:@ Let's make things complicated

Discuss: http://www.ksubi.com

2008-03-10T19:30:00.001Z

Persevere with it for a bit.

Seems like a really brave approach to me.

Does the Google rip-off give the brand the kind of stylistic polish you expect?

Is the search metaphor valid in this context? (ie. How many users know what to search for?)

gaia1

2008-03-09T06:06:00.003Z

i'd kinda like to borrow some nice things to make a point.
here's point 1 about gaia, borrowing from josef muller-brockmann,

Bravia Site / Interaction Design? Pffftt.

2007-10-04T14:32:00.000Z

http://bravia.sony.eu/bravia.html

So I saw this recently, and whilst visually it's very rich and I like the metaphor of stuff inside stuff... I think the interaction design of this thing is dreadful. It's so counter-intuitive. Why have they made it more complicated than it needs to be?

Did anyone else start using the keys only to find if you hold a key down it gets to the end and jitters? Why do you need the keyboard? Why can't I just rotate the cubes?

Aaahhhh....

and as rach pointed out, what does this say about how many colours they control?

not enough....
(the error says "Sorry, we couldn't find that colour.")

client involvement in the design process?

2007-09-26T18:09:00.000Z

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/getoutfrombehindthecurtain

personally, i think this is pretty much rubbish. of course it depends on the project, the exact requirements, and the nature of the specific relationship with the client, but for most agencies, the idea sounds disastrous.

personally, i prefer the agile UCD approach: lots of little design "sprints", where the client (and client services!) only get involved at the start and end of a sprint to review the outcomes and reprioritise the next sprint's goals.

this leaves the design experts to do what they do best, with a clear understanding of the sprint and over-arching goals... and leaves the client free to get on with running their business.

anyone else got an opinion?

Civil liberties and the web

2007-09-07T10:52:00.000Z

Re:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/07/breast-isnt-best-on-facebook/

So we were discussing this at work today...
Personally, I think it's strange that people complain about stuff like this? Facebook is a commercial operation that provides an application (for free!) with clearly set out terms and conditions. this isn't about what's socially acceptable... it's about whatever their terms of use are. Users of Facebook agree to this when they sign up. If they don't like it, then there is always the law of 2 feet: leave.

But Rich was arguing the point that this is essentially an infringement on civil liberties, because breast feeding isn't obscene, and Facebook has no right to censor it.

For me, there is definitely a judgement call about what makes nudity obscene. Personally I don't mind if women get their baps out in most situations, but I can also understand that some people may not be as liberal. The point is that context matters a lot. So if Facebook want to avoid this to protect their user-base, then surely they should be allowed.

I'm all for people protesting this, if they want. I guess my point is just why bother? You could spend your whole life worrying about little stuff like this. Or, like society does anyway, people could just relax and flock together or repel based on whatever common grounds they find.

Sure there's a danger of eroding our civil liberties, but there's also a danger in following the lowest-common-denominator of being overly politically correct.

Will people please stop bitching about Apple's pricing strategy?!

2007-09-07T09:43:00.000Z

Read this:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/07/technology/07apple.php

And am continually astounded at people's naivety. Apple have maintained a rationalised suite of products since Mr Jobs came back and sorted things out. So, as they add a new top-end product to their range (in whatever category: PCs, Notebooks, OSs, iPods, etc.), they drop one off the low-end. This allows them to just keep 3 or 4 products in each range, making it a lot easier for people to choose and a lot easier for them to keep inventory for and support. In the same fashion, they shift the pricing so that the top-end product is a bit beyond what a sensible person can afford and the low-end is pretty darn accessible.

This shouldn't be news to anyone!

Of course, when they release a new product category, they can (and do) charge what they like, because like moths to the flame, Apple loyalists will buy it. So, if you want to pay a super premium to be the first one to have something, then go for it. Just don't go complaining about it.

The other thing that confuses me is why on earth would you pay a premium to become a beta-tester for Apple. Show me the generation-1 product from them that has been free from major issues. Battery-life, overheating, screen robustness, OS-flaws, etc...

But Apple aren't the only ones. Microsoft has been effectively treating their first release software as beta for years now. Why? Well because the market pressure dictates as such. If any of these technology-centric companies waited till something was properly tested and stable, they'd lose any momentum available through the initial wave. It's sad, but true.

We face similar issues in the world of digital advertising. How can we be expected to continually innovate , whilst working backwards from a fixed point in time that demands integration with other media activity? The answer is of course, that we wait for users of our media creations to identify the issues and fix them in the live environment. Something has to give: Users? Clients? Developers? Project Quality? Time? Cost? Normally it's some combination of these. And normally the agency involved has to shift into some mode of damage control.

Surely there's a better way?

advertising brands: good or evil

2007-08-08T00:00:00.000Z

personally, i think it's a bit of a nonsense question - one of those things that middle-class twats like me have the time to ponder. regardless, a good banter at work this week exposed the following:

advertising has the potential to be evil and manipulative and needs to be heavily regulated.
brands playing up to youth strategies like "pester power" need to be careful about their moral grounding.
we mustn't forget that brands can still play an important role in simplifying the decision making process.
enables companies to invest longer-term in developing a brand image to improve sales.
advertising pays for the content and people tend to hate paying for content more than being exposed to advertising.
advertising revenue encourages media owners to develop new content and the more targeted and fragmented the media (eg. the web), the more opportunities for niche content.

this is obviously an incomplete manifesto, but a decent start-point for discussion...

campaign article: crossing the line

2007-07-09T01:22:00.001Z

yep. i'm a fame whore. sorry.

getting around a popup blocker

2007-06-28T21:44:00.000Z

just realised something about firefox, and i'm guessing other popup blockers...
if you want to launch a new window from your Flash app, you've probably got a Javascript window.open function on the page. but when you call this function, the popup blocker kicks in. but if you place the Flash asset on the page using SWFObject or UFO, and set the wmode parameter to transparent, then it seems to get around the popup blocker.
so your javascript should look something like this...

it's worth remembering that embedding Flash with wmode set like this will prevent Flash from accessing any of the accessibility features :(

Parent - Adult - Child Model

2007-03-29T22:11:00.000Z

Another interest thing from the D&AD training was analysing the psychology of the way we communicate (eg. Client - Agency), in terms of a "Parent - Adult - Child" model.

The underlying concept was that whilst much of our creative inspiration comes from our "Natural Child" and clients tend to be the "Controlling Parent", negotiations/conversations/explanations happen best when we are talking "Adult" to "Adult".

More about the PAC Model

Selling ideas

2007-03-29T22:04:00.000Z

Did some D&AD training recently around techniques for making creative ideas stronger. One thing that I thought was particularly relevant: Separating the execution from the concept. This means understanding the Brand Idea, developing a Communicational Idea and creating the Executional Idea.

The examples we were working though in training were for print & tv advertising, but the process is the same for creative technology. And it's particularly useful for technologists working with creatives or clients, when trying to explain why an executional idea might be done differently (eg. to be more usable, or more technically feasible). With this kind of mental model, you can rationalise with a creative or client how the communicational idea can be preserved, but the execution might shift.

Are you a maximiser or a satisficer?

2007-03-21T18:16:00.000Z

Reading an interesting thing about maximisers vs satisficers in this Paradox of Choice book: http://www.amazon.com/Paradox-Choice-Why-More-Less/dp/0060005688.

I'll write something about it... But it makes a very interesting point about how having too many options may have actually caused people to feel like a 'maximiser', always wondering if there's something better out there. For example, the jobs market in digital advertising at the moment!

The T-shirt instrument

2006-11-13T15:28:00.001Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6143118.stm

Interesting interaction possibilities with this, beyond air guitar.

A More Mature Web

2006-11-06T14:07:00.000Z

An interesting observation about the design implications of a maturing web:

"The Web is no longer a marvel of innovation, it's an everyday tool, and you differentiate yourself by providing both better content and better solutions to users' problems. "

1991-1997: Explosive growth, at a rate of 850% per year.
1998-2001: Rapid growth, at a rate of 150% per year.
2002-2006: Maturing growth, at a rate of 25% per year.

From:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/web-growth.html

IE7: Rendering engine review

2006-10-26T11:30:00.000Z

Link: Mezzo Blue

"I’ve uncovered one so far, anyway. Using the overflow: auto easy clearing method, IE7 can act a little strangely."

SEO ain't dead

2006-10-26T11:28:00.000Z

http://www.thegooglecache.com/?p=40

Programming, Wii-style

2006-10-17T10:24:00.000Z

It's awesome that programmers don't need to write a line of code, yet can preserve their inherent dorkiness.

Design your own Visa card

2006-10-16T15:13:00.000Z

[ link ]

Microsoft Photosynth

2006-10-12T12:36:00.000Z

Sorry, but that is hyper-cool!
Like the guy says... imagine if you're getting real people simultaneously modeling something through an app like FlickR.

Havok 4.0

2006-10-12T12:27:00.000Z

How long before Flash can do this?

MIT Whiteboard Prototyping Tool

2006-10-05T23:53:00.000Z

As if physics wasn't cool enough!

New Work: CDX for BBC History

2006-09-22T09:10:00.000Z

Play CDX, by Preloaded

New Work: MTV Flux + Robbie's Rudebox

2006-09-20T22:17:00.000Z

www.mtvflux.co.uk/rudebox

UCD: Know your audience!

2006-09-15T00:43:00.001Z

Lumalive textiles

2006-09-11T14:03:00.000Z

In memory of a legend: Peter Brock

2006-09-08T09:22:00.000Z

I was deeply sadened by the loss of my childhood hero today, Peter Perfect.
He went out doing something he loves. No complaints.

Googe & Sam Produce...

2006-09-08T00:36:00.000Z

A few extracurricular projects that Googe & I have put together in the last 6 months or so:

PrintTiger Website for Cordis

Blag Club Website

Googe's Job Application to Preloaded

All new Kit from Knight Rider

2006-09-07T12:50:00.000Z

Looks like it's based on the Koenigsegg (http://www.koenigsegg.com)
Hot!

The ways shoes should be

2006-09-07T12:34:00.000Z

cheap!

nba player stephon marbury has made a shoe for $15... he actually wears the show on court too, it's that good.

http://www.starbury.com/

my, how times have changed... the nerds are the cool guys. ha!

2006-09-06T23:58:00.000Z

oops...
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=67341

ooooh. the bully...
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=67228&page=1

... but Edge gave it 9, Eurogamer gave it 7, out Friday...
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=67296

(toughGuy mag didn't even rate it, cos everyone on staff was out kicking the shit out of the cahnts who tried to review it)

Making of: New Sony Bravia Ad

2006-09-06T14:18:00.000Z

Yeah. Blow up those estate buildings. Do it in a million colours. Sure.

My girlfriend feels left out

2006-09-06T13:50:00.000Z

She made me put this here.
Chicks. Pfft. Typical.
And here's me, trying to have a serious blog.
As if.

Site's that win awards that are shit

2006-09-06T09:11:00.000Z

like this one:

http://2advanced.com

yay. i love using sites that feel like i'm locked in a vault. back to the good 'ol days of being a gimp.
maybe somebody should remind them that a site needs content, rather than transitions, to create a user experience? tossers.

Everything Is Shit (cont'd)

2006-09-06T08:49:00.000Z

Just saw this from Saab:
http://www.digitaldomain.com/links/comm/recentwork/RW10/RW10.htm

Which is basically a rip of this:
http://www.visit4info.com/details.cfm?adid=18560

Which is just people getting a bit over excited about this:
http://www.transformersmovie.com

Did anyone ever think that no-one actually believes that their car is going to turn into a plane, or talk to you, or save the planet. Some very sad, sad ad people out there. Anyone ever heard of Oedipus perhaps? Losers.

Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit?

2006-09-05T09:36:00.000Z

Reading this at the moment: http://www.amazon.co.uk/It-Just-Everything-Shit-Encyclopedia/dp/0316729531

Highly amusing. And I love that it's alphabetised.

It's got me mad about stuff, like:

Why is it now, that every damned tap in every damned bathroom has to look and work differently? I thought the point of modernism was some sort of rationalisation... Some sort of appreciation that the function alone is beautiful and that form was irrelevant without the right respect for function? But no. Each time I go to someone's house, I have to re-learn how to get access to the damned water... And how to get the balance between hot and cold. When I buy a house, I'm going to make the taps operable only by mind control.
Wi-Fi... Don't get me started. I love the way there's articles about how wi-fi is going to kill off the mobile phone networks. As if! I've had wi-fi at home for ages and now at work, and it drives me completely mental with all the dropping out and reconnecting. Has anyone ever tried to make a Skype call via a wi-fi network? No? That's cos you can't, you cahnt. Anything continuous is a waste of time - like when i try to FTP website updates for clients. Give me a piece of CAT-5 cable any day.

Paris album get's punk'd by Banksy

2006-09-04T10:06:00.000Z

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1325440.ece
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharl/sets/72157594266743665/

A cynical ploy by her ad people in the UK to latch onto the coolness of Banksy?
If it's not, I wonder how long it'll be till someone does that.

The making of:

Philips new tabletop game screen

2006-09-01T08:33:00.000Z

http://www.research.philips.com/initiatives/entertaible/index.html

Mobile customers & anti-loyalty

2006-08-31T12:41:00.000Z

http://technology.guardian.co.uk/opinion/story/0,,1861214,00.html

i thought this was a well articulated article about the rediculous structure of the mobile operators, and how they don't seem to get the fact that with new phones having wi-fi, the operators could soon be disintermediated

More cool UI stuff: Multi-touch screen

2006-08-25T17:03:00.000Z

New work: Homeserve

2006-08-25T08:44:00.000Z

Homeserve: Another project I've just finished at Preloaded.
Pretty clean and usable, I hope.
Shame that the client content is so verbose.
The IA is a bit mental, but, as the saying goes, you can lead a client to water, but you can't teach them to smell.
It's fairly accessible, but for a finor minor oversights... And those damned font-resize buttons at the bottom *rrrgggh*
And don't look at the stylesheet... it's a mess. Easily cleaned up though... Phase 2.

Awesome OS Desktop Concept

2006-08-19T12:00:00.000Z

Which was copied from this ground-breaking work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo33QeODN58

“font size widgets” are dumb. trust me.

2006-08-08T23:28:00.000Z

I'm talking about sites with those little 'a' 'A' buttons... Like this one: http://www.webcredible.co.uk/

Want to know why they're dumb? I'll tell ya...

If you 'need' it to use the site, there's already a problem - you're probably some knobby graphic designer and think it's 'cool' to have the typography small, but ironically you haven't read any text since you first discovered Lorem Ipsum.
So that the widget doesn't dominate the content, they normally small on-screen, use various bespoke iconographies and are placed in out-the-way places. Um, is that not defeating the flimsy purpose you thought the widget was made for? Yup.
Dude, where's my standard? Why would someone expect one on your site and not on others. Do you really think a user want's to 'learn' how to use each site they visit? Nope. Um, hello, they're there for the content, you numbnuts.
Really... Who wants to spend time adjusting the settings for every different site you visit. Same goes for 'style-switchers' too... it's just CSS geeks flexing for their mates.
And lets not kid ourselves. There's no real advantage toward accessibility concerns. Users that are low-vision, tend to increase the default text size for their whole computer - not just one website or even just their web-browser. PS > You aint gettin' no AAA DDA compliance with them a widget like this. Not here. No way.
If the site caters to normal users that just prefer bigger type sizes (eg. 'silver surfers'), then make the text bigger. Simple, init?!
Technophobia! What about people with JS and/or cookies disabled? Mostly the widgets use javascript to alter the size (ie switch stylesheet) and store a client-side cookie to remember the setting across pages, yet we know that JS cannot be relied on if we want our sites to be DDA compliant.
Other widgets use a server-side technology like PHP, but fonts are a component of the browser and shouldn't really be controlled server-side - not to mention they shouldn't change the semantics, or include URL flags in the GET string to remember the user's choice.

My recommendations:

Keep it simple, destroy the font size and stylesheet switcher widgets. Kill 'em all!
Make sites properly, with relative font sizes and let people control font sizes through the standards provided by their browsers.
Establish more strict guidelines and establish a validator to check compliance. For example:

base font size = 12px
h1 = 1.6em
h2 = 1.5em
h3 = 1.4em
h4 = 1.2em
h5 = 1.1em
h6 = 1.1em
p = 1em

Some new work

2006-08-04T10:13:00.000Z

Here's a couple of projects that I've been working on at Preloaded.

Time Trumpet, for the BBC

Dunhill

Cool huh?!
UCD rocks.
\m/

http://www.fjax.net/

2006-07-25T16:04:00.000Z

This FJAX shizzle sounds pretty interesting. When I get a spare minute I'm definitely gunna have a dig around these F8 accessibility features.

Vader Sessions

2006-07-25T15:18:00.000Z

A new game I'd actually like to play!

2006-07-19T16:52:00.000Z

World Cup: Australia vs Italy

2006-06-29T13:58:00.000Z

Nuff said.

Being quiet

2006-06-29T10:03:00.000Z

Don't know who I'm apologising to anyway... mostly myself I guess... but sorry for lack of posts lately. My life has been completely consumed with sorting out a visa to stay in the UK. Once complete, I'll be writing up a clear process on how to go about it all. Nightmare.

Otherwise... I'm into my second month at Preloaded now... and am really enjoying it. Loads of interesting projects on the go, so keep your ear to the grindstone.

Oh and as a reminder, for those of you that didn't know, don't forget that you can rearrange the letters of my name to make: "A Scrotum". I think it's important everyone knows.

Ciao regazzi.

The Chaser: "Bank Robber"

2006-06-06T17:25:00.000Z

'Tilt-shift' lens effect in Photoshop

2006-06-06T12:56:00.000Z

http://www.flickr.com...

At last... A simple mobile phone

2006-05-31T16:08:00.000Z

[link]

So, does that make me a senior citizen?!
Pfft.

I'm an atheist!

2006-05-22T12:15:00.000Z

A recent study by the University of Minnesota department of sociology has identified atheists as "America's most distrusted minority". University researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, homosexuals and other minority groups in "sharing their vision of American society." Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry. The researchers conclude that atheists offer "a glaring exception to the rule of increasing social tolerance over the last 30 years.

Many of the study's respondents associated atheism with an array of moral indiscretions ranging from criminal behavior to rampant materialism and cultural elitism. The study's lead researcher believes a fear of moral decline and resulting social disorder is behind the findings. "Americans believe they share more than rules and procedures with their fellow citizens, they share an understanding of right and wrong. Our findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as self-interested individuals who are not concerned with the common good.

Band site with cool Web2.0 twist

2006-05-11T15:56:00.000Z

Check out the new site for Head Automatica:
http://www.headautomatica.com/

"
This launch is cool because we’re doing a contest based on tagging.

The user then tags any content they write, or come across related to the band 'headautomatica'. We did some custom coding to pull from RSS feeds on those services and put that content on the site. People on the site can vote the content up and down, in relation to quality, etc. High scoring content gets in the hall of fame.

High scoring people win cool prizes.
"

Parazz Photobook

2006-05-08T16:28:00.000Z

Thanks Googe!

MySpace & it's cousins... 3G's killer app?

2006-05-08T13:19:00.000Z

Social networking: 3G's killer app?

Thought this article makes an interesting point about driving 3G usage.

Dunno if it's correct or anything, but it does make sense for mobiles. I can't imagine regular general browsing on a mobile, but posting & reading blogs, bulletin-boards, etc. is an obvious natural fit.

WSJ + AJAX

2006-05-04T09:19:00.000Z

Highlight a word and right click and it will perform a search on that word. Pretty funky. Though from a usability pov you are getting a clash of right click stuff (the default menu and WSJ's menu), and you can't move the search results window as you would a traditional window. And how would anyone know the function is there. Still, a sign of things to come.

http://online.wsj.com/public/us

Rap -> English... Where's the Babelfish application for that?!

2006-05-04T08:19:00.000Z

Assignment: Please translate the following Rap song lyrics from Ebonics to standard English.
Artist: Notorious B.I.G.
Album: Ready to Die
Song: One more chance (remix)

Lyrics:
First things first, I poppa, freaks all the honeys
Dummies - playboy bunnies, those wantin money
Those the ones I like cause they dont get nathan
But penetration, unless it smells like sanitation
Garbage, I turn like doorknobs
Heart throb, never, black and ugly as ever
However, I stay coochied down to the socks
Rings and watch filled with rocks

TRANSLATION:
As a general rule, I perform deviant sexual acts with women of all kinds, including but not limited to those with limited intellect, nude magazine models, and prostitutes. I particularly enjoy sexual encounters with the latter group as they are generally disappointed in the fact that they only receive penile intercourse and nothing more, unless of course, they douche on a consistent basis. Although I am extremely unattractive, I am able to engage in these types of sexual acts with some regularity. Perhaps my sexuality is somehow related to my fancy and expensive jewelry.

Steam robots... Um, wow!

2006-05-04T08:14:00.000Z

Check out this dude over at Crabfu.com.
I love the centipede, but it's hard to have a favourite.

Big-ups & shout-outs

2006-05-04T07:57:00.000Z

So here's a selection of what's going into my ears of late... Not exactly consistent, but quality nonetheless. Diversity is essential

Error Plains hijacked the NYUB podcast #34.5:
http://notyourusualbollocks.squarespace.com/
(Expect some mental gabba-punk noise)

And chickadee checkout Valuetime's latest DnB mix for May:
http://valuetime.blogspot.com/
(Showing-off his global appeal)

Went and saw Bic Runga last night. She's the bomb:
http://www.bicrunga.com/main.htm

Essential Mixes are always good, but 2 recent ones for Tiga and Layo & Bushwacka have been rockin' my little iPod lovin' sox:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/essentialmix/
(You might have to look around forums to get mp3s... but then again, that'd be illegal, so don't look at places like melbournebeats.com)

The sublime Boards of Canada:
Dayvan Cowboy Filmclip
http://www.bleep.com/?label=boc (Preview Track 2 Skyliner... Awesome!)

Mac vs PC: The road to victory? Pffft.

2006-05-02T16:56:00.000Z

So Apple want us to believe that Macs are just better than PCs.
I love these blanket statements... They do really well at making brands sounds really out-of-touch. This campaign wont convert PC owners, it just makes Apple look desperate.

I'm not a PC-head or anything... I just don't like these ads. I normally enjoy Apple's advertising, but this campaign is bollox.

It seems to me just think they're missing the point. Mac users are growing, and for the first time it's nothing to do with the PC market growth... Shouldn't they focus on what it is to be Mac and not be seen to lower themselves like this? I think so.

my rebuttal.

viruses:
there aren't viruses for macs cos no-one owns them. more macs will mean more viruses. simple.

restarting:
the mac users i know restart as much as me.

better:
pfft... subjective crap. whatever.

ilife:
um... what if there are other/better apps outside the mac suite. diversity is an important part of the web that macs fanatics miss out on.

network:
pcs are pretty good at connecting to other stuff now. in fact, pcs are better at the broadest connection of all - the web.

wsj:
cool. they bought 1 journalist. ace. lets make an ad and claim that what 1 person thinks matters.

UBS tips Italy to win WC'06

2006-05-02T07:56:00.000Z

Check out the UBS World Cup Report

Australia out in first round. (Really?!)

England lose to Holland in the quarters.
Italy beat Argentina in the semis.
Then, Italy beat Brazil in the final.

We'll see...

Google buys SketchUp 3D

2006-04-28T12:49:00.000Z

http://www.sketchup.com/?sid=368

The thing that interests me here is that you can export your 3D drawings to Google Earth.
Cray-zee!

All World Cup matches for your calendar

2006-04-28T10:54:00.000Z

Awesome. Get all the World Cup matches directly into your diary. Just Download this VCS file and import it.

With calendar.google.com...
* Select 'Settings' from the top-right menu
* Select 'Import Calendar' from the content menu
* Browse to the file on your compta & select 'Import'

With Outlook...
* Go to 'File / Import and Export'
* On sub-Menu 'Import an iCalendar or vCalendar file'
* Locate the file (you may need to change "type of file" to "all files" to find it) and upload

Mashups exemplify the creativity afforded by Web2.0.

2006-04-28T09:52:00.000Z

A mashup is a hybrid web application that combines data from external sources with bespoke logic to create a synergistic outcome. Most big name sites like Yahoo, Amazon and Google (as well as smaller players like Flickr) are offering access to their data streams through the use of APIs (Application Program Interfaces). Developers can use an API to gather data and incorporate it into their own applications.

The results:
http://www.liveplasma.com/
Uses info from Amazon to visually represent the connections between artists and films etc.

http://www.housingmaps.com
Mashup of Craig's list apartment search and Google Maps

http://grant.robinson.name/projects/montage-a-google/
A simple idea using Google's image library

http://www.dynamite.co.uk/local/
8-way UK specific mashup

Flickr mashups
http://metaatem.net/words/
Simple, easy, brilliant

http://labs.systemone.at/retrievr/
Lets you express yourself in a basic paint application in then trawls the web for images that are indicative of the colours you have drawn in

http://krazydad.com/colrpickr/
A similar one to the above, but nicer in other ways

http://www.quasimondo.com/tagnautica.php
Enter a word and it will display the most commonly related words from Flickr tags

http://randomchaos.com/games/fastr/
A simple game using the Flickr API

Further reading
http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/
A list of google map mashups.
HBO recently did one to promote its new series of the Sopranos by showing where key events in the plot took place on the streets of New Jersey. It also streamed relevant trailers into the speech bubbles within google maps.

http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/06/08/index4a_page2.html?tw=commentary
Try this for a few more Flickr mashups.

http://flickrnation.com/
This guy's unofficial, but popular, blog

http://del.icio.us
A different approach to 'search'. Rather than Google which uses algorithms to find stuff it thinks you might like, delicious and similar sites (digg and squidoo) use humans to tag up online content so what it shows you is totally relevant information.

http://diggdot.us/
Delicious is also being mashed up

Cnet article linkage visualisation tool = Rad

2006-04-28T09:11:00.000Z

Check out this article about game design on Cnet. It's interesting enough, but more importantly, check out the cool article linkage visualisation tool on the right hand side. Genius!

I guess it's not a new thing... nevertheless, I'm impressed.

Richard Too: PHP & XML framework

2006-04-28T08:35:00.000Z

At last Richard from Republic has documented his PHP/XML framework - Richard Too. I've got to say, it's pretty darn handy for getting a development project going and having access to a bunch of commonly needed classes.

The Wisdom of Crowds

2006-04-28T08:04:00.000Z

Loads of interesting Podcasts (that's just the new name for MP3, incase you were wondering) from the SxSW festival.

In particular the one by James Surowiecki following his most excellent book 'The Wisdom of Crowds'. 3 things to make a crowd wise:
* Mechanism to collect their knowledge
* Intellectual Diversity
* Intellectual Independence

Anyway, take a listen. It's the lazy man's way to read the book. And some of the questions at the end are kinda interesting.

http://www.cssplay.co.uk

2006-04-27T15:17:00.000Z

This guy has some interesting experiments with CSS.

This post was submitted by email. Cool huh?!

Brat sister hits the bigtime

2006-04-27T15:03:00.000Z

High-flying filmmaker has big plans

Award-winning documentary film-maker and Griffith Film School graduate Jay Court has returned to Queensland after attending a prestigious international filmmaking residency in Belgium.

Read more...

Finally a sport that's more lame than rollerblading

2006-04-27T13:34:00.000Z

Check it out!

Championship Manager: Never choose Sunderland

2006-04-27T10:04:00.000Z

My music profile

2006-04-26T09:06:00.000Z

Once you setup your profile this neat application (Last.fm bought Audioscrobbler i think) interfaces with iTunes (or whatever) to find other users with similar tastes in music. Ace!

Information aesthetics

2006-04-26T09:04:00.000Z

The best use of MS Excel I've ever seen.
http://infosthetics.com/

Life with Googe

2006-04-25T16:37:00.000Z

(Googe is the one asleep)

Google vs The World

2006-04-25T14:07:00.000Z

Whilst this article isn't brilliantly written, it does make a good point: Google's got a fight for market share on it's hands.

EBay & EBay Express - Improved product searching
Amazon - Discounted products using A9
Newspapers - Local search engines like Miva will help the papers retain money from classified
Publishers - Copyright protection against Google Books
Telcos - The whole Net Neutrality debate
Porn - Copyright infringments with resizing & caching images
Startups - New niche search providers
Government - eg. The recent Child Protection Act case where Google had to hand over URLs & a list of queries
Human Rights - eg. China & censorship

orange kills their Animals

2006-04-25T13:49:00.000Z

Read: Marketing's article about orange axeing their animals campaign

IMHO:

They have a great global campaign that hasn't had enough airtime over here.
Forcing customers to learn an animal to describe their phone usage just adds a barrier to understanding. You have to learn something extra, rather than the network understanding you.

Why don't they spend time & energy tracing each consumer's usage and tailoring packages to suit? The technology is there to do it, but I guess it's easier for them to make up some bullshit campaign than to gear their business around the consumer.

BBC.co.uk 2.0

2006-04-25T13:25:00.000Z

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,1760999,00.html

They want to "share". Isn't that cute?!
But only if you're in the U.K.
Everyone else will have to look for a unbiased online content elsewhere.

See with your tongue!

2006-04-25T09:46:00.000Z

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1881775

I wonder if this could find an application in making websites more accessible?

One angry Kiwi

2006-04-25T09:29:00.000Z

Next time they lose your bags at an airport, try to get as angry as this fella:
http://www.agencyrepublic.net/temp/angry-kiwi.mp3

Dude... Keep off the crack.

I like to watch (people get hurt)

2006-04-25T09:07:00.000Z

From one mum to another:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teehvwGvyWg

Pavement hard. Knee soft:
http://www.youtube.com...

You jump, I'll film... Sounds fair:
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=17007

"There's gunna be casualties", um, der:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/81297/plane_crash_hong_kong/

Time for a fatwa in Australia?

2006-04-25T09:03:00.000Z

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/australia.asp

Happy ANZAC Day y'all!
Leadership with guts?
Or just setting Australia up for a fatwa?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatwa

Complicated... Huh?

2006-04-25T08:22:00.000Z

Why do we make our existence more difficult that it needs to be? Perhaps it's just the human condition: to run before we can walk; to seek advice, only to ignore it.

I'm an Information Architect. My job is to make sense out of the clutter—to balance client goals with creative communication and human requirements.

To me the Internet is a cloud that loosely represents a collective consciousness. This blog aims to be a collection of things that remind me of the mysteries of human thought.