• List of WebKit cursors - more sites should use the "notallowed" style for links.. it would be confusing and entice the user to click.. you know, just to see what happens.
• FeedBurner relaunches - I sort of forgot about FeedBurner but always enjoyed the interface it offered. Seems like it is time to check back in on my feeds.
• White iPhone 4 Delayed Until Spring - John Gruber inspired to write a scene about it - odd that Apple rarely mentions this snafu and even odder that they don't get massively raked across the coals for it.

Photographer Navid Baraty has an insanely great collection of images from Japan. I'm particularly partial to the images of the overhead streets.. there's a geometry to them that is hard to comprehend. Love it. View them all.

Via mjut.

The full set isn't available yet but the forthcoming Geomicons from Brent Jackson look quite nice. And, hey, there's a free download of 32 of the icons from the set.. bonus!

I'm absolutely enamored with the work of Stefan Glerum; a Dutch illustrator doing a multitude of works that somehow seem contemporary and paying homage to styles from some time ago. Though it is unfair to compare the work to other illustrators I do get a vague sense of R. Crumb / Tin Tin from some of his characters but not as a direct rip.. more as an influence that sort of peeks through. Regardless, I am poring the work and loving everything in the portfolio (particularly the 7 Deadly Sins)... I suspect you will as well.

via Grain Edit.

Daniel pointed me towards this interesting article on Freelensing, a technique in which you keep your SLR lens detached and tilted during exposure to create off kilter focal points and, honestly, a warm feel to the images that often gets lost in the world of digital. You can browse through a load of samples using the technique here.. all of which look pretty great. If I had an SLR, I'd throw caution to the wind and try this out. There is the potential for dust to get on the sensor by detaching the lens in this way but a good photo would be worth it, right?

Chris pointed me towards this promising blog post from the developers of Firebug; the best Firefox add-on for developers that exists. Apparently they've become inspired to take things to the next level and will begin development on a number of initiatives that will make the software even more worthwhile. I won't bore you with the details here but if you're curious to know where Firebug is potentially headed, read on.

Recently, Adobe unveiled a new tool they've been working on currently called "Edge." The software will allow the user to create animations / interfaces with timelines and tweens much like the Flash environment but with the output being HTML5. You can watch the introductory video right here. While the setup looks to be pretty useful for allowing non-developer types to create animations I can't help but embrace my inner pessimist and thinking two things:

1. There's no way the Javascript libraries / CSS output for this won't be out of control complex, hard to read and likely raging in filesize. We've seen it numerous times with Flash output, I suspect we'll see it again here.
2. The likelihood of this being used mainly for HTML5 compliant banner ads is through the roof. Currently all those ads peppered all over the web are done in Flash and can't be viewed on iOS devices - I suspect Adobe is positioning themselves to offer an alternative for that. You just wait and see.

Vimeo just announced a new way to view your videos - Couch Mode. The interface is optimized for Google TV and intended, as the name obviously implies, for sitting back and partaking in videos from the couch. The playback is constant and videos full the browser. The execution is pretty sharp and I can absolutely see this being a great way to partake in my Watch Later videos.

The only problem? I don't have a Google TV and Safari can only get so close to being a fullscreen experience. This new mode via a browser is just shy of feeling like a familiar TV experience. Enter: Plainview from the Barbarian group. A webkit based application that allows you to browse entirely fullscreen. It is the perfect companion to this new Couch Mode and I recommend everyone couple the two together.

All and all, pretty curious to try this out at home.. Heads up on Plainview via Daniel.

Update: As commenter Ian points out: 1) I am an idiot and 2) Chrome already has fullscreen browsing. So, if you're going to use Vimeo Couch Mode, do so in Chrome. Doi.

Matt LeMay posted a great article over at MBV entitled Living in the Age of Art vs Content in which he eloquently waxes on about the state of the music industry, how we consume music, the Internet and corporations influence on music and what that is doing to how we perceive art vs content. It's a fascinatingly good read with loads of pertinent quips to take note of.. such as:

I don’t think we see music as something that is corruptible - we no longer relate to it as art. “Art” and “content” are both interpretive frameworks, and music is not “art” unless we choose to engage with it as such. This is not always an easy choice, since experiencing music as art means making ourselves vulnerable to it. We grant art access to memories and emotions that might be upsetting, inconvenient or disruptive. When we consume music as content, however, we retain complete control. We can skip, delete, share, and comment if and when we please. We can be distracted, we can multitask. We look to art for escape from our everyday routines, but we turn to content because it fits so seamlessly into our everyday routines.

The comments below the article are, for the most part, pretty intelligent and engaging as well. Top to bottom, it's worth taking the time to read through. I particularly enjoy the sentiment of engaging your music as something to be experienced, listened to intently and wholly.. not just as a background soundtrack to your browsing (something we're all guilty of but should take the time to legitimately engage music we care about).

Google recently awarded Geoffrey Barnett a cool $1 million dollars to further research and development on his Shweeb project. The money came as part of winning the Project 10^100 - Google's call to arms for "ideas to change the world." Maybe I'm being a bit overly pessimistic but I can't help but see this and immediately think of the Segway - a device that is fine and dandy in its own right but, mostly, destroyed by its own hype. Would a capsule based transportation system modeled after recumbent bicycles revolutionize densely populated cities? Is this the first step towards pneumatic transportation... Futurama style?

Personally I'd like to see the ZORB get some proper funding for urban usage.

The animation style of Creature Combat IV: Slaughter House reminds me of Don Hertzfeldt combined with a little dash of Paul Robertson... both highly praise worthy comparisons. You can see the end coming a mile away but it's still entertaining getting there...

Via Josh.

I'm sure this one has made the rounds by now but this interview with John Sculley, one-time CEO of Apple Computers, regarding Steve Jobs and his methodology is pretty much fascinating as far as I'm concerned. Daniel points out a particularly poignant section:

An anecdotal story, a friend of mine was at meetings at Apple and Microsoft on the same day and this was in the last year, so this was recently. He went into the Apple meeting (he’s a vendor for Apple) and when he went into the meeting at Apple as soon as the designers walked in the room, everyone stopped talking because the designers are the most respected people in the organization. Everyone knows the designers speak for Steve because they have direct reporting to him. It is only at Apple where design reports directly to the CEO.

Later in the day he was at Microsoft. When he went into the Microsoft meeting, everybody was talking and then the meeting starts and no designers ever walk into the room. All the technical people are sitting there trying to add their ideas of what ought to be in the design. That’s a recipe for disaster.

Honestly, I think the whole debate between Mac vs PC is a tired one - similar tools for the same ends but the mentality involved at Apple is one worth noting. Over and over, Sculley points out that Jobs is a designer first, a tech nerd afterwards. There are so many great quotes and pieces to pull from the interview that it's too many to list here but I suggest, please, reading it entirely.

• FireSheep - a Firefox plugin designed to show a common flaw many large sites use in their authentication method. Basically, it allows you to snoop on users logging in to a number of sites and then "sidejack" their data and log in as them. Fun for use in a coffee shop / open network but scary as a user using such a network that the data can be nabbed so easily.
• Flickr Photo Gallery - a nice PHP solution for using Flickr to create a custom gallery. The phpFlickr package for the Flickr API is already pretty easy to use but this seems to add yet another level of ease.

Light Painting is not a new phenomena by any means - we've all done it with sparklers or, if we're lucky, an experimental long exposure. However, the light paintings of Janne Parviainen seem to take it to a whole new level. Images like this are, reportedly, all done in camera with no post editing.. incredibly hard to believe but entirely possible. There's a whole series of Skeletal Light Paintings to keep an eye out for as you browse the whole photostream.

Via Chad.

Sparrow Songs is an undertaking by filmmaker Alex Jablonski and cinematographer Michael Totten to create and exhibit "one short documentary per month, every month for one year." They've actually just completed their twelfth installment of the project, rounding it out to completion. The subjects range from a romantic relationship based around music, struggling with unemployment, running a circus or even the locals that frequent a Donut Shop. Each episode is less than ten minutes and, quite frankly, pretty engaging to watch. I've knocked out about half of them now and wasn't once distracted to browse elsewhere - which is quite a statement these days.

You can watch each episode on their site or on Vimeo. Regardless of where you choose to watch them, I do suggest you actually watch them. I'd start with Episode Five or Episode Eight...

The mindset over at ACDSleeve is one I can fully support:

We offer unique and custom CD packaging ideas to try and make the physical music format a little more interesting. CD sales are falling but we’re trying to make buying a CD more desirable than its digital counterpart by introducing packaging ideas people have never seen before or designing custom work to fit what a band want.

Basically, make the physical CD version of an album interesting enough that people have a reason to want it.. otherwise they'll just opt for the mp3s. Personally, I think I'm fairly spent on the notion of Compact Discs but anytime someone is being ingenious and trying to push some creative packaging in the music world, I'm for it. Be sure to check out their packaging options.. some very clever ideas in there.

via Courtney.

Some music to start off your week:

• As seen on The Village Voice and Flavorpill (thanks Kate!), Jeremy Davis has posted a new mix for your downloading enjoyment. The Ladies is a seventeen track compilation of female driven bands loosely themed around the spooky Halloween season. Not all the tracks are "creepy" but, as a whole unit, it works quite well.
• Paige, she of Flux-Rad, has also posted a new mix. Sometimes It Kills is a compilation of recently enjoyed tunes from the Maguire playlist. Somehow Paige has always had the knack for compiling music that consisted of 99% artists I've never heard of. So, a mix of recent favorites for her is usually a mix of brand new discoveries for myself. By all means, partake.

Before you dive right into the video playlist be sure you snagged the Halloween mix for this year.. it will increase the enjoyability of your weekend. Oh, and watch those Bonus videos - they are all Great, just not embeddable in a YouTube playlist.

• Gordon Keith Interviews Zach Galifianakis - This is great because Zach is obviously stunned by getting his own interview treatment but a question or two in, he gets it and starts rolling with it. So good.
• Cute Puppy - yea, that's right. 50 seconds of an adorable puppy making incredible sounds.. likely having a nightmare.
• Fail Cancel - what happens when you are salmoning up the street and run into a guy not using a crosswalk? Nothing.. the mistakes cancel each other out.
• Parkour Dog - the Parkour craze was fairly short lived but now it has made its way to the Animal Kingdom.. and I, for one, approve. This dog better get so many treats.
• Bits in Pieces - a short film about computers made entirely without computers. Be sure to check the Making Of. Via Paige.
• Star Wars vs Star Trek - typically I try to avoid posting such obvious nerd fodder but this is too well done to avoid. Particularly all the edits to the Star Trek footage.. pretty much spot on.
• The Rent Is Too Damn High - Jimmy McMillan is no stranger to crazed politics but in this recent New York Governor's Debate he really shined.. everything about him: his look, his cadence, his message, his humor - spot on amusing and not entirely disagreeable. Some have compared him to Tennessee's own Basil Marceaux but I think there's a level of comprehension happening with Mr. McMillan that ole Basil never quite grasped.

BONUS

• Oops - short film winner of the Vimeo Awards "Experimental Film" category. The transitions between clips are absolutely perfect. Please watch.
• Salesman Pete - absolutely engaging / perfect animation. Love it.
• FOPS - Yellow Jacket Corpse - Jeremy tipped me off to the fact that even tho Thee More Shallows is no longer a band, there's a new project called FOPS started by Dee Kesler.. good stuff.

Have a great weekend everyone. Halloween fast approaches.. make sure you got your costume and party plans all set before it's too late.

Fire up your WebKit browser and check out Down to the Wire; a history of New Zealand's Internet. The content itself is interesting but the scrolling of the three columns as you travel down the page is what you should be fascinated by. Each column is setup to stay proportional to the top of the longest column; keeping most of the content in the viewport for longer and getting rid of a lot of whitespace issues that come up with sidebars. Personally, I think it's brilliant.

You can read about the "Geared Scrolling" effect here, snag it via GitHub here and then thank Casey for bringing it to your attention.

The Internet has no shortage of crackpot theories. So, to add to my time traveler from yesterday, I was sent another prime example - this one from the 1940's. The photo above: "“Reopening of the South Fork Bridge after flood in Nov. 1940." clearly shows a group of people with one guy sorta standing out from the rest. This site breaks down how this man could stand out as much as he does but it's better to just embrace your ignorance and imagine that you're seeing a Total Bro hanging out a bridge opening, holding a digital camera and wearing some sweet modern sunglasses. If you insist on clearing up the situation, read on.

Via Mr. John Baldwin.