MOSS IS HAVING A SALE

more christmas present ideas...some cool products on sale on moss.com this week: a ring, a radio, and...an ice-stopper glass!


check them out >

cool photo hanger

need a Christmas present idea?

This cute photo hanger designed by +d's Juuta Kan is really versatile. Use more than one to hang large prints!

check out the site: http://www.plus-d.com/photo_hanger/

from Core77 via mocoloco

Totally warping 3D space!!!

Portal is a game where you can place holes (er, portals!) in walls to create entrances and exits and jump from one space to another. It really plays with your sense of space, check out the demo on YouTube for a better description-- it looks really challenging and interesting.

Too bad the actual game video makes it look like a shoot-em-up. I like the instructions style better!

check it out >

Internet TV: Vuze.com

I don't have a TV so when I feel like watching something I turn to the internet. There are a few sites that have popped up lately and I'll try to review them all.

Vuze.com is probably one of the most promising ones I've seen. They have millions of users, some good content, and the quality is the best I've seen online.

in a nutshell:

-downloadable, bit-torrent P2P app
-HD content
-open platform
-global (lots of BBC content for example)
-downside is that there is not yet a great variety of content in every genre, not many long format movies, not many current TV shows
-however, they have already had11 million unique client downloads in its first nine months, more than 500,000 new viewers joining per week and more than 100 content partners to date-- so we can assume this problem will go away

It's a great place to check out -- especially if you don't have a TV and rely on the internet for entertainment like I do!

check it out >

Picnik - online photo editor

This could be the future of many apps - access them from anywhere with a login. It would be great if you could also have access to your media everywhere...this is the advantage of storing your photos on online services like Flickr. Anyway, I like this app for editing-- it looks great, they took the time to design it well and make it fun!

- Kind of like a simple, browser-based Photoshop for your online photos
- Crop, resize, and rotate in real-time
- Tons of special effects, from artsy to fun
- No download required, nothing to install
- Free! (Upgrade to Premium for only $24.95 a year)

check it out >

Chair that puts itself back together

As you can see, this is the beginning stages of the robot uprising. How can you kill something that will just heal itself?



read more about the project here

via productwiki

Typography Snowflake Creator

Tis the season for cutesy Flash holiday cards. This one is just so cool though.

TYPEflake* by firstborn: check it out at typeflake.com

via brandflakesforbreakfast

amazing Flash artist

Erik Natzke makes the most amazing images from photographs and Flash -- he codes in Actionscript and Adobe Air by hand to create these effects -- stunning! I just can't stop looking at them.



also, notice the new pictobrowser i'm using...they added lots of custom features to it so you can make it look just how you want...use your arrow keys to advance.

Cute & Elegant Pictograms

Pictograms are the new language..

Show, don’t tell. A pictogram designers portfolio showing some different iconwork. Making things simple can be complicated. Simplicated!

http://www.iconwerk.de/ (I REALLY like how it's all on one page too!)

thanks to dzialifornia on NewsToday

Good websites to find jobs on

Anyone have a favorite place to find UI design / IA jobs?

Here's what I have so far:

krop.com
IA institute job board
boxes & arrows job board
jobster

I'd like to know about international ones too. So far I've only seen this one:
http://www.recruit.net/search-information+Architect-jobs

Thanks for your input!

User Experience Consulting Firm: Hydrant

I think it's a great sign that User Experience consulting firms are popping up all over the place; it seems like businesses are finally realizing that the experience they create for their customers determines whether they buy their products or not.

Hydrant SF is a customer experience consulting firm I just came into contact with. They sound great, very professional, and have a great client list as well as years of experience.

check them out at hydrantsf.com >

I think they describe very well the problem we User Experience Designers are trying to solve:
"Customers are constantly interacting with your company. On the Web, through catalogs and call centers, via automated phone systems, with your physical products, through your services, or in your stores.

Each of these interactions is a piece of the customer experience that IS your company.

Who owns that overall customer experience in your organization? Is it any good? Where can it be improved? Most companies have no idea. "

Cute stuff on Etsy

Etsy.com is just the best for finding cute stuff!

check out Tara Hogan of Ink & Wit (link to her Etsy shop) and Rachael Hetzel of Pistachio Press (link to her Etsy store)

Google Masseuse becomes Multi-millionnaire by exercising stock options

Bonnie Brown started working there in 1999, when there were only 40 Google employees, and was given a bunch of options she thought would never be worth anything...8 years later she is rolling in it.

A friend of mine was just telling me how she turned down a job in text ads at Google in 1999 and is kicking herself...everyone has a career faux pas or two they regret...it's easy to look back and say, "How could I be so dumb?" in hindsight, but what's the point?

Also, I think what's happening with Google (and it's former masseuses!) is an exception. It's not generally that easy to make millions of dollars working for someone else. Better to start your own company...then you'll either make millions or lose millions!

read the NY Times article >

Web game gives free rice to hungry people

from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7088447.stm

An internet word game has generated enough rice to feed 50,000 people for one day, according to the UN's World Food Program.

The game, FreeRice, tests the vocabulary of participants. For each click on a correct answer, the website donates money to buy 10 grains of rice.

Companies advertising on the website provide the money to the WFP to buy and distribute the rice.

FreeRice went online in early October and has now raised 1 billion grains of rice, enough rice to feed 50,000 people for one day.

FreeRice is the invention of US online fundraising pioneer John Breen.

TrendWatching.com

Trendwatching is kind of an interesting concept, and of course essential to marketing and advertising.

There's a website that I've been enjoying a lot, called trendwatching.com -- I get their emails, and there's always some good stuff in them (don't be fooled by the spoof last month where they talked about marketing to unborn babies!)

Check out the site (trendwatching.com) to learn about (sometimes hilarious but actually serious) trends such as:

5*STAR*LIVING

(AFTER) SPOILING DATE

BEING SPACES

BRAND SPACES

BRANDED BRANDS

COUNTER-GOOGLING

COUNTERVALS

CRIBTIMONIALS

CROWD CLOUT

CURATED CONSUMPTION

CUSTOMER-MADE

DAILY LUBRICANTS

DIASPORA MANAGEMENT

DIGITAL EMBRACE

DORMANDISE

EARLY BIRDING

EASY-ASIA

EXCUSUMPTION

FEEDER BUSINESSES

FEUDLESS FAMILIES

FLORIDASATION

GARAGE INFLUENTIALS

GENERATION C

GENERATION C(ASH)

GLOBAL GARAGE SALES

GRAND BOUTIQUE

GRAVANITY

HOME TROTTING

HYGIENIA

HYPERTASKING

IMMI-MERCE

INFOLUST

INNOVATION OVERLOAD

INSPERIENCE

IT-ISM

JINGLE CASTING

LIFE CACHING

MASS CLASS

MASSCLUSIVITY

MASTERS OF THE YOUNIVERSE

MATURED GOODS

MATURIALISM

MINIPRENEURS

NATIONS*LITE*

NETHOODS

NO-FRILLS CHIC

NON-CYCLICAL RICH

NOUVEAU NICHE

OBC

OLDBIES

ONLINE OXYGEN

PLANNED SPONTANEITY

POP-UP RETAIL

PROSPERITY DENIAL

PULSE PUBLICATIONS

READY-TO-KNOW

RECONSTRUCTURING

RESORT REBIRTH

SACHET MARKETING

SECOND .COMING

SEE-HEAR-BUY

SNOBMODDITIES

STARBUCKING

STATUS SKILLS

STILL MADE HERE

SWARM SIGHTINGS

SYMPVERTISING

THRILLBOARDS

TRANSUMERISM

TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY

TRANSUMERS

TRYSUMERS

TRYVERTISING

TWINSUMER

UBER PREMIUM

VIRTUAL ANTHROPOLOGY

YOUNIVERSAL BRANDING

Hilariously clever Flash E-Commerce site -- a must-see

Everything goes haywire, the products start interacting with each other.

Check it out >

http://producten.hema.nl/

HUMAN TRAFFICKING: IMAGES OF VULNERABILITY Photo Exhibit

A good friend has a show at the UN showing her photos from trips to South and Southeast Asia to bring more awareness of human trafficking. It's hard to imagine that some of these situations exist, and sad to see that many of them involve children.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING: IMAGES OF VULNERABILITY is on exhibit at the UN Visitors' Gallery, 1st Avenue at 46th Street, New York, NY 10017, from October 29th through November 18th, 2007.

There's still time to go see it!

Taken from the promo:
Kay Chernush's powerful images of sex and labor exploitation commissioned by the US State Department are featured with the photography of Howard G. Buffett and Academy Award nominated director Robert Bilheimer, in an exhibition that puts a face on modern-day slavery and the worldwide problem of human trafficking. "These pictures are a dramatic representation of a crime that shames us all. Art is a powerful advocacy tool to motivate people to take action especially in the defense of women and children," said Mr. Antonia Maria Costa at the October 29th opening.

Interactive Jitter Video Installation for Chanel

I finally uploaded some photos for an installation for which I did the Interaction Design and Jitter programming -- it was a video installation in Chanel's NY storefront to publicize the release of their new perfume (promoted by Kiera Knightly) in September 2007.


We had a large projection screen and bright projector, and the challenge was really to get the interference from the street outside and the reflections on the glass not to trigger the animations. It was not easy to get the infrared cameras to see only the people in front of the projection.

With Vilamedia and Scharff Weisberg doing the projection and camera equipment setup, and myself doing interaction design and programming and Diego Bauducco also doing programming.

Marathon Sadness

A tragic day for marathon fans today as Ryan Shay passes away inexplicably at mile 5 of the Olympic trials. An Olympic favorite, Ryan Shay was running with his good friend Ryan Hall and other "usual suspects" to compete for the US Olympic team in New York City today, on the eve of the great NYC Marathon, which happens tomorrow morning.

An article in the NY Times describes the shock and disbelief at the sudden death of this fit 28-year-old whom many people admired.

read the NY Times article >

Just another reminder to enjoy every moment of your life....

DUDE! Watch this!

The lovely and talented Clay Weiner sent me his most recent work - A Bud Lite commercial that debuted yesterday and already has over a million views. Check it out.

Bionic Assessment Test

This is really really cool -- press SKIP immediately to skip the intro, it's very loud.

The tests are really creative and challenging-- make sure you listen to and read the instructions carefully!

obviously, it's an ad for the show-- but it's very clever and engaging.

check it out: http://bat-test.com/

Amazing artist uses salt, soap, beavers, people, houses...

...apparently whatever she can get her hands on!

My friend Toutine in Amsterdam just sent me this link to Scarlett's work-- rumor is that she's on her way back from the North Pole now, I can't wait to see what she's been up to this time!

She actually traveled to Bolivia and went to the Unuyi Salt Desert, the landscapes were amazing and surreal, "the enormous white space invites almost like a drawing paper", says Scarlett. Somehow it makes sense that she was also "inspired by the fact that the cartoon figure "Hulk" is such a popular image in that part of the world".

check out Scarlett Hooft Graafland's site for some more descriptive photos and text:

http://www.scarletthooft.com/