“Conference calls” / Justin Leibow

Very familiar. Glorious typography.
I’ve been in these situations before and frequently been exposed to this kind of chatter-filled environment.
via Justin Leibow.

your brain on Google

Neuroscientist, Gary Small, tells CBS News’ Daniel Sieberg how technology may be making us smarter.

(2008)

Read the video in context from The End of Cyberspace here or Newsweek’s The Daily Beast where it was first featured here.

View other videos of Dr. Gary Small on his website here.

Re-blogged: “The Who, Why, And How Of Twitter”

via @ Holy Kaw!

Full story

A Google off-guard moment…again. (April 1)

Of all the April Fool’s Day jokes I eagerly await for, it’s Google’s that makes or breaks it for me.

Google Motion (Beta) Apr 1, 2011

Ever since its first April Fools Day joke pulled off to very unsuspecting users like myself in 2000, of its “Mental Plex” page (back then, the term “‘netizen” was still so much in vogue, preceded by the clichéd “information superhighway”, and “broadband speed” at home was a dream state we all wished to have), Google’s April Fool’s Day pages were the ones that’d get women like myself, inclined to a little bit of geeky-ness, happily face-palming and getting like-minded discussants into hours-long analyses, Google easter egg lists and such, in forums and chat rooms (it was even more fun when newer members joined in).

Eleven years into this tradition with a few hits and misses — TISP‘s description was so obvious it was corny even before I clicked on the link — Google’s April 1st jokes rank among those diversions that make hours of soaking up information online delightful.

Thinking that 2011′s Google’s Motion (Beta) could be a Mac-specific feature similar to LiquidMac, a fun, novelty app that mimics the movement of liquid in a computer by its orientation (using Apple laptops’ built-in sudden motion sensor technology), I thought , falling into the Apple-user snob mode I realized I hadn’t completely shed off yet (and feeling a little sorry for it), “So, is this cross-platform?,” yet something ticked the instant curiosity pushed the button.

This time, Google caught me off-guard. And a smack on the cheek to go with it. Fun!

My favorite April Fools Day Google joke so far are:

• Scratch and Sniff (2008) and its reference to books vis-a-vis print getting more digitized;
• Jobs at Copernicus Center (2004) with its nice illustrations and great geek-y copy;
• Gmail Paper (2007) and how it resounds so much with life around email;
• Gmail Custom Time (2008), in relation to above entry;
• the CADIE (2009) project;
• last, but certainly not the least, Google’s life-changing Gmail announcement (in relation to (2007) and (2008); see image grab above again for details).

Finally, a shoutout to Google and YouTube’s April Fools Day continuing collaboration. In celebration of Jackie Chan’s recently wrapped up film 1911 (ironically, Jackie Chan was just the subject of a Twitter hoax two days ago), YouTube’s wayback window and logo are too good to miss, I can’t let this pass.

 

Branding traditions for money (aka the hashtag got bought)

I’d been reading on “Cyber Monday” earlier today after seeing emails in my inbox; one from a coffee company with the subject “Cyber Monday Giveaway!”

I was curious, of course.

Monday, 29 November, Manila time, was a non-event despite it being a holiday. It was a hazy day for the most part, and humid that it did nothing much to alleviate body fever. It had also been mostly a slow day even out in the streets. Really, a ho-hum holiday day that, in the midst of struggling to finish one important chapter of a yearbook project that had been sitting in my computer for the longest time (and which I needed to send out pronto), I had forgotten why it was a non-working day in the Philippines and why I’d gotten “Cyber Monday” emails in my inbox, even one coming from an exotic coffee reseller that had sent it well ahead all others.

That “Cyber Monday” subject got me to doing some research after dinner not just to find out what the hoopla was about, but to reinforce a blog I’d originally wanted to write as a result of the emails: by trying to find its origins (it wasn’t that difficult) and sales and market effects. Anyhow, I thought, “What had civet coffee to do with cyber technology”?

I was actually piqued seeing all the “Cyber Monday” emails at the top of my inbox and thinking how, like Thanksgiving, this American consumerist  and marketing event (rather, “first-world marketing event”, as it seems some other G10 countries have their own versions of it) would soon enough become yet another catch phrase by Philippine retailers in selling more goods than actually necessary, or tricking the public into running for the mall sale to clear out year-long inventory and make room for even more Christmas-giving stuff.

Anyhow, that blog is no more. Talk about marketing and commerce blah-blah.

30-something minutes ago, out comes this piece of news from Techcrunch: Verizon Buys #CyberMonday From Twitter. Neat. Almost laughable. Now the hashtag has real value.

So, I wonder if Verizon got a fat discount from Twitter today.

08-09-10, anyone?

Not for anything special, phenomenal or otherwise, but just a note and an homage to today, August 9, 2010, otherwise known as:

and to the awesome but hefty (download size is a mere 130mb+), power-hungry DropClock screensaver created by SCR, a “creative label of” interactive designers tha ltd. I came upon in April 2008.

DropClock is free to try—or US$15 for the license—now also available for Windows (power Windows users, rejoice!) and Mac’s Snow Leopard.

Had fun doing today’s calendar version of DropClock that I am cross-posting this to my other blogs.

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Short journey

This space had been very quiet for some months. So, been busy–in real life–but sill managed to follow what Charice has been up to. There had since been other blogs about her, even right here on Posterous, and that's fine, especially in helping spread the word out for Charice (this space had been delinquent doing that, anyhow).

YouTube user "o7307o" got busy recently and I came upon his/her video mash-up which is pretty great, to say the least, considering the amount of time one spends hunting down videos and putting them together. Props to you, "o7307o".

So, with the news on her inclusion on "Glee"–Charice, that is–and an even more emotional, full circle career move for her by guesting in Korea's StarKing where it all started, "o7307o"'s video is a short journey into Charice's phenomenal 3-year journey into much, much bigger things. For her, and for the country she does proud.