Resources: 750 Icons from Google

If you’re a designer or developer, Kottke.org thought you’d might like to know: “As part of their Material Design visual language, Google has open-sourced a package of 750 icons."  You can read more about the icons at the Google Developers blog.

Over at Github, you can view a live preview of the icons or download the icon pack now.

BoingBoing adds that the icons are “licensed CC-BY-SA and designed for use in mobile apps and other interactive stuff.”  Use them wisely.

Resources: Dropmark

Dropmark is the smart way to organize all your links, files, and notes into visual collections. Perfect for creatives, teams, educators, explorers, and you.  All your stuff in one simple, visual, private place.

Resources: Catan Anytime

Friday, Microsoft released a free browser-based version of of the tabletop game Settlers of Catan called "Catan Anytime."  The games was created with the latest HTML 5 web standards to maintain cross-platform interoperability as part of Microsoft's Rethink "experiences."

The game supports four-player, turn-based asynchronous gameplay, and it simplifies the experience with auto-trade and auto-roll features, along with the ability to track games via email.

On the Windows Blog, Internet Explorer group product manager Justin Garrett explained that "Catan Anytime is not meant to replace the board game experience.  We wanted to adapt the essence of Catan to the best of today's mass market game mechanics. The digital version is meant to plug the game seamlessly into our daily lives and grow the way people can experience it."

Microsoft plans to release a fuller version of the game, which will offer complete parity with the tabletop version, in August during Gamescom.

Source: Windows Blog

Resources: Social Good Ipsum

Social Good Ipsum is Hyperakt’s spin on the Lorem Ipsum generator, pulling words and phrases from the humanitarian, do-gooder world they are immersed in. Because wouldn’t you rather “Equal opportunity mobilize; Global, accessibility, fairness NGO support; technology. Invest billionaire philanthropy humanitarian relief natural resources outcomes. Peaceful overcome injustice collaborative cities, gender rights youth change-makers save the world” over a string of Latin?

Resources: IOGraphica

IO Graphica is an application that records your mouse movements as colored lines that many people around the internet are hailing as modern art.  The process creates a visually aesthetic piece that looks very similar to brain mapping data.  The graphs the software produces make great desktops, especially when they're product of a particularly frantic gaming session.

Resources: Interactive Map of Westeros

"Interactive Game of Thrones Map with Spoilers Control"

A Google-Maps style interactive map of Westeros

There is now an interactive Game of Thrones map available that lets readers track the paths of each character from Song of Ice and Fire.  It even features spoiler controls, so that you can use the map while reading the early books without spoiling the storyline of later books.

The tool lets readers explore the map based on how far they into the book they are so far. Readers can set their chapter level so as to avoid spoilers. Readers can explore the paths of multiple characters at a time, to show how those characters have crossed paths.

Resources: The Hitchhiker’s Guide

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 30th Anniversary Edition" from BBC Radio 4

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy interactive fiction video game by Douglas Adams and game developer Infocom was first released in 1984.  It was arguably one of the most popular of the early text-based adventure games, and as such, it paved the way for the entire RPG genre, most especially dungeon crawlers.  To celebrate the game's 30th anniversary, BBC Radio 4 released an updated version of the game available to play online for free.  The game now runs on HTML5 and features a number of significant user interface improvements.

The game begins, as in the book, with the impending destruction of Earth by the Vogons.  If you're unfamiliar with the interface of these early text adventure, this game is going to require a bit of fumbling on your part.  Quite frankly, you're going to die frequently.  Very frequently.  But if you stick with it for a but, you may find it as addictive as early audiences.  Here's a hint from an old school gamer: "stand up," "turn on the light," "hold gown," "wear gown," "look into pocket."  Enjoy.

Resources: Sightsmap

Sightsmap is a Google-generated “heat map” of the most photographed locations on Earth.  It will be of interest to photographers and travelers alike.

Resources: Jauntful

Jauntful is a great site that allows users to create shareable, printable city guides.  This is a fantastic resource for creating programs for fairs and street festivals.

Resources: Dictionary of Numbers

Dictionary of Numbers is a Google Chrome extension that tries to make sense of numbers you encounter on the web by giving you a description of that number in human terms. Like a dictionary describes words you don’t know in terms you do, Dictionary of Numbers puts quantities you’re unfamiliar with in terms you can understand. Because “8 million people” means nothing, but “population of New York City” means everything.

Resources: Freeform

"Freeform" by leapmotion

The Leap Motion is a motion controller for the Mac or PC which lets you control on-screen action through hand movements and gestures. Freeform is an app that unleashes your inner Michelangelo, allowing you to sculpt 3D objects on the screen much like you would if a hunk of clay were sitting in front of you.

Resources: Fotor

Now here’s a useful online resource: Fotor allows you to easily edit your photos online; ranging from basic cropping to HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing. Not only is it user-friendly and very easy to use, it’s super fun, too! I’ve spent hours just making collages!

Resources: Clara.io

Clara.io

A private beta has been announced for an online in-browser 3D modelling tool that allows users to create, collaborate, and share 3D work online.  It looks and sounds impressive, it may even be a potential game changer.

After nearly two years of development, Exocortex is pleased to publicly announce Clara.io, our next-generation 3D content creation tool that runs within the web browser using commodity technologies (JavaScript, HTML5 and of course WebGL.)

Clara.io is built to resemble traditional desktop 3D content creation tools on the surface, thus Clara.io is immediately familiar to most 3D artists. But because Clara.io is built for the web, it is always accessible, there is no configuration, it is cross platform, all of your creation history is stored automatically, you can collaborate in real-time, and you have access to unlimited cloud computing on-demand.

Resources: Webflow

Emojify turns your smartphone photos into a wild collage of emoji Smileys, Ghosts, And Poo.  It's ASCII art for the new millennium!

Resources: Creative Space Explorer

Creative Space Explorer is a mapping service that lets users pinpoint a wide variety of creative spaces and events on a global map and add their own. Max Krüger, one of the site's creators, explains "We define 'creative space’ as an enviro that consciously is set up to trigger collaboration in a creative way."

Resources: Webflow

Webflow is a visual way to design and host responsive websites without an in-depth knowledge of HTML or CSS.  There is a growing demand for design that is responsive to an ever-widening range of screen sizes, but current solutions require a developer to be code-savvy.   Webflow not only offers a visual editor which lets you drag-and-drop, customize responsive layouts, and define CSS styles for each device you want to support, it also allows you to publish your site immediately.

Resources: Twine

Twine is an awesome free utility that lets users graphically map and then deploy their own Choose-your-own-adventure style interactive stories online.  Several examples already out there are Depression Quest and the Female Experience Simulator, both of which are generating considerable discussion in forums across the web.  This tiny little utility has the potential for big fun, and I predict that this is going to be the next big thing among fan fiction authors.  Here are a few demonstrations.

Resources: Squarespace

Sick of the same old Lorem ipsum?  Meet The Ipsums is a beautifully designed Lorem Ipsum resource, offering themed placeholder copy. Some of the Ipsum options are: Cororate, Pirate, Bacon, Cupcake, Gangsta or Cat.

Resources: Etch

Etch is a service that visualizes Foursquare check-ins on a beautifully minimalistic maps. Right now, maps include Manhattan, San Francisco, and Portland (the big Hipster three).  Etch was founded in 2013 by coder Jeremy Weikel and designer Michael Yap.

This would be a fantastic tool for visualizing your progress in exploring a city or training for a marathon.  It would also be a romantic gift to give someone on your first anniversary, if you had your act together enough to check in on all of your date locations.

Resources: Squarespace

Squarespace is a great new web service that provides everything you need to create an outstanding website for you or your business, all within a single framework.  It's a bit like Wordpress' hosted blogs, but with a lot more drag and drop functionality. Start with beautifully designed templates, an easy-to-use interface, integrated commerce, and a free domain name – all backed up with award-winning 24/7 customer support.

Add your own content, customize the style, and you’ll have a website that looks great on any device. Try Squarespace for free at squarespace.com.