Saturday, March 28, 2009

Little Red Riding Hood [Animated Fables]

In the age of information, people expect to be able to take a deep dive at any point in time. I can't tell you how many times bets are settled by accessing wikipedia via my mobile phone.

Tomas Nilsson created a 3 minute reinterpretation of Little Red Riding Hood for a (Swedish) university class project.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did:



HT: Thingamababy

Friday, March 20, 2009

Executive March Madness [Obama's Picks]

Chris Good from the Atlantic breaks down Obama's NCAA bracket. Key takeaways:

  • UNC wins
  • Obama is conservative and plays it safe
You can read the breakdown in bracketology here.

Refrigerator Magnetic Essays [Outsourcing]

In a globalized, frictionless, or flat economy has led to outsourcing on anything and everything. Tim Ferriss claims that you can "escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich," in his 4-Hour Workweek book.

So I'm not surprised to see that outsourcing essay writing has become a global affair. I recall a friend of mine who had one of her essays "contributed" to an essay bank. She didn't know how it got there, but evidently, somebody had made got compensated for her essay.

The Chronicle of Higher Education peels away at these Essay Mills to reveal something that is both sophisticated, global, and very profitable.

In a previous era, you might have found an essay mill near a college bookstore, staffed by former students. Now you'll find them online, and the actual writing is likely to be done by someone in Manila or Mumbai. Just as many American companies are outsourcing their administrative tasks, many American students are perfectly willing to outsource their academic work.

What's going on behind the scenes, however, is another story.

The address listed on the site is in Reston, Va. But it turns out that's the address of a company that allows clients to rent "virtual office space" — in other words, to claim they're somewhere they're not.
Check out the rest of the article here.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Google + Sony = Goony [Ebooks]

I'm still reading Abe's writings on my Sony ebook reader. As of tonight, I'm on page 943 of 3,000 3,972.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Google has been steadily scanning books in the public domain.

And now, Google is making 500,000 of the books, unprotected by copyright, available for free on Sony's ebook store. Now all I need to do is read the remaining 3,000 pages to see what is in store for me.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Home of the Archives [Newspaper Archives]

With newspapers discontinuing their print editions to move online. Slate explainer, answers a question that I have been wondering:

What Happens to the Archives of Defunct Newspapers?

Surprisingly, "the competing newspaper typically absorbs the assets." I would've never thought of that...

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Simple Startups [Entrepreneurship]

Source: brooklyn

Business Pundit, identifies a couple fortune 500 companies that were able to build organically. For a lot of people, their natural inclination is to run towards venture capital. We sometimes forget that companies like Coors or Whole Foods were able to build a business organically.

Read the profiles here.

Friday, March 13, 2009

How not to interview [sesame street]

Being a producer for a show isn't as easy at it seems. Check out what happens when Ricky Gervais and Elmo go waaay off.

Go K! [Pride]

So while K is out in Chicago, she's been making big waves. Most recently, she's been at the Renaissance Society at University of Chicago, where she has helping with their digital strategy.

But it seems like her work at UIC's Gallery 400 is still getting play. First, there was her soundbite on Chicago's own WBEZ for her show.

But just the other day, she got a shout out in ArtNet Magazine. In an article called "Chicago Buildup," they profile her handiwork.

Tear. I'm so proud!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Woot!

Like many people out there, I have a hidden dream of being a photographer. I've posted a couple of my pics in my flickr account. I've even tried to participate in the flickr community by submitting my pics for review--typically with ego-bruising results. I personally love the picture, but maybe that's cuz I'm a bit biased because of the model. ;P

However, every once in a while, I'm always surprised at people who find my pics and include them into their sites.

For example, Word Press magazine, included a picture I took at the Chicago Air and Water Show. I've included it to the right. Check out the original.

Who would've thought a picture of mine would be used for a post about word press themes.

I always thought that my pictures would be used in places like here, here, and here.

And that's the beauty of the Internet. The randomness and the asynchronous nature of putting something out there for the community to pick-up on.