I added a second DVD writer to my Mac Pro which also supports HP’s lightScribe. I wasn’t really interested in the lightScribe feature as much as just adding a second optical drive to the Mac Pro. At time of purchase I wasn’t sure if LightScribe is even supported by Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.x).

My test hardware:

LightScribe DVD Drive: LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1H LL0A 136
LightScribe Media: DVD+R Memorex (label is gold colored)

I came to find out that there is indeed support of lightScribe for Mac OS X. Drivers and two application can be downloaded free of charge at:

Driver:
LightScribe System Software for Mac OS X 10.3.9 and higher

Application:
LightScribe Simple Labeler for Mac OS X 10.3.9 and higher (Very basic application)
LACIE LightScribe Disc Labeling (Offers many more options than the LightScribe Simple Labeler)

There are many commercial application available for Mac OS X that support lightScribe.

The LightScribe Simple Labeler is very easy to use and guides you from the beginning up to the lightScribe process. If you like to add image/photo resources to your label and/or like to place text yourself, you would need to use LACIE’s LightScribe Disc Labeling or one of the many available commercial lightScribe applications out there.

All of these applications have one thing in common, which is the use of the same lightScribe drivers. Following are my findings about the lightScribe feature/experience:

Pros:

• - Water resistant.
• - Very crisp and clean results.

Cons:

• - Very SLOW, depending on the quality it can take up to 35 minutes.
• - Even at best quality, the result seems quite washed out in color. It might me possible that it depends on the media brand but I don’t think it would be significantly different from what my results were.
• - At this point lightScribe only creates monochrome labels.
• - At least double the price compared to regular writable CD’s/DVD’s.

Follow Up: 11/23/2008

Time has gone by way to fast. I will be flying back to New York on Monday morning.

- Create a scalable version of our Logo as close to the original as possible. Referenz image:

- Keep the same look as current logo but change it to give it that web 2.0 effect.
-The Logo is trademarked and also used as a brand at partner sites so it is important that the over look stays the same.

This was a simple job and it didn’t take much time to accomplish the requested work. The only time consuming process was to recreate the logo since the client had no other art work frm it than the referenced website screenshot.
Following the result I created. The work has been done in Adobe Photoshop CS3 and the logo is sizable just like a vector without loss of quality.

The client was happy, all I care about.

Looks like a more serious problem. I don’t really know what to make out of this. Is it my Mac Pro (first generation) causing these drives to fail or is it the hard drive? All other drives I have up to 750GB work without a hitch for over a year now. Just these (4 weeks old hard drives) cause a huge headache.

As if this morning didn’t give me enough problems, I saw the following screen as I tried to pull up my website at PixelGrinch.com:

Can this morning present anymore ‘positive’ surprises for me? Judging by this screen I assumed all files are gone and lost. My last backup dates back over a month. You know what that means if you are talking about regular blog entries. I connected to my server and the files seemed to be available. I contacted my webhosting specialist and there was an issue with the ip address assigned within the Apache configuration file. No clue on how this happened. The website is running fine again and I am happy.

But what a bad start in the day. Both these issues wasted 4 hours of my day.

iToonU the complete company staff
Put all staff in business suite
Visually separate staff by position in company by using business suite with different color combinations
Deliver toons optimized for web and print use

This is one great example to show how my iToonU service can be employed to replace real life photographs in a professional way. All toons have been created with my Wacom Graphics Tablet in Adobe Illustrator. The results are vector images that can be used for web and print. 

The client was happy with the results, all I care about.

We need a nodding dog
The scenery should be a backyard with elements that match the scenery
We would like to see something cute like the crab in the iHula project
Add the dog’s name Charles somewhere
We need 512x512, 480x320 splash screen, 480x320 animation screens, iPhone icon

I created the whole project in Adobe Illustrator as vector to take advantage of lossless upsizing and possible print option down the line. I started with sketching of the dog and added the details later right within Adobe Illustrator without sketching these elements. I covered the ‘cute’ element with a cat sitting on the fence, watching the dog.
The following yard scene was approved by the client:

Following the splash screen including the name of the application.

I have created the 512x512 and the iPhone icon analog to these screenshots.
The client was happy with the result, all I care about.

The idea is to to create an iPhone application that shows a tilting hula girl, just like the ones you put on your dashboard.
Make the hula girl look attractive.
Add something cute.
Create a 512x512 image, 480x320 splash screen, all 480x320 animation screens, iPhone icon.

I looked through stock designs and the internet and have not found a single hula girl that fit my vision for this project. I ended up creating my own hula girl from scratch.
I submitted the design to the client and it was approved. I created this hula girl in Adobe Illustrator to take advantage of vector scaling and possible print option down the line. To add the ‘cute’ element I opted for a crab. Here too, I had to create the crab from scratch. I sketched it and used Adobe Illustrator for this task as well.
Following the hula girl and the crab I have created for the client:

I added the background scenery and the following result was approved by the client:

Following the 512x512 image I created:

My vision for the splash screen was to add the iHula lettering and something funny, involving the crab. Following the result I cooked up:

The client was thrilled, all I care about. I hope the application will sell well at the Apple Store.

Add two products with their thumbnails to the front page without changing overall appearance and dimensions of the site.
Do all programming and design necessary to accomplish this task

You can see the initial front page design by clicking here.
I thought of a three column design to integrate all products into the front page. Due to the width limitation each product had I could only integrate two thumbnails for the first two products and one for the last product since the logo on the bottom right was not to be changed in size.
As you can see in the initial site design there was definitely no room for any description. That needed to be cut and put on a separate page which I created as a details page.
The three columns view worked better than I initially thought and following the result I cooked up for the client (the image has been resized to fit the dimensions of this blog):

The client was happy with the result, all I care about.