The Barbarian Blog

um. unintentionally filthy spam?

Eva McCloskey — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:37:00 -0400

apparently, sexy times will be had at the “Cision Webinar”...

Typography.

John Sullivan Hamilton — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:48:00 -0400

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about typography and I got into a very interesting conversation with Kim Miller the flash disciple that I figured would be nice to share.

I blocked our screen names FOR SECURITY REASONS.

Kim is kimknowsmagic and I am jaysunismydad.

Pictures from Boston - w/o 8/11

Shelby MacLeod — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:19:00 -0400

Things happened in the Boston office last week, here are some images to prove it.

Syndicated Advertising

Bruce Winterton — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:53:00 -0400

Andy Berndt at Google, good friend of ours, making some advertising for Burger King through Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame. The ads, created by Seth, will precede his Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, an interesting experiment in online syndication through Google AdSense. Instead of creating content for a website and driving people to that site to aggregate eyeballs and then sell media this “series” will be exported across the web via Google (and YouTube). I was always wondering how they would make decent money on this syndication but now it makes sense: relevant preroll. Nice.

Can’t wait to see how this plays out. I’m certain the ads will be funny, if nothing else.

Just Do It for 20 Years

Bruce Winterton — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:28:00 -0400

So one of the greatest lines in Advertising history is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this summer, Nike’s Just Do It. Awesome. And congrats to Nike and to Wieden & Kennedy.

When I was a marketing director at Miller Brewing back in the mid-nineties I had the pleasure of working with Dan Wieden and Dave Luhr and the rest of W+K Portland. At that time we were looking at re-introducing the phrase It’s Miller Time back into the American lexicon and we were debating where the line should be used, under what circumstances, and how often. My initial reaction was everywhere, in all cases, as often as possible. Dan Wieden then described how Just Do It is used, or more precisely, not used. “Only use a brand motto (that’s what they called Just Do It, it’s certainly not a slogan…) when you can give it meaning. Every use out of context, on say a t-shirt, subtracts value.” Or something like that. And then I realized I had never seen a t-shirt with the words Just Do It, or a hat or a bumper sticker. What does a bumper sticker have to do with authentic athletic performance? Nothing. In fact, he went on to point out that most Nike TV spots do not end with Just Do It. I said I didnt believe him and he showed me a reel of the greatest hits and only a handful actually ended with Just Do It. It was remarkable and made perfect sense. No wonder it has lasted so long.

iPhone update

Rick Webb — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:47:00 -0400

Anyone find any features/fixes in the iPhone 2.0.2 update yet?

Five best iPhone tricks

Noah Brier — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:57:43 -0400

Whoa, this is awesome: Telegraph presents 5 best iPhone tricks . My two favorites are screenshots (hold down home key and press the sleep button … goes straight into your photos) and additional domain name endings (just hold down the .com in Safari and it will pop up .edu and .org).

COMMENTS OPEN

Train Your iPhone to Swear

Noah Brier — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:31:09 -0400

After watching this awesome sketch on why predictive text blocks swearing (via Daring Fireball ) I was inspired to figure out how to get my iPhone to stop sending emails with the word “duck.” A quick Google search duck fuck&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a landed me on a Twitter that suggested if you type swears out and then just press the x when the phone tries to correct it , eventually it will learn the word. Not only did it work, but it will start to predict you’re trying to swear even when you spell it wrong.

Anyway, I decided to set up a little site/email called duckingiphone.com where I figure I’ll collect people’s swearmail. So send your swear training to duckyou@duckingiphone.com

COMMENTS OPEN

Sunday Night Linkdump

Noah Brier — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:33:23 -0400

It’s late, I’m tired, here’s lots of links.

Okay, so being out of town for a while has left me lots of time for reading. Hence I’ve got another one of those link posts. But first, a question: Does anyone like these things? I find them to be a useful way to throw together a bunch of interesting stuff, but if everyone thinks they suck I can stop. Also, would it be better if I just blogged these at the time I read them as quickies? Do you care? Seriously, if you have any preference or thought at all, please let me know in the comments or an email .

Now for some stuff …

I may be doing a little drinks thing Monday night in SF. I will post here, but if you’d like an email with details let me know (comments or email is fine).
The science of spice : Chili’s are hot because the chemical that makes it so acts as a fungicide. Interesting. Also from the article, “It turns out that capsaicin – this plant protectant – binds to a special class of vanilloid receptor inside our mouth called VR1 receptors. After binding capsaicin, the neuron is depolarized, and it signals the presence of spicy stimuli … But here’s the strange part: VR1 receptors weren’t designed to detect capsaicin. They bind spicy food by accident. The real purpose of VR1 receptors is the detection of heat. They are supposed to prevent us from consuming food that is too hot, in the thermal sense. (That’s why our VR1 receptors are clustered in our tongue, mouth and skin.)”
New York Times on how much different the dress code/culture of advertising is now compared to Mad Men. There are simply too many quotes worthy of poking fun at to choose one.
Georgia’s war with Russia is the first time in history that two nations with a McDonald’s have fought . (via rc3.org )
Marginal Revolution sums up something I’ve been noticing quite a lot: Obama insecurity .
Airborne has settled a case with the FTC that will require them to give back $30 million to consumers because of false claims. If you bought Airborne over the last few years and want your money back, there’s a handy website to help you .
What was most interesting about “the Times’ piece on YouTube ads”: was the technology behind it: “YouTube introduced a technology last fall called Video ID which allowed copyright owners to compare the digital fingerprints of their videos with material on YouTube, then flag infringing material for removal.” This gives media companies (or any content creator) the opportunity to track all content and eventually claim it as their own. That includes content created by consumers. Check out what EA is doing: “Electronic Arts, the video game publisher, has taken Video ID a step further, using it to encourage user submissions. In a promotion for the coming video game Spore, E.A. encouraged gamers to upload original Spore creatures they created using a software program. There were more than 100,000 submissions, and some attracted hundreds of thousands of views. E.A. used Video ID to claim the most popular user videos and share in the ad revenue on them.” Opens up some interesting possibilities (and questions).
A select number of libraries have started to lend physical objects in addition to books : “Tool Lending Library offers thousands of tools free to Berkeley residents and people who own property in Berkeley. First time borrowers must present photo ID, a Berkeley Public Library card, and a recently received utility bill their name. Berkeley property owners who do not live in Berkeley must present their property tax bill. These policies are strictly enforced.”
Diaroogle.com : Locate a public toilet in NYC. (via Alan via Josh )
Blogjects (or spimes ) in the wild : “Baacode gives each item of clothing a unique tracking number, which when entered into Icebreaker’s website allows you to find out exactly where your clothing was made, even allowing you to take a virtual tour of the New Zealand ranch on which “your” sheep was raised.”

That’s it for now. Have a great week.

When I Grow Up…

Noah Brier — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:54:28 -0400

Peter Hossli has an incredibly strange article about a place called Wannado City . It’s a strange pseudo-amusement park for kids located in the Sawgrass Mills mall in Florida. Parents pay for their kids to spend time there and the kids are given the opportunity to try their hand at any number of real-world jobs, which they eventually get paid for in the city’s special currency. As Luis Laresgoiti is quoted as explaining in the article, “This city for kids should be as close to reality as possible … Money is the most important fuel in every city and every country – also in Wannado City.”

Shudder … It all leaves me feeling a bit disgusted. Sure I think it must be a thrill for these kids, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but the focus on the park is clearly to help kids understand the realities of the world as early as possible, especially when it comes to money. I don’t even really know what to say.

On the marketing tip, “12 sponsors and their logos give the children’s work the stamp of reality. The newspaper that the little reporters research for is called the Miami Herald, Florida’s largest newspaper. Working as a cashier you are employed at Publix, a supermarket chain with over 850 stores in America’s south. On its shelves you can find ketchup from Heinz and pasta from Barilla. The money that the kidizens (junior citizens) accrue is managed at the State Farm Bank, an American financial firm that offers insurance and bank services. ‘Watch how your Wongas grow,’ exclaims the bank slogan.”

via swissmiss

COMMENTS OPEN

Rearmed

Mike Rubenstein — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:15:00 -0400

The iMac is ten

Rick Webb — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:45:00 -0400

Ah, I remember it like it was yesterday. The iMac is ten. It was my first MacWorld Expo. My first time seeing Steve Jobs in person. I think I may have cried. It was like going to see a rock concert. Actually you know what it was like? It was like when Primal Scream put XTRMNTR! out and this thing you loved, but had strayed a bit, this thing you always loved, came back and did it all once again, and you know everything that everything was going to be okay.

I remember that grid. I remember how excited I was watching that last square be filled in.

I remember trying to hook up my new iMac to my Agfa Accuset Imagesetter with hardware RIP. Oh, um. Never mind.

Happy birthday, iMac.

Formal Friday Salute

Kevin Chan — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:12:00 -0400

Brand new Barbarian Daniel Schutzsmith’s first Formal Friday ever. Mr. McManus (not so formal) wonders what the fuss is all about.

Online Research: Narrowing the Possibilities?

Noah Brier — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:46:00 -0400

This can be filed away in the “I know it’s important, but I’m not sure I can verbalize why quite yet” category. A recent study has turned up that the web has actually created a decline in the number of sources people link to in scholarly research. It seems that as with many things web, the rich got richer. I haven’t read the actual paper yet, but this quote from it really made me scratch my chin: “Ironically, my research suggests that one of the chief values of print library research is its poor indexing. Poor indexing—indexing by titles and authors, primarily within journals—likely had the unintended consequence of actually helping the integration of science and scholarship. By drawing researchers into a wider array of articles, print browsing and perusal may have facilitated broader comparisons and scholarship.”

COMMENTS OPEN

Interactive Interactive Ads

Mike O'Toole — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:44:00 -0400

Woah! Facebook’s new comments gone wild philosophy recently extended to ads! That’s kinda dope.

Tampax + Stardolls

Rick Webb — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:25:00 -0400

Is it just me, and I’m old, or does this seem like a really bad idea?

Sorry, MTA.

Ryan McManus — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:10:00 -0400

So, apparently it wasn’t the MTA who took issue with our subway ads, but our own media placement company. So, apologies, MTA. And thanks for holding the R for me this morning as I ran down the stairs. You guys are alllll right.

Previously:
Interactive Subway Ads for Hello Health.

Shashlik

Mike Rubenstein — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:09:00 -0400

First O'Reilly InsideRIA Blog Post

Toby Boudreaux — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:53:00 -0400

Doing some writing for O’Reilly. My first post is on the rad SproutCore framework.

Now go submit some patches to their SCM to get TableView support finished!

The Barbarians are Bringing Achewood to ROFLCon SF!

Rick Webb — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:13:00 -0400

Woo hoo! Boy, we’re excited about this. Remember ROFLCon? Well it’s back! ROFLThing SF is hitting the bay area on August 28th and 29th and it’s a doozy. It’s got Waxy.org, I Can Has Cheezburger, Twitter Fail Whale Fan Club and nerdcore rapper Doctor Popular.

But best of all, the Barbarians will be hosting a special VIP cocktail party with none other than Chris Onstad, creator of the legendary Achewood online comic. As a longtime fan of Achewood, I cannot convey to you how ridiculously excited we are about this. G&Ts all around. This is going to rule.

More info and registration on the ROFLCon site.