Microsoft revealed the new and revamped UI for the X-Box 360 last week on E3 and it was about time.

The current dashboard although not being too bad, has a few problems which sucessive update haven’t fixed, such as  too much information on screen, a bit of lag, hard to navigate in so much content (you have videos, games, addons, music,etc) and some areas were simply over-complicated.

Old Xbox Layout:

New Layout below:

With this aproach I think Microsoft is going the “Apple way” and going for a more simple, less complicated but coese design. On the other hand, with Sony releasing it’s “Home” pseudo-Second Live world/dashboard and given the Wii’s success with the Mii’s, Microsoft felt the need to introduce some sort of Avatars into the console.

Joystiq has posted a video walkthrough of the new Dashboard and Xbox Focus has detailed information on the new features. Now it’s all about waiting for the next system-update and experience the new dashboard hands-on.

In my old job I worked in a very ordinary office, it was open space, with a dark green carpet, beige desks with green chairs too and everyone wore a suit and tie every day looking uncomfortable.

The office didn’t have anything that stood out, the view outside was great but you couldn’t differentiate one room from another except for the people in it (and their personal items) .

It was pretty boring and without surprise, creativity didn’t have a strong presence. Some may say “it wasn’t needed, anyway.” but the thing is, your working environment has a direct influence on your state of mood, your happiness and your productivity. Check for example, Carson’s ideas for their office.

Fortunately there are a lot of places in Lisbon to get inspired, the sun is most of the time shiny with nice weather, there’s outdoor cafes, some parks, nice museums (with free collections to watch) and the riverside is very nice to walk.

Sometimes the best way to get an idea or solve a problem is just getting out of the office for a while and comeback fresh.

I use TextMate on a daily usage, it’s the most useful program I have on my Mac and it simplified alot my development work.

At the same time, I also use SVN for version-control (but i’m looking at GIT…) so I was very happy to find a plugin for TextMate that enabled me to visually know which files were changed, waiting to be commited, in conflict, etc.

It reminds me of TortoiseSVN for Windows (a great tool, btw), so if you use Textmate and SVN I recommend you take a look at SVNMate.

Note: There’s also a built-in svn bundle for Textmate, simply use ctrl+shift+a on a file or folder to access a few basic SVN commands.

CD Projekt (a Poland based games publisher) announced last week his plans for a new games-on demand web based platform.

With a fantastic lineup of classic games (Fallout, Fallout 2, MDK, Sacrifice) from the 90’s, GOG.com (Good Old Games) promisses to change the current digital games distribution by NOT including DRM in the games.

That means after you pay for a game, you will be able to play in which computer you desire and download the game how many times you which, brilliant. The games will sell from $5.99 to $9.99 and will be compatible with Windows XP and Vista. 

It’s nice to see business models on the web abandoning the DRM stigma. 

I wish the best of luck for this program and wish more publishers jump on the wagon (c’mon, I want to see the classic Lucasart and Bioware games). 

The internet has changed the way people communicate with each other and the way marketing agencies spread the world on new products. Here’s three initiatives I found interesting, funny or simply made me smile:

Bob Dylan - New DVD

The idea is to promote Bob Dylan’s dvd/album by sending someone a message which is show by Dylan itself using cards. Nice.

Bar da Boa

Beer promotion, very funny, include your friends name for some laughs. :)

update: oops, forgot to include the links. my bad. :P