Andrew Johnston, RIP
The season's final Mad Men recap is up at The House Next Door, but it was not written by its usual writer, Andrew Johnston. Johnston passed away yesterday at age 40 after a lengthy battle with cancer. RIP.
Brand genericide
Harris Interactive recently released a list of products ranked by brand equity, a measure of the brand's popularity with US consumers. Here's the top 10:
1. Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil
2. Ziploc Food Bags
3. Hershey's Milk Chocolate Candy Bars
4. Kleenex Facial Tissues
5. Clorox Bleach
6. WD-40 Spray Lubricant
7. Heinz Ketchup
8. Ziploc Containers
9. Windex Glass Cleaner
10. Campbell's Soups
Marketing can be a double-edged sword. The companies who manufacture these products have done a fantastic job in marketing these products, so fantastic in some cases that the brand name is in danger of becoming a genericized trademark. From the list above, I routinely use Ziploc, Kleenex, WD-40, and Windex to refer to the generic versions of those products, even though we sometimes use Glad products instead of Ziploc, Puffs instead of Kleenex, or another glass cleaner instead of Windex. If the companies on this list aren't careful, they could lose the trademarked products that they've worked so hard to market so successfully.
Here's a list of American proprietary eponyms, or brand names that have fallen into general use. Some of the names on the list are so old or in such common use (escalator, popsicle) that I didn't even know they had been brands. Two current brands I can think of that might be in danger of genericide: iPod and Google. (via rw)
A list of weeds you might see on the subway
A list of weeds you might see on the subway. Including iPodpea, Prickly Metscap, Mumblecane, Dozing Slabface, and Edgy Sweatnettle.
Kottkes in the news! Hikers Albert and
Kottkes in the news! Hikers Albert and Peter Kottke rescued camper Carolyn Dorn, who had been missing in the New Mexican wilderness for five weeks. To everyone who emailed: no relation.
Rake it like a John Deere 704 Pull-Type Wheel Rake
Since I don't often remember my dreams, you poor folks must suffer through me telling you about it when I do recall one. Last night's dream was a riff on Junkyard Wars, except without the junkyard and the war. It was just my team and me trying to build a hay-harvesting machine out of a full-sized pickup truck. Our workshop was a garage in the basement of a large farmhouse. At the end of the dream, we spent a great deal of time painting the name of our machine on the hood of the truck. We called it "Hay Ya!"
Hong Kong wrap-up
Ok, one last wrap-up post about Hong Kong and then we're focusing on the matter at hand in Bangkok (short summary: having a great time so far here). So, three things I really liked about/in Hong Kong and then some miscellaneous stuff.
1. Octopus cards. I really can't say enough about how cool these cards are. Wikipedia provides a quickie definition: "The Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card used for electronic payment in online or offline systems in Hong Kong." It's a pay-as-you go stored value card...you put $100 bucks on it and "recharge" the card when it's empty (or when it's even more than empty...as long as your balance is positive when you use it, you can go into a HK$35 deficit, which you pay when you recharge the card). You can use it on pratically any public transportation in the city: buses, trains, MTR, trams, ferries, etc. It works with vending machines, at 7-Eleven, McDonald's, Starbucks, and the supermarket. You don't need to take it out of your wallet or purse to use it, just hold it near the sensor. Your card is not tied to your identity...there's no PIN, you can pay cash, they don't need to know your credit card number, SS#, or anything like that. They even make watches and mobile phones that have Octopus built it, so your phone (or watch) becomes your wallet. Mayor Bloomberg, if you're listening, NYC needs this.
2. The on-train maps for the MTR. Here's a (sort of blurry) photo (taken with my cameraphone):
The current stop blinks red -- in this case, Tsim Sha Tsui (blinking not shown, obviously) -- with the subsequent stops lit in red. If the next stop connects to another line, that line blinks as well. A small green arrow indicates which direction you're traveling and there's an indictor (not shown) which lights up either "exit this side" or "exit other side" depending which way the doors are going to open. Great design.
3. Muji! We located one in Langham Place (an uber-story mall) in Mong Kok (for reference, the store in Silvercord in TST listed on their site has closed). Muji is kind of hard to describe if you've never been to one of their stores before (and if you live in the US, you probably haven't because they're aren't any, aside from a small outpost in the MoMA Store). Adam (see previous link) roughly translates the name as "No Brand, Good Product", so you can see why I like it so much. They sell a wide variety of products (take a look at their Japanese-only online store for an idea of what they carry); at the Monk Kok store, they had snacks & drinks, some furniture (made out of sturdy cardboard), their signature pens and notebooks (a display of the former was completely surrounded by a moat of teenaged girls, so much so that I didn't get a chance to test any of the super-thin pens), some clothes (including some great pants that they didn't have in anything approaching my size), dishes, cosmetics, bath products, and containers of all shapes, sizes, and uses. I wanted one of everything, but settled for a couple of shirts (with absolutely no logos or markings, inside or out, to indictate that they are Muji products).
m1. Big Buddha, worth the trip. It'll better when the tram from Tung Chung and back is built, although then you'll miss the boat ride (fun) and the bus ride (harrowing at times).
m2. The Peak Tram. Touristy, but also worth the trip. The weird/ugly anvil-shaped building at the top is currently under construction, so the views will be much better when its finished. Go at night for the best view.
m3. The view from the waterfront in Kowloon of the Hong Kong skyline at night is one of the best in the world.
m4. Speaking of, Hong Kong is a night-time city. All the buildings are lit up, there's a nightly light show at 8pm (think Laser Floyd without the music), and buildings that appear monolithic in the daytime transform at night, either by disappearing into the darkness while leaving a graceful trace of their outline or acting as huge screens for projected light shows. Reminded me of Vegas in this respect.
m5. We had tea in the lobby of the InterContinental Hotel (go for the view, it's incredible) and the live band played the theme song from The Lord of the Rings. I tried to get a recording of it with my phone (iPod was back in our hotel room), but it didn't turn out so well. Very weird; we were cracking up and expecting the theme from Superman or even 3's Company to follow.
m6. Oh, I'm sure there's more, so I'll add it here as I think of stuff.
Scientists predicted another quake in Indonesia last week
Scientists predicted another quake in Indonesia last week. "[Scientists] report in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature that stress is building in the Sumatra fault, where the magnitude 9.0 quake struck December 26".
Perhaps it's just me, but
Perhaps it's just me, but shouldn't the sitemap on the Argus Associates site be a little more, well, information architected? I would expect more from the company whose principals wrote the "definitive book on Web architecture".
John McCain on the Daily Show. Jon
John McCain on the Daily Show. Jon Stewart: "I hope you're not going into crazy base world. Are you going into crazy base world?" McCain: "I'm afraid so." -dj
Huge collection of logos of metros/subways
Huge collection of logos of metros/subways from around the world.
The evolution of the design of the
The evolution of the design of the Netflix envelope. We started using Netflix pretty early on, but I don't remember the first 3 or 4 designs.
Tectonic plate timelapse
Timelapse video of the shift of the Earth's tectonic plates from 400 million years ago to 150 million years into the future. (via kk)
Jimmy Fallon mines the web
Being that Jimmy Fallon is a big nerd and his show's producer is Gavin Purcell (formerly of TechTV, G4, and Attack of the Show), I knew it was only a matter of time before The Late Show started featuring more online stuff than its predecessor. But I didn't know it would happen so soon. So far Jimmy has welcomed Kevin Rose & Alex Albrecht (of Diggnation) and Josh Topolsky (of Engadget). On last night's show, they turned a Twitter user with 7 followers into an instant Twitter celeb. The show's web site is mainly a blog staffed by full-time editors.
Forty percent capacity
So, it's day five of my cold[1]. Last night, I was down to only two out of my five senses. My sense of taste and smell left the scene sometime on Saturday. On Sunday, I had salad and fruit for lunch because I figured if I can't taste anything, I might as well eat healthy. Trying to smell or taste strongly aromatic substances like wine or scented shower gel produces a sensation not unlike that of tasting or smelling something, except there's no smell or taste. It's the weirdest thing...I don't even know how to properly describe it. It's like there's a ghost of a taste and when I think too hard about trying to really taste it, it's gone. It'll be a relief when I finally decongest and can enjoy food again[2].
And then yesterday while driving, we went from sea level up to around 600 ft of elevation, which caused the pressure to build up in my head enough to affect my hearing. By 4pm, everything was kind muffled and I was asking Meg speak up repeatedly. I could just barely hear the hum of the highway under the car. Last night at dinner, I couldn't taste anything, smell anything, hear anything, and my voice was so gravelly from my cold (and probably way too loud from overcompensating for the hearing loss) that listening to me was probably not very pleasant. My ears finally popped somewhat this morning and I can hear ok again, but smell and taste are still missing. Come back, guys, I miss you!
Update: Here's an article by Jason Feifer from the Washington Post about his investigation into his poor senses of taste and smell. (thx, mim)
[1] After a bit of research this AM, I've determined that what I have is a cold and not the flu.
[2] I remember reading a book or article once that mentioned a person who lost their sense of taste and when it would briefly return, that person would drop whatever they were doing and go eat a great meal. Anyone know where that story is from?
Minority Report
Fifteen minutes into Minority Report, I was hooked hard. Good action, intelligent dialogue, thoughtful vision of the future, careful crafting of the plot. Spielberg worked hard to create a world in which people could lose themselves for two hours and twenty minutes. He had me for the two hours but the Hollywood ending snapped me out of it and I left the theatre with a bad taste in my mouth. The last twenty minutes seemed to be from a completely different film, like the finale of a Tom Clancy movie got tacked onto the end of it. I can't remember the last movie I saw that was so good at the beginning and so mediocre at the end.
Theft with help from craigslist
A man dressed as a road maintenance worker robbed an armored car in Washington State. As part of his getaway plan, he hired some people via Seattle craigslist to also dress up as road maintenance workers and mill around where the armored car was located.
"I came across the ad that was for a prevailing wage job for $28.50 an hour," one of the unwitting decoys, named Mike, said to the NBC station. As it turns out, they were simply placed there to confuse cops who were looking for a guy wearing a virtually identical outfit.
The thief then escaped down a river on an inner tube. (thx, greg)
Le Pain Quotidien uses stale bread for
Le Pain Quotidien uses stale bread for menu holders on their tables. Clever design.
Papalotzin is a project to follow the
Papalotzin is a project to follow the migration of the monarch butterfly from Canada to Mexico in an ultralight airplane (they call it their big butterfly). They've made it as far as NYC so far and are blogging and taking pictures as they go. (via gurgly)
Geotypography (or is that typegeography?)
I like these Alphaposters by Happycentro, especially the gorgeous Lowercase F Island:
Flickr photos labeled with "cameratoss", which result
Flickr photos labeled with "cameratoss", which result from when you set your camera to a long exposure time, click the shutter, and toss it in the air. Looks like spirograph... (via matt)
New Epinion: a story about
New Epinion: a story about how my Palm V saved my life....or at least 5 or 6 minutes of it.
Liar's Poker
Michael Lewis is one of my favorite authors. He's not the smartest or the most clever writer but he weaves deceptively simple stories into larger statements on society and humanity with a skill possessed by very few people doing creative work in any field. I haven't gotten around to reading Moneyball yet, but Liar's Poker is probably his strongest work. It's as hard to put down as any fiction. Great book.
This update is titled: "I
This update is titled: "I think I can finally die a happy man." or "Isn't this one of the signs of the Apocalypse?" or "Oops!...I did it again." The official Britney Spears Web site uses Silkscreen quite a bit for titles and navigation. Besides the obvious irony of the situation, there's one good thing that will come of all this: I'm going to get lots of hits from people searching on "britney+apocalyse". Thanks to Edd for passing this along.
Interview: David Foster Wallace
On the occasion of the release of his 2000 Rolling Stone essay on John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign in unabridged and expanded book form, David Foster Wallace gives a short interview to the WSJ.
McCain himself has obviously changed [since the 2000 campaign]; his flipperoos and weaselings on Roe v. Wade, campaign finance, the toxicity of lobbyists, Iraq timetables, etc. are just some of what make him a less interesting, more depressing political figure now -- for me, at least. It's all understandable, of course -- he's the GOP nominee now, not an insurgent maverick. Understandable, but depressing. As part of the essay talks about, there's an enormous difference between running an insurgent Hail-Mary-type longshot campaign and being a viable candidate (it was right around New Hampshire in 2000 that McCain began to change from the former to the latter), and there are some deep, really rather troubling questions about whether serious honor and candor and principle remain possible for someone who wants to really maybe win.
(thx, bill)
Pervert trains (chikan densha)
At the Shibuya Pink Girl's Club in Tokyo, men pay upwards of $130 to grope the girl of their choice on a simulated subway train.
The connoisseur picks out from the menu the girl of his choice, dressed either as a schoolgirl or office receptionist. This girl then beckons him through the window of a mock-up train carriage, which not only broadcasts station announcements, but even shakes and rattles.
Real-life incidents of subway train groping are on the decline, in part because more women are reporting them and the subway offering women-only cars during peak times.
Good overview of what the Internet Archive
Good overview of what the Internet Archive is up to these days.
The McGangBang
The McGangBang has to be one of the more American things I've ever seen. It's a McDonald's Double Cheeseburger with a McChicken sandwich crammed into it.
Let that soak in a bit before you actually view this piece of hideous gorgeousness. The best part is that it only costs $2.16.
Seems like this would have made a
Seems like this would have made a better mockumentary.
Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger escaped an assassination plot hatched in 1969 by the Hells Angels, a new British Broadcasting Corp. documentary has claimed.
The men tried to reach Jagger by sea. "The boat was hit by a storm and all of the men were thrown overboard." They all survived but made no other attempt on his life.
Scientists have extracted ice cores from Antarctica
Scientists have extracted ice cores from Antarctica that date back 650,000 years (the previous high was 400,000 years). The cores show that modern levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide levels are the highest they have ever been.
Emigre is posting some essays from the
Emigre is posting some essays from the back issues of its dearly departed magazine.
Stop me if you've heard this one before...
Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Rod Stewart go into a Burger King at the Halifax airport:
Burger King employee Elizabeth Dillman was stunned when Ms. Campbell offered a $100 U.S. bill for her $3.99 breakfast. The fast food restaurant could not accept the $100 bill and the supermodel, famous for her many appearances on magazine covers and swimsuit editions, had to find a friend to provide change. "She seemed to be in a pretty happy mood. She looked great. She had big diamond bracelets and big rings and she had a large hat on - it was pretty exciting. I'd never had anybody like that here," Ms. Dillman said.
Alex Tew, the fellow behind Million Dollar
Alex Tew, the fellow behind Million Dollar Homepage, is set to launch his new MDH-like venture tomorrow. Pixelotto will offer 1M pixels of ad space for $2M...with half going to a lucky ad clicker and about half to Tew. Clever. Here's a pre-launch screenshot. (thx, jonah)
The Alinea book
Big thanks to this week's RSS sponsor: Alinea and their new cookbook, the Alinea book (available for $31.50 or $75 for the special slip-covered edition).
Here's how the US restaurant industry works. Despite the existence of many other awards, best-of lists, and food magazines, it falls to Ruth Reichl to annoint the Best Restaurant in America. The previous title holder since 1997 was The French Laundry, but in 2006, Reichl's Gourmet Magazine gave the top honor to Alinea.
A little more than three years after it opened, chef Grant Achatz and his team created the Alinea book, which basically gives away the store. Because the book includes the exact recipes and cooking techniques that they use in the restaurant, you could use it to open your own Alinea, provided you can get everything else right. But for most home cooks, foodies, and other food enthusiasts, owning the Alinea book gives the reader a glimpse into what it takes to run a restaurant at such a high caliber.
P.S. You used to have to buy the book to get access to its companion web site, Alinea Mosaic, but the site is now free for anyone to use.
0sil8 on Netscape (again)
0sil8 is featured on Netscape's What's Cool page for the third time in about 9 months. I thought you could only get on there once. Looks like someone over there likes me.
Someone posted a German version of 0sil8 on Metababy. Cool.
Independent infographic
The Independent has a great infographic on its cover today depicting which countries support the immediate ceasefire in the Middle East demanded by the UN and which do not:
That message would take up less space as words, but somehow the impact wouldn't be quite the same. (thx, g)
Muji Award 2008 results
Results of the 2008 Muji Award design competition. Winning entries include a drinking straw made from straw, a garbage bag that stands up by itself (no can needed), and a stapler that gets that staple in the corner of the page every time. (thx, dj jacobs)
Eric Etheridge compares Ed Ruscha's 1966 book Every
Eric Etheridge compares Ed Ruscha's 1966 book Every Building on the Sunset Strip with A9's block view yellow pages feature. "Four decades ago, Ruscha mounted a motor-driven 35mm camera on a car and drove up and down Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles".
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
This is one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen. If I had kids, I'd rather take them to see Scarface or Requiem for a Dream. Better: Lazy Sunday, aka The Chronic of Narnia.
Rare rave for M. Night Shyamalan's Lady
Rare rave for M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water, which was demolished by the critics.
Design of the TiVo remote
Nice fluffy article in the NY Times about the design process that led to the TiVo remote control, complete with a thumbs-up (bing!) from usability quote-whore Jakob Nielsen. I like TiVo and all, but why does tech journalism have to be so soft all the time?
The TiVo remote has a really huge, much-discussed design flaw, namely that you cannot tell which end to point at the TV unless you look at the remote or take a few seconds to feel for the buttons in your hand (if the room is dark). I've been using TiVo for almost 4 years now and while I've learned to look at the remote before I pick it up, the symmetry problem still gets me more than it should.
Here's another pitch that the Times let sail by in the article: "TiVo holds four design patents on the remote's basic shape and key layout." Say what? Trademark maybe, but how do you patent the shape of a remote control? By now, this question has a fairly pat and dissatisfying answer ("well, the busted and overworked patent system let us so we did"), but I'm tired of seeing patents like this given credibility by being mentioned in big newspapers.
Update: Neil sent me a link to the USPTO's guidelines for granting design patents. Here's their definition of design:
A design consists of the visual ornamental characteristics embodied in, or applied to, an article of manufacture.
If businesses buying design don't have any idea what design is, I guess you can't expect the US gov't to have any better understanding.
Rex Sorgatz interviews Adrian Holovaty about Everyblock,
Rex Sorgatz interviews Adrian Holovaty about Everyblock, a site that "aggregates piles of local information, like restaurant reviews and crime stats, which are then displayed block-by-block".
On a completely different note, it's been a challenge to acquire data from governments. We (namely Dan, our People Person) have been working since July to request formal data feeds from various agencies, and we've run into many roadblocks there, from the political to the technical. We expected that, of course, but the expectation doesn't make it any less of a challenge.
I believe that Everyblock will be most successful not through the utility of its site but if it can get more civic and federal agencies to release more structured data about what's going on in our cities and country. It is *our data* after all.
You'd think that martinlutherking.org would
You'd think that martinlutherking.org would take you to a site with info about and resources pertaining to MLK to inform and educate people about the man and the holiday. Instead, visitors are treated to some weird Communist/white power bullshit propaganda. Sometimes, I have very little faith in humanity.
Futura and Wes Anderson
Every year around this time, my thoughts turn to Wes Anderson and Futura. As noted elsewhere, Mr. Anderson is consistent in his use of Futura (bold) in his films. The supporting materials for The Life Aquatic (which opens here in NYC on Dec 10) continue the Futura trend, with the font appearing in the trailers and on posters. (A little Helvetica -- or worse, Arial -- has somehow crept onto this new poster, probably slapped on there by some intern when Someone Important noticed that Bill Murray's name wasn't on there.) What I've never been able to find an answer to, Wes, is why the Futura? This Typophile thread (kind of) suggests that David Wasco, Anderson's production designer on Tenenbaums, may have had something to do with it. Or is it a shout-out to Stanley Kubrick, who was partial to Futura Extra Bold? Does anyone know?
Nonzero
The main thesis of Nonzero is that social complexity of human culture has been increasing since the dawn of man and will continue to do so until forever. Wright argues that non-zero sum games are the culprit: societies get more complex (moving from tribes of hunter gatherers to mutli-trillion dollar global economy) because in order to play ever more lucrative non-zero sum games with an increasing number of people, that's the way it has to be. It makes a lot of sense.
Hypertemporality is an online net art exhibit
Hypertemporality is an online net art exhibit. Peter Baldes' Hypertemps is my favorite.
First good look at TypePad
Six Apart has posted some screenshots and a small list of frequently asked questions about their upcoming TypePad service. Looks like we finally have a weblog service that's easy enough for beginners to use but powerful & flexible enough for power users. Once TypePad launches, Google will have their work cut out for them in trying to catch up with Blogger and Blog*Spot. (And actually, I don't think Google much cares about weblogging software...they're much more interested in the search component, how to help people find information on blogs. Plus, they could easily pull a Microsoft to Six Apart's Netscape, make a free Blog*Spot Pro service, and drive 6A out of the biz...which would totally suck.)
rent a cottage, get a passive aggressive landlord for free
rent a cottage, get a passive aggressive landlord for free. ancient (1997) Slate piece
A controlling interest in Connected Ventures (which
A controlling interest in Connected Ventures (which includes CollegeHumor) has been purchased by Barry Diller's InterActive Corp (press release). Congrats guys! Although I don't agree with the choice of suitor...I hate IAC-owned Ticketmaster with the fire of 50 suns. Possible hidden benefit: IAC now has a YouTube competitor in Vimeo.
Julia Stiles and Kirsten Dunst on location
Julia Stiles and Kirsten Dunst on location for Mona Lisa Smile.
New version of MAME for OS X
New version of MAME for OS X that works natively on the Intel machines. MAME is an arcade emulator that lets you play arcade games on your computer. (via df)
Did you know they still
Did you know they still make Spirograph? I happily found that out this weekend and travelled back to my childhood for a brief time. Mmmm...spirally. And if you're not quite into it enough to order the original online, you can play with this little Spirograph java applet.
june 16, 2000 
Whitney Biennial 2004
Yesterday was a wonderful day to be in New York City. After a warm, sunny walk through Central Park (you can rent small remote control sailboats at the Conservatory Water!), we went over to the Whitney to take in the 2004 Biennial. While I didn't like many of the individual pieces, the show as a whole was worth seeing, if only to check the pulse of the contemporary art world.
I'd love to point you at some of the pieces I enjoyed, but of course the Biennial Web site is in Flash, rendering individual artist biographies and artworks unlinkable. I know artists have a fear of functionality, but you'd think they could make an exception in this case. Anyway, I dug up a link to one of my favorite pieces from the show, Hamburger Hill by Barnaby Furnas. The bullets tear his Civil War-inspired paintings apart in straight lines -- looks just a bit cubist to me -- flattening several minutes of action into one still frame. Wonderfully active, vibrant, and visceral.
The 2007 MacTech 25 "honors the most influential people
The 2007 MacTech 25 "honors the most influential people in the Macintosh community". Includes a single woman.