We pass by buildings, structures and landmarks every single day during our daily commute but rarely do we appreciate the hidden beauty the urban jungle has to offer us like Jared Lim does. A photographer based in Singapore, Jared has a fascination with geometry and patterns, curves and lines and this passion, as you can see below, is reflected in his captured work.

Let’s take a look at some of Jared’s geometrical urban photography to try to appreciate these architectural works of beauty through his lenses. For more of his work or to show him some support or appreciation for his talents, check out his website and his Facebook page.

Recommended Reading: Architecture Photography: Beauty Of Interior And Exterior Designs

Fractal reflection

Orange

Heat waves

Rhythmic displacement

Color zone

Diagonal path

Cellumination

Origami

Flat design has been a tremendously hot topic for the last couple of months, and we have also discussed it several times in our previous posts. And if we now take a look at websites and mobile apps around, some of them are flatter – no shadows, textures, fake leather and gradients.

The design looks simpler, spacious and has less distraction. It lets you focus on the content, which is the thing that matters most to users. I wonder what will come after this trend?

Check out: Ultimate Guide To Flat Website Design

Recently, there is a little new trend emerging in the design community, which I assume started off when designers were trying to fix iOS 7 outlandish icons. Jeff Escalante, the one who initiate this trend discussion, called it Long Shadow Design.

He outlined that the “Long Shadow” design has some typical characteristics: the shadow extends at an approximately 45-degree angle, and has the size of 2.5 times of the object. Here’s an example.

As you can see above, the result is fascinating. The shadow gives a sense of depth, yet still maintains the flat look of the object. It’s tricky to achieve such long shadow effect only using CSS3.

However, we also don’t know whether this Long Shadow design, will take off as a future trend or not. To me, it is more logical and sensible to be applied for icons and logos. It might look awkward and feel inappropriate to have this kind of shadow all over.

In the mean time, here are some more “Long Shadow” design examples that we have put together for your inspiration.

Apple Logo by Eldin Heric.

Skype by JustD.

Camera by Jacob Cummings.

Maxton Browser by Livin.

Batman by Hawk Jon.

Camera by Slava Breskovniy.

iOS7 Safari by Mitchell Pash.

Music by Jacob Cummings.

Dribbble by Xalion.

Flat Club by miguelcm.

Man of Steel by Kreativa Studio.

Internet Explorer by Thomas Snop.

Minions by Michael Burns.

Mo by Mogo.

North Side Fitness Steve Testone.

Personal Logo by Eldin Heric.

PressPad by Bart Zimny.

iTunes Radio by plicploc.

Rubee by Ben Lee.

Motherfuton News by Noah Stoke.

Safari Icon by Jacob Cummings.

Setting Icon by Marin Sotirov.

Twitter iOS7 by Frederik Samuel.

The Punisher by Brett Carel.

Social Flat Icons by Graphic Burger.

Download Button by Juns.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to share it in the comment box below.

Kids born into the tablet generation are exposed to more gadgets, devices and Internet tools than any other generation before theirs. Toddlers can navigate their way in a mobile device like a duck takes to water but they have little to no way of knowing how to be responsible with what they do to the contents of tablets and smartphones.

Anyone who has had lent a child a these devices would sometimes find apps missing, or files displaced, or even worse new purchases that were made without parental or the owner’s consent. While it is necessary to talk to them about handling these gadgets more responsibly, you can always fall back on the options available in iOS devices to better handle these mishaps.

Here are 5 tricks you can turn your iOS devices kid-friendly (applicable for iOS 6 and above).

Recommended Reading: 10 Parental Control Apps For Mac

1. Block In-App Purchases

If you have a lot of games on your iOS devices (who doesn’t?) you will need this. With your credit card linked to your Apple ID, you really don’t want to make a purchase as easy as tapping a button, especially when the person tapping it does not understand what a ‘purchase’ means.

To block in-app purchases:

1. Tap on Settings > General > Restrictions.
2. If this is your first time using restrictions feature, tap on Enable Restrictions.
3. You will be asked to set a 4-digit passcode. Enter the passcode twice for confirmation.
4. Scroll down until you see the ‘Allowed Content’ section.
5. Under ‘In-App Purchases’ toggle it OFF.

Future purchases will require the use of the passcode you have just set to proceed.

2. Disable iTunes, Installing & Deleting Apps

If you are afraid that your kids might accidentally delete off some of your apps or download paid apps without you knowing, you can avoid that disabling this feature under iTunes.

To disable app installation and/or deletion:

1. Go to Settings > General > Restrictions.
2. Under Allow, turn OFF iTunes.
3. Turn OFF Installing Apps and/or Deleting Apps.

When you turn all 3 features, the icon for iTunes and App Store will disappear from your home screen, thus making the feature inaccessible.

3. Disable Safari and Protect Data

To make your device more kid-friendly, you can disable more features under the Restrictions option. You can toggle OFF Safari, so that your kid can’t visit any website via the browser while they are on the device.

To protect data inside your Mail, Contacts and Calendars, under the ‘Accounts’ section, set your accounts settings to ‘Don’t Allow Changes‘.

4. Set Up YouTube Account

YouTube has a lot of great content for kids and is a favorite place for kids to find animation, music, videos and the likes online. It is best to set up an account for your child. From there, you can make a video playlist of content you think are suitable for their consumption. This will also protect your own playlist from being unintentionally tampered with.

As an added step, before handing the device to the kids to watch, enable Guided Access, so you can disable other parts of the screen to make sure they can’t leave the YouTube app, and wander elsewhere unsupervised.

5. Create iTunes Account

Not only can you give them a YouTube account, you can also create an iTunes account in their name. Then, you can either set an allowance for their app purchases, or gift them the app. With this you can control and monitor what they spend on in iTunes.

For children who are more mature with their activities online, this is also a good way to allow them to manage their own set of apps, without a credit card linked to the account. Note that if you are sharing a device with your kid, you will need to swap between accounts.

Summary

The tricks listed above are not foolproof especially against tech savvy kids who will undoubtedly one day outdo you when it comes to handling gadgets and mobile devices. So if the abovementioned methods do not work, you can always fall back on getting them to seek for your permission before they do anything on your devices.

Do note however that keeping your gadgets in working order is not as important as regularly checking in on your child‘s activities online. Keeping an open communication style allows them to speak to an adult if they have questions, or whenever that need arises.

What about you? What are your methods in handling gadgets around users of much younger ages?