ideas

youmail

It’s about time someone took advantage of Caller ID! YouMail creates a neat little service that makes voicemail a bit more customizable.

“YouMail is the new voice mail for cell phones. Among many features, it allows you to record unique voice greetings for anyone who calls you, based on their caller ID. Individualize your voice greetings for friends, family or important callers while maintaining a standard greeting for work and unknown callers.

Check your voice messages from any phone or via the web and forward favorite messages to anyone via email. Have fun with the already infamous DITCHMAIL feature that hangs up on unwanted callers after your custom greeting for them is played.”

The only problem on my end is that they do not support Sprint currently, and guess who I use. Give YouMail a go, if you can, and let me know how it is.

update: Visual Voicemail by Callwave.

nokia future communications vision youtube videos

“Nokia has released a number of short videos on YouTube that explore how mobile phone design may change in the next three or four years.

There is a video for each of the four categories, or put more simply different lifestyles, that Nokia focuses on.

The videos are not showing prototypes of actual phones or devices that Nokia is currently working on or plans to launch. They are exploring futuristic concepts and potential new ideas that may or may not be produced in years to come. They are designed to inspire and stimulate discussion around how the mobile device of the future might look and function in our lives.”

via experientia

videos and summaries after the jump!
Continue Reading

fizzy fruitIn the past few years, there have been tons of companies trying to find the next big snack for kids that are actually healthy. Well, for my taste, “Fizzy Fruit” just might be this next big thing!!!

“Fizzy Fruit — whole grapes or slices of apples or pineapples carbonated in a secret process with the same carbon dioxide that’s in soft drinks but without added sugar.”

Yup, it’s giving healthy fruits that pop much like in PopRocks, a fresh sparkling apple cider, or a nice bubbly Bellini. Personally I get that snap in a nice crisp cold grape, but this only guarantees that pop in a fizz format now.

I have not actually tried FizzyFruit yet, but I first heard about carbonated fruit at PopTech! when Chef Homaru Cantus of Moto Restaurant in Chicago showed us how he used carbonated oranges to squeeze fresh orange soda for customers right in front of them.

Another great find by the BookofJoe along with a “how to” for making this carbonated fruit yourself ;). Pretty simple.

steps:
1. Place dry ice in cooler.
2. Place fruit of your choice in cool, but NOT touching the dry ice.
3. Close the cooler and let it sit overnight.
4. Enjoy your carbonated fruit!

USAtoday article.(article after the jump)

Continue Reading

jef han fastcompnay video

A nice FastCompany article on Jef Hans Multi-Touch progression that I posted about last year. If you get the chance, check out the printed article which includes a fun Matrix-like cover image of Jef with multiple hands(image after the jump). Jef has launched a new company to further develop this project called Perceptive Pixel. Press on the image above to watch the video or go to the embedded video after the jump.(I embedded after the jump cause the video plays automatically with music that can be distracting)
Continue Reading

iriver s10 mp3 watch

I don’t generally post on gadgets even though I love’m all, but during CES, one gadget that caught my attention was this slick iRiver music USB watch with bluetooth. I’m posting about it because it’s the first mp3 watch that I’ve seen thats pretty cool looking, especially with the USB locking portion(It also reminds me of the kick-butt ODM watch).
iRiver S10 images

Continue Reading

JetBlue TV screens

Above is a picture I took flying Jetblue on my way to CES. If you have not flown Jetblue, do it! They kick butt because they cost less while making the user experience more desirable. They have the cool snooze packs, rocking chairs, personal direct TV screens, spacious seats, clean, tasty snacks, easy to use webpage, soon to be dancing inspired terminals, great customer support, and many other great ideas that keep surprising me. (I’ve got tons more ideas, but I’ll let them hire me to hear those thoughts 😉 )

Anyhow, back to the picture above. This is what I saw while walking back to my seat; a sea of monitors glimmering pool-like reflections onto the walls. These screens really light up the place!!! Besides the light, these screens sure do create some heat. One thing that bothered me was that every single screen was “ON”, blasting images, light, and heat everywhere. Now I usually don’t make a gripe about this, but ever since I got into “save energy mode” I’ve realized how much money and energy can be saved through simple things such as a light. I asked myself, why can’t JetBlue turn off the screens that are not being used? I know users can turn off their screens, but it’s not easy to.(I’ve had to show so many people how to turn them off) This flight was half empty, hence, half the screens were “ON” for no reason. Why can’t the default be “OFF” while the action to turn on the screens be up to the users (If I recall right, this is how it works on some international airlines). Would this actually save them a few dollars of energy a flight, hundreds a day, and perhaps thousands a week?

Jetblue makes tons of simple changes to save money. I think this is a simple idea to save energy unless there is something about energy efficiency on airlines I’m unknowledgeable about. Perhaps they have some future concept to greet users with their names individually on screens for that VIP treatment expereience. Maybe the screens act as secondary heating devices which cost less than heating the fuselage? I have no clue, but I have faith in Jetblue in creating a much better user experience while keeping airfare low and keeping me a couch potato as I’ve probably logged in more movie and TV hours on their airline than I have on land! Jetblue, if your reading this, please make this change or let me know why not. Otherwise, hopefully there’s a reader out there with the right connections to save some mucho energy for them.

update: a few more pictures and thoughts from my red-eye flight back after the jump…

Continue Reading

diy chalkboard wall calendarHere’s a simple DIY guide in making your very own Chalkboard Wall Calendar to add a bit of personailty and jazz to your space. As messy as it might be and as unoften as you might actually use it, a chalkboard will always add that nostalgic spunk into any space. In fact, go get a few cans and go crazy with it. I’ve seen some great chalkboard tables (or here), vases, globes, shirts, wine bottles, and now this wall.

The DIY guide and other chalk product pics after the jump.

via marthastewart

Continue Reading

feedbak methodologies

I came across this great post reminding us that showing too many details too early can be incredibly unproductive. I’ve always questioned people, clients, and educational systems that emphasized looks, glam, and presentation over the methodology, experience, and solving the larger issues. I’m not saying this goes with all industries, but probably a great majority. Sure you can glam out a phase and impress certain clients, but creating your own lie can bite you bad down the road. I could ramble on and on about this, but I’m sure everyone in the creative world can relate to this topic in many instances with great stories. Read the rest of the article here.

POM juice teaI just treated myself to a refreshing glass of POM Juice Tea (Pomegranate Lychee Green Tea to be exact). Besides the zesty taste I’d like to point out the simple and sustainable container, which is shaped like a glass cup! Yup, it’s that simple. You pop off the top, and enjoy it like a fresh glass of juice. Better yet is that you can add it to your shelf for reuse. It’s a good thickness glass which I like more than most of the glass cups I have anyways. If your more of a herbs person, the cap pops back on airtight. Extra points for POM, their wonderful juices, and now their sweet sustainable glass containers!

Robin Hood Restaurants

What a kick-butt idea!!!

“These pay-as-you-can cafes have missions that are unapologetically altruistic—call it serving up fare Robin Hood style. “Our philosophy is that everyone, regardless of economic status, deserves the chance to eat healthy, organic food while being treated with dignity,” explains Brad Birky, who opened SAME with his wife, Libby, in October. Customers who have no money are encouraged to exchange an hour of service — sweep, wash the dishes, weed the organic garden — for a meal. Likewise, guests who have money are encouraged to leave a little extra to offset the meals of those who have less to give. “We’re a hand up, not a hand out,” says One World owner Denise Cerreta, who prides herself on the fact that everyone can afford a meal at her café.

The cafés’ business models have won fans among the city’s well-to-do residents, many of whom regularly dine there. At One World, patrons have given Cerreta a car, bought new dishes, arranged to professionally clean her carpets, supplied new tile for the restaurant bathrooms, and donated property for an organic garden and funded a new irrigation system for it. Last week, a gentleman left a $50 bill next to an empty bowl of soup at SAME. Since opening, one man has regularly come in and left money on the counter without eating, stating “I was blessed today so I though I’d pass it on.” He’s homeless.” via TIME.

I’ve always been a fan of exchanging ones time for another rather than diving into money talks. This probably occurred when I had to pay a lawyer recently, but I did continue this trend when my friend needed a design for his CD album. I knew he had little money, so I said I’d do it for free in exchange for his time down the road. I spent 15-20 hours designing the cover for him, and in exchange he said he’d give me a free concert (you know who ya are 😉 ). Buh yeah to to community driven ideas!(much like my thoughts on search engines)

SAME (SoAllMayEat.org) was inspired by another cafe, OneWorldEverybodyEats.com, for this great initiative.

wikiasaru

Is Wikiasari going to be the “killer” new search engine to trump over Google? I’m not sure, but what I am sure about is the dominant power that community driven sites have had over the past few years(MySpace, Craigslist, eBay,YouTube, WikiPedia, etc). Wikiasari is the vision of Jimmy Wales who pioneered and founded Wikipedia, a dynamic online community driven encyclopedia which I personally use almost everyday and trust more than the printed stuff. I’m a sucker for community driven websites and am optimistic about this buzz, but what I can say, is that there is a great deal of improvements needed for search engines. I’m just going to wait (rumored to launch in early 2007) and see what pops, but if your the early adopter craving to know, read on to these articles for more details(such as Amazons funding, etc); TechCrunch, TopTechNews, CNet.(also an influential read about this topic is TIME magazines Person of the year: You)

This is good reminder that even if a specific market is controlled by a monster company, there is always room to dominate, much like google did back in the yahoo, netcrawler, netscape days. 😉

Neatorama links us to a great video of a street vendor in China creating sugar animal lollipops by hand. I’ve seen this many times in in person, but it still fascinates me to see it over an over again. This reminds me that if you can spark someones attention through the creation of your art it’ll make the buying and product experience more thrilling than just buying an end product like most objects are sold today.