Artist Kristofer Strom created a blog in which he draws “at least one little thingie each day for…some time.” And it’s awesome!
Strom uses an app on his iPhone called Sketchbook Mobile to create these fun, freaky creatures. They’re one part Shel Silverstein, two parts Ralph Steadman, and totally original.
Browse his entire iPhone gallery here.
Unless you’ve been underwater for the last 72 hours, you’ve witnessed the media explode with coverage of the iPad’s release “into the wild.”
For those of us who weren’t lucky enough to try out the latest gift from Apple first hand, gadget blogs and amateur Twitterers alike expounded on the strengths and weaknesses of this little modern marvel.
We shouldn’t have to tell you how cool this thing is—the genius of its portability and sleek design is enough to forgive its somewhat unfortunate name. But you might wonder, how could Apple make something that was anything less than amazing?
Some marketers may have a word or two to say about that. As MarketingVox pointed out, there are some potential holes in the iPad’s integration into the media jungle:
-No Flash. This is a biggie. Lots of ads won’t be visible, and even if advertisers catch up with HTML5 quickly, there’s no way to track responses.
-No multitasking. In a world where we drive while putting on makeup while on a conference call while texting friends while doing a sodoku, how do they expect us to cope with running only one app at a time?
But thank goodness, Google comes to the rescue–AdWords will include the iPad as one of their trackable mobile devices, so we won’t be completely thrown off track.
Have you seen this graphic design student’s video cover of Le Tigre’s ‘Deceptacon’ yet? The graphics are funky, the concepts are totally original and we love the those big red mouths!
Until now, tracking-and-sharing technology has mostly resulted in millions of mind-numbingly mundane tweets like “stuck in traffic again!” or “at the grocery store…lol.” But now, the technology is taking a surprisingly humanitarian turn.
A new platform called Ushahidi, developed in Kenya, has been helping those in danger by allowing people to report terrorist activity, riots, stranded refugees or natural disaster victims, rapes and deaths.
The idea is simple: anyone can send a text message to a specified number and humanitarian volunteers collect and plot the data on a map. They find patterns within the data to determine if a situation needs attention.
The technology was used in the aftermath of both the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes, giving Coast Guard crews more information about where to search for trapped victims. And as the New York Times suggests, the technology could even be used to find wanted terrorists—even Osama Bin Laden.
Social media saving lives? Who says there’s such a thing as “Too Much Information?”
We love the slim, sleek design of portable electronics these days, like the iPhone. One of the only reasons phones and MP3 players haven’t shrunk beyond human visibility is basically because, well, the buttons need to go somewhere.
As mobile devices get teenier and tinier, manufactures have been trying to fit buttons and controls onto the diminishing surface area. But with a brand new technology created by researchers at Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft called Skinput, this may never be a problem again.
Skinput is a bio-acoustic sensing device that uses your own skin (your arms and fingers) as a space for buttons and controls. The user wears an armband with a small projector that displays menu options on the arm. When the users touches a button, an acoustic sensor analyzes distinct sounds made on the surface of skin related to specific bone density, joints and tissue. That information is delivered through a Bluetooth device back to the device to determine what button has been pressed.
So if you thought people looked funny walking down the street talking into invisible earpieces, imagine people on the subway tapping their own fingers to change a song on their iPod.
Watch the video to see Skinput in action:
It warms our hearts when companies encourage community service and ambition in young children. Kraft Foods is doing just that by holding a contest to promote their new “Cheddar Explosion”-flavored macaroni and cheese. The contestant (ages 9-12) who sends in the best essay about his or her positive impact on the community will win the grand prize: a chance to…blow sh*t up, as one might say.
Yes, in a happy coincidence, the Cheddar Explosion campaign rolls out just as Texas Stadium, former home to the Dallas Cowboys, is to be demolished to make way for “redevelopment in the area.” The winner with the most “explosive” essay will not only win a trip with three family members to glamorous Irving, TX, he or she will get an opportunity to push the detonation button that will take that mother down.
At least this makes Kraft’s upcoming acquisition of Cadbury that much more interesting. We’re imagining the largest Crème Egg — detonated. Think of the possibilities!
The next best thing to traveling to exotic places, bumming around the beach and hanging out with fabulous people, is reading about those that do. Gypset Style, written by Julia Chaplin for Assouline, is “about an emerging group of artists, musicians, fashion designers, surfers, and bon vivants– who lead semi-nomadic, unconventional lives.” Hence, gypsy + jet set=Gypset.
The true Gypsetter leads a life of experimentation, forever on the lookout for the most deserted beach cove, the chicest beach party, or the sexiest caftan. The Utopian life of the true Gypset is aspirational, to say the least. And it makes for a seriously hot beach read—whether you’re in Formentera or Fire Island.
In the past few months, people from all across the country have started to realize that clean coal is a dirty lie. Yet, powerful coal companies like Duke Energy continue their plans to build more deadly coal-fired plants, such as the two 800-megawatt coal-fired units in Cliffside, North Carolina.
Recently, the North Carolina Division of Air Quality (DAQ) ruled that Duke Energy’s Cliffside coal plant is a “minor source of emissions”. Talk about a dirty lie. Duke Energy is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the US. If the Cliffside plant is completed, it will emit over 6 million tons of CO2 every year, and will use coal from mountaintop removal sites.
On April 20th, Waterkeeper Alliance was joined by environmental groups and protesters in a peaceful rally to stop the Cliffside Coal Plant in Charlotte, North Carolina (www.stopcliffside.org). You can help by joining us. Or, you can show support by donating today.
Your contribution helps us continue fighting companies like Duke Energy. Every donation helps. Our future depends on it.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Chairman of Waterkeeper Alliance, and Gloria Reuben of TNT’s Raising the Bar, hosted our launch party for The Dirty Lie campaign at The Greenhouse, New York’s first “eco-lounge”. A packed house of reporters, celebrities, envirogroupies, donors and party-goers stood gob-smacked as they watched our videos showing the devastating affects of mountaintop removal and of mercury emissions.
The crowd was equally awed when Gloria and RFK spoke about the deadly effects of the filthy coal industry. The purpose of the party was to start a dialogue about energy with young influencers, eventually debunking the myth of “clean coal.” From the reaction of the crowd, we’re pretty sure we started something.
In lieu of the recent energy crisis, the coal industry has spent millions of dollars on a national public awareness campaign, touting the benefits of “Clean Coal” and propagating the nationalistic slogan that coal is “America’s Power”. The idea that coal can be clean is nothing more than a dirty lie. The coal industry accounts for deadly air pollutants, water contamination, fish poisoning, toxic mercury emissions—causing irreversible damage to our health, our food supply and our environment.
In response, Mouth created a digital awareness campaign for Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s Waterkeeper Alliance, called The Dirty Lie (www.thedirtylie.com). The campaign has generated enough press to put us right smack in the middle of the coal wars. Below is a short list of recent press. And we’re just getting started.