Friday, 20 September 2013

Brand New School creates elegant elegiac spot for 9/11 Memorial

By Digital Arts Staff on September 11, 2013

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Cities transformed by virtual graffiti in Tiger Translate artworks

Photographers and illustrators work together to turn streets into urban art galleries

Author: Photographers and illustrators work together to turn streets into urban art galleries

Photographers and illustrators collaborate to create virtual graffiti in the streets of cities, as part of Tiger Translate's 'Streets' themed year.

Tiger Beer's Tiger Translate, a global initiative that aims to bring artists from the East and West together, has commissioned 10 photographers and 10 illustrators to work together to splash virtual graffiti throughout cities.

As part of Tiger's 'Streets' themed year, which it explains is designed to "celebrate the energy that infuses the streets of Asian cities and transforms them into urban art galleries," participating photographers first captured a photo of a street in their city. Illustrators then transformed those photographs by creating digital artworks over the original image.

The artwork created has been brought to life in a three-minute animation, too, which you can view here.

Tiger Translate's 'Streets' theme has already been travelling around the world, with exhibitions held in Dubai, Mongolia and more.

Use the slideshow controls above and right to see the original photographs and how they were transformed by digital graffiti.

Right: Manila, Philippines. Photographer - Indrau Manahan. Illustrator - Jason Levesque

Photographers and illustrators collaborate to create virtual graffiti in the streets of cities, as part of Tiger Translate's 'Streets' themed year.

Tiger Beer's Tiger Translate, a global initiative that aims to bring artists from the East and West together, has commissioned 10 photographers and 10 illustrators to work together to splash virtual graffiti throughout cities.

As part of Tiger's 'Streets' themed year, which it explains is designed to "celebrate the energy that infuses the streets of Asian cities and transforms them into urban art galleries," participating photographers first captured a photo of a street in their city. Illustrators then transformed those photographs by creating digital artworks over the original image.

The artwork created has been brought to life in a three-minute animation, too, which you can view here.

Tiger Translate's 'Streets' theme has already been travelling around the world, with exhibitions held in Dubai, Mongolia and more.

Use the slideshow controls above and right to see the original photographs and how they were transformed by digital graffiti.

Right: Manila, Philippines. Photographer - Indrau Manahan. Illustrator - Jason Levesque

Singapore

Photographer – Farah Hanna

"Set against Singapore’s developed landscape, a traditional shophouse stands out with its resilience to defy the changes happening around it. Its facade set against a bustling modern backdrop is a perfect representation of the quickly developing city."

See next slide for graffiti version.

Illustrator – Oki-Chu

"Gold Rush: Asian chaos and New World Order."

Ulan Bator, Mongolia

Photographer – Mojoko

"Ulan Bator, the largest city in Mongolia is the melting pot of old plus new. With traditional architecture living side by side next to newly built skyscrapers, Ulan Bator is fast becoming the streets of the future."

Illustrator – Alelx Gordo

"After checking among the Internet’s infinite wisdom, I found out that the edelweiss is a very popular flower in Mongolia so I added this motif in the artwork."

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Photographer – Paullus Stanlunas

"A view of one of the few remaining colonial buildings scattered around Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown. Many have become blank canvavses for youth to voice social opinions. In the background, the buildings are towering, pushing forward the redevelopment of the new, cutting-edge Kuala Lumpur."

Illustrator – Eakkarlak S.

"This artwork was inspired by many factors such as the ingredients contained in Tiger beer, party lifestyle, music and creativity. This story is about a tiger that jumped into the sea and transformed its blue stripes into many inspirational things and change its surroundings."

Auckland, New Zealand

Photographer - Adam Wouldes

Illustrator - Nick Tearle

Bangkok, Thailand

Photographer - Prasit Limprasatirakit

Illustrator - Rizki Katamsi

Hanoi, Vietnam

Photographer - Phoung Ha

Illustrator - Russell Ong

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Photographer - Borky Perida

Illustrator - Vexta

Seoul, South Korea

Photographer - Jun-Seok

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How to get a design job at Google

The senior designer at Google reveals the secrets of getting hired: "be prepared".

I caught up with Fabio Sasso at the Reasons To Be Creative conference in Brighton last week. I've known Fabio via email since I took over as editor of Digital Arts four years ago. Back then he was an independent web designer and blogger who contributed some of our most popular Photoshop tutorials from his studio in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Since then he's joined Google, where he's a senior designer, and moved to California – though he still finds time to run his ever-popular blog, Abduzeedo.

His talk at RtbC charted the highs and lows of his career, from losing everything during a robbery at his studio in Sao Paolo to being approached – and then hired – by the web services giant. He also got a gentle ribbing from his girlfriend Ibby, who pretended to be an audience member and asked pointedly how he found time to run Abduzeedo while working full-time at Google – and how he found time for a life outside the two.

We sat down after his talk with a well-deserved pint (above), accompanied by Ibby, to discuss his experiences with Google – and how you too could get a design job there.

NB: Why did you want to work for Google?

FS: "When I started my company back in 2004, I never imagined I'd go back to work for somebody else. When I got the [email about applying to work at Google], I knew it was right. It was not just that chance to work for them, it was an opportunity to move to another country – where I could have more opportunities overall. I remember thinking, 'If I can't adapt to it, I can always go back and start my own company again – so I'm going to give it a try'."

NB: What did you think of Google before you joined?

FS: "I didn't [have a mental image of what working at Google would be like], as I was coming from a different country. I had no idea about the culture of the US or its working culture. Everything was new.

"It was way better than how things worked in Brazil, where are people looking to take your job. Everything [in Brazil] is so insecure. At Google, they treat you nice. It made me feel a bit insecure – [I asked myself] 'what did I do to deserve this?' – but now I'm getting used to it. [laughs]

NB: What surprised you most?

FS: "It was way bigger than I imagined. It's a massive company. I didn't have experience of working inside that before I joined.

"It's a bit like when I was in college and I had to do projects with my whole class. We had design critiques and then other designers would come in and give us more feedback.

"This was something that I was missing [in my career previous to Google]. When you're in a two person company, sometimes you agree about things but there's no discussion. You get used to that other person and there's no conversation anymore.

Fabio on stage at Reasons to be Creative

NB: What's different about working at Google?

FS: "It was also a chance to work on a product that has a huge audience. It's not like designing for a small company where it's easy to understand what you have to do. There's so much to learn and for me it's more of an opportunity to learn.
"Also, I feel like I'm more of a product designer than a [graphic or web designer]. Product design is all about creating many iterations, and learning from your mistakes and seeing how can you improve it. It's about constantly changing things. Some people might think it's more boring, as you don't have the challenges of a new thing everyday."

NB: How do you change your mindset from being a designer for clients to being a product designer?

FS: "[You need to] be more open. You're not always right. When you're designing a product you're always learning. You need to learn when is the right moment to innovate, otherwise you'll keep doing the same thing – as that's what the audience wants and there's no innovation. Find the balance between when it's time to break the rules and when to follow them.

"It's also about looking at it like a long-term project – like running a blog. Abduzeebo is very similar in some ways. We've been tweaking the site for seven or eight years now. We've been through the process of finding out that 'this redesign looks more beautiful but people aren't finding the content'. By tweaking, you end up with something that's not exactly what you wanted, but it performs way better.

"I ask myself 'What is good design?': A beautiful design or one that just works. It depends on what you want to achieve. Do you want something that appears in design galleries? Then make it super beautiful. Otherwise – and for my blog especially – it's all about trying to make sure that things are working.

[You also have to accept that there are parts of your product that] you cannot control. At Google, we have Google images. We cannot [move images higher up the search ranking] because it's more beautiful. It depends on what people are searching for: you have the algorithm, the ranking. You can't predict if its the one that's perfectly composed.

NB: How do you get a job at Google?

FS: "Google is hiring designers. We want to have more designers. The most important thing is to find a position that you like. Put together a nice presentation and portfolio that shows you can meet [the challenges of that position]. Go there. Be prepared. Present those key factors that we're looking for in a way that proves you can do it, and you can get a job at Google."

NB: Do you need to be a generalist?

FS: "It depends a lot on the team that's hiring. Me personally, I prefer more of a generalist than a specialist as I find it easier to work with those people because I'm a generalist too."   

NB: Why do you think they hired you?

FS: "Because they had completely lost their minds [laughs]. Abduzeedo was a nice project that I had that proved I was able to deliver, and that  I was able to work under pressure. Abduzeedo allowed me to try different things. We had an iPhone app, and in the interview I showed we had an app I had built, and a web version of the app.

NB: Tell us about the infamous interview process

FS: "It's not simple. There are exercises to see if you can do the job. It's a regular interview, but you have to be prepared. You have to be able to lead the interviewer through the process behind how you created something, not wait for them to ask you lots of questions. Cover as much as you can.

"Once you get approved by that, you have to go in front of hiring committees. It's an arduous process. It takes three-to-four months.

"Going for the interview is an easy and simple process. You go to the interview and do some exercises. But you have to be prepared. That's the tricky part.

NB: Why have you kept Abduzeebo going?

FS: "The blog gives me freedom. If I want to do a Photoshop poster, I just do it. My constraints are just my time, around my girlfriend who's going to get mad at me because I'm working all the time. [laughs and looks at Ibby, who laughs too].

The Reasons to be Creative conference in Brighton brought together the likes of Stefan Sagmeister, Jon Burgerman, Geri Coady, Erik Spiekermann, Naomi Atkinson, Fabio Sasso, Mr Bingo and more to discuss topics dear to most creatives' hearts: from finding happiness and creative success and failure, to how to motivate yourself and change what you do for the better. It even got attendees singing in unison.


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Interview: Craig Ward talks graphic design lies and why you should stop hating Comic Sans

UPDATE 11/9/13:  Due to its success, Popular Lies About Graphic Design has now been published it second edition – and is soon to be translated into Chinese.

UPDATE 3/12/12: Actar now says that orders have not been cancelled, but have been delayed by 10 days.

UPDATE 30/11/12: Due to a publishing snafu, all European orders for the book through Amazon have been cancelled (including from Amazon UK). If you want to get your hands on the book, visit the Actar website and order it there.

Craig Ward is a liar. The designer and art director has just released a book called Popular Lies About Graphic Design, where he sets out to demolish widely held 'truths' that he thinks are a lot of codswallop – from 'Graphic design is easy' (yep, Ed) and 'There’s no budget but it’s a great opportunity' (definitely) to 'The client is a $%&*' (not always) and 'Comic Sans is the worst typeface ever created' (erm...).

Each 'lie' is either demolished piece by piece, or used as a jumping off point to discuss what Craig's learned over his years in the business from starting out in London to his current career in New York. Funny answers are juxtaposed again thoughtful reflection – and the centre of the book is given over to the likes of Stefan Sagmeister, David Carson and Milton Glaser explaining the worst lie they've ever been told.

I sat down with Craig to find out more about the book, and explore some of the areas he touches on.

NB: Why did you use the concept of lies to set out these thoughts? For example, were these things you used to believe but experience has taught you differently?

CW: "I think the joy of being a designer is that it's a constantly evolving experience, there are surely parts of this book that my opinion will perhaps have shifted on in a few years time but that's kind of the point. I set out on page one (sort of) that fact that this is a book full of opinions. There are so many books out there that just say 'this is how it is supposed to be' that they don't really leave any room for interpretation and I certainly didn't want this to come across like that.

"Lies is a good hook, I think – it's punchy and memorable.

"The whole idea of the truth is subjective anyway, so it felt like a good format to set the lie out, distress it or warp it in some way typographically – and then argue why I believe this not to be the case."

NB: Who did you have in mind as a reader when you were writing this?

CW: "Myself and younger practitioners – students and recent graduates – are the main market really. I wrote these little essays for myself, way before I'd thought about collecting them into a book so there's an element of catharsis in there.

"I feel like I never got out of the student mentality – the experimental, try anything once kind of mindset – and I think that's something I'm really proud of. It's what (I hope) keeps my work fresh. There is, probably, nothing in the book that someone who has been working for 15 years won't have heard before – but hopefully they'll find something interesting the way it's written, the way I argue it and also seeing it in the context of the book.

"I actually love the idea of this little book living in designers' bathrooms all over the world; the kind of thing that anyone of any experience can dip in and out of."

NB: Is Comic Sans hated less for itself – even despite its ubiquity – but more as a symbol of the way that many people use fonts without any thought given to how they texture they text? And is this a form of snobbery in itself?

CW: "Definitely. As much as anyone likes to think that they're not a design snob, you're always judging other people's work – consciously or otherwise. Comic Sans has just had some really bad PR and that section represents kind of the fluffy side of the book which I wanted to put in there alongside some of the more worthy discussions."

NB: You argue that Helvetica isn't a "neutral" font and designers should ask themselves why they want such a font anyway. As more and more apps, sites and networks with a single typeface within them are being created that allow many forms of communication, do you think we need to use a greater choice of neutral typefaces for people to use within them? Faces that are as appropriate – or at least not inappropriate – to caption Chloe Sevigny Instagramming a cupcake as to say 'Call home. Something's happened to Dad.'

CW: "I think what we're seeing is another way in which the Internet has democratised and at the same time confused things.

"The breadth of content and opinions online means it's almost impossible to create a catch-all style for a website like Twitter, where you have people posting pictures of their lunch next to people announcing they've been diagnosed with cancer.

"The diversity on Twitter is actually astounding to me – there are whole sections of it that we never see. I sometimes click on those trending hashtags to see what they're about and the people responding to them are so far away from the kind of people I interact with day to day but, here we are, all using the same online space.

"Equally, sites like MySpace where people had more control over the look of their page (originally) probably failed (or were less successful in the long-term) because, you know what, I don't want to try and read about someone's life on top of a fucking floral background in yellow or pink text. People do make bad decisions visually when allowed to and so perhaps the neutrality that Facebook and Twitter offer are necessary."

NB: You say "stock photography has basically ruined the photography industry". Are 'crowdsourced' design services like 99designs and website template services from hosting firms doing the same to the design industry?

CW: "Without question. There will always be work for very good photographers and very good designers.

"But I honestly think stock images, elements, icons, templates, etc are like cigarettes; every time you use one you take five minutes off your career.

"Portfolio sites especially – like that Indexhibit thing. I mean seriously? You can't be bothered to design your own fucking website? What kind of message does that send to your clients? Template sites are something that should be used by people who don't know how to design and don't want to have to deal with finding a designer they like and who they can afford. They're the equivalent of Prontaprint or something.

NB: You might get 99 per cent of your approaches by email or phone, but you're an established name in the industry. Do newcomers still need to move to near a creative hub – if not London, then say Manchester, Leeds, Brighton, etc – for networking, seeing clients face to face or just to have a day job at an agency while they get themselves established?

CW: "I think it's different for everyone. My first commissions came in over email because I had taken the time to create a set of promotional postcards as mail-outs. This was long before I was anything in industry. I mailed them out to magazines I wanted to work at, followed up with a call or an email and then they eventually came back with work. I could've been based anywhere at that point.

"As it happens, I was in London at the time and I did have a day job – that I didn't enjoy. It was the lack of enjoyment I was having that gave me the impetus to start making noise about myself. I think it's important for everyone to find their own way through it though."

NB: Did you choose to phrase some of the 'lies' just to provoke a reaction? For example, you say 'people care about design' but then go on to explain that you mean aesthetic design rather than Donald Norman-esque design-as-usability.

CW: "The hardest thing about putting a book together, I found, was giving people reasons to keep turning the page and reigning myself in. My work and my working methods are different from project to project and I very rarely use the same technique twice. That's fine on one-off projects but, there has to be a uniformity to a book; a pace and a rhythm to stop it feeling disjointed.

"There was the matter of it being translated into different languages to bear in mind, so I had limit myself with regards to what I did to the chapter headers. The headlines, therefore, became important so, to an extent perhaps a couple of them are slightly more inflammatory than they could be but, with that said, I didn't make any of them up – they were all heard in conversation, in forums online and in articles I had read so, my conscience is clear."

NB: Will you work for us for free? It's a great opportunity?

CW: "Will you buy five thousand copies of the book? Then sure!"


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Apple Mac Pro 2013: no Sep 10 launch, but we do have benchmarks

Two months after announcing the new Mac Pro 2013, Apple still hasn't finally announced when's shipping and what it costs – but we have exclusive benchmarks of how the chip inside performs.

We were expecting the Mac Pro to be formally launched today – and possibly even released – and Intel formally announced its 'Ivy Bridge'-based Xeon E5-2600 V2 processors, which it has just done at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) event in California. Unlike competing solutions from the likes of Dell and HP, the Mac Pro 2013 is a single chip machine – which allows it to be a lot smaller than its rivals. Buyers will likely a choice of chips including the the 8-core, 3.4GHz Xeon E5-2687W to the 12-core 2.7GHz Xeon E5-2697W

We haven't seen a Mac Pro in the wild yet, but we have seen another system with a single 8-core, 3.4GHz Xeon E5-2687W processor. This is a Windows-based workstation, but we've seen comparable scores between Macs and Windows PCs in the past using the Cinebench benchmark – which is based on Maxon's Cinema 4D 3D animation suite.

Running Cinebench's 3D rendering test – which is almost exclusively a measure of CPU performance – we saw a score of 14.04 points (a measurement that only applies to Cinebench scores and has no wider context). This is actually 6.8% slower than the 12-core Mac Pro we reviewed back in 2010, which obtained a score of 15.07– though we expect the 12-core Mac Pro to be significantly faster. It's also 47.5% slower than the 26.78 score that the same Windows workstation with two Xeon E5-2687W chips installed.

We'll give the Mac Pro 2013 a full review when we get our hands on a review sample.

New Mac Pro 2013 specs

Being from Intel's 'Ivy Bridge' processor line, the Xeon E5 V2 chips give support for up to an as-yet unknown amount of 1,866MHz ECC RAM – up from 1,333MHz in the previous generation of Mac Pros and up from 1,600GHz on the previous generation of PC workstations. ECC RAM uses error correction to be more stable that the RAM used by consumer PCs and Macs – which is important for longer processes such as video encoding and 3D rendering.

Storage-wise, the new Mac Pro features PCIe flash storage, which with a data transfer rate of 1,250MBps is 2.5x faster than the fastest SATA-based flash storage, according to Apple, and over 10x faster than a 7,200rpm SATA drive. We expect these to be very expensive and small in capacity, so you'll likely need to pair these with an external drive for your projects.

For graphics, the 2013 Mac Pro has dual graphics chips from AMD's FirePro range. It hasn't said which cards are included, but from the quoted specs they appear to be the same chips as found in AMD's top-of-the-line FirePro W9000 graphics card – which feature 6GB of graphics RAM (and ECC RAM at that), a 384-bit memory interface and 264GBps memory bandwidth.

Apple says that the cards will allow you to do VFX and editing work on full-res 4K video – and output the three 4K displays at once. Unlike the PC-based FirePro W9000 though, there are no DisplayPorts on the 2013 Mac Pro – instead the three of the six Thunderbolt 2 ports can be used as mini-DisplayPort outputs that output to DisplayPort monitors using an adapter, as with Apple's MacBook Pro and iMac.

There's also an HDMI output on the back of the new Mac Pro, along with four USB 3.0 ports and two gigabit ethernet. The Thunderbolt 2 ports offer up to 20GBps of data transfer, and can also be used to attach devices from PCI arrays to external RAID storage devices. Apple says that the all-black exterior lights up to show you these ports when you rotate the Mac Pro towards you.

Other features include 801.11ac wireless and Bluetooth 4.0.

Apple's completely redesigned Mac Pro workstation is about an eighth of the size of previous model and features a design that has already been compared to a bin (or Dusty Bin in a Daft Punk helmet, according to Jonathan Barnbrook on Twitter), something Dyson would create, and to an air-conditioning unit. This last comparison is more accurate, as the design of the new Mac Pro is all about getting airflow through to its top-spec components.

For the new Mac Pro, Apple has arranged all of the components around a central wind tunnel with a single big fan, which it has engineered to keep everything cool while apparently keeping noise to a minimum. The full chassis measures about 25cm tall and 16cm in diameter.


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HP ZBook laptops offer power, style and Thunderbolt

HP is attempting to take on Apple's MacBook Pro with a new line that includes the first ultrabook mobile workstation. Neil Bennett Editor of Digital Arts. Man about town. Music snob. Father. You know the rest

HP is attempting to take on Apple's MacBook Pro with a new line that includes the first ultrabook mobile workstation.

Much as Adobe's focus with Premiere Pro CC has been in winning over Final Cut Pro users, HP's brand new line of pro-grade laptops has one eye on attracting current Apple users – as well as satisfying current Windows-based creatives who are looking for a mobile computer that's more stylish as well as powerful.

The new models are the ZBook 14, ZBook 15 and ZBook 17 – with screen sizes as you'd expect from the name. Interesting new features include Thunderbolt ports, optional touchscreens or high-colour-gamut screens and a much-improved design.

The new ZBooks are named after HP's Z series of desktop workstations – which at the same time as this launch have been upgraded with Xeon E5-2600 V2 processors and optional Thunderbolt 2 – and bring over many of the industrial design elements of the BMW DesignWorks-designed desktops. The end result is a not-unattractive mix of matte black and brushed metal that not only a definite improvement on the previous generation of mobile workstations, the EliteBook, but HP says they're between 10 and 33 per cent smaller and lighter too.

Well designed use of curves and tailoring mean they appear smaller and thinner than they actually are, though they're noticeably larger if you put a current generation MacBook Pro or Air next to the competing models (which we did at an embargoed HP event last week in New York).

Use the slideshow controls above and right to see the new ZBook range and discover its specs.

HP is attempting to take on Apple's MacBook Pro with a new line that includes the first ultrabook mobile workstation.

Much as Adobe's focus with Premiere Pro CC has been in winning over Final Cut Pro users, HP's brand new line of pro-grade laptops has one eye on attracting current Apple users – as well as satisfying current Windows-based creatives who are looking for a mobile computer that's more stylish as well as powerful.

The new models are the ZBook 14, ZBook 15 and ZBook 17 – with screen sizes as you'd expect from the name. Interesting new features include Thunderbolt ports, optional touchscreens or high-colour-gamut screens and a much-improved design.

The new ZBooks are named after HP's Z series of desktop workstations – which at the same time as this launch have been upgraded with Xeon E5-2600 V2 processors and optional Thunderbolt 2 – and bring over many of the industrial design elements of the BMW DesignWorks-designed desktops. The end result is a not-unattractive mix of matte black and brushed metal that not only a definite improvement on the previous generation of mobile workstations, the EliteBook, but HP says they're between 10 and 33 per cent smaller and lighter too.

Well designed use of curves and tailoring mean they appear smaller and thinner than they actually are, though they're noticeably larger if you put a current generation MacBook Pro or Air next to the competing models (which we did at an embargoed HP event last week in New York).

Use the slideshow controls above and right to see the new ZBook range and discover its specs.

The ZBook 14 (right) is the first mobile workstation that could be described as an 'ultrabook'. It measures 34 x 24 x 2.1cm and is light enough (1.6kg) to easily carry around for extended periods.

Being an ultrabook, it features lower-powered components than its 15- and 17-inch siblings. There's a choice of Core i5 and i7 processors running between 1.6GHz and 2.1GHz, and the ZBook 14 supports up to 16GB of 1,600MHz RAM. You can single hard drive up to 1TB (or 512GB if its an SSD). You can also add a small 120GB mSATA drive either as a cache to make the main hard drive run faster or as a system drive in its own right.

For graphics there's an AMD FirePro M4100 graphics chip with 1GB of its own RAM. There are a bunch of options for the 14-inch screen, including a 1,600 x 900 resolution touchscreen or a full HD screen with better colour depth.

The ZBook 14 has three USB 3.0 ports – but no Thunderbolt, that's only for the larger models. Both the ZBook 15 and ZBook 17 feature a single Thunderbolt port, plus you also get three USB ports, a USB 2.0 port, DisplayPort, VGA and an SD card reader. All feature Gigabit ethernet and docking station plugs.

Both larger models features screens with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, and you can choose a DreamColour option for a much higher colour depth that offers 10-bit colour to support a billion colour shades rather than the usual millions.

The ZBook 15 (right) is the one most creatives would plump for. This features Core i7 chips up to 2.8GHz and up to 32GB of 1,600MHz RAM. To power its 15.6-inch screen, you have a choice of Nvidia Quadro graphics chips: the K610M (1GB RAM), K1100M (2GB) or K2100M (2GB). There's also Intel's HD Graphics 4600 to save battery life if you're doing non-graphics tasks such as email.

The ZBook 15 supports up to 1.8TB of storage via up to three hard drives – one of them is an mSATA, and to get the full complement you need to swap out the Blu-ray drive. The chassis measures 38 x 26 x 3cm and weighs from 2.8 kg (depending on how many drives you put inside).

The ZBook 17 is a monster of a laptop that's not for everyday travel – it's best suited when you need maximum performance but you're not the one carrying it, such as part of on-set film equipment. At the event, it was attached to a Canon C500 camera, showing real-time 4K video playback over Thunderbolt (right). It measures 42 x 27 x 3.4cm and weighs from 3.5 kg (again depending on how many drives you fit in it).

The larger chassis allows for more powerful chips – Core i7s up to 3GHz and a choice of Quadro graphics chips including the K610M (1GB RAM), K3100M (4GB), K4100M (4GB) and K5100M (8GB).

The ZBooks' new designs go further than its looks and ability to travel. Each features what HP calls an Easy Access Door, a latched bottom to each model that allows you to quickly replace hard drives in an emergency or add RAM (below). It's another attempt at a differentiating factor from the largely impregnable MacBook Pro and Air.

We're expecting review units of the new HP ZBooks soon, so stay tuned to see how they measure up.


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HP Z workstations gain Ivy Bridge Xeon E5 V2 chips with up to 24 cores

HP Z420, Z620 and Z820 workstations are now available with Xeon E5-2600 V2 chips up to 3.4GHz, 1,866MHz RAM, Nvidia Quadro K6000 graphics cards and Thunderbolt 2 add-in boards. HP has also launched two new monitors: the 27-inch Z Display 27i and a 30-inch version unsurprisingly called the Z Display 30i.

As Intel has launched the Ivy Bridge versions of its Xeon E5 range, HP has announced that the chips will be available in its Z-series workstations (except for the E3-based Z230). Based around one or two processors with up to 12 cores each, the E5-2600 V2 chips allow the HP Z420, Z620 and Z820 workstations to offer up to 24 cores of processing power – up from X maximum cores offered by the original E5-2600 range.

Using Intel's Hyper-threading technology that runs two processes per core, this offers up to 48 threads to multi-threaded applications – boosting performance in areas such as 3D rendering and video processing. However, it's worth noting that not all applications will support this many threads.

I attempted to benchmark a Z820 (above) with two 12-core 2.7GHz Xeon E5-2697 v2 chips at an embargoed HP event in New York last week, and found that our Cinebench test application – which is based on Cinema 4D R11.5 – was unable to render with more than 32 threads, so showed no improvement over the kind of score I'd expect from the previous generation of chips. I'd recommend checking what your key software tools are capable of before shelling out the high price for these chips.

The new chips also allow support for 1,866MHz ECC RAM, up from 1,600MHz RAM supported by the previous generation of Xeon E5-2600s – so your applications with be able to work with recently accessed or created information faster (as well as RAM previews in After Effects).

While the chips and RAM are new, the rest of the workstation is the same as before. At the event last week, HP's Ron Rogers – who runs the company's R&D for workstations – told me that they were aware of the V2 range when designing the Z420, Z620 and Z820. From the outset, the motherboards used supported both V1 and V2 Xeon E5-2600 chips and haven't needed to be upgraded for the V2s. It's therefore possible for owners of older Z420, Z620 and Z820 models to swap out their V2 chips and 1,600MHz RAM for V2 chips and 1,866MHz RAM.

If you one of those older models and just want the new RAM, you can't. The 1,866MHz RAM won't run at full speed without V2 chips also installed.

HP has also began offering NVidia's top-of-the-line Quadro K6000 graphics card. This features 12GB of GDDR5 graphics RAM to help it with incredibly complex scenes and 2,880 streaming multiprocessor (SMX) cores for hyper-powerful overall performance. The card supports four simultaneous displays at up to 4k in resolution (via DisplayPort 1.2). Other options include Nvidia's Quadro K600, K2000, K4000 and K5000  – as well as AMD's FirePro W7000.

The final new option is a Thunderbolt 2 add-in board, which can be added to older Z420, Z620 and Z820 models as well as bought with the new ones. Thunderbolt 2 allows data transfer at up to 20GBps, which translates into multiple streams of uncompressed HD or two of 4K. Thunderbolt is used to attach high-end storage systems – though currently Thunderbolt storage devices such as G-Tech's G-RAID with Thunderbolt or LaCie's 5big use the original 10GBps version of Thunderbolt.

Companies such as AJA and Blackmagic offer Thunderbolt-connected video editing accelerating and/or capture hardware such as AJA's Io XT or Blackmagic's Intensity Extreme. These are currently Mac-only for use with Apple's Mac Pro and MacBook Pro – but we expect to see Windows drivers for use with these boards announced at the IBC video production/post trade show in Amsterdam from Friday. We may even see Thunderbolt 2-based devices too.

We're expecting review units of these soon – so stay tuned to see how they measure up (using software that supports more than 32 threads).

The Z Display 27i and 30i (above) follow on from the 22i, 23i and 24i that were announced at the end of July. Both have resolutions of 2,560 x 1,440 and are based on what HP calls IPS Gen 2 technology for extended viewing angles.

The 27i is capable of outputting 99 per cent of the sRGB colour space, while the 30i can match 100% of sRGB and 100% of the wider Adobe RGB gamut – as used by tools such as Photoshop. Put simply, this means that the 30i is capable of showing finer shades of colours and is better suited to areas where colour accuracy is critical such as photography, advertising and high-end video post-production.

Both monitors feature inputs including DisplayPort 1.2, DVI, VGA, HDMI 1.4 – a feature four USB 3.0 ports.

Again, look out for reviews of these soon.


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iOS 6 vs iOS 7 app comparison guide: see how the designs have changed

iPads, iPhones and iPod touches have got a new look. Here's how Apple's apps, and some of the other apps you use on a regular basis, have changed with iOS 7. Ashleigh Allsopp

Ashleigh Allsopp is Staff Writer at Digital Arts. She also works across other titles in the IDG UK Tech Media Group, which include Macworld, PC Advisor and Tech Advisor.

iPads, iPhones and iPod touches have got a new look. Here's how Apple's apps, and some of the other apps you use on a regular basis, have changed with iOS 7.

Apple has rolled out iOS 7, and with it comes a complete redesign of the look and feel of the user interface. It's not just iOS 7 itself that's changed – many app developers have updated their apps to coincide with the release of iOS 7, and have taken design cues from Apple in their apps' makeovers.

In addition to many of Apple's own apps, the developers behind Evernote, eBay, Twitter, Facebook and more have ditched skeuomorphism, added transparency and simplified the overall design.

Here, we bring you a before and after look at how apps have changed with the iOS 7 update.

Use the sildeshow controls above and right to see them. 

iPads, iPhones and iPod touches have got a new look. Here's how Apple's apps, and some of the other apps you use on a regular basis, have changed with iOS 7.

Apple has rolled out iOS 7, and with it comes a complete redesign of the look and feel of the user interface. It's not just iOS 7 itself that's changed – many app developers have updated their apps to coincide with the release of iOS 7, and have taken design cues from Apple in their apps' makeovers.

In addition to many of Apple's own apps, the developers behind Evernote, eBay, Twitter, Facebook and more have ditched skeuomorphism, added transparency and simplified the overall design.

Here, we bring you a before and after look at how apps have changed with the iOS 7 update.

Use the sildeshow controls above and right to see them. 

Apple has updated its Photos app. Here's a before and after image, with iOS 6 on the left and iOS 7 on the right.

Apple's Music app has some changes, including the way you'll see Albums when you're looking for something to listen to.

You'll now be able to see an image beside each artist in Apple's Music app.

iOS 7's now playing screen now has a transparent effect.

Here's how Evernote has changed. On the left you can see the iOS 6 version, and on the right, the skeuomorphic-free design that has arrived with the update.

With the new iOS 7 update, Twitter has introduced a new, flatter design.

Similarly, Facebook has adopted a flatter design.

eBay has also gone for a new design that takes cues from Apple's iOS 7.

There are some apps, of course, that haven't changed at all in the move from iOS 6 to iOS 7, including Hipstamatic, which is still absolutely and (to borrow a word from Sir Jony Ive) unapologetically skeuomorphic.


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