Marketing will never replace great customer service or a good product.  In fact, great service will market itself to a certain extent.  This is why OneGreenSpider.com has helped Jim’s Auto Repair to cross the boundaries of technology and distance.  Now Jim’s Auto is present in the most important social networks available, giving their new clients the ability to find honest mechanic services at great prices.

Click here to visit Jim’s Auto Repair new website

Their markings would qualify as vandalism only if they appeared on private or public property without permission. The same answer holds for the present day, genre of graffiti known as graffiti art (Stowers, 1997).

What do you think?

http://500px.com/photo/7018144

Adobe confirmed as much in a blog post today following ZDNet’s scoop that the company was pulling the plug on Flash Player development for browsers on mobile devices.

“HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively,” says Danny Winokur, Adobe vice president and general manager, interactive development, in the post. “This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.”

So if you still have one of those “Old School” flash websites its time to update it and think about compatibility.  Call us today and learn how your business can benefit from a new CMS, HTML5 website.

OneGreenSpider.com

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

In 1987, a quilt created by The Names Project Foundation covered the National Mall in Washington, D.C., memorializing those we lost to AIDS.
Today, we stand at the threshold of another defining milestone in this fight: by 2015, we should be able to provide treatment to the millions more who need it, drastically reduce new infections, and virtually end the transmission of HIV from mothers to their babies. 1.4 million HIV+ pregnant women need access to treatment – treatment that only costs about 40 cents a day.

It can be done. But we need your help to get there.

Join millions of existing ONE and (RED) supporters. Add your panel to the (2015)QUILT. Make a pledge to do more and a thank you gift will come your way. Our friends, THE KILLERS have once again recorded a Christmas song for us— their 6th song for the cause. Add your pledge to the (2015)QUILT and receive one of (THE KILLERS) RED Christmas songs for free.

The beginning of the end of AIDS starts with you.

Create your own 2015 Quilt by visiting: http://www.2015quilt.com/

Among the top new years resolutions are resolutions about weight loss, exercise, and stopping to smoke. Also popular are resolutions dealing with better money management / debt reduction.

The following shows how many of these resolutions are maintained as time goes on:
- past the first week: 75%
- past 2 weeks: 71%
- after one month: 64%
- after 6 months: 46%

While a lot of people who make new years resolutions do break them, research shows that making resolutions is useful. People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Luke 2: 6:16

In this post we’ll be looking at some great online services that can help you create a variety of fun, vintage-looking pics for your profile.

So, for anyone who doesn’t have photo editing know-how, expensive editing software and a load of time to spare, here’s how to create a retro profile pic in a matter of minutes using some absolutely free, entirely online services.

Let us know in the comments if we’ve missed any! by Amy-Mae Elliott

The Original Shot

 

This is the photo we’re editing, shown here as a control pic so you can gauge how dramatic the effects we’ve picked really are. A standard snap from a point-and-shoot camera, there’s nothing wrong with this image, but read on to see how it can be made so much more fun in just a few clicks.

1. Phixr’s Cross Process Effect

The Effect

In film photography, the cross processing effect was achieved by switching different chemicals used to process print or slide films. This made for dramatic colors, contrast and grain.

Although the effects of cross processing have been known since the 1960s, it was in the 1990s that the effect reached the height of its popularity with photographers like Nick Knight bringing cross processing to fashion and studio work.

 

How to Get the Effect

It’s possible to recreate the effect using photo software by playing around with the color balance and contrast ratios (there are plenty of tutorials around the web to help). If you don’t have the time/inclination/correct software, then Phixr offers the effect at the click of a button.

Simply head to Phixr and hit “get started,” which will bring up account options. If you want to set up a free account you can do so from here, but you can also skip this step, which will give you access to Phixr (as long as you’re not on it for more than six hours straight, which, trust us, you won’t be).

You then need to upload your chosen pic from your computer (or via a URL) and hit the upload button, at which point the pic will be be resized if it’s too big.

After your photo has loaded, select the “color effects” button from the icon menu on the left hand side and scroll down one line to select “cross process.”

At this point there are options to adjust the brightness, contrast and opacity, but for the effect in the image above we kept it all at the auto levels pre-loaded by the site. The effects are previewed, however, so if you’d like to play around, you won’t be committed to the changes until you click “execute.”

2. Picnik’s 1960s Effect

The Effect

Although many technical advances have been made now, back in the “old days” the colors in photo prints were made up of dyes that decay with age — especially if exposed to light — hence why so many of your parents’ or grandparents’ photos take on pink or yellow tones as the years go by.

The faded color helps to date a photo almost as much as the outlandish fashions that might be found in it, and is a great effect to give your modern pic a vintage feel.

 

How to Get the Effect

Drop into Picnik and click the “get started now” button. Upload your chosen photo, hit the “create” tab along the top, and select “effects” from the secondary tab menu. Now scroll down the menu on the left hand side of your display and choose “1960s” which brings up further options.

You get the option to keep the round corners (we did, as it helps achieve the dated look even more) and what color you want to fill them in with (we chose white for a subtle effect) as well as how much “fade” you want. We maxed our fade in the pic above (zero percent) but again, you can play around with a preview, so feel free to experiment before hitting “apply” and saving the photo back to your computer.

3. Rollip’s Styled Lenses Effect

The Effect

In the 1960s, cheap cameras like the Holga and Diana were mass-produced as “toys” and were predictably made of cheap construction and parts, including such photographic abominations plastic lenses.

Of course, though poorly made, these low quality cameras actually produced really interesting effects such as light flares, blurs, distortion and vignetting (darker or blurry edges) that have, in recent years, gained the cameras a cult following (best seen from the Lomography movement) by those interested in the unpredictable and often beautiful results.

 

How to Get the Effect

If you’re at all interested in super-simple retro photo effects then you need to head to Rollip pronto as it offers over 40 options. We narrowed our choice down to this “Styled Lenses” option which emulates the kind of effect you could hope to get from a quirky old-school film camera.

To find it on the Rollip site, hit “click here to start” on the home page and then scroll through the “more effects” option until you get to page 5/10. Click “Styled Lenses” and select the photo in the top left hand corner. Once you’ve done this, it’s just a matter of clicking to browse your computer for a photo and wait for Rollip to work its magic.

4. Photobucket’s Color Splash Effect

The Effect

Coloring black and white photographs by hand using photo oils or tinting pencils was popular in the first half of 20th Century before the advent of affordable color film. Recreated digitally, it makes for a nostalgic effect and can increase the emphasis to a certain part of an image, such as a person, or a features like lips or eyes.

 

How to Get the Effect

You do need an account to use Photobucket, but it’s a simple email and password affair, so not too arduous to get set up. Once you’re good to go, upload an image from your computer and then hit “edit.” After your photo has loaded, select “effects” from the tab menu at the top of the page and choose the first option called “color splash.”

The software will then greyscale your photo to black and white, leaving you to choose which part you want to fill in with color. The actual coloring in is super-easy: Just dab the circle over the area you want the color restored too. We stuck to the standard size blob in the image above, which worked fine, but if what you want colored is smaller, or more detailed, you can change the blob size to suit.

Finally we took advantage of another free effect from Photobucket to complete our image and employed the “blur edges” tool (on the default setting) from the effects menu to give a blurry vignette feel. This helps focus the eye on the colorful figure.

5. Picnik’s Polaroid Effect

The Effect

Polaroid photographs are iconic and immediately recognizable as the instant photo format of choice. Polaroids ruled up to the start of of digital photography when slower, film-based formats were pushed out of the market.

Since Polaroid’s decline, nostalgia for the product has seen various groups campaigning for a revival of the format. With some success, film and cameras are now back on the shelves. It looks like Polaroid will live on for a few more years yet.

 

How to Get the Effect

There are various Polaroid-erizing tools on the web, the most notable of which is Poladroid, however, this requires a download and we’re nothing if not impatient. We wanted an in-browser service.

Picnik offers a Polaroid look as part of its “frames” options, but that doesn’t give the image an aged look. We countered this by using the 1960s effect (detailed above in number two) but nixing the round corners and setting the fade to 40 percent for a less dramatic effect.

Once you’ve applied that, go to the frames menu under the “create” tab and select “Polaroid.” We opted for a white background color and a five percent angle. When you’ve made your choices, it’s just a matter of saving the pic down to your computer and you’re all done!

A Google search reveals all sorts of interesting pages about “coffee and creativity” (try it).  I’m not the first and only blogger to remark on this association (which makes me feel a little less odd and a tiny bit more normal).  I doubt I will be the last (I also doubt the feeling will last).

Ever since Lloyds of London was established in (and indeed, named after) a London coffee house and the great scientists Hooke and Halley discussed matters of contemporary physics, science and metaphysics over a brew, we’ve assumed a connection between coffee and creativity.  It’s written into the lore.  There must have been a reason why so many creative acts owe their genesis to a cup of the warm, brown liquid (black, if you prefer espresso).

Parisian intellectuals and artists all have strong associations with coffee shops and drinking coffee.  The image of Jean Paul Satre discussing philosophy over a cup is redolent.  Pere Tanguy allowed starving artists to obtain food, drink and art materials in exchange for a canvas or two.  I’ll bet lots of coffee was drunk.  The Parisian Left Bank, a hub for creative people, would not be the same without its numerous coffee shops.   There’s coffee galore.

In popular culture, many of the plots of sitcoms like Friends, Frasier and Seinfeld unfold in the coffee shop.  Why should that be?

So why do we think about coffee and not macrobiotic, health smoothies?  We don’t think about orange juice when we think about creativity.  We think about these little roasted beans, ground up and steeped in boiling water.

Is it because of the relaxed atmosphere and easy conversation, coupled with the exchange and interplay of ideas?  Is it because it is a social activity, which facilitates and fosters easy collaboration?  Is it because you can concentrate on something, while sipping a coffee, in an undisturbed way?  Is it the bustle and madness that surrounds you, while you are collecting your thoughts and contemplating creations?  Is it the comfy environment, low lighting and soft furnishings, or else the al-fresco exposure to the sunlight, wind and weather?  Is it the late nights, the intense focus over a long period of time and the need to remain alert?

Is sipping coffee actually a way to carve out thinking time – like a sort of Zen contemplation?  Is it the warmth, the secure feeling you get when holding a coffee mug and the infinite, swirly, organic patterns in the liquid itself?  Perhaps it’s the endlessly fascinating and constantly changing patterns formed by the foam and chocolate powder, sprinkled on top.  Is it because there is no frenzy, despite the fact that you are imbibing a performance enhancing stimulant, waking the brain up and making the ideas flow?

Is it a form of familiar, comforting, distracting, displacement activity you engage in, while you muster the courage to create?  Is it the sensual pleasure of the aromas and the funky background music?  Is it because you have no particular place to go or rush to be there?  Is it because there is always a new bean to try and concoction to sample?

Why do you think coffee and creativity so frequently go together?

Steve Jobs in interview for PBS’ ‘One More Thing’ documentary, 1994

“ When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money.

That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is – everything around you that you call life, was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.
The minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.
I think that’s very important and however you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, cause it’s kind of messed up, in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

Steve Jobs

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