Here is a July calendar for those of you who love to make your own desktop calendars, with photos or designs of your own.

This calendar graphic is available both with white text on transparent black and with black text on transparent white to make sure it works with most images.

Download 2 desktop calendar resources for July.

Tags: desktop calendar, summer, photography, graphics, desktop customization, motivation, feel-good

I’m working on a new set of classy, purple Luminous folder icons!

Purple, violet, mauve, orchid, lavender. Rich and royal. Magic, mysterious and spiritual purple. The colour of wisdom and creativity!

Don’t miss this new collection of icons! Keep an eye on the blog, or subscribe to our RSS-feed, follow us on Twitter or Facebook to keep updated!

Tags: Luminous Folder Icons, purple, violet, folder icons, color code

I just started a Marmalade Moon Facebook page, to connect with those of you who use Facebook.

I’ll be posting news about Marmalade Moon activities on the page and hope to hear your thoughts!

Tags: social networking, Facebook

Emoji (絵文字) is the Japanese term for the picture characters or emoticons used in Japanese wireless messages and webpages. Originally meaning pictograph, the word literally means e "picture" + moji "letter". — Wikipedia

Aren’t these little emoticons simply adorable!? The good news is, that you can use them on your Mac and on your iPhone or iPod touch. You just have to activate them. 

There Several Applications That Activate Emoji Icons

To activate Emoji icons, I installed Spell Number, a free utility that helps users write out numbers as in cheque writing protection and turns on Emoji icons.

There are several 99¢ Emoji enabler applications (link to App Store) in the App Store that enable Emoji icons on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Remember, Emoji only works from iPhone to iPhone.

Most of these applications simply enable Emoji icons, but there are some apps that offer a bit more functionality.

Typing Genius (link to App Store) is also a touch typing trainer.

XEmoji (link to App Store) gives you a description of each icon as well as the hex code.

Activating Emoji Icons On Your iPhone or iPod Touch

Once you have picked an application that turns on Emoji icons, follow these steps.

1. 
   Use the application for a short while to start the process. (If you are using Spell Number, here is a link to the Easter Egg code, enter the code.) Exit the application.
2. Go to Settings > General > International > Keyboards > Japanese. Turn on Emoji.
3. To use the Emoji keyboard in Mail, SMS, Notes or any other application, tap on the World/Globe key next to the space bar on your iPhone or iPod Touch keyboard.
4. The Emoji keyboard has several tabs for the different categories of icons. Scroll sideways for more icons.

How To Activate Emoji Icons For iChat

Finally, if you want to turn on Emoji icons for instant messaging in iChat, you can download Emoji for iChat by Einar Andersson & Tor Rauden Källstigen.

Tags: Emoji, icons, emoticons, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac OS X, Japan, instant messenger

Just a note to say that I posted a few more previews of the new icons for those who are curious of how the project is going!

Tags: icon design, icons

I decided to reinvent my digital life because I was feeling so overwhelmed and unenthusiastic about my work on my computer. I wanted to sharpen my focus, regain my inspiration and creativity, reignite my passion for technology, create a simple digital life and get rid of my energy drains.

I realised that the technologically-driven blurring of the lines between work and play leaves it up to me to set those boundaries myself, and to create a space for myself where I can enjoy my digital hobby activities without being reminded of work.

One of the things I did was to find a personal digital space, a digital landscape that was different from my working space. In my case it was an iPhone.

Several readers wrote to describe how they had created a separate digital canvas to stay focused, keep it simple and have fun. Or to create a barrier between work and playtime. These ideas are so smart, creative and liberating! Here’s a summary of reader’s solutions for how they’ve created a personal digital space.

1. Use two computers. One for work and one as a digital playground. Don’t install any work applications or let any work e-mails slip onto your digital playground computer!
2. Use a laptop and REALLY be mobile. Let different places give you different functions. Sit at your work desk, home office or go to a café for doing work, move to your couch for playtime and connecting online.
3. Create a separate break time area that you genuinely enjoy spending time in. It could be a coffee corner, game area, yoga space, a place for texting and chatting to friends, doing Tai Chi, workout, painting area, pen and paper on a desk, music and a comfy chair - anything that you like to do for a break. Alternate between your work area and your break area.
4. Mac users can use WriteRoom as a distraction free writing environment. WriteRoom lets you focus on writing, and when you’re done, you can re-enter your busy, distracting digital space.
5. Use a classic piece of hardware and a vintage or different operating system. One reader uses an eMate for distraction free writing. Another reader runs Mac OS 9 on a separate computer for fun and games, enjoying Illustrator 6 and Photoshop 4.0 and vintage games whilst working as a programmer on a separate computer running Mac OS X. Believe it or not, but I actually installed Windows Vista on my Mac to try out the MMO The Lord of the Rings Online. I was impressed by my Mac, and I certainly found myself undisturbed by mail and other distractions, but I was also reminded of how much I love to spend my time in Mac OSX!

How do you create a personal digital space and set boundaries between work and play?

Tags: readers, change, digital life, focus, attention, habits, freelancing, declutter, the creative process, iPhone, Mac OS X, writing, Windows, eMate