ThingsAmongMany

Was doing some searching this morning and came across a Digg post for our WallBlank give-away. A big thanks to user slvrfrg for getting the word out there! Don’t forget to vote and to enter!

Tee shirt companies are cropping up right and left these days and sifting through is getting increasingly more difficult. Especially when you can’t try them on first (or if you’re extremely picky about how your clothes fit like I am). But when I stumbled onto Topo Ranch recently, I was pretty excited.

Their unique line of tees is made up a of variety of quirky, fun images. Some make a more political statement while others are just…out there (I’ve got the Disarm tee sitting on deck). And don’t for the fixie/hipster crew, don’t forget to check out their cycling tees. All of their tees are organic cotton and available in a variety of colors. Of course, they do more than tees as well, with a solid selection of hoodies, button-downs, etc. all in laid back colors and patterns.

And, while we’re on the subject of cycling, these guys outfit the Garmin/Chipotle professional cycling team with all their casual-wear. They also put out special, limited-edition prints for major cycling events. Check out this year’s Tour De France tee or Giro d’Italia tee.

Pics of my new Disarm tee coming soon!

Yup, most of us are fans on some level or another of Sofia Coppola’s 2003 hit Lost in Translation. Of course, as much as I enjoyed the movie (which I admittedly haven’t seen in a few years), I’m not sure that I could sit down and explain the plot too easily. I can, however, explain the plot of the new mashup by Charles Gallant (fellow POKEr and co-creator of RD4T) that he recently posted on Vimeo.

To demonstrate the reality of those “lost in translation” moments, Charles took the lyrics of NIN’s Closer and translated them from English to Japanese using Babelfish. He then retranslated the resulting Japanese rendition back into English (also via Babelfish) and set the newly interpreted translation in time to the original song.

The result is a humorous, intriguing look at why we don’t always understand one another, no matter how simply we believe we’re speaking. Give it a watch:

NIN & Babelfish from Charles Gallant on Vimeo.

NY-based designer Jeff Domke has just released yet another Obama-related design piece: Obamabats. A humorous adaptation of the popular “dingbats” font, Obamabats is a collection of 24 vector-ready Obama-esque images and design elements ready to be adapted for your next presidential project.

The download is free from Jeff’s site. Make sure to show us - and Jeff - what you use them for!

So after yesterday’s post about Wall Blank, I got a very nice email from Shawn Kelley, the man behind the scenes and founder of the newly formed company. He was thrilled to see our post and had some really exciting thoughts about the upcoming artists who will be featured on Wall Blank.

And, to top it off, Shawn was gracious enough to offer us two coupons that will cover the cost of a poster or two. And, as much as I need some wall-coverings of my own, I’m more excited to see what the readers around here are are in need of. So we’re going to give them away!

Here’s the deal:
Submit a comment on this post with a photo (or link to a photo) of the space you need to spruce up, along with a concise and compelling explanation of what you’re thinking about doing with it and why a fresh new poster would help. No novels, just a quick thought on what you’re excited to do with your space.

A week from today, on Wednesday the 12th, we’ll dig through the submissions and select our two faves to receive the coupons. Just be prepared to report back with fresh photos once your new posters are on the walls!

And thanks again to Shawn - I’m sure he’ll be interested to see the results as well!

Jenn, from a company I hadn’t heard of called Wall Blank, commented on a recent post. Curiosity got the best of me and I took a look at their site, only to find myself pleasantly surprised by the setup they’re using to sell posters:

A new piece of art will be posted for sale every weekday, available for one week or until it sells out, whichever comes first. Once an edition is sold out, it will never be available again.

Admittedly, some of their prints leave a bit to be desired right now, but I’m hoping that as they pick up, the designs will as well. (Come on guys, if it’s created in Wordle, I don’t really want to pay you for it, even if it is screenprinted.)

They’ve also got a non-profit initiative that happens every Friday:

Every Friday, the artist chooses a non-profit cause for all the proceeds to be donated to. That artist foregoes any payment, Wall Blank pays for printing costs out of pocket and other than shipping costs, every single penny received goes straight to the selected cause.

Keep an eye on these guys, hopefully we’ll see some good things from them in the future!

Since the Apple TV came out - under much scrutiny to say the least - the idea of streaming media from a “computer” source to a TV has become much more mainstream (and let’s not discount the impact of iTunes in that process as well). Netflix has followed up with a variety of streaming services as well, including the recent launch of it’s beta program for streaming content to Macs (check this link if you’re interested in joining that program) and the relatively new Roku set-top box for Netflix.

Well, now that the public is starting to understand what these offerings can do for their entertainment purposes, some newcomers are cropping up in the field with products that cater to this type of viewing. Perfect example is the new Archos TV+. Combine a DVR with a media player for video and audio content and you’ve got the gist of it. But, in my mind, what sets the Archos player apart is the ability to browse the web (though it does require a “plug-in” that they charge for). Suddenly your living room entertainment center has the potential to replace a second computer for those emergency situations when you need to book an appointment at the genius bar but can’t…because your computer is broken.

I’ve dug through the info on the Archos site, but can’t seem to determine what the potential is for moving media around (for example, what if I purchase something from iTunes?). But it does allow access to the major video hosting sites. It would be killer if they built streaming Netflix capabilities into the box as well!

If anyone’s had face-time with one of these bad boys, give us the run-down!

While many owners of this now-ubiquitous device would be hesitant to admit that its anything shy of perfect, the crew over at the FullSIX Group didn’t agree. While they’ll readily admit that they LOVE their iPhones, these guys were so adamant about some missing features on the device that they created a new site devoted to the missing pieces. Enter PleaseFixTheiPhone.com, a digital wish-list and peitition engine that anyone can add their iPhone wishes to in hopes that the God of all things Apple will hear their pleas.

Currently topping the list of desired features are copy & paste, MMS (picture messaging), and the inclusion of Flash in the phone’s capabilities. Of course, that’s only a few of the more than 1700 wishes that users have shared with the community in hopes of bettering their beloved devices. And those wishes have garnered more than a quarter of a million votes as of this morning.

But don’t mistake their wishlist as a fire-into-the-ether vocalization. The list of wishes that have already been fixed by recent updates is pretty impressive. So if you’ve got something that you can’t help but think would make your iPhone ownership experience just a bit better, get over there and let them know what it is. Hopefully someone in Cupertino is listening.

Veritable genius and fellow POKEr Charles Gallant and his friend Luke McCormick, have taken their slightly twisted senses of humor along with some engineering and illustration expertise and combined them to launch a new site dedicated to Robot Designs for Tomorrow, or RD4T for short. Each design is dedicated to solving a problem – often one that you didn’t even realize you had.

The first few include Infant Enhancement Appendages and the Homeless Person Collection Robot. While not designed to be “real”, each design offers a realistic design to those problems you didn’t know you had. The designs are emphasized by an engineering/blueprint style of illustration that lends an air of credence to each – just enough to make you wonder if maybe the designs are real.

Check it out for yourself at RD4T.com.

There’s a newcomer to the title of “most expensive iPhone app and it’s there to keep an eye on you. iRa, a new piece of software from a company called LexTechLabs, is designed to integrate with a surveillance and security system to allow you to keep tabs from anywhere. At $899.99, this one doesn’t come cheap, but compared to the old “I’m Rich” app that created a stir for doing absolutely nothing, iRa looks like it offers some true functionality to the right target.

The app is built to allow tracking of multiple cameras as well as pan/tilt/zoom functionality and much more. Here’s how LexTechLabs describes it:

Define multiple groups of cameras, each containing as many video feeds as you like, and quickly switch between them for managing multiple facilities. The iPhone or iPod touch pulls the video from the camera to wherever you are. Simply touch the screen of your iPhone or iPod touch for a full screen view or to manipulate a pan and tilt camera.

They’ve also got a YouTube vid that demonstrates the app (though without any sound or description):