Sync Gmail Calendars with iCal

Google has opened up their calendar system so that you can have real two-way sync of your online Gmail calendars with iCal. Read more.

Designers Accord

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Designers Accord, founded by Valerie Casey is a call to arms for the creative community to reduce the negative impact caused by design, and to work collaboratively to inspire positive change in industry and consumer behavior.

Adopting the Designers Accord provides access to a global community of peers who share passion and ideas around environmental innovation. The theory is that our influence grows exponentially when we act together.
Read more about it on the Designers Accord website.

Green Toys Cookware and Dining Set

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Green Toys Cookware and Dining Set. All made from milk jugs recycled into one of the safest, sturdiest, most nontoxic materials around.

Keep Calm Lightbox

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Lightboxes, made in London of galvanised steel with plastic front. Love the “Keep Calm” one. Would look fantastic in our studio!

Eye Chart Tea Towel

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Tea Towel printed with the classic eye test chart.

(via mydesignscout)

TAP’D NY

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Tap’dNY is a New York City bottled water company with a local twist, a knack for honesty and a beautifully designed bottle. They work with NYC’s public water system to source the world’s best tasting tap water, purify it through reverse osmosis and bottle it locally, leaving out ludicrous transportation miles. They offer an honest and local alternative to thirsty New Yorkers, giving them a smarter choice: to drink their own (award winning) water.

Read their manifesto to see what they stand for.

Jack Cheng On Permanence

My personal take is that for any given task, our minds constantly shift between two modes: review and do. Review-mode give us perspective on the big picture and keeps us on track toward reaching our destination. Do-mode is focused on implementation—building, typing, moving pixels and making changes.

The problem is that when we’re in front of that blinking cursor, everything is so easily editable that we get caught up in do-mode. When we try to review things, we think, “oh, that’s an easy fix, so I’ll do it right now,” and instantly return to do-mode. We keep bouncing back and forth between the two without maintaining the proper altitude to see the bigger picture. To use the forest-from-the-trees analogy, it looks something like this:

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Jack Cheng (who came visit our studio today) on Permanence

Max Kerning. Improperer spacing is a visual assault

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Max Kerning. Improperer spacing is a visual assault. Follow Max on twitter.

(via quipsologies)

poladroid – a polaroid image maker

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1. Download the free POLADROID application and launch it
2. Drag & Drop your photos
3. Wait… wait…. wait again… or shake the picture. Then look at or print your POLADROID picture.

www.poladroid.net

How cool is this? How incredibly cool? It’s only 9.40am and I am already having a “I love you internet moment!”

Scrapbooks, An American History

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In Scrapbooks, Jessica Helfand compiled a gorgeous visual history of American scrapbooks and their evolution over two hundred years. Jessica, a graphic designer and scrapbook collector, examines the evolution of scrapbooks from the nineteenth century to the present, concentrating particularly on the first half of the twentieth century. She includes color photographs from more than 200 scrapbooks; some made by private individuals and others by the famous, including: Zelda Fitzgerald, Lillian Hellman, Anne Sexton, Hilda Doolittle and Carl Van Vechten. Scrapbooks, while generally made by amateurs, represent a striking and authoritative form of visual autobiography. Jessica finds when viewed collectively they offer a unique perspective on the changing pulses of American cultural life.

Scrapbooks: An American History 242 pages, 425 photographs printed in full color.

typocalypse

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Typocalypse points out the subliminal messagess fonts are feeding you.

(thank you Jon, finder of all things good!)

If You Could… bake any cake how would you decorate it?

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Anorak, the happy Mag for kids is running a fun drawing competition for kids under the age of 12: If You Could… bake any cake how would you decorate it? So sharpen your imagination and pencils and get drawing! Your drawings will be posted in Anorak’s online gallery and the best 10 will be printed in the December issue. And if that’s not enough, Anorak will draw 2 winners who will be lucky enough to win some superb PlayStation games bundle! See last year’s entries here.

Freehands, iPhone Gloves

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These black leather or stretch gloves with flick-back fingers called Freehands let you “stay warm and keep in touch.” The fingertips stay back with magnets, a handy feature. $40 for the leather version, $20 for fleece. Bike messenger-techno-geek chic.

school of everything

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The School of Everything connects people who want to learn with people who want to teach.

(via boingboing)

swissmiss loves the Pano iPhone App!

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Pano for iPhone lets you take panoramic photos straight from your phone, no other software necessary. Yay! See some examples in this Pano Flickr Group. I am in love with an app!

Google In Quotes

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See what the candidates (and other politicians) say about popular issues such as environment, economy, and taxes. Google in Quotes.

(via watercooler)

Dear Airport Utility…

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Dear Airport Utility, I am tired of you going into scanning mode and disconnecting me from the internet. Please stop. Thank you.

(By the way, I know this is a common problem. I’ve searched quite a few forums and tried the hacks that people seemed to have figured out. None of them worked for me. Only solution that works is to connect to the internet via the ethernet cable. Now that is so analog.)

UPDATE 1: One of my readers wrote in a comment below: Apple today released an update that probably fixed the problem.

UPDATE 2: Tried the update that Apple released today. Didn’t help. And now I see the update is no longer available. What in the world is going on??

A coconut with a motor inside.

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My daily doze of web-distraction has finally hit its peak: A coconut with a motor inside. Watch the video.

(via Ryan’s interweb)

What’s your internet?

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Michael posted Noisy Decent Graphics’ amazing post about his internet.

What’s your internet?

A visual history of 11 successful blogs

Ever wondered what engadget or boingboing looked like in the early days? Check this link: A visual history of 11 successful blogs, by Pingdom (Interesting: They all started out somewhat clean and are now cluttered with ads etc.)

(via designobserver)

Cooper-Hewitt People’s Design Award. Cast your vote!

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Here’s who I’ve just voted for at the Cooper-Hewitt People’s Design Award. Who did you vote for? If you haven’t yet, hurry up!

Laszlito Kovacs Postcards

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Laszlito Kovacs’ illustrations now available as personizable Moo Postcards! Loooove!

Spark Speak—Ed Abel, Business Success Coach

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The next Spark Event on Tuesday October 28th sounds promising: Ed Abel’s 30+ years of entrepreneurialism and business ownership brings a huge amount of value to business owners trying to grow and improve their own companies. He will speak to us on how to bring your business to the next level.

(Spark is a group of independent designers who meet monthly to enlighten each other on the business and creative issues that are relevant to small design studios. Members come to share their experiences, gain knowledge and ignite inspiration. Spark is a valuable support system for all who strive for excellence in business and design practices.)

the architect’s birdfeeder

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Doug pointed me to his Architect’s Birdfeeder. Made me chuckle.