The Breakroom • A blog for the Iconfactory

CandyBar Gets Sweeter

February 5, 2003

The Iconfactory and Panic are excited to announce the release of CandyBar 1.5. This new version of our popular Mac OS X toolbar customization app adds many cool features including iContainer support.

iContainers are a new file format developed jointly between Panic and The Iconfactory that allow CandyBar users to import and export entire collections of system replacement icons easily. Double-click an iContainer and CandyBar’s wells will be filled automatically. Icon artists can save custom iContainers of their own along with their names, email addresses and website URL’s and then distribute them on the Internet. We’re sure that many of the artists submitting CandyBar entries to this year’s Pixelaplooza will find this feature appealing.

But that’s not all folks, there is a brand new iContainer included with CandyBar from artist Dave Brasgalla. That’s right, World of Aqua can now take its place on your toolbar right along side the newly updated and expanded Smoothicon collection from Corey Marion. If you are looking for individual icons from these two sets, drop by and download the individual collections so you can mix and match to your heart’s content. Be sure to check out World of Aqua’s support for Open / Drop states in the OS X Finder too! So many icons, so many choices!

Get the full skinny on this latest version at the CandyBar homepage. CandyBar 1.5 is shareware and costs $12.95 to purchase. This version is a free upgrade for registered users and is just waiting for you to check it out!

Pixelpalooza 2003 Officially Begins Today

February 3, 2003

By Webmaster

The Iconfactory is pleased to announce the commencement of the 7th installment of Pixelpalooza, our annual icon design contest. Every year we invite the Macintosh icon design community to pull out all the stops and send us their pixelated creations. Last year’s event drew over 140 entries from all over the world and was unquestionably our most successful contest to date.

You can probably expect to download the first contest entries by mid week, but in the meantime you can see what this year’s icon artists will be competing for on the newly updated Pixelpalooza prize page. Sponsors for this year’s event include Aladdin Systems, AnimeNation, El Gato Software, Font Diner, Fonthead Design, Griffin Technology, Macsurfshop, Microsoft, Panic, and Vizspring. Please show your support for our sponsors by clicking on their links or their badges on the prize page.

Visit often for the next two months to see the best and brightest in icon design for the Mac. There are always surprises each year, and we’re sure this year’s contest will be no different. Ladies and gentlemen, start your pixel-clicking!

Pixelpalooza On Temporary Hold

January 31, 2003

By Webmaster

We are saddened by the news this morning that the Space Shuttle Columbia has been lost upon re-entry to the earth with the apparent loss of her crew of seven. In light of this event and out of respect, we’re going to hold off the start of Pixelpalooza for a few days. We thank you for your patience and understanding. Our thoughts and prayers are with the crew’s families and NASA personnel at this time.

Flora, Fauna and More From The News Hound!

January 31, 2003

By Webmaster

Resident artist and Chief News Editor, Mindy, is pleased to announce the release of three new icon sets available today.

The first is a wacky and playful bunch of sticker icons that will brighten any desktop, and that kids will go ga-ga over – funkAmals! These clever critters share the lime light with Flowers, a set of hand-illustrated exotic flower icons that pop off the desktop and will put you in touch with nature. But that’s not all! Mindy wants to remind everyone to swing by and pick up all-new desktop picts of the funkAmals and Flowers, so hop on it, we’ve got something for everyone!!

New Version of iPulse Clocks In

January 23, 2003

By Webmaster

Our Chief Typist, Craig Hockenberry, wants to let everyone know that the latest update to iPulse is now available for download. iPulse is a unique OS X system monitoring utility that provides feedback on many key aspects of your operating system in a clever and compact interface. Version 1.0.2 fixes several bugs as well as provides support for multi-languages. This is a free upgrade for registered users of iPulse, so go grab it people!

Tune In To The Foreman On “GeekSpeak”

January 20, 2003

By Webmaster

If you live in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado, don’t miss our resident Foreman, Gedeon Maheux, on KDNK’s computer talk show, GeekSpeak. Ged will be talking about icons (what else?) and putting in a good word for both the Iconfactory workers and the Mac community today from 12 – 1pm m.t. (2pm est). GeekSpeak’s hosts, Mark (Mac guy) and Neal (PC guy) will probably want to know which platform has cooler icons. I think we all know the answer to that already :-) Should be fun, so tune in if you are able!

Official Contest Rules Posted

January 13, 2003

By Webmaster

That’s right folks, there isn’t much time until the official start of Pixelpalooza 2003, and so we’re pleased to announce that the official rules and submission guidelines have now been posted for review. We can’t stress enough how important it is that you read and understand the rules of the contest prior to sending us your entry. Look it over carefully, and if you still have questions, send us a note and we’ll do our best to help you.

The biggest changes to this year’s contest are the re-worked categories that you may enter your icons into. This year’s categories are: Mac OS X, CandyBar and Classic. Hop on over to the contest rules pages to learn all about the categories and more. Lastly, watch for the official sponsor and prize lists to be posted soon. Thanks everyone, full steam ahead!

World of Aqua 4 Has Arrived!

January 10, 2003

By Webmaster

We’re pleased to announce that resident pixel-pusher, Dave Brasgalla, has put the finishing touches on his latest freeware icon collection for Mac OS X, World of Aqua 4. This new collection contains icons from the real world, pop culture, as well as a set of imaginary text editing applications that are just plain fun. We hope you enjoy these new, freeware icons for your desktop. Hop on over and download them today.

Go Grab Them While You Can

January 8, 2003

By Webmaster

Just a quick reminder to everyone that with Pixelpalooza 2003 officially starting February 1st, we’ll be clearing out the database that holds last year’s entries very soon. So what we’re trying to say is, if you want to download any of last year’s contest entries – OS X, Illustrative or 3D, you should get yourself over to the entry pages and do it before they go bye bye. Once the database is cleared, you’ll only be able to download the winning entries from PP 2002.

Update: Although all non-winning entries are no longer available for download, we invite you to check out our Pixelpalooza winner archive that has every winning set from the eight years the contest ran from 1997 to 2004. Enjoy!

Let’s Go On A Safari!

January 7, 2003

By Webmaster

Steve has us standing and cheering with the beta release of Apple’s new browser, Safari. We’re all for competition with IE, especially if it means faster surfing under OS X and a clean UI that looks like it belongs on the Mac.

If you are a Mac webmaster and wondering how to get your site to display those cool Address bar icons (like the Iconfactory and others have) then hop on over to this support item to learn how to do it. Best to create just a 32×32 and 16×16 8-bit version however, Safari seems to have issues with 32-bit favorite icons. Easy as pie! And remember, you heard it here first!

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