diy
This Site Design = FAIL - Tell Me How Much It Sucks
Monday, March 24th, 2008 | New Beginnings | No Comments

I’ve been fooling around with a bunch of different blogging options for this new site, from using a completely different platform to converting projects that I’ve done in the past into pseudo-WP themes….. but have looked at my various homespun designs long enough to realize I can’t make my mind up on what Addicted to 1s and 0s should look like…. so I’ve done what every frustrated 5 year old does…. throw my hands up and pout. I’ve reverted the stylesheet and template back to an old hack job (and not in the good sense of ‘hack’) of one I came across a while ago…fonts mis-matched and all.
That’s where you come in -
What font family would you like to see on here, any particular header font (gotta love sifr)…. layout - 2 column, newspaper style, 3??…..features….? You give the opinion, I’ll code it. If the idea’s good enough, i’ll even scrap the whole template that it currently is doing a disservice to and start from scratch (which i’ve done about 4 times yet never could settle on a design). What do you get in return? Linkage from here and my advertising blog - www.brentter.com, a solid review from me on your own services/site as well as a permanent place on the “designed by” byline in the footer and depending on the suggestion, i’ll even name the sucker after something representative of you and your design prowess.
Rip this place to shreds, pile on the suggestions, tell me how much it sucks, send me death-threats because of its’ hideousness, bring it on!
Let me know how bad this site really is.
You can reach me via twitter at www.twitter.com/brentter
You can reach me via email at brent (at) addto10.com
Or the easiest way is by just using the contact form I’ve placed on the site.
There’s also linkage to just about every other way of reaching me in the sidebar to the right, use whatever way you feel most comfortable to reach me.
I’m suffering from designers block, so I want to hear what you have to say about it. What direction should I take the site-design in?
What should I add, remove, burn?
Botanicalls Twitter DIY - Your Plants Are Now Online
Thursday, February 28th, 2008 | Mashup, Twitter, Unusual | No Comments

Yes, The title is true, now you can stay updated on the health of your plants via Twitter. From the people who enabled your plant the ability to talk to you on the phone (yes, this is no joke) - Botanicalls, they have now incorporated it with a DIY setup for incorporating Twitter. For those of you thinking this is a joke, being able to actually “hear your plant” talk to you is all done via a DIY setup that incorporates PHP, some light soldering, the open-source Asterisk phone system, and a solid afternoon. For information on how to get your plants talking, first visit their website and read how - www.Botanicalls.com. Then continue on to incorporate Twitter.
Well, if you followed the link above and were successful, it is now time to take it a step further. Why not let your plants automatically twitter you when they need to be watered? They’ve even made it so that you’ll receive insta-gratification after feeding it with a polite thank you, letting you know that your plant appreciates all the work you’ve done setting up the communication system. For instructions on incorporating twitter with the Botanicalls system, go to www.botanicalls.com/twitter/ and follow their instructions (step by step photos are included as well).
Pretty interesting usage of twitter. This is the result of people who have way to much time on their hands, love their plants, and are addicted to twitter…. that aside, it’s pretty cool if you ask me. It could also be considered the ultimate “mash-up” - plants + phone + instant messaging + open-source + twitter.
If you want to see it in action, here’s their flickr page, to add to it just tag your photo with botanicalls or botanicallstwitter.











