Stock Images for Web Developers

If you’re a web developer or a graphic artist, you’ve probably spent a good amount of time online searching for decent inexpensive and effective stock images to use on your design work. I know I have. Well, to make your life easier, I’ve made a list of all the stock photo websites I’ve bookmarked over the years. Some of them may be old news to you, some may be new. Either ways, enjoy the list below, bookmark it and share it around.

Most Popular:

istockphoto.com - the most popular one out there and the one I personally use the most.
Punch Stock - my next stop after istockphoto. A bit more pricier, but a wayy better selection - especially for print.
Getty Images - the grand-daddy of all things stock. They have it all - videos, music, paintings, photos etc.
Veer - another one of my favorites. These guys have some of the sexiest stock photos ever.
DRR.net - again, a bit more pricier, but a good selection and it also features a marketplace where you can hire photographers to take photos that meets your guidelines.
Jupiter Images - offers anything from royalty-free DVD collections to standard rights-managed images and royalty-free images. They also own stockxpert.com and comstock.com

Free Stock Photography

Flickr - the obvious choice! I’ve found some of my favorite stock photos here - for free!
Stock.XCHNG - the grand-daddy of free photos!
Photocase - another one of my free favorites.
Free Range - high-resolution free stock photos and free textures
Stock Vault - a photo sharing website with decent photos for free
DevianArt - Once in a while, I’ve also found some quality photos here.

Extended List:

agefotostock
alamy
bigstockphoto
corbis
creatas
dreamstime
estockphoto
freerangestock
fotosearch
imageafter
masterfile
mediabakery
nordicphotos
paradisal
photos
photostogo
rubberball
superstock
ultreshock

And finally, check out Wikimedia Commons - tons of guilt-free photos here.

Political Flip-Floppers

With the World Series starting today between the Phillies and the Rays, the presidential candidates and Sarah Palin have been trying to rally baseball-crazed fans - only problem, they’re not sure who to really support. Enjoy this political flip-flop video:

A Designer’s Block

I think I’m going through some kind of designer’s block this week. I have 3 active projects on the go, all in design phase, and all due before mid-November. I’m trying to find good inspiration for the projects, but instead I’m reading, blogging and napping! Just picked up Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst by Dan Reingold and so far, it’s a damn good read. It exposes some of the insider games on Wall Street and how deeply corrupted Wall Street and much of corporate America had become during the bullish stock market bubble of the 1990s. It also goes into detail on how analysts manipulate the stock price and how they do it to benefit large institutional investors. It’s almost impossible to believe these things really happened and still happen. I recommend it to anyone who is just getting into trading and serious about it. A little bit of history always helps.

Back to the designer’s block - I’m trying to find good inspiration these days and stumbled upon a few sites I think really deserve a mention. Check out:

Suiepaparude - A Romanian website with a lot of character and color.

A Dear Friend - Great portfolio from designer Chris Ro.

Let It Bleed - Beautifully executed site for Rolling Stones 1969 U.S. Tour.

Space Collective - A complex website that bills itself as “a cross-media information and entertainment channel for post-ideological, non-partisan, forward-thinking terrestrials”. Right….

Viewzi - I’m really digging this new visual search engine.

And finally, the idiosyncratic Jason Santa Maria. Jason takes blogging to a whole new level by designing a unique page for every blog post. Now he is definitely not suffering from a designer’s block.

Check back in a few days for some new mockups of the projects I’m working on. If you have any good inspirational tips - please do comment below.

Is Stock Trading For Everyone?

I’m a gambler - I like taking big risks and 90% of the time, my gut instincts have been right. But for some odd reason, I’m having absolutely no luck when it comes to trading stocks. In spite of having TIM right next to me giving me unlimited stock advice, I tend to ignore his rules and trade stocks that are not even on his radar. And as expected - I end up losing big. Why is it that I’m trading so erratically? Am I a victim of the Erratic Trading Syndrome (I just made this up - don’t google it!)? It got me thinking - is stock trading for everyone? Am I the 99% of so called traders who lose money consistently in the markets? Have I become a statistic?

I enjoy going to the casinos - 90% of the time I make money on the blackjack table. My girlfriend, on the other hand, hates the casino. So the one time that I did take her to one, I sat on a table and walked out doubling my money in 2 hands of blackjack. She was still not impressed. But now, I’m applying my same gambling instincts to the stock market and it’s just not working. I bought 50 shares of RIMM at $66 when I thought it hit the bottom - and look at it today ($57)! I bought 200 shares of MS at $22 thinking that was the bottom - and look at it now ($18). I’m not sure why I even play these big stocks - none of them have made me any kind of money - ever. Today I shorted MKTS after listening to Tim’s alerts and I finally made some money.

So - should I be listening to Tim from now on and forget all my gambling habits when it comes to trading? I guess I will find out on friday - Tim is scheduled for a full day 9 hour seminar in Vancouver over at a hip conference facility in Yaletown. If you’re like me and not sure why you’re losing money in the markets, I suggest you come down and learn a thing or two from a guy who’s consistently made money in the market (up 107% this year alone).

Tim’s going to be in Vancouver for a few extra days as well - we have a meeting set up with the famous John Chow thursday night and will be shooting additional footage for TIMraw all throughout the weekend at various Vancouver locations. If you’re from Vancouver and want to come say hi - shoot me an email.

Hopefully my next trading related blog post will have a big green arrow besides it to show I’ve finally made some money in the market.

A Web Designer’s Laptop

I’ve been in the market for a few months now looking to get a new laptop… and today’s announcement from Apple came at just the right time. If you haven’t noticed this before, we at Pallian like all toys new and shiny… and the new MacBook has just been added to our shopping list. What sold me on this mac was not really the way it looked, but the way they designed and engineered it. Watch the video below to see how they managed to make this remarkable laptop with a single block of aluminum:

Also, wanted to update you with Tim’s Vancouver seminar - we now have a location! If you’re from Vancouver and want to catch Tim, come to our all day seminar at 1140 Homer Street this friday from 8am till 5pm. Cost is $495 for a 1 day session and it includes a free copy of our latest DVD - TIMraw. It’s a sleek, modern space with a bunch of 60″ high def TV’s and projectors. The 9 hour session will include lunch and snacks and since it is on a trading day, you’re almost guaranteed to make a live trade during the session.

Sign up for the seminar HERE.