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Elmo Calls

2012-05-25T12:10:51-05:00

This kind of blew my daughter’s mind: a US$0.99 iPhone app that simulates a FaceTime call from her favorite Sesame Street monster, Elmo.

I offer it here because what I generally hear about FaceTime is that no one uses it. But what I see is that it’s one of the most successful bits of technology that the rest of my family have taken to; in our house, FaceTime calls are a regular feature of almost every weekend. Thuy’s grandparents, aunts and cousins all relish the ability to talk with her via FaceTime. It seems unlikely we’re alone in this, which is borne out in the fact that this app mimics the FaceTime look and feel, and not Skype or Google Hangouts. It’s a useful reminder that, increasingly, the true audience for mobile technology is not the technically savvy, but the technically indifferent.

Anyway, if you have a toddler, it will keep them entertained, for sure. Get it here.

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Igloo Feed Sponsorship

2012-05-23T23:00:00-05:00

Communicating at work changes constantly: different projects, different teams, different goals. Once you add different locations, everything gets harder. It’s tough to keep on task and meet milestones when your time is spent tracking down the people, information or documentation you need. It’s these tiny frustrations that take up your day. It doesn’t have to be this way.

You can work better, not just harder, with a collaborative intranet like Igloo.

An intranet should help you:

Access the information you need – anywhere, on any device
Co-author documents, track versions and get approvals in one place, without barraging you with email
Discuss ideas openly (or privately)
Ask questions as easily as popping over the cubicle wall
Replace meetings by narrating your work

Intranet doesn’t have to be a bad word.

Try Igloo free for 30 days and you can win a free Aeropress.

Open Studio Club

2012-05-22T13:03:04-05:00

A directory of workspaces for creatives. If you have a spare desk or studio area that you’d like to rent or sublet to artists, designers, musicians, etc., you can list it on Open Studio Club. Interested parties email the listers through the site.

The name is perhaps a bit misleading, as the “club” is really just a directory; no account creation or login is required, which keeps things very lightweight and fluid, though club rules advise caution for everyone involved. There are listings from all over the world, though most seem to be in Europe. More here.

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Coastermatic

2012-05-22T12:17:48-05:00

A project from SVA IxD students Tash Wong and Tom Harman (and dreamed up in a class taught by my friends Gary Chou and Christina Cacioppo): Coastermatic lets you turn your favorite Instagram photos into coasters. The results look something like this:

The coaster themselves are made of sandstone and are surprisingly substantial to hold, so these aren’t just digital prints on thick paper. A set of four costs just US$25. I expect this to be a hit. Get yours here.

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Made in NYC Digital Map

2012-05-18T15:17:05-05:00

From Mayor Bloomberg’s office, a digital map of the famous Made in NYC register of tech startups.

It’s kind of neat to see the city’s tech scene arranged like this. Explore the map for yourself.

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Mountain Lion Fixes Calendar

2012-05-17T11:14:21-05:00

Hallelujah. The forthcoming version of OS X Mountain Lion restores the dedicated calendars sidebar at the left side of the window, along with the miniature months view that I find so useful.

Apple removed that sidebar with Mac OS X Lion, a decision that I lamented in this blog post. After using Lion for months, I can say that that omission remains my single biggest complaint about 10.7. Thank goodness it’s coming back.

Macworld has more about OS X Mountain Lion’s updates to the contacts and calendar apps.

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Igloo Software Feed Sponsorship

2012-05-16T23:00:00-05:00

Work isn’t a place – it’s what you do.

And you might work on a lot of devices – a Mac, an iPhone, an iPad – in a lot of places. You might work on the road or maybe from home (with your Aeropress and clickity keyboard). And that makes it hard to securely use a shared drive, coordinate with clients and collaborate with your team.

Igloo offers a complete digital workplace – you get full access to all your files, project discussions and plans for world domination. The information you need to work is available anywhere in the world, literally at your fingertips.

Igloo has a space for your team. Each team gets dedicated file sharing, Twitter-like microblogs, activity streams and a host of other collaboration tools in one cloud-based platform. Plans start at just $4/user/month.

Work better, not harder.

Enter to win an Aeropress and try Igloo free for 30 days.

Recursive Drawing

2012-05-14T15:07:34-05:00

This made the rounds last week but it’s worth playing with — or at least watching the video. It’s a novel and quite startling concept in object-oriented drawing that’s fascinating to see in action. Via Chuck Anderson.

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When Letraset Was King

2012-05-09T14:50:13-05:00

A look at two 1970s-era catalogs from Letraset Ltd.

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Stijn Debrouwere on Journalism

2012-05-09T09:44:34-05:00

A sobering diagnosis of how extensive the crisis is for journalism as something people need in their lives. Stijn is a technologist working in journalism and has an apparently keen understanding of the situation that he expresses clearly and urgently. Full blog post here. Via Mike Davidson.

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