The Breakroom • A blog for the Iconfactory

“Something wicked this way comes.”

October 7, 2009

That’s right folks, it’s October again which means we’ve flipped the spooky switches and engaged creepy mode here at the Iconfactory in anticipation of our all-time favorite holiday, Halloween. If you’re new to these parts then you should know we just love costume parties, trick or treating and serving up all kinds of ghostly goodies for our visitors.

The weeks ahead hold new desktop pictures, icons and spooky surprises, but this week we’re proud to kick off our eerie celebration with the release of two new add-on packs for Ramp Champ. The Iconfactory & DS Media Labs have teamed up to bring you all new downloadable content for our super-fun skee-ball game for the iPhone and iPod touch. The Voyage pack features astronauts, aliens and scurvy pirates, oh my! Of course we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention our tribute to ghastly ghouls with the release of the Halloween pack that puts you in the middle of a spooky graveyard and on the doorstep of a haunted house, all in search of targets and collectable tickets. Ramp Champ is available in the App Store now for just $1.99 and add-on packs like Halloween and Voyage can be purchased in-app for just 99

Announcing iPulse 2.1.10 for Snow Leopard

October 3, 2009

By Webmaster

We’re pleased to announce an important update to iPulse, our popular Mac OS X monitoring utility. iPulse 2.1.10 fixes several bugs related to Apple’s Snow Leopard operating system (10.6) and is recommended for all iPulse users. For a complete list of what’s new, head on over to the iPulse version history page. Registered users of iPulse can update their copy to version 2.1.10 for free.

We invite you to download iPulse and try it out free of charge. If you enjoy knowing what’s going on under Mac OS X’s hood via a fully customizable GUI, then iPulse is the tool for you.

Introducing Refresh- Snow Leopard

September 28, 2009

By Webmaster

Unless you’ve been living on a desert island then you probably know Apple’s latest operating system, Snow Leopard, recently shipped to the Mac nation. The new version of the OS brought with it awesome feature improvements and subtle graphical refinements.

Now Iconfactory artist Dave Brasgalla is pleased to bring you an all-new style of Refresh Folder icons based on the colors and visual sensibilities of Snow Leopard. This set of over 20 graphical folder icons is easy to use and just waiting for you to download. Head on over and grab Refresh Snow Leopard as a handy CandyBar iContainer or for your Mac or Windows PC today.

The Flurry Continues

September 18, 2009

By Webmaster

We’re pleased to bring you Louie Mantia and David Lanham’s second installment in their iPhone style system replacement set, Flurry System. This time around the duo have teamed up and created over 70 application icons that you can use to help give the rest of your computer desktop an iPhone makeover.

With a plethora of application replacements such as BBEdit, Things, Firefox, Xcode and more, Flurry Extras contains something for everyone. Don’t miss the attention to detail Louie & David have crafted into this huge set of freeware icons. Surf on over and download Flurry Extras for your Mac or Windows PC today. The set’s iContainer also means setting dozens of application icons is a snap with Panic’s new Candybar 3.2.1 for Snow Leopard. If you’re a Mac user, be sure to check it out.

New Pixels at Stockicons.com

September 17, 2009

By Webmaster

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of new royalty-free Web Collections at stockicons.com. With concepts like chat, security, news, polls, forum and others these icons are perfect for your online applications.

The web collections come with 26 unique icons and are our most affordable stock icon products yet at $89 each. This latest collection is currently available in five of our most popular styles and will be coming to other styles in the near future. Like all sets from stockicons.com they include sizes from 16×16 pixels to 512×512 pixels in six formats as well as scalable vector files for your high resolution needs. Also included are free trial downloads, secure ordering and our friendly responsive technical support!

Drop by stockicons.com today to check out the new web collections and add some much deserved flair to your web application, blog or social network.

A Flurry of Icons for Your Mac!

September 15, 2009

By Webmaster

There’s no doubt that Apple’s iPhone has taken the mobile industry by storm. This week, that storm takes the shape of our latest freeware icon release. Inspired by the familiar forms and functions of the iPhone and iPod touch, comes Flurry System for your desktop.

This massive set of 100 icons covers the basics for a system makeover that any fan of Steve Jobs’ “pocket computer” will love. Artists Louie Mantia & David Lanham have produced a set of icons so large we had to split it into multiple sets. Today’s release covers Mac OS X’s system icons, replacement hard drives and even iPhone style replacements for Apple’s own applications. All of these should get you well on your way to giving your Mac or PC desktop iPhone envy. Tune in for Flurry Extras in the days ahead for even more application replacement icons.

So don’t just sit there, head on over and download Flurry System as standard Mac or PC icons or as a super easy to use iContainer. iContainers take only seconds to apply and are designed to work with Panic’s Candybar which was recently updated to version 3.2.1. for Snow Leopard compatibility. Enjoy!

Ramp Champ v 1.0.1 Fixes Crashes

September 6, 2009

By Webmaster

We’re pleased to announce that Ramp Champ, the new addictive arcade game from the Iconfactory & DS Media Labs, has been updated to version 1.0.1. This latest version fixes crashes that some users experienced in 1.0 and also improves performance on 1st generation devices. We encourage all users of Ramp Champ to visit iTunes either on their mobile device or via the desktop and update to v 1.0.1 today.

Ramp Champ is available now from the App Store for $1.99. Additional Ramp Packs can be purchased in-game for just 99

IconBuilder 8.5.2 for Snow Leopard

September 2, 2009

By Webmaster

Announcing the immediate release of IconBuilder 8.5.2 for use with Adobe Photoshop and Mac OS X. This latest update to our professional Photoshop & Fireworks filter for creating icons on the Macintosh, now fully supports Apple’s latest operating system. A number of problems have been addressed in this latest release:

Fixed a crash on 10.6 when copying grid into Photoshop layer
Fixes for missing icons and color shifts while importing on Snow Leopard
IconExaminer: Fixed problem reading ICO files with invalid dimensions
More fixes & improvements

It is important to note that IconBuilder 8.5.2’s minimum system requirements have changed from 10.3.9 (Panther) to 10.4 (Tiger). In addition, this newest version has removed support for the older plug-in formats used by Photoshop 7, CS, CS2 and Elements. Adobe Photoshop or Fireworks CS3 & CS4 are now required to run IconBuilder.

IconBuilder v.8.5.2 is available today for Mac OS X for $79.00 USD. Registered users of IconBuilder 8.5 are entitled to a free update.

Candybar Updated for Snow Leopard

August 28, 2009

By Webmaster

Apple’s long awaited OS upgrade, Snow Leopard, hits store shelves starting tomorrow. The list of updates and improvements is impressive and is sure to have Mac fans smiling from ear to ear.

Right in step with Apple’s Snow Leopard, Panic has released an update to Candybar, the icon organization and collection app that icon lovers everywhere have come to rely on. Candybar 3.2 offers a host of updates including:

Added the “Server” folder icon
“System Icons” view loads much faster
Fixed an issue with ICO exporting
Improved scrolling
Other fixes & improvements

Candybar for Mac OS X is available for $29. Version 3.2 is a free upgrade to registered users and is available now for download from Panic’s website. Head on over to learn more information or to try out the program for free.

IconBuilder for Snow Leopard in Beta Test

August 27, 2009

By Webmaster

As we all eagerly await a shiny new version of Mac OS X, we need to let you know about some potential issues with our popular tool for building icons for both Mac and Windows.

One of the many improvements in Snow Leopard is the way that images are managed internally. Since IconBuilder accesses these images in complex ways while generating icons, some functions of the current version have been affected:

Copying the resource grid back into the Photoshop layer will cause a crash.
Importing an icon will not read in the 512×512 and 256×256 pixel resource.
Colors shift when importing 32-bit icons.

All of these problems have been fixed in an update we’re currently beta testing.

It’s unfortunate that we don’t have the fix available for the day of release, but since IconBuilder is such an important part of our daily client work, it’s difficult to test beta releases in our production environment. It’s only been recently that Adobe has even commented on the suitability of CS4 and
CS3 on Snow Leopard.

If you rely on IconBuilder for your own client work, we recommend that you hold off on upgrading until the new version is released for Snow Leopard. We promise it will be a short wait, as we’re all anxious to put this great new release on our Macs! :-)

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