Font-Embedding Icons - the argument is made that with the commonplace adoption of @font-face it makes sense to start using a typeface for icons via CSS. It's hard to argue with.. kind of an obviously brilliant idea.
SimpleXML and Namespaces - this may be super low-level PHP implementation for most of you but I had a helluva time recently parsing the Twitter API geolocation data because of the namespaces in the feed. Fortunately, this article held my hand through the process and I got it all figured out.
The Netflix / Qwikster split is one of those business changes that, for whatever reason, fascinates me. I truly believe there is more going on than what people initially react to. There's some good reading out there regarding the subject and I suggest looking into it a bit more.
Did Netflix Screw Up? I don't think so. - from Marc Randolph, who helped start the company but has since departed. He tells a prior tale of having to change course mid-stream and how it upset customers.. on a much smaller scale. via Jed.
What’s Really Behind The Netflix/Qwikster Split? - great writeup on why the split had to happen from the Netflix perspective; it's a cost effective way to avoid bullying from the content providers wanting payment for potential service use (i.e. someone has streaming built into their account, doesn't use it but Netflix still has to pay the licensing fee for them).
My question is, what are the benefits / detriments of treating streaming movies like radio plays? Every time a particular percentage of a movie is streamed, a license fee is owed for the viewing? Maybe I'm underthinking it but it seems like the flat fee system is shortsighted.
One of the reasons to love the Internet: someone stumbled over the fact that Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn have both been on episodes of Seinfeld. I particularly enjoy this theory that the characters met in NY and found a new life in New Mexico. TV Universes should always overlap and interweave, right?
I've not been able to find more pieces from Pablo Rasgado much like the above pictured Unfolded Architecture (from Art Berlin Contemporary 2011) but he's got some interesting textural works over here worth taking a glance at.
Introducing Amazon Silk - with the introduction of the Kindle Fire came the announcement of their new browser, Amazon Silk that, apparently, turns the typical back-and-forth paradigm of your standard web browser on its head. I'm not entirely clear on how it works but to hear the Amazon engineers describe it sounds pretty phenomenal. The only part that trips me up is when they mention "web caching" - which sounds a whole lot like late 90's AOL Browser behavior. Regardless, it's nice to see Amazon stepping up to the plate in their innovation department. Hopefully it's the first of many new unveils.
TransformJS - great jQuery plugin that tacks itself on to the css() and animate() properties to give you access to the ability to translate along the X,Y and Z access. The initial example on the page is disgustingly over the top but it does show what's possible, which is pretty nuts. Definitely one for the bookmarks.
This clip from Pete Holmes March appearance on Conan pretty much perfectly sums up the state many of us are living in. I commend him for being able to put it so eloquently and so perfectly amusingly as well.
The majority of design on the Orlando, FL. firm DIVUPS site is very clean, grid-based, informative and easy to use - just what you'd hope for in a design firm. However, their homepage absolutely bonkers. They have taken the parallax scrolling effect to an extreme. It's an impressive feat to layer all those different elements through the five page slides. It's impactful and memorable - and just a tiny bit crazy.
Sept 16th was the day of the Brand New Conference in San Francisco. The actual event may have already passed but the 2011 Swag is just now opening up to the public. Typically I would never recommend buying conference materials from an event you didn't actually attend but these are so well done (and inspiring) that it's certainly worth considering. The booklet, the t-shirt, tote bag, poster and the sketchbook all contain lettering inspired by old hand-painted grocery stores.. a trend we're seeing more and more of lately that I really quite enjoy. These materials are particularly well done in that arena, so take note.
You may recall the Is That a Fish in Your Ear? animation from last week's Friday Videos but you may not have investigated further into the creators work. Matthew Young is a design student from the University of Leeds with a rather amusing portfolio of works. They are clever, well executed and well worth browsing through each and every one. I suggest starting with Books vs eBooks and make sure to hit E-Sting and The City... then maybe go follow him on Vimeo.
Idiot's Guide to Viewport and Media Queries - not a ton here you probably don't already know but it's good to make sure you've got the basics down before diving into the advanced. It definitely taught me a thing or two about the possibilities and robustness of media queries that I did not realize were possible.
Firefox 7 - I think Firefox 6 just came out last month but they're really rolling them out with extreme speed now. I actually really love the reasoning behind it from Johnathan Nightingale, Director of Firefox Engineering:
The push to ship faster isn’t some kind of software machismo. We push ourselves to ship faster because the web is under threat. Amazing and innovative people are doing amazing and innovative things and right now they have a choice: build for the web, or build for the walled gardens. The web can win that fight.
It's been awhile in the making but the first full-length from Big Black Delta, LP1, is now available. You can swing over to their site and snag it for the cost of an email address or hit up the merch page and procure it in vinyl form (along with a great 24x36 inch `star map`). The album artwork by Version Industries is, unsurprisingly, apt for the music within.
The thinking involved with this Detroit typeface is undeniably clever. The folks at Match & Kerosene created twelve different typefaces, all intended to be layered on each other in different combinations. It has an excellent vintage painted sign quality to it but is diverse enough to be used in a number of ways. Love it! See also: Prismatic and Duotone.
These Rubber Book Shelves seem to be ridiculously impractical but I can't help but love the idea behind it. Check the creation process if you're as amused as I am.
If you don't consider yourself a fan of Stephen Fry I can only assume it's due to a lack of exposure. His latest undertaking is a BBC2 series entitled Fry's Planet Word - a five part series investigating language - where it comes from, how it binds us as a species, all the variations, which are dying, which are coming up. The first episode covers a lot of ground but it is a subject worthy of investigation. If you don't happen to have BBC2 you can just watch this video that has nothing to do with the show but demonstrates Fry's passion for words.
It's official. Delicious.com has relaunched with their new owners, a new design and a new feature - Stacks. The examples are pretty well done - a good looking list of links pertaining to a particular subject. I'm not sure how much people will curate these things but it's got a lot of potential - i.e. if someone is coming to your town and you want to provide a list of worthwhile activities or if you were researching a project and wanted to share your findings in a pleasant way.
The AV Club recently finished posting their four part series with Louis CK on Louie Season 2, an episode by episode walkthrough of his process for each and additional anecdotes regarding the whole thing. Think of it like a DVD commentary but you get to read it.
Remember the name Jack Gallant as he and his cohorts at the University of California, Berkeley have recently unveiled a technique that allows them to recreate brain activity into video. Basically, they put people into a fMRI, showed them movie trailers and recorded the brain activity. Using some major computing crunching they convert that information into volumetric pixels (voxels) and cross referenced that with 18 millions seconds of palette information from other YouTube videos. Honestly, having read this article over a few times I comprehend what we're seeing in the results but I'm not entirely clear how they were determined. This video shows the process - the top part being actual movie, the left column being what the MRI grabbed and the rest being the palette used to reach that conclusion.
The big hub-bub is that, eventually, this could be used to record and playback brain activity while you're asleep. Meaning, you could rewatch your dreams. Yes, that's a huge big of Sci-Fi extrapolation and forecasting but it's good to have goals.
“I would expect that next year, people will share twice as much information as they share this year, and next year, they will be sharing twice as much as they did the year before,” he said. “That means that people are using Facebook, and the applications and the ecosystem, more and more.”
Granted, he's doing a bit of marketing for the new Facebook features with a statement like that but the term seems to have stuck; Zuckerberg's Law. I'm not sure if I agree entirely with it because there's really only so much you can share about yourself over a particular period of time (right?) but I think the possibility is worth pondering for a bit.
2) She recently launched a 2012 Calendar that is absolutely gorgeous. The photographs are great but the simple act of adding interwoven sheets of colored paper takes it to another level. Procurement imminent.
The Delancey Underground project seeks to transform an abandoned trolley terminal into New York City's first underground community green space.
Beneath one of the least green areas of the city, the Lower East Side, lies a massive, unused space nearly the size of Gramercy Park.
This project envisions using an advanced solar technology to channel sunlight underground, enabling plants and trees to grow.
Even if it never happens, you'll still likely enjoy the mocked images of an intensely green space that has taken over an abandoned subway station. I did.
