Jacob Weber

Code Year from Codecademey

Jacob — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:42:49 +0000

New Year’s resolutions come and go. We all know the deal; usually a week or so before, or if you’re like most people it’s usually the day of, the “big night” we all start to think about the past year and the year to come. We think of all the things we wanted to do this past year, some of which we were able to complete and some of which we chose to avoid.

One company however, is aiming to make your New Year’s resolutions this year a lot easier to accomplish; especially if you happened to make a resolution to learn a little code. In steps Code Year from Codecademey. Code Year aims to make it as simple as possible for anyone to learn code in 2012; including New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg (CNN article). Codecademy was created by Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinksi as a better, more attractive way to learn programming by, actually coding rather than watching videos.

Code Year from Codecademey is straightforward and simple. The concept is pretty cut and dry; simply sign up, and each week you will receive a new coding exercise in your inbox. Based on the lessons and projects you complete you’ll earn badges and the right to “brag” about it or share it on Facebook and Twitter. The lessons themselves are straightforward as well; and yet the simple and straightforward pattern continues. The lessons instruct you to complete certain tasks, like define a variable, define or edit loops and even adding primitives and objects to javascript. Once you’ve been instructed on what to do, you edit the code in the provided terminal and hit return. If your code is correct, you move on to the next part of the lesson, if your code is wrong, the terminal prompts you with an error and there is a newly added Q&A section to help work through trouble spots.

So if you’ve made a resolution this year to learn a little code, or even if you want to add join the other 394,872 people and sign up for coding lessons straight to your inbox. http://codeyear.com/

Feb 2012

Jacob — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:08:36 +0000

Well, it’s the first day of the month, and that only means one thing; new desktop wallpaper day. And you’re in luck because here I have for you a nice little February calendar wallpaper. I know it’s February, the month of love, fairies, cupid, arrows, chocolates, flowers and all that fun stuff, but I chose to avoid all of that and keep it simple. There are just a few subtle details to hint at that all illusive day that lands on a Tuesday this year.

Hope you enjoy it!

Download it here: 1680×1050 / 1440×900 / 1280×800

Joshua 1:9

Jacob — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:41:30 +0000

A few months back I came across Typographic Verses. Typographic Verses is a beautifully minimal Tumblr blog put together by Jonathan Ogden. The premise behind it is simple; to focus on high quality typographic designs of Bible verses. Most of the work on there is done primarily by Jonathan, but with some from contributing designers.

Here is a contribution I recently finished. The verse I used is Joshua 1:9. I made my design so it will fit both an iPad and an iPhone.

Download it here: iPad / iPhone

Enjoy.

Details Matter

Jacob — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:53:58 +0000

In everything we do details are important. I guess H&R Block failed to realize that in this spot. The hipster bike salesman claims that this is the best bike they have with ”top spec gears” and a “super-light frame”. For most people this would go unnoticed, but for anyone who has ever worked in a bike shop or knows much about bikes, (both categories I fall into) it is clear that this isn’t true. The bike in this spot is the Trek District – a belt driven, single speed urban bike. The bike truly is fantastic and awesome, but it for sure does not have “top spec gears” or a “super-light frame”. The idea behind the spot is great, I like that they tried to use people off the street in NYC and LA, but it failed huge in my opinion simply because the bike the dude is selling isn’t even close to what he is talking about.

H&R Block Bike Ad

Happy New Year

Jacob — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:50:37 +0000

Well there you have it, it’s 2012! And to start the new year off, I made a nice little wallpaper for my iMac. I’ve been playing around with fonts and textures a lot lately and threw a few together to come up with this guy. I used Ribbon, Franchise and Governor from Lost Type Co-Op. The textures are something I’ve made and accumulated over the past year or so. If all goes well, I may make this a monthly thing…no promises yet.

Hope you enjoy!

Download it here: 1680 x 1050 / 1440 x 900 / 1280 x 800

• If you are using it, I’d love to see it in action!

Get Better & Work Harder

Jacob — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:49:47 +0000

Well it’s that time of year again. Aside from setting myself a goal to clean out everything in my Instapaper and Evernote accounts and become a tad more orgnaized, I’ve set a few other goals for the upcoming year. One of which is to “Get Better & Work Harder“. To help motivate myself and remind myself of it, I made a nice little iPhone / iPad wallpaper.

The idea for this came from a rough sketch of mine. I put it together with two fonts from Lost Type Co. I primarily used Franchise and the Ampersand from Ribbon. And a huge thanks to teehan+lax for the iPhone GUI file.

Download it here: 640 x 960 (iPhone) Enjoy!

Year End “House Cleaning”

Jacob — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:20:32 +0000

Here it is the final days of 2011. Right now there are 4 days (5 counting today) to be exact left in the calendar year for 2011. Close to one month ago I set out to do some digital “House Cleaning” before the end of the year. As I’ve stated before I’ve become quite accustomed to using Instapaper and Evernote almost on a daily basis. I think if you were to look into either one of my accounts, you could get lost for hours. I’ve set it as a goal to have everything “cleaned up” and organized in hopes of starting the new year fresh. The ultimate goal would be to get to the alleged “Inbox 0″ I hear so much about, but I don’t think I have the gumption to get to that so I’m setting my sights on something that might be just a tad more attainable in the amount of time I’ve now allotted myself. So here’s to hoping I can get everything organized to start 2012 clean! Wish me luck!

Designers Wish List

Jacob — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:06:35 +0000

It’s that time of year again, and that means it is time to think of the creative / designer / typographer / illustrator or even just the simple nerd in your life. I’ve put together a list of some great gift ideas just for any and all of them in your life. Take a look and let me know if I missed anything.

1. Wacom Inkling ($199.00)

With the Wacom Inkling you can sketch onto any standard pad of paper and transfer those sketches directly into Photoshop or Illustrator. The Wacom Inkling bridges the gap between pen and paper and the digital world. Find out more and where to get it from Wacom.

That’s just for starters, there are 9 more so continue reading….

2. USB Socket ($24.95)

If you know someone who has ditched their alarm clock for their iPhone or iPad they’ll love the U-Socket. The U-Socket allows you to plug your iPhone/iPad USB cord directly into the wall. Find out more at Fastmac.com.

3. Pantone iPad Case ( $24.99)

If you own an iPad, chances are you love it. The Pantone iPad cover combines your love of color and your iPad into one. The silicone cover comes in seven colors, find one for you at Pantone.com.

4. Freelance Ain’t Free T-Shirt ($22.00)

Perfect for the freelancer in your life, or even for just a lover of awesome tee shirts. The Freelance Ain’t Free tee from Freelanceaintfree.com is available in both men’s and women’s sizes.

5. iPhone Wooden Alarm Clock from Areaware ($40.00)

Bringing back the look and feel of the GE flip clocks from two decades ago but with a modern twist. This alarm clock dock turns your iPhone into a classic flip clock bedside gem. Find more on Velocity.com.

6. The Manual Annual Subscription ($65.00)

“The Manual beautifully chronicles the maturing of design on the web. It will change how you think about your work.” That quote basically sums up exactly why this is a perfect gift idea for any serious web designer. alwaysreadthemanual.com

7. The North Face Etip Glove ($40.00)

Smart phones are great and a lot of us can’t go more than 5 minutes without using ours, and the cold is inevitable at some point. Using your phone in the cold just got a lot easier with the Etip Glove from The North Face. The Etip Glove is a combination of a gripper palm and an index finger that works great on touch screens. thenorthface.com

8. Ugmonk And Then I Woke Up Hoody ($48.00)

Everyone loves a good hooded sweatshirt and why not wear one that looks great too. The extra large ampersand and combined with the subtle text makes for an awesome hoodie. Ugmonk has a ton of great tees and hoodies so check out all that they offer.

9. Fieldnotes ($9.95 for 3 pack)

Simple is one word that may best describe Field Notes. Field Notes are great little 48 page memo books available in four different varieties perfect for writing almost anything down. Each notebook is 3-1/2″ by 5-1/2″ and is available in a 3-pack.

10. The Biggest of them all – the Apple MacBook Air ($999)

Apple’s website pretty much sums it up, “Expect everything. From a notebook that weighs almost nothing.”

Honeymoon Time

Jacob — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:59:11 +0000

My beautiful wife and I got married July 30th this year. We didn’t take our honeymoon immediately and decided to wait until later in the year. Well guess what, it’s later in the year and our honeymoon is one week from now. In just over one week we’ll be on a plane on our way to spending a week in the sun and the sands of the Dominican Republic. It’s snowing at home (North Dakota) and it’s snowing here (Ohio) but it will be sunny and warm where we’re headed and we can’t wait! (This awesome little countdown timer is brought to you by It’s Almost. Go get yourself one.)

Thanksgiving

Jacob — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 02:00:49 +0000

As most, if not all of you know last week was Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of the year. A time spent with family and friends enjoying each other’s company, enjoying great food and just simply being thankful for everything that we all have. This year was a little different than “normal” for me. My wife and I got married in July and were intending on spending this Thanksgiving alone (side note we live 1000 miles from our families – not intended to be a sappy sad point at all!). We were content with doing our own thing and having a good time. This was all good and well until one week prior my mother calls and informs me that they are planning on driving across the country to see us for the holiday!

Lo and behold the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at 3:30 in the morning there was a knock on our front door, and there stood my mother, my father and my younger sister. My family made the 1000+ mile journey in under 20 hours. My father was completely set on driving straight through and ensured me that they had just done it.

When they were on the way out here, my dad informed me that he had full intentions of deep frying a turkey. Which he had never done before, but got the idea when I did it randomly last year some time. He showed up at my house with a brand new turkey fryer with the oil and all. Needless to say we took all the needed precautions in preparing our turkey so we wouldn’t be a part of the random statistic of people who burn down their houses each year frying turkeys.

Prepping for the “big fry”. (photo taken with Instagram)

And here we go. Frying in progress. (photo taken with Instagram)

Now there is a little proof that it was a successful Thanksgiving turkey fry. Although I don’t have a good photo of the finished bird, it was delicious you’ll just have to trust me. Other than that we had your typical Thanksgiving dinner, full with mashed potatoes, salads and pumpkin & apple pie to top it off. All in all it was an excellent day and I’m hoping a trip worth the drive for my parents and sister.

So this year I would have to say that I am thankful for my beautiful wife, my family who was crazy enough to drive 1000+ miles across the country for deep fried turkey and all of the opportunities I’ve been afforded so far and those that are soon to come.