.oO Tailwind

Any interaction designer worth their salt spends a few Post-it notes during the design process, but I gotta say I love this idea: A wall of them as a permanent, considered inteior feature.

From the site:

“A wallpaper consisting of four layers of varying grey tones on a bright primary backing. Each layer is perforated in a grid format and backed with a tacky adhesive similar to ‘post-it’ notes. Pixelnotes is inspired by the way we work within a space. The walls become functional, an integrated noticeboard that documents our activity within the room. Pixelated formations and shapes develop according to our patterns of use”

During my day I stray upon, or I am sent lots of links to cool and interesting things. So I thought that I’d start posting the good ones here.

I’ll try to do this on a weekly basis to keep the interest up for you and promise to cover interesting products, websites, business initiatives, technology and whatever else comes my way.

I apologise not, for the odd breakdancing clip. None today though I’m afraid.

Nominees for the 2006 weblog award - Not this year methinks.

No relevance here, other than this stuff works.

Vicks First Defence (Times Article)

Catch a cold early enough and it stems it, knocks it n the head, pays it off. you cold either stops or doesn’t get any worse.

It’s not that pleasant tot take/use as you spray a superfast jet of ’stuff’ up each nostril. That said, the short discomfort is kinda worth it compared to a cold.

if like me, you are not winding down in the run up to Christmas due to stupid workloads and you want to get through it without crashing on the first day of your holiday, I suggest you buy some.

It’s worth every penny of the seven british pounds it costs.

I’ve just migrated from my old G4 Powerbook with Starving Hamsters to a shiny new super-fast Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, which I have to say was an incredibly easy experience.

I was kinda worried that setting up my new machine would take a while, to copy over all my data and to set-up all my widgets, plugins, apps etc but it was lickity split quick and altogether a very pleasant experience.

That said, you always ‘lose’ a few things on the way and I am gutted to have lost my FlickrExport plugin from iPhoto.

I had this little plugin that gave me an extra tab on the iPhoto Export dialogue that hooked me up to Flickr. It was great because it allowed me to add tags, descriptions, create photosets, define privacy settings etc and it was free.

I went to download a new version from Sourceforge and discovered that they want £12 for it!!!!

£12?

For a plugin?

My God. You are kidding right?

No..?

If it was a couple of quid I’d have bought it but I can’t help thinking this is a bit out of line. I appreciate that the guy needs paying and I’d gladly do so for such a useful tool but this price is ridiculous especially on top of a Flickr Pro license.

I’m held to ransom!

I have no choice but to scour the web for an alternative so if anyone sees anything…holler!

Wow - has it really been that long since I posted?

Cripes that’s not good bloging practice.

What is it they say? Post every four days to sustain interest? Oh well, if you are still here, thanks for not leaving and turning the lights out.

the truth is my daughter has not been so well lately and we’ve been suffering the twilight awakenings. Those with children will know what I mean. Mmmm 2 then 3 then 4 then 5 am. Oh then up for work at 6!

Joy.

I’m also in the throws of a pitch just now so I have a stack load o’ stuff on top of my day job all along with the added loveliness of annual appraisal.

Either-way you’re not here to hear me vent my spleen are you?

No. Thought not.

But before I forget, a quick congratulations to Carl (an old University mate) who’s recently become a father. Welcome to the club fella! Enjoy!

Blackberry Crackberry
So, I’ve had my little Blackberry for over 2 weeks now and the jury have a verdict.

All round good wholesome stuff.

I had various fears about being constantly contactable and turning into one of those ‘huh? what did you say?’ idiots, which I think I’ve avoided (please advise if not). Instead I’m able to bat away the unnecessary stuff with ease and drill into the more important emails as and when required.

Of course the real problem is information saturation, I simply receive too much. This is further compounded by poorly written prose that buries points and hides actions and questions.

However, my little Blackberry has helped me prioritise my email, the only gripe I have is that I seem to receive lots more spam. This is because my Outlook filters are applied at the desktop on my Mac and so I don’t have the same spam protection on my Blackberry.

No, I’m happy ‘how I am’ thanks you and while your offer of cash from Nigeria is tempting…again…no thanks. Oh and the watch, stock options, Viagra etc…? You can keep those too.

The calendar is a God-save as it stays up-to-date which my synced phone didn’t an the fact that I can send sms messages and make phone calls is also quite rad.

Browsing the web is rubbish, though blogs obviously work well which is great.

The UI takes some getting used to though, but you soon teach your thumb to work the wheel and widdle its way round the keyboard soon enough. You discover movements that you didn’t know you had - just watch a seasoned ‘Crackhead’ and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m sure its not doing my Bass playing any good though - the thumb movements are unnatural.

I wonder if they dish out black belts for this stuff, they should do for phones: