June 19, 2011

Wood texture Iphone 6 Cases from Zazzle are eco-friendly and sustainable!

pattern with cute cats and birds carved® maple iPhone 6 bumper case


Hello!


People like to cover technology in wood. Most of us are too young to remember old radios and first televisions and their wooden boxes. My parents oldest TV had no wood on the outside but the box imitated wood. My grandmother old radio was covered in beautiful wood. One thing I am certain is that we still like gadgets covered in wood. That's a classic. One chic way to protect your Iphone is to get a cover made of wood. It’s pretty and irresistible. It’s an organic material, it’s a really awesome choice.

But not all the wood cases on the market are sustainable and we care for the planet, don’t we? It’s not a pretty thought thinking we’re chopping trees just to get Iphone’s nicely covered! That’s why I found these Zazzle creators idea a good one – they are offering Iphone cases that imitate wood. There are several species of wood to choose from and if I don’t think too much they look almost like a craftsman's hands work. These Iphone skins are made of 100% real Zazzle imagination, which is both sustainable and eco-friendly.

And now I have a curiosity to share. Sure you’re familiar with the expression "knock on wood". In Portugal we also have the same expression – bater na madeira – but as we say it we utter “lagarto, lagarto, lagarto” that means “lizard, lizard, lizard”! Well, don’t ask me why we say “lizard” three times because it’s a mystery to me too.


Now, check some great wood texture Iphone6 Cases I found on Zazzle! That is no mystery!


This post was refreshed in 2015
Wood Node Texture iPhone 3G 3GS Case speckcase
Retro Funk Carved® Maple iPhone 6 Bumper
Retro Funk Carved® Maple iPhone 6 Bumper by theunusual
Browse more Template Wood Cases at Zazzle



Published by em No comments:

June 15, 2011

Fotolia stock image marketplace review



You may wonder why I am hosting a Fotolia Coupon Code giveaway on my blog. Usually, I promote Portuguese products. Fotolia offered me the possibility to try it for free and this is my review on it.

I really enjoyed my experience at the site. One thing I discovered is that Fotolia accepts photos from professionals and amateurs. That’s positive as it adds variety and makes photos prices more accessible. If you live in Europe, know that the Euro is accepted the currency. Paypal can be used. It has photographers and designers contributing and I got excited about it and thought of sending some vector files too and earn some cash. They even provide training that you must follow before uploading any work. As they state somewhere in the site, "detailed attention is given to the quality, copyright, and editing of files." I found great photos. I can say that I found what I needed.

I did an accurate search for photos so I can say the searching mechanism worked for me perfectly. I searched with a lot of different keywords and got relevant results. I also used orientation filter as I was interested in landscape photos only but Fotolia offers other filters. We can get 100 images per page and examine it well with zoom possibility. This all happens fast enough. All over the site information is clear and navigation is easy.

I think Fotolia is a real social marketplace for photographers and designers. I got the notion that a community is being built around it. It has a blog and a Forum but I did not try it. If you are familiar with Forums you know how useful it can be. If you have doubts or questions you have support in lots of different languages from the traditional English to Portuguese, maybe more than a dozen languages available. The extensive FAQ is available.

What are the purchasing images options? There are two: credit or subscription. If you buy a large number of credits the price per credit is smaller. It works smoothly. You get your credits, pick your photos and move it to a gallery called Lightbox and then download the files. Subscription has two possibilities, standard, and premium. These require a number of images download per day or 24 hours. Fotolia offers 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and annual subscriptions.

There is an interesting software you can download at Fotolia - Flixtime. I haven’t tried it but I want to. FlixTime turns your photos into unique videos and you can pick a tune to it. It sounds great fun. There is also a Fotolia Desktop Widget and a Fotolia Plug-In. And for last, and because everybody loves Freebies if you become a fan of Fotolia on Facebook you receive access to a free image area.

I also become an affiliate for Fotolia as I have no reasons but to recommend it.

So, why don’t you join it too?


Click here for free membership now!
Published by em No comments:

June 14, 2011

Win FOTOLIA coupon code and try the power of stock images!

First, let’s learn about FOTOLIA and what it can do for you.

1. What’s Fotolia?

It’s the first worldwide social marketplace for royalty free stock images, allowing individuals and professionals to legally buy and share stock images and illustrations. In fact, it’s the largest image bank of free and most affordable royalty free photos and illustrations perfect for any medium, web or print.

2. What are Fotolia’s advantages?

- Time is money! Fotolia’s services will save you time, as you are much more likely to find what you need quickly. Plus you don’t get poor search functionality on Fotolia. If you look for baby photos you can be sure you’ll get baby photos and not puppy photos. When you look for a photo and can’t get it fast enough you’ll be stressed. Fotolia will help eliminate this kind of stress so you can dedicate your strength to create just brilliant work!

- Many times I used free photo sites. I had to read about every photo I used! Sometimes I had to contact the photo’s owner and wait a long time for an answer. Some photos had no restrictions, some were for non-commercial use and some required the name of the photographer attached to the work I created. Fotolia has a clear licensing agreement – a standard royalty-free license for every photo you want. And more: what if you want to use a photo of a person? You must have a signed release and that’s guaranteed with a paid service. So, choose Fotolia, it's much easier this way.

- You can buy vector art on Fotolia. If you know about vectors you know that it takes some time to create a good one. Illustrated graphics can give a unique look and feel to a work but sometimes you don’t have the time to create one. Or maybe you aren’t too comfortable on how to use Illustrator or Corel or Freehand. Fotolia is here for you with a wide variety of vector art.

- Fotolia's site is so well organized and easy to use you’ll be amazed. Preview works fast has a good size so you can fully appreciate the art or photo you want and make a good choice.

- Forget the idea that Art is easy to create and glamorous and fun activity. Artists do work very hard to obtain good results and should be paid for their effort. So when you choose Fotolia’s you’re helping photographers and illustrators to live a decent life. They deserve it, don’t they?!

- Many people don’t know enough about intellectual property rights. I had my vectors stolen a couple of times myself. They were available on the internet and people used it. I contacted the person and she thought it was ok to do that because they were available on the internet. But some other times people also grab images because they refuse to pay exaggerated prices for it. To fight the illegal use of protected images can be done if they are offered at a good price. Fotolia offers you a good price. Thanks to a collaborative online model, Fotolia is able to offer individuals and professionals (advertising agencies, press, small business, graphic artists, designers) the greatest image collection in the world for as little as $0.75.

3. What can Fotolia do for you?

All images offered on Fotolia are royalty-free, they can be used for all kinds of professional documents with no limit on time or copies: creation of advertising media, creation of professional documents, illustration of press articles, illustration of websites, blogs, newsletters, web banners, illustration multimedia documents, illustration / decorations on TV shows or movies and creation of derivative products (just for Extended license purchases.) Try Fotolia, explore it and learn all the advantages first hand. For everything you want to know about Fotolia, please go to Fotolia's FAQ.

I am sure you would like to try FOTOLIA and there’s a chance you can. How? Entering A Portuguese Love giveaway sponsored by FOTOLIA, my favorite social marketplace for royalty free stock images. Follow these steps and you might!

1. The Coupon: win a FOTOLIA subscription for two weeks allowing you 3 downloads per day. Please read: you don’t have the right to resell the images in print on demand products as (posters, t-shirt, mugs, templates and so) but the images can be used in blog posts when are writing articles and need to color them up with images, or if you’re are creating marketing materials for your company like brochures or newsletters as long as you are not selling these. Read in detail here.

2. What you must do:

a. Like A Portuguese Love Facebook page here

b. or Subscribe to this blog via email (use Feedburner window on your right to enter your email address)

c. If you already Liked my Page or Subscribed to my blog you can Tweet this giveaway and you're in!

d. Leave a comment on this blog post indicating what you did + your email contact.

A random draw between those who entered will be made on the 4th of July to determine the winner. The winner will be announced on this blog and A Portuguese Love Facebook Page.


To your attention, please!

New date for the random draw! As I'll be away from tomorrow Saturday 3rd July till next Friday, the draw will take place next Sunday 10th. Thank you for your patience!

( New entries in this period will be accepted also.)
Published by em 4 comments:

June 11, 2011

What are your Zazzle store best sellers?


It's party time invitation! invitation

Today I sold more Birthday Party invitations for kids. These invitations are fully customizable so you can use it for any kind of party, not only the Birthday Party. Invitations for boys and girls are my best sellers at Zazzle. What's yours?
Published by em No comments:

June 10, 2011

Conte Connosco - Leia, e se gostar, vote e divulgue a história do ovo!


Sorry, folks. Today I am writing in Portuguese only. It's a contest and I am trying to get some votes for a story I wrote. I have a lot of Portuguese people following this blog too. So forgive me if I do not translate this post. If you can't read Portuguese you can't read the story and vote for me. Just wish me luck!

O Concurso “Conte Connosco ” começou a 9 de Maio de 2011 e vigorará até 31 de Julho de 2011 realizando-se três (3) sorteios mensais. Estou a participar na modalidade ESCRITA. Preciso do seu voto e do dos seus amigos!

Veja o Regulamento e prémios que pode ganhar apenas por votar:

http://www.conteconnosco.com/regulamento.php

Como faz para votar na minha participação Pode um ovo fora da validade devolver a paz a um homem perdido?

http://www.conteconnosco.com/trabalho-detalhe.php?id=592

A votação deverá ser realizada directamente no site do passatempo depois de se registar:

www.conteconnosco.com

Também pode votar através da página do Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/SantanderTotta2011

Só se pode votar uma vez por dia!

Vão ser selecionados os 20 textos mais votados e para isso preciso, até 31 de Julho, de uma montanha de votos. Se gosta do meu texto, vote várias vezes e divulgue usando o Facebook e o seu blogue.


Obrigada!
Published by em 1 comment:

June 3, 2011

Portuguese legislative election is next Sunday


Sunday Portugal will have a legislative election. José Sócrates the ex-Prime Minister was forced to resign after six years of mismanagement. President called for elections. For the last months, people have been coping with unfair social measures and austerity budgets one after the other. We saw the biggest political demonstration of displeasing ever happening on the streets this year. A few are richer and powerful, a few are holding privileges, keeping the best jobs, pulling the strings. The middle class is ruined. The number of poor people is rising. All those who are responsible for this situation should be held accountable. And this includes the ex-Prime Minister. Can’t understand how he was re-elected for Secretary-General of his party, the PS, after resigning his job at Government. For me, he’s discredited beyond recovery. 

Not all the situation we’re in is his responsibility. Europe construction as it was dreamed is trembling. The market shaped by capitalism is trembling and many say that a new economic era is already in the making. But he should have taken measures a long time ago. The Portuguese economy is ruined, we lost social rights, justice isn’t working and corruption grew. Our health system that was better than the USA’s has suffered cuts, unemployment is growing. People will have less money to spend. Portuguese are known to save the day in the last minute. It’s called “desenrascar”. This time I don’t think the new Government will do it whatever it might be. We’re in deep trouble. I can say that I am with serious difficulties. Each day I get fewer solicitations for graphics work. When I answer jobs ads I know that I’m competing against 500 people or more and I am not picky. I have superior education and several other skills because I like to learn so I never stopped improving my knowledge. I have also experience in several different professional areas. It’s not enough. I’m not getting younger. Employers prefer young people especially if they are fresh from university. Young people can do internships for practice. These are for free in the first three months. This is new regulation out this month. Before this measure companies could get free workers for 6 months or more. Companies can also hire these professional newcomers and getting financial help from the Government for a year. This facilitates untrained professionals to get experience. If they are lucky they stay in the company where they trained after that period. This is cool for young people. Not for me. There are no jobs for everyone.

So on Sunday, I must fulfill my civic obligation and vote. What are the options? The PSD (Social Democrats) and PS(Socialist Party), CDS-PP(Christian Democrats – Conservatives). All these are center-right, even PS these days. Then we have left parties – The Left Block and CDU, the Communist party, and some smaller parties with a little expression like the ecologist party – The Green Party or PAN – a new party interested in animals and nature and sustainability. I really don’t believe my vote will make any difference. The country is in such a bad shape that it will need at least 10-20 years to recover. It has been 37 years since the 1974 Carnation Revolution. Portuguese democracy is still young and has become more imperfect. And we are stupid because we should have demanded proper management from the Government a long time ago. Instead, we let it roll.

 Portugal never rose to the change the country needed to face the demands of the European Community in 1986. EU membership meant a lot of money poured but it was badly managed by Governments. Since that time we lost our industry. Portugal has plenty of arable lands and a big coast with one of the largest Exclusive Economic Zones. Orders were to stop the plow of the land and to destroy fishing boats. Now a huge effort is being imposed on the population and all those who had the power to do things right but messed up are out here enjoying the precious sun, accommodated in some luxurious hotel and playing golf. Life is not fair.
Published by em No comments:

In less than 1 hour it will be Drawing Day!


June 4, 2011. Drawing Day will be held on the first Saturday of June each year. Due to the various time zone differences across the world, many events start friday and are open all weekend.

To join in on this event is simple - as simple as picking up a pencil (or mouse) and drawing. However, the most important part is sharing your art with the world. You do not need to be at a physical event to participate. Draw wherever you like on paper, or on your computer. We just ask that you then scan or take your digital drawing and share it with the world.


Using one or all of these options:

- Upload digital or scaned images of your drawings to the Drawing Day website

- Upload to any of our participating online art communities

- Upload to our Facebook page (this is where all artists are encouraged to post drawings on Facebook)

- Draw online using our free online drawing tool to submit drawings

Whether you're a professional illustrator or you just enjoy the occasional scribble, you can give back to the illustration community by drawing on this day. By injecting more and more illustration and art into our community, we are not only showing our appreciation to our fellow artists, but we are spreading awareness of the joy of drawing. It is important that you contribute - Drawing Day will only be a success if we all participate and make some noise. So, please tell your friends and spread the word.

All about Drawing Day here
Published by em No comments:

May 31, 2011

Teen shoots 3 girls fight and uploads video to Facebook network


We live the oddest days. For a normal person that lives by the rules, it’s difficult to make sense of some behaviors. When I was young and attending high school boys had fist fights in the space outside. Some would watch and do nothing; the old ones may try to put an end to the fight. I remember broken noses and bleeding on the cement floor. Boys will always engage in fights. Girls also had their share of grievances and acts of vengeance. But it was another game. Violence has a number of complex factors that contribute to it. Violence at an early age is chocking. What kind of human beings are we raising? The education of children and young people is demanding. Many face hard living conditions. But my grandmother lived through the War times and she and the community where she lived endured hardship, yet, she never told me about significant tales of violence in her neighborhood. Parents delegate their responsibility in school but a school cannot substitute for the role of parents. Teacher’s authority is gone. Many teachers are often disrespected and even assaulted. The society itself hasn’t a culture of nonviolence in its root. Since the event took place the television showed that video many times, a video that can be translated into half a dozen words. But the spectacle is what our society enjoys. Words are not enough. To young people is no longer enough to tell the story. They share the images on mobile phones and the internet. Audiences also want to consume the images as if they were addicted to them. Without a change in education, there is no change in society. 

This month of May a young man of 18 years filmed and posted on Facebook a video of a 13-year-old being beaten by two other girls of 15 and 16 years of age before the passivity of other youngsters. They were slapping, kicking the victim's head on the floor and pulling his hair. This happened on the outskirts of Lisbon. Authorities raided the house of the alleged author of the video and seized the suspect's phone and computer. The older girl and the young man who has a criminal record are now preventively detained. Others that watched with hands down were made defendants in the process.
The Criminal Court of Lisbon decided to detain the 16-year-old girl accused of assaulting. This measure was equally applied to the boy of 18 who filmed the episode. The other girl just turned 16 two days after that episode, so it’s a case to the Court of Children and Family.

It is not common to order preventive arrest to someone with 16 years for grievous bodily assault. Up to 18 years it is rare to go to jail. Youngsters must have done some serious stuff to go to jail. This measure just applies to crimes that are punished with at least five years of imprisonment. 

The Head of the Lawyers (Barristers) has already questioned this measure. But others do agree with the judge that took it. There’s a big discussion going on. Some say that sometimes the arrest is used to protect the aggressor himself. The attitude of the girl during interrogatory may have led to this, just imagine that she was not sorry for what she did. 

The special perversity of the aggression that included the dissemination of violent aggression over the Internet, causing social unrest and an intense alarm was important for the judge to rule that way. This decision is also a warning to youth and to those who like to attack, shoot and publish videos of the deed on social networks. 

In Portugal, there is a law for young people between 16 and 21 years. These are subject to a Special Criminal Regime and must stay in detention centers not prisons, but these centers do not exist.
How would this situation be dealt with by authorities in your country? Do you have knowledge of similar cases? (For some facts I based my post on a news article published on Público Portuguese newspaper)
Published by em No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)