July 2008
32 posts
Opening Soon In My Neighborhood: Hello Health
According to the WSJ, via Gothamist:
Hello Health is a neighborhood-based, Internet-enabled practice that sees you in person and communicates with you over the Internet. Patients become members for a Netflix-priced monthly fee and then pay fee for service. In-person visits, whether house call or in-office, will range from $75 to $150 cash. We will submit your claim to your insurance for you so...
US Vehicle Miles Traveled Down 3.7% In May 2008 →
Style Rookie →
This is what life looks like at 12 years old in 2008. You have a high-traffic fashion blog.
From Tavi, the author’s profile:
Salutations! I’m a vertically challenged 12 year old that could fit inside your purse. I like to think I’m a mix of Little Lu Lu and Iggy Pop, with a bit of Snoop Doggy Dog. I spend my time wearing out crayons and watching Arthur, and taking a rest now...
Stereo Image - Pack Moves
One half of Junior...
NYTimes Discovers Fan Fiction; Kids' Lack Of...
As part of a series on the future of reading, the New York Times spills some ink over the question of whether the internet is dumbing down children’s reading levels or retooling a basic communication skill for a new world.
A bit of a rehash of an ongoing public debate—complete with standardized testing statistics and strong voices advocating all manner of policy changes—the...
Go see Eddie Money on a boat. Then shut up about... →
The Instant →
As you may already know, the long funeral procession for Polaroid has begun. Doing their part to venerate the format, Katherine Barthelme and Louise Ingalls Sturges have put together The Instant, a group exhibition this Saturday at the Texas Firehouse, showcasing artists that embrace and push the limits of the photographic medium. From the press release:
“Originally, Polaroid was not...
Talking Points: Wired Magazine
The editorial stance at Wired is a pretty accurate metonymy for the state of nerd-culture today. What was once an awkward insidery magazine vaulted to prominence on the back of the dot-com boom, and was subsequently kicked in the teeth when the money dried up. In its current incarnation as a Conde Nast glossy, it loudly lays claim to all things geek, cursorily namedropping Linux, Tron and Jolt...
WatchBoingBoing TV interviews Syd Mead, the creative brain behind Blade Runner’s enduringly awesome design, and the man who basically invented the visual look of cyberpunk for a generation. It’s pretty amazing to listen to him talk and hear how much thought and context went into each of his decisions.
via drawn.ca
Graffiti Vending
Evidently the bombers at Smart Crew have come up with (as the name would suggest) this clever vending idea/guerilla art project for sticking a thumb in the eye of the anti-street-art partisans. Smart Cap vending machines sell fat tops for spray-paint cans, for 25c each. Currently Smart Crew is looking for spots that want to install the vending machine.
via AnimalNY
Flash On →
It’s like if Adobe put my TV and my computer in a burlap sack and didn’t let them out until they had produced a child.
Spot.us: Crowdfunded Journalism
As the news industry continues to hemmorhage money, there is no shortage of people touting their ‘next big solution’ to the problem. Naturally, it will be some time before a clear victor emerges, but there are certainly interesting efforts currently in motion
Spot.us is worth noting for two reasons: first, it allows members to ‘bid’ money for the stories they’d...
Talking Points: Violence in Nature
It’s a pretty common trope in much of western culture to portray nature as this nurturing, warm, benevolent, bountiful and fragile force that stands in stark contrast to the crass and violent depths of amoral humanity. And yet the truth is: nature is brutal and will fuck you up without a second thought. For every lament of human depravity—rape, torture, murder, theft—consider the...
Land of the Free →
via And I Am Not Lying
Games by Mark Essen at Light Industry
If you are free tonight, stop by Light Industry for this:
Game artist Mark Essen, a.k.a. Messhof, will install five playable games at Light Industry, including two new titles: Stenography Hero, a competitive text-based stenography simulator in the spirit of Guitar Hero, and Rail War, a western-themed side-scroller projected in a Cinemascope aspect ratio.
Filled with counterintuitive physics,...
Required Reading: Bottlemania
From Core77’s review:
A close enough examination of almost any field or business can set off environmental alarm bells, but what’s amazingly peculiar about bottled water is that our own natural desires for health and prosperity have somehow been co-opted into paying money for something we can get for free, or nearly free…. In any problem this large and complex, there are no...
This Time, With Feeling (new muxtape) →
f8ndfutre
Once upon a time I worked for this Futurist named Faith Popcorn, at her twilight-zone consulting firm Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve. In this strange world I wore all black, a company-mandated planet-shaped pin on my lapel, and a shell-shocked look of incredulity. I researched “the Future” and “Trends” and made patently ridiculous pronouncements to the press like “sleep is the new hydration.”
...
Talking Points: Mainstream Crap
It’s a well-worn line: you or someone you know complains about the constant trash pumped out by America’s entertainment industry. American Idol, reality shows, the specifics don’t matter; the criticism is unilateral and tempting to sympathize with. And yet, were you to flip around the focus-group mirror, you might be surprised to find that media companies don’t deliberately...
Manhattan Special →
Where can I get this?
Rebate Checks Also Stimulating the Porn Industry →
via the indefatigable Henry Seltzer
Zombie Kickball →
GetLoFi →
I’m interested in learning some circuit bending (hacking the circuits of some electronic sound-emitting device with a soldering iron to make a new instrument). This site seems like a good place to start.
If anyone knows a good book on basic analog circuit design, please email.
Pressure Printing →