Digg is a popular social content site that allows its members to bookmark and shar websites, news articles, online videos and podcasts they find useful or enjoyable. In other words, members determine what content is shown on the Digg network.
One way a website owner can encourage someone to “digg” their site is to give their visitors a direct link to digg.com by placing a button on their page.
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You can’t have a pet you say? Your landlord doesn’t allow pets or you travel for work and yearn for some fun times with fido? Well, here’s the solution. Just rent a dog. What a concept. FlexPetz dogs have been rescued, trained and I’m sure are waiting to spend some quality time with someone just like you. Just call them up and schedule a block of time to spend with your dog of choice.
Currently, if you’re outside of LA or San Diego, you’re out of luck. FlexPetz says they’re going to expand to include several other locations such as San Francisco, NYC (3 locations), Seattle, Boston, Miami, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Phoenix, West Palm Beach and Washington D.C. They’re also planning some international locations in London, Glasgow, Paris, Cannes, Sydney and Tokyo.
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Almost two years since its announcement, the Optimus keyboard from the Russian design Studio, Art Lebedev, has a price tag. It’s a pretty hefty one at that… $1500 USD.
For those not familiar with the Optimus concept computer keyboard, it has a small organic light emitting diode (OLED) display in every single key, allowing the user to customize to whatever program or alphabet he is using. The intent I’m sure was to improve productivity while incorporating some style and the “wow” factor, but I wonder just how well it’s going to go over. They’re only releasing around 400 of the units to begin with and I’m sure they’ll sell out to those “gadget people” who have bought into the hype. I’m curious to see how well it will do.
It’s definately great looking, has the cool monikor all sewn up, but if it’s really geared towards power users, I wonder how many of them really spend that much time looking at their keyboard anyhow.
Okay, you were proud of yourself when you learned how to make an origami swan weren’t you. Come on. You know you squinted at it and envisioned it floating on a serene pond somewhere. You spent all that time staring at the tutorial, so carefully folding and creasing to make it happen. Guess what… You’ve been one-upped by some students at M.I.T.. This is some really complex stuff.
This isn’t the origami you’re used to seeing and I doubt you’ll find too many tutorials out there on how to do these. A little paper, some math, and a whole lot of patience and look what you can achieve.
Bruce Nussbaum, Business Week’s assistant managing editor, recently wrote a really compelling article about the nature of design today. With all of the customiztion tools of websites like MySpace and other social networking sites, free graphics applications, online design tools, etc., almost everyone and their grandmother is a “designer” of some sort these days. Whether it’s a product design, a print piece, a website or even an architectural project, many professional designers are having to be more interactive with their clients when it comes to design. It’s becoming more of a “Design Democracy” if you will. As Bruce puts it, a shift from “designing for” to “designing with” a client. Maybe it’s time to change your thinking. Then again, maybe not.
I can’t say that I agree wholly with what Bruce is saying. I belive that as designers we should always strive to involve our clients as much as possible in the design process, listen to them intently, and do our best to intepret their vision. I disagree with the notion that all controls regarding design should go out the window just so everyone can have their place in the “design sandbox”.
Earmark a few minutes to read and consider this piece. If you’re a professional designer, you’ll more than likely get your feathers ruffled by some parts. Stick with it though, it seems just a little off balance but he raises some interesting points and there are some well thought out comments you’ll really want to read as well.
