The awesome in-house designers at the awesome font foundry FontShop already launched Axel, a font optimized for readability in Excel (and other) spreadsheets viewed on screen. But now they’ve expanded their offerings to Azuro, a font designed to make reading walls of text on the web easier to read.

Assuming you’re reading this on the screen of your phone, tablet or computer, you can check out the difference Azuro makes on this wordy email compared to the furniture of e-mail fonts, Arial and Verdana, in the GIF image below:

Cool, right? If you want to get your hands on Azuro, head over to Font Shop, where you can get a set of 4 variations (regular, italic, bold and bold italic) for just $19.90, either in Web formats or in OpenType with TrueType outlines for Windows or Mac.

By Taryn Fiol

Font Feed via Gizmodo

• $Free
• MetaQuark
Are you good at keeping all your apps and your operating system up to date? If you’re like the majority of people we know, probably not. Applicatiib and system updates are usually right up there with “reorganizing the closet” and “properly tagging all my music files”: ideal ventures better held off till tomorrow. Procrastinate no longer (OS X users), the free AppFresh will keep tabs on Apple Software Update, Sparkle, Microsoft AutoUpdate, Adobe Updater, osx.iusethis.com and other apps, preferences and widgets, providing a centralized way to make sure you’re running on the latest and greatest. AppFresh is still in beta, but the free price tag might warrant a download.

By Gregory Han

[via Reddit]

1. Know the “safe range” for temperatures.
Most laptops are good to go in temperatures of 50° to 95° Fahrenheit or 10° to 35° Celsius. Anything warmer than this is asking for trouble. Laptop batteries are notoriouslynot heat-friendly (even just a few exposures can make your battery life suffer) and the components of your delicate hard drive might expand—sometimes causing permanent damage and hard drive failure.

2. Give your laptop a chance to adjust.
Don’t walk and work with your laptop open. If you’re moving from the cool A/C to sweltering heat, or from outside to indoors, shut your laptop down. Let it adjust to the new temperature before starting it up again. Condensation can build up inside your machine just like on your glasses.

3. Know how to keep your laptop safe in a hot car.
Treat your machine like a baby and don’t ever leave it in a warm car—not even in the trunk. The temperatures in your car on a warm day are almost always going to reach outside the laptop safe range. If you must leave your laptop in a car, make sure it’s been turned off completely.

4. Stay out of direct sun, if you can.
Yes, heat usually comes with lots of direct sunlight. We’ve heard all the urban legends about your laptop’s screen becoming damaged from sun exposure, but we can’t find anything to support it. Either way, it’s better to be safe (and cool!) than sorry. But if you have to work in direct sun, make it easy on your eyes. Go for a dorky-looking laptop hood or attach an anti-glare screen cover.

5. Beware of high humidity.
Before you plan a mobile office day, check the weather reports for humidity. Anything above 80 percent should make you cautious, although your device may have its own humidity specifications. Really humid weather can escalate that condensation effect we mentioned before, shorting out your circuits. But even if it doesn’t do damage, excess moisture in and around your machine can trigger the built-in water damage sensor, sometimes voiding your warranty.

6. Back it up.
Always a good idea, you should back up your data if you anticipate wanting to work outdoors. We’ll say it again: Heat can do permanent damage to your hard drive. Use an external drive like this one.

7. Be ready for sudden storms.
Depending on your geography, you might be privy to random summer showers. It’s one thing to get caught without an umbrella on your coffee run, but it’s quite another to have all of your expensive equipment with you. Bring an umbrella and keep your water-proof cases and sleeves very nearby.

8. Use a heat-dissipating laptop stand.
You know how warm your laptop can get in your lap on the sofa, so be careful of where you set it outdoors. At the very least, use a laptop pad or stand. But for an A+ effort, grab a self-cooling stand, like this one from Belkin.

9. Wrap it up safely.
The same advice you use in the bedroom will help you stay safe outdoors. To protect against sudden storms and help temper the effect of moving from cool to warm air, make sure your laptop cases and sleeves are rated for “moisture, shock and scratch protection.

Via About.com

(Images: Entrepreneurs-Journey.com)”

Our friend spent over $2,000 on a new iMac. Of course it was top of the line, so the price was justified and his argument was certainly reasonable. The way he looked at the large purchase was this: if he got the absolute top of the line, each maxed out component adds extra years onto the life of the machine. There will be no reason for him to need a new computer for at least 5 or more years. There won’t be any extra little upgrades he’ll have to do here and there, because those have already been taken care of.

So, we got to thinking — do most people practice this method? Obviously having the funds available is extremely helpful in this situation, and not everyone does. Do you save your money until you are ready for the go-for-the-gusto purchase, or do you buy low and keep upgrading every few years? We know people that have kept their computers for over 10 years, but that required regular upgrades. When all of those upgrades are added up, we imagine the two different approaches equal out. So, how far are you willing to go? Are you a go big or go home, or an upgrade over time purchaser?

By Kristen Lubbe”

In conjunction with the unveiled keyboard hidden within, the concept specs include a 6.5″ 16:9 capacitive touchscreen display for pinch and zoom use, LED backlighting and a front panel camera. Is this the form factor netbooks need to help cross from niche to fully mainstream? We’re not sure, as this design adds a bit of engineering and structural complexity, and as is often the case, simple is better (more affordable and less likely to break).
[via Yanko Design]
By Gregory Han.”