The Daily Haggis

Lily in Boxes – How to make a seamless mosaic

Haggis — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:03:07 +0000

Most people that know me understand I have a huge crush on Lily Allen, probably only trumped by my other huge crush, Zooey Deschanel. Not only does she have a fantastic voice, but she’s also got a great personality and is very responsive to her fans (via Twitter and MySpace.)

I saw a little photo experiment on FriendFeed the other day from Simon Wicks in which he used the thumbnail size restriction on FF to create a photo mosaic of him standing in front of the Statue of Liberty.

I just posted a similar post using Zooey directly on FriendFeed, but I wanted to see if it would work using my RSS feed from my blog and MediaRSS. Here goes…

UPDATE: Didn’t work, so I’m going to use this as a tutorial on how to do this in Photoshop.

Instructions for a seamless 3 column, 4 row mosaic:

Find an image you want to “mosaic”. Open in Photoshop, and crop/resize the picture until it has a width of 474px and a height of 434px. Why 474×434? – Because Friendfeed puts a 8px right margin and 6px bottom margin on all thumbnail images as well as a 1px border and a 1px padding around all images. Adding the extra width into the cropping accounts for the “seams”
Using the marquee selection tool, change the “Style” to Fixed Size with a width of 150px by 100px.
Click once on the image, your pre-sized 150×100 selection box should appear. Drag the selection box to the upper left of the image, the first square.
Show your rulers, and drag a guide from the top ruler to the bottom of the selection box, and another to the right of your selection. You now have your first “box” outlined.
Zoom into your guides and drag another guide exactly 12px to the right, and another exactly 10px below.
Move your selection box to the next row down, underneath the second guide. Repeat Step 4 until you have four rows of boxes, each with a 10px space in between (except the last row, which should be flush at the bottom of the image.)
Move your selection box back up to the top row, second column after your second vertical guide. Drag another guide to the right of the selection box. Finally, drag your selection box to the last column, first row, and drag another guide to the LEFT of your image this time. You should have 12 guide boxes drawn on your image.
Choose the Slice tool, and click the “Slices from Guides” button. Then choose View-Clear Guides to remove the hand-drawn guides. We’ll be adjusting manually from here.
Double click on each of the “margin” boxes and make sure they have similar width’s/heights. Each “row” margin should be 150×10, each “column” margin should be 12×100.
10. Delete the margin slices. Click on each slice and just hit your delete key, including the small boxes in between the margins. When finished, you should only have blue outlined numbered boxes around the “selections” and margin boxes should be greyed out. (See image to the right)
Double click each image “slice” and name them sequentially. Row 1, column 1 should be “01″, row 1 column 2 should be “02″ etc.
Choose File-Save For Web and hit ctrl-a to select all and choose “JPEG High” from the drop down. Find a directory to save, and save “All User Slices”. If you did it right, you should have a folder full of images numbered 01.jpg – 12.jpg.
Go to Friendfeed, title your post, and start uploading images sequentially. It’ll initially display 4 rows, but just ignore and keep uploading in order.
Sit back and enjoy the comments!

For The Daily Haggis readers, here’s a Photoshop PSD with the slices already laid out, just drag your image in and choose “Save For Web”!

Zooey in Boxes

How to Enable The Cleaner FriendFeed Script on Google Chrome

Haggis — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:16:46 +0000

I don’t usually do tech/tutorial type entries, but in an effort to be more helpful to my FriendFeed peoples and to try to get some use out of this blog, I’m going to explain how to enable User Scripts in Google Chrome, which will then enable you to add AJ Batac’s excellent “Cleaner FriendFeed” userscript.

I love the new FriendFeed, but I really don’t like the color scheme. With FireFox it’s easy to install GreaseMonkey scripts and change the look and feel, but with Google Chrome it makes it a little more difficult. To make matters worse, you have to install the beta Chrome 2.0 and change the command line, as well as create a new directory typically hidden under the user folders.

Hopefully this tutorial will be easy enough for even the least techy types to understand.

Step 1: Enable and Download Google Chrome 2.0 Beta.

Google Chrome 1.0 doesn’t contain the code to enable UserScripts, so you’ll have to switch to Chrome 2.0 instead. To do this, download the Chrome Channel Changer Tool (link). Close any Chrome browser windows, run the file, click the “Beta” bubble and hit “OK”.

Open Chrome, click on the “Wrench” icon in the upper right hand corner and select “About Google Chrome.” If it doesn’t automatically check for updates, hit the update button. It will download Chrome 2.0 and give you a message to restart the browser to install it. Close all Chrome browser windows and then Reopen Google Chrome. You now have 2.0! Close the browser window again.

Step 2: Add “–enable-user-scripts” to the command line of Chrome
Now that you have Google Chrome 2.0 Beta installed, you’ll have to modify the shortcut to enable UserScripts to run. Find the icon that you use to launch Google Chrome the most often (your start menu, desktop, quicklaunch bar, etc), right click and choose “Properties.” You will see a window pop up that looks like the picture to the right.

On the “Target” line directly after “chrome.exe” add –enable-user-scripts (that’s two dashes, not one). Click OK. If it gives you an error for the path, add the –enable-user-scripts after the quotation marks (typically for WindowsXP installations.)

Step 3: Create The User Scripts directory
This is probably the most complicated part of the step, and will be different depending on which Operating System you are using. You will need to create a new directory under the Chrome system settings folder to store your greasemonkey/user scripts into.

Navigate to:
On Windows XP: %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
On Windows Vista\Windows 7: %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default

For example, for my Windows 7 the directory is
“C:\Users\Haggis\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default”
For WindowsXP that would have been
“C:\Documents and Settings\Haggis\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default”

Create a directory called “User Scripts” and navigate into the directory. Leave this window open for now.

Step 4: Installing AJ Batac’s Cleaner FF UserScript
Download AJ Batac’s Cleaner FF UserScript from here: Standard Display or Widescreen Display

When you click on the file, you’ll see a bunch of code that you probably won’t understand. That’s okay, just save the file on your desktop or download folder. Copy, drag and drop, or move the file from wherever you downloaded it to and drop it into that User Scripts folder we just created. It’s easier to save it somewhere else first and then move it since the User Scripts folder is located under hidden folders on your system, making it difficult to navigate to through the “Save As” window. The filename might be a little strange or long, I renamed mine “Friendfeed.user.js” and it still works fine.

Step 5: Test it!
Finally, pop open your brand new installation of Chrome 2.0 using the shortcut you modified from the earlier step. Navigate to FriendFeed and you should see the new style! If it didn’t work, trace back your steps and make sure you changed and saved everything as stated above. If your FF looks like the screenshot at the top of this article, you’ve done everything correctly! Welcome to a Cleaner FriendFeed.

NOTE: Steps 1-3 will also allow you to install other UserScripts other than just the FF styles!

To summarize, make sure you’ve done the following:

Download the Chrome Changer Tool and enabled the Beta.
Added “–enable-user-scripts” to the end of your shortcut command line
Created your “User Scripts” directory
Saved the Cleaner Friendfeed script into the User Scripts directory.

Special thanks to AJ Batac who did the excellent coding work for this script, and Lifehacker for the original tutorial and screenshots.

SxSWi Day 3: TechCrunched

Haggis — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:36:38 +0000

Yesterday was a busy day at the Trade Show. After a busy night out with the FriendFeeders, I was looking forward to a relaxed day and to spread the word about Blellow and get us some traffic.

We received a lot of positive responses and around 5pm TechCrunch posted a glowing review of our site:

To paraphrase Cracker, what the world needs now is another web-based Interactive micro-content production community like I need a hole in the head. But strangely enough, I think the world needs Blellow

Since the article was posted we received over 1000 new users joining up to the site and a lot of great feedback and positive comments. Our heads were spinning and we were excited to get featured on such an influential blog.

After the show closed I decided to take a night off from the festivities and give my liver a chance to recover, so I headed back to my cousin’s house in Round Rock and enjoyed the night sitting on my duff and watching TV. I actually managed to stay off the computer for a whole hour before I broke down and borrowed they laptop to check the new user numbers. Around 11pm we broke 2000 users!

Today is the last day of the Trade Show with the Mashable Mash Bash tonight at 9:30pm, where Blellow is a sponsor. It’s going to be a very late night for me, as we also have to tear down the booth and pack everything back up. Tomorrow I’m going to try to sit in some of the seminars before making the trek back to San Antonio.

SxSWi Day 2: Attempted Karaoke

Haggis — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:58:55 +0000

Day two in Austin was the first full day of the South by Southwest Interactive Trade Show, and I stood on my feet and talked for 6 hours straight!

We got a really good response to the site and everyone seemed to enjoy what we were trying to do. I’ve never talked to so many strangers (and new friends) in my life, and I enjoyed it quite a bit!

After the Trade Show closed, I went over to the Mexican Cultural Arts Center for the SxSW Opening Ceremony and had a few drinks and mingle a bit. Around 9pm I decided to head over to the Karaoke event on 4th and Navasota to meet up with Erin Koteki Vest, Mark Krynsky, Marco, Aaron Brazell and Derrick for our unofficial FriendFeed meetup.

We watched the Karaoke contest and cheered on Aaron as he performed Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” and rocked the house, then headed over to Ego’s via Bike Rickshaw for more karaoke, but unfortunately we showed up after they had already cut the sign up for singing. I met back up with my friend Henry and Dustin Rowles with the Pajiba crew as well and watched Henry sing Adele’s “Syrup and Honey.”

I big the fine folks from FriendFeed farewell and goodnight, and shared a cab with Henry back to the Convention Center. I barely made my way to the Blellow rent house due to my iPod dying (which had the map to get there and the keycode for the door) but somehow managed to squeeze another 30 seconds out of the battery long enough to memorize the address.

Another fine night in Austin with another two days ahead of me. This has been a great experience so far and I’m looking forward to seeing what the last two days have in store.

SxSWi Journal Entry 1

Haggis — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 07:14:24 +0000

Today was my very first day at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Most of the afternoon was spent working with Blellow setting up the booth and trying to get a SxSXi badge, all of which happened within hours of each other.

Unfortunately my boss was feeling under the weather, so they all retired to the rent house leaving me alone to terrorize the streets of Austin. I just happened to run into my friend Henry (or Smokin, as he’s known on this very blog) while he was going up the escalator to pick up his badge, so I was able to hook up with him later on. I got a chance to meet the fine folks at Pajiba, Dustin Rowles, Frank, and Seth, all of who are not only great people, and ended up buying me many drinks later in the night (more on this later).

After hanging out at the convention center, (and meeting Derrick from FriendFeed), I decided to break outside my shell and mingle a bit in the growing number of tech and film enthusiasts in Austin.

I started the night by walking about 10-12 blocks down to the Belmont for the Techset meets the Ratpack party. I arrived a little early, so I killed time at the bar and had a lovely discussion with a representative of uStream.com.

Once the party started it got pretty wild fast. As I was standing in the midst of the crowd talking to two interesting guys from Vancouver, Canada, lo and behold Jeffery Tambor (George Sr. From Arrested Devlepment) makes his way through the crowd.

The conversation I had with him was something like this:

Jeffery: “Wow, this is pretty wild, huh?”
Me: “Yeah no kidding! I’m a huge fan of yours, I’m so happy to meet you!” (shakes hand)
Jeffery: “Thanks! I like your hat.”
Me: (Flabbergasted and speechless)

Erica O’Grady introduced me to Hugh McLoud, aka Gaping Void of “Cartoons on the back of business cards.” He even drew me a special card that said “Fuck You, I’m at SxSW 2009!” I was pleased to get a custom card form him, as I’ve been following his work for several years now and was quite a fan.

After much searching and Twitter DM’ing, I finally tracked down my FriendFeed friend Mark Krynsky, and we decided to head down to Emo’s for the “Pastries and Pasties” Burlesque show, only to turn away at the $15 cover charge at the door. We ended up at the Rio Grande a few blocks away and met back up with my friend Henry. After a few drinks the restaurant was closing, so as Mark left to Chugging Monkey to track down Kevin Rose, I left with Henry and the Pajiba crew for many more beers and some interesting discussion of the movie Bridges of Madison County.

Tomorrow is day two, and if it’s at all like today then I have nothing but good conversation and meeting a lot of wonderful and exciting new people to look forward to. So far this has been the start of the best week of my life.

If you would like to connect with me at SxSW Interactive, I’ll be in the Blellow booth for most of the weekend, and after hours terrorizing the streets of Austin. Link up with me through Twitter!

SxSWi Day 2: Attempted Karaoke

FULL of WIN #4: The Very Last Episode of Pimp My Ride

Haggis — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:30:45 +0000

Today’s full of win is dedicated to XZibit from MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” and inspired by the random, and quite hilarious internet meme featuring him putting things inside other things. The show itself is beyond ridiculous, but luckily the final episode above wrapped up everything nicely.

Jack In The Box = Dick In The Box

Haggis — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:22:03 +0000

According this article on the Brand New blog, Jack In The Box is changing their logo, and can already be seen on several stores on the West Coast. (which you can see pictures of in the article)

There’s been a bit of logo changes on several popular brands lately, some successful some not so much. The new simple Pepsi logo and can design is actually pretty nice, but others like Tropicana have already reverted back to the original, much more recognizable version.

I’m not quite sure what to think about the new Jack in the Box logo. I really liked the old one, and it just seems like there’s too much emphasis on the “Jack” part of it. I understand the clever concept of putting “Jack” on the “Box” but it just doesn’t work for me.

In fact, inspired by a comment on FriendFeed, I made what initially came to mind when I saw the new logo:

Step 1..

FriendFeed Presents: Damn You Steven Perez!

Haggis — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:09:37 +0000

To celebrate our favorite FriendFeeder and just an overall great guy, myself and several members of FriendFeed got together and recorded a video saying our favorite catch phrase: “DAMN YOU STEVEN PEREZ!”

Happy DAMN YOU STEVEN PEREZ Day, Steven!

FULL of WIN #3 – Mona!

Haggis — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:28:35 +0000

This week’s FULL of WIN Strip is dedicated to someone who is completely “Full of Win”: Mona Nomura from FriendFeed!

Mona is one of the most genuine, happy, interesting people you could ever know. If FriendFeed was crack, Mona was the dealer who gave me the first hit for free. Often described by others (including myself) as the “Queen of FriendFeed” (complete with her Lego crown), Mona always posts the weirdest and funniest stuff gathered from the nether reaches of the Internet. Her skills at finding bizarre, random things surpasses any one single person I know.

Tomorrow, 1/29/2009, is her Birthday, so I decided to draw Mona with several of the things she loves: Lego, Star Wars, and Bacon.

Happy Birthday Mona!!

I Was a Guest on FFundercats!

Haggis — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:26:43 +0000

Due to my shameless pandering and drawing three guys in tights, the FFundercats featured me as a guest on the latest episode of their podcast, #12! I come in about halfway through and end up completely embarrassing myself, and almost created an epic battle royale on FriendFeed. I would have preferred that the battle played out more like “West Side Story” than “Beyond Thunderdome”, but it’s blown over already. I’m such a troublemaker.

Download the episode here!