Namesake

Lebedev’s pyramid

http://www.artlebedev.com/mandership/153/

Dogs and Apples

http://cameron.io/apples-buttons/

Excerpt:

There’s an odd sentiment among nerds that Steve Jobs (and the fine people at Apple) hate buttons. I have a different theory: they absolutely love buttons.

Would you say to someone, 'Wow, you must hate dogs. You only have one. You enjoy his company and playing with him, but seriously, only one? What do you have against dogs?'.

Perhaps a towform design checkpoint should be asking the question, "How would Arlo feel if he had xx more dogs sleeping in his favorite spot?"

Shameless Skin

For low budget, this was pretty cool in 1080p.

http://laughingsquid.com/the-ghost-inside-by-broken-bells/

And the girl doesn't make things any worse...

Five things Old Media Still Don't Get About the Web

Love this. I am absolutely gobsmacked how people like Rupert Murdoch, who really should know better, think that everyone will start paying for internet news on Fox. Everything he knows about the world tells him he is correct. This means he doesn't get out much.

Here's an excerpt from "Five Things Old Media Still Don't Get About the Web." Read the full article here.

"Earlier this week, the New York Times company forced the iPad Pulse News Reader app to be pulled from the App Store. The reason? It took the Times’ RSS feed and put it inside its own app.

To be clear, the RSS feed in question was a headline, a one-sentence introduction and a link to the full story on the NYT site. That’s it. Worse? Steve Jobs highlighted the app earlier during his WWDC keynote – and the NYT itself wrote a glowing review of the app just a few days before.

As mystifying as the move seems from the outside, it’s yet another sign that established old media entities are still really struggling to understand the web. Time and time again, it feels as if old media companies, rather than embracing the massive potential of the web, seem to shoot themselves in the foot.

So consider this a public service. For all those people out there working in established media, here are five things you still don’t seem to get about the web"

Creativity and Generosity in the Internet Age

"Clay Shirky's second book, The Cognitive Surplus, picks up where his stellar debut, Here Comes Everybody left off: explaining how the net's lowered costs for group activity allow us to be creative and even generous in ways that we never anticipated and haven't yet fully taken account of.

Shirky's hypothesis is that a lot of the 20th century stuff we used to take for granted -- most people didn't want to create media, people didn't value homemade and amateur productions, no one would pitch in to create something for others to enjoy unless they were being paid -- weren't immutable laws of nature, but accidents of history. The Internet has undone those accidents, by making it possible for more people to make and do cool stuff, especially together."

Towform, of course, an example of the scope of this insight. :) More, here.

Flash

(Visiting The Oatmeal for the first time in awhile always has me getting caught up and following the occasional real world links he includes. I wasn't going to do two posts in one day, but this is the funniest thing I've read in forever -- and it's from 2003!)

Uproar over Anti-Flash Intro Survey Results

Quote from Macromedia employee (pre-Adobe buyout) on website Flash intros:

"When we have clients who are thinking about Flash splash pages, we tell them to go to their local supermarket and bring a mime with them. Have the mime stand in front of the supermarket, and, as each customer tries to enter, do a little show that lasts two minutes, welcoming them to the supermarket and trying to explain the bread is on aisle six and milk is on sale today.

"Then stand back and count how many people watch the mime, how many people get past the mime as quickly as possible, and how many people punch the mime out.

"That should give you a good idea as to how well their splash page will be received. That's the crux of it."

Email

I think Yahoo and Hotmail should be swapped, but otherwise spot on. Plus it has a great coincidental iNetNow inside joke...

What Your Email Address Says About Your Computer Skills

(via The Oatmeal)

Evil and Marketing, Friends or Foes

Writing from a coffee shop in Santa Monica, as I wait a few days for the movers to bring our stuff.

A fellow in our business sent this article out.

I got a kick out of the examples, as they definitely illustrate the challenges in marketing, making money and being transparent with your users.

http://searchengineland.com/evil-conversion-when-optimization-goes-too-far-42838

(bonus: the site itself disclosed informative information on why I received the popup overlay when I first visited the site)

So, what are your thoughts on what is evil and what is not in the world of online e-commerce?

Teleportation

Well, this is exciting.

Sorry I've been away for so long.

How to Be Weird

Very cool article on creative minds:

How To Be Weird (And Why)

Be weird. Do obscure things, seek occluded knowledge, try odd experiments in strange ways. No-one ever became interesting by travelling well-trodden paths. People redefine boundaries by testing them, poking holes in them and wandering around in the void just beyond the edge.

While you do this, though, people will call you weird, or crazy. This is probably an excellent indication that you are on the right path.

Small By Choice

Some great quotes in this article about a small Chicago pizzeria that does it their own way. (via SvN)

Small by Choice, Whether Clients Like It or Not

"That is the American way — to expand without really thinking."

"The customer really isn’t always right."

"I think that perception of arrogance has to do with the sense of entitlement and a lack of respect for someone wanting to do their job. We’re just trying to do the job the best we can. We’re trying to provide a quality experience for everyone who comes in. In the food service business, it’s assumed that the customers have a set of God-given birthrights when they come into an establishment. It’s like they’ve been wronged in a lot of parts of their lives, and this is their chance to even the score."

"From my experience being a designer, once you know in your gut what you’re doing is really good, you just have to go with it. You can’t hold back because there’s going to be one person saying, “I don’t like that purple or that pink.” People are going to be people."

DST, XKCD Style

(via xkcd)

Let's Have A Meeting!

(via SvN)

Let Them Sing It For You

Just when you think you've seen every cool thing there is on the Internet, something like this comes along...

Let Them Sing It For You

(via All Songs Considered)

$500 for Audio Bliss

Vacuous humor.

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AKDL1-Dedicated-Link-Cable/dp/B000I1X6PM/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Read a couple customer reviews. I wonder if any of them are from actual purchasers?

(via Gizmodo)

How To Use Wave In a Life or Death Situation

(from Gizmodo)

If you appreciated this, then head on over to your Wave account and respond to Gary! Otherwise, I'll have to pull out Ezekiel on you.

The Other Internet

Cool little short story:

The Other Internet

(via Novelr)

New Web Publishing Experiments

Traditional publishing model with some interesting twists (targeting a literary crowd) - began in 1998.

Interesting site and design:

http://store.mcsweeneys.net/

New iphone subscription ($5.99 for 6 months):

http://iphone.mcsweeneys.net/

• mini-subscription to a variety of McSweeney's content
• access to the free stuff that the website posts every day
• every week you get a "Small Chair" update. These will be articles from the print versions of McSweeney's or The Believer or a short video from Wolphin. This weekly content is not available on the website, just in the various hard-copy versions of their publications.

I like the blend of traditional paper-bound content, print subscriptions, free online content and newer tech mobile delivery. The key will be if they can find the right balance of price points.

(and for those who like design - here's the Danish designer - http://www.russellquinn.com/)

The 3 Most Important Things You Need for a Startup (and one of them is not money)

Having lived in the Bay Area for over a year, I've been exposed to more people who have been part of startups (mostly failed).

This article nicely summarized a Meebo founder's take on making it past early startup phase:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/20/from-nothing-to-something-how-to-get-there/

• a great startup team (< 4 people)
  
• just get your product out the door
• get a good mentor

While I haven't taken the plunge on an early startup, I can say that some part of me resonated with:

"No office. No phone system. No hiring. No press. No legal muck. No raising money. No looking for partnerships (who’s going to partner with you anyway?). The success or failure of the adoption of your product is what will create 99% of the initial value of your company. If no one ever uses your product, you have no value"

MIT students photograph near space for $150

A group of M.I.T. students used a weather balloon, a digital camera, a pre-paid cell phone, a beer cooler and a couple of hand warmers to capture photographs of the blackness of space and the curvature of the Earth.