Version 7.0Elsewhere
December 2006 Links
The Economist: Post-Modernism is the New Black
Mid-century French philosophy and its influence on the contemporary marketplace. Via Antoine Soussaline.
True Films
Movie reviews by Kevin Kelly, editor at Wired: “I define true films as documentaries, educational films, instructional how-to’s, and what the British call factuals — a non-fiction visual account.” One hundred and fifty of them have now been published in book form.
Interview with Probably the Sexiest Web Designer Ever
Devlounge talks with former Miss USA contestant turned Web designer Larissa Meek.
Print Gocco
“A low cost professional quality printing system” that, unbeknownst to me, has been around for over two decades. Tip from Alissa Unbeige.
Slate: Why You Can’t Get iPods at a Discount
Why fluctuating retail prices for consumer electronics are so common, and why Apple products are exceptions.
The 50 Loudest Web Sites in 2006
Evaluating Web sites based on marketing, content, usability, design and behavior. Subtraction.com is the top-ranked blog!
WNYC’s “Studio 60” Redesigns Christmas
“Studio 360 commissioned Pentagram, one of the country's leading design firms, to give Christmas a makeover. They came up with a new typeface, color scheme, fir tree surrogate, and a radical proposal to channel the rampant commercialism to good ends. Pentagram partner Michael Bierut presents the plan to Kurt Andersen.”
The Baseball-Reference Play Index
New tool helps you find plays you remember from games long ago, even if you’ve forgotten many of the particular details.
Adactio: Life Streams and Jaiku
Jeremy Keith on the ‘buddy list’ cost of switching between social networks: “In many ways, Jaiku is superior to Twitter… And yet, simply by virtue of the fact that I discovered it after Twitter, I’m unlikely to use Jaiku as much. It all comes back to the issue of creating yet another network of friends on yet another social networking site: I don’t feel very motivated to do it and I suspect that none of my contacts on Twitter relish the prospect either.”
The Wind
New project from my friend Oliver Warden. “An epic drama set in a midwestern highschool, is a mod/film hybrid, that will be a playable mod that will also be used for Machinima. Essentially, it will combine film, video and Machinma content, done mostly in Half-Life 2’s source engine.” Vote for it in this competition for video game mods.
A Possible Reason Why Apple’s Interfaces Are Inconsistent
“Making all applications look the same would make life more difficult for users.” It’s a good argument, though it doesn’t necessarily excuse many of the lower-level inconsistencies.
Macworld: First Look at Adobe Photoshop CS3 Beta
“Overall, the news is very good: Most operations see a little improvement, and some realize a substantial gain.”
LED Throwies
“LED Throwies are an inexpensive way to add color to any ferromagnetic surface in your neighborhood. A Throwie consists of a lithium battery, a 10mm diffused LED and a rare-earth magnet taped together.” From the Graffiti Research Lab.
NYT: Times Square, Public Advertising, Digital Cameras and the Internet Go to Work for Advertisers
“On sites like YouTube, Flickr and MySpace, an army of tourists and residents are spreading advertisers’ messages well beyond Manhattan, using their cell phones and video cameras as they walk through the marketing crossroads of the world.”
Turning a Titanium PowerBook into a Tablet Computer
May as well, right, because Apple’s never gonna release one.
Milton Glaser: “Why There Are So Few Women Who Are Rock Star Graphic Designers”
Quoted during an event earlier this week.
WSJ: Welcome to the Airport. You Seen These Guys?
“The Bush administration plans to brighten up the holidays by distributing hundreds of colorful ‘wanted terrorist posters’ to U.S. airports across the country.”
Jeremy Keith: More Thoughts on Portable Social Networks
Some hard core thinking on moving past centralized hubs for your buddy lists.
Japanese Version of Nintendo Wii Manual Emphasizes Safety
Hilariously explicit instructions on what not to do.
Safari Market Share Rises to 4.03 Percent
“ The rise from 2.78 to 4.03 represents a year-over-year growth of 45 percent.”
NYT: New on the Web, Politics as usual
“ You might think that with the kind of rhetoric bloggers regularly muster against politicians, they would never work for them. But you would be wrong.” Includes a beautiful infographic from Mike Essl.
The Guardian: Today’s Forty Best Film Directors
Nice list, except what are Larry and Andy Wachowski doing on it? (P.S., Kate Lane points out this list is rather dated.)