090 - Storage Solution

Day 90. Today's create is a solution to a problem of storing our classroom devices. Each of your Year 3 and 4 classrooms now have four pads and four Chromebooks for the students to use in class. Rather than buying an expensive trolley solution, I got hold of an inexpensive cardboard storage unit from Marbig, then used bulldog clips as cable organisers.

Cheap. Simple. Robust. Recyclable. Problem solved.

089 - The View

Day 89. Today Linda and I did some exploring up on Sydney's Northern Beaches. We started with a late breakfast on the beach at Collaroy, followed by a walk along the sand up to South Narrabeen. We then drove up to Palm Beach for a swim and another stroll, before heading home via Whale Beach.

Along the way we stopped at Bilgola Lookout where I created this Photosphere. Photospheres are a standard camera feature in Nexus phones, which let you make these full 360˚ panoramic shots.

However, they can only be viewed as intended on sites that support Photospheres, so if you want to see the full 360˚ interactive photo you should pop over to view the image on my Google+ page. (https://plus.google.com/116830524696476899564/posts/hwqRM7PVxRf)

088 - Sleeping Lions

Day 88. So the other day I discovered the iPad app called Loopy and I made a silly little sample with it, totally having no idea what I was actually doing. After playing around with it a bit more,. it makes a lot more sense to me now, including the recording function. Then the following day, I saw a YouTube clip with Jimmy Fallon and Billy Joel using the very same app to record The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

Using that as a bit of silly inspiration, I decided to have a go at making a version myself. The big thing I now know about Loopy is that you can set up loops of various duration (number of bars) and then turn them on and off as you record. Interesting possibilities. More play needed.

087 - Jelly Beans

Day 87. This simple image was created using Adobe Illustrator, one of the Adobe Creative Cloud tools that I use less than others so I'm not as confident with it. So tonight I was just messing about with Illustrator's pen tool for drawing bezier curves and I drew a nice smooth jelly bean shape. After adding the simple specular highlight shapes I grouped them into a single object, then duplicated it four times, changing the colour of each. The colours, by the way, are based on the hex codes for Google's logo.

After making each coloured jelly bean I turned them into scatter brushes so I could paint with them. I adjusted the size, angle and scatter to be randomised, and then each time I dragged a brush across the screen it left a trail of jellybeans.

I know it looks simple, but there are quite a few core Illustrator skills involved in making this image.

086 - Feeling Loopy

Day 86. today I discovered an app called Loopy, a loop based audio recorder for iOS. Just record a sound, then just dub over and over to create some interesting sequences. This sample was made (as my first attempt, so be nice...) to show how a basic rhythm could be made using nothing but my own voice.

085 - Comical Couple

Day 85. These photos of Linda and I were taken a while ago in Canberra, and can't even remember what app I used to put us in the film frames. But tonight I found an iPhone app called Comic Touch, currently free on the App Store. It's from Plasq, the same people who make Comic Life. It's a much simpler, one frame comic maker, but pretty good for making a single, simple comic image like this one.

084 - Three Un-Evil Monkeys

Day 84. I was at a Teachmeet this afternoon at the Harold Park Hotel with a group of teachers talking about BYOD in schools. The panel was just setting up and I spotted Laurens, Joachim and Alice sitting there waiting to start. With some Google talk on the agenda, I figured this was a good time to not be evil. Not hear it, see it or say it.

Thanks for having a sense of humour guys, and being these three wise, and very un-evil monkeys. (Four if you count Jo's shirt)