Confucius

"It is better to play than do nothing."



Wise words - especially in light of the recent release of PES 6.

Mac OS X Freeware

http://www.freewareosx.com/

Lots of Linux ports in there but nice to have them all in one place.

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Rockonomics

More so that I try to remember to read it.



Rockonomics paper (BEWARE - .pdf download)



Abstract

This paper considers economic issues and trends in the rock and roll industry, broadly defined. The analysis focuses on concert revenues, the main source of performers’ income. Issues considered include: price measurement; concert price acceleration in the 1990s; the increased concentration of revenue among performers; reasons for the secondary ticket market; methods for ranking performers; copyright protection; and technological change.



Source: James Kent

Lovely ilustration/animation

And guess where:

Nicely rounded

http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/firstlook110.html

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Del.icio.us Buttons for Internet Explorer

Del.icio.us Buttons for Internet Explorer

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World's tallest man uses his long long arms to save dolphins...

... by reaching into their stomachs and pulling things out.

Knowledge Share - update

A remarkably small number of people were aware of delicious.

Until today!







Look at delicious now.

powered by performancing firefox

Windsurfing Toilet Cleaner

Just found this awesome windsurfing toilet cleaner. This little guy is called Freshsurfer. Not only will he clean your toilet, but it looks like he has a lot of fun whilst doing it.

How *not* to blog

Sony's attempt to tap into the MySpace/YouTube market by creating a PSP blog in the guise of two fictional characters backfires terribly.

Humping Dog USB Drive

Watch the video



(via Gizmodo)

iBaby

Baby with an Apple logo birthmark

Never lose anything again

Just tag it with Loc8tor and when misplaced it will guide you to it.

Multi-directional (up/down, left/right).







Wonder if it really works?

Can someone buy one please?

Spam!

Good news. Ah, no wait: Bad news.

More of this at the 2006 foot-in-mouth awards over at Wired

Xmas Singstar Feast

View the photo set
Originally uploaded by hobart65.

See the flickr photoset of the evening....

The EIG digital team celebrated xmas by cooking dinner at Mike's house. The menu was Pumpkin soup (conner), Pear salaad (Shadi), Tarte (Daniel), Chicken in cinzano (Mike), Curry selection (Paul) and raspberry cheesecake (Stefan).

Instant Snow

Just add water.

Source: Think Geek

Using a Wii remote on a MacBook running Windows

Half-Life2 with a Wii-mote on Youtube



Hackers have already made drivers for the Wii-mote on MacOSX, Windows and Linux.



Replacing your mouse with a Wii-mote might be a fun project while you wait to get your hands on the console.

Swivel

www.swivel.com

"The YouTube of data" ... but the presentation is not quite intuitive to me for some reason. I'd really like to see tables of raw data and then pull that into different templates.



Hopefully it doesn't become overloaded with graphs such as "Beers I drank this week vs. How many curries I've eaten"

Cool AJAX RSS Feed Aggregator

http://www.osxcode.com/feedsearch/

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Last.fm / YouTube mashup

For those too lazy to remember who their favourite artists are and look them up on youtube: http://www.ilovemusicvideo.net

Gliffy - Collaborative diagrams

Gliffy is like a collaborative online version of Visio.



You can create and share masterpieces like this:

Mother auction creative review cover on ebay

Mother auction creative review cover on ebay, originally uploaded by hobart65.

I'm guessing it gets to £4823.43.

iSight camera as barcode scanner

Delicious Library is very cool on a number of levels. You can scan the barcodes of products you own and keep a library of them.



Found on a site listing MacOSX apps created by independent developers for charity.

A flickr extension for performancing/firefox

Can be found here.







and this image was inserted via Flickr

powered by performancing firefox

powered by performancing firefox

Phone with wax

This must be the ulimate voip phone from Hulgar . A mere £2K, perhaps it's one for the xmas list.

powered by performancing firefox

Wieden + Kennedy Agency Video
Nice example of using video to explain a company. This one from blogging aficionados wieden + kennedy.

CAPTCHA but with symbols

Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart is usually done with wiggly numbers and letters.

Here's a new one from Shozu:







Very easy.

How to send 50 MB files quickly (and for free)

Box.net is nice, but there is a limit of 10 MB for files uploaded via the free account.

Creativebits reviews different sites that will allow you to upload and transfer files greater than 50 MB.

How to hide files in JPG's

Fascinating tutorial on a technique to emdeb files in jpgs. Look at '[ebook] raymond chandler - the big sleep.jpg' in K:\Design A-J\Digital. This is a jpg of the cover of the book, but embedded is the e-book. Cool idea to hide ‘easter eggs’ in images. Also very much like the style of the tutorial, maybe we could use this to show how to use delicious? How to hide files in JPG's

Giant Firefox logo on Google maps

Along with KFC, giant corporate graffiti continues to spread: Firefox crop circle

Air-punchingly horrific U2 bastardisation

One Bank "Bank of America's Jim DuBois performs a stunningly misguided rendition of a U2 classic at a corporate event. Unbelievable." Source: ifilm

Quick Embed Code to Add Comments To Any Site

JS-Kit A neat little snippet of Javascript that allows you to easily add comments functionality to a page. The javascript calls the form. Form data is posted to another server and stored for you. It's not for enterprise but if you need something quick, easy and neat give it a try. From Techcrunch.

Interaction design - in the real world

"No Ideas But In Things is a library of controls, animations, layouts, and displays that might be a source of inspiration for interaction designers."

The Colonel gets a pinny...

The Colonel gets a pinny...
Originally uploaded by hobart65.

Taken from an interesting blog commmenting on corporate and brand identity. The simplicity of presenting before and after makes the topic very accessible.

Wii design decisions

"Our goal was to come up with a machine that moms would want" - Miyamoto The Big Ideas Behind Nintendo's Wii

Phone anywhere

Pretty sweet little idea...
http://www.vonage.co.uk/vphone-aff/

MiG21 + Russian tank = fire extinguisher

Yes, it's on YouTube via Gizmodo.

PS3 runs Linux (Fedora Core 5)

It's not going to change the world but it doesn't suggest that the Vaio and the games machine are coming closer together.

KFC's New Logo Visible From Outer Space

Visible on google maps here the 'making of' video:

Most popular cameras in the Flickr community

http://www.flickr.com/cameras

Cannon EOS 350D (in pink) is the camera of choice. Although the K800i is reputed to be the best camera phone on the market, it's share is dwindling, whilst the Nokia n73 looks like everest in terms of uptake...

Counter cold calls

Information graphic providing counter-attack strategies when faced with unsolicited phone call.

Architectures of control in design

Interesting blog about how design is used (in products, as well as architecture, town planning and services) to enforce a certain kind of behaviour on the user. http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/

Windows font survey

Indispensable information about which fonts are installed on what percentage of windows systems: Windows Font Survey

Timeline of acquisitions: Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft

http://www.shmula.com/blog/timelines/google-microsoft-yahoo/g-y-m.htm

Metrics for Heuristics: Quantifying User Experience (Part 1 of 2) - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design

Metrics for Heuristics: Quantifying User Experience (Part 1 of 2) - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design Timely article about quantifying User Experience suggesting a method called "Rubinoff’s user experience audit"

State of the Blogosphere

David Sifry gives an annual report on the Technorati statistics.

Dominoes at home

It was always a bit of a Guiness Book of Records favourite of mine when they did the dominoes. Apparently now a bit of a think in Japan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJlAQyE6ppk

The Ultimate Blog Post

Lore Sjöberg has written this humorous article (no, really) describing what would be the ultimate post for several well-known blogs. He also recently did an awesome two-parter on how to set up your first Myspace page - "Myspace avoidance fails miserably". Worth reading.

SyncBack

Another good sync software. Very useful.

Remote Calendars

Google Calendar sync with Outlook howto

HTML Email guides

http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/archives/2006/03/a_guide_to_css_1.html
http://www.templatekit.com/lotusnotes1.php
http://www.thinkvitamin.com/features/design/html-emails
http://email.lib.utk.edu/emily/howto5.html

Freesound

Pretty useful library of sounds. No songs. Freesound

Ghost and vampires aren't real!

Not particularly digital, although it is displayed on a web page: "Efthimiou takes out the calculator to prove that if a vampire sucked one person's blood each month -- turning each victim into an equally hungry vampire -- after a couple of years there would be no people left, just vampires. He started his calculations with just one vampire and 537 million humans on Jan. 1, 1600 and shows that the human population would be down to zero by July 1602."

MTV Sticky

MTV Sticky
Originally uploaded by hobart65.

MTV go beyond listening, and start hoovering for youth trends. Worth registering to look at the intersting free form interface and nice blog design.

Unyte

Signalling two things....

1. The Skype plugin
2. The end of the dreaded livemeeting? Maybe? Please something lighter?

Unyte

Skype offer

This Skype offer is pretty decent. I'm a big Skype user. Bro in NY, parents and sis in Eire with various others dotted about the globe. Its simply the easiest and cheapest way to call them.

Taking thumbnails of Websites

Interesting little website / tool to snap a website and give the output in a couple of sizes... http://webthumb.bluga.net/

Strange landscapes in China...

Someone browsing Google Earth recently found what appeared to be a huge scale model of a strange landscape in the Hunagyangtan province of China. It turns out it was a military installation, and the landscape is a model of a disputed area on the Chinese/Indian border. Check this Google Earth Community post to download the placemark, as well as the full story (and other intersting finds). there's also a Google Earth Blog post.

Great video of Wii gameplay / interaction

This demo really helped me understand just how revolutionary the Wii controller is going to be.

Font hit parade - September

1. Neue Helvetica™
2. Helvetica
3. Satisfaction
4. Univers
5. Linotype Zapfino™
6. P22 Cezanne™
7. Frutiger™
8. Trade Gothic™
9. Witchfinder
10.Boycott™

Witchfinder? It's obviously due to the Da Vinci Code

5 Reasons Why RSS Feeds are Not Popular

http://www.hiveminds.co.uk/node/3139

How Rich Are You?

A neat and effective interactive tool for raising awareness about poverty.

(Created by Poke)

Martin Sorrell on Google, China and the internet

Interview with Martin by E-consultancy.com

"It’s important we have the ability and the facilities to [to figure out what works]. It’s no different to Murdoch investing in Myspace or Jamba, or ITV doing Friends Reunited. We have to position ourselves and understand what’s going on."

stunningnikon.com

stunningnikon.com
Originally uploaded by hobart65.

At last, someone does a great flickr based campaign idea. Like all great ideas, it seems horribly obvious when you see it. Perfectly executed, nice to see they can get the url right on the posters.

“We gave them the new Nikon D80, what they gave back was stunning.

They shoot for photo sites like Flickr. They shoot for family photo albums. They shoot because they're passionate about taking pictures. What did they capture with the new Nikon D80? See more of the jaw-dropping highlights at stunningnikon.com/dsir" www.stunningnikon.com

Flash website flowchart

"The process of making the decision about flash web sites for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes is actually quite difficult, so I took the time to create a flow chart on whether or not you should create an all flash web site." http://www.thegooglecache.com/?p=46

Cedega - Narrowing the gaming gap

Mac and Linux gamers might want to check this out - Cedega

HDR - Building Site

Here is my first attempt at HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. HDR works by taking several exposures of the same scene, from over-exposed to under-exposed, and then using software to combine the exposures to bring out as much detail as possible in every part of the image.

High Dynamic Range refers to the range of light in the image. You can see in this Low Dynamic Range image (one of the three exposures used to create the HDR image above) that to get good definition in the foreground, the exposure has quite a lot of light, meaning the sky is way too bright. However, the trees are still too dark, as the camera is incapable of capturing a wide range of lighting in one image, as the dynamic range is too low. With the HDR image, (although far from perfect) you get good definition in all parts of the image, from the dark trees, to the lighter sky.

You can see lots more HDR in the Flickr HDR and True Tone HDR groups.

Line Rider Helicopter Escape

This is google video of someone playing 'Line Rider' This is destined to be one of those simple but brilliant flash games that everyone will know in a few days - interesting that viral effect is now driven by 'replay' videos on Google and Youtube.

How do consumers find web sites in 2006?

According to a new report from Forrester, it's via search and powerful yesteryear media sources. This intuitively rings true, most people seem to start with Google, but also treated the BBC and newspaper sites as key touch points. e.g. FT / Guardian etc. The way of looking at it helps to explain the radical differences in 18-26 year olds, who haven't experienced a media landscape dominated by a few dinosaurs, so they are much more driven by word of mouth (WOM).

Executive summary
"The majority of today's Web users have been online seven years or more, and their site-seeking behavior has become familiar to marketers: search dominates, word of mouth follows closely, and traditional advertising comes in a healthy third. But is Web users' behavior really so routine? Forrester's North American Consumer Technology Adoption Study data shows that, while all users rely on search, generations show strong affinities for media that were in their heyday when they came of age. To plan effective integrated campaigns, marketers must start with search and layer on site messaging in the media that resonate with target consumers: buzz, blogs, and banners for Gen Yers, deep search and word of mouth for Gen Xers, print and product packaging for Boomers, and the written word for Seniors."

Robot answers age old question

For some reason, last Friday, the topic of discussion was briefly 'What do people taste like?'

Apparently a 'tasting robot' has the answer: Bacon.

Read more

Friday fun

The English-to-12-Year-Old-AOLer Translator

This translator will take what you write in it and turn it into the manner a 12-year-old AOLer would write it. Type in what you want translated and then click the button.

Flickr set: Lego Star Wars II

Looks tasty!

Sense mapping

Another variation on the theme...
New York City Smell Map
People assign different smell labels according to the various unsavoury scents found on the New York City underground subway.

Flickr map

in a similar vein to wikimapia: http://www.flickr.com/map/ looks like if your camera has gps settings, your photo gets added there. gps test – look at the additional information bit on this page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ckapublishing/242574831/

High-Definition Video -- Bad For Consumers, Bad For Hollywood

Cory Doctorow has written this article about DRM and the future (or not) of of HD television. There are details about technologies that Hollywood wants to put (or is already putting) in that expensive TV you just bought, as well as the numerous drawbacks (ie. "Sony's first generation of Blu-Ray DVD drives *won't play Blu-Ray movies*") of the DRM future...

Wikimapia

You might think that google maps is pretty hot but Wikimapia have put a little bit of a spin on things. Check it out over here. Looks pretty normal right? Well there are two things in the menu that make it that bit better.

• You can search via TAG
• You can link it to your GPS

Im sure as I get used to it there will be more. But looking good so far.

If you like Simpsons...

You'll also like:

Futurama - allfutus.com

Family Guy - all-fg.com

South Park - allsp.com

...

Any bets on how long until this, and Daily Motion (the host of most of these), gets shut down with a nice fat lawsuit?

All Simpsons episodes ever

www.allsimps.com

What's playing on US radio - mapped in realtime

Cool visualisation. Be nice if you could click the titles though.

 

 

 

Olympus Makes World's Smallest DSLR

(not actual size...) "With the release of the E-400 Olympus has announced the smallest and lightest DSLR ever made. At just 130 x 91 x 53mm and a bulimic 380g it is around two thirds the width and half the weight of a regular DSLR" No price yet, but interesting: click click

Ipod PRO 2005 XP - Human Ear Professional Edition (With Subscription)

Excellent video made by a Microsoft employee. It imagines the design process that would take place if Microsoft were to design the iPod box. Although it pokes gentle fun, the video is pretty well made, and genuinely interesting from a packaging and branding point of view.

Warchalk

Where to find some free Wifi in London... http://www.warchalking.org.uk/ For example it seems like youre sorted if you are near to Upper street in Islington. Its now one long Hotspot provided by the council.

7 ways people search the web

7 ways people search the web
Originally uploaded by hobart65.

OK, it's a digital team challenge. Please email me 1 or more pictures of what you think these people look like...best pic wins a £2 item of choice from the local newsagent

The Pornhound - for porn
The Manhunter - for people
The Shopper - for deals
The Obsessive - for specific things, repeatedly
The Omnivore - for a little bit of everything
The Newbie - by accident
The Basket Case - for therapy

www.slate.com/id/2147590

Dogs + Cars = Barking

www.dogsbarkingincars.com See also: www.dogsincars.co.uk

Light emitting textiles!

Phillips have come up with these light emtting textiles by sticking LEDs into fabric or something - see internet for more info.

Microsoft Max

Still in beta, but worth noting that Microsoft is trying to compete with Picasa... http://www.microsoft.com/max/download.html you can read a bit more about it here... http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/09/09/microsoft-launches-desktop-feed-reader/

amazonunbox launches

Download TV and film from Amazon in the US.
Proprietary software and DRM alerts all over the shop - check Digg for more.

Swimming Pool

The 21st Century Museum of Art of Kanasawa Permanent installation Leandro Erlich

Google Earth in the ads

New BA campaign

Inspirational business posters

I've actually seen the originals of these in the offices of a well-known online travel company (air, hotel, car etc.).



From:


 

Make your official seal here

Motorhome with built-in garage

Blimey.

The record store is dead

Tower records have filed for bankruptcy blaming the downloader’s. I think it's more an appalling retail experience stuck in 90s - I've found it's just not worth the bother going into that type of store. There’s simply a total lack of any attempt to help you navigate to what's good. Tower Records Files For Bankruptcy - CBS News

Wikipedia considering restrictions

BBC News
Wikipedia is considering introducing a form of prior restraint on edits.
"Since Mr Siegenthaler Sr was neither controversial enough to merit consistent attention, or interested enough in what happened online to bother to Google himself regularly, his biography simply sat there unremarked, although we have no way of knowing how many school essays mention his entirely fabricated involvement in the assassination of Robert and John Kennedy."

Found by Chris Park

SyncToy

Many of you might know this one already but some of you might not, there is an excellent little bit of Sync software out there and guess what it's free! Guess what else... Microsoft make it :) http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/synctoy.mspx No doubt there are others out there, I for one have used another that needs no install (and so is useful for bringing about on a keydrive), but this one is the current favourite.

Test sites on OS X browsers

1. Enter URL 2. Choose browser window width 3. Select quality of output 4. Click View It returns an image of the page requested within the browser chosen. Free test in Safari. Pay for others on a per-day subscription model. Found by Rob

The 50 Coolest Websites - According to Time

Hmmm.
I'm not sure.



time.com

Don't wait for the render - outsource online

Post your file.
They do the render - fast.
And return the files to you.

No more all-nighters. Or fewer at least.

RenderCore

Steal a logo, sell it online

Logoworks.com rip offs
Credit: Post from Sean Rees, Enterprise IG London

SD with WiFi

Eye-Film: SD-Card with 802.11g Wifi Built-in

Small but powerful

Sony Memory Stick Mini

Video games recreated with cakes and stuff.

http://eatpes.com/game_over.html

Cockroach controlled robot

You heard. http://www.conceptlab.com/roachbot/

How MS Word should look

Innovative packaging.

Music licencing - quick start

Have published notes from a recent presentation from Warner Chappell on music copyright.
Will help you get a quick idea of what you need to consider when using music for presentations, events etc.

Simple Flash Video Player

Script as used by YouTube, Nintendo and others. Source code also available.

Logos 2.0 style

Flickr set

Interactive Bar

More technology to confuse beer swillers iBar - intelligent surface system - interactive bar: Info

Surf'n'Work

If you would like to surf the web while pretending to work, try out the Work Friendly proxy. Type in a URL and the site turns the page into a word-like browser, adding an emergency 'boss' button to boot. workFRIENDLY - BETA

Brand 2.0

Ted Nelson on branding 2.0 - why don't customers care anymore? 50 minutes of talking head might make you skim the digest instead FutureMonitor™ Webcast

Super Serif Brothers

Who needs images, colour and sound for games? Super Serif Brothers

Video Game Stats

VideoGameCharts.com
Western-centric data on US hardware and software. Also info on Japan.
PS2 still rules the roost on hardware.
But it's an N64 game that comes in second on units sold 95-04!

Clutter Magazine - Issue 08

Now available with all the other magazines in the corner by the scanner on the 3rd floor.

Ooh, a fun Flash 3d interface

If you like that sort of thing http://cmd9.com/

Survey Monkey and Opera browser

I'm a big fan of Survey Monkey the tool we use for online surveys, but even I have to admit that it's a real pain editing a large survey. Shadi nearly went insane on the LDA survey. The answer is the opera browser. Opera is currently the fastest browser at executing JavaScript. (Geeks - look at this script speed test table) Survey Monkey is JavaScript intensive, so using Opera makes editing forms less like walking through treacle. I'd highly recommend you install Opera, if only to use with Survey Monkey

Users are funnier than you think...

Turn your laptop in a TV / PVR

I've been looking for cheap / easy way to turn my laptop into TV / PVR (Personal Video Recorder) and finally it's arrived. With an electronic program guide etc, plug this into into the USB and watch / record digital tele. Price $99! Elgato Systems

Amazon Mechanical Turk

I can't quite believe this isn't a hoax. But Amazon is now offering a virtual sweat shop for boring repetitive tasks that require a bit of human intelligence. It even has an API! I read about a guy who had used this to pay people to draw sheep, and then sold the sheep drawings as hand made 'one-offs'. Amazon Mechanical Turk - Welcome

Fly around london

'Flight sim' using google maps http://www.isoma.net/games/GogglesBeta09.swf

Stroke It - Go on, ya will ya will ya will

Nice little productivity tool. Sits in the system tray and does what it says on the box. http://www.tcbmi.com/strokeit/ No tweaking is necessary to get a lot out of it as you can see from the default gestures here. http://www.tcbmi.com/strokeit/actions.shtml?app=./files/actions/Default.cfg

OK Go - Excellent video on YouTube

8 treadmills. 4 men. 1 take. This video is a masterpiece of coreography.

TED Talks podcast

TED Talks podcast
Originally uploaded by hobart65.

TED is legendary ‘invite only’ conference attended by the digirati of the globe. It's always been one of my life's ambitions to go – it’s reputed to have immensely costly conference freebies. They are now releasing some of the talks as podcasts. The latest video cast released is by the guy who did the multi-touch user interface that was popular a couple of months ago on Youtube

Half Wasted

Thanks to the power of the internet, advertising is becoming less wasteful and its value more measurable. http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7138905

Javascript Showdown: Speeds of Opera 9, IE6, and Firefox 1.5

How fast is your favorite browser's Javascript engine? After creating a Javascript benchmark tool and testing Opera 9.0, MSIE 6.0, and Firefox 1.5, you might be surprised to see which one came out on top...way on top.
http://celtickane.com/projects/jsspeed.php

From Digg

Gamers vs Avatars

Great online gallery of gamers alongside the avatars that they use to represent themselves. Bilder-Galerie

Windows Video Conversions

Built on the shoulders of the OpenSource video manipulation giants its a (kinda quirky) GUI that makes life a little bit easier. http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

Flash painting thing

There's quite a few of these types of things around, this one's good because you can replay your painting. For example, here's a robot I painted earlier - don't be disheartened by my immense painting skills, not everyone can be this good: http://artpad.art.com/?j3blbu191h5c

Ewan - Voiceover Artist - Glittering Debut

Ewan Ferrier debuts in his new role as "the voice of Enterprise IG", adding gravitas and panache to a demonstration of technological wizardry.

Exploding paint: The new Sony Bravia ad

Jonathan Glazer (he of the Radiohead videos, and Sexy Beast) has been directing the latest Sony Bravia TV ad. There's some on-set footage here, and a Flickr picture set here.