Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

06 Sep 2009 13:48

tags

Tech: From blog hub to … blog: Technorati shifts gears a little

  • We like their new advertising service, though. Technorati, a fairly well-known blog search engine that feels like it’s fighting a little bit of irrelevance thanks to Twitter and Facebook, is looking to have some blogs of its own. A number of people got invites from the service to become writers for the site, which is a little strange because of the fact that their main service facilitates traffic for other blogs. We’ll be keeping our eye out. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Sep 2009 14:34

tags

Sports: Coming soon to NASCAR: Racers whose voices are still cracking

  • 16 age you can start driving if you have access to your dad’s Ford Taurus source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Sep 2009 10:51

tags

Music: Snoop Dogg is using a new name on his next record

  • Niggarachi no, really guys source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Aug 2009 20:46

tags

Biz: Verdana is not a font. We repeat, IKEA: Verdana is not a font.

The 2010 IKEA catalog

Verdana is a mistake. With all apologies to noted typographer Matthew Carter (who we saw speak a couple of years ago and have a lot of respect for), Microsoft has ruined his most well-known font. Its use has become such a sign of amateurism that we consider it a mistake. So its usage in the IKEA catalog, above, requires us to complain. Loudly.
  • Where it looks good Microsoft’s Web site. Internet Explorer interfaces. Computer screens. Body type. That’s about it. source
  • Where it looks good Microsoft’s Web site. Internet Explorer interfaces. Computer screens. Body type. That’s about it.
  • Where it looks bad Just about everywhere the IKEA catalog uses it. Big type. Bad tracking. The kerning sucks. The corners that make the font so distinctive turn in ways that scream personality in all the wrong ways. The catalog looks like something a first year design student at ITT Tech would make, which is the harshest criticism we could come up with. It looks like the font blew out when the catalogs were being printed. source
  • Where it looks good Microsoft’s Web site. Internet Explorer interfaces. Computer screens. Body type. That’s about it.
  • Where it looks bad Just about everywhere the IKEA catalog uses it. Big type. Bad tracking. The kerning sucks. The corners that make the font so distinctive turn in ways that scream personality in all the wrong ways. The catalog looks like something a first year design student at ITT Tech would make, which is the harshest criticism we could come up with. It looks like the font blew out when the catalogs were being printed.
  • The font in context Carter designed this typeface (along with Tahoma and Georgia) for a specific purpose in 1994 – to look good on a computer screen. A lot has changed since 1994. Most notably, we use LCD screens, not CRTs. Improved font rendering makes screens look nearly as good as print. We don’t need Verdana anymore. IKEA needs Futura, an iconic font it used for 50 years. Stupid Swedes. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 14 Comments • Permalink

20 Aug 2009 21:35

tags

Politics: The Democrats “hope” Obama can “change” his health care talk

  • I don’t think the messaging has been very clear … the campaign to disseminate the messaging has not been as relentless and organized as it needs to be.
  • Democratic pollster Celinda Lake • Discussing Obama’s health care rhetoric. In general, many political types say that Obama’s message on health care is lacking – there’s no “change” or “hope” to drive the campaign like there was in January. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs admits there have been stumbles: “I don’t think anybody here believes we’ve pitched a no-hit game or a perfect game. I don’t think that’s the case.” • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Aug 2009 20:27

tags

Politics: Obama Joker posters take over L.A. because change is so 2008

We have another suggestion to put at the bottom of these posters: Lame. Vitriol didn’t get Obama into office, kids. It won’t get him out. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jul 2009 01:00

tags

Biz, U.S.: The fight over Shepard Fairey’s Obama “Hope” illo gets messy

  • Plaintiffs have profited from the sales of Mr. Garcia’s copyrighted photograph image and Defendant AP seeks to reap some of the profit by claiming that it – and not Mr. Garcia – is the rightful owner of the copyright in the photograph.
  • A legal memorandum in support of photographer Manuel Garcia • Regarding Fairey v. Associated Press, i.e. the legal battle over the iconic Obama “Hope” poster. For those not in the loop, Shepard Fairey did an immaculate illustration based on a photo Garcia shot and AP ran on the wire. After it blew up, AP sued Fairey, who claimed fair use. Now, Garcia’s claiming neither of them have the right to claim that photo as theirs. We agree that Garcia has a claim over this, but point out that if you look on Getty Images, Obama has literally hundreds of photos taken of him each week (and in April of 2006 alone, he showed up on Getty 41 times) – a fact which we think dilutes both his and AP’s claims. He’s a famous person who gets photographed a lot. Fairey just grabbed a random photo. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

08 Jul 2009 23:15

tags

U.S.: Mount Rushmore needed a change, so some activists added Obama

Unfortunately, Obama isn’t made of stone. He’s made of some banner material – the kind that gets 11 people arrested for trespassing. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Apr 2009 10:26

tags

Offbeat, U.S.: Obama’s $100 million budget cuts, explained via pennies. Sweet.

  • Clever, duder: The guy in this video must have had a fun time acquiring all the pennies he needed to explain the federal budget on YouTube.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2009 10:51

tags

Culture: Evidence MTV is attempting to give up its vapid ways

  • “The Buried Life,” with its “100 things I want to do before I die” conceit, will often do charitable things to help deserving people on the path to hijinks. source
  • “T.I.’s Road to Redemption” features everyone’s favorite jailbound rapper trying to help young people not make the same stupid mistakes. source
  • Nick Lachey, star of the extra-vapid “Newlyweds” with ex-wife Jessica Simpson, helps out performing arts kids in his hometown on “Taking the Stage.” source
  • Hold up – why isn’t one of these “MTV plays music videos again”? Because then we’d care. This just feels like another stop on the road to irrelevance. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>