We will be publishing video from the Good Ideas Salon and also one-one-one interviews with the panelists throughout next week. In the meantime, here's a selection of the images from the first talk by Marc Alt, Mark Dytham and Peter Rojas; the second talk with Rie Azuma, Danny Choo and Hiromi Matsubara; plus the talk between Piers Fawkes and Francois Bancon of Nissan.
Selected by kramercaleb
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PSFK
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(Pics) Good Ideas In Pure Living, Tokyo
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Plant-Based Air Purification For Your Home
Andrea Air is a new air purifier designed by Mathieu Lehanneur engineered to improve air quality by using the filtration of natural plants. -
Vivienne Westwood Designs Wallpaper
Vivienne Westwood has decided to branch out into the world of interior design, teaming up with wallpaper titans Cole & Son to produce a collection inspired by some of her most signature designs. -
Nike Uses Cinematic Narrative to Launch M6
In an excellent example of brand narrative, the release of the M6 line from Nike/Jordan is accompanied by the launch of an interactive site full of behind-the-scenes storytelling content as told by the shoe's designers. -
Volkswagen: Influencing Our Actions Through Fun
Volkswagen believes that injecting a healthy dose of fun into the often mundane tasks in our daily lives, such as choosing the stairs or remembering to recycle, is the best method for positive influencing our behaviors.
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ReadWriteWeb
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Weekly Wrapup: Mega Content Sites, Gen Y on Twitter, iPhone App Recommendation Services, And More...
7 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amIn this edition of the Weekly Wrapup - our newsletter summarizing the top stories of the week - we analyze a new breed of content site that is rapidly gaining momentum, look into recent statistics showing that Gen Y is using Twitter more, compare five recommendation services for iPhone apps, review the new-look MSN, and more. We also check in on our two main channels: ReadWriteEnterprise (devoted to 'enterprise 2.0' trends and products) and ReadWriteStart (dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs). Sponsor Subscribe to Weekly Wrapup You can subscribe to the Weekly Wrapup by RSS or by… -
Straw Man Argument About Enterprise 2.0 Doesn't Fly
6 Nov 2009 | 2:05 pmDennis Howlett got the attention of the Enterprise 2.0 community today, with his continued skepticism about "social" technologies and their place in the business world. Here's a quote from his post entitled Enterprise 2.0 - the non-debate: "Why am I not surprised? I've argued for years that the notion of anything that has 'social' attached to its moniker is about as welcome as breaking wind in a spacesuit." Sponsor While Howlett makes a few good points in his post, we think that he's making a straw man argument - that the Enterprise 2.0 community is somehow involved in a big lie. The reality… -
Clicker: A One-Stop Shop For Online Video (1000 Invites)
6 Nov 2009 | 1:00 pmFinding specific online videos from TV networks and independent producers can often be a daunting challenge. Some TV shows are on Hulu, some can only be found as paid downloads on iTunes or Amazon and some are only available for streaming on the network's and producer's own sites. Clicker wants to change this by making it easier to find shows from TV networks, music videos, and web videos from across the Internet. Clicker is currently in private beta and only available in the US. The company gave us 1000 invites for our readers. Read on to find out how you can get yours. Sponsor Clicker… -
Layar Tells CNN: Augmented Reality Will Be Second Only to Voice On Phones
6 Nov 2009 | 12:17 pmWhen you've got a global audience, maybe it's good to make sweeping, ambitious statements. Maarten Lens-Fitzgerald, co-founder of Augmented Reality browser company Layar, was interviewed by CNN today and took the opportunity to claim that AR on phones is going to be so big in the future that only voice will be more popular. Maybe. Many people in the Augmented Reality world are rolling their eyes at Layar's incredible media exposure. They worry that relatively simple implementations of this technology paradigm will create such a bubble of hype that software developed over decades will suffer… -
Remixing Via iPhone: 5 Tools for the Pocket DJ
6 Nov 2009 | 11:00 amIn 1906 John Philip Sousa criticized the gramophone saying, "These talking machines will ruin the artistic development of music in this country." Nevertheless, because Sousa did not forsee user-generated culture proliferating alongside "mechanical music" he could not have been further from the truth. Not only have machine technologies aided in musical development, but there are a variety of mediums to choose from. While audio engineers may scoff at the idea of making music on the iPhone, there's no denying that a number of options exist for the pocket DJ. Below are a few tools to get you…
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Mashable!
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POLL: TweetDeck Trounces Seesmic Desktop in Reader Vote
6 Nov 2009 | 8:41 pmWe’ve had a number of close calls here during our Web Faceoff series, but this wasn’t one of them. This week we pitted TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop against each other in a bar room brawl for favorite Twitter client. Now, the results are in. Whereas last week’s Windows 7 versus OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard battle was a close one, with Windows 7 going the distance to outlast the current Mac OS, this week’s showdown had a big winner. …and TweetDeck was it, with a full 71% of the vote (3294 votes) as compared to Seesmic Desktop’s 23% (1055 votes). Six percent or 260… -
iPhone Coming to Verizon in 2010 [RUMOR]
6 Nov 2009 | 5:21 pmMany signs point to the Apple and AT&T agreement that makes the latter the exclusive carrier of the iPhone within the US coming to an end within the next year. For starters, non-exclusivity has been profitable for Apple in other parts of the world. Moreover, even AT&T’s CEO acknowledges the deal won’t last forever. And while Verizon might be all about showing off what Droid does right now, a new report suggests it could become the first carrier other than AT&T to offer iPhone on American soil, starting in the second half of 2010. According to a report obtained by Apple… -
DocVerse Puts Google Docs-Like Collaboration Inside Microsoft Office
6 Nov 2009 | 5:20 pmThis post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. Name: DocVerse Quick Pitch: DocVerse brings the collaboration functionality of products like Google Docs to the 600 million users of Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Genius Idea: Collaboration is a key to success in any business, especially when you have a scattered team that needs to work on documents constantly. There are already a lot of options,… -
FishVille Launches on Facebook; It’s Like Underwater FarmVille
6 Nov 2009 | 3:56 pmWe were sort of surprised to discover how many of you proclaim your love for FarmVille, the social farming sim game from Zynga. We reported that the company had trademarked the name FishVille last month, and speculated that an aquatic derivative of the wildly popular social game might be in the works. And indeed it was, with FishVille launching in beta today. It’s a bit of a late contender to the aquarium games space, with Happy Aquarium, Fish World and My Fishbowl all getting a head start. Nevertheless, Zynga has enough clout in the social games space to make FishVille a quick winner… -
5 Must-Have iPhone Apps for Wine Lovers
6 Nov 2009 | 3:23 pmMegan Berry is an evangelist for Mobclix, the industry’s largest mobile ad exchange, working on social media and marketing. She also blogs at The Huffington Post and the Mobclix blog. You can follow her on Twitter as @meganberry, or through the @Mobclix handle. Unsure about mixing your iPhone with wine? Well, if you’re a true vinophile, the iPhone is an amazing device to keep you more connected to your wine. The following list of top wine apps on the iPhone will convince you that mixing the two is worth the risk of spilling some pinot noir on your phone. Like wine itself, these…
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NYT: Media and Advertising
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John Mashek, Veteran Political Reporter, Is Dead at 77
6 Nov 2009 | 10:56 pmMr. Mashek was a reporter and columnist for nearly half a century for U.S. News & World Report, The Boston Globe and other publications. -
Talk to The Times: The Choice Blog
6 Nov 2009 | 9:25 amJacques Steinberg is answering questions from readers. -
Fox Wins Election Night Ratings on Cable
6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 amAs Republicans won governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia, the Fox News Channel saw Nielsen ratings gains. -
Advertising: After a Brutal Year, Marketers Regroup to Share War Stories and Ideas
5 Nov 2009 | 10:40 pmAttendance at the Association of National Advertisers conference is about the same as in 2008, but the atmosphere has changed. -
Scripps Buys Major Stake in Travel Channel
5 Nov 2009 | 10:34 pmThe deal values the cable channel at nearly a billion dollars, a price that some analysts say they believe is too high.
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Techmeme
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Virtual Goods Start Bringing Real Paydays (New York Times)
7 Nov 2009 | 8:10 amNew York Times: Virtual Goods Start Bringing Real Paydays — SAN FRANCISCO — Silicon Valley may have discovered the perfect business: charging real money for products that do not exist. — These so-called virtual goods, like a $1 illustration of a Champagne bottle on Facebook or the $2.50 Halloween costume … -
Microsoft tops Google, Yahoo, Facebook in worldwide Web use (Nick Eaton/The Microsoft Blog)
6 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pmNick Eaton / The Microsoft Blog: Microsoft tops Google, Yahoo, Facebook in worldwide Web use — Windows Live Messenger led Microsoft's Web properties in capturing 14.5 percent of total time spent online in September worldwide, handily beating Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other sites, according to analysis firm comScore. -
Apple Retail Stores Roll Out 'Reserve and Pick Up' Purchasing for Holiday Season (Eric Slivka/MacRumors)
6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pmEric Slivka / MacRumors: Apple Retail Stores Roll Out ‘Reserve and Pick Up’ Purchasing for Holiday Season — Apple has rolled out a new Reserve and Pick Up purchasing program for its retail stores, allowing customers to select and reserve products for later in-store purchase and pick up ahead of the holidays. -
October 2009 OS stats: Windows 7 passes Snow Leopard, Linux (Emil Protalinski/Ars Technica)
6 Nov 2009 | 4:40 pmEmil Protalinski / Ars Technica: October 2009 OS stats: Windows 7 passes Snow Leopard, Linux — In less than two weeks of general availability, Windows 7 has already captured a market share that is greater than Snow Leopard and Linux. Details inside. — Windows 7 arrived two weeks ago and so far it's selling quite well. -
Report: Apple to launch Verizon iPhone in Q3 2010 (Prince McLean/AppleInsider)
6 Nov 2009 | 3:20 pmPrince McLean / AppleInsider: Report: Apple to launch Verizon iPhone in Q3 2010 — A new report citing sources in the Taiwan handset supply chain says Apple has contracted to produce a UMTS/CDMA hybrid iPhone due in the third quarter of next year that will enable the company to sell a single global handset to all carriers …
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TechCrunch
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The Font Kingdom: Search, Explore, Create, and Download Fonts for Free
7 Nov 2009 | 8:07 amBeing a blogger, I often find design elements on the web for my posts or my blog in general. It’s becoming a very common experience for bloggers to know a thing or two about web design. I’m guessing it is the web that taught us to be quasi-designers by offering us lots of easy-to-use tools that help us create just about everything we need: photo-editing, widgets, logos, buttons, and yes, fonts as well. Fonts are a big focus of the Web2.0 era—they are now bigger, cleaner and smoother, especially when it comes to logos. Can you imagine Techcrunch’s logo looking like this? -
Skype Founders Assembling Killer Team For New Online Music Startup
7 Nov 2009 | 7:16 amNow that they got what they wanted – a renewed stake and board representation in the Skype that will be spun off eBay soon – the Scandinavian duo Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis can divert more of their attention again to the latest Internet venture they’re putting their weight behind: Rdio. The yet-to-launch digital music startup was first talked about publicly a couple of weeks ago when the New York Times unveiled plans for its imminent online music subscription service but it’s been pretty quiet ever since. I’ve been keeping busy this weekend doing some very… -
Snoop Dogg, Entrepreneurship and Rajasthan
7 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amI’m in India this weekend with fellow TechCrunch/BusinessWeek writer Sarah Lacy. After we’re done with the elephant rides in Jaipur, we’re going to be meeting local tech startups. Then we head back to New Delhi to meet more aspiring entrepreneurs. Sarah is writing a book on how startup culture has gone global and I’m researching how R&D has globalized. It never ceases to amaze me how you can find brilliant entrepreneurs everywhere—whether in the middle of the Thar Desert in Rajasthan or Santiago Chile (where local entrepreneurs showed me life-sized holographic images… -
YouTube Is Falling Apart Again
6 Nov 2009 | 9:37 pmThe ads are destroying YouTube. At least this one is. It is a video ad for sustainable energy company from Spain called Acciona. Yeah, I had never heard of them either. The video starts with this Euro-dude in a suit starting to blow up and crack apart like he’s made from plaster. Halfway through, the actual video player crack in half, and all of the surrounding parts of the site shake and fall away, while an annoying voiceover is saying something about rebirth. I don’t know, maybe it makes more sense in Spanish. The visual effect is interesting, but feels like a gimmick since… -
Marissa Mayer Chosen As A Glamour Magazine Woman Of The Year
6 Nov 2009 | 8:30 pmGoogle’s Vice President of Search Product and User Experience Marissa Mayer was recently profiled in a Vogue Magazine article that offered a in-depth glimpse into the exec’s lifestyle, loves, career and fashion preferences. Now, Mayer has been named as one of Glamour Magazine’s 2009 Women of the Year. Joining Mayer on the list are a variety of female powerhouses and icons including Maya Angelou, First Lady Michelle Obama, Susan Rice, Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Mayer has been frequently profiled in business and technology publications over the years, but it’s also nice to…
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I Believe in Advertising
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Guinness: Bring It To Life
7 Nov 2009 | 7:08 amAdvertising Agency: AMV BBDO, London, United Kingdom Executive Creative Director: Paul Brazier Creative: Paul Brazier Agency Producer: Yvonne Chalkley Director: Johnny Green Post House: The Mill -
McDonald’s: Burrito
6 Nov 2009 | 12:45 amAdvertising Agency: Cossette, Toronto, Canada Creative Directors: Dave Douglass, Pete Breton Art Director: Colin Brown Copywriter: Tom Greco -
Guinness: Stop, Traffic Light, Roadworks, Cliff
6 Nov 2009 | 12:39 amAdvertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia Executive Creative Directors: Adrian Miller, Edmund Choe Copywriter: Christie Herman Art Director: Ong Kien Hoe Photographer: Alex Tow ( threesixty° Photography) -
IKEA: Always check the expiry date
6 Nov 2009 | 12:07 amAdvertising Agency: 1861 United, Milan, Italy Executive Creative Directors: Pino Rozzi, Roberto Battaglia Art Director: Edwin Herrera Copywriter: Marina D’Andrea Photographer: Gionata Xerra Post Production: Germano Finco -
CAF Onlus – Center for mistreated children and families crisis: Balloon
5 Nov 2009 | 2:32 pm“Caf gives back to abused children the lightness of childhood.” Advertising Agency: Grey, Milan, Italy Executive Creative Director: Francesco Emiliani Head of Art: Francesco Fallisi Copy Supervisor: Simona Angioni Art Director: Letizia Bozzolini Copywriter: Livia Cappelletti Account Supervisor: Lilli Guacci Account Executive: Vito Plantamura Art Buyer: Virginia Salvucci Photograoher Agent: Multi Photographer: Marco Cremascoli Published: October 2009
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PR 2.0
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Rumors of the Death of Blogs are Greatly Exaggerated
6 Nov 2009 | 4:02 amSource: feministingEach year at Blogworld Expo, Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra presents The State of the Blogosphere as one of the event’s prestigious keynotes. For those who are unfamiliar with Technorati, it serves as a directory and search engine for the blogosphere as well as a benchmark for the ranking of blogs worldwide.While there has been much discussion about the relevance and even demise of blogs as the statusphere and micro updates gained traction in addition to earning prominence in the mainstream spotlight, the reality is that blogs are a vital ingredient to the media… -
RT @Twitter: New Retweet Feature Goes Live
5 Nov 2009 | 7:29 pmSource: TwitterThis is breaking news at the moment, therefore this post will update as new information trickles in.Twitter is making good on its recent promise to introduce new features to bring users back to Twitter.com.Similar to the way that it rolled out Lists, Twitter is incrementally releasing its new Retweet feature initially previewed in August 2009.As described by @Biz, co-founder of Twitter:Retweet is a button that makes forwarding a particularly interesting tweet to all your followers very easy. In turn, we hope interesting, newsworthy, or even just plain funny information will… -
Social Media Influencers are not Traditional Influencers
5 Nov 2009 | 4:19 amSourceGuest post by Damien Basille, follow him on Twitter | Read his blogAs more and more brands are moving all of their ad spend online, defining how influence affects their return on investment is necessary and must be done as soon as possible. While some are making inroads to define these calculations many are overlooking the fact that influence affects everything. Without factoring in the real issue of different types of influence you run into a number of problems, for instance focusing on one group of influencers over another or getting broad sweeping numbers instead of knowing exactly… -
The Future of the Embargo
3 Nov 2009 | 4:25 amCreditIn media and blogger relations, PR typically wields two powerful tools to help boost the effectiveness of pitching and potential placement of news: the embargo and the exclusive.In the case of an exclusive, a story is usually packaged prior to official release for one particular writer, fully understanding their style, nuances, and audience. If the story is accepted, it is not pitched to any other media outlets until after the story runs. The benefit for PR is that it can bank on the publishing of a guaranteed, high profile story. The advantage for the reporter is that they maintain a… -
Twitter Releases New Widget for Lists
2 Nov 2009 | 7:14 pmTwitter recently expanded its new Lists service to users network-wide and in doing so, injected a sense of excitement, confusion, and also utility. Lists represent a significant milestone for Twitter as it transcends asynchronous conversations and and broadcast messages into a form of intelligence gathering, education, entertainment, and news.Twitter Lists are also stirring controversy as many believe that it sets the foundation for a new level of establishing a metric for influence. Whereas prominence was measured by the number of followers as well as the friends-to-follower ratio, now the…
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Branding Strategy Insider
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9 Digital Trends For 2010
5 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm1: Facebook replaces personal emailQuestion: Google has it, Hoover has it (in the UK anyway), TiVo had it, lost it and has somewhat got it back. Xerox had it, but nobody really cares anymore. So what is it?It's when a brand name becomes the verb associated with its use. So rather than searching, you Google, or TiVo when digital recording a television show. Arguably an even more powerful synonym is when a brand becomes a noun, such as Polaroid, for instant developed photographs, although that didn't end so well.The newest one would seem to Facebook, although it has too meanings.'I Facebooked… -
The Anti-laws of Luxury Marketing #16
2 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm16. Keep celebrities out of your advertisingIn traditional marketing, stars of stage and screen are very often used in advertising: there is nothing like a David Beckham for selling sunglasses or shaving cream. Nestlé has also got in on the act, with premium brand Nespresso calling on the services of George Clooney, and Nescafé recruiting the famous English soccer player Ian Wright. Nestlé, the world’s number one in food marketing, knows what it’s doing.However, using celebrities to promote luxury products is extremely dangerous. A luxury brand is courted by the stars, in the same way… -
Brands and the Ladder of Life
1 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pmOne of the typical questions marketing people ask themselves is, What’s the lifetime value of a customer?Presumably a company benefits by keeping its customers satisfied over an extended period of time. Nice idea in theory, but this kind of thinking often leads a company down the wrong path.Take Saturn, for example. Here was a brand built on the ultimate in customer satisfaction. Comfortable showrooms, no high-pressure sales people, no haggling over prices. ‘A different kind of company. A different kind of car.’The first Saturn model, the S series, was wildly successful. For a number of… -
Uniting Naming and Promotion
31 Oct 2009 | 9:10 pmX-13D? What kind of name is that for something you pop into your mouth?Doritos turned naming conventions upside down with its savvy plan in 2007 to generate buzz – and, oh yes, a new name – for its new flavored chips. How? By submitting suggestions on the Web, prompted by these eye-catching black bags of cheeseburger-like chips with the 'classified' moniker.“This is the X-13D flavor experiment,” said the text box on the bag. “Objective: taste and name Doritos flavor X-13D.” This was followed by directions to a website that linked to yet another website. And when snack-happy teens… -
When The Name You Want Is Taken
30 Oct 2009 | 9:05 pmYou've just found out the name you want for your brand is owned by somebody else. So, the temptation is to say, "Let's move on."Not so fast. Names are property, and can be bought and sold (or leased) like real estate.Coors licensed the name of its upscale beer Irish Red from a long-defunct brewery. Yves St. Laurent bought the name of its Opium fragrance for only $200 from two elderly perfumers.The 1999 relaunch of National Airlines came about after the new owners paid $175,000 to buy the name at a bankruptcy sale from defunct Pan Am. (Pan Am had acquired the carrier in 1980.)Not that long…
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Brand New
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Big Wings, Tiny Type
6 Nov 2009 | 7:00 amI'm treating this as an In Brief because there isn't much to go by and details are still sketchy. Not to mention that the available images look like roadkill. As many of you may have caught, Chrysler announced a bunch of things this past week in relation to their emerging from the bottom of the auto industry barrel — our blogging colleagues at idsgn have put together something more comprehensive than I was willing to on this Friday morning. On their web site, Chrysler has made available a lot of PDFs covering their Plan, among them is a PDF on the brand going forward, showing a new… -
New Butterfly not so Fly
5 Nov 2009 | 4:48 amIt's a rhetorical question since I am assuming thousands of people do but, seriously, does someone use msn.com anymore? With so many cooler and more efficient ways to access the online world, MSN has for a long time felt caught in 1999, both aesthetically and technologically, heck even philosophically. I'll admit that I really like the MSN butterfly from the beginning when it was introduced in 2000 and in TV ads it had a lovely animation. But in the twenty-first century I don't recall ever visiting MSN willingly. Not that that's about change anytime soon but at least if I do, the new scenery… -
Pfizer Moves Pforward
4 Nov 2009 | 7:18 amWhen we talk about "one of the biggest companies in the world" or "one of the leaders in their industry" or any other claim to the top spot in anything here in Brand New it's all relatively, well, relative. Especially when you compare anything to Pfizer, the leading-number-one-biggest-you-name-it player in the pharmaceutical industry. According to their 2008 financial report, the revenue for that year was $48.3 billion. They also produce two of the most popular and well known pills in the market: Lipitor and Viagra, among many others. Needless to say anything further, Pfizer is big. Last… -
Pixelated Blogging
3 Nov 2009 | 7:20 amAt a time when various blogs are evolving into printed products — Exhibits A, B, and C — it's oddly reassuring to see what started as a zine back in the late 1980s maintain its web dominance a good ten years after it launched as one of the first juggernaut blogs in 2000. Chronicling all things technology, creative and sometimes just plain bizarre, Boing Boing has been an assured time waster for its thousands of readers for what seems like a blogging eternity. I realize that a blog is kind of off topic amidst the corporations, universities and consumer products we regularly feature… -
Magenta Star
2 Nov 2009 | 5:30 amIn 2007, the 35-year-old Norwegian company Statoil merged with the oil and gas division of the 102-year-old Norsk Hydro, to form StatoilHydro, an energy and oil company with presence in 40 countries focusing on the production of oil as well as the consumer distribution of oil through various gas stations — with different brand names, some of them still named Statoil — around the world. Today, as it prepares to become a stronger global player, StatoilHydro officially went back to the Statoil name and adopted its new identity designed by Scandinavian Design Group. I emphasized…
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AdFreak
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Are we laughing with eBay or at eBay here?
6 Nov 2009 | 8:27 amWould you buy a snowmobile on eBay because Jim Gaffigan tells you to? The answer, of course, is no. Could you enjoy his attempts to persuade you in a TV commercial? Well, yes ... in theory. In practice, however, viewers might hit the fast-forward button. Sadly, the same is true of much of this new campaign from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners for the fading auction powerhouse. See a whole bunch of ads here. eBay crested during Web 1.0, and this effort seems hell-bent on delivering old-hat, mostly unfunny schtick from a who's-who of cable-comedy refugees in set-ups that go nowhere. Even the… -
The 'ridiculous charade' of recording an ad
6 Nov 2009 | 6:51 amFew people suffer under the heavy egotistical load of the ad industry quite like the sound engineers who record audio for commercials. They're micromanaged by everyone from the client to the junior copywriter, so it's nice to see them get their revenge in this anonymously produced British video, created with the same Xtranormal text-to-movie software that gave us the bitter robot designer. Via American Copywriter. —Posted by David GrinerSee also:Robot designer gets screwed over yet again -
Kids would prefer you not destroy the Earth
6 Nov 2009 | 6:22 amZig's cinematic spot for Moms Against Climate Change pits child protesters (shouldn't they be in school?) against cops (don't they have parking tickets to write?) to illustrate that if kids knew what was at stake, they'd take action. There's no denying it packs a punch. That said, something feels off. I think I was expecting a boffo climax to really drive the point home. Why not have the sides embrace, each kid finding one of his or her parents among the riot squad, to symbolize that we're all in this together? Conversely, acid rain pouring from above and "frying" every last person? That… -
HBO still taking shots at George W. Bush
6 Nov 2009 | 5:54 amThe George W. Bush era is thankfully gone, but HBO and Venables, Bell & Partners channel the former president's less-than-lucid vibe and penchant for incoherent phrasing in this banner and billboard push touting the DVD release of the Will Ferrell special You're Welcome, America: A Final Night With George W. Bush. The election-poster-style ads include Bush-inspired slogans like "Never misunderestimate me," "Celebrate the era of strategery" and "Mission still not accomplished." The work's amusing, but the tongue-twisted ex-leader of the free world is such an easy target, attempts at parody… -
1993 Taurus a great car for today, says Ford
5 Nov 2009 | 10:51 amGreat fake press conference here from The Onion, in which a Ford exec explains why the '93 Taurus is the best vehicle for today's cash-strapped consumers. If the $650 price tag doesn't grab you, surely the free cassette tape of Primus's Sailing the Seas of Cheese will. Via Consumerist. —Posted by Tim Nudd
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brandflakesforbreakfast
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this week at Plaid
6 Nov 2009 | 1:12 pmHere's what happened this week at the greatest agency in all of the land:Some costumes arrived for a production that's in house. Long story, but we're stoked to have another costume around the office for a couple of days.We shot a screen test for something top secret for someone that we can't talk about. We're bursting at the seams wanting to share the details, but for now we'll have to tell you that it's been a load of fun hanging with someone in tv, and getting a unique perspective on that side of the entertainment industry.Our skateboards arrived for the Bordobello event! This is an… -
bringing twitter to the classroom
6 Nov 2009 | 4:43 amW. Gardner Campbell, director of the Academy of Teaching and Learning at Baylor University believes that Twitter can be a valuable resource in the classroom.Imagine a classroom where students can tweet their questions and comments on the subject matter, projected on a screen at the head of the class. Imagine students having access to that stream after class, for additional discussion and additional input. Sound far fetched? Actually, that's exactly the scenario that exists at SXSW (above) and other conferences. Why not bring the same level of communication and information to students? Some… -
when is it ok to start your xmas campaign?
6 Nov 2009 | 4:33 amAdWeek has some interesting poll results from a survey about when it's socially acceptable to begin your holiday advertising campaign. (I saw my first Christmas display this year mid-October!)According to the poll, if you wait until Thanksgiving, 77% of the population won't hate you. Thanks, Jim Cioban -
twitter = second youngest of all social networks
6 Nov 2009 | 4:24 amReadWriteWeb has some super interesting perspective on the population of the socialverse. When you look at the median age of each social network's audience, here's how they line up:Twitter: 31MySpace: 26LinkedIn: 39Facebook: 33The report also shows that Facebook is getting older, as the retirement class continue to flock to the network. They also report that Gen Y is warming to Twitter - 37% of those 18-24 now use Twitter when only 19% did back in December 2008. Celebrities? Because their workmates are doing it? Who knows. What we do know: LinkedIn is for the super old. ;) -
how to introduce the carbon economy
6 Nov 2009 | 4:14 amTo promote the upcoming Carbon Economy Summit in Washington D.C., the visually brilliant team over at XPlane put together a clip that demonstrates the importance of the task and the opportunity that lies ahead. Beautiful, important work.
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trendsspotting blog
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For a Better (Digital) World
3 Nov 2009 | 7:00 amIn a beautiful thought-provoking project of Jonathan Harris (creator of We Feel Fine – one of the first social web emotion visualization projects), Harris shares some touching personal insights with artistic inspirations relevant to a digital world. In this “World Building in a Crazy World” – Harris suggests 1-2-3 principals for a world building idea – “a universal idea executed simply, with an element of play, nostalgia or beauty”. Enjoy. Tweet This Post Plurk This Post Buzz This Post Delicious Digg This Post Ping This Post Reddit Stumble This Post -
Halloween through Location Based Applications
1 Nov 2009 | 7:11 amGoogle Latitude or other location based applications working through mobile phones can let you track your kids whereabouts during Halloween. Aside from tracking, many of those applications can be used (note privacy concerns) for sharing the Halloween experience. Locations of retailers selling costumes and decorations can also be found by using applications as Poynt. To improve the Halloween experience, Zillow.com, have created a Trick or Treat Housing Index, which presents the top-five neighborhoods to maximize candy harvesting. The index uses four equally weighted data variables: Zillow… -
Google Wave: Invite Led Viral Campaign
22 Oct 2009 | 2:24 pmSearch Engine giant Google, has shown the world how it is reshaping the way communication happens over the internet with the soft launch of Google Wave. And it has done so in a way it knows best – through invite based viral marketing. The internet witnessed tremors of excitement when 100,000 exclusive invites to Wave were sought after by surfers who were curious, passionate, and addicted to Google. A sense of Déjà vu is hard to avoid. Google sent out similar invites when it launched Gmail in 2007, to build hype. Privileged invites led marketing has been a potent weapon that Google has… -
New ppt Slides: Consumer & Market Trends during Recession
19 Oct 2009 | 5:11 amTrendsSpotting.com has released a slides presentation on its new published report: Consumer and Market Trends during Recession – Cross Industry Research. Enjoy. Consumer & Market Trends during Recession – Cross Industry Research Report by TrendsSpotting.com View more documents from Taly Weiss. Click here to learn more about the report - Tweet This Post Plurk This Post Buzz This Post Delicious Digg This Post Ping This Post Reddit Stumble This Post -
Is the Recession over? Research Suggests American Consumers aren’t Buying it: Cross–Industry Research Report by TrendsSpotting.com
9 Oct 2009 | 5:15 pmQuoting Bloomberg, (July 26 2009) “The worst U.S. recession in five decades probably eased in the second quarter (2009) as trade and government stimulus mitigated the damage from declines in housing, inventories and consumer and business spending”. President Obama is similarly optimistic declaring that “the worst may be over in the economic crisis”. Is it really? Are there signs of consumer recovery? In this TrendsSpotting report we follow the main consumer markets and consumers’ behavior indications for the year 2009. To better understand how Americans are adjusting their buying…
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Logic+Emotion
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A Conversation Worth Sponsoring (Thank You To The Art of Shaving)
6 Nov 2009 | 11:35 amWhen Aaron Strout approached me about participating in Movember (through the Movember foundation which facilitates donations for Mens health issues such as testicular cancer), I was a bit apprehensive. I mean, I do a lot of talks/work with clients and it's hard to be taken seriously with a 'stash that came out of nowhere. I also thought about how much work it would take to hit up my network and raise funds for a great cause. It's never easy to ask people for money. Then the "marketer" in me started thinking. Wouldn't there be a brand out there who would want to get involved with this? What… -
15 Top Social Media Agencies [del.icio.us]
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How To Create Advocates For Your Business
3 Nov 2009 | 8:47 amSo what is customer advocacy anyway? Well for starters, they don't have to be your customers—they can be any part of your entire constituency. Employees, business partners, friends—you name it. But here's the point. You need them more than ever. Right now, if you are planning social initiatives, your biggest challenge is going to be manpower. Someone has to do the listening, the outreach, the customer service, the participation, the engagement with others in the ecosystem. Some parts can be automated (such as an algorithm in a listening tool technology), but many other parts require… -
Six Social Media Trends For 2010
3 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amOriginally posted on The Harvard Business Review blogIn 2009 we saw exponential growth of social media. According to Nielson Online, Twitter alone grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month. Meanwhile, Facebook continued to outpace MySpace. So what could social media look like in 2010? In 2010, social media will get even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive — at least, that's my guess. What are the near-term trends we could see as soon as next year? In no particular order: 1. Social media begins to… -
4 Myths about blocking Internet access in the enterprise | Capping IT Off | Capgemini | Consulting, Technology, Outsourcing [del.icio.us]
Cap Gemini encourages companies to allow access to social networks while blocking it themselves
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PRSA Tactics and The Strategist Online
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Cereal company’s sugar-coated health claims don’t fly with parents
5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmCrisis management -
Media exclusives and embargoes can help or harm PR
4 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmMedia relations -
Spokesman for California Attorney General resigns after secretly recording conversations with reporters
3 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmEthics, media relations -
Politweets: Embrace the Twitter side of government 2.0
2 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmTwitter, social media, public sector -
Taking control of your job search: A tweet alternative to the classifieds
2 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmTwitter, job search, social media
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Ogilvy PR 360 Digital Influence Blog
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Introducing The 3′Cs Rule For Pharma Marketing
6 Nov 2009 | 11:52 amNext week Ogilvy will be sharing our point of view when it comes to how pharmaceutical and medical device brands should be allowed to use the web and social media for marketing and promotion. This has been a significant gray area in the past and the FDA has begun the process towards having some updated guidelines set. We are one of over 60 organizations that will be speaking during the two day hearing next week, and the questions will range from everything to what information marketers should be allowed to link to, and how they should be held responsible for content online. The biggest… -
5 Big Things To Expect From The FDA Hearings Next Week
6 Nov 2009 | 11:09 amMost marketers who have anything to do with promoting pharmaceutical products or medical devices have the upcoming FDA hearings at the top of this minds heading into next week. With less than 7 days to go until the hearings, all the presentations have been submitted to the FDA, the anticipation is rising and conversation online about the hearings from speakers, attendees and online watchers (the hearings will be live webcast) is rising. Ogilvy is among the organizations slated to speak at the hearings, and we have several activities planned around them beyond speaking - including hosting a… -
Is Compassion “Viral”?
3 Nov 2009 | 3:14 pmCan a concept with nothing new about it - doing unto others as you would have them do to you - be shareworthy? Can we make the pursuit of understanding “the other” and acting with that knowledge an idea that spreads from person to person? We know social media is amazing for brief, instant flares of information, but what role can it play in something as fundamental and long-term as behaving compassionately? These are some of the questions that have been occupying Ogilvy teams around the world as we approach the November 12 launch of the TED Prize project granting Karen Armstrong’s… -
Hyperlocal: The Buzzword That Isn’t Just Yet
28 Oct 2009 | 8:42 pmOr is it? 2009 has been an interesting and dare I say it even a breakout year for hyperlocal thus far. The New York Times launched The Local a few months before it announced it was cutting 8% of it newsroom jobs, MSNBC bought Everyblock, and services like Patch.com are slowly but surely growing in popularity. ESPN launched a series of local efforts this year too, and although they’re not what I would call truly hyperlocal yet, (rather local aggregations of mostly major league sports coverage), it’s another example of big media exploring the area. If the ESPN sites do well the natural… -
Revisited: Facebook Groups vs. Brand Pages
21 Oct 2009 | 11:41 amSince the launch of Facebook brand pages, there has been confusion as to whether your brand or cause should set up a page or a group. As brand pages grew in popularity and were given more and more features, it seemed like discussion of groups dropped off. Finally, on Monday Facebook updated the look and function of Facebook groups and now that they dust has settled I think it’s worth revisiting the age old question, “Do I want a Facebook group or a brand page?” Brand Pages Brand pages are still the best choice for 99 percent of brands or campaigns. Facebook created them…
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TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends
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14 Female Form Creations - From Lap Pillows to Sexist Sound Systems (CLUSTER)
7 Nov 2009 | 8:10 am(TrendHunter.com) It seems as though the womanly figure is a beautiful thing to behold, or at least very popular. I mean, as any other members of the fairer sex can attest to, we all have our insecurities when it comes… -
Can-Crushing Editorials - The Hayden Panettiere Elle Sweden Spread is Badass (GALLERY)
7 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am(TrendHunter.com) This Hayden Panettiere Elle Sweden spread is hot. For one, the diminutive diva wears a number of skintight fashions like the body-hugging black minidress in the fourth image. For two, she's photographed… -
17 Disposable Fashions - From Disposable Panties to Disposable Sunglasses (CLUSTER)
7 Nov 2009 | 7:30 am(TrendHunter.com) I’m not sure I agree with the disposable culture that is arising. To be able to throw out something after one use seems to be irresponsible, not to mention wasteful. Nevertheless, these throwaway innovations… -
Social Networking Facial Hair - The Twitter Beard is More Fun than Posting What You Just Ate (GALLERY)
7 Nov 2009 | 7:20 am(TrendHunter.com) This Twitter Beard lets everyone have an instant illustrated mass of facial hair. After all, not everyone can grow a mustache in honor of Movember. Von R. Glitschka is the digital artist behind the first… -
Ridiculously Reliable Lights - The mPower Emergency Illuminator Flashlight Will Last 20 Years
7 Nov 2009 | 7:10 am(TrendHunter.com) An ironic fact of life: when you actually need to use your emergency flashlight, the batteries die. But with the mPower Emergency Illuminator, you don’t have to worry. Created by mPhase Technologies and…
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BehanceMag.com
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How to Write a Mission Statement that Isn't Dumb
6 Nov 2009 | 7:32 amAn argument for mission statements featuring a call-to-action, as opposed to attitudes. -
We Don't Need No (Formal) Education
6 Nov 2009 | 7:30 amIn the not-so-distant future, will traditional universities give way to web education as a viable, legitimate education source? -
David Skokna: There’s No Such Thing as a B-Team
4 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmMany startups begin small. Ten years ago David Skokna broke away from the corporate world to found an interactive agency called HUGE. It’s first project? IKEA.com. Fast forward ten years and HUGE has infiltrated all aspects of the web, taking on world-class clients across several industries, including entertainment, media, and e-commerce. Their portfolio includes the current versions of JetBlue.com, About.com, ReadersDigest.com, NYCGo.com, ONE.org, and dozens more, in addition to current redesign projects for CNN.com and iVillage.com. As Global Creative Director and one of four partners,… -
Alain de Botton: A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success
4 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmAn argument for redefining success through a personal lens, as opposed to through the culturally promoted ideals of meritocracy, envy, and binaries. -
Do You Do Your Most Important Work First?
3 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmA look into priorities -- do you believe in getting the tough stuff out of the way, or saving it for later?
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Uncrate
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UpCycle Ottoman
6 Nov 2009 | 2:07 pmSpice up your living room decor with the UpCycle Ottoman ($425). This 18-inch square foot cushion is upholstered with repurposed jute bags that were previously used to transport organic coffee...Visit Uncrate for the full post. -
The Book of Basketball
6 Nov 2009 | 1:39 pmGet yourself ready for another NBA season with The Book of Basketball ($17). Written by ESPN's "The Sports Guy" Bill Simmons, this 700-page tome takes an irreverent, entertaining, and yet...Visit Uncrate for the full post. -
Woolrich Woolen Mills Maine Guide Jacket
6 Nov 2009 | 12:04 pmWe're not sure whether it's actually worn by guides in Maine, but the Woolrich Woolen Mills Maine Guide Jacket ($500) is certainly up to the job. Made in the U.S....Visit Uncrate for the full post. -
The Beatles USB Apple Collection
6 Nov 2009 | 8:55 amWho would have thought that The Beatles would finally go digital on... a USB stick? The Beatles USB Apple Collection ($280; December 8) includes all the remastered goodness of the...Visit Uncrate for the full post. -
Tumbleweed Tiny Houses
6 Nov 2009 | 8:33 amWhen most people think of tiny houses, they think of the quaint, smallish-homes one finds in older neighborhoods, built back before the rise of the McMansion. But Tumbleweed Tiny Houses...Visit Uncrate for the full post.
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Core77
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2 Pieces of Awesomeness for a Friday
6 Nov 2009 | 9:04 amBest comment this week: "We've given a bird a piece of bread designed to drop at the exact spot where over heating for the particle acceleratot. [sic] Lets see if the scientist notice." From This PopSci story (thanks Eric!) Best tweet EVER: "Twitter is like daytime TV for working people." From @nikroope(more...) -
26 Performances at Post Typography's Book Release Party
6 Nov 2009 | 8:56 amThe hunt for typography's biggest fan just ended at the door of Post Typography. Aside from running a successful design studio in Baltimore, teaching a class on experimental typography and naming their punk band after a typographic glyph (Double Dagger), Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals just published their first book, Lettering and Type. The book release party, "Fan Letter," took place at MICA and another will happen at The Cooper Union in New York on November 17. The kickoff featured 26 presentations by artists and designers who waxed on about their favorite letter or typographic symbol. The… -
Going Wild With Wild Things: An Interview with Dave Eggers
6 Nov 2009 | 8:33 amMost everyone I know was looking forward to The Where the Wild Things Are movie with great anticipation. It had taken so long to bring to the screen and when it was announced that Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers were collaborating on the film there was an audible buzz about things like integrity and fidelity. As it turned out, the film was not the expected result. It was not a Pixar or Disney animation, but rather a live action production that was spare and expressionistic. It wasn’t catering to children (but in a way, neither was the book). Dave Eggers also surprised many in his full blown… -
SEMA (auto-modder's paradise) show photos
6 Nov 2009 | 7:26 amThe SEMA show, an annually-held automotive specialty products trade exhibition, closes in Las Vegas today. The industry-only event doesn't allow members of the general public to enter, but Car & Driver's got loads of photo galleries depicting what went on, like the tricked-out Scions seen above. Hot-rod heads can click here for more.(more...) -
Daily Design Snacks
6 Nov 2009 | 7:25 amA bite-sized list of what's happenin' now: helsinki times "Snowball," upcoming Finnish-Chinese design industry event dexigner Milan Polytechnic starting Masters in ID for Architecture program, in English cnet Does cell phone design still matter? gerson lehrman group Nokia, Apple and Google - Driving the Mobile Revolution reuters Technology doesn't isolate people: U.S. study nyt art & design Finding a Bit of Animal House in the Bauhaus (more...)
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TheDieline.com
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The Dieline Awards: Worldwide Package Design Competition
30 Nov 2009 | 8:15 pm -
Burgopak
5 Nov 2009 | 8:01 pmBurgopak has been awarded Design Company of the Year at the prestigious 2009 UK Packaging Awards. Competing against leading companies in the packaging and design sector, the prize was awarded by a panel of top independent judges. Burgopak has been expanding and developing their design services, working with a variety of leading brands to present and differentiate their products in ways that are efficient, cost-effective and, above all, creative. Burgopak’s innovative packaging solutions utilise a wide range of patented sliding mechanisms and bespoke structural designs. Design &… -
Veev
5 Nov 2009 | 7:56 pm"VeeV is the World’s First Acai Spirit. Its goal is to change the way consumers think about cocktails and in the end, the way cocktails are ultimately consumed. Acai, the exotic Brazilian berry taking the world by storm, is said to be one of the healthiest fruits on the planet. VeeV is a wheat based spirit infused with Acai that includes the flavors of prickly pear and acerola cherry." -
Ecolean Packaging
5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 amEcolean is a new packaging alternative dubbed as "A Lighter Approach to Packaging". "Lightweight packaging is our answer to the demands of the liquid food industry and consumers asking for modern and clever packages. By using a minimal amount of raw material we create a lightweight package which combines low environmental impact with consumer convenience. Saving resources is saving the environment. That is why lightweight packaging has become a heavyweight argument.The unique, pitcher-looking design has a generous face for consumer communication. It has a perfect surface for really… -
Packaging For Snails, Made From Snail Poop.
5 Nov 2009 | 8:00 amYes, you read that right. This packaging was made out of dyed snail excrements, and it is designed to hold cooked snails. Thats a little strange right? Here is what product designer Manuel Jouvin has to say about it:"During my researches, I pointed out that colored paper has an influence on color snail excrements. In partnership with Sylvie Pierru, a snailfarmer in Picardie (France), we created packagings made of snail excrements and destinated to cooked snails. They are envisaged in the molding cellulose process by replacing recyclable paper by snail dejections."More images of this, um,…
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The Serif
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The first Fleuron book
21 Oct 2009 | 2:16 pmThe first Fleuron book is Democracy. -
SPVZ
24 Sep 2009 | 1:17 pmSPVZ have a collection of nice work, check them out. -
Information is beautiful
24 Sep 2009 | 1:10 pmInformation is beautiful, enough said. -
Dongjoo Seo
24 Sep 2009 | 1:01 pmI love these very graphic prints from Dongjoo Seo -
Make
24 Sep 2009 | 12:51 pmSome beautiful work from Make.
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vi.sualize.us
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Prince Bruno Von Sniffenfinger
6 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pmthrawn posted a new favorite picture (via): -
Lindsay Ellingson - Page 173 - the Fashion Spot
6 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pmsomebluenotes posted a new favorite picture (via): -
thelovelybones: geometricity:thediscoinmypants
6 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pmbrantlem posted a new favorite picture (via): -
Gen. Igor Tospooavich
6 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pmthrawn posted a new favorite picture (via): -
King Lazlo Pithy Velvetbottom
6 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pmthrawn posted a new favorite picture (via):
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Wired Top Stories
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The Answer Factory: Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model
6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pmA fiendishly clever startup knows what we are Googling &mdash! then churns out thousands of cheap videos and articles to meet our every whim and wish. -
2010 Superfly Will Make You Say 'My Oh My'
6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pmConventional wisdom says a mountain bike with 29-inch tires is an ungainly ride. Conventional wisdom can suck it. Meet the 2010 Superfly. -
After 5 Years on Web, Firefox Preps for Next Round
6 Nov 2009 | 3:30 pmThe Firefox web browser celebrates the fifth anniversary of its debut Monday. With IE humbled and Chrome on the rise, the next five years are going to look totally different than the first five. -
Replace Your MacBook's Hard Drive Yourself
6 Nov 2009 | 2:30 pmIt may not seem like it, but your MacBook hard drive is no different than that of any other laptop. Replacing it without Apple's help might void your warranty, but it sure is a lot cheaper if you do it yourself. -
National Data Breach Laws Move Through Senate
6 Nov 2009 | 2:30 pmThe nation is closer to a national data-breach notification law and setting security standards for handling sensitive data. After legislation aimed at the problem languishes on Capitol Hill for four years, two bills make it out of Senate committee.
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Lifehacker
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Make a Gift Bow Out of Any Paper [Gift Wrap]
7 Nov 2009 | 8:00 amSure, you can just go to the store and buy a bow. But why not make your gift show a bit more thought, and style? Recycle old maps, glossy ads, and other paper into creative bows with this guide.... -
From the Tips Box: Multiple Dropbox Accounts, Twitter Notes, and Cloud Billing [From The Tips Box]
6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pmReaders offer their best tips for running multiple instances of Dropbox at once, using Twitter to jot down notes and ideas for yourself, and using Google Docs to manage money between friends. Don't... -
This Week's Most Popular Posts [Highlights]
6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pmThis week we showed you how to really browse without leaving a trace, rounded up a handful of media-center-boosting apps, uncorked a bottle of wine with nothing but a shoe, and oh so much more. How... -
Make a Hand Truck Out of a Shopping Cart [Weekend Project]
6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pmSo you need to move some large, heavy stuff, but you don't want to throw out your back? Instead of renting or paying two hundred dollars for your own moving dolly, DIY web site Instructables details... -
Keep Dishonest Landlords at Bay with Your Camera [Apartments]
6 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pmEven if your landlord seems happy-go-lucky upon moving in, there's always a chance they won't be so nice when you move out. Keep all parties accountable and in check for a hassle-free lease with a...
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WSJ.com: China Journal
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Looking for iPhone Users in Beijing
6 Nov 2009 | 4:11 amThe Wall Street Journal’s Loretta Chao went on a hunt for iPhone users around Beijing after China Unicom said it had as few as 5,000 users of the Apple phone that just officially launched in China. -
BYD’s Wang: Upward Mobility in China
6 Nov 2009 | 2:26 amChinese auto and battery tycoon Wang Chuanfu has had quite a ride. BYD Wang, the chairman of BYD Co., was named China’s richest individual this week by Forbes magazine, which cited his net worth at $5.8 billion. Wang grew up anything but wealthy in Anhui Province and had lost both his parents to illness by the time he was a teenager. He went to college only after the encouragement and support of his older siblings, who also helped rear him. “I was born on a rice farm very, very poor,” Wang told The Wall Street Journal in an interview last year. “Both of my parents were farmers; they… -
Xinhua Sends In Back-Up
5 Nov 2009 | 8:03 pmLast week, China Real Time Report wrote about a story published by Economic Information Daily( our report in English here and in Chinese here), whose Chinese name literally translates as Economic Reference. Economic Information Daily was the first economic publication to be founded under the sprawling Xinhua umbrella after China’s economic reforms that began in 1978. Imaginechina via AP Images Pollution plagues many of China’s rivers Economic Information Daily’s story, published Oct. 15, detailed allegations of untested sludge from two iron ore mines illegally dumped into a stream… -
Bird’s Nest: A ‘Financial Albatross’
5 Nov 2009 | 6:50 pmBeijing’s iconic Bird’s Nest stadium may have attracted a crowd of 91,000 for the Olympic opening ceremony, but the stadium’s director is having a hard time trying to recreate the enthusiasm. A story by state-run newspaper China Daily this week called the stadium a “financial albatross,” and quoted the arena’s director of research and development as saying he has to rack his brain continually to prevent the 3.6 billion yuan venue from becoming a “white elephant.” According to the China Daily story, it costs an average of 200,000 yuan per day to… -
Bond, Swap Curves Foretell Rate Hikes
5 Nov 2009 | 4:44 amEven as Beijing remains reluctant to abandon the loose monetary policy that has propelled China’s swift economic recovery, China’s fixed-income market sees two interest-rate hikes by the central bank in the coming year. Despite China’s strong recovery and simmering inflationary pressure, authorities have stressed the importance of maintaining fiscal stimulus and a supportive monetary policy. At the same time, Beijing has left itself some room to fine-tune policy. But the interest-rate market appears far less ambivalent: Two-year interest-rate swaps on the one-year deposit…
