This has been one of those strange weeks where everything on the outside looks the same, though on the inside there’s a lot going on. It’s been a cool week though there’s nothing I can really report on at this point. I realize that’s this is a lame way to start this week’s Link Drop, but that’s what’s been going on and typically those events around me mirror what I find interesting web wise over the week. So stay tuned and please enjoy some of the stuff that I thought was worth saving for a second read.
Paula Scher on Failure
For some reason when ever the press covers Pentagram, it’s pretty fluffy coverage with predictable results. Personally I blame the writers for being lazy. However this week I did come across an interview that I was actually able to gain some insight into. Maybe some of those design writers can learn a thing or two from a non design magazine covering a designer?
Flickr Group: Look, I taped my iPhone!
So far I’ve been lucky to escape dropping or destroying my iPhone (knock on wood). Some people haven’t unfortunately. They’ve dropped their iPhone and the screen has cracked in all sorts of weird ways. Strange thing is, if a person were to tape up their iPhone screen together it still functions. A flickr group has popped up to show what all those phones look like.
Designer Q&A with Craig Nottage
I’m not much of a pool player—but how cool would it be to have a table like this? I think this is one of those times when a design has broken out of it’s traditional form to be something even more interesting.
On the Street and On Facebook: The Homeless Stay Wired
This is one of those strange dichotomies of living and technology. If you’re a person that donates to a homeless person on the street—are you less likely to give if you noticed that they had a cell phone? That’s not covered in the article but that’s what it triggered in my head. Tech. is even more persuasive then we thought.
Movies to See Alone
Something for reference in case one is feeling like thinking about a film in being by themselves for the evening the morning.
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
I’m not a film person, but I saved this site in case I did have a couple extra hours and wanted to see something that wasn’t too hyped but was worth seeing.
Google Wave
A point to consider about the complexity of communication with Wave, I wonder if he’ll have the same feelings a year from now.
Went Walkabout. Brought back Google Wave.
I talk a lot about Google in my Link Drops week after week but what might be surprising is that I don’t use a lot of their products. I don’t use Google News because Daylife does a better job imho, I don’t use Gmail that much because I like having hard copies of my data (though I do have a couple accounts). Google also caters to the non mac crowd first so they also tend to not be using all the creative juice that’s out there. Sure engineers are creative and smart, but their missing a huge sector of digital spectrum by releasing PC based products first like Chrome. With all that said I’m kind of curious to see how Google Wave morphs into the future. Cool insight from a blog post about how Wave came to be. These are the kind of posts that are why corporate blogs are supposed to be. Talk about the product, share a bit of the process and publicize some of the benefits.
If The Message Is Important, It Will Find Me
Nice play on something I’ve mentioned before about how important news will find people.
The embeddable newspaper
What’s strange to me as I read this is that most publishers and content creators are still gun shy about letting their content be embeddable. While YouTube might not be as profitable as it seems, what people fail to learn is that there’s a huge value in having stuff passed on that can be placed in other web sites. Sad thing, this is a concept that’s almost ten years old yet people that have never really published anything by hand or experienced that metaphor themselves are kind of out of the loop at the moment. OK–this post really didn’t have much to do with anything I just said, but that’s what I was thinking about as I read it…
Design made you do it.
This was probably my fav. post of the week though the argument is completely wrong. Designers with heavy ties to the old world of academics hold on to the holy grail of design that can change behaviour. It’s a nice concept on paper yet what is never talked about is ethics, personal righteousness and agendas. There’s a place to make the world a better place, and there’s a time to consider personal rights that leave people alone. Her post ignores all of this in responding to what I wrote about a couple d. students from Stanford last week.
MOVING ON UP
Who wouldn’t want a treehouse in their office?
Every Playboy Centerfold, 1988-1997 and Letterman still
Really fascinating morph of imagery.
Microsoft Bing: It’s cherry-licious
Aside from the horrible, horrible logo—there’s some good stuff underneath the hood with Bing. One person talks about their experience.
Don’t make me search!
I’m glad someone is asking this question—seems kind of obvious to me.
Laid Off Sportswriters Find New Life Online
Interesting concept though I wonder how long they can last for…
RoamBi: Dynamic Data Visualization for the iPhone
I started playing around with this free app yesterday. I haven’t had time to upload my own data yet. It’s a cleaner faster version of visualizing stuff as opposed to using a traditional desktop tool to make pie charts. Real benefit aside from getting data on an iPhone, not sure just yet.
Behind the Scenes: Tank Man of Tiananmen
By far one of the most popular links that I passed on from Twitter a couple days ago. Interesting to read different perspectives of the same image through different lenses.
Just how dimensional are our senses?
I learned some stuff about synaesthesia via this post.
Why NPR is the Future of Mainstream Media
I kind of alluded to this last week in my post about the future of radio.
Metropolitan/municipal design, Part 2: Bicycle racks
I have no idea why I find posts about Bicycle rack design interesting, but I do.
HALL OF FRAGMENT
Another project from someone I know on this blog…
Triangular buttons key to touchscreen typing success – inventor
It’s an interesting idea though I wonder if the designer realizes that there’s supposedly an invisible T shape over each key as it’s pressed. I think the bigger problem is that the T analyzer is too slow to predict what key will next be pressed.
Will technologie save the American Economie?
Who doesn’t want to read about vending machines, the future of industrial automation that sells stuff sans person.
