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This month I bring you another great iPhone game from some more guys I studied with at QUT. Yes my course included some talented individuals as you’ll remember my last iPhone review (BW News Feb 2010) also mentioned fellow course mates, The Voxel Agents, who created Train Conductor.

This month however, it’s all about Fruit Ninja! Developed here in Brisbane by Halfbrick Studios, Fruit Ninja is an amazingly simple swipe and slash game that just works. It looks beautiful and while the game’s premise may be simple, the mechanics of it are so polished and executed brilliantly, that it makes for the perfect time passer.

But don’t take my word for it, watch the trailer below from their website or download today to see for yourself. You’ll be craving fruit salad in no time…

Fruit Ninja is fun, fun, fun. It’s an instant pleasure.”IGN.com “It’s simple, fun and best of all challenging.” – toucharcade.com

This week’s round-up is tinged with sadness as we say goodbye to our long-standing and well-loved designer, Sarah Hyne.  Sarah’s migrating to new, lush pastures over at MAP Magazine. Sarah had been with Bluewire for two and a half years and in that time she instigated our famous “Weekly Round-up” blog posts.

It’s with a bit of trepedation that I take over these posts! So here it is… the first of Bluewire Media’s Monday Weekly Round-ups.

• Has the iPhone lost its cool? – CNN
• Test drive Internet Explorer 9
• 24 Essential Social Media Resources You May Have Missed – Mashable
• 17 Useful Tips to Extend Your Laptop’s Battery Life – Guiding Tech
• Google Launches Secure Search – Mashable (Use it here: https://www.google.com)
• 25 Crazy Cake Designs – Abduzeedo (graphic design inspiration… really)

Did you miss Google’s Pacman game? Play it here.

Fascinating stuff! Do you think we can fill Sarah’s blogging shoes? Look out for next week’s round-up, now on Mondays.

This article I read in Fast Company left me astonished by how much attention Apple pays to every microscopic detail of their marketing campaigns.

Have you ever wondered why all Apple product mockups show the time at just after 9.40? Neither had I (nor had I even picked up on this peculiarity). But indeed, the iPhone’s clock displayed 9.42am. The iPad displayed 9.41.

I’ll let Fast Company explain:

Turns out Apple’s keynote organizers think about this stuff right down to the tiniest detail–and this is certainly one of the tinier details. They rehearse the presentation with Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller, and whoever else will be speaking, and time it so the big announcement comes 40 minutes in. They add a couple minutes to be on the safe side.

That means that when Apple puts that most important slide up, the one introducing the new hardware, the time on the static image of the device will be damned close to the time the packed room of journalists sees it for the first time. It’s just one more example of how carefully Apple prepares everything–that’s a detail we didn’t know about until a couple days ago, and they’ve been doing it for years, with no fanfare. Very cool, right?

Their level of perfectionism is at once impressive and intimidating, isn’t it!

See for yourself at Apple.com »

• Design trend predictions in 2010 — Web Designer Wall
• Social media’s true impact on Haiti, China, and the world — Mashable
• Fantastic information architecture resources — Noupe
• The importance of web interactivity: tips and examples — Hongkiat
• How your phone can keep tabs on friends — Sydney Morning Herald
• A brief history of eye tracking — The UX Booth
• Design and build an email newsletter without losing your mind — Smashing Magazine

 
‘BIRD’ by Andrew Zuckerman

BIRD Ferruginous Hawk from Andrew Zuckerman Studio on Vimeo.

BIRD film from Andrew Zuckerman Studio on Vimeo.

Anyone who’s seen Andrew Zuckerman’s incredible wildlife photography will appreciate this stunning video created to accompany his book called BIRD.

Via Kitsune Noir.

• Weirdest internet moments of 2009 — Sydney Morning Herald
• Creative and unusual layouts and navigation designs — Noupe
• 10 web browsers you probably haven’t heard of — Six Revisions
• An introduction to website split testing — Six Revisions
• The complete guide to getting the most out of Twitter — Noupe
• 24 UX articles to start 2010 — The UX Booth
• Funny passive aggressive wi-fi networks — PassiveAggressiveNotes.com [Note: strong language warning!]

 
Have a go at First Person Tetris. Frustrating, fun, totally retro!

Being the 30th, I thought I’d put together an animation and take you on journey through the month that was Movember!

Nic & myself as The Bluewire Media Team, managed to raise a total of $265.00. (Not bad for a couple of hairy lips) Donations are still open if you’d like to chip in…

To date, (over 6 years) Movember has raised $60 million globally for the fight against prostate cancer and depression in men. And, more importantly, as a direct result, male awareness of health issues has improved with Movember helping to spread health messages directly to millions of Mo Bros & Sistas around the world.

Below is the tally for 2009! Great effort everyone! Thanks to everyone who dontated!

How did you get into web development?

When I was a young teenager at the turn of the century, I fiddled around with building small web pages, in so far as to create fan sites for whatever computer games I was playing at the time.

What programs do you rely on most heavily?

My workflow consists of a variety of beautifully designed Mac OS X software: The Hit List, Textmate, CSSEdit, Safari, Billings etc. Photoshop is in there, but it’s just not very well designed!

As a freelancer, how do you advertise your services?

I currently receive leads from word of mouth, which is negating the need for advertising at this point.

Are you a fan of any particular industry blogs or websites? Which ones?

The majority of my professional-related reading comes from the personal blogs of like-minded designers and developers.

What do you think is the most important attribute to being a good developer?

Intrinsically maintaining a one-to-one client relationship is highly beneficial for both people involved. Not only does it provide the client with the best possible product, but greatly spurs the developer on.

What would you like to get better at?

As web technologies are increasingly being utilised for non-web purposes, I would like to become awesome at applying the technologies to other strange and wonderful applications – such as desktop apps, exhibits, engineering etc.

What do you like doing when you aren’t working?

I occasionally participate on a multicultural youth radio show. Other more disparate hobbies include music production and cycling.

You won the QUT web design prize in 2007. What made your entry stand out?

When compared to the other groups working toward the same goal, we excelled in providing the most impressive and personalised product for the client. Our documentation was extensive (due to QUT’s requirements) allowing us to better describe our intentions.

And finally, what is your business mantra?

Ease of use, speed of production & support and very high client satisfaction!

• Finding focus while trying to work — Konigi
• Google voice with your existing number — Google Voice Blog
• 10 UX blogs you should be reading — UX Booth
• Google takes on iTunes with music search — Times Online
• The 10 best educational websites — Times Online
• Usability experts are from Mars, graphic designers are from Venus — A List Apart
• Wireframing ahoy! — UX Mag

 
Michael Bierut: 5 Secrets from 86 Notebooks
Pulling from his collected notes and sketches from over three decades, renowned graphic designer Michael Bierut shares five simple secrets for doing great creative work.

• Apple bucks recession trend with record sales and profits — The Guardian
• Speaking of Apple, check out their new Magic Mouse — Apple.com
• Fix it — Even if it ain’t broke — Fast Company
• Focusing interaction design with design strategy — UX Booth
• A place to ask questions about the user experience disciplines — UX Exchange
• Bing, Google integrate Twitter in search results — Sydney Morning Herald
• It’s RIP Vista as Windows 7 is launched — Sydney Morning Herald

 
Innovative online advertising from Apple…

• 15 common mistakes in e-commerce design and how to avoid them — Smashing Magazine
• Usability testing demystefied — A List Apart
• Performance comparison of major web browsers — Six Revisions
• How to understand your users with personas — Carsonified
• Design as a differentiator — Brand Freeze
• Google Wave 101 — Life Hacker
• Meeting with the Bobs? Gmail will now make sure you contact the right one — TechCrunch
• Handling user error with care: getting users back on track — UX Booth

 
Just for fun…Take the Arial vs Helvetica quiz. Quite tough!