November 2007
85 posts
Layer Tennis: Week 10 →
This week’s match is being called “The Clash in Flash,” and I have to admit: the animation makes for a very fun match. The serve this week is one of the best serves since Steven Harrington’s a few weeks back.
Uncluttering with Twitter →
Alex Payne, a twitter developer, guest-writes for Unclutterer:
Twitter is a great way to keep up with friends and family, but it can also be a great way to keep up with everything going on in your life without cluttering things up with sticky notes, emails, and other junk. Clever developers have come up with extensions to Twitter’s functionality purpose–built for notes, events, reminders, and...
Coudal Partners: Laboratory Conditions →
It’s hard to put my finger on what exactly I find appealing about this 5-part series, but the subject of this mini-documentary must be an interesting guy to know.
The Year's Best Music Was... →
NPR’s All Songs Considered blog wants me to look back over the past year and answer these five questions:
What was your biggest surprise album of the year? Panda Bear’s Person Pitch. A notable departure from his previous work, and if I didn’t know any better, at times I could swear it was the Beach Boys. Amazing album.
What was your biggest letdown? This one is easy. Rilo...
From 1901: What May Happen in the Next 100 Years →
This picture was taken from a 1901 Ladies’ Home Journal that included predictions of what the world would look like 100 years later. Some of them are pretty accurate:
Telephones Around the World. Wireless telephone and telegraph circuits will span the world. A husband in the middle of the Atlantic will be able to converse with his wife sitting in her boudoir in Chicago. We will be...
Amazon's Top 100 Editor's Picks →
And so begins my favorite time of year: the “Best Music of the year” lists. Amazon seems to be a little early, but they’ve highlighted some decent music. A few notably curious choices and glaring omissions aside, it’s just an OK list overall.
Personally, I don’t think Feist’s The Reminder is worthy of the no. 1 spot; not only were there better albums released...
Judge tells record labels to cough up download... →
Eric Bangeman:
In a ruling issued yesterday, Judge Robert M. Levy ordered the record labels to provide Marie Lindor with the expenses incurred for each of the 38 songs at issue in the case, writing that Lindor’s request may “lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.”
At issue here is whether the $750-$150,000 statutory damages sought by the RIAA are excessive. Given that...
Couch Surfing →
How it works:
The core activity of the organization is exchange of accommodation. […] Acting as a surfer (guest), a traveler may search for and request accommodation at his or her destination. Accommodation is entirely consensual between the host and surfer, and the duration, nature, and terms of the surfer’s stay are generally worked out in advance to the convenience of both...
NPR : 'Sesame Street' Reissues Not for Kids →
I never expected to read this when I heard Sesame Street was reissuing early episodes:
Early episodes of Sesame Street are being released on DVD — with a warning that they are intended for grown-ups and may not suit the needs of today’s preschoolers.
And after watching this clip from an early episode, I can only assume these episodes “may not suite the needs of today’s...
Signs You're a Crappy Programmer (and don't know... →
I see more people exhibiting these signs on a daily basis than I care to admit. (via)
How Much Music Can Google Find?
Google can find almost anything. In fact, I’m fairly certain Google can find your lost dog if you know the right keywords. So when OiNK was shutdown and OiNK himself made the comment that his website was no different from Google, I got to thinking: is it really possible to find the music you want using only Google? After a few informal tests, it seems that it is possible to find most of what...
A List Apart: Understanding Web Design →
Jeffery Zeldman writes a winner:
Web design is not book design, it is not poster design, it is not illustration, and the highest achievements of those disciplines are not what web design aims for. Although websites can be delivery systems for games and videos, and although those delivery systems can be lovely to look at, such sites are exemplars of game design and video storytelling, not of web...
The Rise of the micro-app →
Adam Keys on apps like Foamee and Band Named:
I hope this turns into a trend-buzz-meme thing. The world needs more apps that aim to just help you out now and then, not ones that want to become your task management, knowledge capture workflow mega-gizmo-jobby. Better yet, apps that are loosely coupled via infrastructure you’re already using (Flickr, Twitter, OpenID, etc.) taste great.
...
Mark Cuban to ISPs: block all P2P traffic →
Well, isn’t this special:
In an open letter to Internet service providers published earlier this week, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban calls for telecoms to put an end to peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing. Cuban expresses concerns that P2P “freeloaders” are clogging the tubes with commercial content. His letter doesn’t focus on piracy, however, and instead primarily...
Thanksgiving →
I’m headed down to my parent’s house today for Thanksgiving. Posting will be sporadic at best until I return (although I will continue tweeting). Have a good holiday (if you’re celebrating), and I’ll be back Monday!
Official 'Cloverfield' Trailer →
I linked to a crappy cam version of this trailer a few days ago, but here’s the real deal. I hope this movie delivers on the build-up in these trailers…
yewknee.com mixes →
Although he doesn’t know it, I partially credit Michael Eads, AKA yewknee, with my musical curiosity. The man has near-perfect taste and always has an ear to the ground for new sounds.
He routinely puts together mixes and stores them here for safe keeping. They almost always with a theme, and almost always contain something you haven’t heard before. Please consider all of them...
Stuff You Didn’t Know, Debunked →
Nostrich proves that a number of the fun facts to which I linked in my previous post are either wrong or a half-truth at best. I’m glad someone looked up this stuff, since I was far too lazy to do it myself.
Let this be a lesson to you, kids: don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
Stuff You Didn’t Know →
A list of some seriously random factoids, including…Almonds are members of the peach family and A pregnant goldfish is called a twit. Who knew?
Update: Make sure you check out this post after reading the fun “facts.”
Frenzic for iPhone/iPod touch →
Oh. My. God. So. Awesome.
Reading Tea Leaves and Campaign Logos →
A designer’s take on the 2008 presidential campaign posters. Interesting.
How Many HTML Elements Can You Name in 5 Minutes? →
The quiz includes only elements within the HTML 4 spec, but I managed to get 51. Not terrible, but not great either. (via)
Overly-broad copyright law has made USA a "nation... →
Nate Anderson, writing for Ars:
Tehranian’s paper points out just how pervasive copyright has become in our lives. Simply checking one’s e-mail and including the full text in response could be a violation of copyright. So could a tattoo on Tehranian’s shoulder of Captain Caveman—and potential damages escalate when Tehranian takes off his shirt at the university pool and engages...
A Theme's Tale
As I write this, I’ve released three themes to the Tumblr community, and designed at least 6 more that were either used on cubicle17 or shelved. Some of these themes took less than a day to create, others took a week or two, but all of them followed a similar process. Let me tell you about that process.
Initial Sketch
I don’t know if other designers do this, but I absolutely must...
On the complexity of personal computers →
Well said, Kottke; I can only assume you are responding to this astounding bit of jackassery.
4 iPhone Twitter Clients Battle it Out →
My second article for MacApper ran this morning, and it gives a quick rundown of four mobile Twitter clients for the iPhone/iPod touch. My opinion? Hahlo is the way to go.
Give the article a quick read, let me know what you think.
Chicago Type →
From the “About This Project”:
I just moved to Chicago. In May of 2006. I’m a graphic
designer, and I can’t help but snap pictures of cool or
quirky type. And there’s plenty of it in Chicago.
He’s not kidding, and he’s showcasing a lot of it here.
Layer Tennis: Week 8 →
I finally got around to checking out this week’s Layer Tennis match, and this is easily one of best matches yet. Although the competitors stumbled a little on volleys 6 through 8, I think volleys 1-5 are the best of any match so far.
It’s hard to say who won, but I think I’d have to cast my vote for Aaron Draplin since he seemed more consistent overall.
House Passes 'Restore Act' with No Immunity... →
Here’s some quick background: telecoms collect data and hand that data to the NSA. People are pissed about it and filing lawsuits claiming their privacy has been invaded (and rightfully so, in my opinion).
The Restore Act “facilitates broad surveillance of foreign terror group while restoring the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court’s oversight of communications between...
New Monospaced Font: Droid Sans Mono →
Lately, I’ve been using Inconsolata as my monospaced/programming font of choice, but Droid Sans Mono (the monospaced font included with Android) looks to be a solid addition to the collection. (via)
Latest "Cloverfield" Trailer →
This trailer, the first mention of JJ Abrams’ “Cloverfield” project in months, runs before Beowulf. The quality on this video is terrible, but it I think you’d be equally as confused if you saw it in a decent resolution.
One thing’s for sure, though, JJ Abrams does hype better than anyone.
Black Cab Sessions →
A challenge has been laid down. Forget chart positions, forget ticket sales, or brand-extending toiletries or MySpace friends or any other measure of success. From here on in, it’s all about how well you can rock the back of a cab.
I love this premise: “One Song. One Take. One Cab.” It’s a nice twist on the all-too-typical acoustic session. The 3 I recommend are The...
Beatles Catalog to Go Digital in ’08 →
Straight from McCartney’s mouth:
The whole thing is primed, ready to go—there’s just maybe one little sticking point left, and I think it’s being cleared up as we speak, so it shouldn’t be too long. It’s down to fine-tuning…
Of course, that still leaves a lot of wiggle room, but I’ll take what I can get.
Santas Warned 'Ho Ho Ho' Offensive to Women →
Is this kind of overzealous political correctness really something we need to be exporting? Get a life, people.
The Woot-Off Strikes Back →
Another Woot-Off began last night at midnight. Gird yourself with a Woot Checker and find Christmas gifts on the cheap!
The Nintendo Historian Quiz (Redux) →
These questions are best suited to die-hard NES people. I had to guess on a lot of them, but still emerged with a 17/25.
Mourning TV →
Damon Lindelof, head writer for Lost in a NYTimes opinion piece about the WGA strike:
Change always provokes fear, but I’d once believed that the death of our beloved television would unify all those affected, talent and studios, creators and suits. We’re all afraid and we’d all be afraid together. Instead we find ourselves so deeply divided.
What's in a Project Name? →
Jeff Atwood talks about how his team comes up with code names for their internal projects. This sounds like a lot of fun, even though I could very easily waste multiple days trying to come up with “awesome sounding” code names.
From Ants to People, an Instinct to Swarm →
Carl Zimmer:
If you have ever observed ants marching in and out of a nest, you might have been reminded of a highway buzzing with traffic. To Iain D. Couzin, such a comparison is a cruel insult — to the ants.
Americans spend a 3.7 billion hours a year in congested traffic. But you will never see ants stuck in gridlock.
Fascinating. Too bad the other drivers on my daily commute don’t...
GOOD COPY BAD COPY →
It’s billed simply as “a documentary about the current state of copyright and culture”, but with interviewees ranging from Larry Lessig of Creative Commons and the admins of the Pirate Bay to DJ Danger Mouse and Girl Talk, I genuinely think this is something everyone should see.
Employee Downtime and Managerial Scorn
I hate downtime when I’m at work. In fact, there’s nothing worse than having to be at work with no work to do. My personal feelings aside, however, experiencing downtime at work is unavoidable, and as far as I’m concerned, what you do with your downtime is your business. What I find far more interesting than how employees spend their downtime is how employers react to employee...
50 Graphic Design Blogs →
Need a shot of inspiration? I trust you can find a few in here worth checking out. A few from the list that I recommend AisleOne, i love typography and Subtraction. One not in the list that I recommend: Monoscope.
Helvetica iPhone Wallpaper →
If you liked my latest desktop wallpaper why not get the iPhone version to match?
Radiohead controversy shows limits of knowledge in... →
Nate Anderson, writing for Ars Technica:
At the beginning of this last week, Internet metrics firm comScore [released the numbers for Radiohead’s experiment]. They had the numbers; it was all there in black and white. $6 average downloads. 60 percent of downloaders unwilling to pay anything. US users paid more than everyone else ($8.05 vs. $4.64).
Just one problem: Radiohead says that...
Here a Theme, There a Theme...
People are finally starting to realize that creating your own Tumblr theme is not only fun, but relatively easy as well. The latest entry into the Tumblr theme market comes from nostrich, in the form of his Dayvan Mini theme. It’s loosely based on my EasyReader theme, and is a definite improvement if you ask me.
Give it look, download it, use it. I’d use it if I weren’t so...