Jeremy’s getting ready to begin a 2 month quest to get to his ideal weight; just by playing Wii Fit. You can follow the action over at the Wii Fit Project… cool idea (and nice score on the URL, BTW.)
Of Interest – May 8
Information Design Patterns – a nice collection of common information design approaches; includes detailed descriptions, usage and examples.
QR codes are paving a way to share and hide media – I don’t think QR codes have really caught on in the States, but I think they offer a lot of potential for unobtrusive mobile/real-world advertising.
Best ATM Interface Yet – a nice write-up of the new Wells Fargo ATM interface — with pictures!
Brightkite – I’ve been using brightkite for a few weeks now; I’m still trying to get a handle on the possibilities it offers — I’d like to see location-enabled integration with Yelp, Upcoming and other local-centric services and advertising. I think it could really take off with GPS-enabled phones and/or automated updates. If you’re looking for an invite, hit me up on twitter or e-mail.
Speaking of twitter, Is JetBlue using twitter to spy on its customers…or blow their minds? is a good read — describing one guy’s personalized big brother-type experience with a notable brand. I can envision a day when this approach becomes unmanageable for big companies (like when the lawyers get involved). For now, it’s really exciting to see this kind of interaction with customers.
Good Ideas Have Legs
Since discovering the barbarian group’s website a scant four days ago, I’ve become completely hooked. As my feed reader inches closer to 500 unread items and my attention span dwindles accordingly, I cringe at their rapid succession of long form posts (4 of ’em so far today). However, each time I’ve taken the time to actually read the full posts, I’ve been rewarded by well-crafted ideas and a little rush of inspiration.
One today’s posts really hit home:
Agnosticism, media and otherwise touches on a subject that has been raised many, many times in my office the past few weeks. Quoting:
“… agnostic ideas, ideas that solve client’s problems without filtering them against a pre-set media vehicle or creative skill set […] sometimes that’s a television ad, sometimes a website, sometimes an LED display on a blimp, sometimes all three. But, who the hell knows ahead of time?”
The gist (to me) being: don’t cut the legs off your ideas by defaulting to traditional/tested/comfortable forms of communication — if an idea is good, it will shine anywhere.
Links o’ the Week
the barbarian group – read, read more, drool.
jQuery for Designers – right away, I found 2 things I’ve been thinking of trying.
Social Media Firehose – enter your name, website, or anything else you want to track and see what they’re saying about you.
Video on Flickr?
Video on Flickr? Video on Flickr! It’s live, but there are some limitations (90 seconds — really?). It doesn’t beat Vimeo (my benchmark for online video), but this is a long time coming and it’s a step in the right direction.
WordPress 2.5
The next generation of WordPress is officially available. Sporting a brand new dashboard designed by the folks at Happy Cog, a slew of new features (and a new look for WordPress.org); it looks like a winner.
SXSWi recap, Day Two
Day two of SXSWi started with Jason Santa Maria’s and Rob Weychert’s panel, Everyone’s a Design Critic (slides). Given that it was (a) first panel of the day following the opening night parties and (b) the biggest room in the convention center, there were empty seats and bleary eyes to spare. Rob and JSM took it in stride and did a fantastic job of warming up the crowd by getting everyone to cheer and jeer several popular sites. Once everyone was wound up, they whipped out some real world examples and explained how to: