Happy Canada Day

Just wanted to wish all my fellow Canadians a happy Canada Day!!! Go out and enjoy the festivities, take some pictures, see the sights and stay safe! My wife and I are planning to take our boy to see some of the festivities on Parliament Hill; I will post some pictures of our day later in the evening.

Update on changes

This is just to inform that as requested, I've added an Online Tools link list to incorporate the sites reviewed in the Online Tools review posts. The list is below the Pick of the Week link list.

I should have added this section a long time ago. Thank you for the suggestion.

Online Tools review: Keyonary

If you've been working with computers for a while now, you might accumulated a dizzying quantity of keyboard shortcuts, for various applications and operating systems. Although most applications provide some method of determining the most common shortcuts (usually through the use of the Help section), many of them remain quite cryptic. In comes a fantastic online database called Keyonary, which is truly a useful shortcut search tool. With a simple interface, quick response and extensive database, it's the place to go to find a shortcut for an application you're using.

Take a look and add to your reference bookmarks, it's worth it.

Online Tools review: Launchlist

Launchlist is a web-designer's friendly and basic list to check before launching a site. It lists 28 basic items and allows you to add your own fields to the list and modify it to your heart's content! A great GUI and an effective tool, Launchlist will easily make it into your list of online tools.

Pick of the week: Ref Desk

This week's Pick of the Week is certainly not going to win any prizes for its fancy design and aesthetics, but it is truly functional and when you need information fast, Ref Desk is the place to go. I can't do justice to the sheer number of reference sites linked in some way to this site; go take a look for yourself and put this on your browser's link bar. You'll be glad you did when you get that call from your friend on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!

Lacie Starck USB 2.0 External HDD

Every once in a while, I find hardware that functions well, is well designed and looks good too. And that's exactly the combination I found with the Lacie Starck 1TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive. Some of you might already be familiar with Philippe Starck, the world-famous designer and some of the beautiful works he has created during his career.

This latest cooperation between Starck and Lacie, the well-known hardware manufacturer, has resulted in a line of beautiful devices, including both portable and desktop models in several capacities, starting at 500 GB all the way to the latest 2TB model. This article concerns the desktop version of the hard drive.

The Starck hard drive is a 195 x 115 x 52 mm aluminium enclosure, built a beefy 3mm thick, with a sculpted, polished steel face featuring the Starck logo which is backlit and angled in such a way as to project the logo on the desktop in front of the device. Somewhat pointless, but original in its application:

Another interesting point is that the entire front facade is actually touch-sensitive, with the capacity to recognize both light and hard touches and can be associated with different actions, from mounting hardware to launching applications. The easy to use Lacie Desktop Manager software lets you set these settings easily.

One of the features that most appealed to me was the lack of a cooling fan; the thick aluminium shell is designed as a massive heat sink to keep the drive at a correct operating temperature, with little to no sound. That's a true blessing for audio recording and other uses where external noise is an issue. Like many other external desktop drives, an external power supply is required to operate the drive and this makes less of a portable solution. If this is a concern, the portable version of the Starck hard drives are bus-powered, but with correspondingly smaller capacities.

This is a USB 2.0 drive and most of the tests that have been run by third parties have demonstrated that this drive falls within the range of the faster hard drives currently available. That makes it an great candidate for more demanding users.

If you're looking for a new external drive, this might be the solution for you. Did I mention the great price and pretty universally positive reviews on this family of drives? Sounds like a good deal to me!

Pick of the week: Geek Dad

This week's selection for Pick of the Week is a little obvious, as it follows the review for the book that I received on Father's Day, Geek Dad. The book is based on the very popular blog on Wired.com called Geek Dad. Ever since my late teens, I've known that I was a geek; nothing wrong with that and if we take a moment to think about it, this generation is really the Geek Generation. I mean, the majority of the world's richest and most successful people are geeks!!!

But geeky or not, the blog is fantastic and absolutely packed with great articles that any geeky father will love. og take a look for yourself.

Book review: Geek Dad by Ken Denmead

Today is my second Father's Day and an awesome day it has been. I called my own father in the morning to wish him a happy Father's Day and I was then surprised by my wife and son (well, I admit it, mostly my wife) with a great gift, a book I had looked at on my last trip to Chapter's, Geek Dad.

Geek Dad was the brainchild of Wired editor Chris Anderson and was originally a blog, still in operation today. Click here to view the Geek Dad blog. Eventually, Ken Denmead joined as a contributor and was eventually chosen to take over as editor in chief of the blog, which has become since then, an integral part of Wired.com.

It was during this time that Ken decided to write a book on a rather specific topic related to geeky fathers. The result was Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids. The book encompasses almost 30 projects that fathers and kids will enjoy together while tapping into the infinite possibilities of their imagination.

I've had a chance to read through the book completely and can tell you that I am looking forward to incorporating some of these activities with my boy. He's perhaps a little young at the moment, but now that I've been exposed to some of these projects, I can help to "prepare" the terrain, so to speak.

Some of my favourites so far have included:

- Parenting using Role Playing Games

- See the world from the sky

- And for older kids, a Wi-Fi signal booster for getting connectivity while "in the field"

There are some truly entertaining projects in this book, many of which will lead to hours of thought provoking conversations with your children. If you know a geek father, this is the book to get them. I can tell you with absolute certainty that they'll thank you for it. And so will the kids!

Book review: Mechanika by Doug Chiang

Every time I'm around Chapter's, I can't help but step in and take a look around. And I'm not the only one with this problem, my wife seems to be afflicted by the same issue. I had been looking at an art instruction book the last couple times I was there, and finally, I caved and decided to buy it, if only to support the artist that wrote it.

The book is called Mechanika: Creating the Art of Science Fiction, by Doug Chiang. For those who may not know who the author is, let me tell you that he has won an Academy Award for his work, which has included Star Wars 1 and 2, Beowulf, Polar Express and many others, as well as authoring several books, including the one reviewed.

One of the reasons I had looked at this book in the first place was the fantastic marker techniques used and clearly explained by the author. There are very few books detailing the use of markers in drawing, and even fewer detailing them so well. Furthermore, the author's easy going manner, great skill ad clear explanations and reasoning make this book an excellent reference for any type of artist.

If you enjoy drawing and the subject matter, science fiction, appeals to you, take a look at this great book and get inspired to draw the world in your mind.

My introduction to Copic markers

Those who have known me for a while also know that I enjoy drawing and sketching and have for as long as I can remember. I have always been a pencil artist, although in the last couple of years, I have begun to use pens and markers as well. I was partial to the Letraset Tria markers for a while, until I was introduced to Copic markers. These markers share several similarities with other brands, including dual tips (one on each end) and colour-matched, alcohol-based inks. 

If you have never used illustrator's markers, you might be in for a surprise. First of all, the pigment density of these markers is far higher than anything else you might have tried. Secondly, these markers can provide very even coverage, but to achieve this, one must be quite skilled, and most of all, quick! These markers are wet!!!

Copic makes several lines of markers, although only two lines can really be considered as illustrator markers, the Original and the Sketch. The Original is a square bodied, dual tip marker, usually sold with a chisel tip and a fine line tip. These markers are garanteed to not dry out for a period of three years (this is one of my main complaints against the Tria brand). The Sketch markers have an oval body and share the dual tip configuration, although these are usually chisel and brush point tips instead.

Copic markers also have replaceable tips, which means that it is now possible to change the tips if they ever become worn. These markers are also refillable from bottles of Various Ink, also made by Copic, with each bottle able to fill between 7 to 10 markers (based on the type).

The Original line features a set of 214 colours, while the Sketch line features a set of 334 colours. Take a look at the available colours from the charts, but do yourself a favour a see them in person at your local art store! Many of the colours are also available in a Wide format, with a two inch chisel tip, for broad colour application.