Alternate Post title: “Adam Ant – Hero of a Hundred Ages…” I love it!

via Yucky Tuna

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

The Fantastic Adventures of Adam Ant

This has been making the rounds on a lot of the blogs I watch. It’s a pretty amazing stop-motion video (using live people) for the song, Her Morning Elegance, by Oren Lavie.

I really like this song, but the rest of the album doesn’t really appeal to me.

YouTube Link

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Excellent Live / Stop-Motion Video by Oren Lavie

Anna Nalick covers the classic Red Hot Chili Peppers song, Breaking the Girl. I like it. I think she did a nice job.

Anna’s version is available on iTunes.

via O’Bedlam!!!

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Anna Nalick Covers Breaking the Girl

One of the coolest things I saw at Macworld this year, was actually one of the cheapest, and smallest. They’re simple little doohickeys (technical term) from a company called, Blue Lounge. They call them CableDrops, and as the name implies they keep your cables from falling off the back of your desk when you disconnect your device.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t buy any CableDrops right now, as they won’t be available for another 6 weeks. I did get a couple free samples, and they’re pretty cool. They’ll sell 6 for $10 when they come out. Check the site around the end of February.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Prevent cables from falling behind your desk with “CableDrop”

A friend of mine recently quit his day job to follow his dream. He formed a new company to make great products, and do some great industrial design. Their first product went on sale this week after being announced at Macworld. It’s called the Podium. It’s a new stand for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and it really is pretty cool.

My friend actually showed me the prototype for the Podium about a year ago, long before there was anything even similar to it on the market. Since then a few stands have come out that are in the same vein, but the quality of those other stands just don’t compare.

The Podium is really precision made, and has substantial weight to it (it’s heavy). The other thing that really sets the Podium apart is the ball joint on the back. It allows you to swivel your iPhone in just about any angle. I forgot to mention this in the video, but the hole in the back is a cable pass-through, to help manage clutter when your iPhone is plugged in.

I’ll be honest and say that the current price of $68 is a little steep, but you have to consider the quality. You get what you pay for.

I ended up throwing this little video together because the pictures just don’t do it justice, but if you want to see the stills I shot first, here’s the front, and here’s the ball joint.

Check out the Podium (and buy one) at www.podiumrevolution.com.

UPDATE (1/26/2009): The Podium guys have just come out with an Affiliate Program. I updated my links in this post to reflect my new affiliate link. Buying a Podium through my link will send a few bucks my way. :) And, if you use my link, with the coupon code, “revolution”, you’ll save 20%.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Podium: The best iPhone Stand on the Market

Earlier today Apple announced that they’re removing Digital Rights Management (DRM) from music bought through the iTunes music store. They also announced that you could upgrade your previously purchased music from the old standard (128 kbps protected file) to the new format (256 kbps DRM Free) for $0.30 per song on individual tracks or 30% of the current album price on full albums, but it’s not immediately apparent on how you go about doing that.

It’s actually very easy… simply open iTunes and select the iTunes Store in the sidebar (on the left). On the store home page, look in the upper right, under QUICK LINKS, for “Upgrade my Library”. Clicking that will take you to a summary page of what it would cost to upgrade everything you’ve bought. Don’t worry, you won’t be charged unless you click the “Buy” button on that summery screen.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any way of upgrading individual tracks or albums… it’s either everything you’ve bought, or nothing. Also, since the entire catalogue offered through iTunes hasn’t been upgraded to the new format yet, not everything will be available. In my own tests, only about half of what I’ve bought is available for upgrade. Apple should have everything updated by the end of March, 2009.

Personally, I’m bummed about the all or nothing approach Apple has taken. I really don’t want to upgrade everything I’ve bought.

UPDATE (1/07/2009): Macworld has posted much more information about this.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

How to upgrade your music to 256 kbps DRM-Free versions in iTunes

If you’re a web designer who still likes to do your initial sketches using good old fashioned paper and pencil, this ingenious little web stencil kit may be exactly what you need.

Originally sent out as a limited-edition promotional item by Design Commission, their web stencil was so popular they’re doing another run that will go on sale in January, 2009.

The kit will include:

• Custom-etched eraser shield
• Browser pad (fully W3C compliant!)
• A handy mechanical pencil for those “hard to reach” places

See their blog post for more information.

via Swiss Miss

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Website Interface Stencil by Design Commission

Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.

I couldn’t agree more.

It seems pretty simple, right? It’s along the same lines as, “form follows function”. But regardless of whether it’s a website, brochure, poster, or whatever, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been asked… Can’t you just design it, and I’ll give you the content later? My answer is always the same… yes, but it won’t be as good.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Content precedes design

For 2009 Anne Marie and I decided to dress up our kitchen with a little classic design… or should I say, a BIG classic design. It’s the Stendig 2009 Wall Calendar, available from Crate & Barrel.

This 4′x3′ calendar is based on a 1966 design by Massimo Vignelli, which is on permanent display in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. It alternates every other month from black text on white to white text on black. It really is beautiful.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Now that’s a big freakin calendar

I was so sad to hear this. Celebrated 50’s pin-up model and pop icon, Betty Page, died yesterday as a result of a heart attack she suffered on December 2nd. She was 85 years old.

From LA Times:

A cult figure, Page was most famous for the estimated 20,000 4-by-5-inch black-and-white glossy photographs taken by amateur shutterbugs from 1949 to 1957. The photos showed her in high heels and bikinis or negligees, bondage apparel — or nothing at all.

Decades later, those images inspired biographies, comic books, fan clubs, websites, commercial products — Bettie Page playing cards, dress-up magnet sets, action figures, Zippo lighters, shot glasses — and, in 2005, a film about her life and times, “The Notorious Bettie Page.”

Interesting note on Bloomberg:

The college-educated beauty queen who disappeared from the public eye after 1957 was unaware of her renewed popularity until “Entertainment Tonight” broadcast a television segment about her almost 40 years later. She had disowned her glamour lifestyle after becoming a born-again Christian in 1959, and later battled mental illness in Florida and California.

Links: BettyPage.com | Wikipedia | Time | LA Times | CNN | Bloomberg | Flickr

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Bettie Page dies at 85

I don’t normally get too excited about internet advertising, but Apple has a great ad for the iPod Touch running over at Yahoo Games. The Touch causes the whole upper portion of the page to react to the movement.

Here’s the video, just incase it’s no longer active when you visit the link.

Brightcove Link | via Macworld

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

iPod touch ad is the funnest banner ever

I recently came across the work of Andy Julie. While many of Andy’s photographs are heavily influenced by the past, they also have a distinctly contemporary feel. His images are stunning, highly stylized, and occasionally border on fetish… but not in a creepy way. I really like his work.

If you want to see more of the photographers that I like, I have a long list, on my photoblog.

via Life on Mars?

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

The Photographic Work of Andy Julia

I thought this was hilarious!

On a related note, I’ve always been slightly confused by the term New Media, especially when someone calls themselves a New Media Designer. I’ve always preferred the title, Multimedia Designer.

The term, New Media, stems from a transitional period when websites, interactive CDs, video games, etc… were actually new, and designers wanted to distinguish those forms of media from traditional forms, primarily print.

My questions is, at what point does something cease to be new? We have generations of people now who have grown up with these technologies. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn’t heard of that newfangled trend called, the internet. Should web designers actually be calling themselves New Media Designers, or should that title now be reserved for those developing holodecks, or that gizmo used in Brainstorm?

Designer’s titles aside, I do actually see the profound distinction between content generated by individuals, and content generated by “old media” outlets (Network TV, Radio, Newspapers, etc…). I guess what I’m trying to say is, in 1995 I was a New Media Designer and in 2008 I’m a New Media Douchbag. :)

Google Video Link | via Brian Dusablon

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

New Media Douchebags in Plain English

This image was part of a series of photographs from a viral microsite called, High-Tech Fetish, launched by Cosmos Austria (an electronics website). I don’t think their intended appeal is any great mystery, but basically the idea was to strategically place products that the company sells into images that would naturally draw attention.

I saw these images for the first time today, so I thought this was a new campaign. With a little internet digging I’ve discovered that the microsite was actually produced in 2006. It’s no longer active. You can see the images, here, and a semi-functional archive of the site, here.

Without passing judgement on the practice of using sex in advertising, I will say that the images are quite stunning. I haven’t been able to find any information on who produced them. if you know, please leave a comment

via Design You Trust

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Cosmos Electronics High-Tech Fetish Campaign

I recently came across the work of photographer, Alexey Titarenko. He has some really excellent work, but I especially like his series entitled, City of Shadows.

I can’t quite tell if the images were created using long-exposure, or multiple images being layered together, but the result is crowds of people being blurred into 1 mass of movement.

via Design You Trust

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

City of Shadows, by Alexey Titarenko

Great video for Trouble is a Friend, by Lenka. I bought this album not too long ago. It’s very good.

MySpace Link | iTunes Link | via Happy Mundane

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Lenka: Trouble is a Friend

In a project entitled, Immersion, Photographer Robbie Cooper shows just how focused young video-game players can be. You can see the video here, and stills here (or on Robbie’s site).

Robbie is well known for another project he did called, Alter Ego, where he photographed people who play virtual-world games, and displayed their photos alongside their online avatars. It’s a really great project. You can see those images on Robbie’s site as well. tip: when viewing the Alter Ego images on Robbie’s site, roll-over the word, “TEXT”, under the images to read more about the people in the photographs.

via Swissmiss

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Immersion: Kids expressions while playing video games

The current polls have Obama slightly ahead, but it’s going to be a close race. We need everyone to get out and vote tomorrow… even if the lines are long.

Please, we can’t have 4 more years of the same old crap. If you don’t vote, and Obama loses, I’m going to come to your house and pee on your door.

Not sure where to go, check out vote411.org to find out where to vote.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Get Out and VOTE!

I’ve always thought Moo’s mini cards were great, but they’re just a little to narrow for my images. Luckily, Moo just announced that they’ll be doing full-size business cards very soon. For $21.99 you can get 50 cards that use up to 50 different images. There’s also an option to use 100% recycled, 100% recyclable and bio-degradable paper. I can’t wait!

Oh, and if you sign up for Moo’s newsletter, you’ll get a coupon for 20% off your first order of cards when they become available.

UPDATE (7.02.08): The new full-size cards went on sale yesterday. I already ordered a batch of 50. I chose their green paper. If you plan to order some, don’t wait until the last minute before you need them. They take about a week to print, and 10 days to reach you if you live in the US (they’re coming from London).

Via Web Worker Daily

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Moo does full-size business cards

Mike Solomon is a New York City based graphic designer, photographer, and musician who decided it was time to compose an entire song out of Mac OSX sound effects…

“As if all the sound effects of the Mac OSX interface weren’t annoying enough, I decided to take things a step too far. Enjoy!”

You can even download the Garage Band file and mashup a new version for yourself.

YouTube Link | via Swiss Miss

Oh, and for you PC users, here’s one made entirely of Windows system sounds. It’s actually quite good.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Song made entirely of Mac OSX system sounds

If you watched the Macworld 2008 Keynote, you know that Steve Jobs introduced the Macbook Air, Apple’s super-slim new laptop, by taking it out of a manilla envelope… to illustrate just how thin it really is.

Immediately after watching the keynote, Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans came up with the idea for the perfect sleeve for the new device… the AirMail.

“The AirMail laptop sleeve is handmade out of durable upholstery-grade vinyl, and lined with fuzzy, soft fleece. All AirMail sleeves have the same dimensions as standard interoffice manila envelopes, which will serve to remind you — and everyone around you — that your new MacBook Air really is the thinnest laptop in the world!”

I personally think this is awesome. What began as a simple publicity stunt by Apple, turned into an idea for a clever new product by a couple of industrious quick-thinking people who were willing to run with it. Well done Jona and Clair!

The Airmail is available for pre-order for $29.95. The duo says it will be available by the time your new Macbook Air arrives.

via Cool Hunting

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

AirMail: Manilla Folder Sleeve for the Macbook Air

A while back there was a lot of buzz about a documentary film called, Helvetica. As the name implies, it’s all about a font…

“We use it every day on our computers, we see it on street signs — and we take it for granted. Now, Gary Hustwit’s unique documentary introduces us to Helvetica, whose readability has made it the most popular font in the world. Interviews with designers and artists offer insight into the development, use and universal acceptance of Helvetica as the typeface of choice for everything from writing letters to creating corporate logos.”

I actually didn’t pay a tremendous amount of attention when it first came out. I missed it when it was in theaters. But, when the film became available on Netflix I thought I would give it a shot.

I’m really glad I did. It’s actually an excellent film. As a designer I probably have more interest than most, but I think even non-designers will find Helvetica interesting. I may have to buy this film.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Helvetica: A film about a font

David Lynch: “It’s such a sadness that you think you’ve seen a film, on your fucking telephone. Get real”

YouTube Link via Core77

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

David Lynch not so hip on watching movies on phones

Clever gimmick for the launch of a new Radio Station.

via Ad Goodness

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Free Air Guitars

“…And then the writers and designers, ashamed at rubbing shoulders with common humanity, discovered the 140-character Tweet and the Tumblr post. No stink of commerce, no business model, nothing that could even charitably be called content, and best of all, no effort. Peck, peck, send.

When you’ve flown that far from Gutenberg, the only place to travel is back…”

Great Stuff! Read the rest at Zeldman.com

via DF

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Self-publishing is the new blogging

Goodie Bag | YouTube Link | via DF

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Trajan is the Movie Font

Whenever I start a new website, one of the first tasks to be done is to create a flowchart, often referred to as a sitemap. A flowchart (or sitemap) outlines the navigation through the entire site, so I know how many pages I’ll be building and what pages link to what other pages.

I’ve tried various tools over the years for building flowcharts. The one I’ve used the longest is, Inspiration. Although it’s not specifically tailored for web designers, it actually does a very good job, and is relatively inexpensive ($69).

One problem with using a tool like Inspiration, is none of my clients use it. The only way to review and revise my flowchart is to export a PDF, email it to my client, discuss it over the phone, and then make any revisions we come up with. It’s not uncommon for this process to go through several rounds before we get the final version. It can be very time consuming.

I recently came across an excellent alternative to this process. It’s called WriteMaps. WriteMaps is a free online sitemap creation and collaboration tool. It’s only been recently released as a 1.0 product, but it’s looking pretty sweet!

WriteMaps is extremely easy to use to quickly generate your sitemap. Once complete, you can send a link to your client allowing them to view and edit the sitemap, significantly cutting down the time it takes to hammer out the final version. As a bonus, once you finish building the actual site, you can export your WriteMaps sitemap as a Google sitemap (XML) file.

WriteMaps is the brain child of Boston-based graphic designer, Scott Jehl. Frustrated with the cost and/or limitations of other sitemap creation software, Scott decided to make his own. And, he’s nice enough to share it with all of us. Thanks Scott, you rock!

While WriteMaps is free, Scott does accept donations to cover hosting costs, etc… If you find it useful, consider slipping Scott a few bucks via the donations link on the site.

via Ajaxian

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Plan your next website with WriteMaps

The day after Thanksgiving Apple was having their traditional 1-day sale, and I picked up this little travel speaker from Altec Lansing called, Orbit-M.

The Orbit-M was on sale for $28 (normally $39.95). I was a little skeptical of the sound quality of something so small, but I needed a new travel speaker, so I took the risk.

I have to say I am really happy with the quality of this little speaker. Sound is very clear, it has a reasonable amount of base, and considering it’s size it has surprisingly loud volume. I only heard a small amount of distortion when turning the volume to full. I backed it off just a little and everything was fine.

The Orbit-M’s built-in cable wraps neatly around the unit in a special groove, and the plug snaps into its own slot. The plug is small enough to fit into the iPhones headphone jack without the need for an adapter.

The manufacturer claims 24 hours of play on 3 AAA batteries, but I haven’t tested this yet. Since the unit uses AAA batteries, its relatively light, even with the batteries in.

My only real complaint with the Orbit-M is it’s on/off switch. It sticks, rather badly. I don’t want it to move so freely that it comes on in my suitcase, but this is a bit too much. The sticky switch, combined with the fact that there is no light indicating the unit is on, it’s sometimes hard to tell if you actually turned it off or not.

The Orbit-M obviously won’t replace your home stereo, or even a good boombox, but as a travel speaker it’s excellent. It’s more than enough for a hotel room, an outdoor picnic in a relatively quite location (not the beach), or hanging out with a few friends. I recommend this product.

side-note: The Altec Lansing site lists an Orbit-M and an Orbit-MP3. As far as I can tell, they are actually the same product. I think they are in the process of rebranding the M to MP3.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Review: Altec Lansing Orbit-M

Erasure was (and is) one of my favorite bands back in the 80’s. The band consisted of singer Andy Bell, and keyboardist Vince Clarke. As an added bit of trivia, Vince Clark was also a founding member of Depeche Mode and Yaz before teaming up with Andy Bell.

YouTube Link

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Flashback Moment: Erasure

[LINK]

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Spider Pig mp3

Robert Bruno’s Steel House | via Neatorama

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Robert Bruno’s Steel House

The folks at Agency Fusion have put together a truly awesome (and hilarious) little video spot for, Make My Logo Bigger!!! Cream. It represents every designer’s worst nightmare.

Via DF

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Make My Logo Bigger!!!

My ego got a nice little boost this morning when I discovered my portfolio site was featured on Design Melt Down. :)

“… This set of designs are really sharp, and their usage of ornamental backgrounds shows just how terrific the style can look. And the best thing is that it doesn’t feel forced or like an after thought. The ornamental designs have been carefully crafted to fit into the design for a unified result.”

My thanks go out to Patrick McNeil, the designer behind Design Melt Down.

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

A boost to my ego

Here’s an excellent opportunity to test your powers of observation and attention to detail. Five Differences is an awesome flash game that presents you with a series of almost identical images and it’s your job to find the differences. Some are relatively easy, but others are down right hard.

As you click on an item that is in one image but not the other, a running countdown lets you know how many are left. On the first test the countdown is obvious, but on subsequent tests the countdown becomes part of the scene, so pay special attention to where it is.

The site seems to be having some technical difficulties, so if the link doesn’t work the first time, try again in a minute or two.

via neatorama

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Can you spot the 5 differences?

A group of Star Wars enthusiasts built this very cool 21-foot model of an X-Wing fighter, and equipped it with actual rockets. The plan was to launch it in a similar fashion as a traditional model rocket and recover it in one piece through the use of parachutes. You can read the whole story and see many more pictures and a video over at Gizmado, here and here.

Unfortunately, as this video shows, the launch didn’t go quite as planned. But, the first few seconds still looked pretty cool.

via Geekologie

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Rocket-powered 21-foot X-Wing

I don’t watch the show, Nip/Tuck, but lately I’ve been seeing a lot of commercials for the new season featuring a cover of Chris Isaak’s classic song, Wicked Game. It sounded really great so I went looking for it on iTunes. I’ve come to realize that Wicked Game must be one of the worlds most covered songs, as there is about 75 different versions of it available through iTunes. Luckily, I was able to find the version I was looking for. It’s by a duo named, Giant Drag. It’s worth checking out if you’re a fan of the song.

You may also want to just search iTunes for, “Wicked Game”. Some of the other versions are really good too.

Link: Giant Drag’s Wicked Game (launches iTunes)

This is a blog post from: one digital life.

Giant Drag Covers Wicked Game