Visualization & Animation

I have two things to share today, both of which are must-sees.

First off, the program TuneGlue, which creates a visual web between musical artists. TuneGlue uses information from Last.fm, a social music site that I love, to link artists. This is a great example of Web2.0-- Last.fm is a social site, so the links that TuneGlue generates are influenced by user content. ...Plus it's muy fun to just play around with.

My second little gem is one of the most watched clips on YouTube, but somehow it eluded me. Until now. It's a brilliant piece of animation as well as one of the sweetest/saddest/most creative stories I have ever seen.




Enjoy, and happy Thursday.

Family.com update

Reminder: check out Disney's Family.com, which is now up and running.

I've done a little exploring of my own, but I haven't found anything amazingly unique about the site-- there are a lot of family- and parenting-sites out there. They aren't all supported by the hulkin' family brand that is Disney, though.

Here's a link to their identity, and be sure to check out their Family 1000 search.

GeekDad & Apple TV

WonderGroup focuses on moms and their kids, but I stumbled across an interesting piece of techdad goodness. GeekDad is a new blog through Wired that focuses on self-proclaimed geeks (uh, writers for Wired) raising children. This blog may be too geeky for some readers ("Proving the theory of relativity in your minivan"), but it's a great reminder of another facet of today's family. And it's also refreshing to see that the highest-tech dads of the computer age still play Legos with their children.

On a mostly-unrelated note, here's a Reuters article about Apple TV, in case you haven't been following its development.

"It's Apple's first major foray into the living room," said Shannon Cross, an analyst at Cross Research. "I expect many more products to come that expand Apple's reach beyond this initial Apple TV."

Apple's "foray into the living room" brings countless possibilities, many of which could rock the family entertainment realm. Apple TV's price point is relatively low ($300ish), making it fairly accessible-- especially to families that are comfortable and familiar with purchasing content through iTunes. Right now, buying through iTunes is a personal process (buying your favorite media to enjoy on your handheld media player), but Apple TV could open the door to simpler family viewing (buying high-def episodes of Ugly Betty to watch together after soccer practice).

We can at least count on some geek dads to pick one up, right?

Disney's Family.com

An interesting blurb from Cynopsis yesterday (I was busy, geez!):

Launching this week is the beta version of Disney Family.com, the parent-targeted website, which will feature a range of family related content, search and community elements. Part of The Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG), Family.com will feature parenting/family centric: original and aggregated content; user-generated opinion pieces from parenting bloggers; search functions; a list of 1,000 community recommended sites; forums; chats; and eventually ParentPedia, a family wiki of parenting topics. Disney plans to add features and functionality, including the ability to access Disney Family.com via mobile phones and other platforms, within the next year.

Family.com currently links to a "coming soon" page, but keep an eye out for it.

Pay as You Exit? Sweet Deal!

Evan passed on this clip from NBC News, which explains itself rather nicely...

That's a Whopper

In a development startingly similar to a recent post's, Evan pointed me toward this article about the rumored Burger King movie.

[Burger King] has focused over the last year on lifting the profile of its "king" mascot, a mute character best known for his creepy smile. The burger baron recently starred in a series of video games, and the company says it has lined up a studio and distributor for a feature film.

Russ Klein, Burger King's president of global marketing strategy, won't reveal the studio's identity or the likely plot. But he says the movie could appear as early as the end of this year, with the film aimed at "creating a back story for the king."

13 Going on Smarter-Than-You

This blog has taken a turn for the look-at-this-link-real-quick, but I guess that's the nature of the beast. That being said, I have to pass this on.

I have gone on record as saying watch out for tech-savvy kids. People laugh when I say that, but are typically surprised when I mention that Flash is being taught in high school, for instance. Well, for those of you who still can't wrap your head around the idea that some kids really get into this whole web thing, take a look at Techzi.net. The blogger is articulate, interesting... and recently turned 13.

I found Techzi through an article at ProBlogger, which lauded David Wilkinson's accomplishments as a young tech blogger. ProBlogger, already an established and respected blog, didn't treat David as a novelty act or as a kid playing grown-up, but as a peer in the blogging realm.


Now, will someone please listen to me about designing sites for kids? As time goes on, cases like David Wilkinson's are going to become more and more mainstream, and these web-smart kids are not going to settle for punch-the-monkey banner ads and sites splattered with Comic Sans. If your knowledge of this age group consists of "when I was 12," then you're out of critically touch with the kids of the computer age. Watch out for tech-savvy kids!


And speaking of kids, here's a really weird and irrelevant page I stumbled across today.

Get Used to the Cavemen

Alright, I really wasn't going to post again today but this is tooooo good.

My brother sent me this article about the fact that ABC is developing a comedy pilot based on the GEICO CAVEMAN ADS. I can't make this stuff up.

I guess this would be one of the highest honors for an ad campaign. "We love your spot so much we want to make an entire show out of it. Let's stretch 30 seconds into 30 minutes, whaddya say."

Bite-Size Friday

It's Friday, and thus the perfect day for a couple of quick and stimulating links.

Have you visited Scion's Want2BSquare.com? It's... uh... it's somethin'. In a world where every company wants their own engaging site, this one stands out-- Scion has created its own unique style out of their car's awkward boxiness. Therefore their site is actually tied to their brand, which is more than I can say for plenty of today's game- or virtual world- sites.

I'm really intrigued by the idea of "Bite-Size Entertainment." In this article by Wired they say: "If we're truly living in a snack culture, how come so many forms of entertainment - TV shows, games, movies - are getting longer?" Read more about this brilliant metaphor and see some examples of "one-minute media" here.

In-school lockers for cell phones and iPods-- talk amongst yourselves.

Artificial beauty in media gets a lot of attention these days-- but have you considered taking unrealistic images into your own hands with printable cold sores? Expect to see more efforts like this as we continue to ask our culture to create their own media. We're seeing "real people" (un-retouched, YouTube quality) during the SuperBowl and the Oscars, we're seeing 50+ year old women on Dove billboards-- it's no wonder people are defacing model-icious ads in the subway.