fun


16 Aug 10

Ringtones that scare my wife and kid

I know there’s pretty split camps on the custom ringtones issue. One group loves having them and thinks it’s the coolest thing ever. The other can’t stand the trend and gets nauseous every time they hear one in the grocery store, Starbucks or even better, quiet restaurant or movie theater. But if you’re like me, you have a foot in both camps. See, what usually drive people like me crazy about custom tones is when they’re poorly executed. It’s a hip hop song or classic rock jam that’s so distorted it’s painful.

The magic of iTunes, Garage Band, and the stripping of DRM from purchased music is that you can create great sounding ones with finesse. This also takes into consideration having an Apple and an iPhone which makes the process seamless.

I’ve made plenty, splitting them up across my address book so I can identify a caller by sound alone, which is often very helpful. For this reason, I generally choose tracks that will stand out in the white noise so I can hear it. This has resulted in some that will make my son stop in his tracks and look around in earnest. Not to mention catch my often-jumpy wife off guard as well.

Concrete Walls by Fever Ray



Ratatat

Bilar by Ratatat



Mum

Smell Memory by Mum



Modeselektor

The White Flash by Modeselektor



Dead Weather

Blue Blood Blues by The Dead Weather



Crystal Castles

Untrust Us by Crystal Castles



BT

The Rose of Jericho by BT



Trentemoller

Always Something Better by Trentemoller



The XX

Intro by The XX




14 Apr 10

Do It Yourself Camera Dolly

We decided to build our own heavy duty skater dolly for use with larger equipment like the RED (and the bulky tripod that goes with it). Our smaller slider works great for short distances and with lighter equipment like the Canon 5D. But if we need to go far, it’s going to require longer legs.

After a trip to the Orlando skate park for some wheels and bearings, I was able to hit up Lowe’s for the rest of the equipment. All things told, it cost around $250 for all the supplies (the wheels and bearings being the most expensive part).

While I cut, hacked and drilled, Ryan set up the 5D on the smaller dolly and got some fun footage of the building process. Then we switched at the end while he operated the RED camera on the completed dolly. Enjoy.


18 Mar 10

WHY Yacht – Why Not?

The famous Wally yachts have been outdone by their own developer, which is quite a task. Michael Bay used the 70m Wallypower in his film The Island where it looked so futuristic and geeked out that a lot of people thought it was CGI. Not sure if the power producer will be able to pull off getting one of these new creations into a future feature.

I kind of don’t even know how to preface the pictures and video. I’m still somewhat breathless. See the WHY site for more details and tech specs.

WHY Yacht - Front

WHY Yacht - living area

WHY Yacht - sun deckWHY Yacht - rear view


03 Mar 10

Flyfire by SENSEable City Lab

The Flyfire project by SENSEable City Lab and ARES appears to be pretty amazing if the execution can live up to the concept. This would be an incredible asset to liven up musical performances, sporting events or be a standalone show in an old abandoned warehouse.


24 Feb 10

iamamiwhoiam

What the what!?

Creepy and fantastic! Found via


10 Feb 10

The Yellow Bird Project

The Yellow Bird Project is a Montreal based non-profit that partners indie rock acts with great designers to create shirts that benefit charities. The band chooses the charity and the design, the purchase through the website benefits the charity and keeps the organization running. There are a number of great bands involved including The Shins, The National, Wolfmother, Broken Social Scene, Stars, Metric, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bloc Party and Bon Iver. The designs are a lot of fun as well.

The Yellow Bird ProjectThe Yellow Bird ProjectThe Yellow Bird Project


22 Jan 10

New Kicks

I just received my new Nike iDs in the mail and was super excited to see them. I’d never gotten to do a pair before, but it was a lot of fun to design them myself. Normally I would have gone a little more crazy, but in order to avoid having to buy clothes that match bright orange, yellow and blue I started modest. These are the Air Pegasus+ 26.

The packaging was really slick. Love the drawer pull out style.

Nike iD

The special issue tissue paper with the microprint is a nice touch.

Nike iD

And like any good geek, I had my Twitter/Facebook handle put as the custom iD.

Nike iD

I’ve got my sites set on the Air Morgans for my screaming color scheme next.


30 Dec 09

Favorites of 2009

Favorite website: Wonderwall Inc. (visit site)
Wonderwall Inc.

Favorite Resource: The 99% (visit site)
99percent

Favorite Blog: Sushi & Robots (visit site)
Sushi & Robots

Favorite Tweet: @kolchack – “ Hackers have exposed a slew of hotmail account passwords, which could be potentially damaging to all of us six years ago.”

Favorite Commercial: It May Be Time

Favorite TV Show: Dexter
Dexter

Favorite Music Video: Charlotte Gainsborg & Beck – Heaven Can Wait

Favorite Album: Horehound by The Dead Weather
The Dead Weather

Favorite Photo: Cuban Tree Frog (by James Snyder)
Cuban Tree Frog

Favorite Mustache Photo: Danny Jones (by John Paul Douglass)
Dannystache

Favorite Podcast: This Week In Tech
TWIT

Favorite iPhone App: Worms Armageddon
Worms Armageddon

Favorite Geek Out: Motorola Droid
Droid

Favorite Startup: Aardvark (visit site)
Aardvark

Favorite Underdog: SquareSpace (visit site)
SquareSpace

Favorite Movie: The Hangover
The Hangover

Favorite Meme: #succeed
Succeed

Favorite Personal Aircraft: Gulfstream G650
Gulfstream G650

Favorite PR Blunder: Kanye
Kanye West

Favorite T-Shirt: Sterling & Cooper & Draper & Pryce
Sterling & Cooper & Draper & Pryce

Favorite White Elephant Gift: Happiness Is Being a Polish Grandma
Polish Grandma


10 Dec 09

Old School Craftsmanship

When we were up in Indiana for Thanksgiving, I got to see a super elaborate dollhouse my grandfather is building my niece. The photos are a little grainy because of the light and they were taken with my phone, but you can basically see how detailed it is for being totally from scratch. I couldn’t believe the scale model furniture. They were so small and intricate.

Dollhouse FrontDollhouse BackDollhouse Furniture


10 Dec 09

iPhone Wallpapers

Here’s a few random urban iPhone wallpapers I did just for kicks on my own phone using some of my brother’s photos. Grab ‘em if you’d like as well.