February 2007

I the other morning before I left the apartment for work I had MTV on the television, and amazingly, I actually saw a video. Yes, a whole video. Last time I saw a video on MTV was high school.

Anyway, this is the video I saw, and I really dig the song and the video:

Meetings make us dumber, study shows (via Slashdot.org)

from the article:

The researchers speculate that when a group of people receives information, the inclination is to discuss it. The more times one option is said aloud, the harder it is for individuals to recall other options, explained Krishnan, associate professor of marketing at Indiana University.

This is interesting because it confirms something a creative director I know recently told me regarding brainstorming sessions she holds for project kick-offs. She said 2 things normally happen in every brainstorm:

a) A few solid ideas come from the same few people every time
OR
b) She goes into the meeting knowing what ideas she wants to use already

This is an unfortunate situation. The MSNBC article suggests , "Alone, they came up with significantly more products than when they were grouped with two others." This reminds me of Google's famous "twenty percent" policy (via Google Jobs):

Google engineers all have "20 percent time" in which they're free to pursue projects they're passionate about. This freedom has already produced Google News, Google Suggest, AdSense for Content, and Orkut - products which might otherwise have taken an entire start-up to launch.

I still think it's important to involve a variety of people on projects because great ideas can truly come from anywhere and anyone - maybe the key is not putting everyone in a room together.

I watch the Oscars last night and I was mildly amused by the the opening montage of nominee snippets. I can't objectively say that my amusement wasn't caused by the realization that it was very similar to the "Get a Mac" ads from a few years ago.

As I said, it's an observation, not a complaint. As my last entry on The Art of the Mashup explains, no one exists in a vacuum - everyone is influenced by someone.

I'm sure the Get a Mac ads were inspired by something else as well.

screenshot from the Oscars Nominee Montage:

View clip on YouTube

...and an Apple "Get a Mac" ad cerca 2005 (featuring the the cult favorite Ellen Feiss):

View clip on YouTube

Bryan just shot me this link over IM earlier today and it's friggin' great. It's a typographic translation of the "What does Marsellus Wallace look like?!" scene from Pulp Fiction created by Jarratt Moody.

I think it's example of the form of art for the 21st century - the mashup. It's not merely a copy of a scene from a movie - it's an interpretation Mr. Moody has done of that clip to make it his own, something completely new.

Another great mashup from the last few years was the mashup 'trailer' for Shining - using footage from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining coupled with Peter Gabriel's song Solsbury Hill to produce something that feels totally different than the actual movie:

When I see mashups on the Internet or listen to mashup albums (like DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album), I think of the long tradition of copying and mixing that art has in its history. Although you can find examples that go much further back, a good modern starting point would be Marcel Duchamp's Fountain:

Why is this art? Because Duchamp said it is.

I also think of of Andy Warhol and his Campbell's Soup Cans:

Amazing what's possible with silk screening.

and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon:

Pablo mashed up his art with African masks. Just like Paul Simon did on his album Graceland.

The Onion recently published an article titled, Apple Hard At Work Making iPhone Obsolete (via Daring Fireball). It's dead-on and reflects something I hear a lot regarding Apple products. When people talk about their new iPod or computer, "I know Apple is going to release a new version next week..." seems to be the first thing they mention and then they'll say "I knew it! I knew I should have waited..." again in 3 months when Apple dropped the new version of their device.

All I have to say to these people is WAHHHHH. We live in a disposable society and capitalism (consumerism) relies on selling more stuff, new stuff. People need to check themselves more often and ask themselves, "I like this new product, but do I need it? Is the product I'm using doing the job fine already?"

Apple is not the source of the problem with technology, their priorities as a company are different than those of a consumer, at least a smart consumer. Just because they release a new product does not mean you need to buy it.

Case in point:
I have the same dual processor G4 with 768MB of RAM since 2002. I've used it consistently for the last 4 years and it's loaded with the standard creative programs which all run perfectly - Adobe CS2, Flash 8, etc. Whenever a new version of OS X comes out, I back up my computer, wipe the hard drive and install a new system. I find this fresh install gives the sytem a performance boost, almost like getting a new machine again.

Now I've definitely wanted to get a new machine over the years, but I've never needed to. The same reasoning held true for my Palm Treo 600 - new models have come out since I bought it, but it's always had and done exactly what I needed - QWERTY keyboard for texting, Palm OS to sync with contacts (since my Palm V days), speakerphone, and mobile internet & email (I actually grew tired of email & internet).

I will be there to get one of the first iPhones in June with the other iPhone fans, but when October rolls around and these iPhone users around me get angry because the 20 gig iPhone launches, remember, these people are making themselves obsolete, not Steve Jobs.

Take some responsibility for yourselves people and stop pointing the Finger of Obsolescence at others.

*note - I checked and "obsoleteness" is the correct usage. :)

*update - someone with solid lexicon pointed me in the direction of the word obsolescence instead of obsoleteness, even though both are correct obsolescence rolls off the tongue better I think.

Well, it looks like things are going get interesting in 2007. Sure Google Docs has been up for a while, but they're putting the operation into second gear and I'm interested to see how Microsoft responds. Check out Google Apps comparison chart.

Despite being excited about Google Apps, I've also heard great things about Microsoft 2007. Having options is always good.

*side note: I appreciate the clarity and simplicity in much of what Google does, all the way down to their URLs - http://www.google.com/a/, just an 'a', heh... i love it. It's the little things that amuse me.

This is the watch I want, if anyone wants to get it for me. If not, at least explore the Movado site because it is bad-ass. Designed & produced by createthe.

I've just implemented sIFR on this site, which should be replacing the HTML text headers for each entry with custom Flash fonts (Futura Bold). If you view my source code, you'll see that all the h3 tags are still in place - sIFR is working some Javascript trickery to dynamically replace them all on-the-fly.

The fact that the source code has not been altered means that this site will degrade nicely for people who either don't have Flash (I don't who these people are) or don't have the Flash Player version 6 (I don't know who these people are either). Seriously, it means that my site is more accessable, readable by search engines while still getting the benefits of slick text.

You can find out more about sIFR at the site of it's co-creators, Mike Davidson (creator of my favorite news site, Newsvine).

Blogs, online journals, whatever you'd like to call them - they all have the same obvious goal of communicating. Blog software now comes installed on most hosting provider servers and can also be used free (like on MySpace) or for a minimal subscription fee (Typepad, Movable Type).

Blogging is as much of fad as a cell phones are. Sure, there are many people that jumped on the blogging bandwagon when articles started getting published in TIME and BusinessWeek, but bloggers were around loooong before it got popular and will be around long after the hype has died down.

I'm excited to see blogs coming out of creative agencies and studios (and other companies that don't fit easily into a particular category) - excited not for their existence but for the quality of their content and design. They provide a much better home for inspiration, links, videos and photos than a couple dozen emails passed around the company group list.

Below are some of the better ones I've come across:

Company: Big Spaceship
http://www.motherboard.nu/
http://cs.bigspaceship.com/blog/
http://labs.bigspaceship.com/blog/

Company: Organic
http://threeminds.organic.com/

Company: Web Agent 007
http://labs.wa007.com/

Company: Analogue
http://www.analogue.ca/blog/

Company: Coudal Partners (their site has almost always been synonymous with their blog)

Company: Hi-ReS!
http://www.hi-res.net/blog/

Company: Adaptive Path
http://adaptivepath.com/blog/

Company: 37Signals
http://37signals.com/svn/

Starting March 5th, 2007 I will be an art director at the New York office of Schematic.

I'll miss the crew at Deep Focus and wish them luck with the move to the new office space in Manhattan. I expect to see much more great rich media and microsites from them!

I also have this photo posted at JPG.

Most customer support websites tell you to search through their knowledge base before submitting a trouble ticket and I admit that sometimes I get lazy and just want an email response from a support representative with bothering myself by searching around. Well MIVA Small Business Customer Support didn't let me do that.

After I clicked on Submit a Ticket, I was brought to a form to type in my issue. As I began to type, a textbox below the form began to dynamically populate a list of links relevant to the text I was typing in, titled Knowledgebase Suggestions, like this:

Sure enough, the first link took me to a page that had the answer I was looking for.

Apple working on no-contact charging, syncing?

from the headline (my bolding):

Apple Inc. is attempting to develop a revolutionary dock connector for handheld consumer electronics gadgets that will allow the devices to be docked in any orientation and, in some cases, charged wirelessly.

It's very important to use the right words when talking. Wireless charging and syncing are not revolutionary. There have been wireless chargers for batteries, electric tooth brushes, etc that charge wirelessly through induction.

Wireless syncing has also been done in the past. Remember your old Palm V? Remember the infrared sensor for syncing? Ok.

With that said, I have no doubt that if Apple is working on wireless syncing and charging, they are working hard as hell to remove any kinks and problems in the processes. They weren't the first company to make digital music players, but they revolutionized the field. They're not the first company to work with wireless syncing and charging - but they could potentially revolutionize that too.

3GSM: LG Says Apple Nicked iPhone Idea From Them

Becareful with your language you big, fat cry babies. There's a big different between copying, being influenced by and inspired by something. Of those 3 I don't Apple did any. The LG phone doesn't have a on-screen QWERTY keyboard, visual voicemail, web browser or motion-sensitive touch screen (it does have a touch screen).

LG - if by copying you, you mean that you made a Ford Escort and Apple made a BMW 745, then yes, I guess they did copy you and then flush your chocolate turd down the toilet.

Since we're at it, I think Palm should sue Motorola for the Q, and RIM for the BlackBerry.

Can June pleeeeease come quickly? I'm very much over iPhone hype, speculation and trash-talking (myself included).

My Exposé for WIndows Vista - I'm amused by the fact that after 5 years of development, you still need to install a productivity application to make Vista as easy to use as OS X.

Seems like Microsoft was too busy making their window/application switcher in 3-D:

Adobe Design Center - Odopod. I've seen lots of Flash drawing applications before, but this one really gives you the feel of pencils on paper. It just has a great tactile quality for an online piece. I found myself hypnotized both by drawing things myself and then replaying the drawing sessions of other people.
Complete gallery archive.

Kids, the Internet, and the End of Privacy: The Greatest Generation Gap Since Rock and Roll
from New York Magazine:

Kids today. They have no sense of shame. They have no sense of privacy. They are show-offs, fame whores, pornographic little loons who post their diaries, their phone numbers, their stupid poetry--for God's sake, their dirty photos!--online. They have virtual friends instead of real ones. They talk in illiterate instant messages. They are interested only in attention--and yet they have zero attention span, flitting like hummingbirds from one virtual stage to another.

Web Standards: it's about quality, not compliance
from Design View:

In spite of the widespread acceptance of Web standards by a specific segment of the design and development community, hosts of professionals - those out there right now creating the Web - are working in direct opposition to these standards. A significant reason for why this is happening and how those not working with Web standards justify their activity boils down, I believe, to something regrettably simple: nomenclature.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

You could put your link at the bottom, think of the exposure!!! - familiar-sounded, isn't it?

I love it. This is going on my list of things that motivate me.

IMG_4606.JPG


Originally uploaded by combustionchamber.

Glenn Gould : Bach - Keyboard Concerto No.1 D minor BWV 1052

Jobs would offer free music in a 'heartbeat' -Amen Steve, if anyone can sell it to the labels it's you. Please make it happen. :)

A great interactive portfolio of Victor Brunetti. (via k10k)

Apple Ad - Microsoft Vista, Cancel or Allow? (via Daring Fireball)

This is a great example of choosing the right technology for the job. IndustryNext, like many companies, wanted to put a map on their contact page, but as cool as Google Maps is, it wasn't the solution since IndustryNext's site was built in Flash and Google Maps was built in AJAX.

So what they decided to do was use Yahoo Maps. It's nearly identical to Google Maps, but in Flash. Like Google Maps, Yahoo Maps has a public API that you can tap into to build your own mashups. The result is a seemlessly integrated map experience.

Also note the use of direct linking within Flash on IndustryNext's site, mimicking separate pages for each of the sections within the site. People have been doing this for a while, but it's overlooked a lot:

http://www.industrynext.com/#showcase
http://www.industrynext.com/#capabilities

It's amazing how often we will silently live with things we know are built or designed wrong. Today I'm speaking about something that might seem trivial to some, but bugs the shit of out me - webmail message navigation.

Can we come to a agreement on what wording we use when navigating through email archives? I try to keep to my one 'main' email account for the majority of my email communicating, but occasionally I have to dip into my other 'alternate' accounts. Each one of these accounts has a different way of navigating back to older emails and forward to newer emails.

Below are screenshots from the 3 main applications I use - GMail, YahooGroups & SquirrelMail:

GMail

Newer & Older - there's no sitting, blinking and pondering where these 2 links are taking me. Simple clear English for simple navigating. Thank you Google.

Yahoo Groups

Newer & Older - Awesome, Google must have taken pointers from Yahoo. Too bad these 2 links are only on the Messages List page. :(

Next and Prev - What happened to Older and Newer? Now what the f#ck to I pick? Turns out Next takes me to newer messages and Prev takes me to older ones. Too bad they're in the reverse order as GMail.

SquirrelMail

Previous & Next - Ahhh, only through using SquirrelMail for years to I know that Previous will actually take me to newer messages and Next will take me to older messages.

First off, I'd like to give credit to this discovery to my friend Bryan Larrick.

I use Dreamhost for all my hosting, as well as the hosting I use for all my clients. They have unbeatable pricing, good support, and in the event that something goes wrong, they're the first ones to admit it on their support blog. They're also pretty accommodating if you have particular custom settings you might need in PHP (I'm still on a shared server environment so I can't tweak my server settings since it's not a dedicated box). One thing I've never taken advantage of is their domain registration service.

For the last 7 years I've used Register.com for all my domain registrations and I've pointed all my clients to them as well. They're more expensive than other places, like GoDaddy, but I didn't care, because they were reliable. Within the last few years they also started offering privacy protection for an additional charge but I've never used this extra service.

Then my friend Bryan emails and says since moving his domain from Register.com to Dreamhost, the amount of SPAM he gets has almost stopped.

No way, I think.

Since I have an account with Dreamhost and domain transfer is free, I figure, what the hell, I'll do a little experiment with thecombustionchamber.com and make Dreamhost my registrar. So I make the switch, making sure to have Privacy Protection CHECKED.

It's been 2 days and already the amount of SPAM I get has significantly dropped.

Now chances are I could have done the same thing will Register.com, but I would have had to pay another $10 a year on top of the annual $35 renewal fee. At Dreamhost it's free. Even if you don't use Dreamhost for hosting, domain registration will only put you back about $10.

Thanks for the heads up Bry. I just hope this low SPAM environment lasts.

Where ever you may work, I hope you don't have to deal with either of these 2 Words of the Day:

boondoogle - A Boondoggle is a North American term referring to the performance of useless or trivial tasks whilst appearing to be doing something important. (Google definition)

kludge - Pronounced "klooj." With computers, a term used to describe a piece of hardware or software that basically operates properly but whose construction or design is severely lacking in elegance or logical efficiency. (Google definition)