I'm smitten with this Simplify site that takes any image you throw at it and boils it down to essential geometric elements. Generative art can often be a little overwrought but the barebones results that this gives is pretty fascinating. I've been throwing in yk records album covers all morning to see what I get and the results are quite interesting. See them all together here.

Sites parodying Windows are not a new thing but this version of Windows 93 really takes it up a notch due to the sheer vastness of the project. Even after running everything on the desktop there are a ton of applications in the Start Menu and even more tucked away in the File Explorer. It is, truly, bonkers.

via Andy.

I'm staring into these Looping Illustrations from Drew Tyndell and just can't look away. Picking a single piece of the puzzle and following through its iterations is mesmerizing. He has some other rather notable pieces of work but these loops find the right blend of high art and Internet repetition that can't be denied.

thank you Kickstarter newsletter

I've shared quite a few Halloween themed mixes already this year but I wouldn't feel right if I didn't throw my own hat into the ring. So, here's my 2014 Halloween mix submission to you all - Revival Denied.

I attempted to follow suit from last years mix and find a balance between some more light hearted fair and a progression into a little darker territory. I think it turned out successfully - if the mix were a person it would, hopefulyl, be more Creepy than it is Murder-y. Revival Denied
[ Stream It | Single MP3 | Single M4A | Compiled ZIP ]

Previous Halloween Mixes
Potions & Brews for Countless Horros (2013), Paralyzed with Fear (2012), Endless Hell (2011), My Descent Into Madness (2010), Dark Despair (Undead Trespass) (2009), Crepuscular (2008), Et Tu, Morte? (2007), Songs for Spooks (2006), Pure Terror (2005)

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I'm consistently impressed by the offerings that Red Bull puts out into the world beyond their energy drink / can business. The entirety of Red Bull Music Academy is somewhat baffling - both in term that it exists at all and, moreso, that it's actually often quite compelling content.

Long story short, they recently launched a six part series called Diggin' In the Carts that explores the musicians and creators behind early videogame music. The likes of Yoko Shimomura, Hirokazu Tanaka and Nobuo Uematsu aren't exactly household names but Street Fighter II, Metroid and Final Fantasy certainly are.

The trailer for the series does a good job of showing just how influential this music has been and the series site lets you dive right in with plenty of additional background info. I will certainly be watching all of these.

Not gonna lie, I often have a hard time picking out a complimentary, engaging color palette for sites (see my obsession with Brown + Orange and now Grey + Pink) and often don't love the over complexity of Adobe's Color Wheel Picker. Fortunately, Coolors seems to ease my pain a bit by creating a very simple interface for generating palettes. Look at this one - I'm totally going to snag that for yewknee.com version 10.

Long story short, it's handy and it's simple, a combination that almost always wins my heart.

So, I tried out Google's Inbox and I've been having a hard time adjusting to it's overall message handling. I swore to myself that I would be patient and try to give it a solid run but it strikes me as non-linear and trying to be a bit too smart. All and all, I feel like a Grandpa using it.

I recently stumbled across CloudMagic - an app that seems to embrace the simplicity of the official gMail app but goes a little further to add some integration tools with other services. It looks to be almost entirely devoid of personality and I think I like that. Has anyone used this?

To be clear, I am not on a quest to replace my gMail app but I am curious about how people try to reinvent such a common experience as email.

well, that was unexpected

Over the past year I've been making my way through Tim Wu's The Master Switch. It's an incredibly easy to grasp read tackling a huge historical problem - the rise and fall of technology empires, government involvement and innovation disruption. It's taken me a year to read because I've enjoyed it so much - it's not a book that I wanted to end because the context of it is so pertinent to exactly what we're experiencing today with Net Neutrality.

The rise of AT&T and it's stranglehold on competitors or the Hollywood establishment putting up walls against independent theaters is not only historically fascinating but almost 1:1 what we're seeing now with the Internet. Wu's writing style is not overly verbose and he does a great job of explaining all the players involved along the way - from Edison himself to Theodore Vail down to AOL's Steve Case.

Long story short, it's great. I will likely start re-reading it immediately and continue to sing its praises to anyone willing to listen.

add this to your "Spooky Stories" catalog for Halloween tales. via @black_cat_belle

awesome profile on my co-VHX'er. Hilarious and smart - love the use of Flash skills rolling into iOS development.

Really enjoyed this D.A. Wallach article on the Digital Media Layer Cake - a distinct stack of concepts that just about every Internet company uses to, ultimately, reach a consumer. They are, in ascending order:

• Hardware
• OS
• Connectivity
• Apps
• Creators
• Advertising (sometimes)
• Content

The article goes on to describe how companies like Apple, Amazon, Time Warner or even Adult Swim are using these in varying degrees to get their content to you. That, in and of itself, is pretty interesting.

However, the big takeaway is that digital media is still playing by old media rules. Windowing and restricted availability being the biggest culprits for giving consumers a hard time. Is it really optimal to channel customers to one specific viewing area when that's not their normal viewing habits? Disrupting convenience is not a moneymaker.

All and all, it's a good read to think about the possibilities of today's new media empires - Apple, Google, etc - being a bit more risky as a means to appease the customer. The question is, would any of them be daring enough to go against the old ways?

via Hawk

The Halloween mixes are really crawling out of the woodwork this year! That is, in no way, a complaint. I'm loving it. Check out these two phenomenal contributions that found their way into my life yesterday:

• Vintage Obscura: Halloween Mix - the Vintage Obscura mixes are always a great compilation of legitimately old tunes put together on a proper theme. This is no exception. Look at those band names!
• Mean Beard Happy Halloween 2014 - Paul Bullock is a wealth of musical knowledge so I'm quite pleased to see him start putting out more of his favorites out into the world. This mix is comprised of songs released in 2014 but it fits the spooky bill.

is this the world's greatest troll? Check Track 9

Chiptunes ELO. You're welcome.

It's one week until Halloween, so it's kind of the perfect time for this Schwartzblog mix to find its way out into the world. Doooooom is as you'd expect - a dark aural journey aided by the likes of The Sword, Sleep and Black Sabbath. It's a great way to get you in the mood for the final push to the sum for the month of October.

I don't know if you've been keeping up with some various demos being posted over on the Caitlin Rose soundcloud but the two latest - Cold Answer and Gemini Moon are serious treats. Absolutely heartbreaking but treats none the less.

It should be noted that both tracks were recorded with Jordan Lehning who has a rather phenomenal album himself.

It's been awhile since Jeremy posted a mix (a feeling I certainly understand) but he's corrected this error and shared Long Time over on his blog. I gotta get him on that streaming tip for previewing the songs but I do love that he maintains the ability to download and enjoy the songs individually. There's plenty here I've never heard of and I can't wait to dive in.

what's going on here?