From the monthly archives: May 2012
Siri – I haven’t posted much on her lately. Still love the fact that I can just talk and get things done though! Here is why she sometimes doesn;t understand us very well though – from Mashable:
Siri is a loyal mistress, following you wherever you go — but is she a good listener?
Since the iPhone 4S began coming standard with Siri last October, the voice activated personal assistant has become a cultural phenomenon. Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel star in Siri-themed ads for the phone. A creepy iPhone case forces you to interact with Siri. A different project enables Siri to destroy your phone if it’s lost or stolen, and a viral video shows what happens when Siri goes psycho.
But everyone’s not impressed. In March, a man filed suit against Apple, alleging that Siri “does not perform as advertised.” Anecdotally, many others have complained that Siri doesn’t respond to voice commands and questions as hyped.
Given the controversy, Internet education portal OnlineDegrees.com rounded up a number of studies and statistics from sources including The Wall Street Journal, ABC News and others over the past several months to produce the infographic below. Among the findings: 87% of iPhone 4S owners use Siri at least once per month, with just over half describing themselves as “satisfied” with her performance. 9% say they’re not satisfied, while 36% say they’re somewhere between happy and unhappy.
Only two-thirds of users, however, employ Siri for anything beyond searching the web, making a phone call or sending a text. At least 30% of users say they would never use Siri to schedule a metting, play music or even send an email, while just a quarter use Siri to send emails on a daily basis.
Check out the infographic below for more on how iPhone owners do — and don’t — use Siri. Then let us know in the comments — do you think Siri really works?
Happy 75th Birthday to the Golden Gate Bridge! Awesome structure and so gorgeous. Here is an incredible timelapse video of the firework storm it received for its birthday from The Seventh Movement:
Centipede – Knife Party knifeparty.com
Fireworks – Pyro Spectaculars by Souza pyrospectaculars.com/
( Sittin’ On ) The Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding
Lights – Journey
Frisco Blues – John Lee Hooker
San Francisco ( Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair ) – Scott McKenzie
I Left My Heart in San Francisco – Tony Bennett
If you didn’t understand what was happening, you should probably watch it again.
This has been a Seventh Movement effort.
You already know I enjoy Pinterest (a lot!). Here is proof that it is not only a fun place, and a popular place, but also becoming a powerful force in driving sales! Details from Fast Company:
Pinterest users not only buy the products they pin, but spend more on average than their Facebook counterparts, according to new data from Shopify.
Pinterest just picked up a cool $100 million in funding led by Japanese online shopping giant Rakuten, placing its value in the region of $1.5 billion. That’s huge–bigger than Instagram–but perhaps justified if the Pinteresting effect is reverberating through e-commerce sites. Here’s some proof that it is: Shopify, which supplies the e-commerce back end to 25,000 online stores, asked its partners whether Pinterest users are buying anything. The results are impressive.
Pinterest is now the third biggest referral source to Shopify’s partner sites after Facebook, and on par with Twitter.
Pinterest users shop big–the average price tag is double that of a buy from a Facebook user.
Visits from the social network have jumped 145% since January this year, and, as a source of revenue for stores Pinterest now contributes 17% of social media traffic–up from 1% in Q2 last year.
There are more tidbits on Shopify’s full infographic.
Wow! This infographic sure makes this problem easier to understand – just take a look at the portion sizes! Amazing! Details from MakingHealthEasier.org:
Portion sizes have been growing. So have we. The average restaurant meal today is more than four times larger than in the 1950s. And adults are, on average, 26 pounds heavier. If we want to eat healthy, there are a few things we can do for ourselves and our community: Order the smaller meals on the menu, split a meal with a friend, or, eat half and take the rest home. We can also ask the managers at our favorite restaurants to offer smaller meals.
Some interesting ideas of how graphic design has changed from Gizmodo:
Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne have written a book about the 100 ideas that changed graphic design, which can be taken as a sort of chronological history for graphic design as a whole. The book makes consideration for everything, from body types and teen magazines to sexual taboo busting and designer websites, it’s a great look at the roots of design.
You’ll need to buy the book to get a deeper dive on some of these ideas that’ve changed graphic design but the full list is below.
1. The Book
2. Body Type
3. Rub-on Designs
4. Rays
5. Pastiche
6. Pointing Fingers
7. Vanitas
8. Clenched Fists
9. Monumental Images
10. Female Archetypes
11. Colour Blocks
12. Ornamentation
13. Decorative Logotypes
14. Naive Mascots
15. Entrepreneurship
16. Metaphoric Lettering
17. Swashes on Caps
18. Text as Images
19. Visual Puns
20. The Square Format
21. Primitive Figuration
22. Propaganda
23. The Object Poster
24. Paper Cutouts
25. Manifestos
26. Graphic Design Magazines
27. Botanical Geometry
28. Calligrams
29. Loud Typography
30. Asymmetric Typography
31. Red with Black
32. Supergraphics
33. Supreme Geometry
34. Funny Faces
35. Expression of Speed
36. Corporate Identity
37. Dust Jackets
38. Found Typography
39. Ransom Notes
40. Design Handbooks
41. Avant-garde Zines
42. Collages
43. Riddles and Rebuses
44. Photomontage
45. Pictograms
46. Floating Heads
47. Abstraction
48. Triangulation
49. Extreme Close-ups
50. The Provocative Gesture
51. Motion Graphics
52. Night Spectaculars
53. Shadow Play
54. Good Design
55. Forced Obsolescence
56. Vibrating Colour
57. Strips and Panels
58. Frame by Frame
59. Perfect Rectangles
60. Abstract Graphs
61. Dynamic Diagonals
62. Stencil Type
63. Comic Lettering
64. Parody
65. Sustainable Packaging
66. Public Service Campaigns
67. Branding Campaigns
68. Layering and Overprinting
69. Design Thinking
70. The Grid
71. Brand Narratives
72. White Space
73. Less is More
74. Mono-Alphabets
75. Film Title Sequences
76. Big Book Look
77. Nostalgia
78. Illegibility
79. Scan Lines
80. Teen Magazines
81. Culture Jamming
82. High Contrast
83. Psychedelia
84. Split Fountain
85. Underground Comics
86. Record Album Covers
87. Street Slogans
88. Sexual Taboo Busting
89. Self-Promotional Publishing
90. Tags
91. Universal Pricing Code
92. Vernacular
93. French Theory
94. Do It Yourself
95. The Fine Print
96. Magazine Coverlines
97. Guerrilla Advertising
98. Pixellation
99. Ambigrams
100. Designers’ Websites
A lovely, lovely book. Design has more reason than you think. [Laurence King via Kottke]
Farmers’ Markets are fun! Here are some cool ones that are during the night in:
- Los Angeles
- New York City
- Philadelphia
- New Orléans
- Nashville
Details from, well, of course Details:
LET HEMP-TOTE-CARRYING EARLY-BIRD LOCAVORES GET THE WORM—AT THESE NIGHT MARKETS, YOU CAN HAVE YOUR PICK OF AMAZING GOURMET FOOD AND A REASON TO STAY OUT LATE: GREAT MUSIC AND DRINKS.
BY ADAM GRAHAM
MAY 2012 ISSUE
Organic nightlife: Yamashiro Farmers Market in Los Angeles
Los Angeles: Yamashiro Farmers Market
lacityfarm.org
Setting: At sunset each Thursday—from April through September—the leafy parking lot of the iconic Hollywood Hills restaurant transforms into a smorgasbord, with live acoustic jazz and incredible 180-degree views of downtown L.A. Bring a date.
What to have there: Finger-food-size lasagna “cupcakes” from Heirloom L.A. and an açaí-liqueur and tonic from Angeleno distillery VeeV.
What to take away: A jar of Gunnar & Jake’s bracing lemon-cucumber pickles.
New York City: Brooklyn Night Bazaar
bkbazaar.com
Setting: Previous Bazaars were set amid repurposed shipping containers and inside a Williamsburg warehouse, with performances by musicians like James Murphy and the Hold Steady. Starting June 1, the market will take place every Friday and Saturday night in a different industrial-cool hot spot. Food foraging has never been this fashionable.
What to have there: A tender, buttery Luke’s Lobster roll and a citrusy Summer Ale from Brooklyn Brewery.
What to take away: Warm-weather salad staples—Swiss chard, cucumbers, radishes, and tomatoes—from the borough’s Eagle Street Rooftop Farm.
Philadelphia: Night Market Philadelphia
nightmarketphilly.org
Setting: Hipsters and foodies unite at this movable feast, which has taken over the avenues of four different hoods. On May 24, the market moves to the chic, rowhouse-lined Northern Liberties area, Philly’s 19th-century red-light district, with new locales in June and August.
What to have there: A Dapper Dog smoked kielbasa piled with homemade sauerkraut and a Philadelphia Pale Ale from Yards Brewing.
What to take away: A bag of Whistle & Cuss coffee beans from Philly roasters Rival Bros.
New Orleans: St. Claude Night Market
stclaudenightmarket.tumblr.com
Setting: Housed in a historic Creole neighborhood that has become a cool arts district, this outdoor fest—in conjunction with the Second Saturdays gallery nights beginning May 12—encourages eating, drinking, and dancing.
What to have there: Empanada Intifada’s Mestizo (a spicy Latin spin on the Louisiana meat pie) and a few frothy banana daiquiris from OHNO Co.
What to take away: A dozen Drunken Walnut & Cracked Black Pepper dinner rolls from Bakery Co-op.
Nashville: Night Market at Nashville Farmers’ Market
nashvillefarmersmarket.org
Setting: Starting June 15—and continuing monthly through December—the indoor-outdoor party on the northern edge of downtown manages to feel both urban (the twinkling city skyline provides the backdrop) and old-timey (the sound of fiddle music fills the air). A flask of whiskey is optional.
What to have there: Smoked-pork-and-coleslaw- stuffed egg rolls from B&C BBQ and a glass of prosecco with a shot of habanero-lime syrup from Bang Candy Company.
What to take away: Sweet-potato pie from Geraldine’s Greatest Chess Pies.
Gorgeous picture of a spectacular monastery in Greece – from WSJ.com:
Height made might in the ancient world, especially in Greece, where steep, rocky terrain amplified the advantage of commanding the high ground. Athens, like other Greek cities, grew from a fortified nucleus known as an acropolis (‘high city’); the top of Mount Olympus was the stronghold of the gods; Icarus’ fatal hubris was his presumption to soar as high as they did. Aerial views like the 100 images in Georg Gerster’s ‘The Sites of Ancient Greece’ (Phaidon, 160 pages, $69.95)achieve a perspective even those immortals can envy. Crisscrossing Greece in a Cessna, Mr. Gerster captured structures ranging from the labyrinthine palace of Knossos, built in 2000 B.C., to the medieval monasteries (above) at Meteora—the name means ‘suspended in midair’—where monks hoping to draw closer to the divine retreated to prongs of rock that tower hundreds of feet above the plain of Thessaly. The grooves eroded in the sandstone echo the fluting of classical columns, such as those of the Parthenon, which in Mr. Gerstner’s photograph cast long shadows across the Acropolis. The Olympian perspective often magnifies traces that are indistinct on the ground. From directly overhead, the walls and streets of the fifth-century B.C. ‘New Town’ in Olynthos are as sharp as a blueprint, and in Arcadia the patchwork fields of modern farmers are interrupted by an oval ring nearly a mile across—the outline of the ancient town of Mantineia, now plowed under. But Mr. Gerster’s method can also humble. The magnificent temple of Poseidon perched on Cape Sounion at the southern tip of the Attic peninsula was once a conspicuous landmark for sailors on the sea below. From a few thousand feet up, it looks like a brittle toy.
