Sunday Best dance party, 2009. Photo via Dana Deskiewicz.

BKLYN Yard, the beleagured event space along the banks of the Gowanus Canal that was forced to close last year, is reopening next month under a new name: Gowanus Grove. The tree-lined, funky space was home to many of our favorite summer events — from swap meets to food truck festivals and movie nights — but was shuttered just as its season was getting underway due to dispute between the landlord and the group that rented the space. So far, the only event lined up for the new Gowanus Grove is the return of the Sunday Best dance party, now called Mister Sunday, which is already scheduled weekly through late June (more information about the planned food, drinks and entertainment below). Does that mean other great events will return to the canal-side site? Stay tuned.

From an e-mail from the Mister Sunday folks:

Second, superb food – we’re teaming up withBrooklyn Flea to install a small but ace team of food vendors. Right now, we’ve confirmed Mile End, who will be serving a bunch of stuff you can’t get at the storefront in Boerum Hill, and we’re soon to confirm at least one more. Third, our friends from Botanica, the best little bar in the five boroughs, are taking care of the booze.

And last, but certainly not least, is the music. The Mister Saturday Night residents, Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin, the gents that pull the strings to bring it all together, will be playing records each and every Sunday through the summer on the big, blue soundsystem. There’ll be guests alongside them occasionally as well. Moodymann, Todd Terje, Horse Meat Disco, Optimo, and Space Dimension Controller will all take their turns, and on opening day, Four Tet will drop by.

3pm – 9pm, every Sunday from Sunday, May 29 // at Gowanus Grove (formerly known as BKLYN Yard) // 400 Carroll St between Bond and Nevins, Brooklyn // $10 in advance or before 4pm with RSVP to mister@mistersaturdaynight.com // $12 otherwise // advance tickets available here // map

Netflix may be known for offering some of our favorite TV and movie streams, but the company is about to step up its game and begin offering original content. Netflix has allegedly outbid a number of major cable networks for a new drama series produced by and starring Kevin Spacey called House of Cards, and may be about to close a deal at more than $100 million, according to a report on Deadline.com.

The deal has yet to be finalized, but Deadline's unnamed source claims that Netflix has made a commitment to two seasons of House of Cards, which the media site described as "staggering" and "pretty unheard of these days." A source for the New York Times later confirmed that Netflix was indeed involved in the bidding, but said there was "considerable uncertainty" about the terms of the deal. Yet another source for the Wall Street Journal said that Netflix was likely to pay much less than Deadline's speculated $100 million.






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Computers have certainly aided learning in recent years, but they haven't yet fostered the promised revolution in education that has been discussed for over 40 years, according to Apple cofounder, educator, and all-around geek Steve Wozniak. Woz made the comments during a keynote discussion at Abilene Christian University's Connected Summit last week, discussing his views on the use of technology in education and the need to adapt teaching and learning to be more effective. According to Woz, we need to focus more attention on younger students before they begin to adopt a perception that they are "failures."

"Education has always been a big part of my life," Wozniak told the assembled crowd, which included Connected Summit attendees from nine different countries and a large contingent of ACU students and faculty. Woz discussed his early fascination with computers and logic circuits, which led to his participation in the Homebrew Computer Club at Stanford in the 1970s.






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As expected, Amazon has announced its new and improved Amazon Prime service that now offers more than 5,000 streaming TV shows and movies to customers. Those who already pay the $79 per year for Prime won't have to pay any extra to get access to the streams. Video will be available on Macs and PCs in the US, as well as a number of set-top boxes.

Amazon has been rumored to be working on such a service for some time now, but the stakes were raised earlier this month when Amazon accidentally let a few movie pages show up on Prime subscribers' Amazon accounts. That was a hint that the service was on the verge of launch, and we speculated that Amazon was looking to leverage its massive built-in audience to try to take on movie streaming giant Netflix.






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Ars is speaking with Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) tomorrow, and we would love to ask him your questions. Franken is one of the Senate's strongest supporters of net neutrality, he's a foe of media consolidation, and he's chairing a new subcommittee that will deal with privacy, social networks, and Internet advertising. He also supports the new Internet censorship bill, COICA, which targets "rogue sites"—though Franken has several concerns about implementation.

Franken has shown real depth on these tech issues, even mentioning issues like the Comcast/Level 3 peering dispute in recent speeches. If you've ever wanted the chance to ask him about his views in more detail, here it is.

We'll grab the best questions from the the comment thread below and put them to Sen. Franken along with some of our own. We'll bring you the results of that interview in a few days.




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Update: We’re happy to announce an extension on the application deadline for MFA Interaction Design to Friday, January 28. After the deadline, we will continue to accept applications after the deadline only on a case-by-case basis as space in the program allows.

If you’re considering applying, there are two ways to do so:

SENDING MATERIALS
All required application materials (except the online application and application fee) must be received together in one package by the Office of Graduate Admissions at the following address:

Office of Graduate Admissions
School of Visual Arts
209 East 23rd Street
New York, NY 10010-3994

DROPPING OFF MATERIALS
Applicants are welcome to drop off applications in person to the main Admissions Office located 209 East 23rd Street on the first floor. The office will be closed for the holidays from December 23rd, reopening on January 3, Monday through Friday, 9AM–5PM. All materials must be dropped off by 5PM on Friday, January 14th. This option is highly recommended for individuals that may live in or find themselves in the New York area on or before the deadline.

If you have questions, or want to stop by for a tour or to talk, drop a line at interactiondesign at sva dot edu or 212.592.2703.

We asked 32 interaction design students which book inspired or influenced their interaction design pursuit. The result is the following booklist, comprising of landmark texts and playful reads that we hope will inspire and amuse.

Happy holidays from all of us at MFA Interaction Design!

The IxD Booklist

Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak; recommended by Stephanie Aaron
Moral Animal, Robert Wright; recommended by Clint Beharry
The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Mad-Made Landscape, James Howard Kunstler; recommended by David Bellona
Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft, Thor Heyerdahl; recommended by Kristin Breivik
1984, George Orwell; recommended by Christopher Cannon
Information Architecture, Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld; recommended by Derek Chan
Innovation X, Adam Richardson; recommended by Carmen Dukes
Beautiful Evidence, Edward R. Tufte; recommended by John Finley
The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker; recommended by Benjamin Gadbaw
Rain Makes Applesauce, Julian Scheer and Mavin Bileck; recommended by JoJo Glick
Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between, Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein; recommended by Kristin Graefe
Massive Change, Bruce Mau; recommended by Angela Huang
Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan, Azby Brown; recommended by Michael Katayama
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs; recommended by Jeff Kirsch
To Think Like a Great Graphic Designer, Debbie Millman; recommended by Katie Koch
A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pinker; recommended by Sarah Koo
Sounds of Color, Jimmy Liao; recommended by Chia-Wei Liu
The Art of Looking Sideways, Alan Fletcher; recommended by Gene Lu
Understanding Media, Marshall McLuHan; recommended by Russ Maschmeyer
The Education of an E-Designer, Steven Heller; recommended by Colleen Miller
Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino; recommended by Erin Moore
Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design, Michael Bierut; recommended by Katy Newton
Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality, Scott Belsky; recommended by Adjoa Opoku
Thoughts on Interaction Design, Jon Kolko; recommended by Evinn Quinn
How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul, Adrian Shaughnessy; recommended by Allison Shaw
You Are Here Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination, Katharine Harmon; recommended by Cooper Smith
The Stories of Ray Bradbury, Ray Bradbury recommended by Eric St. Onge
Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely; recommended by Carrie Stiens
The Design of Everyday Things, Donald Norman; recommended by Beatriz Vizcaino
Creativity Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi; recommended by Michael Yap
Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan; recommended by Tina Ye
A Universal History of Iniquity, Jorge Luis Borges; recommended by Catherine Young

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We are delighted to announce MEET-IxD, Feb 24-25, an event that gives prospective employers the opportunity to learn about, talk with, and meet interaction designers from the MFA Interaction Design program at the School of Visual Arts.

MFA candidates who will graduate in May 2011 and first-year students available for internships will demonstrate work and work process. Employers can come and observe, or take part by requesting interviews with students.

If you’d like to attend, let us know. We’ll notify you with more details.

Looking forward to seeing you there,
MFA Interaction Design



Who is it for?
Employers interested in hiring or engaging with graduates or current students for full-time or part-time jobs and internships.

What will I do there?
Employers can see work and work process from students, and/or request private interviews with specific students over the course of the event.

How can I find out more about the students?
MEET-IxD will release a website with a resume and case study book in early January. Learn more about the students and projects.

How do I receive more information about the event?
Add your name to the MEET-IxD mailing list. We’ll notify you with more details.

So, I just got an email that reads..."Hello. Check the news page at http://www.portishead.co.uk/news.php on Wednesday 24th November for an announcement about 2011."Anyone?

The recently released Wii re-imagining of Goldeneye 007 does much to evoke feelings of nostalgia, and that includes goofy secret modes as well. One enterprising Kotaku reader managed to figure out a trio of cheat codes by dumping data from the main executable file. These codes add invisibility and tag mode to split-screen multiplayer, and the infamous big-head mode returns as well.

To get the big head mode, you simply need to enter the code "<477MYFR13NDS4R3SP13S>" though it's only available in local multiplayer. Invisibility, meanwhile, requires the code "Inv1s1bleEv3ryth1ng" and it can be activated by pressing B, which means it replaces the sprint move. Finally, to get tag mode , you'll have to input the code "NotIt!!!11." But the tag mode is only available in matches with three or more players. All codes are case sensitive.

The news of the big-head mode—or DK mode as it's affectionately known as—is especially interesting considering that Activision previously stated that it wouldn't be making an appearance in the game. Now we wait and see if someone manages to find the tiny Bond mode.




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What do you get when you spend your academic career exposing broken DRM schemes, suing the recording industry when they try to silence you, showing the insecurity of e-voting machines, filing DMCA exemption requests, and freeing US court documents from behind their paywall? You get to be the first-ever Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission.

Princeton computer science professor Ed Felten today was tapped for a one-year stint at the FTC in a decision so shockingly sane that it's still a bit hard to believe. Felten has a terrific reputation as both a researcher and advocate, someone with deep technical knowledge, a pro-consumer/pro-openness/pro-tinkering bias, and an aversion to posturing and zealotry.

In the last decade alone, Felten and his students and Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy (where Ars alumnus Tim Lee currently hangs his hat) have broken the music industry's SDMI encryption scheme, filed a lawsuit agains the RIAA, joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation board, and showed us all how to break a badly secured e-voting machine in under one minute. They also manage to run the popular "Freedom to Tinker" blog.

Hacking a Diebold voting machine

In 2009, we called him one of our "people to watch" in tech policy, and we're quite sure this put him over the top for the FTC post. (Kidding!)

According to FTC Chair Jon Leibowitz, Felten will "provide invaluable input into the recommendations we’ll be making soon for online privacy, as well as the enforcement actions we’ll soon bring to protect consumer privacy. We’re thrilled to have him on board."




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From September 2010, myself with CreativeApplications.Net will be the curator of the online exhibition of projects on Processing.org. It’s a great privilege and pleasure to contribute to the almost 10 year old open source project initiated by Ben Fry and Casey Reas. Processing has won hearts and minds of many artists, researchers, designers and architects over the years and still remains one of the most used creative code programming environments. Students at hundreds of schools around the world use Processing for classes ranging from middle school math education to undergraduate programming courses to graduate fine arts studios. Tens of thousands of companies, artists, designers, architects, and researchers use Processing to create an incredibly diverse range of projects. CAN has posted some of these but processing.org/exhibition/ still remains an archive of some of the most amazing Processing projects out there. It’s also easy to get the quick sense of how Processing has changed over the years by looking at the exhibition, from Applets to large installations. The original idea was simple; to show what Processing can do. A priority in recent years has been to show the range of what is possible (fabrication, installation, rendered video) in addition to realtime graphics – Casey writes. From this month very few carefully selected projects shown on CAN will make their way to the exhibition.

We kick things off with the wonderful Understanding Shakespeare by Stephan Thiel. In case you missed it, see this post on CAN.
Understanding Shakespeare is an attempt to create a new visual understanding of the work by analysing most frequently used words for each character. Using Processing, a scene is represented by a block of text and scaled relatively according to its number of words. Characters are ordered by appearance from left to right throughout the play. The major character’s speeches are highlighted to illustrate their amounts of spoken words as compared to the rest of the play…more

Additionally to the above, Stephan and two fellow designers are trying to give something back to the Processing community. They are providing teaching materials available at www.creativecoding.org which they use at various german universities. So far, these have developed into a well known resource among german designers and media artists and the team hopes to translate them to english soon.

We leave you with 10 of the 144 projects that have made their way to the Processing exhibition, starting with Valence by Ben Fry (2002) and ending One Perfect Cube by Florian Jenett (2010). See all at processing.org/exhibition/

Processing.org Exhibition now curated by FV [News] is a post from: CreativeApplications.Net | Follow us on Twitter - Facebook - Flickr - Vimeo

Related Posts:

Getting Started with Processing [Books] + ContestBegotten [iPhone, Mobilizing, c++]Sync/Lost [Processing]Processing is Coming to Android [Processing, Android]Toxiclibs [Processing]The HyperCard Legacy [Theory, Mac]

Created and designed by Brendan Dawes and published by CreativeApplications.Net, The Accidental News Explorer is a new type of news app that celebrates serendipity and chance encounters. Start by searching for a subject. Once you’ve browsed the suggested articles taken from hundreds of news sources, tap the “related topics” button to discover connected topics, which in turn lead to more articles. Each article leads to new things; the more curious you are, the longer your journey will be. What will you discover?

You may start with Art, discover Jasper Johns and see news related to similar artists or read about the Museum of modern art. Alternatively you may search for Obama, discover Larry Elder’s article, find related Afghanistan issues and read about Efron (see video).

The Accidental News Explorer is powered by Daylife.

• Optimised for iPhone 4 Retina display
• Instapaper integration – save articles for reading later
• Easily email article links
• Copy links so you can share articles

Ever since his first experiences with the humble ZX81 back in the early eighties, Brendan Dawes has continued to explore the interplay of people, code, design and art both in his role leading the team at mN and on brendandawes.com, a personal space where he publishes random thoughts, toys and projects created from an eclectic mix of digital and analog objects. Find out more….

The Accidental News Explorer is available for $1.99 and has already reached top 20 apps in the news section of the AppStore.

The Accidental News Explorer [iPhone] is a post from: CreativeApplications.Net | Follow us on Twitter - Facebook - Flickr - Vimeo
Related Posts:

Neography [iPhone, iPad]What the iPad Means to Developers [News, iPhone]Buamai [iPhone]Dropular [iPhone, WebApp]Face It [iPhone] – PreviewBlogs We Read + Love [News]

Coming November 9th on Labrador/Caroline, Sweden's The Radio Dept. will see its reggae-ish pop gem "Never Follow Suit" released as a 4-song EP. The band is also traveling to New York for two special performances -- November 29th at Knitting Factory and Bowery Ballroom on the 30th. Lucky NYC bastards.Tracklisting:1. Future's Son2. Never Follow Suit 3. Treading Lightly4. Never Follow Suit (Never Swallow Fruit Dub by Pistol Disco)

So, that Justin Bieber happy accident is freaking people out. This is probably due to the fact that most music fans in general have never really listened to ambient music, or, never actually listened to Justin Bieber. Whichever came first, the slow-paced version is undeniably beautiful, and a lot of young kids are getting exposed to a genre that's so out of place compared to popular music.Some SoundCloud users are taking this to another level and applying the same principal to modern classics. Check out this stunning version of My Bloody Valentine's "Blown a Wish" slowed down to a warped crawl. SoundCloud user "McGill" also has stretched versions of M83's "Kim & Jessie" and Brian Ferry's "More Than This". Keep 'em coming! (How to create your own ambient versions)

This is a post designed to introduce you to a healthy mix of electronica and one of the first websites I blog-rolled here about two years ago. Keytars & Violins is the name of the site, but what you'll encounter hardly resembles those instruments. It's one of the most tasteful electronica blogs out there. When I make my weekly visit I have no idea who the artists are or what I'm getting myself into. That's what I want in a music site: mystery and great taste. Here's a solid mix of dub, house and disco K&V curated for LIST, which is another awesome music site, and I'm calling it "Discofarg". It sounds like something I'd play on a trek through the Austrian countryside. Tracklist below.   Tracklist:1. Andy Stott - Love Nothing [Modern Love]2. Nicholas - Beneath The Surface [No More Hits]3. Roman Rauch - Bio Rhythm [Tjumy]4. Souleance - Chemise [First World Records]5. Ruf Dug - Dirty (Unabombers Remix) [Popular Peoples Front Special Ops]6. Sasse - Tumbler [Two Birds]7. Dave Aju & The Sol Percussion Ensemble - Flexa [Circus Company]8. Brandt Brauer Frick - Paino Shakur [Tartelet]9. Oracy - Bass Mood [Mojuba]10. Boo Williams - Mortal Trance [Rush Hour]11. Herman - April Skies [Fine Art Recordings]12. Satore - Followed By Time (Pablo Bolivar Remix) [AvantRoots]13. Andre Lodemann - The Light [Best Works]14. Fritz Kalkbrenner - Dead End [Suol]15. Blakkat - In This World (Blakkat Devotional) [Mild Pitch]16. Pupkulies & Rebekah - Hold Me Tight (Shaun Reeves & Guti Remix) [Wolf & Lamb]17. The Martin Brothers - Steal Drums [Dirtybird]18. Dapayk Solo - Berlin In Bedlam [Leena]19. Two Em - What Is? [Kiddaz FM]20. Marco Bailey & Tom Hades - Ropongii [MB Elektronics]21. Jerome Sydenham - Bang Me Deep [These Days]22. Tuccillo - Laptoploop (Part 2) [Isgud Records]23. Malvoeaux - Shivers [L.I.E.S.]24. Taron-Trekka - Mr. No (Where Is The Magic) [Freude Am Tanzen]25. Jagged - Ten To Twelve (Aardvarck Remix) [Bonzzaj Recordings]26. Luke Abbott - One Hundred And Thirteen [Amazing Sounds]

I couldn't be more excited about the forthcoming No Age record. Until then, definitely get yours ears wrapped around the new full-length from Candy Claws.|||Download: "SOSMIX - 47" ZIP|||1. 2:54: "Creeping"2. Baths: "Nordic Laurel"3. Benoît Pioulard: "RTO"4. Brad Laner: "Eyes Close"5. Candy Claws: "Silent Time of Earth"6. Flash Palace: "Seventy Lives"7. No Age: "Glitter"8. Solar Bears: "Crystalline (Letherette remix)"9. The Bitters: "His Room"10. Wild Nothing: "Summer Holiday"

FUR unleash an hour-long mix for Technosports International. The title says "Two Hours of Love" but it's actually sixty-four and a half minutes of heavy petting. It's only our second date so I'll take what I can get. Download this session immediately. Tracklisting:"Acoustic Lady" - Hudson Mohawke "Mushroom Forest" - Paul White "Antigravity" - Shlomo "Pembroke" - Airhead & James Blake "Ancestors" - Gonjasufi "Eu Vou Torcer" - Jorge Ben "Amor Es" - AFTA-1 "Incense (Feat. Kirsten Agnesta)" - Erykah Badu "My Comet" - Onra "The Meaning" - 14KT "Blue Countach" - Noel Zancanella "Knock Knock" - Mike Slott "Tape This" - Onra "Allen Nature" - Paul White "Rounded" - Samiyam "Friends (Letherette Remix)" - Fur "Velvet Peel" - Hudson Mohawke "Remember 2 Bounce 1" - Indigo Pyramid "Sunset Light" - Hubert Daviz "Count Basic" - Gotta Jazz "Kleiner Finger" - Bohren & Der Club Of Gore "Deep Blaque" - Dr. Who Dat? "Brooklyn Sunset" - Afta-1 "Toc" - Tom Ze "Hai" - Fur

Cloudland Canyon's sparkly psych-pop may sound like it lives in a cave but I think the Yo La Tengo and Lilys influence push it closer into the sunlight."Mothlight" is the A-side to the limited vinyl 7-inch single available over at Bathetic. Still wondering what "Part 1" sounds like. (via Weekly Tapedeck)

Netflix continues to inch its way up the movie distribution hierarchy and will soon be able to stream some new releases during the so-called "pay TV window." The company struck a deal with Relativity Media, a distribution house responsible for some major Hollywood films, that will give Netflix users access to streamed movies years faster in some cases.

As many Netflix users are painfully aware, the Watch Instantly pool is typically made up of a random selection of old 'n' busted films (and usually not even the good ones), with the occasional surprise movie that was released sometime after the year 2000. The reason for this is because most distribution houses give priority to their DVD release window, at which time, no one can play the movie until the studios feel they have milked every last drop of DVD revenue.





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When Portal 2 was first announced, it was expected to be released sometime this holiday season. But, in traditional Valve fashion, the developer has announced that the game has been delayed and is now expected to launch at some point next year.

The news comes via a press release titled "VALVE ANNOUNCES MAKING GAMES IS HARD," in which the company explained that "even though Portal 2 will arrive slightly later than planned, all life on earth won't instantaneously stop as every molecule in your body explodes at the speed of light."

This news comes soon after the announcement that Valve had cancelled its previously planned Portal 2 event at E3 and replaced it with a "surprise." However, it looks like that surprise—which Ars has a meeting to see—will be Portal-related. Valve describes it as the "E3 ***PORTAL-2-THEMED-FOR-GOD'S SAKE*** surprise."

Stay tuned for further details, which should be revealed at E3 next week.



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Autolux tour dates in support of the forthcoming Transit Transit are starting to trickle in. We also found the official cover art below, along with the previously reported tracklisting. Support comes from electronica wiz Gold Panda. Transit Transit drops 8/2 in the U.K. on ATP and 8/3 in the U.S. on TBD. More dates to come.Schedule:8/11: San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall8/14: Seattle, WA - Neumo's 8/25: Montreal, QC - La Sala Rossa8/26: New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom8/28: Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg9/3: Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle9/4: Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade9/15: Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse 9/16: Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up9/18: Los Angeles, CA - El Rey TheatreTransit Transit:1. Transit Transit2. Census3. Highchair4. Supertoys5. Spots6. The Bouncing Wall7. Audience No. 28. Kissproof9. Headless Sky10. The Science Of Imaginary Solutions

Mac gamers are in for a treat today, as the Steam client for Intel-based Apple systems has finally been released. We had fun playing with the beta, and now, with the full release, anyone can jump in. Here's the best part: the list of games available is much wider than we had anticipated.

Portal is available as expected, but so is Civilization IV. So are a bunch of Lucasarts adventure games. You can pick a copy of Torchlight, newly on sale for $10. You can buy Braid, or Peggle, or City of Heroes. Right now there are 63 games for sale in the Mac store, and it looks like all of them feature the Steamplay logo, so if you own the PC versions you can download and play the Mac versions for no extra charge.

Just to get you started, you can play Portal for free on your Mac or PC until May 24. The prices for games are all over the place, and of course there are some sales going on (and more coming), but for a launch this is pretty damn exciting. No Left 4 Dead yet, but we'll be patient. If support continues and the game selection continues to grow, this is going to be an easy way for Mac gamers to enjoy their hobby.



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Videos from the March Dot Dot Dot lecture, “The Tablet,” are up. Thanks to our speakers, Matt Jacobs, Sophie Kleber, and Alexis Lloyd, as well as Roland Lazarte for filming and everyone who came out. We hope to see you at our next event! 

The touch interface is the best at allowing modal dialogs. You can have more data without having to go to a bunch of different sources. You don’t have to sacrifice accessibility for portability. –Matt Jacobs

You (publishing) can, with the new device, re-invent your story, you can regain full control of your brand because you’re creating a constrained experience, and with that you regain the authority because your content is back with you—not in a sea of the internet. –Sophie Kleber

We need to be designing for context, with an awareness of where our users are and what they are doing. We need to understand what the inherent emotional experience of the device is, and we need to be creating a holistic experience across a multitude of devices users are using. –Alexis Lloyd

…Beautiful design, beautiful typography makes digital objects feel more tangible. It makes them feel like they have more value, and emotionally immerses me in the experience. These are things as designers we talk about with our clients, to our employers, all the time, but I think it’s very real. –Alexis Lloyd

The Studio On Fire 2010 Calendar is now available on our new web site. This calendar is a decade marker for us. Established the end of 1999, Studio On Fire began letterpress printing in a cold Minnesota basement. Our first press occupied a spot between the boiler and the litter box, and oh, how the studio has since grown. Now seven presses strong with a fully equipped studio space, we celebrate ten years as a bustling design and print studio.

This Tenfold Edition calendar is letterpress printed with four colors on a cotton-blend stock, each month beautifully illustrated by selected designers the world over.

Contributors:
Jan/Jul_ Studio On Fire
Feb/Aug_Cecilie Ellefsen
Mar/Sept_ Brian Gunderson
Apr/Oct_ The Little Friends of Printmaking
May/Nov_ ghostpatrol
Jun/Dec_ Rilla Alexander (Rinzen)

After a year without any updates, the developers responsible for the popular video transcoder Handbrake have released version 0.9.4 of the open-source software. With such a small change in the version number, it would be easy to assume that there isn't much new in this version, but that assumption couldn't be further from the truth. In total, there have been over 1,000 changes since 0.9.3 and, while they might not all be life-changing, many of them make for a better user experience.

First, and perhaps most importantly, the new version incorporates improved code from the x264 project that, according to the release notes, makes for speedier encoding, smaller files sizes, and better picture quality. Additionally, 0.9.4 brings 64-bit support, which also provides 10 percent faster encodes. Ten percent may not seem like much, but when you are ripping a huge DVD library, it adds up in a hurry. Users can now include subtitles in their rips, which can be turned on and off (prior to this version, it was all or nothing). Live preview is also a very welcome addition to the software, as it allows a user to find out what their video will look like given specific compression settings.

Designing With Web Standards 3rd Edition by faculty member Jeffrey Zeldman and web designer/developer Ethan Marcotte is in bookstores across the U.S. today, with international stores to follow.

“Best-selling author, designer, and web standards godfather Jeffrey Zeldman has once again updated his classic, industry-shaking guidebook. Substantially revised in collaboration with Ethan Marcotte, this third edition to the foundational web standards text covers improvements and challenges in the changing environment of standards-based design.”

Visit the DWWS mini site

Interaction Design students teamed up to participate in the One Hour Design Challenge: The Future of Digital Reading for Jason Santa Maria’s Communicating Design Class. With two days left to go until entries close, the challenge sponsored by Core77 and Portigal Consulting asks designers “What will reading look in the future?” Several students’ designs are feature on Core77. The winner for the challenge will receive $600 donated in their name to 826 Valencia, an organization that helps kids with expository and creative writing in San Francisco.



The PaperBack by Stephanie Aaron, Kristin Grafe and Eric St. Onge.

See all submissions to the One Hour Design Challenge

Television is a problematic market for advertising to certain demographics, and it's no secret that magazines are in trouble. Online destinations are just starting to come into their own. So where does that leave opportunities for advertising? Video games. A new study, attractively titled "Eye-tracking Analysis as a Means to Visualise the Effects of In-Game Advertising" by 11 Prozent Communication and the University of Offenberg shows that marketing to gamers can be very effective... if you follow the rules.

Everywhere you look (even here at Ars), there are articles about people making poor decisions about what kinds of info and how much to share on sites like Facebook. The Internet is no longer a place where you can hide out easily—friends, family, and employers are all lurking, reading your embarrassing status updates and checking up on those drunken pictures from last week. And that's just the beginning—the world of social networking is a feeding ground for identity thieves and stalkers, too.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Many users are aware that Facebook has numerous privacy controls, for example, but even the most experienced Facebook users often don't know just how much they can control who sees what. For instance, did you know that you can specify exactly who can see your status updates, down to different groups of friends (not just "friends" versus "everyone")? What about controlling which groups of people can even find you in a Facebook search to begin with?

If you don't want to be socially available at all, then the solution is right in front of you and you can stop reading! However, if you have been wondering how you can be socially available on Facebook while still keeping your privacy under control, this guide is for you.

The National Design Awards honors Bill Moggridge with the Lifetime Achievement Award on the criteria of excellence, innovation, and enhancement of the quality of life.

About Bill Moggridge: Bill Moggridge is a co-founder of IDEO, a global design consultancy, creating impact through design. A Royal Designer for Industry, Moggridge designed the world’s first laptop computer. He pioneered interaction design and is one of the first people to integrate human factors into the design of software and hardware. He has been a trustee of the Design Museum; visiting professor in interaction design at the Royal College of Art in London, lecturer in Design at the London Business School and a member of the Steering Committee for the Interaction Design Institute in Ivrea, Italy. He is currently consulting associate professor in the design program at Stanford University. His book, DVD and Web site “Designing Interactions” tell the story of how interaction design is transforming our daily lives.

In the early 1980s, IDEO designed the first notebook-style computer for GRiD Systems

About the National Design Awards: The National Design Awards were conceived by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum to honor the best in American design. First launched at the White House in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the annual Awards program celebrates design in various disciplines as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world, and seeks to increase national awareness of design by educating the public and promoting excellence, innovation, and lasting achievement. The Awards are truly national in scope–nominations for the 2009 Awards were solicited from a committee of more than 800 leading designers, educators, journalists, cultural figures, and corporate leaders from every state in the nation.

The Pirate Bay has been sold—and the new owners plan to make it a legal service that allows "content providers and copyright owners [to] get paid for content that is downloaded via the site."

Global Gaming Factory X AB, a Swedish firm that runs Internet cafes and game centers, plans to buy The Pirate Bay for 60 million kronor, twice the fine that was slapped on The Pirate Bay defendants by a Stockholm court earlier this year.



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Southwest Jet slides off runway and into Central Avenue