thoughts on nikeplus.com (Nike + iPod Sports Kit)

What's the site I keep hitting the refresh button all day long? Ironically, it's the one place that's helped me spend more time off-line.

Nikeplus.com (and the hardware you need to enjoy it, Nike + iPod Sports Kit) is - in a nutshell - a pedometer that tracks your running speed and distance and a site to upload that data. But the site is so much more. It's shining feature is the part that uses your running data and lets you compete virtually with others who also own the sports kit. It's become a great motivational tool for my runs and upped my mileage over the last few months. Here's their site to explain how it works (link).

These virtual races you have with others are really addictive. It's a quickly growing community and I've managed to organize a few monthly challenges myself. With each challenge, you get instant updates on how you're doing against others (here I am in the first few days of a new race and already no. 6!)

Click on the link to see all the growing features nike and apple are adding (google maps to share your running routes, running events, discussion boards) After some runs I can rise a few notches up, then if I can't run for a few days, I'll find myself falling behind to the bottom. It becomes a good motivational tool to tell myself on the run "just 1/2 a mile more and I can be in the top 5!) Running has always been a solitary affair for me as I've never quite found friends who would run at the same pace or at the same time. With the virtual race with runners all around the country it doesn't matter where and what time you run. And they're a good bunch of folks on the site, too (you can write quick text messages where the site tells us to "talk trash" but it's been nothing but nice words in my running group). And the biggest motivation of all? The sense that the running steps I am taking are part of the grand new direction in melding sports and virtual social networking (!!)... well, maybe not (one small step for me, one giant step for internet history!) Anyway, as you might be able to tell, running has taken on a whole new level of excitement for me.

I sure hope other products will follow the lead of Nike and Apple's success and come up with socially networkable bikes, tennis rackets, basketballs and even dance shoes (with of course, social networking sites of equal elegance and simplicity). I understand there's a closed networked driving range with RIFD tagged golf balls and scoring systems near Washington DC. It's a great step but being able to compete with anyone in the world will be its true potential.

Technorati Tags:
nike, iPod, nike+, running, pedometer, social networking, sports technology

World's longest tunnel to make a permanent connection between 2 continents

They just need a tunnel between the Russian mainland, Sakhalin (Saharin) Island and Hokkaido and I can drive home to Tokyo!

[from Spluch]
World's longest tunnel to make a permanent connection between 2 continents: "Russia plans to build the world's longest tunnel, a transport and pipeline link under the Bering Strait to Alaska, as part of a $65 billion project to supply the U.S. with oil, natural gas and electricity from Siberia.

A 6,000-kilometer (3,700-mile) transport corridor from Siberia into the U.S. will feed into the tunnel, which at 64 miles (103 km) will be more than twice as long as the underwater section of the Channel Tunnel between the U.K. and France, according to the plan. The tunnel would run in three sections to link the two islands in the Bering Strait between Russia and the U.S.

The planned undersea tunnel would contain a high-speed railway, highway and pipelines, as well as power and fiber-optic cables, according to TKM-World Link.

The project, which Russia is coordinating with the U.S. and Canada, would take 10 to 15 years to complete.

Source: Bloomberg
Tags: Tunnel | Berling Strait | Longest"

(Via Spluch.)

Game Over by Pes

A really fun short film using real life objects to pay tribute to video games of our youth. Check out their site for more cool stop motion films and spots. They seem to have a ton of fun making these.


Hit the play button below



Credits
"Game Over" 1:30 by PES Produced by Sarah Phelps & PES Special Thanks: Megan O'Neill, AtomEntertainment

Technorati Tags:
video games, pes, stop motion, pacman, invaders, frogger, retro video games

iPod ads + Robert Longo

Interesting observation by David Byrne (link). Being an advertising Art Director myself, I've noticed that the best photography direction comes from those agency creatives with the best references from the fine arts field. Inspiration or recreation? Sometimes, it's a fine line. BTW, Robert Longo's drawings are quite striking. Check them out (link).

(from David Byrne's blog) "New iPod ads and an image from the Men in The Cities series of drawings by Robert Longo. Coincidence or conspiracy?"

(Via http://journal.davidbyrne.com/.)

Technorati Tags:
iPod, apple, Robert Longo, art direction

Chema Madoz, Photographer

Interesting visual juxtapositions. (link)

(Via Neatorama.)

Sick Sheep Eat Their Way to Better Health

Fascinating report from Science Network Western Australia (link). I imagine it being similar to Orangutans eating certain leaves to cure stomach aches. I guess very creature seems to have their instinctive way to keeping themselves healthy. Makes me wonder about natural remedies out there in the wild instead of depending on my medicine cabinet.

Sick Sheep Eat Their Way to Better Health!: "

Australian scientists found out how sick sheep heal themselves: they eat things that make them feel better, and they learn it from their moms!

Sheep, he says, are smarter than we think. 'There is something called nutritional wisdom and it means that sheep, like other animals,have the capacity to make a choice,' he says. …

‘It could be that sheep need certain medicinal paddocks where we take them to self-medicate … or it could be that they need ongoing low-level intakes of certain plants to keep parasites at bay,’ he says.

Link

"

(Via Neatorama.)

Technorati Tags:
herbal, health, sheep, chicory

Wordless Pancake Recipe

Wordless Pancake Recipe: "

How do you communicate ideas without language? Say, for instance, how would you give directions on making pancakes without using words? Take a look: Wordless Pancake Recipe [Flickr]

"

(Via Neatorama.)

A picture is worth a thousand words

Something I always thought about doing but Graphic Designer Pramod Purushothaman has beaten me to the punch. And with skill and delicacy. Click the images for a larger view.

A picture is worth a thousand words: "






Images: Frogview
Tags: Words | Images"

(Via Spluch.)

Bill Sullivan's Subway Turnstile Portraits

A series of engaging photos of New Yorkers making their way through the turnstiles. Check out his site where he has a whole lot more from the series. What a great project.

(via vvork)

(Via swissmiss)

Hannah Stouffer

Found an elegant illustrator and designer from San Francisco via Red.House. Beautiful portfolio of posters, editorial illustrations, t-shirt designs, and interestingly enough, marketing elements for big name clients liket MSN, Dell, Sony and Coca-Cola. link







: : found .hannah stouffer. via design sponge the other day and quickly became a fan of her beautiful graphics work."

(Via red.house.)

Technorati Tags:
hannah stouffer, illustration

MINI USA rolls out RFID-activated billboards

Genius idea for Mini outdoor boards. Assuming it's from the always smart guys at Butler Shine.

[from Engadget:] If there was ever a slick way to get folks to willingly carry around an RFID tag, MINI USA has it all wrapped up. Catering to every person's egotistical side, MINI has begun a pilot advertising campaign in Chicago, New York, Miami, and San Francisco, which gives select Cooper owners the chance to get an RFID keyfob in the mail, and moreover, a reason to consistently drive under MINI billboards. Users can select a custom message to be encoded on their RFID chip, and when they cruise near an overhanging MINI billboard, their particular message lights up for the world (or at least nearby motorists) to see. Of course, we're sure messages will be edited before delivery, and you still need to be down with toting a homing signal around with you each time you cruise, but let's face it, the mastermind behind this ad campaign probably got the raise we all wanted, but didn't come close to. So if you're a MINI owner in one of the four lucky cities, keep a keen eye on that inbox, and word on the street is that MINI USA is planning on hitting up more cities if (read: when) this proves to be a smash hit.

[Via Slashdot]

'

(Via Engadget.)

Technorati Tags:
Mini, Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, outdoor advertising, OOH, automobile advertising

James Turrell's PS1 installation

from PS1.org



by floorvan via flickr


Saw the James Turrell installation for the first time at PS1. It's definitely an awe inspiring piece. As you enter this square room, you feel the crisp air right away and as you look up you realize there's no ceiling. The beautiful blue sky framed by white walls. That's it. It's an ethereal experience. Hard to articulate the delight. Here's the description from PS1's site:



"One of the highlights of P.S.1, this site-specific installation has been at P.S.1 since the fall of 1986. It was initially part of a series commissioned by Alanna Heiss focusing on light and perception. Meeting is composed of a square room with a rectangular opening cut directly into the ceiling. Carefully calculated artificial lights produce an orange glow on the white walls of the room, permitting the viewer to appreciate the intensity of the sky’s color. As Turrell described it: “There’s this four-square seating that’s inside, seating toward each other, having a space that created some silence, allowing something to develop slowly over time, particularly at sunset. Also, this Meeting has to do with the meeting of space that you’re in with the meeting of the space of the sky.” Meeting is one of Turrell’s series of “skyspaces,” all involving enclosed spaces with rectangular or rounded holes cut into the ceiling exposing the open sky."

Technorati Tags:
James Turrell, Art, Sky, p.s.1, ps1

Apple iPhone

Just finished watching the keynote address at MacWorld where they introduced the iPhone. I will readily admit that I drink the kool aid when it comes to Apple products but this introduction really excited me. As Steve Jobs professed, it's a leap forward that feels just as monumental as the introduction of the Mac and the iPod. I've felt the same delight when I first got hands on those two ground breaking products and I can't wait to get my hands on the iPhone, too.

Here are the innovations (link). I'm especially impressed with the "Multi Touch" technology where hey eliminated all dedicated buttons. This you have to see to believe. I remember watching the Spielberg film "Minority Report" where they had those touch screens that Tom Cruise kept rearranging... I realized that this is that future. Like the mouse or the idea of an mp3 player, Apple did not invent the touch screen technology, but they made it into a "how did I ever live without it?" feature. Genious.

Well enough gushing. I'm probably only the 8329th Apple fan boy who's blogged about his excitement over this brand new toy but hey, it's a good day to be a geek.

Apple TV on sale now at Amazon!

In my haste to be first in line for the just announced Apple TV, I put in a search and these cute TVs appeared (link) Oh well, not what I was expecting but adorable. I wonder if this company (Hannspree?) speed dialing their lawyers?

Technorati Tags:
apple tv, macs, itv, humor

Instant ramen (noodles) inventor Ando dies at 96

The inventor of instant ramen Momofuku Ando died today. For better or worse, he changed the eating habits of millions of people when he launched the Nissin Chicken Ramen in 1958. Here's the article link from Yomiuri Shinbun. I'm sure many otakus and college students are raising their styrofoam bowls in his honor.


A few cool ramen sites: ramen blog, world ramen.net, Instant Ramen Facts, and a nice tribute to the art of ramen on the nytimes.

Technorati Tags:
japan, ramen, noodles, nissin, instant, food culture, cup noodles

9 Lincolns

Nine Lincolns, Hodgenville, Kentucky (2000) by Greta Pratt

On display at Mass MOCA which quickly became one of my favorite museums today.

Have a Kentucky Fried Christmas

Well, it's that time of the year again. Time to gather around the family table by the tree and share a traditional... bucket of KFC. Yes, if you're in Japan, that's often the case. And if you actually want to make sure you come home with that Colonel Sanders bucket with a Santa hat, you better reserve it weeks in advance.

It's the one story about Christmas in Japan I tell my friends that seem to get the most looks of disbelief so I'll share it here. Apparently this seemingly odd (but perfectly accepted in Japan) phenomenon started in 1974 as KFC started its first Christmas marketing campaign. Back then, the Japanese didn't eat fried chicken the way Americans do nor did they celebrate Christmas as widely either. The newly introduced fast food chain saw an opportunity to create enthusiasm around both after a regional manager took a hint from a foreigner in Tokyo commenting "Since I can't get a turkey in Japan, I'll get some chicken at KFC for Christmas." Imagine a TV commercial of a "typical" American family gathered around a Norman Rockwell Christmas eve, complete with tree, fireplace, stockings, reindeer sweaters and of course, a bucket of KFC on the table. This image resonated on Japanese minds and soon the red and white bucket became a staple in Japanese homes.

Here's the link to the current commercial on air in Japan. (link)

Happy Holidays everyone. Hope you're enjoying your bucket of KFC, where ever you are.

Technorati Tags:
christmas, kentucky fried chicken, kfc, japan

Vintage America in Kodachrome Color

Wonderful set of COLOR photos before world war II. It's so eye opening to see the world we know so well in black and white now in vivid color. Great collection jonnygunn!.

Vintage America in Kodachrome Color.: "

Link - via reddit

"

(Via Neatorama.)

Technorati Tags:
world war II, vintage photos, color photography, great depression, lower east side, immigrants, japanese americans, golden gate bridge, small town, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, kodachrome

How many calories have you eaten?

Here's a great way to keep track of how much chocolate you're eating (or would you rather not know?) If only potato chips came with such information...

How many calories have you eaten?: "

From Italian ADF (Agencia per il Disegno & la Funzione) via via Coolfinds via Elmanco.

"

(Via swissmiss.)

Technorati Tags:
chocolate, diet

Tallest Buildings, 2012

Fascinating to see the world's obsession to be the tallest. I thought the race was pretty much over after 9/11 but seems to be a lot more sprouting up to the atmosphere. Check out this article on Wired and the details of the diagram above.

Technorati Tags:
architecture, skyscrapers, future