March 5, 2009
As many of you know, I just launched http://www.carloscabrera.com.ar site and it has been featured in every single gallery around the world; from Web Creme to CSS Mania, something that makes me very very proud as a designer and as a sex toy.
I was looking into Carlos backlinks and got surprised by some really stupid “designer” who is stealing my precious and wonderful work: here take a look at this site, which looks EXACTLY like the previous version of EmaStudios (when it was called Emaginacion).
Here is the stolen design:
And here is my work, from Patrick Haney impressive Design Inspiration Flickr Gallery
Obviously the guy who took my HTML and CSS file was thinking to save some time and have a great, amazing, beautiful looking design. He could have done much better by playing smart and hiring our studio, our prices are even lower than this guy morale and work ethic, (we start from $2800, with special deals for blogs and artist sites!) but he choose the path of shame.
SHAME ON YOU Track-a-lot! may the crows take your damn eyeballs!
December 19, 2008
Just realized that my Satelite Toshiba notebook is a dead trap for me. I bought it back in 2006 and it was a good “light” model, it came with only 512MB RAM. It was a “surf” model, one of those quick notebook you buy just to check emails and do some writing work. It was ok back then, its ok today.
The thing is, I tried to updated from 512MB RAM to 1,5GB RAM (bought 1GB RAM today) and it doesn’t work, it only shows me 894MB RAM.
My crazy brother look the problem up at Google and got like 20 people with the same prolem, the thing is Toshiba doesn’t allow you to upgrade that slot, they want you to take it to their support service ($50 USD) for it. One could think “I can do that!” but, you can’t. They made it impossible for the user, they leave you 1 slot (up to 1GB) and the other slot that has the 512MB of RAM is HIDDEN, sometimes under the keyboard depending the notebook model.
The trick is to pay them an extra $50-$100 USD to install 2GB… which is idiotic, because you could do it yourself (if you could know where the damn hidden slot is).
So, my advice: don’t buy Toshiba; they do this kind of stuff just to earn $50 bucks, which is patetic.
Toshiba: fuck you too!
P.S. My Notebook has now 894MB RAM, but I will use my nice EEEPC to do my surf work instead of my Toshiba. Asus has my respect!
December 15, 2008
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.
Sign hanging in Einsteins office at Princeton
Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein
December 11, 2008
I can’t help to say I’m truly satisfied with the feel of this new seat we bought (we got 2 for $300 USD). They feel amazing and you can work all day without having a back pain which was a real problem for me (I work +14 hours a day).
The only problem I have now is that, my ass is so big I hit the wall behind me, but we are already ordering some new desks so that won’t be a problem for too long. I just love buying things for the office!
September 14, 2008
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
-Michelangelo
Lately I’m pushing hard myself. I’m working out regularly as you people know to lose some “15 years Christmas weight”, we just closed a deal with the excellent guys at BeenVerified to work on their visual design (we couldn’t wait anymore, we worked in a couple of things together and those guys are wonderful), the studio is growing really fast and the people working with us is fantastic; the best of the best out there. We have a really good luck this quarter, the projects we are working are amazing, fun and interesting.
And, to add a bit more of complexity to the equation, since a couple of weeks, I’m learning how to play classic guitar. Funny, it is easier than it looks and much more simpler than I though it was going to be. People always say it’s hard, but if you put your hearth and mind in it, believe me, it’s easy as using hotmail (just kidding.)
Today, I want to announce, I will be learning a new skill that will probably have an important impact in my design skill over time. I’m learning how to do illustrations and concept arts. My brother is one of the top artists right now in Buenos Aires (http://www.carloscabrera.com.ar), and I love his work. Since we where kids, I had the ability to draw, to illustrate. I was pretty good for a lad of my age back then, but with time, I never worked out those skills and they fade to almost nothing. I want that back. I want to be able to do digital paintings, concept art, etc. It will be of a great help in my current line of work. I know how to do it, but I just never put time into it until now. With time I will learn this new skill, it will be pretty fast for me to do so, it’s on the family.
What skill did you ever wanted to learn and for one or other reason you never did? and what are you going to do about it?
Let me know!
Javier Cabrera
August 26, 2008
Lately I have been seen a lots of web sites blog and online newspapers coming up with their own “iPhone version” of their business. They are everywhere. They usually start with an “i” so, if you where looking EmaStudios web site for the iPhone it will be “http://i.emastudios.com/” which takes my mind back to the old “http://wap.emastudios.com/”. From my point of view, building a web site, blog or newspaper entirely from scratch for a particular device it’s going back to 1995 when AvantGo ruled the world and the “Palms” where “so hot right now!”.
If you have an application like basecamp for example, it’s necessary to do the “iPhone version” but, that’s just because the application needs to be specially designed as an app for the iPhone. On the contrary, having a blog, a news paper or any other web site in the iPhone version is like doing a wap version; useless. There is a huge market for wap, we all know that. But it takes back innovation like 10 years. The browser should adjust the site, not backwards. If you don’t agree, then I’m assuming you are one of the really happy designers or coders who laugh with joy every time you have to do an Internet Explorer version of your work.
Again, the browser should adjust the site, not backwards. In fact, Apple agrees with me. They have come up with Safari for the iPhone, an splendid piece of software that lets you see, AND READ a website like if you where looking it at your own home or work computer. It displays the same. It doesn’t change.
I believe Apple innovates. It’s just that people is used to have “a X version of my website for the X“. Fill the “X” with any new device that you can think off, yesterday Palm, recently cellphone, now, iPhone. We have arrived to the era we all have waited: finally, a portable device manufacturer comes up with software that can read our work the same way we intent to, without touching anything, without modifying one line of code; and what do we do? we keep living in the past.
Just let it go!
August 20, 2008
For the last few years I haven’t been working out at all, I just eat, work, slept and play some videogames when I had the time. That was all I did. I was pretty much out of shape (a lot) and started thinking on my own health. Worst than that, I had been tired all day long while working; so I decided to do something to change that, and boy, what I did was simple and everyone can do it.
I bought an exercise bike last month and started to workout every day. The first day the longest I could do were just 10 minutes. Really, I couldn’t go any further, I was in pain, all sweaty, almost dead. That was the first day. The second day, the same thing happened, just 10 minutes, a bit less maybe, but in the fourth day I managed to do 15 minutes! boy that was a great day!
Now, I can do 25 minutes! That’s almost 30 minutes per day! I feel better, I work better, I don’t feel tired anymore and what’s best of all, I have been eating a lot less!
Funny thing happens when you workout in the morning.
- You think again before eating anything that can make you fat during the day because, you see, you worked your ass off at the morning and you don’t want to throw that away. So you start taking food very seriously and eat a lot less. It’s hard to do a diet or change your food habits, but that’s because you don’t have any good reason to stop eating like a pig (I know I did), but that changes automatically the minute you start doing exercises; guaranteed.
- You feel better, more comfortable, confident; you take big steps now when you walk down the street, even run a bit sometimes.
- You can focus more, true. You can do more work in less time, you start feeling like you can kick ass every minute of your day.
- You start feeling less heavy, which is good because then you start feeling that you can be a LOT less heavier.
Long story short: if you workout more, you will start feeling more productive, happy and less tired. I know, I know, that’s the usual “fitness” guy speaking, but take it from a guy who didn’t move his ass from the computer since … well, since he was born; IT HELPS. And it helps a lot.
Those things are worth just $200 - $300 USD, what are you waiting? buy one and get over with it!
July 30, 2008
One thing that always bother me is how some people don’t act on the web like they act in the Real World(TM). A good example are possible clients that come to EmaStudios knocking at our door. I’m talking about Emails of course. At EmaStudios when we talk with a client and we either, can’t help on a project or it needs someone else expertise, we tell the client about it and point in the right direction. We even hook up people with those who will going to give them a good, valuable solution inside the original budget.
It’s common sense. Being friendly. If someone stops me at the street and ask me for some direction, if I don’t know the answer, I just try to point to someone who may have the right direction. Like a policeman, a news stand, a baker store or any other person I may know have the answer.
What I do not do, is just walk away.
Lately, I had 2 possible clients that, after exchanging emails, they just stop talking with me. It doesn’t happen often, because I’m a pretty clever guy, but they did. They just, didn’t answered. When I emailed them back (thinking “oh well, they must be busy to keep up talking”) they came back to me with a “we just got another design agency, sorry! thanks!”.
Anyone out there running a business knows that’s a “no-no”. It will keep happening, I know. I just wish people would be more kind to each other, it seems to me it’s the same asking for a direction at the street than asking what your business can do for me. You will get an answer; that’s for sure. Now, what you will be doing with that answer will determinate that person reaction to it.
Couple of months back, I had another case like this two I’m talking about. Just that, after a couple of weeks, the person came back to me. It appeared that his company tried another design agency and it didn’t worked out well. So now, they wanted us to not just resume the conversations, but that inside the quote, add a “clean the mess” price.
Sure, it was more money but guess why we say “no, sorry; we just have too much work right now”?
EmaStudios have always 4 or 5 clients on the progress. 100% of those clients behave in the most respectful, kind way. Some of them we ever got to know in person, some of them we even became friends and we ended up doing some work “just for the cause”.
But, when talking about prospects, or “may or may not become clients”, the percentage vary. Only 70% were good lads, the other 30% didn’t even bother to answer some of our emails. Even after they sent us PDFs or DOCs
Get Real. Behave like you would do at the street; and doors will open. Always. We can’t thank enough our clients for being there for us. Some of them even traveled here to have a meal with us, it’s incredible!
Be nice with your prospects, even if they aren’t with you. Get real!
July 28, 2008
Today I had a very good and tasty lunch with Christian Van Der Henst, the head of “Maestros del Web, one of the most profitable and large communities online that speaks Spanish and let me tell you; Christian is quite a guy. It takes some balls to laugh about the stupid jokes I make and he scored 10/10 on that test. He has come to Buenos Aires before, but I’m having the feeling this time he would like to stay even longer than he is willing to admit. This city can get under your skin so easily you won’t even realize it. Christian has big plans for Latin America, and if there is someone who can pull those plans off, that’s Christian.
Now, there are a couple of myths about Christian that have risen between the community because of his continuous trips around the globe:
- He works for the CIA or some sort of spy agency.
- He is loaded, that’s why he can travel everywhere all the time.
- There are really ten or twenty Christian Van Der Henst spread all over the world as a part of a scientific experiment.
- He has managed to discover the old, arcane ways of the space-universe portals to travel everywhere he wants.
- The guy can actually fly.
None of those are true (at least, he didn’t fly while I was there watching, but he did went to the bathroom after we lunch together, so the Nr 5 may be up to dispute) and the guy isn’t loaded. He is an average worker/business owner like most of us, he just loves to travel around!
I experienced something like that this year when I went to Uruguay. Sure, it’s just a 4 hours trip I could do any time, but I did it the “Van Der Henst” way. I took my clothes, bag them, and went to Uruguay. Just like that. I’m thinking on going off the door right now and buy some plane tickets to Japan; the “Van Der Henst” way; the kamikaze way.
You gotta love a guy that is so active it makes you feel you wasted 10 years of your life. This one is going to go high, and if you want to know why; you just have to follow his blog.
Only for Latinos (sorry guys!): si estan leyendo esto; y realmente quieren aprender, inspirarse y motivarse leyendo un verdadero emprendedor, simplemente lean a Christian de vez en cuando, o todo el tiempo si pueden! es realmente una de esas personas que en algun momento, va a hacer epoca. Vale la pena respirar el entusiasmo de los emprendedores latinos; para poder sentirse orgulloso, tal vez no de pertenecer a un pais tercermundista, si no, de saber que AUN estando en uno, se puede tranquilamente llegar lejos, con esfuerzo y con trabajo, como nuestros abuelos nos enseñaron.
UPDATE: sight of three Van Der Henst in the same room. The theory of multiple Christian Van Der Henst as a plan of world domination has become stronger. See it for yourself via youtube, here.
July 23, 2008
This simple sentence can change how people think of you. I’m starting to use it whenever I talk with someone I needed to talk over the phone; at the elevator, or if they drop by for a coffee. I even use it if someone chat with me online about something it’s relevant for both.
It’s simple. You just need to send a follow-up email after someone leave your office, or you hung the phone. Last week a coder I didn’t worked for quite a long time stop by my office to have a quick chat; we just needed to meet to see how things where going. The minute after he left I sent the following email:
Hi it’s me!
No, you didn’t forgot anything at the office! just wanted to say thank you; it was nice talking to you again. Let’s schedule a meal sometime this week man, it’s nice to have you around at the office.
Take care!
The King.
Ok I didn’t wrote the King but, you get the idea. It was pretty much like this. To see the real benefit, you need to think about it from the other person’s perspective. The coder arrives at his home, he check his emails and finds out a thank you note. That feels good! and it’s free!
Another example: I talked with my banker last week over the phone. She was really quick an efficient on her work (at least with me), so I emailed her a thank you note about it an let her know exactly how I felt after having a successful conversation with her.
She loved it. Who wouldn’t? in this crazy world most people don’t stop to say thank you. Until a couple of weeks, I didn’t either. It’s just common sense. Try sending a thank you note to someone; let them know they are worth the time. It’s priceless, you feel good, they feel good and it’s actually good for business. You end up having good relationship with your coders, your resources, your clients, everyone.
They will think twice before screwing things up for you; and besides, they deserve the respect!
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