That won’t turn rogue and digitize you.

Occasionally on Fridays I post a few websites or even tools that present something interesting and show a unique application of technology. Today it’s websites that do something unique and use the web as a platform to illustrate…well, you’ll see.

Tetris in HD

Tetris in HD

First, we’re all familiar with high definition, right? If you have a 1080p TV, then you know it looks pretty nice, it has a lot of data, and in fact the ‘1080’ means it has 1,080 lines of resolution (of course, with 4K here and its 3840 lines of resolution, now HD looks downright poor). Even so, remember the old, big, heavy CRT displays? How would that content look (scale, really) on HD displays if everything else were left the same?

Well here’s one way to find out: Tetris in HD. This webpage scales the game of Tetris all the way up to a full HD resolution, but keeps the pieces the same resolution as they were on the original CRT displays. You’ll have to look very, very closely to see what you’re doing, but it also gives a good idea of how far display technology has come.

Color Method

Color Method

If you do any kind of art or illustration or graphic design, you know how important color is to the final product. Getting just the right one can be a maddening experience simply because there are almost an infinite amount of colors from which to choose. Additionally, there are many aspects of color to consider: Complementary versus contrasting colors, Red/Green/Blue levels, Hue/Saturation/Brightness levels, CMYK, luminance, and chroma to name a few.

Do you know what goes into finding just the right color? Especially on a computer screen where it might not match exactly what you had in your head?

The Color Method website has you perform a series of color matching tests to see how well you navigate the color space. A countdown clock of a certain color appears in the center of the page, and you have to navigate around the outer color ring to match the color of the clock. The first few phases are easy enough since it only covers one dimension, however as the phases begin to include two and three simultaneous dimensions it becomes much more challenging.

How well can you do?

Llama Font

Llama Font

Have you ever wanted to say something in llama? Or rather, say something with llamas? Now you can using LlamaFont! Type out your message, and what can only be described as the most yoga-tastic llamas you’ve ever seen will help you say it. Sadly, it doesn’t do numbers yet. On the other hand, if you need to make your point using a big-ass message, you can try Big Ass Message.

Run-3

Run-3

I don’t normally like to put up meaningless flash games, but Run-3 is different; it uses Flash to provide an incredible sense of depth on a 2-D page, and the ability to present a good amount of limited data as well since the path goes on for what seems like forever. Hint: You can run on the walls.

Lifesize Blue Whale

Life-size blue whale

The Whale and Dolphin Conservatory has a lifesize blue whale on their site! You can only see it in tiny sections, of course, after all they’re the largest living things on earth. You can scroll around and get super-closeups of any part of its body. It’s clearly a Flash-built site, and the overall image is a mosaic of smaller images. You can navigate by dragging the closeup window, or by clicking on the smaller image of the entire whale. Or if whales aren’t your thing, you can always try the cockroach cam. There’s sound, so be careful, but be sure to watch it full screen, you don’t want to miss any of that experience.

Incredibox

Incredibox

Incredibox is a site that has you put accessories on animated characters, each of which will then contribute either a beat, effect, melody, or voice. There is a surprising variety in the sounds you can get, and it offers almost endless experimentation (the link is for Incredibox version 3).

Rainy Mood

Rainy Mood

Now that school has started, you may find that you need a calming moment, and one of the things that does that very well is white noise which can filter out other external noises. In nature this manifests in many ways, one being the sound of rain, and its dampening ability is one of the things that makes it so relaxing.

Unfortunately, we just don’t get a lot of rain here in Las Vegas. Therefore, I present you with Rainy Mood. Bring up the page, listen to all the rain and thunder you like, and prepare to be relaxed. You even get to see it, in a way.

The screen is right. Rain makes everything better.