The Pedal-to-the-Metal, Totally Illegal, Cross-Country Sprint for Glory

“Ultimately, this drive is a math calculation,” Roy says. Maher looks blank. Roy points to a series of cells in the spreadsheet. Maher scans it, then turns the page, searching. “See,” Roy says, “that’s the average we’re looking to hit: 90.”

“I know this average,” Maher says quietly. He flips through more pages. “I’m looking for the extended stretches of big speed, the long stretches where we can really hit it and make time.”

Roy straightens. “Well, those don’t really exist,” he says. “You’ll see. It’s very rare to run over 100 for even a minute or two… ”

“Oh yeah?” Maher says smiling. “Well, I’m about to change that.”

Head’s up to Bryan Larrick for pointing out this great article in the NY Times regarding Surface Navigation Help for Subway Riders.
Ever wonder what the true meaning of design is? This is a prime example. Design, in the broadest sense, is a solution to a problem. To be more specific, design is anything that improves peoples’ lives.
Sure, you might not think this compass is useful in midtown, where all the streets and avenues are aligned in a nice little grid, but if you’re over on West 4th Street in the West Village (where there’s no semblance of a grid) – these things will be lifesavers.

This made me laugh this morning:

Last month, Nokia kicked off an advertising campaign attempting to talk smack about the iPhone’s closed system.
That campaign will be irrelevant very soon with Apple bringing a software development kit (SDK) to developers for the iPhone.
That’s how Nokia rolls people. See, they draw attention away from themselves and on to their competitor’s product, while also developing their own imitation of said product.
You just have to have a little patience, people.

Its been a long time, been a long time,
Been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time. – I’m excited about this, not so much for myself (because like any decent person, I have all my Zeppelin), but for younger generations who need to get the Led out.

Seth Godin nails it once again with his entry on How to create a great website. My favorite principle:

4. What works, works. Theory is irrelevant.

What we have below is a demo of Thermo, Adobe’s new initiative to allow designers to work on Flex applications – but in the language of designers, not developers.
From watching the demo it looks like Dreamweaver for Flex, since it has the Code/Design toggling.
Import Photoshop file … oh hell yes.
Hey Microsoft – are you taking notes?

Video found via aralbalkan.com

My favorite part of the movie Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ was when 50 Cent used to deal drugs, and he would iron his money.
He ironed his fucking money. Now THAT is a professional.
I loved this idea so much that I now iron all my money. Try ironing your money* and tell me it doesn’t feel pro.

* Remember, dollar bills are made of linen, not paper, so you’re not going to hurt your cash.

If you look hard, there’s actually a lot of amazing things happening in the world besides celebrities wiping their asses and speculation on non-existent gadgets.
MS to sell XP until June 2008 after Vista backlash – Imagine you release a product update that is so good that consumers opt for the older version. Well done Microsoft. Let me know how that ‘Silverlight‘ experiment goes too.
Blast from the Past: The Apple Store Online – Andy Rutledge thinks the new online store sucks? Rutledge is spot on with most of his critiques, but in this one he’s wrong (unless he’s being facetious and I’m not catching it).
Amazon MP3 Store – iTunes rocks, but competition is healthy. Amazon has taken a great step in a great direction for digital music.
Palm Centro – A day late and a dollar short.

Fast Company – Masters of Design – This issue is all about design, I mean Design. As in the big picture Design (thanks Jory).

Analogue launches the new Rita Hazan website in collaboration with Kate Schelter. I think they make a good team, this site is beautiful and easy to use.
Great photography can really elevate a project, can’t it?
Of course, so can great design and development.
Alright, I guess you need it all.

When we make decisions in our lives, we all carry with us tons of opinions, ideas, memories and associations. Some of these we’re aware of, and some are subconscious.
A phenomenon that I always find interesting is cryptomnesia:

It refers to cases where (apparently) a person believes that he or she is creating or inventing something new, such as a story, poem, artwork, or joke, but is actually recalling a similar or identical work which he or she has previously encountered.

I don’t know if the creators of Absolut Brasil were aware of their influences, but they are apparent:
Absolut Brasil

iTunes (showing Coverflow view)

It’s important to note that the CoverFlow technology not developed by Apple, but by Jonathan del Strother. I’d be curious to find out what del Strother’s inspiration was for CoverFlow.

Number 1: This image is an example of outstanding art direction.
Number 2: This image echoes the opinion of a lot of people.
It’s funny, because the image doesn’t quite sync up with the point of the article. The point of the article is about how Microsoft is entering the realm of ‘cloud computing’. This refers to services like Google Docs – applications available over the internet, not locked down in your operating system. The article goes on to explain how MS is going to give Google a run for their money by offering similar online tools.
I didn’t read the image that way. I read it as Google shedding light on an otherwise cloudly, gloomy Microsoft-filled world. Whether he intended it or not, the art director of this image has put MS in a bad light (no pun intended).
Great design starts conversation, and I’m sure I’d hear a dozen different interpretations of this image …and that’s a good thing.
Simple, direct and elegant. Great job James C. Best Jr., whoever you are.

It’s the same reason a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTL / Lusso is still an amazing piece of machinery.
For people who appreciate true design, waiting for the next version of whatever product you want isn’t an issue.
Quality is quality. No matter how old it is.

I went to Seth Godin‘s blog this morning. I liked what I read so I decided to add his RSS feed to my NewsFire application. When I clicked on the RSS feed icon in Firefox I got this:

I don’t care which type of RSS feed I get. Good design is not only visual, but technical as well. Design involves removing unnecessary complexity.
Don’t show me 3 options when 1 is sufficient.
XML is XML. Just give me a feed.