Category Archives

General Entertainment

Moon art? Yes.

During the 1960s, Bell Labs asked six artists – including Warhol – to submit drawings that were shrunken and printed on a tiny tile that was then shipped off to the moon in secret. This is the awesomest story I have ever read.

Thanks to io9 for reporting on this – and the upcoming PBS documentary on it!

Advertising right, Korea

Caught this tonight while reading up on the new iPhone and doing some freelance work. Absolutely stunning – completely stopped me in my tracks. Shouldn’t all tourism ads be this brilliant?

Smart advertising

While reading Jalopnik this morning, I noticed advertisements for Pennsylvania’s Tourism campaign, Visit PA. This particular campaign has been very active, even posting banners for Fallingwater, the Warhol Museum and rafting on the Youghiogheny River in the London Tube stations that caught me off guard on a 2005 trip. What made this morning’s ads so clever was that they drew viewers in with pre-planned roadtrips – perfect for a car blog!

Visit PA’s Roadtrip-a-Matic

Watch: popsplosion

“Peter Pan” by Teenagers in Tokyo

“Upside Down” by Paloma Faith

“Something Good Can Work” by Two Door Cinema Club

Magazine computing

I had a bit of an epiphany this morning while reading a paper copy of Wired in bed.  After finishing an article on the history of hacking and its future in the world of entrepreneurs, a subscription card spiraled its way out onto the comforter.  This left me pondering the fact that, due to the advertising within, this huge collection of words and pictures representing days of work could be sold for $1 per subscribed issue.  And further considering the reality that I am, in truth, more willing to look at ads in Wired from companies that I’d otherwise ignore because I have a real respect for this particular magazine and its writers, editors and creative directors.  I also read every issue cover to cover, even if I’m not particularly interested in, say, a feature on the future of insulin pumps.  I don’t do this with Wired online content, as proven by the fact that I merely skimmed it on my iPhone moments after putting the paper magazine down to hop over to wired.com.

I also started thinking in parallel about an article from Ars Technica entitled Curated computing: what’s next for devices in a post-iPad world, an article which I really liked but didn’t entirely grasp the scope of until just a few minutes ago.

The iPad is computing as a magazine.

There has been a lot of talk about reading magazines and other print media on the iPad and how this will save these dead tree industries.  I think it might.  But I’m now thinking more broadly than that.

Just like how Wired can curate the best of the geek world each month, surrounding it in a shell of hard-fought credibility, respect and cool, the iPad does the same for computing experiences.  They are curated, as Ars suggests but they are also an experience unto themselves by virtue of being presented on the iPad.  Just like I’m willing to delve more deeply into Wired’s content when its in front of me in paper form than on a website, I’m more willing to pursue any content on the iPad because I like engaging with the iPad.

And, thus, magazine computing.  (I’m coining it now.)

(From Case for the iPad)

I’m moving in

For a long time, I said I wanted to live in an IKEA showroom. The sentiment is still appealing to me, even after some truly horrific “assembly” experiences with their furniture. “IKEA: the furniture of wishful thinking.” Anyway, I want to scrap that idea now because…

I’m moving into the Pantone Hotel in Brussels. An entire hotel colored in Pantone palettes is SUBLIME. I’m calling dibs on the “earthy, rich” (read: brown) room.

(Gizmodo)

The original crossover

Jalopnik is delighting me today with a post on old car brochures (I guess brought on by their blurb on the Eldorado glovebox bar.) While flipping through the online gallery, I stumbled across the most fascinating classic car amongst the marketing fluff: the 1951 Kaiser Traveler.

1951 Kaiser Traveler

Now, I am not normally, under any circumstances, a classic car guy. I can recognize why the greats are legendary and wouldn’t turn down a free vintage Ferrari or Bugatti. I’ll even watch Wayne Carini stumble through a barn on occasion. But I’m much more interested in technology of modern cars.

The Traveler challenges that, though, by offering the (I thought) uniquely contemporary blend of sleek, car-like design with functionality and utility more commonly associated with SUVs. In short, it was the mid-20th century equivalent of the crossovers I lust after today.

So, while I’ll more than likely trade my A3 for an Audi Q5 or BMW 3 Series GT when the time comes, it’s good to know that the car buying world was not as bleak in 1951 as I feared. And that a good idea is eternal.