If you've not read Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near I suggest adding it to your Christmas list now. If you aren't familiar with the concept of The Singularity at all then take a moment to browse this Wikipedia article regarding it. It's a fascinating subject regarding the development of artificial intelligence and how close we may be to achieving it.

Long story short, the book is being made into a movie. Based on the IMDB entry and the graphic design of the attached poster you'd think it might be Hackers 2: Crash and Burn, Crash and Burn! but it's not.. it's actually a documentary. You can read more about the film here and learn that there is an A-plot and a B-plot, the latter of which follows Kurzweil's female alter ego, Ramona, in a Pinocchio style story. Why this is being planned to be intermixed with a documentary is beyond me but it doesn't bode well. The A-line plot raises a little flag as well:

The A-line documentary will feature Ray Kurzweil interacting with a panoply of thinkers on the impact of exponentially expanding technologies on the nature of human life in the next half century. It will feature many cutting-edge graphics and special effects.

Cutting-edge graphics and special effects? In the documentary interview portion of the film? Confused.

In the end, I'm going to see it and I'm going to revisit Kurzweil's books over the holidays.. it's a concept worth more thought on all our parts.

Lotsa work goals on the plate for today so posting will be short and sweet:

Mixtape VII - The Fantastic Symphony - I know nothing of the artists contained on this mix but Mark Weaver did the cover so I'm intrigued and downloading. Via Paige.

Yesterday Boxee unveiled a new website, new interface for their software, a new hardware device and loads of new plans for the future. I'm excited to see all these new changes taking place as I love the ideas behind Boxee but was never really a fan of the actual interface. It seems like they've really taken things in a whole new direction and it looks quite promising.

Personally I've no interest in the hardware device since I already have a Mac Mini hooked up to my TV but I love the design of device. More details on it are available here and it's actually much smaller than you'd think.

Now I just want to see the new interface in action and how well it adapts to my gigs of existing media.

Daniel, his wife Brittany and all around pal Taber joined up to create an iphone app called Crickets. The idea is that if an awkward moment occurs, you use the app to fill the space with the sound of chirping crickets. I'd be impressed if someone could pull this off in a timely manner but it's an amusing idea and it's now available in the App Store.

This excerpt from 100 Photographs that Changed the World (courtesy of LIFE and Digital Journalist) is, as one would expect, pretty phenomenal. Many of the images are fairly harrowing but that's to be expected if the image is powerful enough to impact the entire planet. With just under 30 images available I recommend going through each one of them and making sure you're familiar with them all!

Every year Core 77 releases a Gift Guide that never seems to disappoint. The 2009 Edition seems to fit the bill from the bit of browsing I've done on it. It always covers a good amount of ground in terms of apparel, nerd gifts, cheesy items, dvds and some quality literature.

While maybe not essential for living, these items seem like they'd improve quality of life by a few degrees.

• iPhone Perforated Snap Case - not a fan of the phone case (seems like a Car Bra to me) but these look pretty undeniably slick.
• Etre Tech Gloves - leave you pointer finger and thumb exposed for proper teching in the cold.

Today, December 8th, in 1980 John Lennon was killed. While I was, obviously, a bit too young to remember the actual event happening I do find it impactful on my life as my whole family has enjoyed The Beatles my entire life, my brother being one of the biggest superfans I know of (in a good, healthy, way). I actually feel a bit remiss for not mentioning Harrison's death on Nov 29th but his life was lived in full, Lennon's was taken from him alarmingly.

Long story short, take a moment to appreciate some John Lennon tunes today - be it in Beatles form or solo work.

Back in June I mentioned that Dave Eggers was planning on an issue of McSweeney's that would be published in traditional newspaper format and attempt to showcase the benefits of print as he saw them; rather than have them act as an outdated competitor to online news. That issue is now available for preorder and promises the following:

Issue 33 of McSweeney’s Quarterly will be a one-time only, Sunday-edition-sized newspaper—the San Francisco Panorama. It'll have news and sports and arts coverage, and comics (sixteen pages of glorious, full-color comics, from Chris Ware and Dan Clowes and Art Spiegelman and many others besides) and a magazine and a weekend guide, and will basically be an attempt to demonstrate all the great things print journalism can (still) do, with as much first-rate writing and reportage and design (and posters and games and on-location Antarctic travelogues) as we can get in there. Expect journalism from Andrew Sean Greer, fiction from George Saunders and Roddy Doyle, dispatches from Afghanistan, and much, much more.

You can see some samples from the issue here. It's a bit expensive ($16) and probably has had way too much preplanning involved to be an actual viable roadmap for day-to-day print outlets but the idea behind it is undeniable. I'd love to see a copy.

Reminder via Kate.

Encountering a game as enjoyable as Continuity this early in the morning is a horrible recipe for the death of productivity. It's a clever puzzle game that's never too hard but just enough to keep you pacing through for more.

In other game related news; I've been spending some time with the full length version of Machinarium and Star Guard.

While I am sure the novelty will not be that long lasting (nor does the Internet need another Cat Based Meme) the humor involved with BoozeCats is still entertaining for the time being. Replacing images of alcohol with cats is such a ridiculously absurd idea there's no way it couldn't be amusing..

While you may feel it's still a bit early to start inundating yourself with Christmas music it's always good to have the material to do so ready to go. With that in mind, please check out the The Williams Mix - an annual mix of Christmas tunes that's been going on since 2006; courtesy of Chris Williams and his particularly awesome family. I'm sure I'll post about some more Christmas music as the month rolls along but this is, without a doubt, one of the better collections to get your hands on (digitally).

I'm still digging in to all it has to offer but it seems like the idea behind Storenvy is a good one. Basically, it's a big Bazaar for buying / selling goods. Anyone can post items to their store and it gets mixed in / promoted with the other quality goods being offered. It also allows buyers to follow particular sellers and keep up with any new offerings they have - sort of a Social Shopping experience. There's a whole lot to dig through but I've always enjoyed the idea of buying goods from a local artisan and the Storenvy service allows local to go global.. pretty nice.

Trichrome Blue is the graduate project animation of student Lois van Baarle - illustrator and animator extraordinaire. It's a slow moving piece but it has an intensely fluid style to it. I love the color choices and the dream-y feeling of it all.

Even if you're not a Twitter user/fan you can see the brilliance behind these Twitter Avatars, courtesy of Ape Lad; the man responsible for the still pleasing Laugh-Out-Loud Cats comic. My vote goes to the Chippy interpretation as being the most creepy but I suppose that applies to any situation when Chippy is involved.

There will be no shortage of Best Of 2009 mixes coming down the pipe for the next month or so but I'm going to suggest grabbing Further Complications 200/9 from Elastic Heart. His taste in music is an eclectic mix and his artwork is always top notch. I mean, what other mix can you think of that integrates Whitney Houston and Bibio into one collection?

• Apple Acquires LaLa.com - and just what that might mean. I think it's interesting to see Apple acquiring companies in a Google-esque fashion and I hope they keep it up.
• 10 Brands That Will Disappear in 2010 - some pretty bold claims made here but worth pondering nonetheless.
• Google Public DNS - if you missed the announcement, Google is now offering their own DNS service. This will allow them to see where users (anonymously) are visiting. The comparison with OpenDNS is worth checking out.

Slim pickings this week as I'm still in San Francisco and have my head down on work related items.. so not a lot of video browsing time. Regardless, there's some goodness for you.

• The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret - very NSFW language but if you're a fan of Will Arnett, Spike Jonze and David Cross you need to watch this. Channel 4 in the UK has aired this pilot that I hope gets picked up for a full series. The full episode is pretty phenomenal. You can see more clips here.
• Rammstein vs Cookie Monster - pretty dumb but amazing how well it works once you hear it in the context of the real song.
• Funny 911 Calls - this is very America's Funniest Home Videos but that doesn't detract from the enjoyability.
• Jingle Cats White Christmas - it's that time of year again.. put this on repeat in a co-workers office.
• Moving Jaw Test - well made but way too weird and ridiculous not to stare at in total bafflement.

Have a great weekend and don't forget to snag my new mix!

The last mix I posted was in mid-October and we're quickly approaching mid-December. So, I've been remiss.. I've neglected my mix creating duties. For that, I apologize. I'll try not to let it happen again. With that in mind, some of the tracks from this latest mix - Good Pollution - may be familiar to you. However, I think they all work together quite well and even if you know them that doesn't mean you can't enjoy them in a new context. So, without further ado, go download it.

[ Download Good Pollution ]

I've only skimmed the surface of the See the Bigger Picture set from Michael Paukner but I'm loving what I'm seeing. Visually his pieces are right up my alley but he also does a fantastic job of expounding on the subject matter that inspired the piece. Sure he can create a mean Celestial Chart but it's the explanation of the Galactic Alignment that sends it home. It's the perfect combo of design, inspiration and regular ole compelling things to read.

Via JAson.