i had never seen anybody explain the concept of "intolerance" so brilliantly

"Maybe we need some time where we're walking around with a donkey with pots clanging on the sides. (...) How quickly the world owes him something he knew existed only ten seconds ago!"

i have sold my soul to LG

I kid, I kid...

Let me tell you the story.

So I've decided to try something different. A few weeks ago, I got an email from a person at an advertising agency who works for LG inviting me to be part of a project they're developing to launch a new cell phone. I found that very odd considering the fact that I'm no Dooce or no web 2.0 celebrity, so I emailed them back and asked them a series of question: "why me??, where the hell did you find me??, do you KNOW what you're getting yourself into by inviting me??, have you REALLY read my blog??, if I don't like the cell phone can I talk about it??, WHY ME???."

So after kindly replying to my very skeptical email, they made it very clear that this was not just a dumb advertising trick, it's more of a a qualitative product research that uses platforms of the web 2.0 to showcase the interaction of the user with the device. To do that, I'll be uploading to my youtube account 10 quick videos per week for the next 4 weeks. The idea is to capture people's reactions to the interface, design, and features of the cell phone (which is a cute, cheaper version of an iPhone).

Now let's get to the FAQ:

1. Will you be getting paid for this?
I firmly believe this is none of your business. None of you, kind readers, pay my bills. However, I do understand your concern with the credibility of this blog. So the answer is: NOOOO. I will not be getting paid. But if you consider a free cell phone at the end of the project a payment, then YES, I will be getting paid.

2. Are you going to be kissing LG's ass for the next 4 weeks?
No, I will not. The main reason why I chose to be part of this project is the fact that I get to say what I think. Those who really know me know that I would never compromise my ability to criticize in exchange for a cell phone.

3. Are you really that cheap that you would do that just to get a new cell phone?
Again, that would be none of your business. But just because it's Saturday and I got to sleep in, I will answer this one: I have a job, people. Fortunately, I have a decent amount of disposable income to waste on that kind of stuff. I just really want to see how this process works and it's something different to do. I don't sew, I don't knit, I don't collect stamps, I don't practice sports, nor do I have any hobbies. Allow me to try something new, will ya?

Ok, so that's about it. Apparently they'll have a hotsite for this project, so I'll be posting the link as soon as I know it. I'll also be uploading 30 sec. videos on my youtube account regularly, so feel free to check them out if you want to.

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Quick note to brazilian bloggers who might be dying to criticize me: EAT ME, DEAR.

did you know?

scuppie, the new yuppie

click for larger images

SCUP·PIE /skәp·e/n. (Socially Conscious Upwardly-mobile Person)

1.A person who desires all the best life can offer and strives for those goals in a socially conscious manner.

2. One who is dedicated to the pursuit of peace, happiness and cash (not necessarily in that order).

3. Someone ‘green’ -- i.e. one who understands the love of money does not preclude the love of nature...and vice-versa.

"Failla’s goal is to have Scuppie take its place in the American lexicon as the natural evolution of the Hippie-Preppie-Yuppie progression. To accomplish this, he has launched a national promotional campaign and is currently penning “The Scuppie Handbook: A Practical Guide to Living Well while Doing Good."

[via The Scuppie Handbook]

i want to be him when i grow up

Dr. Ottenheimer did not offer any answers. He did not even help me discover my own answers. Instead, he helped me find questions I had never asked before. The answers to such questions were just more questions. And so he launched me on a lifelong quest, question after question after question.

Mike Wesch, 2008 U.S. Professor of the Year.


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His blog: Digital Ethnography. You may know him from one of his videos on Youtube. He's fantastic beyond words and makes me believe that it's ok when the world seems fuzzy. Because it is. And it should be.

sound design

His name: Daito Manabe. Weird and genius.

Redefining the existent media and technologies from unique angles, I have been active in the various fields, such as art, design, and even research and development. I produce the output of sounds, images, and light through analyzing and transforming the numerical values gained from a various sensors and input devices.

[via]

where media and church converge

I found a website that has completely grabbed my attention all day today. It's called Collide, a magazine for church leaders who use media and technology to communicate their message. They have articles who are interesting enough to keep anyone interested, whether you're a church goer or not. I'm not. If you have any interest in technology and how it relates to human behavior, social habits, design, and so forth, you will like it.

The website is carefully designed, the interface is very user-friendly and contemporary, it made me rethink the idea of what a church-related brand and deliverables could look like. It's a whole new approach to the subject, a perspective that is very refreshing. Collide is also on Twitter, Myspace and Facebook.

I got the chance to research some of the church websites mentioned by the magazine for having successfully developed a strong visual identity and brand presence, and I plan on posting something about that soon (I feel weird talking about "brand" when referring to a church, but really that's what it is). There's some really interesting stuff out there.

For now, I'll point you to this article about services available via podcast:

web therapy with Lisa Kudrow

Web Therapy as the name might imply, is not another one-sided windbag borefest, it's -- hello -- actual two-way conversations that purportedly take place in real time (just 3 minutes per session!) over dual webcams between annoying psychologist Dr. Fiona Wallace (Lisa Kudrow) and her exasperated patients. One that makes sense that it occurs over webcams. The initial episodes of Web Therapy are terrific viewing, and really hilarious. It's the very first web series where I thought "I'd watch every episode" and that's really saying something. [via]

Richard Pratt Session 1/3

Richard Pratt Session 2/3

Richard Pratt Session 3/3

“Hello George”

Must have cost a small fortune, but this is a beautiful example of how to step outside that lame beaten track of auto ads. Rendered in Maya. Music: "Ageless Beauty" by Stars. The name “Hello George” is a reference to George Jetson.



via the always tuned Carlos Merigo of Brainstorm #9.

we're closed

Isn't it terrible that I am in desperate need of a total vacation of this digital life but I just can't turn it completely off? How can a designer survive without being connected to this thing?

I'm going attempt to take it easy for about a week. No blogging, no facebook, no MSN, no flickr - NOTHING but what I absolutely need to do my job. We'll see how long this lasts.

Internet - I fucking despise you sometimes.

digital ethnography / the machine is using us

I find most of his videos very relevant, and if you're at all interested in a more anthropological perspective of how the internet has evolved you'll probably enjoy them as well. You can also find more interesting reads at the Digital Ethnography blog from the Kansas State University.

iEvil

Got this "gem" from Wired's list The Five Stupidest iPhone 3G Accessories. Number 2 takes the gold in my book for the most environmentally irresponsible, useless, in-your-face-disgusting concept. Shame on you, Miniot.

"This ligneous shell costs nearly as much as the 8GB iPhone -- and rumor has it, it's fashioned from Ents! Optional wood dock sold separately. Seriously we're not making this up.

Grade: Chop down a tree to make an iPhone case? Great, I've got a car that runs on baby-seal blood and bald eagles you might like. Fail."

iWood Heritage takes the cake. As if "regular" iWood wasn't enough, Miniot is able to get their hands on some "very rare woods in small quantities that are only enough to create two or three iWoods." They even have ancient and pre-ice-age (!) wood. Wow. Because, you know, if there's one thing we should be doing with "prehistoric timber harvested from forests buried during the last Ice Age" is making iPhone protectors. RIGHT??



That, of course, comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. Which, by the way, should come with a nice plaque that says I AM OFFICIALLY A F*CKING ASSH*LE.

tweak that three point oh

Found this tip very useful: quick and dirty directions on how to "hack" Firefox 3 into delivering richer, brighter colors more faithful to the original photograph (or graphic).

1. Type "about:config" in the address bar of Firefox 3.
2. Click thru confirmation page and find: gfx.color_management.enabled.
3. Double click that until it says "true".
4. Restart Firefox 3.

It makes a BIG difference. Try it.

[via]

scapegoat

"Cool service or not, this thing looks like the Pontiac Aztek of e-readers." (link)


Am I the only one who can see that this poor car has had the saddest life and way too many unfair reviews? I actually wish I had one and I think it's pretty nice. SUE. ME.

your clients satified, like they eating on a sneaker

Hell yeah! You're welcome.

charlie

"The one-on-one interview between Charlie and his guest begins as usual but quickly goes awry, so much so that Charlie is warned that, somewhere, a man named "Steve" is "not happy." Though this seemingly random statement might confuse us, Charlie understands it for what it is -- a threat."

by Samuel Beckett


via Flying Conundrum

this is genius

Only available in brown for the maximum anti-theft protection.

The future of Apple is in 1960s Braun

"Some people will probably call these examples a "rip-off" but, in a world where industrial design and art is constantly being recycled into new work, I just see Apple's products as a great evolution to classic concepts. Now, as I look at Rams' work I can't help but to wonder: which of these old Braun designs will Apple revive next? Is there a MacBook Air—the rumored ultra-slim wire-free portable that seems to be the favorite bet for tomorrow's keynote—in there?"

A beautiful piece by gizmodo compiling a gallery of Braun designs and how they seem to have influenced the Apple aesthetics.

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This link here is in portuguese but features more detailed and larger images.

La-la-la-la-la-la-la...

Steve Jobs Macworld 2008 Keynote Highlights


How sexy is that MacBook Air, huh? And how great is the new ad with Yael Naim's song. La-la-la-la-la-la-la... (she makes Britney's "Toxic" sound good!)

we feel fine and universe

This is one of the most interesting things I have seen in a while.

"Every few minutes, the system searches the world's newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling". When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the "feeling" expressed in that sentence. Because blogs are structured in largely standard ways, the age, gender, and geographical location of the author can often be extracted and saved along with the sentence, as can the local weather conditions at the time the sentence was written."



"Brooklyn-based artist Jonathan Harris' work celebrates the world's diversity even as it illustrates the universal concerns of its occupants. His computer programs scour the Internet for unfiltered content, which his beautiful interfaces then organize to create coherence from the chaos.

His projects are both intensely personal (the "We Feel Fine" project, made with Sep Kanvar, which scans the world's blogs to collect snapshots of the writers' feelings) and entirely global (the new "Universe," which turns current events into constellations of words). But their effect is the same -- to show off a world that resonates with shared emotions, concerns, problems, triumphs and troubles."