Thursday, June 26, 2008

(We're away for the long weekend so no posts on Friday - we'll be back on Monday.)

You need to read this: Icann relaxes top level domain and yes - it matters

Even Bill Gates hates Microsoft's Usability. Hello Office 2007!

Has WOW lost it's standing as the world's biggest MMO?

13 innovations in future transport and travel

What are the best US cities by design?

Can you really hack the power grid? The Chinese seem to think so

Say hello to MySpace's data availability API

This is a lovely information architecture breakdown of a newspaper redesign

Do you need to be a programmer to run a software company?

This little piggy bank helps saves your pennies to buy stuff in an RPG

Further proof that MBA's are usually bad news for a creative business

Crunchgear takes a visit to the Dyson labs and brings back video!

If you're into the military or just blowing stuff up - RealMilitaryFlix is for you

Cool! Instinctiv turns your iPhone into Pandora

Hackers have finally cracked London's Oyster card system

Why you should do what you're great at

Labels: Bill Gates, China, hacking, Icann, information architecture, London, MBA, Microsoft, MMO, MySpace, Oyster, power grid, RPG, Transport, usability, WOW

posted by olli @ 22:05  

Friday, June 13, 2008

At long last, the Yahoo! / Microsoft saga is finally over but...

Say hello to the Yahoo! vs. Google saga.

Even more good news - MySpace is finally, finally, finally getting a re-design

How to avoid getting brandjacked

Why you shouldn't be afraid of customer reviews

Does Auckland have a better quality of life than Sydney, Melbourne or Wellington?

Say hello to Vanity Fair's Blogopticon

Interesting - Torrelay allows you to download Torrents without a client

Fotoviewr offers an interesting way to showcase your Flickr photos. Still no letter "e"

ASCII pronounciation rules for programmers

Heelarious make high-heeled shoes for toddlers. Seriously

For those desperate or too busy, you can now buy pre-made Facebook profiles on eBay

Is there a role for the architect in the refugee camp?

If you like Nintendo, you'll love these wall graphics

The Awesome Highlighter allows you to highlight words on webpages and share them

Endossa is a really interesting brick-and-mortal version of Etsy in Sao Paulo

Labels: Auckland, Awesome Highlighter, Blogopticon, brandjacking, eBay, Endossa, facebook, Flickr, Fotoviwr, Google, Microsoft, MySpace, Nintendo, Sydney, Torrelay, Vanity Fair, wall graphics, yahoo

posted by olli @ 07:11  

Friday, May 23, 2008

Please, Microsoft - put ads in the Zune so we can watch you and your desperation shrivel up and die

As for Nokia, you might want to re-consider your latest little foray into DRM

How to get meaningful insights from qualitative research

Why do we buy what we buy?

These are great photos of television

TimeTube arranges the last YouTube videos by date and subject

The eight types of annoying people you'll find inside Starbucks

Say hello to Clearspring - "The Widget Network"

Does college really generate a decent Return On Investment?

Think you know who the final Battlestar Galactica Cylon is? Wanna bet on it?

Is London's planning sector over-reliant on Australians?

We really like this felt "flip" chair

Why early adopters are not the mass market

Bandini make awesome bathrooms

Labels: Bandini, Battlestar Galactica, Clearspring, DRM, early adopters, London, Microsoft, Nokia, Starbucks, television, TimeTube, widgets

posted by olli @ 20:31  

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Check out the Pew Internet's report on American consumer habits online

Could this be Bioshock for real? It must might be

Apple wants more mobile music from the big labels but do we?

Say hello to Semi-Permanent Auckland 2008

30 awesome websites for adventurous urban explorers

Why are online search ads faring better than expensive displays?

Why Microsoft will buy Facebook and keep it closed

Here's a graphic of the worldwide uptake of social networks

Ever wonder what Miami would look like covered in foam? Well - here you go

The history of in-game advertising and Advergames

Mark Twain's top 9 tips for living a kick-ass life

Related articles

• Social Networks Matter Less to Marketers than You (and They) Might Think [via Zemanta]

Labels: Advergames, Apple, Bioshock, facebook, foam, Mark Twain, Microsoft, Pew Internet, Semi-Permanent, social network update, Sony, urban exploration

posted by olli @ 21:49  

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Why the BBC needs radical reform

Say hello to the rise of social streaming

Check out Takeshi Miyakawa's Fractal furniture

Fifty habits of highly successful people

What the film Iron Man can teach you about business

Your guide to the crowdsourced workforce

Sarah Cihat helps you with Rehabilitated Dishware

Looking for culinary inspiration? Tastespotting has you covered

Where does Google go from here?

Blip is like a mash-up of last.fm and Twitter

The Economist has a nice preview of video on the semantic web

On that note - is Powerset the first foray into Web 3.0?

40 alternatives to Microsoft Word

How to enjoy your job

Labels: bbc, Blip, crowdsourcing, Google, Iron Man, Microsoft, Powerset, Sarah Cihat, social streaming, takeshi miyakawa, Tastespotting

posted by olli @ 06:50  

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Now that Yahoo! is history, is AOL next on Microsoft's radar?

TwittEarth visualizes Tweets from all over the world

Are the global telco's plotting a rival to Skype?

If anyone has seen Peter Gabriel's server, please let him know

5 bionic exoskeleton suits of the future

Jakob Nielsen wants you to know how little users read

Smashing Magazine celebrates pixel art

Vodaphone snags the iPhone in ten countries including India, Turkey and New Zealand

The 50 greatest commercial parodies of all time

Forget flashmobbing, we're totally down with Photobombing

How to understand the Model-View-Controller concept

Check out the Graphic Design Festival in Breda, Netherlands from May to June

Say hello to the next evolution of Nokia

Village is a really lovely independent collective of type foundriees

Say hello to Foster + Partners new green complex for Singapore

Labels: AOL, Breda, exoskeleton, Foster, foundries, graphic design festival, Microsoft, MVC, Nokia, Peter Gabriel, photobombing, pixel art, Singapore, Skype, telco, Twittearth, Village

posted by olli @ 20:03  

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Pull up a chair. Ad Age's 2008 Agency Report Index has arrived

How Google's checkbook stymied Microsoft

What next for Yahoo!?

How to bootstrap a niche social network

Let the Twitter backlash begin - Can Twitter not handle their own success?

User Experience Evaluation in Nokia (.pdf)

Information Design Patterns is a great resource for information architects

16 ways to keep a razor sharp focus at work

Tips for building next generation Web 2.0 applications

How not to build a stupid product roadmap

LiveJournal wants you to join its advisory board

How to build your own Iron Man suit for real

How city road networks grow like biological systems

Li Wei's photographs are amazing. Go check them out

Here's a great collection of print ads from the 1950's to 1970's

Labels: Agency Report, city road networks, Google, Information design patterns, Iron Man, Li Wei, Microsoft, niche social networks, Nokia, print ads, product roadmap, twitter, user experience, web 2.0, yahoo

posted by olli @ 20:55  

Monday, May 5, 2008

Is it time for Steve Ballmer to leave Microsoft?

Why emotional consumer engagement is the best plan for brand growth

Minority Report comes to 2008 - beware of the robobugs

Soundamus is a promising last.fm discovery tool

Say hello to the Olinda - great concept, horrible design

How the designers of Grand Theft Auto IV digitally degentrified New York

These websites pay video and filmmakers when their content is viewed

Crowdabout is a social network for bloggers

How the SUV ran over automated safety

Will Muji, the brand with no name, catch on the capitalistic US?

How can a magazine let go of content and trust its readers?

Happy Roadtripping! Here are 7 of the longest drives on Google Maps

Hitsville UK looks at the UK punk rock graphic design scene from 1976 to 1984

The ISBN number as the new graffiti tag?

Labels: Crowdabout, emotional engagement, Google Maps, GTA IV, ISBN, Microsoft, Minority Report, Muji, olinda, punk rock, roadtripping, Soundamus, Steve Ballmer, SUV, Wooster Collective

posted by olli @ 18:58  

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Web surfers know the advertisers are watching and they don't like it

"Advertising is dead. Long live content"

Is the art of multitasking really just a myth?

Has Microsoft lost its way on desktop computing?

If you're looking to kick off your start-up - this is a good place to start

Captain obvious says: The average iPhone user is young, rich and technically savvy

Say hello to Fox's new mobile store

More mobile: AdVideo streams ad content to mobile phones

Sokwanele is attempting to Google map incidents of post-election violence in Zimbabwe

Is Australia's new North West Metro so fast because they forgot about the passengers?

Microsoft Surface looks to hit AT&T stores on April 17th

Can we develop Agile software in traditional organizations? Good luck!

Can Ford afford a brand overhaul?

Everyone needs a biography. Get yours at Biographicon

We're loving this new Bomb The Bass' Butterfingers music video

Labels: advertising, AdVideo, Agile, Australia, Biographicon, Bomb the Bass, branding, content, Ford, Fox, Google, iPhone, Microsoft, multitasking, North West Metro, Sokwanele, startup, Surface

posted by olli @ 07:45  

Friday, March 28, 2008

The music industry looks to introduce stealth fees for music downloading via your ISP

Why are the web and print still so separate?

Will Microsoft Surface finally hit the stores in 2011?

Mysterious pianos are popping up all over Birmingham

Say hello to weather engineering courtesy of China

How to deal with email overload

If you have a manufacturing idea, you might want to have a chat with Ponoko

When the best service is actually - no service

If the news is really that important, will it just find you?

It just might - say hello to the Guardian's new developer network

66 Degrees is an interesting social network for artists and designers

Say hello to Arup's new Living Buildings initiative

Google's top 17 easter eggs, gags and hoaxes

Say hello to the new GTA IV street map - we can't wait to play this

70% of online marketers question online advertising

Zemanta is an interesting mix of blogging and the semantic web. Check it out

Labels: 66 Degrees, advertising, Arup, China, email, Google, grand theft auto, Guardian, ISP, living buildings, Microsoft, music industry, Ponoko, print, social network, Surface, weather, web, Zemanta

posted by olli @ 09:55  

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Hi Emily. We love your design blog

DesignGive offers you cool stuff and then donates profits to charity

Say hello to Fast Company TV

Spoiled teenagers will love this: Spin The Bottle on your iPhone

Microsoft Vista has finally been cracked

How do you build a brand with Widgets?

30 (sans serif) fonts that every designer should own

Why is the Obama "brand" so successful?

Say hello to the new fung shui McDonalds

What's the difference between cloud and utility computing?

MySpace and MTV UK sitting in a tree...making their own TV network

Totspot is a social network for babies. No, really!

The law and politics of Battlestar Galactica

What did Johann Sebastian Bach actually look like?

If you like Helvetica, you'll probably want one of these t-shirts

The New York Review Of Books on the charms of Wikipedia

Labels: Bach, Battlestar Galactica, Designgive, Emily Chang, Fast Company, hacking, Helvetica, iPhone, McDonalds, Microsoft, MTV UK, MySpace, Obama, Totspot, typefaces, widgets, Wikipedia

posted by olli @ 20:59  

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Say hello to 2008 - shiner.clay would like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year!

Japan announces 5 trillion Yen Maglev train to be operational by 2025

How to market your website in 2008

If you (like us)like information overload, Whitesoap is the place for you

Malfunc[tion] is a brilliant design and photoblog

Is Ruby On Rails just a programming ghetto?

Say hello to the Optimus Tactus concept keyboard. Sorry - it's just a concept...for now

What's a bigger threat to Microsoft? Google or Open Source?

Need to track your content? Check out Attributor

These are 11 design user interface design resources for you

There are architectural renderings from New York and then there are...these

Who tips more? Mac or PC users? Starbucks knows

Labels: architecture user interface design, Attributor, Japan, Maglev, Malfunction, Microsoft, New York, Optimus Tactus, Ruby On Rails, Starbucks, Whitesoap

posted by olli @ 21:26  

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Say hello to Netscape's new portal - Propeller

The porn industry is now thinking about how to combat piracy

Has the PS3 been a complete failure for casual gaming?

Long awaited - the war between Nokia and Apple finally begins

The eight product touchpoints of consumer use

Say hello to CreateSpace - an "inventory free self-publishing platform"

Mimoa helps you find cool architecture while you're travelling

The 10 biggest video game flops

Will the IAC create a new "Facebook for shopping"?

Mapskip mashes up Google Maps with blog entries

What is the holy grail for mobile social networks?

Engadget has the story behind the iPhoneSIMfree unlocking saga

Phillips now offering a remote control that's bigger than your head

Say hello to Vista's black screen of piracy

Say hello to Sidereel - mixing P2P and YouTube

Foster + Partners zero carbon emissions city in Abu Dhabi is pretty awesome

Labels: Apple, Engadget, Foster and Partners, iPhoneSimFree, Mapskip, Microsoft, Mimoa, Nokia, Phillips, porn, Propeller, PS3, Siderell, Video games

posted by olli @ 07:45  

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Most Chinese children spent their summer holidays online

The BBC's John Humphries on the threats looming over the BBC's Today programme

Corporate Vandals Not Welcome is a blog that focuses on anti-advertising campaigns

Yahoo! takes a look at sites that blur the lines between video and the web

7 reasons why Microsoft is doomed

5 facts about the upcoming Google Phone

Sarkis Parazyan creates art out of spray paint cans. We like

The X-Base is a laptop stand that acts as a heat sink

Ridley Scott creates a new edit of Blade Runner which is "the way it should have been"

Do you remember your first experience with the Internet? We do. It was at college in 1993

What do you think the top web technology will be in 10 years time?

Here's a hint - a quick roundup of the future of media from Great Blend

The NY Times takes a look at the world of mash-ups

interactivearchitecture.org is a blog about just that

Like tea? If so - you'll be needing a Serapot

Everything you've ever wanted to know about lucid dreaming

Labels: bbc, Blade Runner, China, Corporate Vandals Not Welcome, future, Great Blend, internet, Lucid dreaming, media, Microsoft, NY Times, Serapot, web technology, X-Base

posted by olli @ 07:51  

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The self-censoring Google China goes live

Helium looks to be a social network for writers

The BBC's Olinda digital radio is a really interesting concept

Is AOL on its last legs in the US?

Say hello to Derinkuyu, the underground city

This billiard table is made from a Volkswagen Bus

Pic of the day: "Mall Death Metal"

Looks like Paramount and Dreamworks have dropped Blu-Ray in favour of HD-DVD

Bokardo looks at the psychology of social web design

More on that - interesting thoughts on the Social Graph

Is the decline of hip-hop music sales because of....whitey?

Vlingo is voice recognition software for your mobile phone

Remember that recent Skype outage? Blame Microsoft

The Magnetic Wrist Band is great for people who always lose things

Labels: bbc, Blu-Ray, Bokardo, China, Derinkuyu, digital radio, Dreamworks, Google, HD-DVD, hip-hop, Microsoft, olinda, Paramount, Skype, social web psychology, Vlingo, Volkswagen

posted by olli @ 07:37  

Friday, July 20, 2007

Could Facebook become the next Microsoft?

XLingo is a social network centred around learning new languages

Where are the safest seats in an airplane?

Say hello to the Moo sticker books. Yay!

Thriving Office lets you pretend you work in a big office even when you don't

Say hello to 50 Years Of Helvetica posters

Open Source takes a look at Design Thinking

Is Yahoo! about to put itself up for sale?

CityBloc takes a look at the world's most interesting building projects

Looks like the Bumptop user interface will now be implemented in Flex

50 ways to improve your writing skills

6 minutes of terror - how to land humans on Mars

This graffiti is better than most

Labels: CityBloc, design thinking, facebook, Graffiti, Helvetica, Mars, Microsoft, Moo, Thriving Office, writing, Xlingo

posted by olli @ 08:22  

Monday, May 21, 2007

Shopping mashups - the shopping of the future?

Opennet identifies and documents Internet filtering and censorship

Design Spotter's Flickr photos from the 2007 Designmai Berlin exhibition

Is Google secretly plotting to put an end to news indexing?

Why Bill Gates is wrong about mobile telephony

Failed TV pilots are finding new life on the web

The Register says that Europeans don't trust their IP for their TV

Don't know the name of a song? Identify.us is here to help

Twibble is a GPS enabled Twitter app for the Nokia N95

More mobile: Loopt lets you stalk your friends from your mobile phone

Ars Technica on the psychology of banner ads

YouLicence is a site that does music licencing for you

Nine myths of the workplace

Say hello to the Office Of Tomorrow

Labels: berlin, censorship, Flickr, Google, mashups, Microsoft, music licencing, Opennet, register, tv, workplaces

posted by olli @ 08:28