Lee Dunbar

Aug

23

The Olympics in Lego

August 23, 2008

The Hong Kong Lego User Group has built representations of Olympic buildings and events …

here’s the Water Cube …




swimming competitions …




and the Bird’s Nest …



Tags: Uncategorized
Comments: Share Your Comments

 

Aug

17

Wii Fit

August 17, 2008



Tags: Funny Stuff
Comments: Share Your Comments

 

Aug

14

I came across this on Slashdot. “Viewing the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony online at NBC’s Olympics website, you can see that the order in which the countries were presented was very different from the actual order of the countries in the ceremony, as listed at Wikipedia. NBC skipped roughly 100 countries ahead, then jumped back and forth, apparently delaying the appearance of the United States in its home market until later in the broadcast.” So is this a case of unreality TV?

Oh well, I guess that they might as well fake the order to increase ratings as some of the fireworks we saw on the TV broadcast of the Olympic’s opening ceremony were actually computer generated.

While it’s normal for such a large event to have performers lip-synch their own songs and it was quite evident that all the performers at the opening ceremonies of the Olymics were, China went all Milli Vanilli on us and substituted the little girl who sang the Olympic theme song with a pretty young lady straight out of Disney’s It’s a Small World because she wasn’t cute enough for International TV audiences.

It also seems that the Chinese Government faked an agreement to allow people to protest and grant journalists to have open access as a number of would-be protesters are either jailed or missing and as many as 4 journalists have been roughed-up.

We also have fake birth certificates. The latest evidence came when Associated Press uncovered a November story from Xinhua, the Chinese government news agency, reporting that gymnist He Kexin was 13, and not 16 as the Chinese are claiming, which would make her ineligible for the Games. AP found the report on Xinhua’s Web site on Thursday morning; by the afternoon it was no longer accessible.

At least the athletes are real.

Doh!

Tags: Just Stuff
Comments: Share Your Comments

 

Aug

12

The Round-Up

August 12, 2008

“Honey I’m headed over to Sams Club, back in a few minutes.”
“Don’t forget to pick up some solar panels, I hear there is a coupon!”
All facitiousness aside, retailers and other businesses are starting to pick up on consumers’ desire for clean, sustainable energies. An article in CNET gives an overview of some of the green projects being developed and products being made available.

On that note — could solar power be reaching the magical $1 per watt?

I’m a fan of the Indiana Jones series, and after watching the last installment I thought that there was a possibility that the torch could be passed onto the next generation. This was recently dismissed by none other than Lucas himself. “George Lucas says he’s already identified the one person who can keep the “Indiana Jones” franchise going: Harrison Ford. The filmmaker scoffed at the possibility of passing the famed fedora from Ford to Shia LaBeouf, the 22-year-old actor who played Indy’s son Mutt Williams in this summer’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

Tags: Community Stuff, Retail Stuff, Sports Stuff, Technology Stuff
Comments: Share Your Comments

 

Aug

9

It’s old news now, but a new search engine was launched in the last few weeks. I have just recently had time to play with Cuil and have to admit, I am a little cuil on the new entry. Propped by stories about the search engine being designed by people from Google and IBM, and claims that it was better than Google I went in with pretty high expectations. Claims made in stories were that Cuil searched more sites than Google and did things in a different way. In reality, while the new engine just might search and index more pages, and might be different than Google, we all know that different does not mean better. And this is the case with Cuil. I did a number of tests — searches that I conduct on a regular basis. Product searches, trouble-shooting a problem with a computer, general information searches and travel searches. I was really disappointed in the results. Pretty much unusable.

Another promising green technology, a U.S. scientist has developed a new way of powering fuel cells that could make it practical for home owners to store solar energy and produce electricity to run lights and appliances at night.

No Beer Pong for the Wii.

Last month, construction was completed on a pilot project that ran fiber optic cables to 400 homes in Ottawa. Stringing fiber optic cables isn’t a big deal by itself—Verizon has been running fiber to millions of homes in the US—but the Ottawa project comes with a twist: rather than providing Internet access for a monthly fee, the company plans to sell the fiber strands outright to individual homeowners. This isn’t how we’re used to doing telecommunications infrastructure. Traditionally, a “last mile” copper loop, coax cable, or fiber strand has been owned by an incumbent telephone or cable company, and the customer has paid a monthly fee for telecom services. But, if the Ottawa experiment is a success, that could change.

Here is some Olympic folly courtesy of a restaurant in China that while preparing for English-speaking visitors, ran its name through an online translator. They then created a large sign displaying the English version of their name: “Translate Server Error.”

 

Tags: Community Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
Comments: Share Your Comments

 

Aug

9

In a post I wrote about a month ago, I outlined my frustration with changes made at the concession stand of a drive-in my family frequents. I shared that we have given up on the concession stand and were now bringing our own snacks and drinks. It seems we are not alone, and the owners may very well have noticed a decline in overall sales, as the drive-in in question has added a few lines to their website:

“We ask that you kindly refrain from outside food and beverage … “

Hot, fresh, spend half an hour in sweltering heat lining up to get it. No thanks!

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Business Stuff, Customer Service Stuff, Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Retail Stuff
Comments: Share Your Comments

 

Aug

1

The Soup: iPhone 3G

August 1, 2008

This is great!



Tags: Funny Stuff, Web Stuff
Comments: Share Your Comments

 

Jul

31

The Round Up

July 31, 2008

Oh please, I hope this isn’t true. ‘Cocky new female pilot‘ meets a guy who was a cocky pilot 20 years ago in this follow up to Top Gun. Yes, Maverick is rumoured to be making his return in Top Gun II. Poor Goose is turning in his grave.

PC Pro reports that the British Police have started using YouTube to embarrass people who use the emergency 999 service (their version of 911) for anything other than emergencies. “It’s important people realise that what could seem a harmless joke could result in a serious criminal conviction or endanger someone’s life,” says chief superintendent Dave Hayler. “We want to send out a warning that we will not tolerate this sort of behaviour and positive action will be taken.”

Robert M. McDowell makes the case for keeping the Internet open and free. Let the engineers solve the problem — not politicians.

Nate Anderson does good job tearing DRM apart in his article DRM still sucks: Yahoo Music going dark, taking keys with it.

To encourage New Yorkers to explore their own city instead of traveling elsewhere, the City of New York is closing streets for pedestrian use only for three Saturday mornings in August. The town I live in does this one Saturday a summer and there are many, including myself, who think it should be done every Saturday to allow our farmers market and other vendors to set-up. It would be a great for locals and a good tourism draw as well.

 

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Community Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Web Stuff
Comments: Share Your Comments

 

Jul

23

The Round-Up

July 23, 2008

Well, here’s today’s collection of things that caught my eye …

Gizmodo gets an exclusive tour of the Lego factory. See video showing the entire manufacturing process of the Lego bricks. Kinda like learning the Caramilk secret.

An article in Computerworld outlines how web 2.0 can facilitate development 2.0, facilitating better software quality and a more efficient process.

Isn’t it ironic? From the fossil fuel capital of the US, the state of Texas Approves a $4.93 Billion Wind-Power Project.

Can product piracy be a good thing?

Wired reports that, seeking to make money from mistyped website names, some of the United States’ largest ISPs instead created a massive security hole that allowed hackers to use web addresses owned by eBay, PayPal, Google and Yahoo, and virtually any other large site.

It’s reported that Tesla Motors is starting to deliver their production electric cars. Here are the stats: 220 miles per charge, 125/mph top speed, 248hp peak, 3.5 hour charge time and 0-60 in 4 seconds! That’s a serious entry in the green car market. While you’re at it, take a look around their website. Great use of blog software to build community around their brand.

Are computer manufacturers really bowing to the RIAA’s demand to disable stereo sound on computers?

I love this idea of “crowd-sourcing”. Reuters has an article about “eCars – Now!”, a Finnish Internet community seeking to apply the collective approach to start converting used petrol-fuelled cars to electric ones, with the first roll-out due this year.

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Business Stuff, Community Stuff, Design Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
Comments: Share Your Comments

 

Jul

15

The Capo d’Astro Bar

July 15, 2008

When I was in college one of my profs gave us a paper with the following story, and suggested that if we only learn one thing from him, he’d like it to be the lesson learned from the story of a copywriter, a piano and a Capo d’astro bar.

The story is as follows:

Back in the sixties, I was hired by an ad agency to write copy on the Aeolian Piano Company account. My first assignment was an ad to be placed in The New York Times for one of their grand pianos.

The only background information I received was some previous ads a few faded close-up shots . . . and of course, the due date.

The Account Executive was slightly put out by my request for additional information and his response to my suggestion that I sit down with the client was, “Are you one of those? Can’t you just create something? We’re up against a closing date!”

I acknowledged his perception that I was one of those, which got us an immediate audience with the head of the agency.

I volunteered that I couldn’t even play a piano let alone write about why anyone should spend $5,000 for this piano, especially when they could purchase a Baldwin or Steinway for the same amount.

Both allowed the fact they would gladly resign the Aeolian business for either of the others, however, while waiting for that call, suppose the deadline was attended to.

I persisted and, reluctantly, a tour of the Aeolian factory in upstate New York was arranged. I was assured that “we don’t do this with all of clients” and my knowledge as to the value of company time was greatly reinforced.

The tour of the plant lasted two days and although the care and construction appeared meticulous, $5,000 still seemed to be a lot of money.

Just before leaving, I was escorted into the showroom by the National Sales Manager. In an elegant setting sat their piano alongside the comparably priced Steinway and Baldwin.

“They sure do look alike,” I commented.

“They sure do. About the only real difference is the shipping weight-ours is heavier.”

“Heavier?” I asked. “What makes yours heavier?”

“The Capo d’astro bar.”

“What’s a Capo d’astro bar?”

“Here, I’ll show you. Get down on your knees.”

Once under the piano he pointed to a metallic bar fixed across the harp and bearing down on the highest octaves. “It takes 50 years before the harp in the piano warps. That’s when the Capo d’astro bar goes to work. It prevents that warping.”

I left the National Sales Manager under his piano and dove under the Baldwin to find a Tinkertoy Cap d’astro bar at best. Same with Steinway.

“You mean the Capo d’astro bar really doesn’t go to work for 50 years?” I asked.

“Well, there’s got to be some reason why the Met uses it,” he casually added.

I froze. “Are you telling me that the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City uses this piano?”

“Sure. And their Capo d’astro bar should be working by now.”

Upstate New York looks nothing like the front of the Metropolitan Opera House where I met the legendary Carmen Rise Stevens. She was now in charge of moving the Metropolitan Opera House to the Lincoln Center.

Ms. Stevens told me, “About the only thing the Met is taking with them is their piano.”

That quote was the headline of our first ad.

The result created a six year wait between order and delivery.

My point is this. No matter what the product or service, I promise you, the Capo d’astro bar is there.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff
Comments: Share Your Comments

 

Page 2 of 10«12345»...Last »

 

 

Search


Categories

Archives from Recent Months

Archives - Yearly