Pixelvetica

Firstly, big news: Pixelvetica is migrating to Posterous! The full change will be completed within the next week, but until then, please continue to enjoy Pixelvetica as you normally would. More about the migration in a later post.

Also, congratulations to @zaksoup for winning the Pixelvetica promotion on Twitter. In return for spreading the word about the charitable cause, Pixelvetica randomly selected Zak to receive a free giftable copy of the Humble Indie Bundle #2 (see our previous review). Happy new year, Zak!

On that note, happy new year to all of our readers. Pixelvetica wouldn’t be the same without you. This is the blog’s first year in action, & it has been a great one. Full of fine pixels, amazing apps, & some great interviews, 2010 was a worthy 12 months.

What can you expect from Pixelvetica in the coming year? If all goes to plan, no less than 2 posts per month for starters, & we’ll also be sponsoring 3 or 4 more giveaways when the time is right. The next 24 posts (some of which will be, for the first time, composed by guest writers) will hopefully include at least 4 interviews, 4 app reviews, 4 editorials, & 4 shares. The remainder of the posts are open for now, but we plan to make them fantastic ones. Remember, you can always follow @Pixelvetica on Twitter for updates & to get in on the latest promos.

Seeing as it’s New Year’s day, Michael Norton, an interaction designer in Vancouver, & friend of & coworker with our editor, has some interesting predictions to share. His 6-part forecast includes:

1. Tablet computers everywhere. iOS & Android for certain, maybe even Windows 7, but the latter aren’t likely to be of very good quality.
2. The fall of RIM. Unless something changes very soon.
3. Nintendo under fire. No HD console, a gimmicky 3D handheld that may hurt little children’s eyes; things look bleak for the Japanese game titan.
4. Apple TV app explosion. Not a question of if, but when. Could be as soon as Thursday.
5. MobileMe 2. “Freemium” & better than ever, powered by the Death Star of data centres. Could also be as soon as Thursday. 
6. OS 10.7 Lion. Not so much a prediction, but certainly the beginnings of iOS/OS X fusion, destined to change the desktop computing paradigm forever. 

We will be seeing other unprecedented developments as the year progresses, too. With the recent widely-regarded “fall” of Yahoo! & Facebook’s timely metric overtaking of Google as the most visited website in the world, the status quo just isn’t what it used to be. Google’s recent flurry of acquisitions & its tendencies in the last couple months to push not so discretely towards an empire on the local businesses front, along with its release of the Cr-48, indicate that the web giant is only likely to grow. If the publicized intentions are any sort of predictor, it does look to be for the better.

What’s more, Verizon is likely to get the iPhone, probably this very January. INTEL is going to make good on the efforts for Atom chips, Microsoft’s Kinect will continue to skyrocket as we slowly see the dream of dimensional space mapping realized in the context of law enforcement, & iPad will get some long awaited hardware improvements.

In the design & development scene, HTML5 & CSS3 will start to become less special, because, rightfully so, they’ll start to set a baseline. Hopefully we’ll see browser support worked out in that regard as well, but it could go either way. WebKit & Moz syntax will continue to battle it out, Adobe will continue to sit on its ass with regards to Photoshop’s text-rendering, & Dribbble will decline, though not enough to fall from the lead of the pack, as the “abode of elite design.” We’ll also start to see a plethora of designers & developers specializing in mobile game design emerge from the mass of graphics artists & developer wannabes who presently envelope the Twittersphere.

Whatever happens, it is going to be a fascinating year; that’s for certain. We live in some technologically groundbreaking times, & Pixelvetica resolves to be here to enhance your experience every step along the way. Let us say, from the inner depths of our servers & hard-disks, thank you for reading Pixelvetica, & may you have the best of new years.

Regards,

Carson Kahn

Editor

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Carson Kahn is a user-interaction designer & copywriter currently crafting pixels with Design Vetica Interactive, Inc. Follow him on Twitter (@CarsonKahn) or visit www.carsonkahn.com. Questions, comments, & suggestions are always welcome.

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