Steve Jobs Commencement Speech

I can never resist an inspirational speech. Fortunately, Steve Jobs' commencement speech to Stanford in 2005 is very relative to my personal college experience. There aren't many people who would get excited at the mention of serif and sans serif--I'm sure many of those grads did not appreciate the wonder of a typography shoutout. However, his mention of design was not why I loved this speech so much.

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

I came across this quote as a freshman in college and have lived by these words ever since. It wasn't until now that I realized its origin. Finally being able to watch Jobs' speech and put two and two together has reinforced these words even more. They so eloquently have motivated me and will continue to motivate me to always be true to myself. As I prepare to graduate college, these words will help guide me as I enter the workforce and begin a new and eventful chapter of my life.

Stefan Sagmeister Shares Happy Design

Simply put, Stefan Sagmeister is an incredible human being. Aside from his colossal success as a designer, his natural sense of humor and public speaking makes learning about design highly intriguing and entertaining. His lecture on "happy design" brings light on the purpose of being an artist, a reason that many lose track of in the midst of a busy time. His list (as he is an avid list maker... SO AM I!), includes reasons such as:

- Thinking about ideas and content freely - with the deadline far away.
- Working without interruption on a single project.
- Using a wife variety of tools and techniques.
- Traveling to new places.
- Working on projects that matter to you.
- Having things come back from the printer done well (I heard that).

He also shares examples of design that has evoked happiness, rather than visualizing the emotion, including a Korean student in New York who printed 55,000 blank speech bubbles and posted them on posters around the city. The public thus wrote their own messages in these speech bubbles, including one on a Starbucks ad that read, "have you seen my nipples?"

Sagmeister's lecture helps me realize why I personally became a designer in the first place, and where I want to go in the future with my work as well. As Garrett Mutz says so eloquently on his business card, "I want to create work while having as much fun as possible." While concept and purpose are incredibly vital to ones' job as a designer, happiness and joy are my number one priority. Not only do I want to bring that to my own life through design, but others' as well.

Pachube

Not so long ago, the Internet of Things sounded like something very abstract. The term ‘Internet of Things’ represents a world in which more and more objects and devices in daily life are connected through minuscule identifiying devices which make use of, for instance, RFID technology. Think of energy monitoring. In his book ‘The Internet of Things: A Critique of Ambient Technology and the All-Seeing Network of RFID’, Rob van Kranenburg foresees a “near invisible network of wireless frequencies where almost any object and space can be located and monitored, found and logged as easily as an item on eBay or the price of a flight on EasyJet”. Wikipedia claims that with the Internet of Things in a further stage, “daily life on our planet will undergo a transformation”. In their publication ‘Connecting Sustainable Cities’, Shane Mitchell and Federico Casalegno explain that “pervasive connectivity and related services can encourage new ways of planning, working and living that make social connections stronger and lead to cooperative sustainable behavior”.

“If all objects of daily life, from yogurt to an airplane, are equipped with radio tags, they can be identified and managed by computers in the same way humans can. The next generation of Internet applications (IPv6 protocol) would be able to identify more objects than IPv4, which is currently in use. This system would therefore be able to instantaneously identify any kind of object.”

From this viewpoint, Pachube is an interesting phenomenon as it is one of the first initiatives to make the Internet of Things more concrete by attempting to bring it to the people themselves. Pachube is an open source platform enabling developers to connect sensor data to the Web and to build their own applications on it. Furthermore, the platform provides opportunities to embed dynamic real-time graphics in websites or blogs. Richard MacManus explains that Pachube enables automation of your environment, “for example controlling the lighting in your house, via sensors and the Internet”. Using a notifications feature called ‘triggers’, Pachube can cause a specific action in external applications or devices.

“Pachube can be difficult to understand at first glance. At heart it is about connecting environments. However it’s more than just connecting sensors to the Internet. Pachube wants its users to interact with sensor data and use it to actively engage with their environment.”

Needless to say, the Pachube platform is still at an early, experimental stage. “Its website is very much focused on developers and prototypers right now.” Nevertheless, to provide little insight in its potential, here is an example which live Pachube data is displayed in real-time in an Augmented Reality application built with Arduino, an open-source electronics prototyping platform.

It’s still a long way to go for the Internet of Things, and for the present, the Pachube platform will retain a playground for geeks. The next step is to make the Internet of Things more tangible for John Doe. By then our proclaimed “cooperative sustainable behavior” based on smart use of ICT will make a new step towards reality.

Second Life's Real-World Problems

Reality is catching up with Second Life, the much hyped 3-D website that lets users create alter egos called avatars who can walk, chat, fly, have sex and buy and sell virtual stuff for real money. The ballyhoo surrounding this online community has led multinational brands from Reebok to Toyota to establish beachheads on Second Life to interact with consumers and be a part of the next wave in social networking. In April market-research firm Gartner predicted that by the end of 2011, 80% of active Internet users will have some sort of presence in a virtual world, with Second Life currently one of the most populous. Business Week last fall put on the cover a real estate agent whose virtual land deals made her the first person to earn $1 million through the site, and TIME included Second Life creator Philip Rosedale in this year's list of the world's 100 most influential people. Even NBA commissioner David Stern now has a Second Life avatar, although he told TIME, "I don't think it captures the essence of my personality or good looks." He was kidding, but the site's failure to live up to expectations is serious business.
The overall traffic has been disappointing: the site has nearly 8.7 million registered members, but the number of active users is closer to 600,000. One reason for this gap may be that the technology isn't intuitive. (I spent my first hour on Second Life wearing both sneakers and high heels because I couldn't figure out how to discard one pair. And yes, I passed Computer Science 101.)

Every business has its growing pains. But as companies explore why their expensive virtual outposts remain largely empty, Second Life has other, potentially more serious, issues. Governments are scrutinizing the four-year-old site as a possible haven for tax-free commerce, child-porn distribution and other unsavory activity. The dilemma for Linden Lab, the company running Second Life, is how to rein in its creation without alienating hard-core users. Fans love the site as a way to meet people and experiment in self-expression. And companies are drawn to these techno-savvy trendsetters who spent 22 million hours on the site last month. But some devotees are so upset by increasing commercialization that a group called the Second Life Liberation Army last year gunned down virtual shoppers at American Apparel. So-called griefing, or on-site harassment, is on the rise. Says Gartner research chief Steve Prentice: "Second Life is moving into a phase of disillusionment."
It's also running into trouble with governmental authorities. In July FBI investigators prompted Linden to shut down Second Life's casinos because online gambling is illegal in the U.S. German police are looking into allegations that members traded pornographic photos of real children on the site, and several European governments are upset that adult avatars are having sex with childlike ones. Linden responded this summer by banning lewd acts with minors as well as "other broadly offensive content," a move that annoyed longtime users. Soon, grumbled one participant on the site's blog, "the only things left to do on Second Life will be getting griefed in sandboxes and going to church."

Linden is also dealing with other disgruntled users. After it booted Marc Bragg over questionable virtual real-estate deals, the Pennsylvania resident sued the company last year for confiscating property worth thousands of dollars. While Linden won't discuss the merits of pending litigation, it's clear that Second Life's virtual assets have actual value. Linden lets users retain the rights to digital imagery they create on-site, and the result is a thriving economy that's as real as it gets. Attorney Stevan Lieberman made $20,000 last year helping Second Lifers file patents, trademarks and copyrights. And $6.8 million changed hands in June on the site's Lindex, where the exchange rate is about 270 Linden dollars to one U.S. dollar. Congress is looking into whether this commerce should be taxed.

Amid low traffic and raunchy behavior, American Apparel and Starwood Hotels are a couple of the big brands that have pulled out of Second Life recently. Linden wants to keep others from jumping ship, since it makes money selling plots of land for as much as $1,675 apiece and charging owners $295 monthly usage fees. Some corporate outposts have figured out how to engage users and get valuable feedback. One of Second Life's big selling points, says Cory Ondreijka, Linden's chief technology officer, is "this porousness with information flowing in both directions." The site's financial success will depend in part on Linden's improving its search engine as well as the ability to have more than 70 avatars in one place at a time. Companies are keeping their fingers crossed. It could open up a whole new world.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1651500,00.html

My Review of the iPad

I love Apple. I am a firm believer that once you go Mac, you never go back. However, I don't care to own an iPhone, therefore I don't understand the point of an iPad. Brace yourself Steve Jobs, I'm gonna be real with you.

My prejudice against the iPad may stem from my use of the Blackberry, a device that has opened my mind to other companies outside of Apple. Furthermore, I don't care for AT&T, which means I really don't care for the iPhone. I recently purchased an iTouch, which is essentially a mini iPad, but after two days I was over it. I have a MacBook Pro already--I don't need 4 other methods to check Facebook and Twitter.

I respect the way Apple has practically revolutionized technology all on their own, but sometimes I don't understand why they make some of the products they do. Okay, iPod changed the entire music industry. But do you know anyone who owns the iTV? In my humble opinion, the iPad falls into the same category as the latter. It's something that is hyped up now, but really it's just another tool to suck the life out of society. We are already consuming enough information as it is, we don't need a ginormous iPhone (minus the phone part) to help us out.

On the other hand, I am a huge hypocrite. Ask me again how I feel about the iPad in two years when I have enough money of my own to purchase it and am biting my tongue.

Theo Jansen Creates a New Species

Theo Jansen is an artist from Holland who has, using solely plastic tubes, lemonade bottles and wind, created a new species. He has designed these creatures to move and survive on their own amongst the beaches of Holland. These kinetic sculptures, otherwise known as "Strandbeests" are so high tech that they are able to avoid the sea and stay on land in order to survive.

While I find Jansen's project incredibly intriguing and innovative, I struggle with understanding the concept, or more so, the goal of creating this new species. It seems as though he has constructed these sculptures because it would be a, for lack of better words, "cool" idea. Above all else, I would love to hear a follow-up several years from now, after these new forms of life have had a very long time to LIVE on the beaches, to learn about their longevity.

Mike Rohde: SXSW Interactive 2010

While I couldn't attend South by Southwest in Austin, TX this year, I was able to explore the Interactive show through Mike Rohde's handwritten illustrations. Fortunately, I love handwritten type... and I would love to know more about the Interactive world... therefore this hybrid of both get me rather excited.


Rohde brings attention to the lack of focus on typography in web design and questions how a designer can merge the two more often. He suggests freeing one's self from web design samples and doing something so important: seeking OTHER resources. Aside from typography, the lecture Rohde attended focuses on web design itself, mentioning the vitality of designing around a site's content, utilizing grids and systems to control the site, and "going after the details." Most importantly, have FUN designing the website, and make it fun for the viewer. Leave a mark on their brains so they will know to come back to your website.

I think everyone should take notes in illustrative lettering. For everything!

http://www.rohdesign.com/weblog/archives/003166.html

Owltastic

Meagan Fisher, creator of owltastic.com, is a 23-year-old, successful web developer. She has been the Deputy Designer at SimpleBits since August 2008, and a strategic partner at Airbag Industries since January 2009. Skills of hers include Interface design, XHTML and CSS development, speaking and writing about said topics. Her tools to complete these tasks include her 15-inch MacBook Pro, Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Illustrator CS3, Coda by Panic, and iWork '09 Suite. Fisher has created websites for humanitarian purposes--such as change.org and halogennetwork.com--and also personal websites for fellow designers. Her style comes across as clean, simple, and somewhat indie.

I find Meagan to be an inspiration for all the work she has done at such a young age--I also find this to be a complete downer because she's my age and seems to know a lot more about HTML than I do. However, seeing her skills and tools helps me with what I need to know in order to accomplish creating websites myself.

http://owltastic.com/

The Problem with Passwords

Usability researcher Jakob Nielsen’s recent column advocates a fundamental change to password field design on the web. He believes that the time has come “to show most passwords in clear text as users type them,” abandoning the traditional approach that displays a series of asterisks or bullets in place of the actual password.

Nielsen’s controversial proposal demonstrates the principle that most design decisions require trade-offs. User goals and business objectives do not always intersect. Security, usability, and aesthetic concerns often compete. We must set priorities and balance these interests to achieve the best results in each situation.

Security issues are particularly difficult to deal with because they’re an annoyance. We just want to let people get at the great tool we’ve created, but instead we have to build barriers between the user and the application. Users must prove their identities. We can’t trust any data they provide unless it’s been thoroughly sanitized.

Unfortunately, this is reality. A great deal of web traffic really is malicious, and sensitive data gets stolen. Typically, we ask users to supply a username (often an e-mail address) along with a password to sign in to an application. The username identifies the person, while the password proves that the person submitting the username is indeed the one who created the account. That’s the theory, based on two assumptions:

A password will never be visible outside the mind of the person who created it.
Both the username and password can be recalled from memory when needed.
This approach places a significant cognitive burden on people who use websites that require authentication. In general, we get by remarkably well, but it’s easy to see the weaknesses in the system. Passwords that are easy to remember are also easy to guess. When people are forced to choose strong passwords, they’re more likely to either write them down or forget them. The usual response is a password reset mechanism, which naturally undermines the strength of the entire system. It doesn’t matter that my password is encrypted with the strongest ciphers known to man when it can simply be reset by anyone who knows which high school I attended.

This is one of the reasons that Nielsen suggests abandoning password masking. People get frustrated and often reset passwords that they haven’t actually forgotten simply because they’ve mistyped. Providing clear feedback with unobscured letters will reduce errors, improve the user experience, and lessen the need for insecure alternatives.

However, making such a sweeping change to a fundamental user interaction could present serious problems. Consider some contexts in which a password might need to be entered in front of a large group of people, such as while using a conference room projector. And many years of web experience have set user expectations on how form elements should work. People understood that password masking was invented for their security. Failing to meet that expectation might undermine confidence, and we cannot afford to lose our users’ trust.

Proceed with caution
When dealing with such a fundamental area of the web experience, we need to be careful because we’re dealing with deeply conditioned expectations. The username/password method of securing web applications isn’t perfect, but there are few good alternatives and it’s become the standard approach. We can best address the usability concerns of password fields by testing incremental changes like these to extend default behavior—without compromising the basic experience and losing the trust of our users.

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/the-problem-with-passwords/

Paul Debevec

http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_debevec_animates_a_photo_real_digital_face.html

WEBBIES! : Twitter

Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, has been named winner of the Webby Award for Breakout of the Year. He is rewarded for his incredibly innovative creation of the "micro-messaging" establishment. Within its three short years of existance, Twitter has grown by a miraculous 900% in solely the last year. From celebrities to average Joes, President Obama to worldwide corporations, most people who own a computer in the world have jumped onto the Twitter bandwagon. With 140 characters or less, Stone has evolved the internet into something completely different. "This is the ultimate embodiment of the democratic spirit of the Web."

http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/specialachievement13.php/#reznor

Katarina Jerinic

Katarina Jerinic, a renowned artist in the Interactive industry, digitally creates maps, systematic compositions, and similar established "navigational guides." In order to do so, Jerinic studies "formal models of natural phenomena," investigating the details of that which organically exist. The artist then takes these landscapes and poses them to be fictional, recreating them with her own personal designs. "I am interested in using the structure of one to examine the other--not unlike the Situationist tactic of using a map of one place to move through another." Jerinic essentially is reacting to the natural space around her, and furthermore attempting to get others to react within the spaces she creates herself.

Katarina Jerinic participated in the Bronx Museum’s AIM program and has completed residencies at MacDowell Colony and the Experimental Television Center. She is currently an artist-in-residence at the Center for Book Arts, New York. She has an MFA from School of Visual Arts. Her work has been recently included in exhibitions at NurtureArt, Rotunda Gallery, the Brooklyn Arts Council Gallery, DUMBO Art Under the Bridge Festival, all in Brooklyn, NY; the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY; Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY; the Fox Art Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ; the Center for Book Arts, New York, NY; and Mills Gallery at Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA. Her collaborative project with Naomi Miller, The Work Office (TWO), has been awarded grants from the Black Rock Arts Foundation, the Brooklyn Arts Council, chashama, and LMCC Swing Space.

http://ps1.org/studio-visit/artist/katarina-jerinic

NOISEnotNOISE

A two-day symposium entitled "Noise Not Noise," presented by Western Front Society's Exhibitions and New Music Department, is currently being displayed in the New Museum of Vancouver. To coincide with this event, the Western Front Society's Executive Director, Caitlin Jones, has curated an online exhibit, also entitled NoiseNOTNoise. Different aspects of noise will be explored in this event, including the evolving role of noise, specifically in our age of the overwhelming changes within the digital and technological world. NoiseNOTNoise takes on the subject of information overload and attempts to define the "noise" we are being fed from networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. I recently read how many ads, loads of useless information, and bits of important news that we take in within a day, and the numbers are incredible. It's interesting to see an artist take this subject on in the manner of installation.

Russolo, a Futurist painter and composer is considered to be a progenitor of “noise” as a cultural form. Futurism, and by extension “noise” as a genre, are often discussed in an industrial context – born out of the machinations of the industrial revolution. The digital revolution has given rise to another form of noise: data which flows through networks at an almost inconceivable rate. In this shift from industrial to informational, the assaultive or dissonant form of noise is diminished; instead, noise is manifested as the monotonous and banal forms to which Russolo refers.

Twitter publicizes that approximately 500 million tweets a day are posted, and YouTube brags that 20 hours of footage is uploaded per minute. Add to that the myriad of blog posts, Facebook updates and other social networking sites that pump news, personal information and images into the ether, and the result is an unimaginable accumulation of digital sediment. Sometimes generated consciously and other times as a by-product of our lives lived online, a generation of artists are sifting through this digital flow and making undetectable digital noise much “noisier.”


This exhibition is presented as part of a larger series of panels and performances exploring the changing role of noise in culture. The two-day symposium Noise not Noise will examine new realms for new realms for noise making and its broader meanings and interpretations across disciplines.

http://rhizome.org/editorial/3399