Ray Gillespie

Category: Fun

  • Apple, Google, Microsoft Logos – See How They Started

    Every now and then, a big brand updates its logo. Initially, the new design looks strange, but after a few days, it starts to feel normal. Eventually, you completely forget what the old logo even looked like. That is, unless you happen to stumble upon the shocking early logos of companies like Apple and Google, which they likely hope you’ll forget!

    Luckily, a clever website called Evolve has preserved some of the earliest logos from a variety of modern companies. It allows you to hover over the logos to see the transition from the old design to the current one. It’s a fun way to track how some iconic brands have evolved over the years. Check it out here!

  • Features of a Great CMS

    In the office, we often find ourselves discussing technology, and this week the topic was content management systems (CMSs). One feature that came up as being particularly useful was the front-end admin bar, a feature in WordPress and other CMSs that allows administrators to access a limited selection of controls directly from the website’s front-end. When logged in, this admin bar appears above the page, and though non-logged-in users can’t see it, it’s a huge convenience for administrators.

    For smaller websites with just a few content pages, it’s relatively easy to go into the admin panel and select the page to edit. But for larger websites, especially those with dozens or hundreds of pages, finding the right page to edit can become cumbersome. No backend menu has yet matched the efficiency of a well-designed front-end mega menu for handling large numbers of pages. This is where the front-end admin bar really shines, allowing administrators to navigate and edit content directly from the page they are viewing.

    For anyone managing multiple websites with numerous pages, this feature can be a real time-saver. It got us talking about how this feature came about—whether someone recognised the value of front-end menus and then added the ability to edit pages directly, or if the editing capability came first and only later was the time-saving aspect realised. Either way, whoever introduced this feature deserves a thank you!

  • Next Big Thing: Project Naptha

    Have you ever wondered what happens when you combine Microsoft Research’s Stroke Width Transform algorithm with Google’s open-source Tesseract OCR engine? No? Well, neither had I until I recently stumbled upon something called Project Naptha. Still confused? That’s okay—take a look at it yourself first (and then come back to read on!) here: Project Naptha.

    Project Naptha is a Chrome plugin (and soon to be available for Firefox) that extracts text from images found on the web, allowing you to edit it directly. Have you ever come across a photo on a website where text has been stamped across it, perhaps the author’s name or initials in the corner? Well, now you can remove that text—or even edit it—without needing any complex software or tools beyond your web browser! This may not be a new concept (Adobe Photoshop users have been doing this for years), but what’s revolutionary here is how easily anyone can do it now, with no specialized knowledge.

    While one obvious (and potentially problematic) application could be removing text from copyrighted images, there are positive uses too. For instance, text in images—particularly common in e-commerce—often contains valuable information, such as product details, but extracting that text typically meant retyping it manually. Now, thanks to Project Naptha, it’s as simple as copying and pasting.

    Want to try it out for yourself? Visit Project Naptha and give it a go!

  • Social Media Chips – Mashtags!

    In the office, we’re no strangers to chips—usually the silicon kind—or social media, but it’s not every day we see the two combined. At first glance, it seemed like an early April Fool’s joke, but with April still weeks away, it appears this is the real deal. According to The Grocer, global food manufacturer Birds Eye is set to launch a new range of frozen potato snacks called Mashtags—potato pieces shaped like social media symbols such as @, #, and *.

    The brilliance of this idea lies in its simplicity. Essentially, Mashtags are just a reimagined version of Alphabites, but by tapping into the social media zeitgeist and packaging it in a playful, red bag, Birds Eye has struck marketing gold. It’s one of those ideas that feels so obvious in hindsight, and the buzz it’s already generating is a testament to its cleverness.

    With free publicity already rolling in, it’s clear this quirky product is poised to capture attention and possibly even become a hit. Keep an eye on your timeline—Mashtags might just become the next big snack trend!