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Hipster and fellow Plexus designer, Andrew, sent me a link to a pretty cool pattern generator simply called BgPatterns. In a matter of minutes - seconds really - you can generate a tiled Web background with your choice of colors (two), and a small selection of textures and graphics. Your graphical options are somewhat limited but given how easy it is to use, the limitations can be overlooked.

Recently created and top rated patterns can be viewed and saved once you've signed up for an account. You can also rise to the challenge of creating and submitting a design of your own.

If you like what you see and find the generator useful, please consider donating to the cause.

If you work in the world of digital media you are probably used to third party apps and resource sites designed to make your job easier. For all you site designers, here's one that will save you time, and in the long run, money.

ColorSchemer rocks my world. In short, it is a color scheme generator with several different avenues for creating web-safe color palettes. Need color inspiration for a new site design? Check out the Scheme Gallery with pages upon pages of pre-existing schemes uploaded by other designers. Working from photos or existing graphics? You can drag and drop your photo in the PhotoSchemer window and view an auto generated palette based on the image. How cool is that?

Print designers beware, there are no CMYK values available (for obvious reasons) but you can still generate a color palette for reference.

You will have to purchase ColorSchemer Studio for $49.99 after your 15-day trial expires but that's a small price to pay to save time and headaches.

Last week I celebrated the big four-O. For you young ones: don't sweat it. Not only was it painless (except for the tattoo), it was fun!

But that's not why I'm writing. This message is for the penny-pinching, coupon-clipping, trashcan-diving (Kelly!) masses...the ones that appreciate finding a good deal and getting things for free. Beginning a week or so before my birthday, I started getting email notifications and coupons in the mail wishing me well and offering up savings. Banana Republic sent two $15 off coupons and Sephora emailed a reminder to pick up my free 2.5 oz Vanilla Cupcake Bath & Shower Bubbles. And the coupons are still coming!

Spoofee.com has a comprehensive list of restaurants offering free food or service on your birthday. You should check with the restaurant before ordering, just in case. Cold Stone Creamery will send you a coupon for free ice cream on your big day just for creating an account...so will Baskin-Robbins. If you have kids, register for coupons at Chuck E. Cheese and they will email you a coupon for 20 free tokens on your child's big day.

Make sure you register several months prior to your birthday so you can reap the rewards of having survived another year. There aren't a lot of benefits to getting older, you might as well take what you can get. Enjoy! And Happy Birthday!

I'll be the first to admit I don't ride the tech wave as aggressively as I should. I'm more inclined to sit on the beach and watch my Plexus cohorts catch a big one or crash and burn. But the introduction of iTunes U inspired me to grab a longboard and hit the water.

I won't bother with a recap of iTunes...if you've found your way to this blog post you are already well aware of the density of its offerings. iTunes U adds a whole new dimension to iTunes through its selection of educational and cultural videos, lectures, interviews, language lessons, audiobooks and teaching materials. For free!

You can search by category (history, science, fine art, etc.), by provider (Yale, American Public Media, Carnegie Mellon University and more), by top download ("Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" by Randy Pausch or a panel discussion titled "Carbon Neutrality: Does it Make Sense?"

iTunes already afforded us portable entertainment by making music, movies, TV shows, apps, podcasts and books highly accessible and affordable. But now we can just as easily take an audio trip to Segovia, learn about childcare in Germany or explore the work of Richard Serra.

Kinda makes you wanna grab your own board, doesn't it?

Last night my barely 4-year-old son disappeared from the bathtub. I found him in our office – naked and soapy – at the computer. When I asked him what he was doing he said he wanted to "get online and look for mermaids." Surprised by his response I asked if he knew what "online" meant. "Yes. It's when you go get on the computer and look for stuff."

I haven't fully processed the enormity of his actions. I don't mean that in a my-kid-is-the-next-Steve-Jobs sort of way...I mean it in a times-have-really-changed kind of way. He sees photos and watches movies of himself on Flickr and Vimeo. For all he knows he's as famous as J-Lo. I'll take his picture or make a movie and he immediately wants to see it. There's no waiting to shoot the entire roll then forgetting about it until 6 months later when you finally get around to processing the film. Life is very immediate for him. He and his friends won't grow up with any real understanding of delayed gratification. It's not bad, just different.

I was a junior in college when I first got my hands on a computer in AutoCAD class. The following year I typed my senior thesis on a Mac Classic and saved it to a 2.25" floppy disc. Design basics were taught with a pencil and straight edge. That was then. Now I go days without writing anything. I pay my bills online because writing a check is too time consuming.

I dare to imagine the kind of world my son will know. It might be filled with things I don't care to think about but it will be surely be filled with magic and invention as well. How will technology evolve in 20 years? How will he get around? How will he communicate with us and with his friends? It is beyond my capacity to envision but I'm glad to be a part of such an ever changing world. Here's to keeping up!