Film noir is one of the most easily recognizable types of films which is widely known for their black and white visuals, their use of shadows and silhouettes, the hard-boiled characters, the anti-heroes and their deceiving leading ladies.

(Image Source: AdoC)
Spiced with the usual array of violence, guns, booze and a lot of cigarettes, film noir is also one of the most stylish forms of cinema in the world. Sadly, Noirs aren’t made that often anymore, although several neo-noir films have been released over the past few decades.
We know how awesome it is, therefore we are willing to share to you a collection of 30 very cool digital artworks inspired from film noir. Enjoy the cold darkness that silences everything else in the world.
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What’s there to hate about freelancing? You get to follow where your passion lies, there’s unmatchable flexibility on how you get to manage your own time and work, and most importantly – no boss breathing down your neck all day long! You are your own boss! You wouldn’t want to have it any other way, would you?

(Image Source: Fotolia)
Well, the fact is, as with most things in this world, there are two sides of the coin, even for freelancing. Undoubtedly, the greatest attraction of a freelancing career is the freedom it offers. Ironically though, that freedom comes with a price, that is being your own boss, you have to be self-disciplined so well that you won’t be burning your adrenaline just to rush to beat the deadline in the midnight.
Looking forward to freelance life? There are more aspects than just freedom to think and consider carefully. Don’t jump in it too quick, have a read on this post, then you should be good to go.
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So, did you have a planking today? It’s very simple, you just lie your face down with a straightened body, that’s all. Sounds easy, but this so-called “lying down game” has became the most famous Internet meme since months before, with thousands of photos of different lying poses spawning within the famous sites such as Facebook and Flickr.

(Image Source: Erich Leeth)
But you know, humans get bored quickly when they’re seeing and doing the same thing over and over again. They will seek for something more creative, more fun and of course, crazier. Then they started planking on the tank, planking in the Star War suit, planking before the cows, and even captured the photo of polar bear in “planking” state.
So while you might be imagining the scene that human planks before the cows, we had collected 43 unusual photos with unusual planking poses in unusual situation. So what’s next? Take your coffee and enjoy these extraordinary yet amusing planking photos! And more surprise, we will be featuring Horsemaning, the next level of Internet meme!
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We love WordPress – but not all of us are ready to settle with all its default settings and displays – particularly how posts are displayed. As we’re taught that uniqueness does matter to a website’s branding which gives the visitors a great impression, throughout these years bloggers and developers have been striving to tweak the post display, in order to make it as unique as possible.

(Image Source: Fotolia, WordPress)
Today we are going to focus on the smart tweaks you can perform to improve your WordPress post display. Whether you are looking to change your post display to enhance user experience or to increase revenue or page impressions, chances are there is a way to do it without plugin, and most of the snippets listed here are easy to implement, in most time you just need to copy and paste the provided code.
Hope you will find these tweaks useful for your projects, enjoy customizing!
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If you’re a web designer or graphic artist, then you’re sure to come across various colors on the web or images that you may want to use them in your own designs. Since it’s impossible to memorize every single color value out there, an eyedropper tool is a must-have; no designer should be without one!

With an eyedropper tool you can simply click anywhere on your computer screen to grab and copy specific colors for your own personal use such as making palettes or color schemes, and we want to save your resourcing troubles by listing more than 25 eyedropper tools with convenient features for Windows, Mac, Firefox, Chrome, iPhone and Android!
No more trouble on getting or memorizing the color anymore, grab them to speed up your design work!
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It’s finally arrived. Introduced by Apple’s pre-CEO Steve Jobs in his last keynote, iOS 5 is the latest Operating System for iDevices like iPhone and iPad, which includes tons of new features and improvement. And today, by connecting your compatible iDevice to the latest version of iTunes, you will be receiving the update to iOS 5!

As you have expected, iOS 5 is not just a regular update that’s nothing but all talk. According to its feature page, it combines 200 features which not only greatly improve user interface, solve serious user experience issues, but also introduce brand new features like Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand, Reminder, and more!
So while waiting eagerly for the update to complete, we want to uncover more features that add just awesomeness to iOS 5, and you may not know about them. Enjoy reading or exploring new features and rejoice, as your iDevice will look and act better today!
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QR code, or Quick Response code, is a type of readable code originally used to track automotive parts. It is mostly limited in Japan and South Korea for several years but now, it is gaining attention worldwide. Currently, QR code is mainly utilized to advertise site/product offline.

(Image Source: LaunchSquad)
With smartphones and other mobile gadgets which governed the modern world, QR code can be scanned by them easily, which makes it a real convenient storage of information. Data that can be encoded in a QR code ranges from a simple e-mail address, a simple text, to long winding web addresses, phone numbers, and even PayPal information.
So, why not take a ride on this technology, utilize its goodness and try it for your website or business? People love smooth data transition, QR code is perfect for that, and we’ll show you why and how, full discussion at the jump!
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It’s all started from Christopher Huet, a talented manipulation master who wants to have some serious fun on the human’s head, and he did it very successfully by making it bigger, yeah, just bigger. And what really shocks is just by enlarging the head, it’s really enough to make one burst out laughing!

(Image Source: Christophe Huet)
And you know, interesting idea spreads really fast in the Internet. Many Photoshop experts who have some funny nerves saw the works, had some laughs, and they created their own version and, even funnier big head manipulation! So expect nothing but laugh, craziness and great manipulation skill in this post, then spread them like virus, let everyone have a good laugh today!
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To continue our grateful thanks to our readers and community in general, we are glad to release a very useful freebie – Vintage Radio Icons. These GUI elements come in vector shapes which mean that you can easily re-size the elements without losing quality.
![[Freebie] Vintage Radio Vector Icons vintage radio icons [Freebie] Vintage Radio Vector Icons](http://media02.hongkiat.com/vintage-radio-icons/vintage-radio-icons.jpg)
The GUI kit is designed by Iconshock exclusively for Hongkiat readers, and is delivered in Illustrator (AI) and PNG formats.
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If you decided to get involved in web design, no matter what your particular profession is about, sooner or later you will need a portfolio site where your expertise will be showcased. Why is it so important to have a portfolio? The point is that most clients only believe what they see, and your personal portfolio is the visual proof for them to witness your expertise, taste, and personality.

But a portfolio site can be a double-edged sword. It either builds or breaks you. Bad design simply irritates potential clients, stopping them from viewing your works. In order to attract the potential clients, your portfolio should be designed properly according to certain principles which not only impress the clients, but also ensure their smooth user experience.
We summarized these principles into 7 essential rules for you to build or improve your portfolio site, so let’s just get started with rule #1, after jump!
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We all know that the time will come, but we didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Today is not an easy day for millions out there who own an Apple product or two, certainly also a gloomy day for all folks who work at Apple. Steven Paul Jobs, better known as Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, has officially left us on today, 5th of October, 2011.

He was one of the key person bringing the true innovation to the world. He showed us how making the difference can change the world; He changed the way we interact with gadgets and computers. And when he left, he left behind a great deal of legacy he created and improved. He just changed the world.
Today, with this post, we’d like to pay our tribute to the Steve Jobs, the hero who rocked the technology industry for years. Let us look into the life of this legendary visionary, and learn something from his never-regret journey.
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It’s been around 1.6 years since the initial release of Apple iPad, and regardless the criticism, the device has achieved tremendous success in the tablet market. It’s so successful until so many great companies have risen up to challenge its realm by designing and releasing their own version of tablet.

(Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)
While great companies are competing each others by showing off new designs and devices, an interesting phenomenon happened: another group of very talented designers have also implemented their own vision on their tablet design, and these so-called concept tablets have received praises from consumers like, “I hope it’s true!”.
Be it dual screen tablet, fold-able tablet or smartphone powered tablet, in this post you will see concepts which designers combined innovation and art to become something that consumers really thirsts for. Enjoy them and let us know which tablet you hope it’s true!
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HTML5 and CSS3 have swept the web by storm in only 2 years. Before them there have been many altered semantics in the way web designers are expected to create web pages, and with their arrival come a slew of awesome supports such as alternative media, XML-style tags, and progressive input attributes for web designers to achieve dreamy features like animation.

(Image Source: SARBARTHA DAS, HeskinRadiophonic)
Though most developers seem to showcase potential yet complicated demos, HTML5/CSS3 are not really rocket science, and I’ll be walking you through the relaxing process to build a standard HTML5/CSS3 web page with comprehensive yet in-depth explanation and tada! Bonuses like learning resources and free HTML5 templates are available for you, so take this chance to kick-start your HTML5 journey!
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Thanks to Apple, Microsoft and Google who joined the mobile war with their innovation armies in these years, the mobile market has entered its golden era which a massive amount of brands from vastly different industries are seeking for their application existence in this extremely profitable market, thus increasing the need for resources of sketching, wireframing and prototyping in application development.

Unlike sketching and wireframing, most customers will likely to have a realistic glimpse on what should be the final product in the prototyping stage. To make your prototyping presented really nice before the judgmental eyes of clients, we have listed out 31 mobile devices prototyping templates which included famous iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7, in different software formats.
Grab them down and make your prototype shines really bright before your clients, full list after jump!
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