Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with trends

How to apply a radial-subtle gradient to a 1px line Photoshop?

wildrain2008 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:26:44 -0800

How to apply a web 2.0 radial-subtle gradient to a 1px line Photoshop? Hi All, I'm a freshman Web/Graphic design student and am looking to achieve the following:

How to apply a subtle gradient to a line tool in Photoshop? In other words I see a trend in web 2.0 graphic-rich websites that use these horizontal rules that fade on both sides.

I have been able to achieve all effects with linear gradients. But am unable to master the radial gradient. It seems that if I start from center it blends the middle of the line instead of the outer edges.

Essentially I'm looking to learn to achieve two effects:

1: http://www.cobblestonecn.com/
- the top-most tab's bottom border fades on both sides seemlessly

2: http://onwired.com/
- the border of the green strip fades on both sides and also has a shadow under it to make a pop effect.

Are there good tutorials for both web 2.0 effects?

I know my way around Photoshop, but have not had experience with achieving certain effects.

Thanks in advance!

What are the actual mechanics of fashion trends?

signal — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:12:56 -0800

What are the actual mechanics of fashion trends? Looking for specific information from fashion industry insiders / researchers here, no speculation please:

How does the creation and distribution of fashion trends work? What are the specific steps, processes, etc? Is it a random, organic, wisdom of crowds sort of thing, or a centrally planned, fully mapped out conspiracy, or what?

Not expecting high-level economic or sociological theories so much as a description of how it actually works from people who work in or near fashion.

Using "or" in Google Trends

thrako — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:10:44 -0800

When I use the "or" operator in Google Trends, I get strange results. According to the Google Trends help section, " a|b " returns the number of searches that contain "a" or "b". So the results for "the|the" ought to be identical to the results for "the". But they are not. Anyone know why the two searches are slightly different?

Video Production Trends

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:47:18 -0800

What are "current trends in video production"? The job I'm applying for calls for TV production experience (I have heaps, so that's not a problem) but it also calls for an understanding of current "trends in video production" with a particular emphasis on video for the web. Googling yields some limited information, but mostly a lot of useless advertising from video production companies. Can any MeFites help me get this job by shedding some light on web video production trends?

New Trends in Restaurants?

jon_kill — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:23:45 -0800

I'm working on an article about new trends in restaurants (things like pickled eggs being served in high end restaurants and bartenders serving meat-infused drinks like the sashimi-tini) and wondered if anyone has noticed new and fun trends out there. If you remember the name of the restaurants/bars where you saw them, that would be extremely helpful too. Thanks!

[posted for my gf]

Twentysomethings and B.O.

joseph_elmhurst — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:07:58 -0800

Young people and body odor - did I miss the memo? I am aware of a lot of folks who, apparently, are perfectly fine with body odor. No, they're not hippies. No, they don't live on the street. No, they are not mentally ill. They're typically young, employed, fashion-conscious, have enough discretionary income to buy lots of records, go out to bars, maybe enjoy a recreational drug or four. Yet they have the pepper steak smell that I associate with infrequent bathers and/or clothes washers. It's a subculture thing, I suppose, but its origins confuse me. I can grok hippies who feel that being "natural" extends to not showering every day (conserves water/energy) and not using deodorant (nasty chemicals in that, man) but creative class types who probably do not share the same sensibilities - why do they want to have obvious B.O.? Does this trend, which I've noticed for the last four or five years, have a single origin?

Literary works anticipacting the future trends

Knigel — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:50:13 -0800

What literature anticipated future trends, but does not have a causal link? What did the literature anticipate? I'm thinking of 1984/USA politics and Neuromancer/Internet I'm looking for some good reading material about this subject; therefore, I'm looking for these literary instances, or even books based on this subject--including reference material, or websites.

I like my pimples and my hunchback, thanks.

divabat — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 07:18:12 -0800

Satisfying my inner fashion maven: Is it possible to experiment with style & fashion without getting caught up with its superficiality? I've never been the sort to care about how I look. I rarely use beauty products for more than a few months at a time (I may try, and then totally forget or just not bother), and I don't really have a set style when it comes to clothes. Mostly it's "stuff that fits me". There are certain cuts/colours/things that I like, but there isn't a style that screams "divabat" - unlike some of my friends, where I could look at an outfit and say "Oh, that's so X". I also don't understand the point of makeup - while I find dressing up as a character/someone totally not me quite fun, I don't see why I need makeup to look more like myself.

Lately, though, I've been toying around with the idea of getting into style and fashion and actually think about the things I wear and how I look. I have been over-emphasizing my brain and spirit and personality, to the point that I don't give a damn about my body or how I look, as though it was meaningless. That might be not totally healthy. However, I also have the following influences pushing at me:

(a) my close group of friends in university (we're a group of 4 that hang out every week) all being fashion and beauty-conscious
(b) my parents always telling me to "look after your skin!!" and "you need to lose weight!!" and "why can't you be more conscious about fashion??"
(c) Noticing that I'm not being taken as seriously for things or that I'm not immediately noticed in a crowd compared to most others because I'm not conventionally "attractive"

The fact that those seem to be my main reasons are discouraging me from delving further into style/fashion/beauty. However, I still have images of me being a style maven, rocking out a certain specific outfit and haircut (for some reason my inner fashion diva thinks she's a Mod), getting oohs and aahs for always being so stylish and put-together.

I can appreciate outfits that look nice, and it may be fun to play around with clothes. However, I don't want to end up splurging on useless makeup or fashion magazines with no substance, or worry about my weight to the point of eating disorders (I already have to cope with depression as it is), or supporting industries that demean women and discriminate against certain races and characteristics.

Is it possible to play around with style but not get caught up in the superficial? Is there a way to investigate fashion without worrying about what's "in season"? (Seriously, who decides those things? What does it matter if purple is in or not?) Is is possible to be like the folks that end up in the indie magazines or on The Sartorialist and still have an active brain and social conscience? Can one shave or wear makeup without falling into the trap of "you're being sucked in my the patriarchy!!!"?

If so, how do I start? Assume I know nothing about style and fashion.

(sorry if this is getting rambly. I am trying to explain this the best way I can.)

Someone must be blogging about blogs, right?

lhl — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 02:02:39 -0800

Is anyone out there publishing analysis or actively tracking interesting developments/trends in blogging in terms of the emerging patterns in the form and functionality of the blogs themselves? The type of stuff that I'm thinking about is like Luke Wroblewski's Blog Interface Design 2.0 article (2005) or the posts on blog layouts that Jonathan Boutelle was doing (2005-2006) - the examples here are focusing more on the nuts and bolts, although I'm also open to coverage/discussion of more macro-trends (flare, codes, tumblelogs, migration onto social networking sites, etc).

Barring that, if anyone's seen anything really interesting in the past year or two, post away.

Why did CPUs stop getting faster about 5 years ago?

sergeant sandwich — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:35:08 -0800

Why are CPUs not getting faster any more? This plot is some data I scraped from a few sources around the web. I know it's not exhaustive, but I'm looking to pick out long-term and general trends. It's clear to me that processor clock speed has plateau'ed around roughly 4 GHz. Why? I am aware of Moore's law, and the megahertz myth, and things like bus speeds and cache sizes and instruction sets and that comparing clock speeds across processors isn't especially meaningful. I know that Intel stopped pumping up the clock cycles, I know about pipelining and predictive branching and multiple cores and which bottlenecks are where in a computer.. I understand that despite the CPU speed flattening, actual computing power has continued to increase.

However, surely if a chip designer can run the core at a faster clock, they would. Why can't they?

My understanding was that this was essentially an issue of thermal management: faster switching + fixed settle time = more current = more resistive heating.

However, someone else pointed out to me recently that this might be an issue with the RC time constant of the interconnects on the chip.

Ideally i'd like to find an article about this phenomenon from an EE/physics point of view, preferably from someone in the industry. Most preferable would be in a journal or IEEE publication; a trade magazine would be good too. An article in something like Wired would be okay, but I need to cite a source and the popular press is notoriously bad when it comes to this sort of thing.

However, my googlefu is really failing me here, so any explanation or pointer to search terms, or really anything of help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I would like to make Google Reader jump through a few hoops ...

WCityMike — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:47:03 -0800

A few Google Reader questions, beginning with: I have a few feeds that only of use to me at home: Mac software sites, etc. Is there any way with Google Reader to set things up so that you see (everything but feeds w, x, y, and z) in one view and (feeds w, x, y, and z) in another view? The other two behind the break. Second question: does there exist Firefox extensions, Greasemonkey userscripts, or other mechanisms that allow you to post to either del.icio.us or WordPress directly from an item within Google Reader?

Third question: Google Reader's "Trends" idea is teh coolest, in concept. However, it's not useful to me in that when I'm interested in an item, I hit 'v' to view it in a new tab. Trends only seems to go off of starred items. Is there any existing way how Trends could be configured to study? Failing that, are there more reliable ways of getting ahold of the Reader team than Google's generic comment form?

Thanks, everyone.

Keeps me searching for a disk of gold.

LoriFLA — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:00:44 -0800

Where can I find trendy jewelry that the beautiful people wear? I know of Alex Woo.

What other places can I find current, "it" jewelry in precious metals without an outrageous price tag?

I've been seeing a lot of layered gold chains and fine gold chains with gold disks on celebrities. I like the look. I'm stuck on the idea of a single gold disk on a fine chain but I can't find one. I've tried QVC and other online jewelry sites without success. They're full of generic looking box chains and herringbones. Online jewelry sites that carry such things are greatly appreciated.

Question for web developers/ designers/ people in the industry..

0217174 — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 14:35:26 -0800

Question for web developers/ designers/ people in the industry. I have a few questions. First, can someone tell me what technology is used for this kind of exstension:

http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_DREAD,,00.html

I see those a lot. Bunch of commas and .html.. is that php? No.. php should end in .php right?

Also, when you see blogs with user comments, is there a standard way of coding that functionality? I done my own in .NET but I'm just winging it, making it up as I go. But I want to know what's the "industry" way of doing it.

And last, all this "Web 2.0" stuff.. if I want to work for a company like monster,disney, amazon, etc.. Do I really need to have a repitoire (sp?) prior to applying for them? I feel I have a good foundation since I've developed web apps for about 4-5 years, but I've always done things my way. Only recently been venturing into web services, soap, xhtml & css. I feel so out of the loop though. Googling info just overwhelms me. Any advice for me to get further into this field?

Thanks!!!

Placement of spark plug wires

jazzkat11 — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 16:00:00 -0800

Placement of spark plug wires.. I just changed my plugs and wires and in the midst of pure automotive geniusdom, didn't mark which wires connected to which coil pack.

Does it matter?

color me whatever you find fashionable

yonation — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 15:19:12 -0800

what are some good essays, books, etc about the relationship of color to social and cultural trends? why was "kelly green" popular in the 70s and then regained popularity via the retro trend? why do the iranian/persian carpets feature certain shades of blue? why did the 80s feature such shitty browns and purples and teals? i'm sure a lot of this has to do with availability of dyes, etc, but i'm sure that there are interesting cultural studies-type theorists out there who have written about other facets of color popularity. i guess i don't know much about color theory, but i thought that was more about its appeal to physiological concerns rather than social ones.

What did the kids wear in 95?

Bookhouse — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 07:24:38 -0800

Where can I do research on the styles of American teens in 1995? I was one, so you'd think I'd be better at this. And I have no problem remembering what me and my friends wore (Midwest wannabe grunge, thank you very much). But what did the preppies wear? Jocks? "Normal" kids? On all of this, I'm drawing a blank.

I've found some 90s nostalgia sites, but I'm looking for something a little more concrete. Thanks.

Please help me dress myself better than the mall can...

Alison — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 07:51:46 -0800

What are your favorite styles or pieces of clothing that defy trends? I have recently been inspired to make most of my clothing for this spring/summer and next fall. Due to the time and energy investment I would like to end up with a wardrobe that will be unique but will still look good years from now. I am fairly experienced at sewing and have a big pattern library, so I can figure out how to make almost anything.

I am looking for things that can be hard to find at times as availability is often decided upon what will be popular rather than what will be practical for years. For example, I like making things like pleated skirts or fitted tweed jackets, but these might not be in stores depending on the trend cycle and most likely won’t be available in a color I like. Lately, I have been finding a lot of inspiration from vintage clothing.

So what are your favorite looks? Is there a skirt you have that looks good with everything? Do you have a coat that still draws complements after five years? Have you seen something special enough to make you look at it again? Pictures or links to patterns would be appreciated as would any inspirational book recommendations. This is also not limited to women’s clothing; I’m interested in looking at men’s styles, too.

forecast forecast

foraneagle2 — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 11:09:29 -0800

Is there a measure for the accuracy of weather predictions? Have predictions been increasing in accuracy recently? Over the last decades? Any notable major changes? Is a temperature prediction much more accurate than a precipitation % forecast? What about the difference in variance in accuracy for a 'tomorrow' forecast compared to a forecast for 5 days from now? Should I expect any advances in forecasting accuracy? Any sites to see these statistics visually or in raw data? Any info is good. Thanks.

Social class specific first names ?

vincentm — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 08:13:01 -0800

Social class specific first names ? Are there in the US any specific trends regarding the choice of first names related to the social class ? Example (in France ) :
Upper class : Charles-Henri, Victoire, Cassandre, Constance, Bérénice, ...

Lower class (the choice of anglophon names is socially connoted): Kevin, Brandon, jonathan, Brenda...(most of these come from popular american soap operas broadcasted in France).

Cluetrain manifesto-like books

vincentm — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 08:48:44 -0800

Cluetrain-Manifesto-like books ? I'd like to read good books about digital life, future, knowledge management, social softwares, etc... I've almost finished "The Cluetrain Manifesto" and I'd like to find similar books. Thanks.

Prognostication: the future should I.D. "win"

five fresh fish — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 21:13:19 -0800

What do you think is going to happen to the USA if "Intelligent Design" is successfully placed into the science curriculum? I'm thinking of "in the long run," ie. say a generation or two after "Intelligent Design" becomes ensconced in a school curriculum.

Good Reading: "The ID movement is more than an attack on biology because evolutionary theory unifies the life and earth sciences with physics and chemistry. If ID is accepted as a credible science, then the most basic definition of a scientific theory and the fundamental principles of the scientific method are not being taught. Johnson is right: ID can be the wedge that splits science wide apart."

Mulder and Scully in Disco Pants

thanotopsis — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 19:10:16 -0800

In the sea of new "strange" shows coming to television this fall, I'm convinced that we're seeing a cycle in popularity that we once experienced in the mid to late 70s. However, I was <10 years old at the time, and while I remember some aspects of the shows in question, I don't recall any of the details or identifications. The first show was sort of an X-Files show, except the investigators where military. They'd walk around in uniform all the time, asking pointed questions and investigating UFO sightings. I recall one scene where they're in a restaurant, and they're astounded to see a UFO themselves, right outside the pane-glass windows.

Another of these shows may have been a mini-series: A family(?) falls through to a series of alternate universes that all share the Bermuda Triangle in common. They're on a boat, or they keep going to new islands. The general idea of each show is that they were just trying to make it home.

Another one could be a mini-series, or even a made for TV movie: Something grows on some guys' arm, and keeps getting larger. For some reason, I have a feeling it has something to do with Manatees and Native American myths. This may or may not have been the show/mini-series/made for TV movie where the big revelation is that the main character has webbed feet and hands (no, it's not WaterWorld).

I tells ya -- I've been casually wondering what those shows are for years now, and I never thought to ask you guys. My wife just looks at me funny (not like that's something out of the ordinary).

Is there any quantifiable way of determining if indie record sales have declined in the past 4 years?

Pinwheel — Sun, 17 Oct 2004 17:39:25 -0800

I've been researching trends in major label record sales lately. On a constant exchange rate basis, global major label record sales have declined $6.2 billion (U.S.), or 16.3 percent, since 1999. But what I can't seem to find any information on is the fate of the independent record industry. Is there any quantifiable way of determining if indie record sales have declined in the past 4 years as well?

Goods/Trends Blog

phyrewerx — Mon, 11 Oct 2004 14:49:34 -0800

Can any one recommend a general consumer goods/trends blog? Sort of like an online Cargo magazine or Gizmodo or Engadget but with a broader focus?