cool & cheesy

Crisis of Credit

robertfrancis — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:25:30 +0000

More fun then Economics 101 but just as informative. Jonathan Jarvis has created a wonderful visual explanation of the complexities behind the cause of the current credit crisis. With his illustrations and the voiceover he takes you painlessly through the history and intricacies of the mortgage system.

Link: Crisis of Credit

Get Out and Play, Nokia strikes again

robertfrancis — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:22:37 +0000

Last year Nokia and FarFar created a faux tailor shop (Henry Needle & Sons) to show off the Nokia N95. This year, they have created yet another engaging micro-site to promote Nokia’s latest N-series phones and the N-Gage platform. This new site is well worth visiting even if you’re not in the market for a new mobile.

Get Out and Play is based off the Nokia game “Snakes” and features over 1,000 people in a very cool stop-motion animation. No special effects, similar to Sprint’s “light drawings.” There is even a great interactive game featuring the stop motion characters. All this goodness is to promote Nokia but again, regardless of your interest in their products this site is worth visiting.

Link: www.get-out-and-play.com
Credits: FarFar

An inside view

robertfrancis — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:28:10 +0000

So this isn’t a write up about a website, instead it’s about me finally getting a chance to check out the Comcast Center.

It’s not officially open yet, even though many floors are now occupied on a daily basis. Since my team won’t be moving in for some time we decided to have lunch there and get a sneak peak of what’s in store. The weather wasn’t the best for getting a good view but I captured a few shots that hopefully give an idea of what it’s like to be there.

Link: Pictures from the 43rd floor

Worlds Tallest Buildings

robertfrancis — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:11:36 +0000

Recently they announced a new skyscraper to be built in Philadelphia called American Commerce Center. It’s proposed to be built just across the street from Philadelphia’s current tallest building, the Comcast Center. The American Commerce Center boasts it will be the tallest in the Western hemisphere…because there is no one this side of the Atlantic that is proposing anything even close to what’s being built in Dubai.

Currently there are nine skyscrapers in the mist of construction that are near (or taller) to the American Commerce Center. This includes the soon to be World’s tallest, Burj Dubai, at 800+ meters tall it dwarfs just about everthing else. Though this honor looks to be short lived as they are already proposing a taller building to be built less then 10 miles away. Until then Burj Dubai is king and it’s website shows you all the reasons why it’s the biggest and the best.

Link: SkyscraperPage.com
Link: Burj Dubai

Modernista: making the most of minimalism

robertfrancis — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:23:27 +0000

Modernista’s latest site is not a site at all. Instead it makes the most of the current Web 2.0 services. It employs Flickr for it’s print portfolio, YouTube for it’s motion work, Del.icio.us for it’s web work and Google for it’s news section. All the while you are experiencing their site…at least according to the page title and Modernista’s main navigation sittig in the top left of the window.

Great PR. Smartly executed. And more then a bit ironic as Modernista boast that they are focused in building brands and brand experiences. Their portfolio makes this clear but their site…not so much. Their site downplays the brand experience by co-opting the experiences of other sites to make theirs. Still great marketing and totally demonstrates that they “get” Web 2.0.

Link: www.modernista.com

The Power of the Masses

robertfrancis — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:20:02 +0000

So my co-worker had his place broken into and his TV, Xbox and laptop stolen. He posted a blog entry about the situation and a photo he got from a local pawn shop of the guy trying to sell a laptop matching his. The blog post got a Digg and it snowballed from there. Some 6000+ Diggs later and the mass of Diggers that rallied up to help find the culprits and offer support have succeeded in getting some the stuff back (which is amazing all on it’s own).

It’s a good example of how the internet and the real world are one and the same, as well as how much personal information is available online if someone wants to find it. The main point of attack was the not-so-bright wanna be ghetto trash kid that had the Xbox. Not being the brightest he contacts my co-worker stating that he stole the Xbox and is offering to sell it back. Since he contacted my co-worker via Xbox live, he offered up the first batch of personal info. From there the Diggers did the rest.

I’m not going to post any pictures of the kid or any of the personal info garnered about him. Though I will post a link to my co-workers blog on what happened.

Initial Post: WOW, You’re a MORON
Follow up: WOW, You’re a MORON (When the internet attacks!)
Follow up: WOW, You’re a MORON (Behold the Power of the Internet)

UPDATE : The Xbox was returned. Two out of the three items back is amazing. Even better the police have an idea as to whom is the real thief.

UPDATE : Not only did his story make the front cover of the local paper, CNN picked up the story as well.

Nike: Viral Blogging

robertfrancis — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:13:30 +0000

Nike is known for innovation both in their shoes and sports gear as well as in their marketing. Today I ran across one of their latest online promotions for their Nike ID series of customizable sneakers. It’s a smart little widget that people can embed on their blog or social network. From there it connects to Nike and when a user clicks on the image/ad it displays a well designed page take over. Which when the video is done playing takes you to either the next blog in the campaign or to Nike’s promotional website.

To add to the viral nature of the campaign, every site with the embed script is displayed as a path on the promotional site which allows visitors to click on the image of the blog and goto that site and watch the promo. Though the user can’t remain on that site as the functionality is the same as when the user clicks on the image/ad (as mentioned above). So far there were over 7,500 blogs being displayed on the Nike Promotional site. I’d say it’s working for Nike.

link: nike.jp/nike_id/jasari/

Stuff White People Like

robertfrancis — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:20:18 +0000

The premise is simple. It’s a list of things white people like. Yeah they are stereotypes of sorts but it’s all meant in good fun. The list/blog starts off with Coffee. Personally I hate coffee, but I was still was entertained by the coffee entry due to it’s humorous observations.

If you can’t laugh at yourself or the culture that surrounds you then this site isn’t for you, if you can then it’s hilarious and highly recommended.

Link: stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com

PicLens: slickest web photo viewer

robertfrancis — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:50:46 +0000

It’s called PicLens and it’s one of the coolest web apps I’ve seen in a while. Ok granted it’s not a site on it’s own, but it is a smooth, efficient way to browse photos from some of the biggest photo sites on the web (flickr, facebook, google, etc.). It’s actually a plug-in, most impressive on Firefox, but works with Safari and Internet Explorer if that’s more your thing. It’s sorta like using iTunes’ album browser, but with photos. It’s fast, smooth and easy to use.

A view of PicLens in full screen mode:

Link: PicLens

UPDATE: They added support for YouTube and in app videos, which is a nice addition.

Sony Bravia Colors – Pyramids

robertfrancis — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:31:04 +0000

Seems as though Sony has been busy promoting their Bravia LCD line. This one comes from Egypt, featuring the famous pyramids and colorful ribbons. It’s also a nice nod to their original commercial with the rubber balls.