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Addictive YouTube videos, LEGO Arcade, Wimbledon

Monday, June 29, 2009

Addictive YouTube videos In light of some recent YouTube video addictions, I have made a quick list of a few videos from the past year or two that I’ve watched dozens of times (literally). The list mainly includes silly mashups, remixes and parodies of pop culture (featuring Auto-Tune, Lil Jon, etc.).

Most addictive YouTube videos of all time
(that I can remember at the moment, what with all my ADHD hey what’s that?)

“I’m On A Boat” and more from The Lonely Island
AutoTune the News #2 and more episodes from schmoyoho
“Cooking by the Book” A Lil’ Bigger Mix by Mastgrr. It’s a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake! Also see the “Bananaphone” remix from HatPerson
Rap Chop! It’s Vince with Slap Chop! Also see Press Hop (sports soundbites) and more from djsteveporter
Might Putty Dub!, Billy Mays kaboom! dub and more informercial dubs from Jabo0odyDubs
The Black20 Trailer Park: 300 - PG Version (AKA “Caketown”)

In addition to loads of other funny 300 parodies (like LisaNova does 300), I would also be remiss to not mention the dozens of “Dear Sister” parodies.

Must stop self from watching these again. Perhaps a 12-step program?

I felt the same way about this awesome mashup video in 2006: “Star Trek + Nine Inch Nails = Closer.”

LEGO Arcade, 8-bit design and Wimbledon

I liked this: LEGO Arcade. There’s much more great LEGO animation from MlCHAELHlCKOX where this came from, such as: Super Lego Mario (Level 1).

For some actual LEGOs, see the “bat country” scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas at Brickshelf.

Also, Philip DeFranco is a funny dude. Check out some of his YouTube clips.

Tokyo Zokei University’s Open Campus has a really nice web page design. I’m a sucker for the 8-bit aesthetic. Read more: “The Bestest College Webpage Ever.”

I’m looking forward to seeing what happens at Wimbledon. With Rafael Nadal out, will Roger Federer win his record 15th major and sixth Wimbledon title? Do Andy Roddick or Andy Murray have a chance? Will the Williams sisters meet in another final? Can anyone seriously challenge them right now?

Lastly, I am thinking of starting a “365 Days Project” on Flickr, beginning July 1. Currently contemplating possible photo themes and my motivation to commit to taking at least one (hopefully compelling) photo every day for a year.

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YouTube, Transformers 2, Ctrl-Alt-BOOM, Iran

Thursday, June 25, 2009

This blog has become an embarrassment when compared to the real-time engagement with pop culture and world news that happens daily on Twitter. Not sure why I continue to (barely) maintain it.

First, I really liked the YouTube DTV logo from June 12, 2009. Goodbye, analog television.

Second, below is some old crap that might still be funny or interesting.

Music and movies

This is intriguing: “David Lynch Writes a Rock Album.” Also, the “Kids” music video by MGMT is pretty cool. A friend sent this to me via email: “Everyone is monsters. Except your mom. And MGMT. MGMT’s dog is OK too.”

Here’s a political mashup: JFK Auto-Tuned. And a funny Jurassic Park mashup: Hey!

Also found this older stuff: The Lonely Island Episode 1: White Power! and every clip of Zach Galifianakis from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! on Adult Swim.

Transformers 2 and Michael Bay

The photo at right is the only keyboard Michael Bay knows how to use: “MICHAEL BAY: THE BOOM GOES ON.”

Press Ctrl-Alt-BOOM to restart. Click BOOBS to continue.

I’ve made several Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen posts on Twitter in the past couple of days, such as these two about screenwriters Kurtzman and Orci and the soundtrack.

I love this review (includes spoilers): “Michael Bay Finally Made An Art Movie.” And how! I’m sure the new Transformers movie will explode many heads this weekend.

Food (sort of)

Eat Me Daily has a lot of disturbing food-related features, as does the This is why you’re fat. blog.

Here’s an Eat Me Daily example: Cheez-It Flavored Lip Balm. What? There’s so much fast-food wrongness here: Burger King’s Super Seven Incher Ad, The McDonald’s Mac Snack Wrap and The McGangBang. Ugh.

Animals

Cute Overload calls this guy the blorpiest: disapproving frog. Also see: Super Keyboard Cat Bros. (the 8-bit version).

Cats be getting stoned: How catnip gets cats high.

Office jargon, Ground Zero and Twitter

I feel like it’s time to revisit some entertaining office jargon/annoying buzzword sites: The Ridiculous Business Jargon Dictionary and Generation X Office Lingo.

The Ground Zero app is an interesting. Here’s a quote: “Have you ever wondered what would happen if a nuclear bomb goes off in your city? With Google’s Maps framework and a bit of JavaScript, you can see the outcome. And it does not look good.”

If you like texts from last night, you should also like the Twitter-based Favrd.

Iran election crisis

Here are two interesting articles from last week about the Iran election crisis/protests: “U.S. Government Asks Twitter to Stay Up for #IranElection Crisis” and “Cyberwar guide for Iran elections.”

Go, Twitter! Though, weird, right?

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Jason Lytle, zombie ponies and social networks

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The Jason Lytle show I attended at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland on Saturday evening was awesome. I couldn’t have been happier that he played my very favorite Grandaddy song. “Jed’s Other Poem” transports me to 2001. I definitely got my Grandaddy fix. If you haven’t heard “Jed’s Other Poem” before, there is a now-official music video for it, released in 2005. Yes, there’s a story behind this video, created with Applesoft BASIC on a vintage 1979 Apple computer.

Ninjas, dinosaurs and zombie ponies

I was mildly amused by the Assessment Outcomes for Ninja University: The Pre-Ninja Program.

Here are a couple of Auto-Tune mentions: “Jay-Z Declares the ‘Death of Auto-Tune’” and the Auto-Tune the News series is four episodes strong (#2 and #4 are the best).

You should watch this video clip of Stephen Wiltshire, the Human Camera. Incredible drawings from memory.

Would also like to share this sci-fi cleverness from CollegeHumor: My Favorite Movie (Star Trek vs. Star Wars). Yep.

Maybe birds didn’t evolve from dinosaurs: “Discovery Raises New Doubts About Dinosaur-bird Links.” Oregon State University scientists are disputing this widely held belief.

Would you like a My Little Pony figurine for your office desk? No? How about some zombie ponies? Yes, please.

I love this video from The Onion so much: “Obama Drastically Scales Back Goals For America After Visiting Denny’s.” Masking depression with laughter.

Technology, social networks and design

I agree: “Be Bold With Broadband, Wired.com Readers Tell Feds.” Just because the FCC and Comcast/Qwest are snugglebunnies doesn’t mean we can’t do better. The United States “pitifully trails Europe, Japan and Korea in both speed and affordability” of broadband. Let’s hope some good decisions are made.

This was interesting: “Social Networks Around the World.” The latest data says: “Facebook has almost colonized Europe and it’s extending its domination with more than 200 millions users” and “MySpace lost its leadership everywhere (except in Guam).” I’d argue that MySpace’s only real niche in the U.S. is for musicians (and audio/video, at least more than Facebook, so far).

Check this out: “60+ Awesome Grunge Font That Every Designer Should Collect.”

Similar to the Google I/O Keynote I linked to in my previous post, here’s a video showing some HTML 5 goodness: Firefox 3.5 Treats Videos Like Web Pages. Still waiting for Internet Explorer 6/7 to die. Would be fine with IE 8 going away too, actually. Maybe someday IE will show evidence of supporting HTML 5 standards (and previous standards), like all modern, open source browsers? So we can keeping moving the Web forward faster. Standards, please.

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Google Wave, Microsoft Bing and Big Brother

Thursday, June 4, 2009

It seems like the more I use Twitter, the less I feel like actually bothering to write blog posts. Is this blog dying? I don’t know, but this post is about a few new web services and technologies. Many articles are about a week old at this point, because I didn’t get around to posting them until now. Real-time tweeting is sucking the life out of this blog.

Earlier today I realized that I launched my first website 12 years ago today. I started this blog seven years ago. Time flies.

Bing vs. Google vs. Yahoo Google Wave, Microsoft Bing and HTML 5

In late May, I read whole bunch of articles about Google Wave. Here’s one: “Could Google Wave Redefine Email and Web Communication?” You can see Google Wave in this video: Google Wave: Live collaborative editing. Here’s another resource: Google Wave: A Complete Guide.

So what about the new search engine Microsoft Bing? Here are two articles: “Bing vs. Google vs. Yahoo: Feature Smackdown” and “Bing Off to a Good Start: Takes #2 Spot Ahead of Yahoo.”

Will Google Wave consume everything? Well, it can eat Twitter: “Twave: Google Wave + Twitter.”

The Google I/O Keynote Day 1 video was interesting. Yes, the new features of HTML 5 and drawing with tags are cool. See the Canvas tutorial. Turns out that IE is still the bane of web developers’ existences. Go figure. I am very curious about the in-browser 3D graphics and JavaScript demonstrated in the keynote. And won’t the <video> tag to match the <img> tag be nice? Time to get video out of “plugin prison.” The W3C Geolocation API will be great when it’s widely supported as well. Can we actually get standardization across all browsers?

In addition to using the canvas tag in production websites someday (once IE is dead?), I am looking forward to playing with Typekit this summer. Learn more: “Web Fonts Get Real with Typekit.”

Other technology/paranoia

Here are two interesting articles, for Big Brother and hacker enthusiasts: “Britain’s CCTV Network to Track, Log All Car Journeys” and “The Ultimate Lock Picker Hacks Pentagon, Beats Corporate Security for Fun and Profit.”

Amusements

Funny or Die tweeted about the new “Tonight Show” set design on June 4: “Conan’s new set backdrop looks just like Super Mario Bros! http://imgur.com/hGEY5.gif” Nice! I love it.

I know the point of science isn’t for amusement, but here we have glowing monkeys in the name of science: “Japanese Scientists Create Green Glowing Monkeys.”

I’ll end this post with another goofy blog I found (there are many like this): Happiest People Ever!

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Sasquatch! Music Festival, logos and photography

Thursday, May 28, 2009

After the WebVisions conference last week, I headed north into Washington for the Sasquatch! Music Festival.

Here are the bands I saw at Sasquatch! on Saturday, May 23: Blind Pilot, Doves, M. Ward, DeVotchKa, Animal Collective, The Decemberists, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Crystal Castles. I also caught the last couple of songs from the sets by both James Pants and Kings of Leon. I made the tough decision to see Doves over Passion Pit (who played at the same time) on the strength of their amazing 2000 album Lost Souls. The sheer volume of the Animal Collective and Crystal Castles sets made my ears bleed. The Decemberists and Yeah Yeah Yeahs were probably my favorites, though DeVotchKa was great as well. I tweeted periodically throughout the festival. Watch Sasquatch! 2009 videos on YouTube.

I have to say that Shara Worden’s performance with The Decemberists stole the show. It was the highlight of Sasquatch! for me. Here are some clips of Shara Worden with The Decemberists: performing “The Wanting Comes In Waves” on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on 5/14; singing the “The Queen’s Rebuke” on 5/19; performing at a Missoula, MT concert on 5/24 and singing “The Queen’s Rebuke” again. The Decemberists (featuring Shara Worden and Becky Stark) also covered Heart’s “Crazy on You” live on 5/26. You can stream (and download) The Decemberists’ latest album The Hazards of Love at decemberistsshop.com. Here is Shara Worden performing solo (as My Brightest Diamond): “Golden Star” and “Something Of An End.”

After the Sasquatch! Music Festival, we headed to Seattle and walked around the Northwest Folklife Festival at the Seattle Center on Sunday, which was also pretty fun.

More music

This is too bad: “Legal Dispute Results in Music-less Danger Mouse Project.” Or not. The blank CD-R thing is funny, in a way. Also see: “Danger Mouse’s Next Album Will Be A Blank CD-R.” Anyway, you can hear the entire album now at NPR.

Want to help save a music/film/culture magazine? Here you go: The Campaign to Save Paste. Donate and get over 70 rare and exclusive MP3s as a thank you, from The Decemberists, Neko Case, She & Him, Of Montreal and many more.

Somehow I got sucked into the Beatbox Battle Online World Championship on YouTube. There was a competition to win a wild card into the event. Here are the top six entries: Julia Dales, Primitiv, D-9, Lytos, The Beatbox Hitman and Daichi. Julia Dales, a 17-year-old blonde Canadian, won.

Logos, brands and photography

This is an interesting list of how some popular logos have evolved: “Evolution of 30 Popular Logos.” Also see changing PlayStation logos: “The Making Of: PlayStation.” This site is really good: Brand New: Opinions on Corporate and Brand Identity Work.

This article is worth a look: “10 News photos that took retouching too far.”

I really like this Flickr photo set: AT-ATs: not just for xmas.

I just helped launch the Where’s Benny? Photo Contest for Oregon State University Summer Session. You can enter via Flickr and Facebook.

A bit of randomness

This is an amazing video of a Malay Eagle Owl named Kitty. Cute, creepy little Furby guy.

Ever heard of a winged cat? Here you go: “Cat in China grows a pair of wings.” You may also be interested in the world’s smallest cat.

President Obama’s ASU commencement speech a couple of week ago was pretty compelling and inspiring. Watch part 1, part 2 and part 3 at YouTube.

I’ll leave you with this: “GeekDad Parents, Kids and the Stuff We Obsess About
Swine Flu Twitterpocalypse: Acting Out King’s The Stand 140 Characters at a Time.”

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WebVisions 2009 in review: Part two

Friday, May 22, 2009

This is a continuation of WebVisions 2009 in review: Part one.

On Thursday and Friday, May 21-22, I attended the WebVisions 2009 conference at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. Below is a quick overview of all five sessions I attended on Friday, with links. Many of the slides from these sessions and others are available at SlideShare. See Twitter updates using #wv09.

Makin’ Whuffie: Why You Should Raise Social Capital in Online Communities - Tara Hunt (The Wuffie Factor)
(9:00 am to 10:15 am | session details)

#wvc32: What is Dunbar’s number? It’s a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. Also: “You can’t shut the internets down.” The science fiction novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow introduced the idea of Whuffie as social capital or trust. It’s reputation-based currency. Social networks are all about providing mutual value and establishing credibility.

Get advice from experts, but design for the needs of the novice
Respond to ALL feedback, even when you have to say ‘no thanks’
Don’t take negative feedback personally
Give credit to those whose ideas you implement
Point out and explain changes as you make them
Make small, continuous improvements
Go out and find your feedback
Ignore the haters

Examples of automagicness: Lil’ Grams, Quicken for iPhone, Tripit.com for iPhone.

Throwing sheep: lightweight ways for people to connect (e.g., Facebook’s Poke, Dopplr’s Personal Velocity feature).

Whuffie is part of the gift economy, while money is part of the market economy. The more Whuffie you give away, the more you get back. It’s more about reciprocity than profit. You can make money despite yourself if you’re customer-centric.

For more information, visit horsepigcow.com.

New Assumptions for Designers of the Social Web - Chris Messina
(10:30 am to 11:45 am | session details)

#wvc37: Is coming from a hybrid design-engineering background. Web 2.0 is a metaphor for the network as a platform with software as a service. Living in online society: the social web.

A few old assumptions: People are busy, people have limited attention, people want to know what’s in it for them, people want it to “just work,” people don’t care about technology, people shouldn’t need to care about technology.

10 new assumptions:

Most people already signed up elsewhere (e.g., FriendFeed, Google, OpenID, Eminem’s website uses these other companies for authentication; remove all barriers to getting in to your service)
Their friends are online (one method: use delegated authentication protocol . . . you never have to give your information to a third party . . . e.g. BrightKite . . . there are better ways than asking for passwords)
Email is the new fax machine (social networks have now eclipsed email . . . rise in SMS messages sent . . . first means of communication is SMS for new generation . . . don’t rely on just email . . . mentions FriendFeed and BrightKite again)
Discovery will save us all (the NASCAR problem: a million brand logos and buttons on your site . . . “Share This” buttons . . . shotgun approach . . . keep an eye out for new discovery protocols: XRD/LRDD)
Cloud computing is upon us (you may or not have local storage . . . everything will be on the web on a third-party site . . . all out on the cloud . . . also, hybrid applications: Pandora, etc. . . . OpenID will become very useful for cloud computing applications for pushing data in/out without local storage)
People want to share (software that doesn’t have sharing built-in is broken)
Real identity online is becoming the norm (e.g., Facebook recommendations . . . being able to find your friends in real life . . . no more username pseudonyms . . . people benefit from revealing more of their identities . . . Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as related to self-actualization on the web . . . real identity can provide for more transparency and accountability; it can incentivize good behavior)
Connectivity is increasing (people want real-time news and social updates . . . FriendFeed, Techmeme . . . the half-life of content keeps getting shorter . . . results in shorter and less insightful posts . . . the real-time web results in geoinsulation due to time zone differences . . . “hemisphere effect” . . . content has to be relevant, connected and timely)
The stream is the new hallmark of a social app (blog format is in some ways a relic . . . social activity is what makes a site alive . . . follow people on nytimes.com . . . enjoysthin.gs and I Use This for OSX software . . . activity-centric model for social web apps . . . social discovery)
Assume that your data will flow (connect your site . . . e.g., Facebook to Digg . . . design your content to move off-site . . . privacy controls)

What’s next:

Location, location, location (the awesome Orwellian future that we all hope for)
Expectations for customer service are rising (Alaska Airlines direct messages on Twitter)
People will reward trustworthy relationships with service providers that improve over time
Just because we have more technology doesn’t mean that people are becoming obsolete!
Browsers are about to get a lot more powerful

The role of standards: Worth more in practice than in theory. Standards allow all to rise up and improve user experience by competing on an even playing field. See the DiSo Project for social web standards. Better standards allow us to build better and richer societies. How can we maintain artifacts if we use third-party social networks and services? Web regulation and backups . . . Internet as a public utility service . . . network neutrality . . . government privacy issues and Google antitrust? Possible for anonymity and access, but also have an identity experience when desired? Facet identity or performative identity should be afforded by new technology. Aspects of privacy should be baked into new web standards. Browsers will become more like game environments, since you essentially a need a password everywhere now.

For more information, visit factoryjoe.com.

Open ID: The Panel Discussion - Marshall Kirkpatrick, Chris Messina, Scott Kveton, Rick Turoczy
(1:15 pm to 2:30 pm | session details)

#wvc41: The idea of OpenID is self-identification through a service. Scott says, “OpenID is inevitable.” Facebook has recently given in to the idea, even though they didn’t have to. It can be very Big Brother in the hands of “evil people.”

Talking about OpenID is still talking about a technology to do something, which is not very intelligible to the general population. Chris would like to see OpenID emphasized as a brand. Is OpenID analogous to the evolution of how RSS has become used and talked about? Maybe OpenID is like an “Intel Inside” or a “Wi-Fi” type of underlying structure, upon which other things can be built. SMTP is to email as OpenID is to web identity? But OpenID is a technology and a brand.

We are seeing great value with Facebook Connect . . . also, hybrid flow with Plaxo and Google . . . similarly, FriendFeed uses Facebook Connect, Twitter Connect AND Plaxo/Google hybrid OpenID/OAuth.

Scott suggests browser-level controls for signing into the Internet itself, instead of the nightmare of site-by-site authentication. Emails as usernames are that not secure. If your email is hacked, then a hacker can access most all of your accounts by having a new password sent to him/herself. Another idea is that people could end up having more than one OpenID account (so that everything in the world isn’t tied to one account). Chris explained a future idea of OpenID readers like credit card readers that are used for everything (RFID?). However, OpenID usability has been a great stumbling block.

Distributed nature of OpenID vs. centralization . . . pros and cons?

Twitter Marketing: Behavioral Insights and Best Practices from an Award-Winning Tweeter - Carri Bugbee
(2:45 pm to 4:00 pm | session details)

#wvc50: Twitter use quadruples March-April 2009 . . . fastest growing social network. Moments in history: Mad Men Twittergate, National election, Motrin Moms, Presidential address, #amazonfail, Ashton beats CNN. Media darling . . . history of celebrity and media uses of Twitter . . . the Oprah effect. Microblogging? Social networking? Lifestreaming? Research tool? Yes. Uses for Twitter are evolving.

Twitter uses: Customer service; Promotions (big brands and small businesses); Drive traffic to websites, blogs and surveys; Twittertainment (fan fiction, transmedia and original content); Breaking news; Travel/Tourism information (Twisitor Center); Community building; Recruitment; Political discourse; Live event feeds; Hashtag for search and feeds; Hashtags also help build buzz; Crowd sourcing; Personal panel of experts; It’s all about your interests.

If you’re a big brand, you’ve got to staff your social accounts like you’re a 7-Eleven. People want to engage . . . staffing for social media can be much more cost-effective than impersonal, “set it and forget it” media buys.

For more information, visit BigDealPR.com and SupportingCharacters.com.

Carpe Futurum: Building Communities Without the Blueprints - Brad Smith, Ryan Sims (Virb.com)
(4:15 pm to 5:30 pm | session details)

#wvc54: The futurum is what’s happening between now and the future. It’s the period in between the now and the future that controls where you end up. So, seize the future.

It is important to recognize the gap between talent and taste. You may start with good taste, but you have to wait (or persevere) for your talent to improve over time. Only experience will help your talent approach your creative taste and aspirations. Practice.

Get better: Inspiration Spree (make a list of designers or programmers you admire), Study Tools (keep learning new software features and techniques), Side Projects (maintain personal projects that overlap or bleed over into work life); Fringe Masters (get outside the sphere of your influence).

Overnight success takes time. Expect a long journey and be satisfied by the process. Appreciate your progress. Problems face with time (especially online). Is there great power in failure? What is the difference between failure and mistakes? Scope. Mistakes are common. Making mistakes again and again leads to failure.

A good quote: “Narrow the gap between when you made the mistake and when you finally realized it.”

Also: “Everything I need to know about community management I learned from The Dog Whisperer.” The five goals of community management: Be calm and assertive, practice discipline, be consistent, give affection, lead the pack. Both talk to your community and let them talk back to you (crowd sourcing). Crowd sourcing happens through community empowerment and feedback facilitation.

Virb is about creators and curators. Curators are now part of the creation community. With new social tools, you can easily share your taste without knowing any web design. For Virb, futurum is really focused on getting systems solid and empowering curation and its relevance. “Humans will soon become the most boring part” . . . of social transactions.

Curation is the future of the web. For more information, visit Virb.com.

(For information on WebVisions conferences from previous years, see my reviews from WebVisions 2008 and WebVisions 2007.)

Now that the conference is over, I am going to start heading toward the Sasquatch! Music Festival at the Gorge. Will find a motel for the night somewhere between Portland and Ellensburg, WA and hopefully see a movie.

Similar posts that may be of interest:

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Addictive YouTube videos, LEGO Arcade, Wimbledon

YouTube, Transformers 2, Ctrl-Alt-BOOM, Iran

Jason Lytle, zombie ponies and social networks

Google Wave, Microsoft Bing and Big Brother

Sasquatch! Music Festival, logos and photography

WebVisions 2009 in review: Part two