Obvious Diversion

Sometimes marketers get it exactly right like this ps2 advert spotted in France.

I have a personal affection for Taipei as anyone who knows me or has seen the photo galleries on this site knows. As a result, I don’t point out this strangeness I tripped over as any sort of ridicule but as a curiosity. The Department of Information of the Taipei City Government has opened up [...]

Freakonomics should probably have been titled The Exploration of Common Social Assumptions Through Statistical Analysis, but it probably wouldn’t have sold very well. As a result, they slapped Freakonomics on the front of it and managed to make a book about economics and analysis a New York Times best seller. Bravo. Here are some of [...]

Spotlight is easily the most significant feature of Mac OS 10.4 and certainly takes desktop search to impressive territory. It’s the beginning of a future where sorting through files and folders becomes silly and arduous when all you need to do is search. It’s important to note though that Spotlight is really just version 1.0 [...]

The excitement around podcasting is justified. Much like blogging, the internet is empowering individuals with a new medium of easy and accessible speech that can be shared with the world. What’s not to like? Well, it turns out quite a bit. Before you venture into your first podcast, make sure you explore both the advantages [...]

When I started blogging, I set out to comment on technology and information design. The last thing I thought I would add to the Internet was information on vacuum cleaners, old 1960s stoves, alternative colas and well designed umbrellas. But, somehow, I did and as a result a pretty large number of people stop by [...]

The first year of my first real tech job, I gobbled up Tufte’s books like they were the greatest mind candy in existence. Years later, it turns out they were. I owe a great deal to my accidental stumbling upon this man’s work as early in my career as I did and a month doesn’t [...]

I noticed that the University of Washington is hosting David Byrne to present his work I Heart Powerpoint. Here’s their description: Byrne has developed what must be the most surreal PowerPoint lecture of all time. This unique evening with Byrne presents singular insights into the ubiquitous presentation software and its potential as a creative tool. [...]

The last few days I found that Amazon has been serving me a different UI than on other computers. Click on the screenshots for a larger view. Old UI: New UI: There’s a clear shift here away from category-based navigation and towards search as the primary tool to find products. It would be more interesting [...]

I purchased a cheap duffel bag the other day to help with the move, and it contained a single piece of cardboard with the following print on it. Do parents generally put large pieces of cardboard into the crib with their newborn?