everyday business, large or small.

Technology people like myself live in a bubble where we are surrounded with people who understand each other, but who also forget that we make up a fraction of a percentage of the population.  So, although we can all see why new tech is useful and exciting, sometimes we cause blank “Huh?” faces on the people whom we hope could benefit from these technologies.  Phil has the ability to make the bleeding edge understandable and relevant for those interested, without requiring them to speak alien geek languages.

The Age of the Platform describes an incredible shift in how companies build and offer products.  Imagine a digital industrial revolution, where instead of the raw materials of construction, like iron and stone, companies are built to offer digital materials like frameworks and apis that other companies use to build incredible products.  This means that people can build new and amazing products for much smaller amounts of human and financial capital, taking innovation to the next level.

Based on my conversations with Phil, I think his new book will be a useful tool for existing and aspiring business owners large and small, who want to understand the latest changes in the digital business and technology landscape without hiring their very own techno-geek translator.

Think it’s a cool idea?  Back it:

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National Acura Legend Meetup 2011

Posted on July 25, 2011 by todd

My auto-geek fan love is for the Acura Legend.  I have had 3 of these cars including my current 1994 GS Sedan that has almost 250,000 miles on the body itself.  This past weekend was the annual NALM, or National Acura Legend Meet.   It’s an event where people share their love for these incredibly comfortable, high quality and beatiful cars.  I was excited to meet the community, and was blown away by the hard work and dedication all of the owners put in.  Inspiring to say the least.  Some pics:

 

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