http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/special-reports/other-reports/e3ibd2a4d5f94f9578bb5e64247c12ae3b1
" What used to be considered the developing countries of the Third World are quickly becoming the emerging economies of the next world. BRIC: Brazil, Russia, India and China are four markets with unique characteristics, but are nonetheless tied together by the potential created after changes in their political systems unleashed the consumer demand of 43 percent of the world's population. Already, five of the planet's top 10 cities -- centers of wealth generation for consumers climbing the economic ladder -- are located in the burgeoning BRIC.
The term entered into business parlance in 2003 after Goldman Sachs global economist Jim O'Neill outlined his future worldview. He believed BRIC possessed the economic potential to become the world's four most dominant economies by 2050, which could be larger than that of the U.S. and Western Europe combined.
Recent headlines about the bailouts of major U.S. financial institutions and speculation about the dollar's fall from global dominance underscored the shift in power towards Asia that has been well under way. China and India, along with Russia, are expected to be among the fastest-growing economies in the world this year (although a U.S.-triggered global downturn could impact the BRIC economies, which are still heavily driven by exports)."
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
10 Insights From 11 Months Of Working At Google
http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2008/02/10-insights-from-11-months-of-working-at-google.html#commentshttp://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2008/02/10-insights-from-11-months-of-working-at-google.html
"It will soon be a year of working at Google and milestones are always a good time for introspection.
"It will soon be a year of working at Google and milestones are always a good time for introspection.
I have a lot on my mind but there was one thing in particular that I wanted to share with you all:
What it is has been like working at Google.
Interesting, fun, surprising, insightful, inspiring, impactful, and more such words. This post shares that experience.
I went into Google with my own filters and expectations on what the experience would be like and what I would end up doing.
Looking back the reality has been different in so many ways, even for a jaded Silicon Valley veteran of layoffs and cool companies like myself."
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Things I Learned at the Apple Store | Burbia
http://www.burbia.com/node/1614
"I stopped by the mall the other day, mainly to pick up a pair of sneakers my wife had ordered. (That's another story, shopping -- even picking up things -- for the wife. It rarely ends well.) Anyway in the mall, I passed an Apple Store. It had recently been renovated, and I had never been there. (In fact, I'd never been in an Apple Store anywhere.)
I went in. First, I'm not a techie or a remotely skilled computer user. I have no strong feelings about Apple. I went in without preconceptions. I went in really to avoid leaving the mall -- it was freezing out & snowing & I was hoping (dreaming) that a few minutes later it would be a lot warmer and not snowing.
Here's what I think I learned or observed or concluded on my first trip to the Apple Store..."
"I stopped by the mall the other day, mainly to pick up a pair of sneakers my wife had ordered. (That's another story, shopping -- even picking up things -- for the wife. It rarely ends well.) Anyway in the mall, I passed an Apple Store. It had recently been renovated, and I had never been there. (In fact, I'd never been in an Apple Store anywhere.)
I went in. First, I'm not a techie or a remotely skilled computer user. I have no strong feelings about Apple. I went in without preconceptions. I went in really to avoid leaving the mall -- it was freezing out & snowing & I was hoping (dreaming) that a few minutes later it would be a lot warmer and not snowing.
Here's what I think I learned or observed or concluded on my first trip to the Apple Store..."
Monday, February 11, 2008
Smashing Magazine: 10 Principles of Effective Web Design
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/index.php/2008/01/31/10-principles-of-effective-web-design/
"Usability and the utility, not the visual design, determine the success or failure of a web-site. Since the visitor of the page is the only person who clicks the mouse and therefore decides everything, user-centric design has established as a standard approach for successful and profit-oriented web design. After all, if users can’t use a feature, it might as well not exist.
We aren’t going to discuss the implementation details (e.g. where the search box should be placed) as it has already been done in a number of articles; instead we focus on the main principles, heuristics and approaches for effective web design — approaches which, used properly, can lead to more sophisticated design decisions and simplify the process of perceiving presented information.
Please notice that you might be interested in the usability-related articles about 10 Usability Nightmares and 30 Usability Issues we’ve published before,we’ll cover more principles of effective design in our following posts. Therefore you might want to subscribe to our RSS-feed.
In order to use the principles properly we first need to understand how users interact with web-sites, how they think and what are the basic patterns of users’ behavior."
"Usability and the utility, not the visual design, determine the success or failure of a web-site. Since the visitor of the page is the only person who clicks the mouse and therefore decides everything, user-centric design has established as a standard approach for successful and profit-oriented web design. After all, if users can’t use a feature, it might as well not exist.
We aren’t going to discuss the implementation details (e.g. where the search box should be placed) as it has already been done in a number of articles; instead we focus on the main principles, heuristics and approaches for effective web design — approaches which, used properly, can lead to more sophisticated design decisions and simplify the process of perceiving presented information.
Please notice that you might be interested in the usability-related articles about 10 Usability Nightmares and 30 Usability Issues we’ve published before,we’ll cover more principles of effective design in our following posts. Therefore you might want to subscribe to our RSS-feed.
In order to use the principles properly we first need to understand how users interact with web-sites, how they think and what are the basic patterns of users’ behavior."
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Apple's Safari 3.1 to support downloadable web fonts, more
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/02/07/apples_safari_3_1_to_support_downloadable_web_fonts_more.html
"The ability to download and immediately render non-standard web fonts is just one of several advancements Apple Inc. has planned for Safari 3.1, a small but significant update to its share-gaining web browser for both the Mac and Windows PCs.
The release, which underwent private testing this week, will tie in a number of other enhancements, most of which have been under constant development as part of the company's WebKit open source application framework since last fall. They aim to provide Web developers a means of writing more dynamic and customizable web pages and iPhone apps, which will in turn provide surfers with a more feature-rich and enjoyable experience.
For example, CSS Transforms and CSS Animations will join web downloadable fonts in allowing Safari 3.1 and iPhone users to render web pages and web apps with enhanced design messages and real-time visual effects. By applying Transforms, developers can author trigger actions that scale, rotate, skew and translate HTML boxes in real time. Similarly, Animations offer a quicker route to AJAX-like effects, such as fading out an HTML element, or increasing the border of a box when hovered over.
Another significant addition to Safari 3.1 will be support of HTML5's SQL storage application programming interface (API), which is a client-side database storage programming interface that will allow a future array of web applications to store structured data locally on a user's machine using SQL. The API is asynchronous, according to Apple, and uses callback functions to track the results of a database query."
"The ability to download and immediately render non-standard web fonts is just one of several advancements Apple Inc. has planned for Safari 3.1, a small but significant update to its share-gaining web browser for both the Mac and Windows PCs.
The release, which underwent private testing this week, will tie in a number of other enhancements, most of which have been under constant development as part of the company's WebKit open source application framework since last fall. They aim to provide Web developers a means of writing more dynamic and customizable web pages and iPhone apps, which will in turn provide surfers with a more feature-rich and enjoyable experience.
For example, CSS Transforms and CSS Animations will join web downloadable fonts in allowing Safari 3.1 and iPhone users to render web pages and web apps with enhanced design messages and real-time visual effects. By applying Transforms, developers can author trigger actions that scale, rotate, skew and translate HTML boxes in real time. Similarly, Animations offer a quicker route to AJAX-like effects, such as fading out an HTML element, or increasing the border of a box when hovered over.
Another significant addition to Safari 3.1 will be support of HTML5's SQL storage application programming interface (API), which is a client-side database storage programming interface that will allow a future array of web applications to store structured data locally on a user's machine using SQL. The API is asynchronous, according to Apple, and uses callback functions to track the results of a database query."
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Mac Tips and Tricks: Top 100 Essential Mac Applications
http://www.mactricksandtips.com/2008/01/top-100-essential-mac-applications.html
"I love my Mac and I have hundreds of applications installed on it. As a result I wanted to do a post on what I believe are the top 100 Mac applications that are essential to any user. I've picked a variety of applications that I could think of. I have tried to go for the cheaper free option, but quite a few you have to pay for. If you think I am missing an application leave a comment with a link to the app and why you should think it should be included, it doesn't have to be long, I just want your opinions. If you disagree with any leave a comment with your reasons."
"I love my Mac and I have hundreds of applications installed on it. As a result I wanted to do a post on what I believe are the top 100 Mac applications that are essential to any user. I've picked a variety of applications that I could think of. I have tried to go for the cheaper free option, but quite a few you have to pay for. If you think I am missing an application leave a comment with a link to the app and why you should think it should be included, it doesn't have to be long, I just want your opinions. If you disagree with any leave a comment with your reasons."
Esquire: The Five Most Pwned Newscasters
http://www.esquire.com/the-side/video/newscaster-bloopers-videos
"The Germans have a word for it: Schadenfreude, which literally translates to “Fuck you,” the etymology stemming from a nasty feud between the German bourgeoisie and the peasantry over whether or not Goethe’s Faustus was a comedy or a dramatic memoir. Anyway, what it means is that people love to see bad things happen to other people. It’s a relatively simple platitude of human nature: Watching others suffer means you’re not suffering. It’s the reason Tom Brady always has that smile on his face that says, “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure your life is pretty cool, too.”
Throw in the element of surprise, and it’s a surefire recipe for success. Newscasts are a medium tailor-made for real-time hilarity. Men and women so composed, so intent on pursuing the noble goal of reporting the events of the world, convincing themselves every night that it is important for the public to know about the upcoming apple-picking season, and it does matter that delicious fiber-rich desserts can have half the calories and fat of traditional cookies and cakes, so in the zone that the smallest derivation from the script is magnified tenfold. These videos? Try one thousand fold."
"The Germans have a word for it: Schadenfreude, which literally translates to “Fuck you,” the etymology stemming from a nasty feud between the German bourgeoisie and the peasantry over whether or not Goethe’s Faustus was a comedy or a dramatic memoir. Anyway, what it means is that people love to see bad things happen to other people. It’s a relatively simple platitude of human nature: Watching others suffer means you’re not suffering. It’s the reason Tom Brady always has that smile on his face that says, “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure your life is pretty cool, too.”
Throw in the element of surprise, and it’s a surefire recipe for success. Newscasts are a medium tailor-made for real-time hilarity. Men and women so composed, so intent on pursuing the noble goal of reporting the events of the world, convincing themselves every night that it is important for the public to know about the upcoming apple-picking season, and it does matter that delicious fiber-rich desserts can have half the calories and fat of traditional cookies and cakes, so in the zone that the smallest derivation from the script is magnified tenfold. These videos? Try one thousand fold."
Present Imperfect: Neither aroused nor inspired.
http://www.presentimperfect.com/archives/2008/01/neither_aroused.html
"Alrighty. Let’s just get this out of the way, shall we?:
“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”
-Steve Jobs on the Amazon Kindle
I could spend the rest of this post saying things like “hey, Steve, doesn’t that mean that sixty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or more last year?” Or pointing in the direction of the nearest behemoth bookstore superchain whilst making “duh” face. Or mentioning that I don’t think Amazon became the number-one online retailer in the universe by selling flyfishing accessories.
The comments on every site that published this quote are positively aglow with this kind of gleeful reactionary outrage. All over a statistic I can’t find anywhere — except in that quote.
This is because crazy genius billionaires make stuff up.
In fact, most crazy geniuses become billionaires by making stuff up. iPod? That’s a word from a language I invented when I was eight in order to secretly communicate with my imaginary dog-faced friend, Jorb from Orb. Okay, no. But it could have been, for all its made-upedness. And the iPod itself is a shiny fruit fallen to earth from an enchanted tree in a mystical fairy land populated entirely by crazy geniuses.
Really great ideas tend to be unique. Or, at least, they transform just-okay ideas into really great ideas by adding something unique.
If the Kindle fails, it won’t be because it’s ugly or because it uses only one font or because people don’t read anymore. It will fail because of a lack of imagination. The book was a fucking great idea. Seriously ace. Thank you, Aldus Manutius, you 15th-century Venetian crazy genius. The Kindle is not a unique idea, nor does it improve on Manutius’s really great idea.
Arthur C. Clarke, who has written way more about failure of imagination, once said, “Nothing will ever replace books. They can’t be matched for convenience, random access, nonvolatile memory (unless dropped in the bath), low power consumption, portability, etc.”
Of course, that hasn’t stopped Clarke from giving Amazon whatever permission it needs to turn some of his works into Kindle editions. But, hey: Crazy geniuses can also become billionaires by hedging their bets."
"Alrighty. Let’s just get this out of the way, shall we?:
“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”
-Steve Jobs on the Amazon Kindle
I could spend the rest of this post saying things like “hey, Steve, doesn’t that mean that sixty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or more last year?” Or pointing in the direction of the nearest behemoth bookstore superchain whilst making “duh” face. Or mentioning that I don’t think Amazon became the number-one online retailer in the universe by selling flyfishing accessories.
The comments on every site that published this quote are positively aglow with this kind of gleeful reactionary outrage. All over a statistic I can’t find anywhere — except in that quote.
This is because crazy genius billionaires make stuff up.
In fact, most crazy geniuses become billionaires by making stuff up. iPod? That’s a word from a language I invented when I was eight in order to secretly communicate with my imaginary dog-faced friend, Jorb from Orb. Okay, no. But it could have been, for all its made-upedness. And the iPod itself is a shiny fruit fallen to earth from an enchanted tree in a mystical fairy land populated entirely by crazy geniuses.
Really great ideas tend to be unique. Or, at least, they transform just-okay ideas into really great ideas by adding something unique.
If the Kindle fails, it won’t be because it’s ugly or because it uses only one font or because people don’t read anymore. It will fail because of a lack of imagination. The book was a fucking great idea. Seriously ace. Thank you, Aldus Manutius, you 15th-century Venetian crazy genius. The Kindle is not a unique idea, nor does it improve on Manutius’s really great idea.
Arthur C. Clarke, who has written way more about failure of imagination, once said, “Nothing will ever replace books. They can’t be matched for convenience, random access, nonvolatile memory (unless dropped in the bath), low power consumption, portability, etc.”
Of course, that hasn’t stopped Clarke from giving Amazon whatever permission it needs to turn some of his works into Kindle editions. But, hey: Crazy geniuses can also become billionaires by hedging their bets."
Monday, February 4, 2008
Tom Peters: You, Me, and Charlie
http://www.tompeters.com/entries.php?note=010180.php
"Over Christmas I read George Crile's Charlie Wilson's War, the tale of the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan and the subsequent implosion of the Evil Empire, our undisputed nemesis for the first half century of my life. I can state with some certainty that it was the most incredible non-fiction story I have ever (!!) read. Last night I saw the movie—it was, for me, wonderful, though a pale reproduction of the full 550-page treatment by Crile. Turning to the practicalities of your and my day-to-day professional affairs, the story was peppered with de facto analyses of how Charlie did his amazing thing. He is indeed "larger than life," and yet his practical "can do" tactics have a lot to teach all of us. As I imagine it, 100% of the readers of this Blog are Professional Change Agents, fighting wars against the bureaucratic evil empires that impede success. So what follows is rather (!) lengthy for a Blogpost, but ridiculously short considering the importance of the subject matter:"
"Over Christmas I read George Crile's Charlie Wilson's War, the tale of the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan and the subsequent implosion of the Evil Empire, our undisputed nemesis for the first half century of my life. I can state with some certainty that it was the most incredible non-fiction story I have ever (!!) read. Last night I saw the movie—it was, for me, wonderful, though a pale reproduction of the full 550-page treatment by Crile. Turning to the practicalities of your and my day-to-day professional affairs, the story was peppered with de facto analyses of how Charlie did his amazing thing. He is indeed "larger than life," and yet his practical "can do" tactics have a lot to teach all of us. As I imagine it, 100% of the readers of this Blog are Professional Change Agents, fighting wars against the bureaucratic evil empires that impede success. So what follows is rather (!) lengthy for a Blogpost, but ridiculously short considering the importance of the subject matter:"
Designer Today: Hundreds of Illustrator Tutorials
http://www.designertoday.com/Tutorials/Illustrator.aspx
"Designer Today: Hundreds of Illustrator Tutorials"
"Designer Today: Hundreds of Illustrator Tutorials"
Lifehacker: Hack your metabolism
http://lifehacker.com/351394/hack-your-metabolism
"Need to get your metabolism going? Personal trainer and blogger Lauren proposes that you can bolster your metabolism by eating enough (not too little, like most people who diet), eating more frequently (5-6 small meals a day), and adding more protein and fiber to your diet. Exercise should also be added to your daily regimen. Weight-training, building muscles, and doing more high-intensity cardiovascular exercise are critical."
http://laurensfitness.com/2008/01/10/increase-your-metabolism-11-helpful-tips/
"Need to get your metabolism going? Personal trainer and blogger Lauren proposes that you can bolster your metabolism by eating enough (not too little, like most people who diet), eating more frequently (5-6 small meals a day), and adding more protein and fiber to your diet. Exercise should also be added to your daily regimen. Weight-training, building muscles, and doing more high-intensity cardiovascular exercise are critical."
http://laurensfitness.com/2008/01/10/increase-your-metabolism-11-helpful-tips/
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Flickr: More regrettable incidents in a life filled with bitter remorse
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fullarton/sets/1381539/
"Don't know really. Started out as something, ended up many other things. I've been eating a lot of figs recently. They're good and ripe right now."
"Don't know really. Started out as something, ended up many other things. I've been eating a lot of figs recently. They're good and ripe right now."
The Visual Dictionary
http://thevisualdictionary.net/
"The Visual Dictionary is a collection of words in the real world. Photographs of signage, graffiti, advertising, tattoos, you name it, we're trying to catalogue it.
We started the project in February 2006, and have since racked up over 5000 images of over 3000 words - thanks to everyone who has contributed to date. We're of course, still accepting entries, as the Dictionary should just continue growing forever, but we're starting to think about ways of navigating and browsing images now.
If you want to join in, why not sign up and contribute images, or drop us a line with your ideas of how we could use the images. We're open to suggestions! We'll be releasing a proper API soon so you can develop your own solutions too!"
http://thevisualdictionary.net/twitter/
"The Visual Dictionary is a collection of words in the real world. Photographs of signage, graffiti, advertising, tattoos, you name it, we're trying to catalogue it.
We started the project in February 2006, and have since racked up over 5000 images of over 3000 words - thanks to everyone who has contributed to date. We're of course, still accepting entries, as the Dictionary should just continue growing forever, but we're starting to think about ways of navigating and browsing images now.
If you want to join in, why not sign up and contribute images, or drop us a line with your ideas of how we could use the images. We're open to suggestions! We'll be releasing a proper API soon so you can develop your own solutions too!"
http://thevisualdictionary.net/twitter/
Saturday, February 2, 2008
PHP + CSS Dynamic Text Replacement (P+C DTR)
http://artypapers.com/csshelppile/pcdtr/
"PHP + CSS Dynamic Text Replacement is a JavaScript-free version of the Dynamic Text Replacement method originally created by Stewart Rosenberger.
P+C DTR allows you to take a vanilla standards-based (X)HTML web page and dynamically create images to replace and enhance page headings using only PHP + CSS. Sick of using the same three fonts? Tired of editing heading images in PhotoShop? If so, P+C DTR might be for you."
"PHP + CSS Dynamic Text Replacement is a JavaScript-free version of the Dynamic Text Replacement method originally created by Stewart Rosenberger.
P+C DTR allows you to take a vanilla standards-based (X)HTML web page and dynamically create images to replace and enhance page headings using only PHP + CSS. Sick of using the same three fonts? Tired of editing heading images in PhotoShop? If so, P+C DTR might be for you."
What I Learned at the SEED Conference
http://www.passion2publish.com/2008/01/what-i-learned.html
"Last Friday I had the opportunity to attend the SEED conference here in Chicago. What is this SEED conference you ask?
"A One-Day Conference on Design, Entrepreneurship & Inspiration, by 37signals, Segura Inc. & Coudal Partners."
First off, the conference was inside the Rem Koolhass designed Tribune Student Center -- which is an amazing building itself, nestled in the middle of an entire campus designed by Mies van der Rohe. So, the fact that my attention was diverted from drooling over that much beauty is testament to the value of the conference. But I definitely used the breaks to walk the halls with my jaw on the floor. If you live in or around Chicago, or are just visiting, it's definitely worth the trip in the cold."
http://www.seedconference.com/
"Last Friday I had the opportunity to attend the SEED conference here in Chicago. What is this SEED conference you ask?
"A One-Day Conference on Design, Entrepreneurship & Inspiration, by 37signals, Segura Inc. & Coudal Partners."
First off, the conference was inside the Rem Koolhass designed Tribune Student Center -- which is an amazing building itself, nestled in the middle of an entire campus designed by Mies van der Rohe. So, the fact that my attention was diverted from drooling over that much beauty is testament to the value of the conference. But I definitely used the breaks to walk the halls with my jaw on the floor. If you live in or around Chicago, or are just visiting, it's definitely worth the trip in the cold."
http://www.seedconference.com/
What font says 'Change'?
http://s-nonblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/what-font-says-change.html
"TYPOGRAPHY CAN subtly or boldly define a company, product, or person. Whether it is Best Buy's big, bold, screaming signs or the sweet, elegant script on a wine label, the type talks to us, the reader. The logos of the presidential candidates are no exception."
"TYPOGRAPHY CAN subtly or boldly define a company, product, or person. Whether it is Best Buy's big, bold, screaming signs or the sweet, elegant script on a wine label, the type talks to us, the reader. The logos of the presidential candidates are no exception."
Squealing and Blinking: An Analog Artificial Neural Network as ArtPhil Stearns has constructed a 45 "neuron" network of electronic parts which respond
http://scienceblogs.com/developingintelligence/2008/01/are_analog_artificial_neural_n.php
"Phil Stearns has constructed a 45 "neuron" network of electronic parts which responds to lights and tones with a (rather cute) squealing sound. A picture of the strange device:"
"Phil Stearns has constructed a 45 "neuron" network of electronic parts which responds to lights and tones with a (rather cute) squealing sound. A picture of the strange device:"
Simply birolliant - the incredible 10ft 'photographs' drawn with a ballpoint pen
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=511688&in_page_id=1770&ito=newsnow
"They may look like pin-sharp photographs - but these amazing pictures are actually drawings created with the humble ballpoint pen.
The stunning pictures, measuring up to 10ft high, were drawn by a rising star of the art world, Juan Francisco Casas.
Casas, 31, can use up to four 14p ballpoint pens for a canvas and his works are already a sell-out at exhibitions.
Formerly a traditional painter, Juan began the drawings three years ago based on photographs of nights out with his friends."
"They may look like pin-sharp photographs - but these amazing pictures are actually drawings created with the humble ballpoint pen.
The stunning pictures, measuring up to 10ft high, were drawn by a rising star of the art world, Juan Francisco Casas.
Casas, 31, can use up to four 14p ballpoint pens for a canvas and his works are already a sell-out at exhibitions.
Formerly a traditional painter, Juan began the drawings three years ago based on photographs of nights out with his friends."
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