Foot in mouth disease

Following up on my previous post, here's a list I stumbled upon of ill-advised predictions for the technological future.

Friday fun: Clever Clocks

Here are a few interesting and creative ways to display time.

Analogy - Jason Yip has made something something so simple and clever you'll wonder why you didn't think of it.

This Flash clock shows time literally sliding by.

The clock shows that time marches on and overwrites the past.

The World Clock shows up to date global statistics - some of which are alarming and depressing.

The Barcode clock is just what you'd think it would be.

And one of my favorites is Clockr. It uses random images from Flickr to produce the numbers.

Friday Fun: Brand New Day

Here's a really clever post from "Jane." Basically she portrays her day visually through her interaction with products and brands.

I'd need a lot of Diet Coke logos for mine.

Friday fun(s)

Here are a few recent finds for this week's Friday Fun:

Print this randomly-generated Buzzword Bingo card for your next meeting.

Here's a fun and informative site about the visual blind spots we all have and the interesting ways our brains and eyes work.

Castaway - this is what computer games used to be like.

Gadgets and Inventions - I like the wheelbarrow bench.

ACME Catalog

Are you out of anvils? Need any iron birdseed? How about some rocket-powered roller skates? Although this parody could be improved with a "e-commerce-style" redesign, you have to give credit to the fantastic idea.

Check out the Original Illustrated Catalog of ACME Products.

There's a book on the subject too.

Young Me, Now Me

Here's a fun collection of winning photos from a contest where the object was to mimic a photo from your childhood. I really like this one, that one, and the one over here.

Patently Absurd

At Totally Absurd Inventions you can take a stroll through an archive of some of the weirdest inventions and ideas ever to receive a patent.

The Putt 'N Reel. Now why didn't I think of that?

Hug it out

With over 25 million views, the Free Hugs Campaign is a Youtube phenomenon. As Michele Miller writes:

It's a perfect parallel to building a viral campaign for your business. Watch the video and observe:

* People's resistance to anything free... even if it's a hug

* The breakthrough that happens when one random individual decides to try one

* A tsunami of response once people watch the experience of others

* The fight to defend their right to hug when barriers are erected by "authorities"

If you believe strongly enough in your product or service, give it away for free. In the beginning, no one will believe you. Stick with it long enough, experience breakthrough, and you'll have more business than you know what to do with. And you'll have a band of merry men (and women) who will be your brand evangelists.

Did you get Rick Rolled?

Reuters has a blog post on the Web's hottest prank for this year's April Fool's Day - Rick Rolling.

And you can find another really interesting article here.

Friday fun: Love in an Instant (Message)

This is cute - Internet Love Song, from comedian Nick Thune.

Click free

Here's an interesting experiment with a user interface that requires no clicking. I like it but there's something empowering and definitive about the mouse click that I miss. Give it a try for yourself here.

City of Light

A hi-res photo of Paris, France at night. Wow.

A pause in the action

The group ImprovEverywhere pulled off a cool trick in New York's Grand Central Station. The idea is simple: just stop moving. Stop talking. Freeze as if someone hit your personal pause button. And have a couple hundred other people do it with you at the same time.

The execution is great and the reactions are worth a watch.

Friday fun: To opt out, please opt in

Uh, I don't think so...

Friday Fun: eCommerce, Meet Rube Goldberg

Here's a really clever site from a Dutch retailer. My kids loved this. Wait for it to load.

Friday fun: Lolcats

What's a lolcat you ask? A lolcat is a compound, made-up word, combining the acronym "lol" for "laughing out loud" and cat. Lolcats are images created as a humor device for photo sharing sites and other internet forums. These images usually consist of a photo of a cat with a large caption. The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the cat, or as a description of the depicted scene. Often the words are misspelled or juxtaposed on purpose.

To get a feel for this sub-culture you probably didn't know existed, you can visit lolcat.com or lolcat.net.

"Funny"

Check out The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.

Clever outdoor ads

Many advertisers, realizing the need to rise above the marketing din, are getting creative in their quest for our attention. Here are a few examples of some really creative outdoor ads.

Images link to their source.

Friday fun: Time management

Here's another classic from the creative folks at The Onion.

An excerpt:

So let's plan to have a few ad hoc powwows next week to discuss the meeting situation, vis-à-vis the workplace. The prioritized goal of these meetings will be to draw up a comprehensive road map for what we should be aiming for while avoiding the stumbling blocks we've encountered in the past. The point here is to take a step back and reevaluate how we do things here, on a macro level.

Friday fun: Sue everybody!

What a great name for a lawyer.

The Screensaver: Not Dead Yet

Remember the popular screensavers from 10-15 years ago? You could make your computer screen look like an aquarium, outer space, or a fantastical world where toasters flew. My favorite may have been Johnny Castaway.

Well despite no longer technically needing a program to save our screens from phosphor burn-in, the screensaver lives on. Smashing Magazine put out this nice list last month of some of the coolest ways you can still decorate your computer.

Technology and graphics have come a long way since the days of flying toasters. Some modern screensavers are even integrated with websites like Flickr so they display new pictures every time they run. But if you're like me and you miss Johnny Castaway and wonder how he's doing on that island, I found him here.

Hare clips

Add one part CliffsNotes, one part charades, and two parts SportsCenter highlight reel. Mix with bunny rabbits and clever animation. Serve fast and enjoy. The result is the "30-Second Bunnies Theatre" and it's deliciously funny.

Angry Alien features over 3 dozen popular movies like Pulp Fiction, Jaws and Titanic. The films are animated and condensed to just 30 seconds.

Warning: Just like their real movie counterparts, some of the bunny shorts feature language and images that make them inappropriate for work. Unless of course you're a longshoreman.

Limitless paper in a paperless world

I could probably do this if I had the time...and the talent. And some paper.

Amazing. Reminds me of these great paper sculptures by Peter Callesen.

Wisdom of the aged

Found online. From the very wise Dave Barry:

"15 Things it took me my whole life to learn"

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. (This one is very important)

7. Never lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 11.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

13. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to a waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

A few good creative men

"We write ads or people die - You CAN'T handle a bigger logo!"

Friday fun: The way it never was

Google in 1960:

Fight for Kisses

Haven't played the game yet (other than in real life) but the trailer is hilarious and very creative.

Fight for Kisses

Friday fun: Use your illusion

There is nothing animated or moving in this picture.

"My eyes is going crazy."

An alternative to Lorem Ipsum

Often when designers are mocking up a website or a print piece they will insert "placeholder text." The idea is to show the reviewer what the site or piece will look like, without worrying about the content.

Designers often use what's called Lorem Ipsum text which looks like this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.

The idea is to simulate real text - sentences, a realistic combination of short and long words, etc. You can get your own Lorem Ipsum text using the Lorem Ipsum Generator.

But if you want to use something clever and different, try this text I found at css-tricks.com. It uses every modern-business buzz-word and cliche in the book. Feel free to cut and paste it into your next design project.


Completely revolutionize high-quality niches after mission-critical expertise. Professionally deploy standardized total linkage before interoperable architectures. Quickly formulate future-proof meta-services through cross functional portals. Holisticly procrastinate timely results vis-a-vis principle-centered human capital. Distinctively incubate emerging systems and collaborative best practices. Compellingly exploit next-generation technology via web-enabled results.

Professionally disintermediate 24/365 web services via intermandated technologies. Holisticly disseminate flexible web services through professional results. Enthusiastically empower integrated channels and standards compliant channels. Proactively brand end-to-end process improvements rather than resource sucking results. Phosfluorescently envisioneer excellent growth strategies rather than equity invested outsourcing. Assertively build progressive data whereas process-centric processes. Dramatically visualize highly efficient sources via accurate applications. Efficiently engineer orthogonal infomediaries for cross functional ROI. Conveniently restore alternative functionalities after intermandated systems.

Credibly aggregate dynamic synergy and one-to-one testing procedures. Credibly synergize out-of-the-box growth strategies via timely mindshare. Synergistically embrace extensive schemas and multidisciplinary processes. Monotonectally synergize 2.0 sources before resource-leveling sources. Professionally grow value-added results before client-based internal or "organic" sources. Uniquely network alternative processes for interoperable solutions.

Quickly fabricate out-of-the-box relationships via top-line e-services. Uniquely restore market positioning synergy rather than long-term high-impact manufactured products. Monotonectally plagiarize high-payoff interfaces rather than business internal or "organic" sources. Credibly synergize plug-and-play interfaces rather than intuitive results. Compellingly expedite fully tested outsourcing vis-a-vis impactful synergy. Energistically build strategic value and excellent portals. Holisticly deliver revolutionary users before extensive value. Uniquely leverage other's low-risk high-yield e-services before multidisciplinary action items. Dynamically formulate proactive metrics via just in time e-business.

Sky play

Found this creative set of "sky play" photos on Flickr.

I think this one is my favorite.

We all fall down

"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment."

        - Jim Horning

404: Creativity found

We've all experienced it. The dreaded "Page Not Found" error message on a website. Often it means the address we have is incorrect or the content has been moved or removed. This is often referred to as a "404 error" indicating that the browser was able to communicate with the server but could not find what was requested.

Most of the time, the error message we receive is a standard one like this. Effective, but boring.

Well Smashing Magazine has put together a great collection of some of the most clever Page Not Found pages.

Some of my favorites are here, here, here and here.

Friday fun: Word play

Sometimes we're attracted to words by their meaning or their connotations. Or sometimes the words make a pleasant sound or they are fun to say.

For instance, words I like:
    aerosolize
    mystical
    whisper
    skullduggery

On the other hand, words i don't like:
    registrar
    phlegm
    rural
    bubonic

Now there's a website, Wordie, where everyone can post and share their favorite (or least favorite) words. As the site jokes, it's like Flickr without the photos.

Friday fun: Arborsculpture

From the "I never knew it existed" file...

Arborsculpting

Friday fun: Standing by to stand by

From the department of redundancy department:

Seussian perspective

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life's realities."

- Dr. Seuss

iPhun

From Boing Boing: An iPhone for the beach.

Friday fun: Web Pages that Suck

Henry Ford once said "Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently."

Vincent Flanders' site Web Pages that Suck helps you to learn proper web design and usability from the ill-conceived, poorly executed, and often humorous mistakes of others.

Learn from their failures and make sure your website never ends up on Vincent's.

Friday fun: Both are true

A man who does not think and plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door.
- Confucius

"Planning is sometimes just a form of procrastination."
- Jesse James Garrett

Going mobile

In honor of the iPhone's release today:

What mobile used to mean. (via ComputerWorld)

Friday fun: Name that chip

Frito-Lay is involving its customers in a new contest to name a flavor of its popular Doritos chips. After giving the chips a name, which prints right on the bag as you watch, you even have the chance to write and produce a commercial for it.

As marketers look for new and innovative ways to gain our attention, this kind of "participatory advertising" is becoming more and more common.

Friday fun: It's a Wonderful Internet

OK, so it's a little early (or late) for a Christmas card. But here is a clever one from the folks at Antfarm Interactive: It's a Wonderful Internet.

Friday fun: Accidental discoveries

Sometimes things don't go as planned. But as this list shows, that's OK.

Friday fun: Lover boy

Do the subtle differences between marketing, PR, advertising and branding get you confused? Maybe this will help you keep them straight.

Friday Fun: Got Glass?

I have no idea if this site helps sell more milk but it's cleverly done and impressively designed.

Play Get the Glass.

Business intelligence

From the always spot-on Dilbert:

A case of the Mondays

The Office Space Kit: Yeah, we've got sort of a problem here. If you haven't seen it, you need to.

Friday fun: Corporate etymology

Fascinating list on Wikipedia of the etymology of company names. For instance:

• Kinko's — from the college nickname of founder, Paul Orfalea. He was called Kinko because he had curly red hair. The company was bought by FedEx for $2.4 billion in 2004.
• Nabisco — formerly The National Biscuit Company, changed in 1971 to Nabisco.
• Reebok — alternate spelling of rhebok, an African antelope.
• Starbucks — named after Starbuck, a character in Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick.
• Williams-Sonoma — founded by Chuck Williams in Sonoma, California.
• Yoplait — from the merger of Yola and Coplait in 1965.
  

Who knew?

Friday fun: Pie anyone?

Craig Robinson illustrates his life to date. Using pie charts, of course.