If youre an aspiring animator, this might be the best news youll hear this month: Pixar is giving away—thats right, giving away—a version of RenderMan, its in-house rendering software. Gratis. No catch. Youll be able to download the program some time in August. READ MORE: You Can Grab Software That Helped Pixar Make Wall-E For Free Soon | Gizmodo
Apple’s iOS Human Interface Guidelines, a set of tips and rules for designers that was previously only available through the developer portal, is free on iBooks as of today. It’s a little glimpse into how Apple hopes app developers will follow its lead when it comes to design.
The “book,” which is more of a primer, covers everything from aesthetic decisions to actual user experience decisions. For example, in the Color and Typography chapter, we learn about kerning and font size. Meanwhile, we also get insight into the nitty gritty of UX—from consistency to figuring out who your users even are.
It sounds like a document for developers, but it’s actually a fascinating insight into how Apple thinks about design. That ranges from building palettes of “pure, clean colors” to breeding trust in your users: “Important: Don’t tell people to reboot or restart after installing your app. Restarting takes time and can make your app seem unreliable and hard to use.”
Read More: Apple Just Put Its App Design Bible On iBooks For Free | Gizmodo
Professional development opportunities are still in full swing this month with an incredible 62 Free Live Webinars going on in the area of libraries and librarianship. So don’t switch to a summer schedule yet! Instead, look into attending some of these amazing sessions this month!!
SEE: 62 Free Live Webinars for Librarians in May | Ellyssa Kroski | OEDB.org.
If you’ve been thinking about getting started on the rocket project that’s been on your mind for ages, now is a good time to get serious. Next week, NASA will release a massive software catalog with over 1,000 projects. It’s not the first time the space agency’s released code, but it is the first time they’ve made it so easy.
The breadth and variety of the software projects that NASA’s about to give away are difficult to express. It’s not just a bunch of algorithms and star-finding software, though stuff like that is in there. The crazy geniuses that land rovers on Mars are actually releasing code for ultra high-tech NASA stuff like rocket guidance systems and robotics control software. There’s even some artificial intelligence.
And did I mention it’s all free? Read more: NASA’s About To Release a Mother Lode of Free Software | Gizmodo.
See also: NASA Technology Transfer Portal
A spinal column with fused vertebrae. The bones of a woman with advanced syphilis. Skeletons deformed by rickets and leprosy. A fascinating online library of deformed bones from the Middle Ages goes live today—and while I didn’t even realize such a thing existed, now I can’t imagine living without it. God bless technology.
The Digit[ised] Diseases website is run by the Royal College of Surgeons in London. It brings together 3D scans of over 1,600 bone specimens taken from patients with debilitating and disfiguring conditions like rickets and leprosy, and makes them free for the public to browse. Bored on a Monday morning? Gawk at this deformed spinal column or marvel at this alien-like skull with an enlarged cranium. In the scientists’ own words, “it does not resemble any known hominid species.” Cool!
Read: Finally, a Digital Library of Bizarre Human Bones From the Middle Ages | Gizmodo
‘Tis the season for online learning, especially in the library field! December’s calendar is brimming with exciting and free learning opportunities for librarians looking for professional development. Check out this list of 35 gratis webinars, just in time for the holidays!
Read: 35 Free Live Webinars for Librarians in December | Ellyssa Kroski | OEDB.org.
We’ve all used Microsoft Word, the most ubiquitous word processor on the market, at one point in our lives. It still proves to be a staple, especially in education, but there are plenty of competitors vying for our word processing loyalty.
If you aren’t a fan of Word, aren’t interested in purchasing a full office suite, or you really just need a new, free word processor, check out the best of the best below.
Includes overviews of:
Read: The 5 Best Free Word Processors | Mashable.
If you have OS X my recommendation would be the open source word processor Bean over TextEdit.
November is chock-full of great opportunities for continued learning in the library field. Several of these look amazing including the webinars on the new Congress.gov website, responsive web design, and apptastic marketing. See the list: 31 Free Live Webinars for Librarians in November | Ellyssa Kroski | OEDB.org.
Mac users can have Apple’s latest Mac operating system, OS X Mavericks, for free, the company announced Tuesday at an event in San Francisco.
“Today we’re going to revolutionize pricing,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s chief of iOS and OS X, said. The software is available today.
Apple introduced the system in June at its developers’ conference. The company touted its extended battery life, tabs, and tags, while demonstrating new features in Safari, Maps, and iBooks.
Federighi reiterated the new features at Tuesday’s event. A 13-inch MacBook Air with Mavericks gets up to an hour more of Web browsing and up to 1.5 hours more iTunes movie playback, he said.
He also explained how the system adjusts its memory based on the task. This allows for optimal quality when you’re running a graphics-heavy program — and speed when you’re not. He also highlighted the iBook app, in which photos and videos can pop out of a textbook, and an iCloud keychain, which syncs payment information for online purchases.
CNET’s Jason Parker said in June that the OS is faster and easier to use, and apps have a cleaner look.
McDonalds, the kingpin of fast food and lightning rod for consumer activist groups, plans to distribute more than 20 million paperback books inside its Happy Meals in the U.S. during the two-week period between Nov. 1 and 14.
Snips:
[T]he four books are based on McDonald’s own animated animals, including a goat, ant, dodo bird and, yes, a dinosaur…The books, whose titles include The Goat Who Ate Everything and Doddi the Dodo Goes to Orlando, will focus on nutrition, imagination and active play.
McComb says McDonald’s will partner with literacy non-profit Reading Is Fundamental to give out an additional 100,000 books. The Nov. 1 roll-out is a tie-in with National Family Literacy Day, she says. Each book is 24-28 pages. McDonald’s declined to give a dollar value for each book.
Read: McDonalds to stuff kids books into Happy Meals next month | USA Today.
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