Beautiful stop motion: Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie

Totally made my evening.

Her Morning Elegance | Fubiz™ via SwissMiss

Filed under: Music, Things I like, Her Morning Elegance, Music, Oren Lavie, Stop Motion

It’s not a sedan, it’s not an SUV, it’s not an estate…it’s a damn MPV

And the sooner BMW comes clean about this, the better for all concerned!

This video is 3 minutes and 38 seconds of pure marketing hell, cheesy voiceover and all, because the folks from Munich can’t bring themselves to call their Progressive Activity Sedan an MPV.

There is even a point at 1:28 where Mr. Cheesevoice says “…hmmm, so I’m immediately reminded of…” and I said out loud “an MPV” but our friend goes on to say “…exactly, the difference between economy and first class”! I wanted to scream! Just repeat after me assorted Bangles and Hooydonks: “MPV, it’s as easy as 1-2-3!”

Filed under: Advertising, Car, Design, BMW, Marketing Hell, MPV, PAS

Auto-saving for iWork (or for anything for that matter)

So I’m an Apple user (and a passionate, sometimes envangelical one at that) but I’m not beyond overlooking the niggles that crop up every now and then.

Up until now my biggest gripe (and it is a HUGE one) is that the otherwise lovely iWork apps have not autosaved. This struck me as crazy, especially as I learnt it the hard way by losing 4 hours of work on a presentation.

EverSave, found via SwissMiss, has come to the rescue though! It’s a handy app that automagically saves your work as you go in any or all of your applications. Check it out: Eversave

swissmiss: Automatically Save Your Work on Your Mac On Any Application.

Filed under: Apple, Things I like, Apple, EverSave, iWork

What a shame…

Never has one brand been so irrelevant and downright disingenuous as Hummer. Their product is not clever, it is not well made and it’s not even attractive (sometimes a saving grace for me). The news that production of the H2 is being stopped for a minimum of 2 months had me almost jumping for joy. Lets hope the minimum is just that and I never again have to see one of these things sitting in a dealership waiting for some prig to buy it.

If I were GM, would I offload Hummer? No, I’d turn it arse-about-tit and make it into a vanguard of sustainable, all-terrain transport. Will it happen? Not bloody likely…

Jalopnik: Carpocalypse Now: Hummer H2 Plant Halts Production.

Filed under: Car, Design Strategy, Eco, Things I like, Design, Design Strategy, Hummer H2

Social Media: The Followup

The other day I wrote a post about my discomfort with the combination of the pervasiveness of social media and the lack of nuance and subtlety provided by text -based communication. I put it that our willingness to be part of a, and share with a, community can overrule our desire to retain control over our personal information and that text can be an inflexible foe when trying to communicate with a deft touch. Bring these two together and you can have  miscommunication with horrifying outcomes.

Filed under: Philosophy, Social Media, Things I Hate, Web, Existential Crisis, Facebook, Privacy, Psychology, Social Media

Triple J’s Hottest 100 and an Old Acquaintance

So I was listening to the Triple J Hottest 100, a fine Aussie tradition, on Australia Day (26th of January in case you were asking) and I heard this brilliant track by a band called Sparkadia. Looked them up, got the album. Then I realised one of the band members looked familiar.

Turns out he’s an old verbal sparing partner of mine from high school days who’s gunning it as the front man. Congrats to Alex and the band members on your presence in the hallowed Hottest!

Sparkadia

Filed under: Music, Things I like, Alex Burnett, Hottest 100, Music, Sparkadia, Triple J

Objectified: Industrial Design Receiving the Honour it Deserves

I’m amused at the number of times I have to explain to people what industrial design is. Those same people are amazed in return when they realise that most of the “stuff” they interact with on a daily basis that isn’t a building or nature (and sometimes even the buildings too) is the result of some kind of industrial design process.

In recognition of the profound changes that industrial design has effected on our lives, Gary Hustwit has created Objectified. The movie takes a look at  the remarkable minds and processes behind the creation of some of the most iconic products of the the 20th and 21st century. With a participant list that reads like a coffee table design book: Chris Bangle (BMW), Tim Brown (IDEO), Naoto Fukasawa, Jonathan Ive (Apple), Dieter Rams, Karim Rashid…the list goes on, it will present, I hope, a wonderfully diverse collection of views about design. Even our own Marc Newson gets a look in!

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this movie! Check out the site.

P.S Who knew Jonny Ive was so handsome!?

Objectified: A Documentary Film by Gary Hustwit.

Filed under: Apple, Design, Philosophy, Things I like, Design, Design Philiosophy, Industrial Design, Movie, Objectified

Photos with Character: CameraBag for the iPhone

With the death of Polaroid (or is it a resurection we’re about to see?) there’s been a hole in the market for cheap, evocative, instant image makers. Tomy’s Xiao is close but a price of $us370 and Japan-only availability ensures it gets no cigar.

SwissMiss, however, has alerted me to this new app for the iPhone that allows you to add that sometimes indefinable thing, character, to your happy snaps, something that used to have to be achieved with patience and Photoshop plug-ins. CameraBag is available now from the App Store.

swissmiss: CameraBag for the iPhone.

Filed under: Apple, Applications, Design, Photography, Things I like, App Store, CameraBag, iPhone, Photography

-273 Clothing Hits the (Virtual) Rack

 

Thought I’d give a shout-out to fellow design/thinker Piers and his newly opened sideline -273. Head on over and check out his range of graphic Ts. I’m looking forward to seeing how the range grows. 

-273 Launch & Shop .

Filed under: Clothing, Design, Graphic, Things I like, Clothing, desrestricted.com, Graphics, Online Shopping, T Shirt

The Problem with Our Relationships With/Through Social Media

The fact that we are almost constantly connected and streaming our consciousness through social apps, I think, has become so second nature that the ramifications escape us most of the time. You just had a great work out, had an awesome night out or fell in love with someone and you want to let the world know, and why not? More often than not, people don’t respond but you feel happy in the knowledge that your friends are sharing the great moments of your life as they happen.So what happens when you start sharing the not so great moments in your life?

Filed under: Applications, Things I Hate, Web