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’m having alot of fun at OFFF Lisbon, it’s like someone dropped a creativity bomb in Lisbon. :)

I’ve also taken some photos from the Festival which are available at Flickr, so take a look if you’re interested.

In the meantime, here’s some web development resources for this weekend.

Confused about messing with .htaccess files stored on your server? Thankfully, someone invented this handy .htaccess Editor webapp that simplifies your work.

An analysis and comparative on the various CSS Frameworks available today, my favourite is BluePrint but take a look at what satisfies your needs.

LifeHacker published some tips on Blogging, very good info on helping you blog , I should problably take the time to follow them. :)

If you’re in Lisbon enjoy the rest of the weekend, there’s alot of nice places to visit.

Smashing Magazine posted another very useful article with plenty of resources in html, css, design and web development in general.

You can find the Best of July 2007 resources at Smashing Magazine, which is normaly a good place to visit regulary for information for making our life easier.

hey Apple Fans!

Actually, I’m not going to talk about Apple today, although all attentions must be set at Steve Jobs keynote at WWDC 2007 for the next day or two. (c’mon, I was expecting more for the iPhone!)

I’ve been truly busy in the last few days and haven’t given much attention to the blog but I’ll put some effort in the next days.

Anyway, I recently discovered Google Patents and decided to list the top 5 most interesting patents I’ve found.

1. Electrified table - cloth