knick/knack

Daniel’s post, which linked to a Ben Folds video where he...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:33:00 -0500

Daniel’s post, which linked to a Ben Folds video where he improvs about one of the Harvard houses, reminded me of this gem.

This is Common freestyling at/about NU a couple years back—he pulled a couple students aside 5 minutes before he went on and asked them to tell him everything they could about campus. This is the result. I figured it was appropriate on the eve of my last undergraduate class.

Your Dad, commenting on the NYTimes.com:

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:18:00 -0500

“Why is this story even included in the New York Times? Even if it’s included in the New York Times, why is the article so long and descriptive?

Can you, Mr. Journalist, explain to us mere mortals back here on Planet Earth why we would care about the circumstances of some clown who calls himself “Lil Wayne?”

Considering how much energy you must have consumed on your computer to write this article, and for the New York Times to post it on the internet, you should be arrested for endangering my environment with a useless article such as this.”

via For Lil Wayne, 3rd Time is Not the Charm

Chris Harrison, of Carnegie Mellon, developed this...

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:10:44 -0500

Chris Harrison, of Carnegie Mellon, developed this “Skinput” interface. Unbelievably innovative.

Charlie Harper-esque work from Leandro Castelao (via simonswork)

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:49:22 -0500

Charlie Harper-esque work from Leandro Castelao

(via simonswork)

Baptiste Debombourg (via todayandtomorrow)

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:48:03 -0500

Baptiste Debombourg

(via todayandtomorrow)

Loving these pieces by Anatoly Zenkov (via todayandtomorrow)

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:43:54 -0500

Loving these pieces by Anatoly Zenkov

(via todayandtomorrow)

Photo

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:42:52 -0500

Dimitri Vangrunderbeek (via newidea)

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:42:24 -0500

Dimitri Vangrunderbeek

(via newidea)

Chiharu Shiota (via simonswork)

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:39:49 -0500

Chiharu Shiota

(via simonswork)

Adam Voorhes (via designmilk)

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:35:00 -0500

Adam Voorhes

(via designmilk)

Mini-golf, anyone? (via simonswork)

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:32:33 -0500

Mini-golf, anyone?

(via simonswork)

Kim Høltermand (via simonswork)

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:30:27 -0500

Kim Høltermand

(via simonswork)

thedailywhat: Keep Bum Rushing That Chicken of the Day:...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:01:49 -0500

thedailywhat:

Keep Bum Rushing That Chicken of the Day: Northwestern prankster in a chicken costume interrupts Prof. OPP’s organic chemistry class.

Tacklarity ensues.

[reddit.]

Almost makes Northwestern seem cool…almost. Though maybe I should be more forgiving to my future alma mater…only two more weeks!

Lykke Li + Bon Iver - Dance Dance Dance

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:44:00 -0500

Lykke Li + Bon Iver - Dance Dance Dance

Hermès Leica M7 (via thinkingforaliving)

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:40:14 -0500

Hermès Leica M7

(via thinkingforaliving)

"Communication in twitter is improbable because of its sheer volume. Simply “saying..."

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:06:39 -0500

“

Communication in twitter is improbable because of its sheer volume. Simply “saying something” doesn’t secure the attention of a desired audience, let alone an individual. This places burden on action as a means of increasing the probability of communication. @replies address an author, increasing exposure to one’s own followers and finding their way into the @repies of the intended addressee.

Because twitter is made of un-coupled tweets, its conversation space is limited by the @reply and RT. Neither of these are captured in a view that threads conversation and makes it visible to others. Consequently, it makes little sense to try to tweet conversationally in twitter. Conversations require that statements be displayed serially and in order. Twitter can’t do this. It thus makes more sense to tweet one-off statements, links, and for the most part monological messages.

Buzz solves the coupling problem: by eliminating the need to address the original author directly, and by threading comments beneath the original post. The distinction will result in a much different sociality. First, high profile (well connected) users will be more visible. They will not need to buzz as much to get visibility. Their more interesting and dialogical statements (questions, claims, arguments, etc) will attract commentary, which, reinforced by Buzz’s notifications and privileging of commented posts, results in a conversational sociality.

”

- Adrian Chan, If twitter is micro-blogging, is Buzz micro-commentary?

"But some critics said that Google’s decision to use e-mail and chat correspondence as the basis of a..."

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 01:22:00 -0500

“But some critics said that Google’s decision to use e-mail and chat correspondence as the basis of a social network was fundamentally misguided. While it is common for social networks to make public a person’s list of friends and followers, those lists are not typically created from e-mail conversations.”

- Critics Say Google Invades Privacy With New Service

This could have worked if Google had presented Buzz users with a list of their frequent e-mail contacts, allowing them to select who they’d like to “invite” to share their buzz. The auto-selection followed by subsequent notification of who is already following you is the fundamental issue. See: My Google Buzz Rant

Does taking someone else's perspective lead to deep insight about them?

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:34:42 -0500

Does taking someone else's perspective lead to deep insight about them?:

“Actually, it leads you to behave stereotypically:

Nine studies demonstrated that perspective-takers are particularly likely to adopt a target’s positive and negative stereotypical traits and behaviors. Perspective-takers rated both positive and negative stereotypic traits of targets as more self-descriptive. As a result, taking the perspective of a professor led to improved performance on an analytic task, whereas taking the perspective of a cheerleader led to decreased performance, in line with the respective stereotypes of professors and cheerleaders. Similarly, perspective-takers of an elderly target competed less compared to perspective-takers of an African American target.”

So what does this mean for designers who uphold empathy as their greatest virtue? If anything, it’s a good case for thorough user research.

Setareh Mohtarez (via lostateminor)

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:31:24 -0500

Setareh Mohtarez

(via lostateminor)

Remed (via CTT)

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:30:08 -0500

Remed

(via CTT)