Own an iPad? Do yourself a favor and order on of these iPad Stylus. I just spent 1.5hours with it surfing/browsing/reading on my iPad. Such a pleasure to navigate. (If G didn’t have one already, I’d totally buy him one for the holidays!)
Raindrop Melody Maker
The Raindrop Melody Maker allows you to make your own music. It’s totally therapeutic! Give it a try!
(via Kidshaus)
Core 77 Gift Guide
There’s usually only one gift guide I am looking forward to, it’s the one by Core77. Just today, they came out with their 2010 Gift Guide and it’s fantastic. So many of their finds make me chuckle, just take the Drinking Glasses or Make your own Mechanical Music Box for example. My favorite finds this year are the USB battleship and the 16 Months of Drawing Exercises in Excel by Danielle Aubert.
Bicycle Drawing Machine
Tonight, I must go home, move furniture and make room for our very own Bicycle Drawing Machine. (G, can you build one?) Ella’s head will explode.
Hat tip to Joseph Griffith.
Gabriel Dawe
I am completely mesmerized looking at these colorful thread installations by Gabriel Dawe.
(via doobybrain)
dispatchwork
Does the exterior of your house need repair? Ever thought of using LEGO to patch up holes and cracks? That’s exactly what the agents of dispatchwork do. Jan Vormann is the force behind this refreshingly fun public service. Whenever a space needs repair, Jan or one of his volunteers all over the world, jump into action and fix it with LEGO pieces. Made me laugh!
Somebody should send an agent to 10 Jay street in Brooklyn. There’s plenty of patching to do!
(thank you Charlotte)
Why work doesn’t happen at work
Jason Fried has a radical theory of working: that the office isn’t a good place to do it. At TEDxMidwest, he lays out the main problems (call them the M&Ms) and offers three suggestions to make work work.
(via @Kristel)
Glif for iPhone 4
The Glif is a simple iPhone 4 accessory with two primary functions: mounting your iPhone onto a tripod and propping up your iPhone at various angles. The Glif is made from recyclable rubberized plastic and is small enough to fit snugly in your pocket, purse, or backpack. It has a 1/4″-20 thread that fits any standard tripod or camera mount. The Glif is designed to work with a “naked” (caseless) iPhone 4, to ensure a snug fit. Designed and manufactured in America.
Office Music Democratizer
There have been many attempts at trying to make office music a democracy, but most involve a complex system that people ignore, or people taking turns running the jukebox. LastFM and Pandora are great solutions (they learn from what you like/hate), but they both lack an easy and public way for everyone to have their say. BreakfastNY.com came up with a sleek solution: The Office Music Democratizer. Love it, Hate it, just hit the pretty button on the wall. Needless to say I would love this for studiomates.
The Feed
Krrb
Krrb is a fantastic new online happy place that let’s you buy, sell, trade or give to your neighbors — locally and in-person. One of their members referred to it as ‘the lovechild of Craigslist and Etsy’. I am seriously giddy over this.
Most online shops and classifieds feel anonymous but Krrb.com is made exclusively for local and in-person commerce. Their mission is to create a fun, friendly and safe online venue that enables better and more personal face-to-face dealings between neighbors. They aim is to help turn local strangers into friendly neighbors.
Think of Krrb as an online garage sale, block sale, flea market and local classifieds where second-handers, crafters, collectors, designers, artisanal food-makers and common folks can easily connect — taking advantage of all that the Internet has to offer — while retaining a personal and face-to-face relationship.
Fantastic!
(Thank you Kemp!)
Upcoming CreativeMornings
Here’s an overview of the upcoming December CreativeMornings in New York, Zurich and LosAngeles.
N E W Y O R K
Date: December 3rd, 2010
Speaker: Emily Cohen
Host: Galapagos, DUMBO
Sponsors: Mailchimp and Freshbooks
More info and rsvp at creativemornings.eventbrite.com
Z U R I C H
Date: December 10, 2010
Speaker: Nicola Forster, Präsident Foraus
Host: Dini Mueter
Sponsors: Dini Mueter and GINETTA™ WEB/DESIGN.
More info and rsvp at zurichcreativemornings.eventbrite.com
L O S A N G E L E S
Date: December 17th, 2010
Speaker: Alissa Walker
Host: Ford&Ching
Sponsors: promojam
More info and rsvp at losangelescreativemornings.eventbrite.com
swissmiss Amazon Store
For those of you in need of some holiday shopping inspiration, have a look at my brandnew Swissmiss Store over on Amazon.
The current categories include:
My favorites
Gifts for little ones
Books for kids
Books for Designers
Essentials for new Parents
I will make sure to keep adding new products over time. Let me know if you have suggestions.
♥ / Fonts.com Web Fonts
A big thank you to Fonts.com for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed.
Fonts.com Web Fonts is a new service that allows Web designers to choose from thousands of real fonts for use on their websites. Users pick the fonts they want to use, and the fonts are deployed to the visitor’s browser through a cloud-based network of servers.
Fonts.com Web Fonts distinguishes itself from other services through its selection of 8,000+ typefaces. Because the service is backed by Monotype Imaging, users have access to the company’s Monotype, Linotype and ITC typeface foundries including many exclusives such as the Helvetica®, Frutiger®, Univers®, Trade Gothic®, Neo® Sans and ITC Officina® families.
Sign up for a free plan for access to 3,000+ fonts or try a Standard or Professional plan for additional monthly pageviews and access to all 8,000+ fonts.
(Interested in becoming a sponsor?)
DropMocks
Wow, I was just completely blown away by the simplicity of DropMocks! Need to share images? Use DropMocks! It is THE easy way to create and share image galleries online. (Unfortunately it doesn’t work in Safari. You need Chrome 6 or Firefox 4 for best performance.) Here’s a TechCrunch Article about it.
(Thank you Julia)
Just a few cards
What a fun surprise! Paul Octavious is visiting our studio today! He is a fantastic photographer, runs a design studio in Chicago called Broken Pencil, is the force behind GeniusVomit (?) and also just came out with a site that sells cards called JustAFewCards.com. My favorites are by James Nick Felton and Kyle Steed. See below:
Get your holiday cards over at: JustAFewCards.com
Damien Correll
Why did it take me so long to check out Damien Correll’s portfolio? What a talent! Hat tip!
How to deal with cheaters in college
Using statistical analysis, University of Central Florida professor Richard Quinn determined that dozens of students had cheated on a test, told them in a lecture (video below), and over 200 students confessed after the lecture.
(via kottke)
Ukoonto Building Blocks
I received a package from Canada yesterday! Inside I discovered a lovely handwritten thank you note by one of my readers and below the note were these amazing building blocks. Having grown up with superminimal, wooden building blocks myself, my heart jumped.
Ukoonto sells this Limited Edition Block Set, 84 natural building blocks, made of hard maple, no harmful chemicals, Safe for Kids of any age, 6 months +, environmental safe production, using only renewable energy.
If I didn’t get them as a gift, I’d order them right now. Needless to say, my kids were gaga over them last night.
(Thank you Hans-Joern)
Go for Everything
While the ending is a little too overdone for my taste (sound- and special effects wise) I think this global HEAD commercial with ski superstar Lindsey Vonn is fantastic.
Congrats /department. Well done.
What are you worth?
Interesting post by Whitney Hess: “What are you worth?”
What you’re worth is a question only you can answer. It’s loosely a combination of your ability, experience, and instinct. I don’t believe any of these three can be objectively measured, therefore it’s your responsibility to make a subjective assessment and assign a dollar amount to it.
Some people charge by the hour, but I won’t. If my worth requires more time to shine through, the client should not be penalized. But if my worth gets me to the answer faster, why should I be penalized?