Thursday, February 19, 2009

Create a Color Palette from a Single Image

[Design]

Colors Palette Generator turns a picture with a pleasing look into a palette of equally pleasing colors for your web site or design project.




Similar, although more sophisticated, than previously reviewed Colr, you can turn a selected image into a color scheme for your projects. You can upload any PNG, GIF or JPEG that is less than 1MB in size and Colors Palette Generator will extract colors from it. The application creates three basic palettes of the light, medium, and dark colors, as well as a grid of 49 shades from the image if you're not satisfied with the palettes it has created. Once you've got the look you like, you can export it as either a Photoshop swatches file or as a CSS stylesheet. Free to use, no sign-up required. Colors Palette Generator [via Download Squad]

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Three Plants that Give You Better Indoor Air

from Lifehacker.com


Kamal Meattle used three just three indoor plant species to increase oxygen, filter air, and boost general health at a a New Delhi business park. You can use them, too, in any indoor environment.

Meattle's presentation at the TED 2009 conference details a large-scale success, using thousands of plants for hundreds of workers. In any living or working space, though, the three plants—Areca palm, Mother-in-law's Tongue, and a "Money Plant"—can be used to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, remove organic compounds, and generally filter and freshen the ambient air. A single person looks to need a minimum of 11 total plants, and certain climates with less sunlight could require a bit of hydroponic growing, but Meattle swears by the health, productivity, and atmosphere benefits. Check out the detailed slides from his TED talk:

How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air - TED 2009 Talk

How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air - TED 2009 via Hacks Blog