It's been covered before on Tuesday Tasting - the saturation of subway gropers in Japan. Not wanting to be lumped in with the lot of pervy men, a new accessory helps define where non-wandering hands are.

"On super crowded trains, standing commuters quickly run out of stationary rings to hold on to, and have nowhere to put their hands. That's probably what inspired gropers to fondle in the first place, but it's also a looming dilemma for non-perverts as to where they can put their hands in order not to be mistaken for one."

While the idea of men holding onto rings to proclaim their non-perv status may be laughable, the product apparently sold out within a very short time frame.

Targeting your txt-fetish, a new study tries to conclude that text messaging is creating a lack of social confidence among the T9-hungry teenagers.

"The social impact of text messaging is the subject of renewed concerns as SMS use stretches to notifying someone of a death in the family, wedding RSVPs, breaking up with long-term partners and even quitting a job. News.com.au reports. "Experts say the text-messaging generation is fast becoming socially inept as it hides from "normal communication"."

Are door knocks and phone calls really still the norm? Is communicating in 160 characters avoiding social interaction or getting to the core of it? Most likely, it's best to be titillated rather than timid about technology, as it has always been known to drive social change.

[img via]

Getting ready for Halloween requires more than a pair of fishnets to freeze the rest of the night in. Many are making the evening memorable with a variety of morbid recipes.

Perhaps among the most interesting, the Robotic Snap-O-Lantern was at the recent Maker Faire featuring pumpkin robots (I'm coining the term "geekins"). With a couple of Duracells, the Snap-O-Lantern turns on to be quite the deadly squash.

Craftzine and Slashfood are spookifying your sweets with Spider Cakes and Punk Glow-in-the-Dark Cupcakes.

If Snap-O-Lanterns and sweets aren't enough to satiate, Suicide Girls tackles the unstoppable sexy costume scene. Seemingly, sexy-anything costumes are the ultimate undead.

Going off of Leeroy Jenkins invading advertising, it was only a matter of time until advertising invaded LOLcats. Yes, advertising has now penetrated and confused LOLcat lovers, the cute cuddly trend that confuses serious cat lovers around the globe. Dubbing this LOLvertising, advertisers have successfulled 1-up-ed ICanHasCheezBurger commenters with their Cingular txt commercial reference. Prepare yourself, it's only a matter of time before KFC runs spots for "where's mah bukket?"

Arse Elektronika, a conference about pr0nnovation kicked off tonight at Kink.com's Porn Palace in San Francisco. The opening speech by Johannes Grenzfurthner of Monochrom was considerably delayed due to, not surprisingly, a porn shoot that had run two hours late earlier in the day. After cleaning up spots and stains, Johannes apologized and took the stage. Opening the speech with looking back at a patent for a condom containing a computer chip that played music, he asked, "is this progress?". To some perhaps, to others, the envelope needs to continually be pushed, or in this case played with.

From polaroids to VHS to virtual reality, technology has always been quick to appeal to porn consumers. Johannes pointed to films like the Lawnmower Man (a movie he says is more outdated looking than Tron) and his experiences with an iPhone (the first thing his friend showed him on it was porn and said "you can even zoom in!"). Talking about merging sex with technology, a wise crack from the crowd yelled "I gave up my penis for an iPhone!".

Up next was a short film about overhead projectors. The film began with "Overhead projection is a dying medium. The only way to save it is to explore porn possibilities." A man then proceeded to masturbate using an overhead projector to document his "results". Somehow, I felt my years of grade school lecture notes being violated.

Skipping the Electric Orifice Orchestra due to technical difficulties, the Moaning Lisa was proudly propped up on stage. A modified mannequin of sorts, the Moaning Lisa is a life-size (and in some areas, augmented life-size) "doll" that contains sensors in an assortment of places around her body. Matt Ganucheau explained that partially due to the Nintendo Wii, alternative controllers on a public scale made people ask what can we interact with to enhance experience? As such, the Moaning Lisa's controls are unique, and like the female orgasm, there are no instructions. Photo sensors in her eyes detect presence and others around her body make her moan. The moaning is generated by the sound of 200 pleasured women. Why 200? Matt says it just sounded cool.

More from Arse Elektronika to come, the Flickr album can be viewed here.

Trendhunter rounds up the "16 Brands of Drinks Using Sex to Make You Thirsty". From Pimp Juice to Monster Energy, to a you've-got-to-be-joking energy drink called Who's Your Daddy?, the list covers off on quite a few. The 16 sex-obsessed still leave out a few notables, though. Most recently, Heineken's "Draughtkeg" commercial left a misogynistic taste in some viewers' mouths, while others creamed their pants over a cyborg-like, beer-dispensing, techno-dancing, short-shorts-wearing woman.

AdAge jokes, "The perfect woman: a mute nymphomaniac whose father owns a brewery." However, AdAge adds that the joke "manages to [not] trivialize the essence of femininity quite as egregiously as Heineken. And why don't they?

Because they don't portray a woman's uterus as a beer keg."

Breast enlarging cookies from Japan.

[via]

[A weekly link post of skipped over (and slightly stale) sights and stories]


• Mobile gadget geeks prefer gaming over music.

• Japanese celebrate 110th anniversary of their immigration to Mexico with a 110-meter-long sushi roll. Mmm, delicious anti-assimilation.

• Jane Fonda is planning to make an erotic film to prove couples can have fulfilling sex lives in their 70s.

• Computer Ports Are Forever.

• Treat your tush to a cushion of cuddly pandas. [via]

No longer about who can out-drink who, texting is the new tolerance tournament, especially among teens. A recent survey found that 44 percent of teens use text messages as their primary mode of communication. While that figure is far from shocking to the majority of us gadget geeks, 28 percent admitted to texting under the dinner table. More close to 'home' (aka the blogosphere), the rising number of insatiable SMS-users has created an ongoing discussion and debate about the social integration or rejection of "interconnected multitasking culture".

[image via]

Oh, who can't forget the interweb's beloved Nintendo Sixty-FOOOOOOOOOOUR!!1!!1! kid? That kind of geek love can only be recaptured by balding old men splooging over the iPhone launch (yes, we're looking at you, Mossberg). So, that's exactly what this guy in a pair of onesie pajamas did. Oh-Em-Gee! Yes! Yes! Yes!

To no surprise, sex remains among the top searched on across the internet. Wikipedia is no exception, as a top search term study in April 2007 revealed sex, pop culture, and anime to be the leading researched categories on it. The study gives a few insights about sex searching that may otherwise be overlooked in the stereotypical Google-porn popularity. As Violet points out, it shows that people are hungry for accurate sex information over titillation. Even more so, it verifies that the internet is not a compartmentalized ecosystem of information in one place and sex in another.

Seduced by not-so-subtle suggestions, an artist typesets signs into sculptures. David Kramer saturates himself with the overindulgence of pop culture, despite an underlying skepticism. It's this constant negotiation that generates a need to create. In his own words:

"I love the excessiveness of cultural iconography and yet I totally mistrust it. I am easily seduced by the sexiness of the simplest marketing strategy and hate myself for being so easy."

[via]

Attached to more than just a belt clip, a new survey shows that 22% of 16-24 year olds wouldn't give up their mobile phone for £1 million. The study of 18-24 year olds showed that 20% wouldn't give up sex, compared to a 31% who wouldn't give up tea/coffee.

"What does this teach me? I am drinking at the wrong coffee houses," says Shiny Shiny.

Half of the young adults admitted to sending/receiving "sexually explicit" text, and only 14% said they would turn their phone off completely during sex. An interesting quote found embedded in the reports reveals that we geek girls are not alone:

"Women often use their mobile phones in public to deter people from approaching them."

From T9-ing your tasty fantasies in 160 characters to letting there be two kinds of vibrators in the bedroom, "young adults" have certainly assimilated cell phones into all aspects of their daily life.

Trend Hunter recently rounded up their Top 20 Graffiti Innovations. Paired down to the top five "techie" tag trends here, it's apparent that geek goodness has penetrated the paint.

1. Geek Graffiti - vintage video games in pixelated paint
2. LED Throwies - ferromagnetic surfaces + rare-earth magnets
3. Dot Matrix Graffiti Bike - interweb connected and sidewalk suitable
4. Pixel Roller - paint-by-pixels
5. Automated Graffiti Robot - "a tele-operated field programable robot which employs a custom built array of spray cans to write linear text messages on the ground at a rate of 15 kilometers per hour."

Debonair Magazine recently released its "Best Food Blogs"awards. Fourteen delicious daily reads were picked for a variety of culinary categories, including "Best Food Porn" and "Best Eco-Friendly Food Blog" among others.

"When working in an office, I found it incredibly difficult to inconspicuously ruffle through The New York Times and read an 800-word restaurant review or try to hide my stacks of Saveur and Gourmet. Thankfully, a good food blog offers quick snippets of information that can easily be read between conference calls. "

The amuse bouche of blogs are below:
101cookbooks.com
amateurgoumet.com
chezpim.typepad.com
chocolateandzucchini.com
chowhound.com
davidlebovitz.com
eater.com
ethicurean.com
midtownlunch.com
nordjus.co.uk/en
restaurantgirl.com
shewhoeats.com
tastespotting.com
travelerslunchbox.com

[image via: chocolate cupcake stuffed with ginger caramel, frosted with mango ganache, and topped with a mango-ginger won ton]

ICYMI on every other blog and network besides Fox and CBS, a tv spot for Trojan has been flying around. Mainly picking up buzz due to the two aforementioned networks banning it, the nature of the ban is perhaps the most buzz-worthy. Allegedly, the reason why the condom commercial was banned was due to the fact that Fox/CBS refuse to air ads that promote pregnancy prevention, and will only feature spots that focus on the (turnyourheadandcoughMALEcough) "health reasons" alone. With only one out of every four fucks in the US using condoms, the lack of consideration towards women's bodies from networks is nothing short of them... well, just having short dicks. Carol Carrozza, the VP over LifeStyle condoms responded, "We always find it funny that you can use sex to sell jewelry and cars, but you can’t use sex to sell condoms."

Liposuction of fat for an injection of fear, new ads from a Brazil-based yogurt maker are playing on the offensive. With a tag line of "Forget about it. Men's preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt", the ads feature overweight women in well-known movie scenes. Below-the-belt blunt advertising can work when well done, but this campaign still leaves a bit of a blood in the middle. Created by Salles Chemistri, the campaign is certainly garnering reactions. Unfortunately, negative Word Of Mouth travels at a much more rapid rate. Take your anger out on the treadmills or truffles, ladies.

Not always just about car giveaways, books and teary-eyed families, Oprah's O Magazine featured sex blogger and all around crush-bait Violet Blue. This month's mag published a two-page article by the "brazen blogger" about porn for women. Beginning blurb:

"Eyes Wide Open - What kind of woman watches porn- and likes it? You might be surprised. Violet Blue reports on the pleasures of pressing Play."

As Violet points out, this is a very progressive step for Oprah's brand. Resist as many of us have, Oprah may no longer play only to the stereotypical suburban housewife watching Pinesol ads between soap operas.

[image via - congrats, violet!]

The SF Chronicle published a piece last week titled, "Summer sizzles for Man Crushes -- and there's nothing wrong with that". A Man-Crush is defined as a non-sexual (and hopefully, not-too-clingy) "cool factor" feeling between two heterosexual males.

"The Man Crush has always been a delicate subject among straight men, with a very complicated rule set. It's considered OK to spontaneously proclaim your love for an NFL quarterback when he just scored a touchdown. It's not cool to point out that Bob from human resources always looks nice in that blue sweater."

Sweaters aside, summer time sets in with a new slew of man-crushworthy movies such as Ocean's 13. More keen on the classics? The article goes on to state that almost every man between 25-40 is no virgin to the Man Crush, having had a definite desire aimed at any character played by Harrison Ford. From Han Solo to Indiana Jones, there's no escaping the creepy-crawly snake pit of Man Crushes.

[Thanks, Tantek!]

Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads and Cashing In on Internet Sexploration is a recently published book that explores and interviews bloggers and geek girls. Looking into the intimate nature of the internet, the 80 interviewed reveal how they intertwine sex and their computer screen into their lives and lifestyles. Wired's interview with the author, Audacia Ray, states, "women have wide-ranging sexual interests and are savvy enough to figure out how to harness technology to pursue our erotic desires". Technology truly is a turn on.

[via]

Perhaps not first date attire, Transformer watches are wrapping around wrists in preparation for the Transformers movie debut. Although, fans know the original Transformers movie came out in 1986. Regardless, the 80s are back with this selection of retro Autobot and Decepticon wear. Seiko created eight new designs to launch on June 2. Though most geeks have ditched their watches for mobile phones, the Transformer Shield Watch may be hard to pass up.

Geeks are gaining more ground with social networking on the interweb, but are assimilating pop culture as well. Like the porn versus social communities graph from last month, nerds are on a course to surpass adult entertainment. Geek Sugar points to an anonymous Craigslister with a numbered list for why geeks should be on your radar for dating:

1. While geeks and nerds may be awkward, they’re well-meaning 9 out of 10 times. That smooth dude with the sly grin and the spider hands? Wonder what HIS intentions are... plus, I’ve never had a geek guy not call me when he said he would. Score major points THERE.
2. They’re useful. In this tech-savvy world, it’s great to have a b/f who can make your laptop, desktop, and just about anything else that plugs into a wall behave itself.
3. They’re more romantic than they’re given credit for. Ok true, their idea of romance might be to make up a spiffy web-page with all the reasons why they love you, with links to pics of you and sonnets and such... but hey. It lasts longer than flowers, plus you can show your friends.
4. Due to their neglected status, there are plenty to choose from. You like ‘em tall and slender? There are plenty of geeks/nerds who are. You like ‘em smaller with more meat on their bones? Got that too.
5. They’ve got brains. Come on now, how can intelligence be a bad thing?

It'd be interesting to see a list for reasons to date a geek girl. In more recent geeky goodness, Geek Prom 2007 was held on Saturday, more photos can be seen here. [Photo above courtesy of massdistraction]

Asking if it's a reaction to "brandaslism", PSFK posts a photo of the latest anti-advertising campaign. Stickers are apparently being spotted around New York with the phrase "Corporate Vandals Not Welcome" on top of outdoor advertising. Advertising is often the culprit for most forms of culture pollution, as we've seen in the past. New York has been laying down advertising laws as of late, but they might not be coming soon enough to the advertisement vigilante.

Online communities set to surpass porn? Is porn losing popularity or has the internet finally reached pressure equalization? A recent article in the Economist examines the trends in adult entertainment and online communities.

"In America, the proportion of site visits that are pornographic is falling and people are flocking to sites categorised “net communities and chat”—chiefly social-networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook. Traffic to such sites is poised to overtake traffic to sex sites in America any day now (see chart)."

Perhaps less about a popularity contest, porn has in fact penetrated online communities since their conception. Charts like these fail to recognize that the interweb can't be compartmentalized by just sex or information. The lack of recognition for an ongoing intimate interaction slightly skews the data, especially with the induction of communities like Second Life. To quote Kyle Machulis of Linden Labs, "if you put two people together in a game, they're going to find a way to fuck".

While sex sells, lawsuits linger. Taking note of America's fancy for feuding, European lingerie boutique, Sloggi, approaches advertising in an off-kilter fashion. By purposefully targeting treacherous territory (Fleshbot points out mosques) with banned billboards, Sloggi aims for shock over seduction. Now with an interactive website, the French fanny line allows you to make your own politically incorrect content, just in time to piss off more conservative-commenters at Adrants. Wah, a LINGERIE line is using sexual imagery of women for advertising. How shocking.

Violet Blue (who, like me, came down with a bad cold this week - get better!) managed to point to a very insightful article by Scientific American, recapping the New York Times observation of female sexual orientation, or lack there of:

"Presumably the masculinization of the brain shapes some neural circuit that makes women desirable. If so, this circuitry is wired differently in gay men. In experiments in which subjects are shown photographs of desirable men or women, straight men are aroused by women, gay men by men.

Such experiments do not show the same clear divide with women. Whether women describe themselves as straight or lesbian, "Their sexual arousal seems to be relatively indiscriminate - they get aroused by both male and female images," Dr. Bailey said. "I'm not even sure females have a sexual orientation. But they have sexual preferences. Women are very picky, and most choose to have sex with men."

Though the thought may lend a great deal of potential for scientific observation, the assumptions around it seem far from scientific. It is intriguing to gain insight into what imagery the female brain responds to (advertisers need as much help as they can get these days), but "disorienting" ourselves from society seems a bit extreme. Violet, of course, came ranting to the rescue:

"Besides my personal reactions, the NYT piece gave me a big knee-jerk rejection of the gender assumptions about women being "picky", or some construct of a biological imperative in regards to our pursuit of sexual pleasure. I will never take these hack job articles seriously until they present both sides of the argument for sex -- one that includes evaluation and discussion of the factors of sexual pleasure, not just making babies. Hysteria, which classified female arousal, desire and pleasure as a disease was a valid medical diagnosis on the books until the 1950s -- does science and medicine still see female pleasure as a disorder so as not to allow fucking for fucking's sake into the calculations? Or, is that when we're "picky"? ... You can't tell me that women choose men to make babies, but choose women because they're "picky" and that we have no sexual orientation. I mean shit, do these people know *any* lesbians?"

Decked out in anime, a new airline caters to children and f-ed up fantasies with a Sanrio sensation. Eva Air, a Taiwanese airline, created Eva Kitty, an airline entirely in ode to Hello Kitty. With pink patterns and precious Hello Kitty outfits for flight attendants, Eva Kitty proves to be playful. Despite catering to the kids, does the fantasy of flying with anime-infatuated Japanese women play out to the pervs? Perhaps it's best that this sub-airline only takes tickets between Taipei, Fukuoka and Tokyo, leaving our American anime appetites untroubled.

Presenting a prude and perverse perspective of porn, a new book pushes the boundaries of stimulation. Porn for Women, by the Cambridge Women's Pornography Cooperative is 98-pages of nonsense and nausea. Glossed with photos of men in khakis and Kmart sweaterrs, the non-porn "porn" is about as attractive as a screenplay for Stiff Sluts IV featuring Anna Nicole. Surprisingly not doting their i's with hearts, the curvaceous calligraphy and pastel patterns offer such lines as "Breakfast is on the table. I'll have your outfit ready in five minutes" and “Ooh, look, the NFL playoffs are today. I bet we'll have no trouble parking at the crafts fair", it's a surprise that they don't tack on "It's okay, I totally understand why you only want to have sex twice a year". Wishing the book was a cute joke, the sex-less soccer moms behind the book are apparently serious and believe that this is what straight women fantasize about. For the rest of women, this may be the only thing we find hard to swallow.

[via]

The Netherlands is certainly not a place to be wasted by staring at a computer screen. Where's the need for porn when the Red Light District is just steps away? Apparently needing to remind the populous of negativity for being a nerd, KitKat released this commercial. The ad features a life within a life within a life, based off of non other than the seductive, yet at times scary, Second Life. We can only cringe in expectation of a Forth Life joke.

Fetishes have long flirted with the interweb, manifesting themselves in naughty niches and virtual vacancies. To cater to the interweb insatiable, a new fetish magazine is taking its glossies from print to online publishing. The "edgy, raw, over-the-top fetish mag" attempts to claim your fancy by making itself free. While most fetish sites simply seduce and ask for a subscription fee before you're able to finish, this one opens up for entrance. Senze, the Sweden-based sensation, only offers content online, so while the feeling of sticky pages may be long past, you may still want to protect your key pad with some plastic wrap.

[via]

Private parts have been a hot topic lately, and not pertaining to the kind below the belly button. Lifehacker points to a post by Web Worker Daily about why developing a public online persona is positive when it comes to employment.

"Employers are realizing that what people do online can actually prove their value as potential hires, not just rule them out based on drunken photos or revelations of other past missteps."

The contemplation between personal and professional, public and private wares on, as social sites are search engine optimized for your bi-curious bar moments and grammatical gonorrhea. Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, Upcoming, and LinkedIn are just to name a few. The post goes on to capture that 25 to 50 million searches for proper-names are performed each day and that having no results under your name may turn from neutral to negative.

In light of the recent "Sierra shitstorm" that's going on, many are questioning going back into private practice. However, the public persona post may have a point. While perhaps intimidating and even a little scary, there may indeed be a certain satisfaction that comes with doing it in public.

eMarketer reports on the video vigilante known as YouTube, analyzing the disconnect over demographics. While there will be an estimated 97 million lovely ladies online this year compared to the only 90 million men, the video viewing stats don't reflect the revolution. In 2007, it's predicted that only 66% of world-wide-web women will become video viewing machines while men take the lead at 78%. Surprised, the study added that typically women watch more television than men, asking then what affinities females had towards online video. Perhaps, unlike men, the lack of inherent interest in flashy (fleshy?) moving pictures has turned women off from an always on medium.

"A study by Piper Jaffray also found that news appealed to both genders (52.3% of adult men and 48.9% of women). After that, though, differences appeared. Men were more likely to watch amateur videos, music videos and movie previews. Women favored movie previews and then music videos. "Getting the female audience engaged is crucial for the success of online video, and over the next few years, marketers and online video content providers will need to figure out exactly how to get that job done," says Ms. Williamson, an eMarketer senior analyst.

Oh, but Ms. Williamson, if only it were always easier said than done to "get the job done" with females. YouTube may have rubbed some of us the wrong way, but there's hope that they eventually find the right position to embed their code.

Spotted SXSW geek shirts.

As flight delays scroll across screens and text messages taper off, SXSW negates to close its doors, yet gives a swift slap to attendees as it dismounts from Interactive. As stated up front, most of the interaction happens outside of the panels and what happens in SXSW, stays on Flickr. With leftover hand-stamps from nights before, attendees gingerly, yet somehow still enthusiastically dragged their feet into morning panels over the few days. While the main word on the carpeted streets was 'overwhelming', the plethora of things to do and people to see kept the crowd's stamina.

Friday night kicked off with the traditional Break Bread With Brad ceremonial drinkfest and introductions. One would think that after a few drinks, the crowd would begin to tangent off of social technology topics, however with the circulating video bloggers stumbling within the crowd and the lively debates over Technorati and Twitter (which becomes a more flexibly applied verb with a few drinks) the physicality of all the usually online activity takes tangible form.

With Treo and Blackberry ornaments hanging from every messenger bag pocket, and laptops all in a row, it was no longer business or pleasure, personal or professional. Threadless shirts and logo-ed tattoos pwned all. While parties like Dorkbot, Fox Interactive, 8-bit, LAist, Mashup, Blogger, Lifehacker, and SXNW played venue to a meeting of interactive minds, it was the actual interaction that made and continues to make SXSW a unique, sometimes awkward, but always appreciated, online to offline experience.

Will Wright, the famed game designer behind SimCity, The Sims, and the yet to be released and highly anticipated Spore, flipped through pages of storytelling to an audience of all ears. Linking stories with the shift from passive to interactive media, Wright outlined the social and biological differences between games and film. While games utilize our basic instincts within the brain, film typically provides a rich emotional palette. Rather than push for the complete adoption of one or the other, Wright integrated the two into a cohesive experience.

Relating to a computer mainly consisting of two parts, calculation and communication, Wright's games involve the possibilities of storytelling as well as the experience of sharing it. Wright explained that people enjoy playing with boundaries and then reporting back on their experiments, a theme that had been mentioned at an earlier panel discussing hacktivism and DIY culture. Most notably, this was seen in The Sims, which was regarded as a musical instrument of a game, where people truly became the storytelling tools.

While expression plays a big role in gaming, it's just as significant that the computer also participates. In this sense, story-listening becomes just as active of a component as any other, teaching the computer how to listen to the player's story. While many love to share stories and content, there's always the issue of quality over quantity. Wright believes that by creating better tools, you can increase the quality of content in the community. Example given was Spore, where users could create their own creatures in, what used to take Pixar artists several days, nanoseconds. Wright concluded that by making the player George Lucas and no longer the protagonist Sky Walker, the experience lends towards greater creative amplification and deeper interaction.

Television today is no longer the elephant in the room. Similar to global warming, it has increasingly been gaining momentum and awareness as well as technological contribution. However, while content is king, the overall experience is moving in to claim checkmate. How we interact and interpret television currently is on a static plane of directional geography: surfing channels up, down, left, and right. Helping break the tangible and virtual norms, David Merkoski (Frog Design) narrated the audience through an up and coming product yet to hit the markets.

Appropriately titled Mondrian, the product set to go public next year, is a TV navigation and recommendation Zoomable User Interface (ZUI) that attempts to rethink TV user interaction. A few major differences with Mondrian is that a user no longer needs to be stuck within nested menus while navigating and it has an active anticipation engine that takes in the content, time, and environment you watch in to build a profile and recommendations. It goes without saying that Mondrian becomes an easy target for Big Brother contextual advertisers. While there have already been proposals for all-advertising channels within the ZUI grids, Merkoski remained unclear on any efforts to save the product from advertising overload.

Going more in depth with intuitive interaction, Merkoski gave an insightful overview of remote controls and interfaces. The up, down, left, right navigation is in touch with a geographical grid, while a ZUI typically tries to orient the user in a way similar to how a camera would. The up, down, left, right is not only for the living room screens, but also small screens like mobile phones as well. The original idea for this came from what some might think of as a hyper-interaction culture: gaming. Moving away from the standard, Merkoski used this to account for why people are so amazed with the Nintendo Wii and iPhone. Merkoski ended with a call to inter-action, "There won't be a choice if we don't design it."

This week, SXSW Interactive featured a keynote conversation with Limor Fried (Adafruit Industries) and Phil Torrone (MAKE Magazine). Hacking the DIY culture, Torrone and Fried discussed the techniques of tinkering with technology. With examples such as the Bacon Alarm Clock, skin-embedded RFID chips, and the recent Gummy Bear Chandelier, the panelists whetted the audience's palate with a selection of delicious DIY snacks.

Hacktivism culture has been spreading at a rapid rate as of late. Simply said, "People make weird and bizarre things," Torrone stated in response to the movement. Sharing "recipes" has now become commonplace among tinkering communities and unlike dating, you're not slapped if you show all your intimate parts too soon. Fried shared her thoughts on the subject, calling for an open hardware movement instead of simply source code. Using available tools and techniques like Google SketchUp and Creative Commons, proper documentation to hardware hacking can be applied.

Fried believes that by even leaving one component open in a piece of technology, it opens the flood gates for positive user interaction with the product. An example given was the Roomba, the vacuum to robotics platform with an open API. Passionate product interaction grew out of potential opportunities and created unexpected (to the brand, at least) outcomes: Roombas now took pictures, ported wifi, and integrated product-related modification. Another example was the Qtopia Greenphone, an open phone unlike any other that allows users to write their own applications for it. The importance for open devices is growing, as the panelists cited a survey of MIT students about their most hated technology that they used everyday. The majority answer? Cell phones.

Tinkering culture has created an ongoing debate, however, that perhaps was one thing they didn't intend to DIY. In the friction that takes place between brands/products and users, what is a more enriching experience? Should users always have to revert to hacking or should products openly allow tinkering? Fried and Torrone agreed that the more a product gives away information, the more people buy, and the more the product becomes accessible to a wider audience. "When there's enough of a movement, companies become more receptive," stated Torrone.

Sidenote: More SXSW photos here.

Offering no apologies for social disruption, the Emerging Social and Technology Trends panelists invite themselves into your conversation. The panel on Saturday hosted yet again a large group of speakers from diverse backgrounds. Although intimate panels tend to be more revealing, this one at least showed a little leg. Headed up by Laura Moorhead (Wired), the panelists included Andrew Blum (Wired), Robert Fabricant (Frog Design), Eliot Van Buskirk (Wired), Peter Rojas (Engadget), and Daniel Raffel (Yahoo!).

While perhaps drunk at the wheel sometimes, technology drives social change. In turn, everyday people are now enabled to be the drivers as well. Similar to the blur of how you got home the night before, there is no longer a clear sobriety line to walk between social interaction and technology. Likewise, a constant negotiation between public and private, business and pleasure, leaves many at polar realms. Understanding the integration versus isolation debate is said to help us understand ourselves, or at least what Kool-aid we drank to get there.

Tagged as disruptive technology, the panel discussed various tools, techniques, and software that continue to evolve standards and transparency. Seemingly, the term transparency is no longer valid, as the opacity is continuing to be set at zero percent. Widgets, like the beginnings of the internet, take away a sense of geographical personas, while social "tools" like Twitter take away any remaining sense of privacy. "Twitter might be the breaking point," said Peter Rojas, concerned about an inevitable backlash of technology. Explaining it similar to the subcultures that turned on CDs in favor of vinyl, Rojas believes that there will always be backlashes, but not necessarily mass rejections. "But we wouldn't know about a backlash because they wouldn't be blogging it, right?" Rojas joked to the crowd's chuckle.

Though there's an amplification of influence in self, it also penetrates brands and microbrands alike. Many brands are trying to drink the Kool-aid, letting the voice of the customer lead the way. While in no way is it a bad idea, Robert Fabricant explained that it gives a company power as well as a burden. The key, Fabricant explained, is how to interpret the learnings from the ongoing conversations, which is a responsibility strategists and planners face.

Asked the question about companies' fear of their products being hacked, the panelists concurred that the vast majority of hacks help generate interest in a product rather than serve as a huge threat to success. An offered solution to help ease the pain was for companies to commit to "upgradability" as well as learn how to monetize consumer hacks. Pushing for augmentation over customization, it was apparent that there remains a friction point between consumers and brands. The iPhone came up as a perfect example, in that the potential of the device alone generated interest, however the excitement soon turned flacid once it revealed its closed platform nature. Soon after, the lack of faith in mobile carriers and the fight for consumer enablement took over the discussion. Despite many yielding through the intersection of social and technology, it may take a new generation to legalize an American autobahn.

Sidenote: More photos here.

An old favorite of mine: The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal

Creating a new evolution to the Hot Or Not trend, DeSmogBlog created a global Warming Or Not game. While not actually titled that, the Stars And Stinkers game (embedded above) wants you to vote on who you think is on the Climate Change A-List. The creators have also been considerate enough to create some little web badges and embed codes for all you portable content groupies. For all the Flash stars, you're also able to swap out celeb photos and create your own version. Of course, have to suggest a Cleanest Dirty Whore celeb version for what porn stars are going green aside from their cashflow. Hmm, wonder if Jenna Jameson's hybrid is enough to balance out her role in Up And Cummers 17.

Local news reports on the 'dangerous trend' of emo kids, sadly a decade or so late. With their dark clothes and hair covering one eye, it's best to shield your eyes and ears from their angst-ridden art. Before you know it, there will be emo's everywhere! Serving your fries, pouring your coffee, and even helping you in the dressing room of Urban Outfitters - oh, wait.

Best Week Ever asks, "Is there anything funnier than when the local news attempts to tackle "hip" and "now" issues like "blogs" or "emo" music?"

I'm still waiting on the 'emo bloggers' report - 'It's short for web log. But blogging is a trend that has gone to extremes. Their style is whiny, their look is jaded, they earn points by complaining a lot, more points for acting like they don't care, and they hit the jackpot if they attempt to unsubscribe from RSS feeds.'

Moneyshots are no longer about the money in Britain. Great Britain is now asking that you show your face before you release the need. While money, cum, and a face usually make a delightful party, for many in the UK, it's less than encouraging. A little less than a year ago, the GB stopped allowing anonymous 'users' donate sperm. In the UK, at age 18, a sperm-orphan can track down their biological father. While some men may not mind telling little Annie that daddy really needed to buy a Nintendo Wii and that's why she has so many brothers and sisters, it might make others wince. As a result, Britain has announced that it is at a 'sperm crisis level', with only 169 registered donors in the UK last year. Perhaps they should try tapping into the Spermcube.

With so much up in the air these days, no one is quite sure where the future of air travel, and for that matter, security, will take us. Jet Star (an airline off of Qantas) advertises that the future looks bright. Bikini-wearing and ready, the Japanese are always ahead of us, this time in security-preparation. While it's been rumored for years now that security is going to get so hard that we'll all have to fly naked (or are they getting hard for the anticipation of us flying naked?), it has yet to happen. Worries subsided, Jet Star cares to cater, giving us propaganda-like designs of Japanese girls in bikinis. That's not all, though. Look at the creepy guy on the right - what lucky bastard gets a girl in a miniskirt and boots in addition to a bikini babe all in one glance!? This is obviously false advertising, or possibly 'evidence A'.

Apparently reflecting on the 'life and times' of Anna Nicole, Hugh Hefner wants to follow suit by marrying some young blond beaut (in all fairness, she's more of a beaut than ANS). Holly Madison may be the cosmetically-blushing bride, as it's rumored that out of the two other girlfriends that Hugh keeps around, she's the keeper.

"Hef has decided he will marry Holly, and he wants it for his show, 'The Girls Next Door.' Hef thinks business all the time, and looks for a new hook, although he also does really love Holly... Hef sees that she is the most dedicated. Kendra is never there, and they both hate each other, and Bridget is hanging on by being very friendly to Holly."

Tsk, tsk, Kendra, you should really be there for your boyfriend who's always there for everyone else. And Bridget, nice girls finish last no matter how orally skilled your partner may be.

The Superficial says, "[Holly] gets to marry a guy who's just, what, barely in his 120's? And has two other girlfriends? And looks like E.T.? It's like every little girl's dream come true. They should write fairy tales about her life."

Overridden with RPGers, Second Life is coming under more threats than just the criticism of bloggers. Last week, a "basement- home-grown" virtual terrorism group bombed an American Apparel and Reebok store. Apparently run by a herd of high school goth kids, the v-terro-squad wants more choices in the cafeteria menu for their hard-not-earned lunch money. The 'Second Life Liberation Army' (aka the emo goth kids) were interviewed as saying "the population of the world should have a say in the running of the world." Sorry kids, but no matter how many lives you create, it won't make anyone think you're any less of a chump. Better luck with reincarnation.

New words are buzzing around the blogosphere lately. Blogging tends to build bemes (a blog meme, for the unhip and unaware) as well as fat over time. As such, Jason Calcanis intertwined the concepts to create fatblogging. What is fatblogging? While ideally it would be the liveblogging of oral indulgence, it's actually the opposite. Perhaps experiencing some jealously over Wii-Weight-Loss Experiment, bloggers join up and document their weight-loss and exercise each day as well as share thoughts and tips. The lovely Joseph Jaffe and Hugh Macleod have already signed up, so if Hugh's sketches become a little more angry and Jaffe's blog slows down even more, don't be alarmed. If you care to burn off that blogger backfat of yours, Jason invites you to work up a sweat and be part of the movement.

Hair is typically one of the first things someone notices about you. While not referencing your fauxhawk or mullet, hair that is actually unwanted is just as bad as hair that's unglamorous. For women, unwanted hair is an unfortunate fact of life kept under the rug and in pinky-swears across salons. Tweezed, shaved, waxed, and tortured, like James Bond, we're good at keeping sensitive secrets. It's no wonder then that a new form of hair removal comes in an unorthodox manner. Perhaps the latest 'gadget' from Q, spearmint tea has been tied to anti-follicular action. By drinking two cups of spearmint tea a day, it reduces the production of testosterone and increases feminine hormones, which in turn can cut back on your unsightly self.

You fluffed up and feathered for tomorrow?

While Engadget reports that these audio audacities are not related to the up and coming Transformer movie, they're just as geek-chic. With blurry photos, Asian characters, and gradient backgrounds these beauts are bringing it old school, just the way wii we like. At $37 a pop, the makers should at least be in talks with the likes of BK/McD's since the only thing they've been starving kids of lately are some decent like-the-80's-used-to-make kid's meal toys. While some may claim that the Frenzy & Rumble Earphones demise the would-be geek-glamor buzzing around the Transformers movie, there's plenty transforming pitched-tents that disagree.

Continuing the interweb snickering for those in-the-know, Sean Hubbard adds to the existing 'web' of common experiences. As seen last month in various image-stricken pockets of New York, the broken-image icon is now making a debut on stamps, or at least that's the hope. Inspired by the urbanscaping, Hubbard went DIY, creating stickers for the icon and eventually moving them to his mail. It's a shame that this comes after Valentine's Day, as I'm sure this could've generated a few VDay 2.0 e-cards between fellow interwebers.

[via]

A recent study that is sure to entertain the likes of Steve Hall and numerous men across the world found that ogling breasts actually has health benefits. To be more specific, men who look at breasts and beautiful faces can extend their life by 4-5 years. Apparently, peeking for 10 minutes a day is equivalent to spending 30 minutes at the gym. This fact comes as no shocker, given the many physical "reactions" men experience when confronted with a wet shirt or a cold day at the office.

"There is no question that gazing at breasts makes men healthier. Our study indicates that engaging in this activity a few minutes daily cuts the risk of a stroke and heart attack in half. We believe that by doing so consistently, the average man can extend his life 4 to 5 years." She added that sexy stars like Dolly Parton, Heather Locklear, Anna Nicole Smith and Demi Moore had proved to be especially good for the men's health."

Many men may die early if they don't find a replacement for one of the ladies quickly. The report goes on to explain the siren-nature of a beautiful woman:

"A beautiful woman's face is like chocolate, cash or cocaine to a young man's brain, according to Harvard University researchers. Their brain-imaging study revealed that while young heterosexual males are indeed capable of finding beauty in another man's face, only a lovely female visage can set off the "reward centres" in their brains."

[via]

Sick and tired of, well, pretty much everything at this point, Britney Spears continues her delightful, sunshine and rainbow filled escapade around society. A recent rumor uncovers that Britney may have signed up for a MySpace page all on her very little own. Claiming to want to get away from her record company and including a typo here or there, something other than her upskirt smells fishy. Nevertheless, the idea, whether or not true, of celebrities wanting to maintain transparency is an interesting debate. Often in advertising and Web 2.0, we fight for companies and campaigns to be transparent. However, many of us gloss over the fact that celebs are perhaps some of the worst at maintaining transparency. While probably for a lot of good, rational reasons, you have to ask, has the lack of transparency with celebs gone too far? Would the benefits of being transparent outweigh the consequences?

Sneaux shoes, known for the few tv spots featuring Jackass's Steve-O, has created a new spot for their reel. Cutting through all the film-of-me-skateboarding crap that has existed for decades, the stop-motion spectacle is called "Human Skateboard" for obvious reasons. The video was directed by PES, a self-proclaimed "twisted film" site. This might not be what Microsoft was intending when they launched their "people ready" campaign last year, but it certainly makes for a better ad than they've yet to make.

Making joystick puns too easy, Bonnie Ruberg attempts to talk about sex weekly on Joystiq. This week's 'Playing Dirty' column goes for the easy bait, asking if sex is a game.

"Our culture trains us to think of sex as something romantic and meaningful, as "making love.""

Apparently a few power pellets short of a blue ghost, the culture in question may be mistaken as your parents' basement. Gamers may be stereotypically sheltered, but it's pretty safe to assume that when they search for sex inbetween 1up's and frags, that love-making doesn't rank high on Google.

"Sex definitely exists outside the flow of ordinary life. Even if it's an everyday thing for you, it has its own separate space, both literally (the home, the bedroom, the bed itself) and in terms of frame of mind."

Somehow I'm left with a bad Carrie-Bradshaw-wannabe taste in my mouth. To assume that sex is separate or outside the flow of ordinary life is, for lack of a more compelling word, a sad view. Sex isn't a separate connection in our brain, nor should it ever be regulated to happening within the confines of just "the home, bedroom, and bed". Sex is as mobile as a PSP, please don't treat it like an Alienware desktop.

a href="http://www.shakewellbeforeuse.com/images/aquapets.jpg">Apparently receiving a late memo to their position on the naughty list, Alabama upheld a statute banning the commercial distribution of sex toys.

"According to the statute, it is 'unlawful for any person to knowingly distribute any obscene material or any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs."

The notice came just in time to remind us that the holiday spirit of toys under the tree and in bedroom drawers has subsided. While the gadgety-goodness may no longer be an option, there's always a story every year about how the kids today don't appreciate old school toys. Perhaps Make: will provide some creative hand-crafted solutions.

Amsterdam (the same area as reported earlier this week as allowing naked exercising) is paying tribute to prostitutes everywhere in the only way they know how: a massive erection. Reportedly, the home of the Red Light District is erecting a statue for the town whore, sans proverbial sidenotes. Mariska Majoor, well known (though, not best known) for starting a center for prostitution ten years ago had requested the statue.

"The statue represents a self-assured woman, her hands on her hips, looking sideways towards the sky, and standing on a doorstep, ANP said. The precise place where the statue will be laid ... have not yet been announced".

It's always quaint when the AF press gets to use the puns they've been waiting on for years.

Best Week Ever points to the recent Super Bowl ad for Snickers, calling it out on account of irresponsibly using a brand to support homophobia. The ad involves two mechanics sharing a Snickers by mouth due to dirty hands and accidentally lip-locking. As such, they instantly propose to do something "manly" and pull out their chest hair to make-up for the queerness. However, Snickers had also set up a site with "disgusted audience reactions" and alternate endings to the manly-endings, including drinking poison and beating each other up. Not surprisingly, especially with all the outcries of what's "appropriate" to show during the uber-testosterone-fondlefumble-fest, there are already complaints forming. Perhaps Snickers listened or was hacked, for as of now, the site simply redirects to the regular Snickers homepage.

While the importance of being well educated in history is typically so we can learn from our mistakes, one museum is encouraging its visitors to repeat the past. The German Neanderthal Museum in Mettman recently opened its doors to pay tribute to 100,000 Years of Sex. The display includes ancient phalluses, the world's oldest condom (pictured), "raunchy" engravings, and stripped down Neanderthals. The exhibition also aims to discuss the different positions moral issues held over time, such as marriage, homosexuality, and pedophilia. Realizing the purely educational purposes of the exhibit, the museum is also accepting contributions, in the form of one-night-stands reproduction:

"Just to make sure humanity continues to propagate itself for the next 100,000 years, the museum offers "singles tours" around the exhibition as part of its program -- complete with complementary glass of red wine to help lower those inhibitions and let the erotica on offer take its course."

[via]

"Now should you take the shocked or the angry tone when reading this?"

In rare nooks and cranies inbetween the advertising clusterfuck that is urbanism, there exist tranquil moments of image decay. Distraught and broken hearted over the interruption of their otherwise culture polluted street sides, two ephemeral artists have done a bit of cut'n'paste action from online to offline. Broken Link takes the familiar broken image icon to a physical setting. Smirks of passersby alert to those who partake in this inside joke known as the interweb.

Perhaps this is the one kind of Life that Mikey really doesn't like. As disgruntled as the four-year-old who hated everything, anti-Second Life-ers have created a snarky site called First Life. First Life claims to be a 3D analog world where server lag doesn't exist and you can even "fornicate using your actual genitals". Yes, apparently even in First Life, there are false claims in advertising. That's how they hook you - rope you in with high hopes of genital fornication and throw you out with a whiny bitch who's "not in the mood" and an expired condom. Hmm, maybe Second Life isn't so bad afterall.

[via]

From business suit to birthday suit, the PETA girls take center stage at a State of the Union 'Undress'. Prefering to bare skin instead of wearing skin, PETA wants you to know that the only legal hot chicks shouldn't come from KFC. While most viral videos are nothing but teases, this NSFW one makes sure to finish you off. By the end, you'll be begging her to throw red paint on you like the dirty, fried-chicken-eating boy you are.

Tasty textures seem to be the feeling on the tip of your tongue that you just can't place. The latest trends in food document textures as the top item that we base our likes and dislikes around.

"Making sure that commercial food products feel right in our mouth is an enormous part in the development of any new food item. That's why you see the ingredients carrageenan, carob bean, food starch, and guar gum on many foods. They increase creaminess, amp up the thickness, and otherwise make foods feel better in your mouth."

As they say, life is like a box of chocolates - it's always delightful to open up to an oral surprise. If nothing else, it's satisfying to be good with your mouth, so use it.

Winding down from the pervs and geeks of last week, Wired and BoingBoing cover the NSFW overlaps of CES and AVN 2007. Winding up the "sex-tech", was the teledildonics toys that allow for partners to control the speed, intensity, and rhythm during cybersex.
Xeni then points us to a site dedicated to women having sex with robots. The site seems unnecessary, as anyone could just covertly videotape the hotel rooms of AVN/CES crossover hook-ups to get the same effect. Feeling threatened by the iPhone, the makers of OhMiBod (the vibrator that syncs with an iPod), created BodiTalk, the vibrator that syncs with your mobile phone. Essentially, it feels good to be popular.

(Photo courtesy of Fleshbot's 2007 AVN coverage)

Madonna recently revealed her distaste for the upskirts galavanting around town. Crotchshots simply don't grow on popstars, as some prefer to keep the issue well trimmed.

"I've been hearing these stories (and) it's dreadful. I love underpants... I've come to New York and the first thing I hear is about everyone not wearing underpants.. What's going on? It's freezing outside." said Madonna to Letterman when asked about the no-knickers policy.

Oh, but Madonna, sometimes being a "non-material" girl in a material world can provide pleasant surprises to the glee (or in Britney's cases, disgust) of many. We all love our lacy knickers, but really, who has the time anymore?

The issue has even spread far east, where a city is being built specifically for women. The city is said to feature sidewalks designed for high heels and bridges at slight angles for those who wish to walk the town with minimal pervish peeping. Unless of course that's your whole reasoning, in which case you may not need a city, but it doesn't hurt to be a popstar.

Caffeine isn't the only addictive ingredient for a coffee bar in southern China. Sex is the topic among many of the young clientele. Catering to the consumer, a family planning department opened the coffee sex bar to promote healthy sex lives. The bar broadcasts sex-themed videos in addition to providing social resources for previously-taboo topics. While sex and coffee may addictively go hand-in-hand, one can only hope that the coffee served is as tasty as the topics.

Spreading the pages of a glossy magazine as opposed to a tv screen, Battlestar Galactica star Trisha Helfer dives into Playboy. The "sexy Cylon" appears in the latest edition of Playboy and seems fairly confident that her geek squad will follow her curves to the yet-to-be-sticky pages.

"I hope people like them," Helfer told The Post of her 10-page nude pictorial shot by famed shutterbug Sante D'Orazio. "I know I do."

Despite the off-screen confidence, Helfer's BG on-screen character has started to doubt her machine loyalty. It's okay Trisha, you already have a following from geeks and humans alike.

When advertising is at a premium, desperate and unique solutions arise. "Hacking" into art snobbery seems to be the latest trend for a couple partners in contemporary crime.

"I wanted to share a snapshot of a NY urban joke me and my wife just hacked last night. We're neighbors of MoMA and while they're setting up these new video projectons for the Doug Aitken show, we decided to promote the latest art institution advertising media buy...This projection was done just once in traditional guerrilla fashion and will not be running during the show."

A humble suggestion to optimize the "joke" to improve reach among true snobs? "You're video here".

The Japanese always find a way of reminding us why we're so giddy about their culture. Taking Japanese girls out of dubayu-tee-eff moments would be like trying to take the red out of Kool-Aid. For your consideration, a couple of happy exploding fun Japanese clips:

Butt-wrestling babes in bikinis

Rodeo-riding babes in bikinis (some assembly required, comes with creme pies provided by fully masked men in black)

No, not a pick-up line from the Naked Chef (don't you wish?), sexy restaurants are the ones asking you to swallow. San Francisco was recently put to the test by Violet Blue, boasting her stamina for eating out. Gridskipper comments on the sexiest San Francisco restaurants:

"Absinthe: French food, french kissing, french tickler.
Ajanta Restaurant: Indian food in Berkeley. "honestly a sexual religious experience for your palate," really? You mean like a priest coming in your mouth? That kind of sexual religious experience for your palate?
Millennium: Millennium rhymes with Perineum, vegan rhymes with pee-on...coincidence or does eating here all but ensure multiple orgasms and golden showers?
Tsunami: Sushi, an "eloquent atmosphere" and a ton of sake to help you get your beer goggles on.
El Mansour: This Moroccan restaurant features belly dancers, tea poured from high, and pillows to aid and abet in sexy making."

A London police poster seeming "ripped straight from the set of 'Brazil', watches over the metro. With eyes of the Underground, the poster is intimidating to say the least. According to a NYT Magazine article, watchful eyes guilt-trip people into honesty. A psychological experiment claimed that even the visual representation of eyes affects human behavior. While unsure of the designer for this poster, the city's approval of 1984-esque typography and illustration for a security campaign is intriguing.

Arguing over who's clip measures larger this week are a series of internet "super stars". VH1's Web Junk TV calls for your votes to determine the 40 Greatest Internet Superstars. While some have an ass for a face (nsfw), and some are simply considered an ass-face, the candidates prove to make the running competitive. A few highlights: Lazy Sunday, Diet Coke and Mentos, Bank of America, Lonelygirl15, Look at me being serious, Tom, Numa Numa, OK GO, Tron Guy.

What about Dick in a Box? Box in a box? Smirnoff Raw Tea? Shave Everywhere? Leeroy Jenkins? That lame Rolling Rock video that everyone liked? (Yeah, calling you out.)

Google boasts urban hipness with recently acquired New York workplace. Having opened in October, the Manhatten Googleplex is elusive, similar to a particular Brothers Grimm story...

"There is no Google sign on the building, and it’s hard to catch a glimpse of a Googler, as employees call themselves, on the street because the company gives them every reason to stay within its candy-colored walls."

Sure, gingerbread houses are all fun and games at first glance. However, these unsuspecting Googlers are playing into the workaholic-witch's hand - soon to be swallowed up and never heard from again.

"... but Google has free food, and plenty of it, including a sushi bar and espresso stations. There are private phone booths for personal calls and showers and lockers for anyone running or biking to work."

... Or for those too busy for anything more than an office quickie inbetween all-nighters. Admittedly tempting, not sure how long one could tolerate the Phish-wearing, buzzword-loving hipsters before realizing that "Googling yourself" every night may indeed be the better alternative.

[via]

Bricks Are Heavy is a current exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art in Australia. The exhibition explores weighty issues in identity politics (hence the name). Most notably, the debate between Gay vs. Queer.

"Queer is a ‘post-identity’ idea. Queers tried to get rid of the straight/Gay polarity and adopt a third way. Queers almost thought they were doing a public service by saying you don’t have to subscribe to dominant values ... Queer was very utopian. It was a great idea."

Gridskipper comments, "the exhibit also features homages to Keanu Reeves and this photograph of a clown appearing to have butt sex with a punk entitled, Clown Fuck Punk. What is even more unbearably exciting that in fact, what you are seeing isn't merely a photograph but a video capture. I'm not sure what the narrative arc of the film will be but I think the themes of a clown having butt sex with a punk will be explored more, ahem, deeply."

The exhibition continues to show through February 3.

Better than breakfast in bed, being woken up by a vibrating pod possibly keeps you looking younger and feeling better. MetroNaps, pods aimed to provide designated powernap locations for professionals, are ergonomically designed, focusing on the science of sleep. Gentle vibrations and lights awake the user from the spherical cocoon.

"[Naps] help you live longer, stay more active, and look younger. The benefits result in greater alertness, improved memory retention and creative insight. Napping can make you a faster typist, better dancer or anything else requiring complex and coordinated motor skills. Also, a nap's effects on mental health include improved mood, lowered stress, and greater psychological balance."

[via]

You made it five days. Pat yourself on the back. Time to give those new year's reolutions the ol' heave ho. According to the New York Post, being naughty has more benefits than just a slap on the ass. Candy and gossip are said to increase longevity, drinking decreases heart attacks, staying up late helps digestion, sleeping in keeps you slim, and video games keep you alert. It truly is nice to be naughty.

A recent survey by Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communications analyzed sexuality with social networking. While we all go browsing for hotties online when our significant others aren't watching, the survey aimed for the less obvious findings.

"[The] survey found that more online gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) individuals use social networks Friendster and MySpace per week compared to online heterosexuals. Other well-known websites such as YouTube, Craigslist and personal web logs also were found to be more popular among GLB individuals.

Regarding web logs or blog use, the survey found about one in four GLB individuals (24%) report visiting personal blogs, which are websites that serve as an individual's personal online journal, compared to 12 percent of heterosexuals. In fact, over one in three GLB adults (36%) visit their favorite blogs everyday, while only 19 percent of heterosexuals say they visit their favorite blogs daily."

Per Gawker, "The WHOLE ENTIRE INTERNET is SO TOTALLY GAY. "

And no, not talking about the recent buzzword buzzkill when we all discovered that Cisco had the rights to use the word iPhone. However, this may sooth Apple's pains, as that buzzword is now so last year (or a few years ago for those of us l33t geeks - is l33t banned yet?).

Lake Superior State University recently listed their banished words for 2007, highlights from the list include:

Combined Celebrity Names - yes, you may just have to take a few extra syllables to talk about how creepy Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are or just give up trying to make a name for Justin Timberlake and Scarlett Johansson - although, I've become fond of "Scarin".
Awesome - The list claims it's so 1984, but VH1 still loves the 80s.
PWN or PWNED - Oh c'mon, when have gamers ever realized what year it is from outside their basement windows? They're worried about clocking speeds, not actual clocks.
i-Anything - But YouTube would be a lonely place without spoofs! Besides, with Time Magazine's recent lame Person of the Year issue, the focus is on "You", not i.

Tech gadgets are seen as the best way to tell lies, according to a survey published last week. At least 4 out of 5 people surveyed admitted to lying once a day and admitted that the use of mobile phones, text messages, and emails were helpful vehicles for it.

"The research by UK pollsters 72 Point found that "techno-treachery" was widespread with nearly 75 percent of people saying gadgets like Blackberrys made it easier to fib. Just over half of respondents said using gadgets made them feel less guilty when telling a lie than doing it face to face, the study on behalf of financial services group Friends Provident found."

It comes as no surprise, then, that the preferred place to fib is at work, where other surveys have shown that it's also the preferred place for secret affairs. While the survey may be hiding the larger lies, it did find that "while people were dishonest, most told lies with the best intentions and to spare others' feelings." No, honey, you didn't pack on any pounds over the holidays.

Wii-inspired art.

Skull and Crossmotes by Huzzah Goods. Tii Shirt by See Colon Slash. Real men Wii standing up by Kottke. Also, Wii death caught on film here.

via: NOTCOT and Joystiq

Radar Magazine claims to have made their list, checked it twice, crammed it with naughty and left out the nice. The list not being the VIP entrance to that upcoming panty party you were wanting to sneak out to, but the 10 most dangerous play things of all time. Topping the list is everyone's backyard buddy, lawn dart. Features including real, live puncture wounds and totally awesome pet piercings. Unless you're fatigued with all the end-of-year, best-o-6, and holiday gift lists plaguing the blogosphere, you can view the entire list here (page by page - admittedly annoying and most likely an ulterior move at increasing ad figures) or cry about what didn't make the list but sent you to the ER.

via: wmmna

As the buzz fog dissipates from the launch of the Wii and the PS3, we're left with storytelling from our collective Thanksgivings.

Just getting back from lunch with one of the application developers on my team, we shared our perspectives of the buzz fog. The Wii and PS3 launches seem to invoke a familiar story of The Tortoise and the Hare. While the PS3 garnered a huge spike in buzz with people being trampled and shot just to get their hands on it, their buzz could almost be seens as what killed off a potentially larger demand in the larger audience. PS3 spent so much time and effort to become the foaming on the mouths of gamers, that they also created an elitism that isolated themselves. From the general perspective, Sony spent their efforts promoting the cool games you could play, rather than showing user interaction with the product itself.

Alternatively, the Wii Launched two days after the PS3. Originally, many questioned why, as the buzz cloud was so large around the PS3 that the Wii would surely be swallowed up in the midst of the chaos. Now, post-Thanksgiving, it's clear that the Wii has garnered more offline Word-Of-Mouth than jokes about trytophan. Why? Nintendo made the smart choice in promoting "why they're different", as opposed to PS3's "why they're better". From the commercials, to the stories, the simple, somewhat dorky DDR-style of interaction made the Wii friendly to gamers and first-time-gamers alike. There was no buzz about getting trampled, only buzz about people breaking their TVs by playing with the Wii so much. The developer on my team was sharing stories of his grandparents playing boxing games over the weekend, and how his girlfriend broke two glasses and part of a table from getting so into it.

While the Wii almost appears as something straight out of the 80's in silliness, it has successfully made itself accessible by all audiences. While people are no longer asking about if they saw people getting trampled on the news for the PS3, they are, however, sharing their own personal stories about the Wii. To back up the Word-Of-Mouth and advertising techniques, the Wii out-sold the PS3 on the first day and continues to by a significant amount.

Seemingly aloof from the outside, this restaurant may attract unwanted attention. Located in West London, Babes N Burgers boasts organic, salt-and-caffeine-free, foods and a children (read: babe?) friendly environment. Showing that sometimes making no statement makes the best statement, Treehugger walked in in hopes of an organic Hooters (where wings wouldn't be the only things natural).

As I'm slowly recovering from the not dry-clean-only friendly subways of New York, Mike over at NYC Graffiti Database prefers being dirty.

While offering a lovely outsiders view of last week's drunkeness, NYCGDB usually keeps its sights set to the silent words of the city.

Man loses 6 years of his life, puts dramatic backdrop to losing 6 minutes of yours (via Transbuddha).





Gridskipper makes faces and talks typefaces.









Paris faces off with record sales (via AdRants).






Statistics show that kids enjoy moldy veggies (via BoingBoing).






Don't make faces at the lunch lady, mystery meat makes faces back (via core77).

Bulges out and suggestive emails in, it's time for Gridskipper's second annual Sexiest City contest. The deadline to nominate the city where you once got a little naughty behind an international landmark is Wednesday. But don't get your knickers in a bunch if it takes you a while to come; in off your holiday weekend hangover. Gridskipper will erect their poll for voting on Thursday.

The categories are:

Most Feminine City
Most Masculine City
Most Gay-Friendly City
Most Lesbian-Friendly City
Most Fetish-Friendly City
Most Heterosexual City
Sluttiest City
Least Sexiest City

And of course: World's Sexiest City.

So, who peaks your interest?

The Defini-tini, inspired by women's rebellion of wrinkles, is the latest in cocktails for Olay's new anti-aging line. While a few years late to make a product placement debut on the 'tini-saturated Sex and the City, this mixology is still trying to build some long-lasting chemistry with celebrities.

Underground clubs interpretively predicted the death of vinyl. One day I will need to come to terms with the fact that I may only need one turntable instead of two, and a couple crates instead of a few. Somehow that still feels like it'll be a lonely day, but perhaps I'll take an alternative route to satisfying my illegal online music fix:

"Apparently, during the 50s underground clubs in Eastern Europe & the USSR would play pirated music from the West, but the only material they had to record onto were old x-ray films. Which produced some rather lovely looking results."

Via: Protein Feed

Xeni over at BoingBoing originally broke the news to me about an article appearing in Forbes that essentially said that I should shoot myself now, as I'll apparently make any man unhappy by working more than 35 hours a week and making more than $30k a year. Watch out girls, I may have to turn to you for my pent up frustration.

As I pointed out to Xeni later, Forbes took the article by the little piggy reporter offline. Now at an attempt to have a good laugh about the debacle, they resurfaced the link with a rebuttal and a discussion form. Somehow, I'm still not laughing. The "rebuttal" is just a pathetic attempt at bringing a female writer down to Michael Noer's level (of mud). Instead of having (as some people call me) "balls of steel" and taking on the article and providing a detailed criticism, Elizabeth Corcoran just takes easy stabs at men. Overall, I think Forbes is cowardly trying to have a laugh and pigeonhole this debacle as just a silly gender catfight and nothing more.