New Personal Site: Namphan.com
Posted by Nam-o | Filed under Rambling, design
Well, hi there!
I’m Nam Phan of Digital FAB studios and I have created a new site: namphan.com. Pretty original domain name, eh?
The new site was created to self promote myself, Digital FAB studios and to illustrate what a simple website with a clean layout can accomplish.
Now go and check it out! Definitely tell me what you think about it.
Tags: clean, modern, nam phan, namphan.com, self promote, simple, web design
How is HOW Magazine?
Posted by Nam-o | Filed under Rambling, design
It has been about a month and a half since I submitted a subscription for HOW magazine (via Amazon.com), and now I have finally received my first issue of six total issues over a year span.
So how is HOW? Unlike other graphic/web design magazines, HOW doesn’t really publish articles in regards to design tutorials and any technical how-to; HOW talks more about the business aspect of web & graphic design. It’s like reading Money magazine tailored for the art and design industry. As a designer, sometimes we’re so involved with creative deveopment for our clients but we never really think about the legal side of the business and how to sustain a constant flow of business until the IRS comes knocking or when we’re just desperate for any type of work during the those rough times. This is probably the only magazine I know of that publish articles that deals and reminds us with those matters.
A portion of the magazine do some showcasing from various designers. Unfortunately, if you’re strictly a web designer, the magazine doesn’t really showcase various works from web industry but a bit more biased towards the print industry. Some of the showcased print media are very creatively impressive which have become a great source of inspiration for some of my own web designs.
Give it a look whenever you get the chance. The only bookstore/newsstand storefront that I have found HOW magazine is Books-a-Million. A subscription of HOW magazine consists of six magazines for a year (an issue every two months) for about $30 bucks.
Tags: amazon, creative, How magazine, legal, literature, print, subscription
The Best (and Most Counter Productive) Game for 2009
Posted by Nam-o | Filed under Rambling
I was supposed to have this entry up 2 nights ago but I have been hooked on this flash game, Coconut Run. The game is supposed to promote ingenuity for a company called, Johnson Controls but the game was developed from the bright and creative minds of Colossal Squid.
Pretty much, you create some type craft or vehicle out of ordinary blocks such as: lines, rectangles and circles. In addition, you are also supplied with wheels and shocks to help you on your quest to deliver your massive load of coconuts through a route which entails mountainous terrain on the usual point a to point b scheme. Simple, but here’s the twist; the game pits your coconut shopping cart against (or relies on) the law of physics.
You just have to give it a try and once you try it, you’ll be hooked… muwhahahahah!
Tags: coconut, colossal squid, counter productive, flash, games, run
How To: My Web & Graphic Design Small Business/Home Office Essentials
Posted by Nam-o | Filed under Pure Business, Rambling
With today’s market, it’s a great time to plan for a business! Yeah, I heard the stock market is fluctuating more than the daily tides but that’s okay. As long you can keep one thing in mind, which is trimming the fat, you’ll be fine. My idea is that if you can a build a honestly solid business model during this current economic downturn, I’ll find it hard pressed that your model will spring a leak when the economy rushes back up north to profit.
What’s fat? Pretty much it is wasteful spending on nonessential items that you think you need. It’s like this: do you really need to eat that greasy burger? Yes, you do need to eat, but why a greasy burger?! You get what I’m saying..?
From my own experience, my business model in regards to office essentials is this: Work with what you have. You’ll can’t beat that. My equipment is paid for.
We’re human, so we always have a want for the latest and great gadgets and widgets. Though most of time, that’s all in your mind. Just like that greasy burger; once you gobble it all down, your mind has been satisfied but I’ll bet you will be hungry for something more filling (and healthier) to satisfy your tummy.
If you’re truly working from scratch and looking to purchase some capital for your small business/home office, here’s my top 5:
- A simple large desk
- Desktop Computer -or- Laptop
- Printer
- Camera
- Toys (For those days when you’ll need some creative inspirations)
These items do pertain to my creative business so a couple of those items would be a bit different to yours.
It’s a given to shop for items that are on sale but if you’re somewhat crafty, you can save a lot of money hitting up the garage sales for used equipment.
For those items you can’t afford that piece of office equipment but at the same time you’re not too sure if you will utilize the item as much, try looking to vendors (a.k.a. outsourcing). For instance, I don’t have a fax machine but I wouldn’t mind having one for whatever reason. The only thing is that, I can’t justify the cost of spending $100 for a piece of equipment I might use once a month.
My solution: Anytime I need to fax anything, I just head down the street to my local FedEX Kinkos and just spend a quick buck to fax a simple sheet of paper.
Hopefully, some of my tips do shed some light on office essentials. Just remember this: Think with your tummy, not with your head. We all need to make some type of money so we don’t come home hungry. (Although, I heard office equipment is a bit high in fiber).
Tags: business model, equipment, home office, recession, small business, soho
How to Upgrade Your Blackberry Firmware
Posted by Nam-o | Filed under Electronics, Rambling
Let’s be honest for a second here. We always need to have the latest and greatest especially when it comes to free firmware upgrades. Why?.. because it’s FREE!
I’m not going to run down the list what the update entails other than you can now view your emails in HTML and for some of us Curve owners, the update enables Video Capture. If you would like to see the whole gamut, just follow this link: http://theblackberryguy.blogspot.com/2008/02/blackberry-owners-rejoice-upcoming.html
What I’m not really too sure is why AT&T are taking their sweet time to release the 4.5 firmware update for the Curve; everyone else pretty much have their firmware update available through their carrier for some time now.
No worries! Check out this how-to @ Blackberrycool.com
Now, I haven’t had time to upgrade my Curve so I can’t tell you if I have been successful or not.
**Update** (12/21/08) Humm, seems like AT&T finally gave their blessings to the new 4.5 firmware update. Just connect your Curve via USB and just run the Blackberry Desktop Manager. Don’t worry, the Desktop Manager will backup your goods and the whole process is automated. You just have to give the Desktop Manager your blessings now.
Tags: blackberry, curve, firmware, rim, update
Online Shopping for Christmas Coming to a Close
Posted by Nam-o | Filed under Rambling
Hey there you online shopping procrastinators!
Unless you’re going to shovel money during this recession period to have your gifts delivered via USAF C-130 Air Drop, you better hurry up and place your online orders. If you’re too slow to react, hopefully you have acquired a balance set of people and road rage skills to handle the masses at your local shops and malls.
Tags: c130, christmas, gift, road rage, slow
A little birdy told me..
Posted by Nam-o | Filed under Rambling
Hi there!
People have been wondering where I have been since my blog posting has dropped off a bit.
So where or what have I been doing lately? I have been working on some very big projects and the whole holiday season doesn’t provide enough time to accomplish my goals which results into overtime, overwork, and not so much oversleeping.
If you like to keep up on my where abouts, please feel free to follow me through twitter. You can visit my twitter page (nphan82) or take a look at my twitter widget located on the far bottom right of this blog.
Hopefully you know what twitter is all about. What? You don’t say? Don’t worry, just watch this video..
Tweet Tweet!
Tags: busy, overtime, sleepy, twitter, work
The Art of Black Friday Impulse Buying
Posted by Nam-o | Filed under Electronics, Rambling
What’s impulse buying? It’s buying objects (sometimes garbage) that makes your senses tingle when you shouldn’t be buying anything.
The art is to make sure you’re getting the best deal though. Easier said than done because once you have your mind set on impulse buying on a particular item, you fail to look around and do the complete walk-around of the store which I will demonstrate for you here.
Office Depot is spitting distance from my daily grind so it’s a prime location for the “Impulse Buying” act.
Tip number 1: Go with a cohort. Someone that have a good eye and knows how to read labels well.
Why? You never know when you get that tunnel “impulse buying” vision. You see that sexy Sony laptop out in the corner of your eyeball for a price of $499. Then you run to the line to cash out with this huge smile on your face and the screen screams $699. Yeah, if you read the price tag properly, somewhere in there probably mentioned about a mail-in rebate. Don’t make yourself feel any less by not reading the tags properly. So make sure you take a friend with you to make sure you’re not doing anything foolish.
Tip number 2: As mentioned before, walk the store completely up and down!
After doing my walk around, I’ve stumbled on this killer deal on this 4gig SanDisk Cruzer Micro USB Flash for $10 bills!
Deep down inside, I have a some unexplainable knack for USB flash drives and my inner voice said,
Oh man! Awesome deal. I’ll take one!
Tip number 3: Walk up and down the store!
As I’m heading out to the line to cash out and having a satisfied feeling that I’ve achieved something no impulse buyer have ever done before, I ran into another flash memory display..
Yeah man, believe what you’re seeing! An 8gig SanDisk Cruzer Micro USB flash drive for $15 bucks! Think about it; for $5 extra bucks, you can double the capacity?
So what do you do? You extend your right arm and clinch on the 8 gig and leave the 4 gig behind.
What did we learn today about the Art of Impulse Buying? Walk up and down the store and definitely take your time to weed out the instant rebates from the mail-in rebates.
Tags: buying, flash, impulse, rebates, sandisk, usb, woot
Nam-o’s 2008 Top 5 Black Friday Draft Picks
Posted by Nam-o | Filed under Electronics, Rambling
You and I know, the best thing about black friday is the crazy electronic deals. As mentioned before, the 2008 electronic draft choices are a bit slimmer than the past couple of years, but there still a few great choices out there.
So, here’s my 2008 Top 5 Black Friday Draft Picks.
- Panasonic Viera 42″ 1080p Plasma HDTV @ newegg.com for $799.99 with free shipping.
- Sony Walkman Mp3 & Video player @ Staples for $59.99.
- Garmin nuvi 260w GPS @ Best Buy for $189.99.
- Hauppauge WinTV HVR-850 HD USB Tv Tuner @ Circuit City for $19.99.
- Dell Vostro A860 Laptop @ Dell.com starting at $349.99.
Honorable Mentions: All of those super low price blu-ray movies (**Cough cough** Iron Man for $15) and various capacity usb thumb drives which can be found at your local electronic house including Wal-mart and Target.
Now go out there and fight the crowds for these draft picks!
*Some of these links won’t show the ‘black friday’ prices until black friday!
Tags: black friday, draft picks, top 5
Gobble Gobble.. Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted by Nam-o | Filed under Rambling
Tags: thanksgiving, turkey day
