8/20/2010 02:14:00 PM
mikey b.
Wired is by far my favorite magazine. Their features and articles are always very informative as well as entertaining. They also change up their design from issue to issue, which makes for a nice treat every time you crack open the pages.
On top of that, they've got a tremendous blog roll. They cover all of our modern interests, cars, sports, photography, space, business, web and even one for the geeky dad.
While catching up on some of old posts from their Gadget Lab blog, I came across a very neat story covering the history of common computer symbols. Here's a few of my favorites:
POWER
Back during WWII, binary was used to label individual power buttons, toggles and switches. "1" meant "On"; "0" meant "Off". In 1973, the International Electrotechnical Commission put the two together to represent "Standby power state". That was later change by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to our present day meaning of "Power".
USB
That's a small taste. They've got the story behind much more symbols, including Bluetooth, Firewire, Pause, Play, the spinning beach ball of death and even '@'. We see these icons everywhere we go in our regular lives. It's just neat to catch up on how they got to where they are. Go read up!
*Black History Month; Death From Above 1979
8/10/2010 11:53:00 AM
mikey b.
Many tend to believe that bad things happen in three's, further strengthening the strong, positive bond that two's seem to possess. There are countless possibilities of who could achieve the ranking of being my favorite actor/director combination in the Hollywood.
Martin Scorsese & Robert DeNiro; Martin Scorsese & Leonardo DiCaprio; Tim Burton & Johnny Depp. They are all up there on my list, I don't quite think that there really is a clear number one out of any of those pairs.
But also making a strong push for top supremacy is Tony Scott & Denzel Washington. As with the other pairs, I rarely seem to find myself disliking a movie that gets made with these two involved. Yes, The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 certainly wasn't my favorite. But rest-assured, together they're starting to compile quite a wonderful collection of movies: Crimson Tide, Man on Fire, Deja Vu, The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3.
This all leads to a movie that they've got coming out on November 12th of this year. It's called Unstoppable and it's about rail company trying to stop an unmanned freight train full of combustible and poisonous chemicals from wiping out a city. Chris Pine, Ethan Suplee and Rosario Dawson also show face in this one. I absolutely love Tony Scott's choice of rich colors and style in his movies. Take a look at the trailer below.
*Southern Pacific; Neil Young
8/09/2010 01:51:00 PM
mikey b.
I don't spend a lot of time watching videos on YouTube. There are hundreds of viral videos that I can honestly say I have never seen, and I'm not really phased by it. I just never seem to have the time for it.
But today I came across something I hadn't seen before. What seems to be a New Zealand pizza chain called Hell Pizza has come up with a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' / Zombie chase video advertisement. You goal is to help Steve get across the city to deliver his pizza without being killed by zombies! If you manage to make it all the way, you can get entered to win a year's supply of pizza. I'm assuming you've got to be from New Zealand to actually win that though.
I think it's got excellent production value and is a great idea for gaining new customers. Good on them!
*Land Down Under; Men At Work
POWER
USB