Pantone Desktop Wallpaper

Pantone, the company that brought the Pantone Matching System to designers, has become something of a cultural icon, and they have released a series of wallpapers to match their Pantone Plus line. There are a total of 8 wallpapers over at Pantone’s site, though only six are actual swatches, ranging from the 2010 color of the year Turquoise to a series of bright hues perfect for summer. Grab them for iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC here in resolutions 320 x 480 to 1920 x 1200.

By Rachel Atwood.

For more wallpapers check out these stories:

1. Distraction Free Desktop

2. New Desktop Wallpapers

3. Free Desktop Wallpapers

5 Tips for a Healthy Mac & PC

We’ve talked about ways to extend the lifespan of your batteries, the life of an older machine, and what automated diagnostics you should run on your PC, but what are some good basic tips that cover both Apple and Windows computers? In this post we take a look at 5 tips we have gleaned from Genius Bar and Geek Squad visits and from our own user experience.

1. Always Keep at Least 5 GB Free
A computer needs about 10% free disk space at any time. One thing we’ve noticed on our machines is that anything less than 5GB is going to land us with problems. Essentially, computers need breathing room. Without that free space, there’s nowhere for temporary files to be stored. Also, when the RAM gets full, it will start swapping things in and out of memory by using your hard drive. If it’s full, then not only can you not save stuff, but your computer has no where to dump stuff from RAM. To top it all off the worst thing that can happen as a result of a drive with no space? Data can get corrupted. Want to find out what applications are taking up a bit of space? We love using DaisyDisk for this purpose. This application is by far the nicest and easiest way of seeing what files are taking up your space on any drive. As you are cleaning out your files, just make sure not to delete any files or folders with the name “Library” in as they normally contain settings and can result in you losing contacts and other media depending on the file. Another great application we love is Xslimmer. Xslimmer gets rid of Intel/PowerPC code and additional language files that your machine doesn’t use/need to free up space and improve performance and load times.

2. Really Remove Applications
Since not all applications come with an uninstaller, it’s important to really delete the applications you want to remove. For a majority of applications on the Apple side, generally moving them to the trash works well but often they leave other files lying around on your system. To really remove an application on a Mac, Drag and drop an application into a program like AppZapper and it will find all the associated files and remove them for you. It’s branded as “the uninstaller that Apple forgot,” and we are pretty big fans. For PC users, CCleaner will do a similar job and will also take help take care of #5.

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5 Tips for the New OSX Lion

OSX Lion was released on last week along with 250+ new features. With all those features to go through, you might just miss a few. Check out a few fun tips and tricks that you might have overlooked.

1. Capture your signature in Preview. In Lion “Preview” has the ability to capture your signature using your iSight camera. Simply write your signature with black ink on a white piece of paper, then go to Preview/Preferences and click on Signature. Hold your signature up to the camera and it will save the image so you can easily sign PDFs electronically.

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How Do You Find New Apps?

The saying “there’s an app for that” has become incredibly trite given its short lifespan. No matter how common the saying might be, the fact of the matter is that there probably is an app for whatever you are looking for. With so many apps available for so many different platforms, app discovery has become a problem. To help ease the pain, we found some amazing discovery resources for all of your favorite platforms.

iOS App Discovery With hundreds of thousands of apps available through Apple’s App Store, finding the best measurement convertor can be a daunting task. AppShopper helps by not only providing recommendations, but also showing update history, reviews, and even price changes. AppShopper also has an iOS app along with RSS feeds so you never miss a chance to discover the next great app.

Android App DiscoveryBecause of the “open” nature of the Android platform, there are quite a few more resources that allow for more robust discovery on Android. AppAware is an application that allows users to find new apps by tracking installs, updates, and removals. AppAware goes a step further by adding location into the mix. This provides great exposure for local apps who thrive based on usage in a specific area rather than around the globe.

Chrome Web App Discovery Playing off the fact that there really is an app for almost everything, the Google Chrome extension – aptly named There’s a web app for that – provides users with app suggestions based on their browsing history. No need to randomly guess if there is a an app that could replace your web browsing. Now just browse normally and this extension will search for you.

If none of these work for you, or if you are looking for a more curated way to discover apps, the be sure to check out Unplggd’s Weekly App Recommendations, where we cover everything from mobile, to desktop, to web apps.

By Jesse Leikin

Unplggd: Juliet Zulu Tech Tour

Name: Juliet Zulu

Location: Mt. Tabor, Portland, Oregon

Size: 1,100 square feet

Juliet Zulu, a video production company based in Portland, Oregon has created a clean, inspired work space on a budget. Zak, Jason and their team DIYed their office in about a month, using irreverent, recycled materials and a whole lot of ingenuity. When describing the studio, the words “industrial” and “man-chic” just kept popping into my mind. Although not a traditional “home” office tour, this work space is full of great ideas to pull into the home or home office.

Zak and Jason, co-founders of Juliet Zulu, wanted to create an open, honest space that inspired great work. They create videos for a range of clients, from big corporations like Nike and Intel to non-profits such as The Mentoring Project and other videos featuring local food carts. Juliet Zulu is a creative force and their space reflects their artistic vision.

What’s interesting to me is they achieved something I don’t see all that often – they used a palate of heavy darks (black concrete floor, army green military tent material, etc) and bright whites. In a time where “fresh and new” seems to connote whitest of whites, they were able to balance darker tones with light, punctuated by the neutral colors (reclaimed wood, re-purposed army tents), and wacky use of particle board. Never have I seen particle board looking so good.

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Unplggd: Windows and Mac Apps That Really Will Help

Often times we find ourselves complacent with the Windows and Mac applications that we already own. However, once you check out these great apps you will be wondering why you haven’t heard about or used all of these before. From design to productivity, we have you covered in this weeks edition of Unplggd’s Weekly Download Recommendations.

IrfanView: Great for beginners and experienced users, IrfanView is a freeware graphic viewer that has many unique and interesting features. This application supports a plethora of file types including Adobe Photoshop filters. For the incredible price of free, it’s hard to find a better option for the last majority of your photo needs (pictured above).

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Unplggd: The Best Free Clock Screensavers…You’ve Never Seen

Have you seen the Ten Best Looking (Free!) Screen Savers? Probably yes. Fliqlo and Word Clock are everywhere now—probably thanks to that super low price point! But you don’t have to spend a ton to get a truly unique and useful clock screen saver. In fact, you don’t have to spend anything. How do you know when a screen saver has jumped the shark and become too popular for it’s own good? Maybe when you see it staged as the computer background in a Sears catalog. Or when your grandma says she has the same one on her 1997 Gateway computer.

You know it’s time to drop Fliqlo and move on to a new screen saver. Here are a few screen clocks that will have your friends crooning, “Where’d you get that?!”:

Analogy A circular clock that’s just as beautiful as the more popular Word Clock, but not found on every screen at the local co-working space. For Mac OSX, Windows and Android.
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Unplggd: Mac vs PC

Hunch and Mashable released this amusing infographic illustrating the polled difference between self-described PC and Mac users which we found remarkably accurate from a personal perspective. We’re often charged with being Mac-biased, but maybe we’re just a reflection of the type of inherent personality drawn to the operating system/computer.

Honestly, reading the findings, we can’t really argue with the infographic. Sigh, we guess we do fit the profile (or stereotype), Limonata, bahn mi, indie films, Dwell magazine and all.

By Gregory Han

[via Mashable]

Unplggd: Using a Mac and a PC

For the last few months, I’ve had access to both a Mac and a PC. While I’ve been migrating my files over to my new Mac, I still use my PC most of the time. Each computer has different functions and they allow me the best of both worlds, without having to sacrifice much.

If you’re wondering how to transfer files quickly over to your new laptop, then using a direct cable connection is the fastest way. Here is how we transfered over gigabytes of files. One of the main perks of having both at home is that you never have to find compromises to get your stuff to work. For example, we ran into trouble when trying to find Microsoft OneNote equivalents on OS X. MS OneNote is Windows only for now. If you still have a PC at home, it’s not really a problem.

We prefer the way that OS X handles Apps, maybe because it’s a new way of going about things, but in comparison with the PC, it simplifies things. The new MS Office on Mac also has some improvements, including the fullscreen mode, which is excellent to use for creative writing since it allows no distractions.

Main Uses for a Mac

1. Twitter Client The new Twitter client that’s available for free from the Mac App store is easy to use, and its features make up for the lack of a zoom.

2. Creative Writing Although we do research with both computers, we’ve found that unplugging the Internet and taking the MacBook to bed is a very productive way of writing creative fiction.

3. Reading ebooks The new free Kindle app for Mac allows you to read a lot of free ebooks on it. That and a variety of PDF reference books makes the Mac the only way to do this.

4. Image Edition From Lightroom to Aperture, including the latest Photoshop, we’ve got them all installed on the Mac. The PC is another story.

5. Gaming While gaming has never been a strong suit of Macs, the only games that we have currently installed on our computers are on the Mac: Angry Birds and Civilization V.

Main Uses for Our PC

1. Internet Whether it’s checking up on things on Wikipedia, or writing up facts and important details in files, our main way of navigating the Internet is the PC.

2. Email We rarely use the Mac to check our email, as the PC is the computer we consider using for most work-related tasks. The Mac is used more for leisure.

3. Watching Movies & TV Shows Most of the time, we use the 24-inch Widescreen Viewsonic display to watch movies and TV shows. The resolution if fine, and although the screen is going to be replaced this year, it’s still suitable for this.

4. Uploading & Downloading Whenever we do any uploading (photos) or downloading, we use our PC, mainly because the PC serves as a hub for all of our photos and media files, since it’s got a lot of storage available.

5. Media Hub Most of our current photos, music and video files are located on the PC. All of our external USB hard drives are plugged into it.

(Images: Flickr member Stéphane Soulat licensed for use under Creative Commons, Flickr member Pablo Bigatti licensed for use under Creative Commons)

Inspiration: Communal Living in Brooklyn

Matt Hickman, is a freelance journalist and consultant who covers lifestyle, design and green-living. I talked to him about his Brooklyn home office.

How long have you worked from home? I’ve worked from home on and off for six years — half of which was spent as a graduate student. Home/work for the past three years has been a two bedroom, fourth floor walk-up apartment in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Red Hook, a heavily industrial waterfront area was once marked by gangster grittiness of all stripes … first the mafia and later urban gangs. The waterfront area is now infamous as a haven for working artists, designers, and writers since it’s slightly off the grid. Geographically, Red Hook is no Siberia but the lack of a convenient subway stop keep the rents low. Everyone seems to know each other and the smattering of bars, restaurants, and boutiques are predominately run or staffed by locals. There’s an organic farm, community gardens growing in vacant lots, historic longshoreman bars, waterfront parks and piers, and, um, an IKEA [the frame below in Matt's entryway is from IKEA]. I couldn’t imagine working from any where else … although it is refreshing to shed the pajamas every so often and attend proper meetings.

What does a ‘normal’ day entail? An average work day revolves a lot of moving around from bed to desk to couch to a stool in the kitchen. Lots of “walk” breaks and trips to Fairway market for lunch. Workdays kind of flow on and on, starting early and ending late. I spend a lot of time looking out my windows and thinking since there’s great light, little noise, and few distractions. I have city views and a full-frontal view of Statue of Liberty sitting in the lower New York Harbor. During late summer afternoons, I charge my laptop, grab a a blanket, and head to my roof where I get WiFi.

Is there any form of technology that helps you? My MacBook desktop is cluttered with Sticky Notes, otherwise my virtual organization habits are pretty minimal. I keep an old fashioned paper calender. IM is my virtual water cooler. Since I do miss the daily interaction of being in a proper office full-time, saying hello to friends and colleagues while taking a work break is a godsend (most of the time).

How do you organize your space? Is there a desktop tool you can’t do without? Working from my living and bedrooms, I have to keep everything organized and in-order (organizing and cleaning and redecorating is my ultimate work-from-home procrastination tool). Public radio is usually on at all hours and there’s a steady supply of caffeine in the fridge. Magazines and books (mostly fiction and memoir) are on hand for periodic recharging. Stamps, good pens, my Blackberry, and loose pieces of paper are all required in my work area. And then there’s cable television ….

What inspires you? Living in a creative enclave in the middle of the city really keeps the inspiration levels high. If I was working from home elsewhere in the city, I’d feel flat-out stifled, much more claustrophobic. It’s liberating (but, yes, at times lonely). I’m often inspired by — and frequently write about — the people around me … sustainable furniture designers, clothing designers, gardeners, art curators, dancers, web designers, eco-entrepreneurs, musicians, craftspeople. I don’t have to venture far. And I like that.