August 2007
24 posts
A little mix tape for ye.
I’ve been inspired to create an online mix tape after reading this post on Be Good Not Bad. Enjoy …
All That I Need by Method Man and Mary J. Blige (listen, lyrics)
The National Anthem by Radiohead (listen, lyrics)
Let Forever Be by The Chemical Brothers (watch, lyrics)
27 Jennifers by Mike Doughty (listen, lyrics)
Song for the Dumped by Ben Folds Five (listen, lyrics)
Italian Leather...
Eric Meyer’s CSS Sculptor
CSS Sculptor includes 30 of the most common web page layouts—fixed-width, liquid, elastic, and combinations thereof—coded the way Eric Meyer would code them. (via Jones’ shared items in Google Reader)
Content Aware Image Resizing
Siggraph 2007 presentation of an all new way to automatically resize images tracing ‘seams’ with the least amount of energy.
The eraser thing at the end is totally worth it. (via Jones’ shared items in Google Reader)
Grab your sausage and head over to Texas
The people who brought us Paloozahead
have built another site for the Big State Festival, “the biggest country music festival in Texas.” Biggest in Texas? Damn. Anyway, Big State Games is actually quite a bit neater than the Lollapalooza site, thanks to the abundance of things to do. Four mini-games let you cook sausages, direct a pit crew, ride a mechanical bull and help a country singer outrun...
Staying creative
Everyone is creative. But some stay that way longer. How can you designers, writers, and the like, stay motivated and productive? (Plus: When the client says, “Make it like eBay,” what exactly does that mean?) (via Jones’ shared items in Google Reader)
I Mean and You Know
Language Log collects the data and looks at the use of the phrases ‘I Mean’ and ‘You Know.’ Via One Good Move. (via Jones’ shared items in Google Reader)
Download a preview of Mobile Web Design
One week from today Mobile Web Design will be available for purchase. I’ve sent preview copies (full version) to +20 luminaries in the web and mobile industries, and so far the feedback has been genuinely positive. (Whew!)
Now it’s your turn to preview the book:
Table of Contents (PDF, 88 KB)
Preview Snippets (PDF, 3.3 MB)
August 28 will welcome a new site design,...
Pecha Kucha
My ebook Really Bad Powerpoint has generated plenty of mail and comment in the years since I wrote it. I just wish everyone would read it. Now, though, Rick points us to Pecha Kucha Night. [and Dan Pink wrote about it this month in Wired.]
I love this idea to pieces. I also love the translation on the site (Japanese for “the sound of conversation.”)
If you are really and truly...
The Argument
The web is about tactics, at least most of the time. Most of the meetings and most of the effort goes into honing our tactics.
One of my concerns about the misuse of SEO by marketers is that it’s largely about tactics. It’s easy to get hooked on constant cycling of this approach or that tactic, all to incrementalize your improvements.
Big successes, on the other hand, come from...
The 300 Page Phone Bill
This young lady eloquently demonstrates the absurd waste of direct mail billing, having received a 300 page bill from AT&T.
I have a dangerously teetering stack of unopened phone bills, bank statements, utility bills, charity mailings and unrequested catalogues sent to me [and a number of previous tenants] sitting in my living room that testify to the wastage on this side of the pond...
Video changes things
With very little notice, YouTube has become a significant force in business learning. People that would never read a 200 page book will happily watch a three minute video. Here’s a page with a dozen or so videos to get you started. Feel free to add your favorites. My guess is that the quality and the quantity of material like this is about to soar. [Dan points us to a similar site with a...
Write in Lights
This is my new favourite thing and not just because it reminds me of the way I was seeing the world following BeerSphere last night.
[Thanks to everyone for coming. It was awesome.]
{Found on Dead Insect}
(via Jones’ shared items in Google Reader)
Watch
fourteen
He looked over at me in the gathering dusk, and said, “You know, I used to have a crush on you.”
Excuse me - used to?
I should have known then that he was going to be trouble.
He was my mother’s worst fear about me attending an out of state college: a tall, cute Texas boy. What if I never came back?
But if you know him, you know that of course he brought me back. Like always, like I know he...
stuck on a design? design|snips to the rescue!
“design|snips was born out of my realization that most sites I add to my ‘Design’ folder are bookmarked because of a few elements that are really well designed. Whether it’s the headline style, callout boxes or other modules, I usually am inspired by a few key parts of each site. design|snips will collect and categorize these elements and hopefully help you when it comes time to start on a new...
News: Mix: ESPN, Facebook, Amp+, Orange
ESPN has launched an iPhone-specific version of its PodCenter podcast listings. The interface can be accessed by visiting espn.com from an iPhone and features more than 25 podcasts. Popular social networking site Facebook has also launched an iPhone-specific interface. It can be accessed from the iPhone at iphone.facebook.com. Nike’s Amp+ iPod-controlling watch has appeared on the FCC’s website....
A book for hip-hop heads.
I stumbled upon Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies by Brian Coleman and immediately added it to my to-read list. The premise of the book is simple—Coleman talks with the artists behind some of the best hip-hop album albums of the 80’s and 90’s. His objective is to backfill the detailed liner notes that are often absent from many hip-hop albums.
You can read an excerpt from the...
Ryan Adams, Minneapolis, June 18th
“I’ve been going from door to door with nothing to sell.” I finally got my hands on a live recording of the Ryan Adams show I attended back in June. He played an 18 song set with the Cardinals at the Cedar Cultural Center. It was brilliant. He’s coming back to Minneapolis in September to the State Theatre. If you’re in the Cities, please get your...
8 ways to drive a graphic designer mad
Great find Chris, this made me chuckle and nod a few times: 8 ways to drive a graphic designer mad
(via Bryan’s shared items in Google Reader)
Trendy Insights
Click To Play
A while back I was sitting on a panel, alongside the lovely Beeker, at the PSFK Conference in London.
Whilst I may have rambled on aimlessly, indulging my love of semantic arguments - [see above - I tell a couple of gags towards the end, promise] - the day itself was fantastic.
Not only were there loads of...
Is good enough enough?
Most marketing efforts are projects in response to problems. “We need a box for the product launch.” “We need a press release for the tour the boss is doing.” “We need an ad campaign for the Super Bowl.”
In response to projects, many organizations figure out the resources they’ve got and then work hard to do something good enough. On time, within budget....
i do, i do
We just got home from a wedding.
It was so many things that a wedding should be; intimate, with a bride and groom who have seen enough of life to know - well, as much as anyone can - what they are getting into. We stood in a circle around this pair and witnessed this ritual, this ceremony, this covenant, come into being. There is so much fuss, and pomp, and stuff that goes into weddings; this...
I like the Vimeo.
I used Vimeo to upload some videos for this post last night and I have to say it’s purty cool. Super easy to use and a slick interface. Google better work some mojo on YouTube ’cause Vimeo is no joke. Plus it looks like they have some fun at work.
(via Bryan’s shared items in Google Reader)
Lil Penny: Welcome Back, Lil Penny
In honor of Anfernee Hardaway’s quixotic return to the land of Shaquille O’Neal, we, because it’s a Friday and goings are slow, bring up an old Lil Penny video. Ah, Chris Rock, in puppet form. How we missed you.
There’s a bunch more right here, by the way.
(via Bryan’s shared items in Google Reader)