We teach the cool stuff!

When you need arrows for a design, you need arrows. These are 64 free really sharp and nice arrow designs in Illustrator format, ready to go for your designs. If you like these, be sure to check out GoSquared’s complete set of free icons.

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This collection of shapes for Photoshop has people silhouettes, costumes and characters, skateboarders, girls, businessman and women, jumping people (a ka the iphone commercials), basketball players, presenter people silhouettes, sexy ladies, animals of all sorts, planes and boats, guns and weapons, Halloween shapes, trees, random shapes, arrows and more.

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These 25 free Photoshop tutorials for web designers include templates and all necessary .PSD files for everything from creating full web page templates, to navigation menus, headers and content boxes.

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If you still have Christmas Shopping to do, here are some pretty cool gift guides:

• Endgadget’s Holiday Gift Guide for Dad - A place to find gifts for geeky dads in all price ranges
• Make Holiday Gift Guide - Make Magazine’s primary gift guide contains inspiring gifts for kids of all ages
• Make Chemistry Gift Guide - Make Magazine’s gift guide celebrating chemistry and inspiring the next generation of chemists
• Make $20 Electronics Gift Guide - Make Magazine’s gift guide for electronic gifts costing $20 or less
• Scott Kelby’s Gonzo Holiday Gear Guide (2008) - A photography centric gear guide from Scott Kelby, prolific Mac and Photoshop author
• Uncle Mark Gift Guide & Almanac - A PDF file with a few interesting and exotic picks along with the standard iPhone, etc.

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Google now has a friends gadget to facilitate viral marketing on your web site. It’s easy to setup. Just login and create a site. Get a couple of files to upload to your website, and pronto. You can then have one of these. Please do add yourself to our site!

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After our recent ordeal with the armed robbery, I decided to create this list of ways you can improve the safety and security of your family. As the economy worsens, armed robbery and violent crime will increase. While there are things you can do like vote for stronger DA’s and government officials who won’t skimp on paying for law enforcement, this list is focussed on immediate things you can do now.

1. Decide ahead of time that you will escape.
   By far, the most important thing you can do to protect yourself from violent crime, is to decide ahead of time that you will escape, no matter what thugs may say or do. Decide that if someone is approaching you with a weapon, you will immediately run away, screaming at the top of your lungs. Decide ahead of time that you would rather be seriously injured than captured by a violent criminal. Your best chance of escape is in the initial seconds of a violent crime.A rapist is not prepared to deal with women who are prepared to grab the blade end of a knife being held to their throat and wrestle it away. Violent criminals expect submission. Immediate, decisive and dramatic resistance could save your life. Visualize being shot or stabbed and imagine yourself escaping anyway. If you expect to be injured, you won’t be as likely to be incapacitated by the shock if it should occur.

   Think “escape” not “call 911″. If confronted with an armed assailant, you will not have time to call 911. You may have time to run away, start your car and floor it, or jump out of a moving vehicle. Resits immediately, directly, and explosively.

2. Never, ever allow a criminal to move you.
   If a violent criminal tries to move you, be prepared to do whatever is necessary to prevent being moved. Chances for survival are less than 1 in 5 if a violent criminal moves you from the original location. Don’t allow yourself to be moved, even just behind a wall, into an alley, or off the street, much less into a car.No amount of begging, praying, or pleading is going to change the mind of a violent criminal. Violent criminals are repeat offenders with a long rap sheet of previous offenses. They will tell you, “Do what I say and you won’t get hurt.” Don’t believe it. Violent criminals learn to be liars well before they learn to become violent psychopaths. If you are carjacked and are being moved, be prepared to jump from a moving vehicle. If you can’t escape from the vehicle, wreck it. You can wreck a vehicle by grabbing the steering wheel and pulling it sharply, gouging the eyes of the driver, or throwing the gear shift into reverse. Anything to prevent being moved. Decide you’d rather be seriously injured in a car accident than tortured and murdered by a psychopath.

   Realize that hostages only have value for a limited time, typically while using them to gain compliance from others. Once that compliance is obtained, hostages become a liability as a potential witness. If you are shot while resisting being taken hostage, you can fully expect that they would have killed you later anyway when you were no longer of any value to them and in a more isolated place.

3. Become security conscious in your mindset.
   Change your mindset so that security becomes a topic that is discussed openly in your family. When you hear about any sort of emergency, not only a violent crime, discuss what you and your family would do in that situation.
4. Develop and rehearse a plan for emergencies.
   Go through every room in your home and discuss what you would do if you were in that room and the primary access was blocked. Store ropes that are knotted every foot in every second or third floor room. Even a child can quickly climb down one in an emergency, and if you are injured or carrying an injured family member, you can maneuver a knotted rope much more quickly and safely than a rope or chain ladder. It’s less expensive and easier to store than a rope or chain ladder as well.Agree on what you will say, and rehearse a plan to escape a dangerous situations outside as well. Time how quickly your family can get loaded into the car using a scenario and a plan for what you’d say such as “Gun. Escape to car now!” Also rehearse and time leaving the car, such as “Gun. Escape now!”

   In a public space such as a school or restaurant, make a plan and discuss what will be said and done should ever an emergency occur. “Gun! Escape now!” Don’t try to hide from an armed psychopath. Run away as quickly as possible. Your chances of survival are much higher. It is very difficult for a trained professional to actually hit a fleeing person, much less an untrained psychopath. I

5. Agree on a code word.
   If a family member needs to communicate on the phone that they are in danger, a specific easy to remember code word or phrase should be agreed on. While I won’t share our phrase publicly, you might choose an adverb or adjective such as “dreadfully”. You may be able to add an adjustive to whatever  an armed assailant may order you to say such as “I’m dreadfully frightened” or “I’m dreadfully sick.
6. Own a dog.
   A dog is a better deterrent than an alarm system. Although a large intimidating dog is a little more of a deterrent, any dog that will bark can alarm the family to dangerous situations.
7. Immediately surrender all material possessions.
   Nothing you own is worth losing your life for. Don’t try to be a hero. Don’t try to scatter your possessions.
8. Only fight back in close quarters if the assailant does not have a gun.
   Against an unarmed attacker who is punching you in the face, choking you, or otherwise attempting to kill or seriously injure you, go for the eyes. If you can knee him in the groin, or bite him, fine, but your best alternative is to concentrate 100% of your effort on stiffening your fingers and thumb, and using them to gouge the eyes.
9. Never give up.
   No matter what happens, never give up. If you are shot, you can still survive. If you are raped, you can still survive. If everyone around you is murdered, you can still survive. Make the choice ahead of time that as long as you are alive, you will resist. You may just live long enough to provide the evidence needed to put the criminal behind bars, or you may get the opportunity to escape at any time. No matter what happens, never give up. That’s what violent criminals want you to do, and they will do their best to make you give up as quickly as they can. Make up your mind ahead of time that you will never give up. Channel your hate and fear into determination to escape no matter what.
10. Never let someone approach you in a car.
    If someone approaches you in your car, immediately roll up the window, lock the door, and call someone on your cell phone. It only takes seconds for a violent criminal to push you into the car and attempt to abduct you. If necessary, honk your horn, flash your lights, and draw attention to yourself in whatever means necessary. Do not allow someone to approach you in a parking lot, at a gas station, or anywhere, especially if you are a woman alone. Also, never stop at highway rest stops at night. Find an open business.

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These are simple layered Photoshop files of empty browser windows  with all the chrome at standard web design resolution. They let you easily show comps/mockups of Photoshop based web designs to client for concept approval.

The right starting point for a web design when you don’t know where to start.

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Back in our early days, I got started out as a QuarkXpress trainer. Back then, learning grids, and learning to design based on them was a fundamental skill. Now, it’s a little less popular.

But if you want to learn how to make attractive designs for print, web and video, you still need to know the basics of the grid system. This great training site includes links to great articles such as Applying Divine Proportions to Your Web Designs and templates for InDesign.

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Adobe has one of the strongest open source libraries of any of the top publicly traded software companies. You can get Flex, Blaze Data Services, the Tamarin Javascript compiler, the Cairngorm Flex framework and more.

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Save up to $200 on eligible upgrades to CS4

For a limited time, upgrade from Adobe® Creative Suite® 2, Creative Suite 1, Macromedia Studio 8, Studio MX 2004, or Production Studio to Creative Suite 4 for the same price as an upgrade from Creative Suite 3. Hurry, introductory price ends 28 February, 2009

Please note that the English, French, and German language versions of the software are all available for shipping. All other languages are scheduled to ship on December 1st.

Be sure to use the coupon code adobe2008bf to get free shipping!

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