Friday, July 25, 2008

The Process

LaunchBar - If Quick Isn't Fast Enough

I love efficiency. And keyboard shortcuts fall right into that "holy crap she's a dork, and efficient!" category. That's why I just downloaded LaunchBar. It's a productivity utility that lets you navigate pretty much anything on your computer with a few keystrokes. You get instant access to your applications, documents, contacts, bookmarks, iTunes, search engines and even a calculator. All you have to do is know what short abbreviations to type in.

I'm still working on them.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Font Conference

Mentos Kiss Cam

as our computers get cooler, so can our advertising. here's a great example of taking technology to the next level...in a rather amusing way, might i add. Mentos created a site called the Mentos Kiss Cam where you get to make out with a bathing suit-clad hot chick. score! it uses your webcam: when you get near it, so does she, and the two of you can go at it via your monitor. sure makes me want to go on a tropical vacation.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Spoon Graphics

I just came across another great graphic design blog called Spoon Graphics. Written by Chris Spooner, he updates with Illustrator and Photoshop tutorials, free vectors, and all sorts of graphic design tidbits. A new one I'll be checking in on.

Smirt MiniJet

Always on the lookout for some great sites, this one was passed on to me this morning. (thanks!) At first glance, the Smirt MiniJet website is really quite pretty. I love the color scheme and the user interface. It looks more like some millennial's graphic design portfolio than a product website. And then I watched the videos! So wonderfully random, complete with cowboys, a french host, and singing poodles. All of which make me want to buy the freaking torch.



Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Creative Urge and the 29 Day Giving Challenge

This post is a little out of the ordinary for this blog, but it's still relevant.

I recently reconnected with a friend and she shared her new work with me. I have to say, I'm really rather inspired. Her name is Cami Walker, and she's created her own business called Creative Urge where she uses her mastery of strategy to help you make your dream career a reality. In her own words:

Creative Urge is a business endeavor or creative project that begs to be manifested into reality. It's the change in career you've been yearning to make. Or that new business idea you know will set you free – if you could just launch it. It's that book you've been dreaming of publishing or that artwork you want to see hanging in someone else's house.

I can help you bring your Creative Urge to fruition so it exists in the real world – not just in your head.


That's great in its own right, but what really inspired me was her 29 Day Giving Challenge. Perhaps it sounds a little cheesy at first, but after watching Daryn Kagan's story on it, I began to appreciate it more and more.

So how is this relevant, you ask? This project has become a worldwide movement online. She's managed to create something huge out of a simple social site. Something us interactive AD's can look up to. And if we can't make it happen, we could always get her advice on our next career move.



Monday, July 21, 2008

Mixwit

This weekend I went to the Download Music Festival. Honestly, it was slightly underwhelming as far as the music and tech gadgets were concerned (too bad that was the point of the fest!), but the company was fabulous and the people watching great. Anyway, what's my point? I heard one band play that made up for the rest of the average, generic rock-like sounds that permeated the venue. And as we speak I'm using a great application for creating new playlists and sharing them with your friends: Mixwit.

This site uses Seeqpod and SkreemR to find streaming mp3's online and lets you create, save, and share playlists, No Purchase Necessary. They do have links to buy the mp3's on amazon, should you so desire. But amazon? Really? I wish it were iTunes. Eh. One fun perk is that you get to put your lists on customizable old school cassette tapes.





















By the way, the band is Cut///Copy.

Gubb

I've actually been using this website for a long time now. At least a year. And I love it! Some people that know me know I love lists. I usually have a few going at a time: to do today, songs to buy, places to go, restaurants I want to try, bars to check out, gifts I want to get for people....no really, I keep lists like these. My memory is so bad that I sometimes I even forget important things, so i gotta keep lists.

Anyway, there's one website that helps with this: Gubb. It's all about lists. I can have as many as I want and can customize them accordingly. I can cross things off or just have them disappear all together. I can email or text myself (and my friends!) my lists. I can change colors, assign due dates, retrieve and add things by text, archive completed items, and rearrange lists on the page. There are mobile versions of the browsers for my PDA (ok, maybe i just like thinking about my iPhone). Then you an print your lists because sometimes you just want it old school.




Thursday, July 17, 2008

Special

Sometimes I am truly amused by social applications. I was just roaming around on a Facebook app called Red Bull Roshambull (rock paper scissors, from our energized friends at Red Bull) and it had a little status update on me. Nothing I had any control over, just a little note on how I'd been playing lately. As it happens, I haven't been playing at all. And whoever wrote these little things has a pretty dry sense of humor.




thanks, guys.

iPhone Apps

ok. i did it. i ordered my iPhone. eee! but as i wait the excruciating 7-10 day period i get to look at all the cool (and not) apps out there, awaiting my downloading pleasure. oh, i am a dork after all.

Loopt is an interesting one. It's a stalker-esque (although they like the term 'social compass') application that lets you track all your friends' past and present locations. personally, it makes me feel a little too followed. but i can see how it might come in handy now and then (example: late and stumbly weekend nights in the Mission. where ARE you?!)








Where is another location-based app that lets you explore what's around you. You can find nearby restaurants, coffee shops, gas stations, etc, and then share them with friends. could be kind of neat, although i'm not sure how often i'd actually use it.









Laptop Mag also came up with a nice Favorites List, which includes some free ones. I'm intrigued by the Google Mobile app, since I, too, wonder just how different it would be from using the browser.

But oh, the App Store. 550 cheap/free apps for our time-wasting and time-management pleasure. And it's integrated into your (my!) iPhone so it's fast and idiot-proof to download and install these tasty software morsels. mmm. I've been perusing them via iTunes and come across some seriously rad ones.

A few interesting ones:

Etch-A-Scetch. really! shake the iPhone and it erases your drawing.

Super MonkeyBall. well, there are actually a lot of games out there that use the accelerometer (tilt axis). this one just looks particularly ridiculous. and, you know, kinda fun.

Shazam. you know when you hear one of those pop songs that got stuck in your head at some club last week? well, catch it when it's playing, hold your iPhone up to it, and Shazam identifies the song, band, and album (and yes, a link to buy it on iTunes).


















oh man. i'm never gonna get anything done. ever again. either that or i'm going to become a super-productive friend-stalker. ack!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Mickey D's Hatching Egg

Lately, I have to say, i've been less than whelmed by McDonald's advertising. The print i've seen has felt kind of uninspired, although there have been a few gems here and there. This, however, is rather fun. And who doesn't like giant spectacles?

Leo Burnett Chicago created this huge live action billboard across from Wrigley field last week. Advertising the availability of fresh eggs served from 6 - 10:30am, a giant egg raised high in the air hatches between those times. Once it's open the yolk reads "Fresh Eggs Daily". Then, when breakfast is over the egg closes back up again and remains whole until the next morning.

So Gay




















no really, it's legit. or at least it was for one hot second. then they realized "so gay" was a slur and they backed out. it only cost 'em 5 grand to figure that one out.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Lost/Taken

need a texture? want it to be free? check out Lost/Taken. this is a designer-for-designer site with super hi-res, copyright-free photography. three cheers!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

SearchMe

a whole new way to search? well, not really. but it's prettier, that's for sure. SearchMe is a visual search engine that looks like it was designed by Apple, and search results are displayed as "stacks" of web page images you scroll through like album art.


and no, my website was not found. never fear, i submitted it.


Thursday, July 3, 2008

Beautiful Angle

Beautiful Angle is a rad guerilla arts poster project in Tacoma, Washington. About once a month a new hand-crafted, letterpress poster is created and distributed around the city's downtown area.

Take a look at the archive, or just go to Washington and keep your eyes peeled.
















also, please feel free to purchase one for me. I like this one a lot:

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The Shiny Squirrel

With a new place to decorate (ok, maybe it's not that new anymore) i've been keeping my eyes peeled for wonderful, affordable art. Often I find that the two don't go together. But! There are lots of places to seek out such a thing, and one of them is a site called The Shiny Squirrel.

Self-described:
The Shiny Squirrel is a platform for emerging artists and designers that features exclusive limited edition and/ or one a kind pieces. It seeks to showcase the growing market of young talent that need a voice and forum to display and sell their work.

After a bit of perusing I'm certainly liking it. Now I just need to stop buying art and start buying food.

Photoshop Disasters

this blog was brought to my attention mere minutes ago, and I couldn't wait to post it. an entire site dedicated to the crap that's created in photoshop...and makes it to the public eye. we've all seen them, and now we can see them even more. great for a little time-wastin'. the captions underneath are possibly even funnier than the actual..umm...work.

Go Check It Out


Tuesday, July 1, 2008

G3? yes, please.

i'm not sure if i'm making an informed decision or am just powerless to the hype, but i simply can't wait to get my hands on the new iPhone. as though it were fate, my current phone stopped receiving all text messages (on my birthday no less). i live and die by my text messages. okay, i don't. but sometimes it feels like i do...especially when my friends complain about my lack of response to their plentiful communications. but i digress.

really, i just want the G3. and why? when i've seen what happened the first time around: 1st gen iPhones are now expensive dinosaurs with waning battery power.

ugh. you'll know where to find me on the 11th.