December 2007
52 posts
Why Starbucks actually helps mom and pop... →
Strange as it sounds, the best way to boost sales at your independently owned coffeehouse may just be to have Starbucks move in next-door.
How to Lose Your Job on Your Own Time →
The New York Times highlights the trouble with the narrowing gap between what an employee does while at work and what they do in their off time. Thankfully, the NYT comes down on the proper side of the argument:
A line needs to be drawn — Day-Glo bright — that demarcates the boundary between work and private life. When a worker is on the job, companies have every right to supervise activities...
Dwell.com - Show Your Space →
The premise: people send Dwell pictures of their living spaces/renovation jobs and Dwell showcases the best of them.
This part of Dwell.com has high inspiration potential, and satisfies the part of me that can’t help but want to see the inside of other people’s houses.
“Without music, life would be a mistake … I would only believe in a God who...”
– Friedrich Nietzsche (via)
Warner Music Group drops DRM →
Nate Anderson:
[Warner Music] will now offer its complete catalog, DRM-free, through Amazon’s new MP3 store.
There was no mention of whether this offer extends to iTunes, but at least it’s one more nail in DRM’s coffin.
Performance On A Shoe String →
Drew McLellan, writing for the seasonal 24ways:
If you’re a big commercial enterprise like the Super Bowl, scaling up for that traffic is simply a cost of doing business. But for most of us, we can’t afford to have massive capacity sat there unused for 90% of the year. What you have to do instead is work out how to deal with as much traffic as possible with the modest resources you have.
What...
Tiny (265sq. ft) Apartment →
With a total square-footage roughly equal to that of my living room, it’s no wonder the owners’ best advice is less is more.
The styling is attractive and modern, and the owners possess an enviable ability to utilize space. My favorite feature? The hanging bookshelf in the bedroom. (via)
Christmas →
Christmas is nigh and although my Tumblr posting will fall to next-to-nothing, I’ll continue updating my twitter feed. I hope everyone has a happy holiday, and I’ll return to my regular posting schedule in the next few days.
The Ten Commandments of Design →
A few gems in here, such as:
Thou shalt not fear new technology, nor pretend that you know what it does.
(via)
David Byrne and Thom Yorke on the Real Value of... →
David Byrne, of Talking Heads fame, interviews Thom Yorke for Wired Magazine. The two discuss, among other things, the success of Radiohead’s experiment:
Byrne: Are you making money on the download of In Rainbows?
Yorke: In terms of digital income, we’ve made more money out of this record than out of all the other Radiohead albums put together, forever — in terms of anything on...
Top 50 Albums of 2007 →
Pitchfork has finally released the list I wait all season for—their top 50 list.
I’ve only given it a passing glance at this point, and although there are no major surprises, I can tell you that everything in the top 10 deserves its spot. I’m also giving Pitchfork extra points for not making In Rainbows the number one album of the year. Well done, Pitchfork.
Hand Bell Hero →
Holiday-themed, Guitar Hero-like action; it’s embarrassing how bad I am at this game.
“Tumblelogging is defined by it’s format: specific types of posts for different...”
– Cameron gets it.
1 tag
Badly Drawn Boy - “I Love NYE”
Its...
Tumblelogs of the Year
Tom asks what your 5 favourite tumblelogs of the year are. Here are mine (in no particular order):
Inspire Me! - A constant source of good design and inspiration.
iDreamed - Sparsely updated, but consistently good finds that I haven’t seen anywhere else.
cameron i/o - Good themes, good content, good guy.
Told or Known - Witty, clever, funny…all the things you want in a tumblelog.
...
FreeRice - Using vocabulary to end world hunger →
For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger.
Learn some vocabulary and feed those who need it most; it’s a win-win.
“The civil libertarians among us would rather defend the constitution than...”
– Jeff Sessions, R-AL
What the hell did he just say?
Student Arrested After Cutting Food With Knife →
This world has officially gone crazy. (via)
Googling yourself: Not as vain as some think →
Jacqui Cheng reports for Ars Technica:
[The Pew Internet & American Life Project] suggests that people ought to partake in a little ‘Net vanity more often in order to ensure that whatever shows up about them is accurate and acceptable for public consumption. Luckily, 87 percent of self-searchers reported having found accurate information on themselves, up from 74 percent in 2002 (but...
“That was the revelation. You’re an amateur developer until you realize...”
– Jeff Atwood in On the Meaning of “Coding Horror”
Winterbells →
This is my favorite seasonal Flash game. Cute graphics, simple gameplay and perfect music; everything I’ve come to expect from Orisinal.
WTF Are "Core Hours," Anyway?
My government defines, and I paraphrase, “core hours” as the hours of the workday where an employee is required to be at work. Unfortunately, I feel like most companies abuse this idea. I’ve heard this term around the office lately, and I wanted to explain why I think “core hours” are a potentially dangerous path to start down.
Core hours, in and of themselves, are...
Radiohead Reveal 'In Rainbows' CD Packaging →
According to Pitchfork:
There will be no jewel case. Instead, your Rainbows will come in some kind of paper product-type container that also includes— wait for it— stickers! Yes, stickers, such that you may turn any old battered jewel case into a bona fide Radiohead opus. Nothing quite so elaborate as the veritable arts and crafts set that was Beck’s Information, but still,...
All My Themes Now Support Auto-Pagerize
Auto-Pagerize is a Greasemonkey script that automatically loads the next page into the current page. Since I only recently learned of this script, none of my themes were designed with Auto-Pagerize in mind.
Well, that’s now changed.
As of tonight, all my themes have been confirmed to support Auto-Pagerize out of the box. If you’re a user of one my themes and want your site to be...
Add Your Own Post Types to Tumblr →
This is brilliant…there’s simply no other way to describe it.
The Problem with Tumblelogging: A Response →
Prashanth writes a piece worth skimming, but the main point is this:
For the unacquainted, Tumblr is something of a del.icio.us dump with a design […] It’s not only that that bothers me now; I love del.icio.us. The problem is that Tumblr advertises their platform as “the easiest way to share yourself.” That’s a lie.
Well-put responses to this can already be found, but what Prashanth is...
Cameron Redesigned →
…and it looks good.
RIAA: Those CD rips of yours are still... →
Eric Bangeman:
When asked by the RIAA’s lead counsel whether it was wrong for consumers to make copies of CDs they have purchased, Jennifer Pariser replied in the negative. “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song,” said Pariser. Making “a copy” of a song you own is just “a nice way of saying ‘steals...
Blue Man Group covers Baba O'Riley →
I’m a sucker for a cover of “Baba O’Riley”, and the Blue Man Group don’t disappoint. Favorite part: the Blue Man gonging on the piano strings.
Overheard.it →
Similar to Foamee, Overheard.it piggybacks on twitter and lets you post the wacky things you overhear. I feel like there’s definite laugh potential here. (via)
What's on Your Bookshelf? →
nostrich asks what the last 5 books I bought were. However, since I can’t remember, I’ll just list the 5 books that are always on my shelf:
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig — at times is mind-numbingly boring, and other times is brain-meltingly fascinating.
1984 by George Orwell — I love dystopian novels, and this one needs no introduction.
...
New Theme: Letterhead →
Not sure what came over me, but Saturday morning I woke up with the urge to create a new Tumblr theme. So that’s exactly what I did!
A few people had requested a two-column theme, so I started with that. I stuck to my usual fare, but the colors are customizable (so if you don’t like the defaults, feel free to change them). You also have the ability to add custom CSS if I...
Stereo Sanctuaries →
Virginia Heffernan asks herself: “What exactly do men do in their tricked-out electronic hideaways?” I just wish she’d answered that question with more pictures.
A Week with The National →
The National is an indie band hailing from Brooklyn, NY, and they’re most recent album, Boxer is one of the better albums to come out this year. A Week with the National is a 3-part mini-documentary that follows The National around during their Boxer tour (part 1, part 2 and part 3).
If you like the National, it’s a safe bet that you’ll like this, and if you’ve never...
Creating Sexy Stylesheets →
Vitamin runs down 10 ways you can create “sexy stylesheets.” Definitely not revolutionary information, but a reminder of how to do it “right” never hurt anyone.
MPAA: Content Filtering is in ISPs' Best Interests →
Nate Anderson:
Calling “protection of content from theft” the MPAA’s number one issue, Glickman reiterated claims that piracy costs the studios $6 billion worldwide every year. Half the MPAA budget goes toward reducing this number, and the trade group believes that the single best way to do so is through technology.
What the MPAA means to say is that content filtering is in...
A List Apart: Typography Matters →
Written in 2001, this article is truer now than it was then.
In Defense of Audiophiles →
Fred Kaplan attempts to prove there’s still a market for high-end audio equipment and uncompressed music, but I’m not sold, honestly. MP3s above 192kbps sound “good enough” for me and I’m more than willing to sacrifice a little quality for convenience.
MacSanta: Great Deals On Mac Software →
With the MacHeist team consistently making asses of themselves (see: malcor debacle and last year’s numbers), perhaps you could pick up some quality, indie Mac software at a 20% discount from a reputable purveyor.
The 20% deal only lasts a day, however. After that, it drops to 10%, where it stays until the 24th, when the deals are over. So head over and get ‘em while they’re...
