The Breakroom

All aboard the Polar Express!

December 12, 2006

By Webmaster

Preview

“On Christmas Eve many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets. I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound – a sound a friend had told me I’d never hear – the ringing bells of Santa’s sleigh.” So begins Chris Van Allsburg’s classic tale of wonder, belief, and a trip to the North Pole.

The Polar Express is Iconfactory artist Anthony Piraino’s latest freeware release, based on the 2004 film version of the story. From the Conductor’s hat to the bell from Santa’s sleigh, this set will add a little of the spirit of Christmas to your desktop. The Polar Express is available today for your Mac, PC or as a handy Pixadex iContainer. Merry Christmas!

Microsoft, Apple, and an Icon

December 11, 2006

By Webmaster

As we were skimming through the servers stats this morning we noticed an unusual spike and started investigating. You may have read an entry at Daring Fireball yesterday pointing out the apparent misappropriation of an Apple icon on Microsoft’s ordering page for Windows Vista Business. We scoured our referral logs and discovered that a post about it at theappleblog had hit Digg and the comments on both were beginning to fill with wild speculation.

We thought we should post a quick blurb to respond to most of the comments referencing us. We had nothing to do with the icon in question. To our knowledge it is an Apple icon that has been used in Mac OS X Server software for years and was created by designers at Apple.

That’s about it. Nothing more to see here. Move along please. Thanks!

“The Night of Meat”

December 11, 2006

By Webmaster

WARNING: if you are a vegetarian then we advise you to skip this post. Nothing to see here, move along. But if you enjoy a good hearty steak, or just about any other mouth watering cut of meat you can think of, then this one is for you!

Each year around this time, the workers get themselves psyched up for our annual Christmas dinner which is affectionately called “The night of meat”. The Greensboro crew and their families will be heading out to Leblon Churrascaria Brazilian Steakhouse. What’s so special about this dining occasion you ask? The answer is hard to put into words since our mouths are usually filled with delicious food. Basically, the gauchos bring pit-cooked meat on skewers and hand cut portions for you all night long. From flank steak and leg of lamb to top sirloin and beef tenderloin, its a meat eaters heaven. They even have a clever system to avoid confusion when serving consisting of place cards that have a green “give me more!” symbol on one side, and a red “I’ll never eat meat again” symbol on the other. That’s an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

If you are ever in Greensboro, we highly recommend Leblon, the service is great and the bang for the buck cannot be beat. Just don’t be tempted by the salad bar… more croutons now means less prime rib later! Now if you’ll excuse us, we have to go prepare ourselves mentally. When we finish we usually feel like Joey from that episode of Friends where he eats the entire turkey.

Bits and Bobs of 2006

December 7, 2006

By Webmaster

Preview

We’re pleased to announce the QuickPix 2006 Icon Collection consisting of all the individual QuickPix released this past year. If you missed any particular QuickPix icon in the past 365 days, now you can grab this handy set and complete your collection. QuickPix in 2006 ranged from hardware icons like Apple’s MacBook laptops and Nintendo’s slick Wii console drive, to less serious affairs like Leonard Nimoy’s Head and Shakey, the friendly beverage. We hope you enjoyed our efforts to bring some fun to your desktop and hope you’ll stick around for all new QuickPix starting in 2007.

Safety Dance!

December 6, 2006

By Webmaster

Judging by yesterday’s traffic and piles of great comments, it seems like being safe when playing the Wii is the new black. With tens of thousands of people viewing the Missing Wii Safety manual pages we posted on Flickr, we thought there might be a few visitors who would enjoy plastering those absurd diagrams all over their computer desktops.

So we are pleased to bring you the Wii Safety desktop pictures in two amazing colors (teal and ecru) just in time for the holidays. When your friend unwraps that Wii he’s been wanting on Christmas morning, be sure to download and set his desktop to one of these helpful images, lest he jump out of a plane with a game console on his back. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Wii Safety: The Missing Pages

December 5, 2006

By Webmaster

Preview

If you have not read or seen the recent hilarious posting by Kotaku about Nintendo’s Safety Manual from Japan, go take a look. Once you do, this entire post will make much more sense.

Thanks to one of our clients in Japan, who just happens to work for one of the printing companies Nintendo regularly uses, we are pleased to be able to bring you scans of some of the missing diagrams from the Wii Safety Manual. These helpful instructions somehow got cut from the final, shipping version but are no less important when it comes to proper handling of the Wii. Head on over to our Flickr page to check them out, but be prepared, the Japanese have a strange sense of humor.

UPDATE: Okay, we cannot tell a lie. We made it all up! But can you blame us really? It was begging to be done. :-)

UPDATE 2: Be sure to grab the ultra swanky Wii Safety desktop pictures in two amazing colors (teal and ecru) for your computer desktop!

Digg It!

The Ghost of Christmas Icons Past

December 3, 2006

By Webmaster

With December 25th fast approaching, we know you’ve been looking high and low for some festive holiday icons to help put you and your desktop in the mood. Perhaps you long for that one, perfect Christmas desktop picture that will finally get those sugar plums dancing at night. You are in luck because we’ve been serving up fun holiday treats year after year and the stash is sure to bring a smile to even the Grinch’s face.

A generic search for Christmas related entries reveals many items that you might find of interest. Among them are some of our favorite icon sets including A Christmas Story from Anthony, World of Aqua Christmas from Dave and Frosty the Snowman from Mindy. Desktop pictures more your cup of egg nog? No problem! Check out Ged’s Alpine set or Mindy’s fun Rudy and Criscow picts.

Users of our popular iPulse system monitoring utility will find several holiday jackets just waiting to decorate their desktops including Snowflake from Talos and Star from Corey. Who says system stats have to be cold and calculating?

Whatever your fancy this December we’re willing to bet we’ve got something in our stocking that will light a smile on your face and get you decking the halls. You just have to look. Have fun!

Renaissance Finance Released

November 30, 2006

By Webmaster

Stockicons.com has released the latest collection in the popular Renaissance family of royalty-free stock icons. Renaissance Finance extends the original collection into the realm of finance and commerce with icons covering concepts such as transactions, credit, interest, and more. We are also pleased to release this new collection as scalable EPS files for use in large format, print and web applications. Renaissance Finance is available today for $179 and Finance EPS is available for $129.

Open the Window

November 28, 2006

By Webmaster

Preview

Our freeware icon set release this week is a simple set of all-purpose icons that will come in handy for Mac and Windows users alike. This set of Every Day icons covers typical desktop categories like music, pictures, travel and more and has been rendered in the popular and energetic style of our Xpressionism stock icon family. Perfect for use on the desktop, we encourge you to download and check it out!

Gobble! Gobble!

November 22, 2006

By Webmaster

The Iconfactory is closing up for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and will be back to our normal pixel-pushing routine this coming Monday, the 27th. Online orders and support will of course continue so feel free to order that copy of Pixadex you’ve always wanted. It makes a great stocking stuffer!

We wish everyone on the road or in the skies, a safe journey to your destination this week. Enjoy the time away from work with friends and family and eat some yummy turkey for us while you’re at it! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!