Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Unfortunate web addresses
Take two simple, seemingly innocuous words, run them together to make a web address and you get something a little more scary. Ah! The nuances of language...
1. Who Represents – where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity.
Their website is www.whorepresents.com
2. Experts Exchange – a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at
www.expertsexchange.com
3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
www.penisland.net
4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at
www.therapistfinder.com
5. There’s the Italian Power Generator company
www.powergenitalia.com
6. And don’t forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales,
www.molestationnursery.com
7. If you’re looking for IP computer software, there’s always
www.ipanywhere.com
8. The Methodist Church (in Cumming, GA) Web site is
www.cummingfirst.com
9. And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky website
www.speedofart.com
Source: babychaos.wordpress.com
Nike's latest 'write the future' spot
Nike's latest 'write the future' ad featuring Robinho aired on TV for the first time last night as Brazil beat Chile 3-0. Another classic.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Guess there really is a website for every interest...
...I just stumbled across this.
www.pylonofthemonth.org
Monday, June 21, 2010
Pimp your Macbook
Love these stickers to personalise the apple logo on your MacBook, from Stick with me baby .
An automated way to keep your monitor settings optimised
Today marks the Summer Solstice, also known as the longest (and possibly sunniest) day of the year. Are the display settings on your computer monitor ready?
F.lux, is an application that automatically adjusts the colour and brightness settings on your monitor, depending on the time of day.
After downloading and launching the app, it will ask you for your location and the type of lighting that’s in the room — tungsten, halogen, fluorescent or daylight. Based on the information, it calculates exactly when the sun sets in your area and adjusts the colour temperature of your screen to mimic the lighting in the room.
The utility is free and is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. And no worries for designers and photographers, the program can be temporarily disabled from the system whenever you need to have colours displayed accurately.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Great site for letterhead design inspiration
www.letterheady.com
(with thanks to Ariane for the heads-up)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Facebook Comments Getting a “Like” Button
There’s a small feature on the way that’s about to make another big change to the way people use Facebook: the ability to “Like” comments.
Much like you can currently “Like” status updates, wall posts and other items in the News Feed, Facebook has started rolling out a “Like” button for comments. The feature is not yet live for everyone.
The functionality is much the same as traditional “Likes.” In a blog post, Facebook writes that, “when you click ‘Like’ on a comment the commenter will receive a notification. Other people who can see the comment based on its privacy setting also will be able to see who has liked the comment.”
Already the web’s number one time sink, expect this feature to add a few more minutes per day to our collective use of Facebook.
Source: Mashable
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
the summer of the vuvuzela...
World Cup watchers can't have escaped noticing (and hearing) the brightly-coloured South African air horns called ‘vuvuzelas’ in the crowd. Love them or hate them, vuvuzelas are generating as much media attention as the tournament itself.
And now Vuvuzela 2010 has just become the most downloaded free iPhone app across Europe and in South Africa.
The app description promises to “annoy everyone in sight, in the pub, wherever… whilst watching your favourite football team etc getting thrashed”. It’s free and has iPad support for double the irritation.
G-d help us... but the good news is we could soon be able to cut out the annoying sound of the vuvuzela when we watch World Cup matches on TV. The BBC is thinking about the possibility of offering ‘vuvuzela free’ coverage via its red button after a ton of complaints.
And vuvuzelas will be banned from Wimbledon too. A spokesperson for the All England Club said: 'We have a list of prohibited items, including rattles and klaxons, and vuvuzelas will fall into that category - so the message is not to bring them.'
Monday, June 14, 2010
Most romantic gesture ever? Guy sends his beloved a chocolate-covered iPad
Stefan Magdalinski is now the front-runner in the “Guy of the Year” award for buying his wife a chocolate-covered iPad for her birthday, which he managed to get sent to South Africa.
Knowing that his beloved, @kerrching, really wanted an iPad for her birthday, Magdalinski reached out to some friends in London who were not only able to get him an iPad (it’s not yet available in South Africa), but were also able to coat it and freeze it in chocolate.
Apparently the iPad arrived in perfect condition and the chocolate coating didn't harm the iPad in any way.
I'll have a 70%-dark- chocolate-covered iPhone 4 please!
Source: Mashable
"The coolest you'll look pooping your pants"
What is it with using babies to make really bad adverts? Another one's popped up in the form of Huggies new ad for denim-patterned nappies by JWT New York, with such priceless one-liners as ”The coolest you’ll look pooping your pants", ”When it’s a number 2, I look like number 1" and "My diaper is full ... full of chic"
Brilliant virtual World Cup wall chart
Like some sort of footballing sundial, the Marca World Cup 2010 calendar lets you see games by group, team nationality, date and stadium. Just roll your mouse cursor over one of the options arranged around the dial and watch the centre spring to life with all the detail you need.
Source: Tech Digest
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
New Honda ad for CR-Z goes RGB
Here's the striking new ad for the launch of the Honda CR-Z car in Europe. It's shot in an arty, RGB style, giving it an unusual and distinctive look, particularly for the car sector. The RGB theme also links to strategy, with each colour supposedly relating to a different driving mode in the car - red being 'sport', blue 'normal' and green 'econ'. The RBG colours also appear in the dashboard lighting of the car, changing with each driving mode.
In short, it's a beautiful and striking piece of film which I'm sure will win a ton of awards, but to me, it's essentially an unintelligent ad that doesn't say another about the car itself. What is it like to drive? What are its redeeming features?
It starts to make more sense when you see some more bits of the overall campaign like the website, but still, I've come to expect more from Wieden and Kennedy's Honda ads.
I wonder what it views like through a pair of 3D specs?
Source: Creative Review
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Google Street View: Office worker prank caught on camera
Or 'Booble Earth' as The Sun puts it. A clever headline for this office worker from East Sussex, who is now all over the Internet after she spotted the Google Street View camera car driving past and rushed to the window to lift her top.
Google's World Cup Gooooooooooooooooal
We’ve seen Google change its logo for big events before, but this time it chosen to do something different.
If you search for “World Cup” in Google, you’ll get a list of the upcoming World Cup games, but if you scroll to the bottom, you’ll see that the other Google logo, stationed above the result page numbers, has changed to Goooooooal!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
A 'colourific' Pantone Hotel has opened in Brussells
The Pantone colour system (a colour scheme that's universally used by art directors and designers) has colourfully clouded my professional life ever since I can remember, and I've got to admit I'm a sucker for the merchandise spin-offs, be they business card holders or coffee mugs, and now that a new Pantone Hotel has opened, I'm more than a bit intrigued.
The seven-floor hotel, just off Avenue Louise in the Belgian capital of Brussells, has 59 rooms and suites which use one of seven Pantone colour palettes, ranging from tranquil and aquatic to daring and fiery. The hotel says it expects guests to “[choose] a room that complements their mood through colour”. The bathrooms at the hotels come with Pantone Universe toiletries.
Apparently the bar offers Pink Champagne Pantone 12-1107, Lemon Drop Pantone 12-0736 and Daiquiri Green Pantone 12-0435 cocktails, and guests can additionally meet Pantone consultants for informal colour consultations.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
iPhone 4.0: Full facts
Well here's what it looks like, though this isn't an official press photo. It's a commissioned artwork entitled 'A saviour is born'. Rather eerie.
THE FACTS:
• It's called iPhone 4, not iPhone HD.
• It's slimmer; 24% thinner than the 3GS at 9.3mm.
• Improved display. Though the screen is slightly smaller, quality is four times better. Analyst Michael Gartenberg explains: "At 326 pixels per inch, Apple has now hit the magic threshold above 300 where the retina simply can't see the individual pixels anymore. This is now the new benchmark for all devices to follow."
• Faster A4 processor.
• Improved battery life. Goddam they needed to improve that.
• A gyroscope has been added to the accelerometer in the phone, which will be great for games developers.
• Improved camera with 5 megapixel camera, LED flash and 5x zoom. Video has been updated and an official iMovie app allows editing, transitions and themes. Plus a front-facing camera is designed for video chat.
• iBooks now runs on iPhone.
• The iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad operating system is now called iOS and is approaching 100m downloads.
Watch the full presentation if you missed it.
THE VERDICT
Gartenberg could hardly contain himself: "Apple has raised the bar for the phone market once again. With a combination of new hardware and software features, iPhone sets the standard for what the state of the art smartphone experience is."
John Paczkowski on AllThingsD pointed out iPhone 4 could be a problem for Flip: "it was hard to watch Apple's demo of the device's HD video camera working in concert with iMovie Monday and not think that it's going to eat the Flip Video camcorder and Kodak's Zi8 alive as soon as it arrives at market. And things don't look much better for Google's Android 'superphones', though obviously, there's a much bigger battle to be fought there. Certainly, the company and its hardware partners have some serious work to do in the months ahead."
Fast Company said it feels like a winner, "It's eye-catchingly thin, stylish and modern, and hardware upgrades like the screen and processor give the makeover some heft. You'll want one. Everyone will want one."
Wired said it will have you drooling, but then published a comparison of iPhone 4 and the HTC Evo 4G, which has a better camera and a larger screen.
For ZDNet, the sleek design of iPhone 4 still isn't enough to better the Evo, which also has unlimited multitasking, support for Google Voice, and free navigation. And JC News Network reminds us that this isn't a 4G phone: "This new iPhone 4 doesn't mean it is a 4G phone. The only 4G phone as of the moment is the HTC EVO 4G. It is being powered by Sprint mobile that uses WiMax, the only network provider that offers 4G."
Apple’s Amazing “Hyperwall” of 10,800 Apps
If you want to understand just how huge Apple’s app store ecosystem really is, look no further than the Apple App Store “Hyperwall.”
At WWDC in San Francisco, Apple erected a video wall demonstrating the reach of the App Store. It contains 30 synchronized 24-inch LED screens that display the top 50,000 apps as they are being downloaded. In just a few minutes, the entire walls gets filled up with with 10,800 downloaded apps from around the world.
Source: Mashable
Monday, June 7, 2010
"Most Beautiful Tweet" crowned at UK's Hay Festival
The “most beautiful tweet ever tweeted” was announced at the Hay Festival, which ended yesterday, 6 June. The UK literary festival introduced the award this year, with Stephen Fry (a prolific Twitter-er with more than one and a half million followers) judging the entries.
The winning entry, by Canadian Marc MacKenzie, read: “I believe we can build a better world! Of course, it’ll take a whole lot of rock, water & dirt. Also, not sure where to put it.”
Entries were judged according to a variety of criteria including the most eloquent, most evocative or the best pun.
MacKenzie, a medical physicist, is not new to social media; he claims to be “a very early Facebook adopter”, reports CNN.
“I admire the form,” he said to CNN about Twitter. “It’s like a Web 2.0 haiku. I like the challenge of Twitter-- if brevity is the soul of wit, forcing the compacting for a humorous idea into 140 characters encourages economy and getting to the essence of what you want to say.”
Source: Design Taxi
Google Doodles
Visitors to the site on certain days may have found illustrations celebrating the 30th anniversary of Pacman (May 21 2010), UK election day (May 6, 2010), and Earth Day (May 2, 2010).
Google update their logos throughout the world on a continual basis but since Google has many different homepages in just as many languages, these Google Doodles are all customised to their specific native language and country, and the events that are happening in their culture.
The Google Doodles homepage shows each and every one of them in chronological order, and works out to be a nice piece of visual history
Friday, June 4, 2010
WorkSnug: Find Places to Work With Your iPhone
If you don't already know about it, WorkSnug is a fantastic website and iPhone app that allows you to find wifi locations available nearby from Starbucks to independent cafes, to libraries and shared offices, complete with reviews describing the atmosphere, power situation and coffee quality.
The idea behind WorkSnug is to build a community of mobile workers who can add reviews and tips about their favourite places to work when out and about. Just what you might have dreamed about as a mobile worker (and that’s everybody now, right?).
Two especially nice features in the WorkSnug Pro iPhone app are:
1. It uses 'augmented reality' to show nearby workspaces. What that means is, it uses your iPhone's camera to show your current surroundings, and its internal compass to overlays that live picture with pop-up information in the right places. A bit like Arnie's vision in the Terminator films!
2. It includes a decibel meter, so you can take noise readings, view and share them with other users. By doing this, WorkSnug are building up a noise-level history to help you choose the right workspace for you.
WorkSnug currently covers London, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Brussels, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Leiden and Brighton.
www.worksnug.com
Status update as a billboard: London likes Makers Mark tube ad
The Facebook 'like' button hits London billboards… a cheap trick or a clever concept?
Source: Nathan Macdonald's blog
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Google Web Fonts
Exciting news for any web designers / developers, Google have announced an open source font directory and font API offering a range of fonts that are available to use on any website. The fonts are hosted on google servers and all you need to do to use them on your own site is embed a simple link tag referencing the font you want to use. It couldn't be simpler and means that there's no complicated font-embedding and that you have 18 new fonts to play with, that really aren't half bad.
Via: Alex Peterson, Pixel Air
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Amazing - a Mac printer made from Lego and a felt-tip pen
... and it seems to be far less exasperating than my own printer.
Brilliant idea: Dutch Football Federation 2010 FIFA World Cup T-shirt
Concept by Bas and Daan studying at the Willem de Kooning Advertising School in Rotterdam.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Support England in the World Cup by creating your own England shirt and getting a squad number, thanks to the Football Association (FA)'s new Facebook
More than 2,000 people have already joined the virtual squad including Stephen Fry (no. 30), Tim Lovejoy (26) and JLS (46). The England players themselves are numbers 1 to 23.
To join the ‘official England squad' and create your own shirt complete with name and number (that can also be posted as your profile picture if you so wish), click here.
Unashamed iPad London love - see how the UK iPad launch took London by storm
Watch this video to see why Londoners were prepared to queue for up to 16 hours to get hold of their own Apple iPad. Also find out what Stephen Fry has to say about his new gadget.
From Brand Republic
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