40 Free High Resolution Textures Photoshop

I wanted to share 40 high resolution textures I created for use with your favorite graphics programs like Photoshop, Fireworks, etc. I took these myself, and your free to use them in any way you wish. Being a photographer my favorite use is applying texture to images to create more of an art look to special images. I'll be writing how to use textures on your images in a future post.

Here is a sample of some of the textures in the set.



Here are some examples i've used on my own photography when using textures with them.









All textures in this set are 4288x2848 px in size at around 4mb-7mb in size. The total zip file is 216mb.

I'm not selling these, there yours free, but if you'd like to donate I would really appreciate it.

Here's the link:

40 High Resolution Textures

Backup link

New Blog Design is LIVE

Ok after tons of work and decisions, I've finally finished the new design for my blog. I'm sure i'll make small tweaks to it over the next couple days, but as of now it's new!

So PLEASE view the full experience with Safar/FireFox/Chrome/Opera, IE sucks! and IE won't display all the bells and whistles that come with all the new STANDARD web code that every other browser in the world conforms by. So if you're still using IE, I HIGHLY recommend updating to a modern browser, cause IE ain't one of them. Ok ranting off...

And remember if you need a blog design, let me know. I'd be glad to offer you a quote on what you want. You don't have to use the standard templates and the so called "Pro" themes that everyone else is using. Be unique! Have your blog look totally different than everyone else. I'll be offering a special as well. I'm starting to finish my "Blog Design" company site and the prices will be going up. Designing a blog takes a lot of time and i've been charging way too low, so I'll be offering a last ditch campaign to get those low prices while they last. Stay tuned or better yet, contact me to get started.

Hope you enjoy the new blog. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Leaving you with a great picture to view! I also post a photo...

Here's another sunset of the place i'll be living soon enough. How could you not want to live here?!?

Twitterfon Pro vs. Tweetdeck for iPhone

I've been using Tweetdeck for the desktop for a while and enjoy it. On the iPhone i've been using Twitterfon Pro and love it. Well Tweetdeck came out with their iPhone version today and I wanted to check it out. I thought I'd share a quick review and comparison. This is just my opinion so use it as you will.

First off Tweekdeck for iPhone 1.0 uses a unique interface. It uses the panels just like the desktop app, and you can swipe between panels. Take a look at the main screen here:



as you can see it shows the total number of new tweet updates in red on the bottom left. You can see the different columns and swipe between them. to view a column just click on it. then it comes up like this:



from here you can scroll up and down, etc... the arrow in the bottom right will take you to the next column. to go back to zoom out column view you click the columns button in the middle on the bottom.

Here's one of the things I prefer Twitterfon on. To view a link in a tweet on twitterfon you can click on the link directly in the tweet. On Tweetdeck you have to click on the tweet to pull up the details, then you can click on links from the tweet and do your replying, retweetind, DM, etc..



A couple of interesting features are the ability to email the tweet (shown above) adding more columns to support search terms (like the desktop app), the ability to sync tweetdeck iphone with the desktop app (you must signup for a tweetdeck account to sync), you can choose between twitpic and yfrog, and the ability to add multiple twitter accounts (twitterfon pro supports multiple accounts too). When you start a new tweet the input screen looks like this:



Now let's take a look at the Twitterfon Pro screens and compare.



To me the interface is a little more clean in Twitterfon. It shows the number of new tweets, mentions, and DM's. It's easy to distinguish new tweets and mentions directly in the list. the great feature in Twitterfon is that it will auto scroll you down to where the newest tweets start. It doesn't just leave you at the top and make you scroll through them backwards. Also notice how links are easily identified in the main list and you can click these links directly from here. you don't have to click on the tweet first. You can also click on the twitter's name to go directly to their profile. You can also make a tweet a favorite from this screen by clicking the star on the right of the tweet. Once you click on the tweet, you get this screen:



Once again the buttons are very distinguishable and you can do everything from here. reply, DM, retweet, favorite. hit the users timeline and their profile. Below is the search screen:



As you can see here you can locate local tweets. basically all tweets around you based on the radius you choose. I chose 5 miles. Click in the search field and search for anything. if you leave the search term in. it will constantly update to find new tweets with your search term. Even when you quit and come back in it will update with new search tweets.

Here's Twitterfon's input screen. as you can see it's very similar to Tweetdecks, but it also has a trash button to delete the tweet your writing and start over.



But the coolest feature is the landscape keyboard. turn it sideways and get this:



Twitterfon also has 4 themes to choose from. Silver (shown in the shots above) Twitterfon, Plain, and Black. Shown below:







Another really cool feature is Twitterfon lets you install a bookmark into Safari Mobile to tweet any page/link. It saves it as a bookmark. then when you're surfing you can be on the page you want to tweet. choose the twitterfon bookmark from your bookmarks and it will send the page link to twitterfon and open up a new tweet. Very cool!

As you can see from the screen grabs, they are very similar but overall I still give the nod to Twitterfon. The interface is better and it's easy to see and select all the options you need to tweet.

Tweetdeck is pretty good, but I think it still needs some work, but it's 1.0, so i'm sure it will get better. Tweetdeck is also FREE! And Twitterfon Pro is $4.99, although their is a free version (it adds a small ad to very top, doesn't support multiple account, and doesn't have the landscape keyboard) Like I said before this is personal preference, but hopefully you can use this info to make a better decision.

Have any questions about these 2 or something i missed? Leave a comment. Thanks!

Apple Store Scottsdale Grand Opening

I got to partake in the craziness that is a Apple Store grand opening. The Scottsdale Quarter Apple Store in Scottsdale, Arizona opened today at 6pm. The line was outrageous as usual. Luckily Stacia and I were able to get a free Apple shirt. I think they were giving out t-shirts to the first 1000 people. The Apple Store is based on the new designs Apple will start using for future stores. One of the most AWESOME features of this store is that the the front and back 40ft walls are entirely glass. You can see right through the store from front to back. Another really cool design idea implemented is the skylight roof that stretches the entire length of the store. you can see it in several of the photos. and finally the store is HUGE!!! I think the super high ceilings add the the sparseness. Now here's some pics!

Apple was handing out umbrellas for people to use while waiting in line. But you had to give them back!


The front entrance to the new Apple Store Scottsdale


Just part of the long line near the front of the store


The backside of the store. See how you can see right thru it! So COOL!!!


Apple employees waiting to hand out shirts to the people waiting forever!


This part of the line stretches around the BACKSDIE of the shopping center.


A view of the backside line from afar.


The skylight inside the store


Some shots inside the store






The back of the store with some employees up on the roof!


2 more shots from the back (street view)





Go here to see the entire gallery

Also here's some videos i took while live streaming on my iphone in the store!
My streaming iPhone videos

Being a kid at the Exploratorium in San Francisco

Here's a fun video of me being a kid at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Stacia took me to San Fran for my birthday and we hit this science museum. It's AWESOME!! Tons of hands on exhibits and fun stuff to do. Although I would suggest not to do the Tactile Dome Exhibit. What they don't tell yo about the Tactile dome is that it's not only pitch dark, but you don't stand through any of it, you crawl your way through tight fitting spots, etc. Imagine doing that in complete darkness, where you can't even see the hand in front of your face!!

Anyway here's a shot of me playing with bubbles!!