Looking to turn the chore of learning a new subject into a fun and challenging game?  A company called Course Hero has designed a flashcard system that allows you do just that. And let’s be clear, these aren’t your parent’s old school index cards. Created online, these flashcards are easily customized to any topic. Whether you’re looking to master your knowledge of Design History or brush up on Architecture Terms, these digitized “knowledge bites” will help you condense and simplify information so that you absorb the important facts quickly.

But flashcards are only part of the process, what will really kick your retention level into high gear is the Optimal Learn feature. University students as well as “students of life” know what a pain it is to stick to a regimented study schedule. Even if you really desire to learn a specific subject, the overwhelming amount of distractions makes it very difficult to do so. That’s why Optimal Learn is such an awesome feature. Once you decide on a timeline, a customized program is created that challenges you with quizzes and remind you when to study up, all with the end goal in mind. This high tech flashcard system adds a bit of fun to a normally mundane process.  You can check out this very cool learning tool over at Course Hero where you’ll have the option to select an existing set –or create personalized flashcards based on your interests and educational needs.

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So what were the visual stories people were telling in 2011? Spoiler alert. Cats, the darlings of the internet, lead the pack with 120k images and 147k downloads. There was also a dramatic increase in the popularity of vectors and textured images. Check out the rest of the trends below.

To view the infographic without a plug-in, click here.  To see a lightbox with all of the images featured in the infographic, click here.

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Super Bowl XLVI was one of the best in recent memory. The action on the field was downright riveting.  If you used the commercial breaks to actually take a break from the screen, and are afraid you’ve missed some of the best ads of the evening, not to worry, we’ve pulled our five favorites from last night’s game.

Vampire Drives an Audi

We know, vampires have been done to death. But we still like this Audi ad from Venables Bell & Partners of San Francisco.  Shot beautifully and with a bit of misdirection,the highlights Audi’s LED headlights. Not to mention, the 2013 Audi S7 is a gorgeous car to look at.

Monkeys Coworkers in Careerbuilder’s Super Bowl 2012 Commercial

Almost everyone can relate to annoying coworkers and yes, this isn’t the first time CareerBuilder.com has exploited that fact. And did we mention there are monkeys doing cute things?

Bud Light #HereWeGo Rescue Dog

A rescue dog?  Budweiser, nothing melts our hearts more. And judging from the twitter activity surrounding this ad, others must agree.

Seinfeld Wants an Acura

Ha! Rich, entitled people and their problems are so amusing. Okay, maybe not so much, but we still enjoyed the ad for the Acura NSX. It was fast paced, peppered with jokes and had a nice reveal at the end.

Ferris Bueller Calls in Sick and Drives a Honda

Matthew Broderick plays hooky like his character Ferris Bueller did in the classic film ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.’ With more than two dozen references to the film, this ad is worth giving a second look. We have the two minute internet version.

So those are our favorites. If you’d like to check out more Super Bowl ads, our friends over at TheFW.com have pulled together all the available video commercials from the 2012 game.

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This is it. Super Bowl weekend!  The New England Patriots take on the New York Giants at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana in a highly anticipated rematch.  From Super Bowl fashions to a list of the top Super Bowl commercials ever, we’ve gathered all the best  links to help you enjoy Super Bowl XLVI with design in mind.

Looking to throw the best Super Bowl viewing event this season? There’s tech support to help make that happen. Wired profiles the 8 Essential Gadgets for Hosting a Killer Super Bowl Party over at their Gadget Lab.

Chemically enhanced foods need not apply! Green lifestyle advocate Inhabitat has Six Yummy Organic Recipes For Your Super Bowl Party. The list includes how to make your own tortilla chips, Mediterranean salsa, eggplant sliders and more.

Everyone knows if the game is lame (which fingers crossed it won’t be this year) you can always count on the commercials as conversation fodder. Fast Company has compiled a list of the 15 Most Memorable Super Bowl Ads of the Modern Era. Yes, the iconic Apple one that’s always included made the list, but there are plenty of others that you may have forgotten about.

Looking to get a jump on the commercials from the 2012 Super Bowl? FW has pulled together the videos of every single ad released so far, and will be updating the the list throughout the weekend. So now you can watch all the Super Bowl XLVI commercials in one place. How awesome is that?

Tom Brady, Madonna, the uniforms, NBC covers all the fashionable aspects of the game in their Guide to Super Bowl Style, even untangling the tricky dilemma of which colors fans should sport in support of their team. For the record, Patriot fans should be in blue and Giants fans should be in white.

What do the Super Bowl and Workplace Design Have in Common? Barbara T. Armstrong explains the correlation in her Forbes column.

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Yesterday brought the sad news of the passing of Don Cornelius, the creator and host of the groundbreaking music show Soul Train. The popular dance show aired in syndication from October 1971 to March 2006. Billed as the “hippest trip in America”, Soul Train not only introduced the latest music and dance moves each week, but also showcased the current fashions over its 35-year history.  Jam packed with celebrities and future celebrities clad in the latest styles, Soul Train not only inspired you to get up and move, but to look good while doing it.

Spandex, high-waisted pants, bell bottoms, leisure suits, if it was fashionable and hip, you’d see it on the Soul Train dance floor. We’ve pulled together 30 images of dancers, performers and Don Cornelius himself wearing the hottest styles over the years.

Some of the Soul Train dancers who went on to become household names include Rosie Perez, Carmen Electra, Nick Cannon, MC Hammer, Jermaine Stewart, Fred “Rerun” Berry, Pebbles, NFL legend Walter Payton and Jody Watley. They strutted their stuff down the Soul Train line in of course, the freshest, funkiest looks of the time.

Don Cornelius, an innovator and all around cool guy, in parting, we wish you love, peace… and SOUL!

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Super Bowl Sunday, the most wonderful time of the year for football fans.  Even if you don’t follow football all season, chances are you will be watching  the game on Sunday. This year the New England Patriots take on the New York Giants at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, and it promises to be an exciting match up. In addition to the always intense “Boston-New York” rivalry, it will also be  a rematch of the 2007 game where the Giants upset the undefeated Patriots to become Super Bowl Champions.

But the contest won’t be confined to just the gridiron.  Regular Joes will also battle it out for the title of top Super Bowl party thrower.  Thanks to that competition, Super Bowl Sunday is the most important snack, electronic, and ad purchase day of the year.  Consumers impress their friends with the biggest parties, the most snacks, and often the latest and greatest big screen TVs, increasing retail sales and sales tax revenue.  This is of course, good news for retailers and advertisers. Check out this infographic to see how much America typically spends on the Super Bowl.

Free Tax Filing, Efile Taxes, Income Tax Returns – TurboTax.com

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Twenty-six year old aspiring filmmaker Zach Borst has something to scream about. As the winner of this year’s Chevrolet Route 66  Super Bowl ad competition, not only will his commercial run during the big game this Sunday, he’ll also receives twenty-five grand for his creative efforts.

Up against 197 submissions from 32 countries, “Chevy Happy Grad” nabbed the top prize. Borst used his hometown of Floral Park, N.Y as the setting for 30 and 60-second spots. He also pulled inspiration from his childhood to come up with the premise.  “My Dad was a cop and worked real hard to be able to buy his kids their first cars. They were used, but mine meant the world to me,” Borst said. “Then I wondered what it would look like if I got a brand new Camaro?”

Filmed in less than four hours, the spots depict a recent grad who thinks his parents gave him a shiny new Camaro convertible as a graduation gift. His excitement escalates as he shares the news with others, only to see the actual owner, the next door neighbor, drive away in it. It’s a cute spot and we think it deserves a much better review than the one Tim Nudd gave it over at AdWeek.com. Nudd described the 30-second spot as “somewhat irritating” and the 60-second version as “horrible” in his AdFreak column.  Ouch! That sounds a bit harsh, especially considering the truly horrible ads from professional ad agencies we see all the time. You can watch both below and decide for yourself. We’d love to hear what you think.

Chevy Happy Grad – Super Bowl XLVI – 30-second spot

Chevy Happy Grad – Super Bowl XLVI – 60-second spot

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Got design on your mind?  From celebrity ski homes to an eco-friendly dwelling controlled with your game paddle, we’ve rounded up all the good stuff for the last week of January 2012.

Sarah Firshein over at Curbed gives us the inside scoop on Celebrities Who Have Embraced the Ski Chalet Lifestyle. Head over there to check out the apres-ski digs of Jerry Seinfeld, Mitt Romney, Kelsey Grammar, Charlie Sheen and golfer Greg Norman.

Wondering Which Mags Were Biggest Users of QR Codes in 2011?  With quick response codes becoming more popular, Adweek has put together a list publications leading the wave along with tips on how to get more interaction with readers.

Wired.com reports on shopping at the Pentagon, America’s Most Dangerous Mall. From novelty chocolates  to military bling,  it may surprise you just what can be purchased at the world’s most famous five-sided building.

We know what you’re thinking – finally, A Solar-Powered House You Control With Xbox Kinect. Suzanne Labarre of Fast Co. Design brings us news of the award-winning Solar Decathlon house at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

The Louvre museum in Paris has just four American paintings in its huge permanent collection. But a temporary new exhibit is putting the spotlight on early American art, featuring Thomas Cole’s dramatic landscape paintings from the early 19th century. Read (or listen) all about it on All Things Considered over at NPR.com.

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It seems everything is a group effort these days.  From software to logo design, people are teaming up and sharing ideas to create products.  Now even breweries are getting into the action. Samuel Adams is using group think in the formation of its next beer.  The brewer has joined forces with social-media maven Guy Kawasaki in an effort to produce what they are calling the world’s  the first “collaborative ale.

Using social networks to gather opinions on the color, clarity, and malt/hops/yeast ratios, Sam Adams looks to create a beer of the people. Want to get in on the action? Head over to the Samuel Adams Facebook page and download the Crowd Craft Project App.  So when can you taste this new concoction?  The crowdsourced beer will be available in select bars in Austin, Texas, during the South by Southwest Festival(SXSW)  in March and at the Sam Adams Boston Brewery. [via adweek]

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As the third week of January 2012 comes to a close, we are getting the sense that this year will be big for design. From cool car to solar powered ship, this week we bring you all the best design related posts and articles from around the web.

Sarah Firshien gives us a sneak peek Inside Paris’ Insanely, Utterly Bonkers “Tropical Greenhouse over at Curbed.com. Designed by the French firm ART’UR Architectes, Maison 14 is the tallest timber-framed building in the country.

Have a thing for horribly bad advertisements? David Gianatasio follows the story of Todd Bieber and his quest to produce Some of the Worst Commercials Ever, a tale of being amazing at something awful over at AdFreak.

As the Dieline gears up for the Dieline Package Design Conference in Boston nears Debbie Millman Interviews the Godfather of Modern Branding, Wally Olins in a Design Matters Live session.

Holy sun spots! The epic voyage of the Tûranor PlanetSolar, the world’s largest solar-powered boat, is in the home stretch. The Swiss vessel is a  high-tech solar harvesting machine whose deck is covered in 537 square meters of photovoltaic panels. This setup produced enough energy for the boat to navigate the entire circumference of the Earth without any other means of energy. You can read more about it over at our favorite green minded site, Inhabitat.

If you didn’t make it to Consumer Electronics Show this year, Wired.com is reporting on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of CES Cars. Swing over there to see their top picks and duds of the season and an impressive gallery of all the notable rides.

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How well do you know the names of homes from movies and television?  Test your knowledge of famous fictional residences with our quiz.

1.  This Georgian plantation in Gone With the Wind was home to Scarlet O’ Hara before she moved to Atlanta.

2.   X-men called this hideout their home after the former X-Mansion was destroyed during the Messiah Complex.

3.  After a long day of swindling and  philandering oil magnate JR Ewing came back to this famous fictional ranch in Dallas.

4. The creepy vintage soap opera Dark Shadows featured this Gothic residence.

5. The sexy witches in the WB television series Charmed cast their spells and ran around half dressed in this San Francisco property.

6. Citizen Kane called this ostentatious homage to conspicuous consumption home.

7. First Bilbo and then nephew Frodo Baggins used this Hobbit hole as a home base.

8. The  model home from Arrested Developement  was located in this development property.

9. In Hitchcock’s Rebecca, the new Mrs. de Winter lives in the shadow of the former mistress of this cliff side dwelling.

10. The Cartwright Family from Bonanza called this Lake Tahoe, Nevada ranch their home

Answers:

1. Tara
2. Graymalkin Industries
3. SouthFork
4. Collinwood Mansion
5. Halliwell Manor
6. Xanadu
7. Bag End
8. Sudden Valley
9. Manderley
10. Ponderosa

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