SML Pro Blog

Global color usage diagram in 25+ Useful Infographics on Web Designer Depot

2009-07-02T01:38:00.000-04:00

Using data collected from Adobe Kuler, Adobe teamed up with Stamen and created Adobe Kuler Pulse, a fantastic user interface allowing users to explore colors with respect to geographical location and time. I liked the idea but wishes to see if there are any observable patterns, and that's when I created the following diagram using micro/macro principals.

Some nice folks put it on Web Designer Depot as one of 25+ Useful Infographics for Web Designers a week ago, which is quite an honor.

What would be even more delightful though is if Adobe would provide APIs to allow folks to mash it up with all kinds of extra stuff--something I sure would love to get my hands on now that I'm playing with Python :)

Global color usage with respect to time and location
Compiled using Adobe Kuler Pulse by Strategically Mutated Lifeforms
kuler.adobe.com/#pulse

Time: The four seasons of 2008
Location: USA, UK, Germany, Japan, Brazil

View Large (1024x1024 jpg)
View Original (4000x4000 png)

UI Design credits: Stamen Design, a design and technology studio in San Francisco. (reference: Contagious issue Seventeen)

Adobe Kuler is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Strategically Mutated Lifeforms are part of the SML Universe. All screenshots captured on 2009-01-11.

Mopeds, Euro sedan and high-tech tanks: the story of Windows, Mac and Linux

2009-06-21T17:00:00.000-04:00

After 10 years since it was originally written, this passage extracted from Neal Stephenson's witty essay remains to be my favorite readings of or relating to Linux and opensource software. True to spirit, the author made it freely distributable online at the book's official web site a few years back. I thought that I'd share with you as it gives a great intro to my life-changing experience since I've switched my main OS from Vista to Ubuntu about half a year ago...

The analogy between cars and operating systems is not half bad, and so let me run with it for a moment, as a way of giving an executive summary of our situation today.

Imagine a crossroads where four competing auto dealerships are situated. One of them (Microsoft) is much, much bigger than the others. It started out years ago selling three-speed bicycles (MS-DOS); these were not perfect, but they worked, and when they broke you could easily fix them.

There was a competing bicycle dealership next door (Apple) that one day began selling motorized vehicles--expensive but attractively styled cars with their innards hermetically sealed, so that how they worked was something of a mystery.

The big dealership responded by rushing a moped upgrade kit (the original Windows) onto the market. This was a Rube Goldberg contraption that, when bolted onto a three-speed bicycle, enabled it to keep up, just barely, with Apple-cars. The users had to wear goggles and were always picking bugs out of their teeth while Apple owners sped along in hermetically sealed comfort, sneering out the windows. But the Micro-mopeds were cheap, and easy to fix compared with the Apple-cars, and their market share waxed.

Eventually the big dealership came out with a full-fledged car: a colossal station wagon (Windows 95). It had all the aesthetic appeal of a Soviet worker housing block, it leaked oil and blew gaskets, and it was an enormous success. A little later, they also came out with a hulking off-road vehicle intended for industrial users (Windows NT) which was no more beautiful than the station wagon, and only a little more reliable.

Since then there has been a lot of noise and shouting, but little has changed. The smaller dealership continues to sell sleek Euro-styled sedans and to spend a lot of money on advertising campaigns. They have had GOING OUT OF BUSINESS! signs taped up in their windows for so long that they have gotten all yellow and curly. The big one keeps making bigger and bigger station wagons and ORVs.

On the other side of the road are two competitors that have come along more recently.

One of them (Be, Inc.) is selling fully operational Batmobiles (the BeOS). They are more beautiful and stylish even than the Euro-sedans, better designed, more technologically advanced, and at least as reliable as anything else on the market--and yet cheaper than the others.

With one exception, that is: Linux, which is right next door, and which is not a business at all. It's a bunch of RVs, yurts, tepees, and geodesic domes set up in a field and organized by consensus. The people who live there are making tanks. These are not old-fashioned, cast-iron Soviet tanks; these are more like the M1 tanks of the U.S. Army, made of space-age materials and jammed with sophisticated technology from one end to the other. But they are better than Army tanks. They've been modified in such a way that they never, ever break down, are light and maneuverable enough to use on ordinary streets, and use no more fuel than a subcompact car. These tanks are being cranked out, on the spot, at a terrific pace, and a vast number of them are lined up along the edge of the road with keys in the ignition. Anyone who wants can simply climb into one and drive it away for free.

New users of Linux are almost always exposed to it through a member of the userbase, insuring that they have at least one person on-hand who can answer their inevitable questions and undo their horrible mistakes. The above is a romanticized description of the Linux experience, because it implies that the ubiquitous Linux veteran is not a factor. Unfortunately, Linux was not designed for end-to-end ease of use -- in that respect, it was not "designed" at all.

Customers come to this crossroads in throngs, day and night. Ninety percent of them go straight to the biggest dealership and buy station wagons or off-road vehicles. They do not even look at the other dealerships.

Of the remaining ten percent, most go and buy a sleek Euro-sedan, pausing only to turn up their noses at the philistines going to buy the station wagons and ORVs. If they even notice the people on the opposite side of the road, selling the cheaper, technically superior vehicles, these customers deride them cranks and half-wits.

The Batmobile outlet sells a few vehicles to the occasional car nut who wants a second vehicle to go with his station wagon, but seems to accept, at least for now, that it's a fringe player.

The group giving away the free tanks only stays alive because it is staffed by volunteers, who are lined up at the edge of the street with bullhorns, trying to draw customers' attention to this incredible situation. A typical conversation goes something like this:

Hacker with bullhorn: "Save your money! Accept one of our free tanks! It is invulnerable, and can drive across rocks and swamps at ninety miles an hour while getting a hundred miles to the gallon!"

Prospective station wagon buyer: "I know what you say is true...but...er...I don't know how to maintain a tank!"

Bullhorn: "You don't know how to maintain a station wagon either!"

Buyer: "But this dealership has mechanics on staff. If something goes wrong with my station wagon, I can take a day off work, bring it here, and pay them to work on it while I sit in the waiting room for hours, listening to elevator music."

Bullhorn: "But if you accept one of our free tanks we will send volunteers to your house to fix it for free while you sleep!"

Buyer: "Stay away from my house, you freak!"

Bullhorn: "But..."

Buyer: "Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"

SML Life Card

2008-12-21T21:38:00.000-05:00

Introducing the SML Life Card. It's like the Joker except it's brighter.

QDOS = Digital presence tracking metrics

2008-11-17T07:39:00.002-05:00

Screenshot: http://qdos.com/user/See-ming-Lee/3a0f686c608b5a3da8200b97aacdfc48/html

QDOS is an service which measures a person's digitial presence, which is a formula based on the person's popularity, impact, activity and individuality.

QDOS index fluctuates overtime, and was most evidential in my recent absence from Internet play. The charting application (not shown here) can plot a person's QDOS over time. I wish that there is a way to chart multiple person over time though.

According to today's report, I have higher influence than Julia Stiles at the moment, having a Q4916 (the higher the better) and a ranking of #2,166 out of 67,660 actively tracked profiles.

To put things into perspective, Robert Scoble has Q6064 (ranking #628) while Pete Cashmore (Q7313) is at #187. Barack Obama has a Q11733 and is the top-ranked person at the moment, followed immediately by Britney Spears, 50 Cent and Beyonce Knowles.

What's your QDOS like? Find your QDOS and post a screenshot on Flickr.

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

SML Massify Pitch: Crazy is Good

2008-08-20T23:09:00.003-04:00

Created my first pitch on Massify today:

http://www.massify.com/pitches/crazyisgood

I hope that I'll be able to do a bit more interviews with the folks the next time I head out again.

About Massify
Those of you who is unfamiliar with Massify: it's a film production social network / community that unites filmmakers, actors and fans in the pursuit of great film. The site provides tools targeted to filmmakers, as well as abundant space for users to showcase their portfolio and reels. In addition to features commonly found on other social networks, Massify also partners with recognized film production companies and organizes competitions to promote and attract talents.

Their latest competition is a music video challenge where directors will get to pitch ideas for the rock band Low vs Diamond. The winner will get to work with Epic Records and RSA Films - a great opportunity for aspiring filmmakers indeed.

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Facebook: New Design Rollout 2008

2008-07-21T21:33:00.000-04:00

www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=667218034

Facebook started rolling out a new site design on July 20, 2008 for users to preview and test the functionality of the site. The new design has been under testing since the beginning of this year, and more than 100,000 Facebook users have participated in user testings which led to many layout and features included in the final version.

The profile page comes with a single status feed + the wall, with additional info and photos pulled into separate tabs. All the applications have been grouped into the Boxes tab. The users can add additional application tabs as required (similar to iGoogle fucntionality).

Tabs should address the insane load-time with many profiles, but the added benefit to Facebook is that there are now more opportunities for them to display ads - so it's a win-win situation for the company as well as the user.

You can check out the new design at www.new.facebook.com

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Animoto = Generative music video using photography

2008-07-12T17:12:00.003-04:00

I have been meaning to try out Animoto for a while now and I finally got to it today. The service analyzes photos and music to create a video slideshow.

Images can be uploaded or imported via popular photo sharing sites such as Flickr, Facebook, SmugMug, etc. For the soundtrack, you can either upload your own or pick from their music library, which covers several different genres, from classical to electronica, from jazz to indie rock.

As with any generative services, the results are mixed. You don't really have a say on how the effects will be mixed together. But it is good if you need to throw something together quickly.

SML Photography from See-ming Lee 李思明 SML on Vimeo.

Coney Island Mermaid Parade / 2007-2008 / See-ming Lee from See-ming Lee 李思明 SML on Vimeo.

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Utata > Explore

2008-07-09T06:57:00.000-04:00

Most people flock to Flickr Explore to discover interesting shots, but the algorithm is a bit of a hit or miss sometimes. Provided that you have pretty good photography skills and have a good idea of who it works, you can game the engine.

The best way to find photography on Flickr that speak to you is to discover your own gem. In many ways, explored photographs are already discovered. While on the surface it appears that you are finding something rare, in reality you are already one step behind the machine. Why let the machines decide your fate. Find stuff on your own.

Lately I've become active in the Utata pool again, because almost every photo feature there has depth that speaks volume. Don't take my word for it. Run up to the Utata pool on Flickriver. It's a better way to explore and find hidden talents.

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Swurl = RSS aggregation with sweet timeline

2008-07-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

seeminglee.swurl.com/timeline

Swurl is yet another RSS aggregation service that I just discovered. it has the usual list view (see seeminglee.swurl.com) but also a timeline view that places your activities around the activities themselves, instead of locking them into a calendar view. I like this.

Unlike most services which requires you to go about to invite your friends to join the service, it fetches your contacts from various services into the friends list automatically.

More goodies > FriendFeed is that Swurl apparently imports your complete set of Flickr data, not just recent stuff like FF. In this sense, I can see Swurl function better as a history trail.

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Opera emotional stickiness

2008-07-04T15:44:00.002-04:00

Checking out Flowgram today and came across this video of an opera singer in the "top viral videos of the year" collection. The collection comes handy in verifying some of the principles made by the book I'm reading at the moment: Made to Stick: simplicity, unexpectedness, emotions, stories.

Britain's got talent paul potts nessun dorma !!!by allsortofvids103

Gecko Reflow

2008-07-03T20:53:00.001-04:00

One vision, one line of thought, and classical music

2008-06-29T21:10:00.000-04:00

I love TED, but it is not often that I find myself watching the same video over and over again. Using classical music as a medium, Benjamin Zander re-ignited my passion for classical music, my sense of purpose in life, and inspired me to not think about the tiny details which do not matter, and focus on experiencing everything with one broad stroke.

Benjamin Zander: Classical music with shining eyes

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

How do you design? by Hugh Dubberly

2008-06-27T06:03:00.002-04:00

www.dubberly.com/articles/how-do-you-design.html

In this 147-page book (available for download as PDF), Hugh Dubberly collected over one-hundred descriptions of design and development processes in hopes to foster debate about design and development processes.

The book asks interesting questions:
+ How do we design? Why do we do it that way?
+ How do we describe what we do? Why do we talk about it that way?
+ How do we do better?

...with practical goals in mind:
+ reducing risk (increasing the probability of success)
+ setting expectations (reducing uncertainty and fear)
+ increasing repeatability (enabling improvement)

It's an interesting and inspiring read. Highly recommended.

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Orange: First internet balloon race

2008-06-25T12:31:00.004-04:00

Orange launched another advertising campaign: the world's first internet balloon race.

The game is a little bit different than most other internet games in that the game does not occur on one site, but instead occurs among multiple sponsor sites. Anyone can be a sponsor--all you need to do is submit a URL to the game.

Anyone can join the game and get a balloon. The only way to move ahead though, it appears, is when you visit a site, or when anyone decides to give you a boost or when you landed on a site that would give you extras.

The whole experience feels a little bit like web-ring meets 1010wins. If you are determined to win the race, you ended up visiting a ton of sites that you normally won't get to. The 'sponsors' in turn get some brand exposure. In this sense Orange is providing a free advertising platform in the name of an internet game, and through doing so create brand awareness for itself... power to the users?

via CrackUnit

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Foldable display concepts by Johnny Lee

2008-06-23T22:38:00.004-04:00

Johnny Lee from Carnegie Mellon University demonstrates some of his ideas on how we can simulate displays on flexible and foldable surfaces in order to fit large interactive display into our pockets. Tracking is accomplished using the Wii Remote and IR LEDs.

via Aaron Rutledge

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Wordle.net = tag clouds with beautiful typography

2008-06-23T08:05:00.009-04:00

More visualization goodness: Wordle.net generates typographically beautiful tag clouds via a del.icio.us username or words submitted on your own.

SML Del.icio.us Tags

SML Flickr Tags: Use http://www.fluffykittens.com/wordle/ to generate the data needed.

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Many Eyes = Community for data and data visualization

2008-06-22T19:14:00.003-04:00

I found an interesting site called Many Eyes a few weeks ago. It's a collaborative environment where users can upload data sets and use one of the site's visualization module to create interesting visualization.

To create the visualization seen above, I first grabbed the complete list of tags from my Flickr account using the flickr.tags.getListUserPopular method. I then formatted the results (tags and tag count) to the format required by the site. After my data is uploaded, I chose to visualize my data using the Bubble Chart format.

Here's an interactive version where you can explore my tags in detail, or search for a tag.

In the screenshot captured above, I searched for my initials SML and highlighted all the tags that contain it. The reason there are so many instances of it being used is partly because I like to use very specific tags, such as SML.Graphic-Design and SML.Appendectomy to easily get to my stuff on the public pool without the need to use combinations or username.

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2008

2008-06-22T14:59:00.004-04:00

I had a lot of fun photographing the Coney Island Mermaid Parade last year so I went back for seconds this year. As I process my photographs, I noticed that I am inherently attracted to really colorful things. The photographs bear similarity to my information design projects :)

Related Flickr Sets
+ Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2008
+ Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2007

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Frustration with Yahoo Small Business

2008-06-17T18:22:00.010-04:00

Last year I registered 200+ domain names with Yahoo. It was cheap and efficient, and all is well... until last week.

I had changed my American Express card number and as a result, when the domain names are up for renewal this year, the system alerted me on outdated information. I tried to update my payment information, and to my surprise there is no way to update all the payment methods at once. Domains' payment information can be updated one at a time only, which is a fundamental UI flaw.

To make matters worse, when I clicked on the link to update my information, the site would consistently return a blank page that leads to no where, and I am unable to update anything. I tried refreshing the page but again nothing happens.

In my frustration, I tried contacting support on the phone, and had been on hold for two hours without any assistance, and the call will then be terminated by the system. There are no email support available, and all the meanwhile I am receiving account suspension notices and my domains are failing one by one, a truly frustrating experience.

Here's when the nightmare begin: when I signed up for the service, the domains were 9.95/year. I just received emails telling me that starting on 2008-07-01, the renewals will cost me 34.95/year. If I were unable to cancel my accounts by that date, I will be paying upwards of close to $10,000 for domain names.

Do you have any suggestions as to what I might do? Alternatively, do you know if there is an email where I can reach customer support?

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Firefox Mobile Concept Video

2008-06-11T22:04:00.009-04:00

Mozilla Labs posted a demo video of the Firefox Mobile on their site today and it's highly innovative using just a single-touch interface — providing yet another great example of how limitations can incubate innovation.

The interaction design is really sweet. For more information, check out the detailed description of all the features on Aza Raskin's blog. (Aza is the head of user experience at Mozilla Labs)

Firefox Mobile Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

via LifeHacker

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Windows Vista

2008-06-11T20:38:00.005-04:00

Recently I bought a new computer, because my nifty XPC is really starting to feel old. The computer comes with Vista. Because of all the bad press that it has had, I was really worried how it will turn out.

The computer arrived a few weeks ago and I panic: I wonder how I can possibly get use to the Aero glass window title bars with the dirty smudging blurred effect. It irritates me. It's not clean.

But since I'm stuck with it, I had no choice but to customize my experience and make it better. It's been almost a month now and after much tweaking and adjusting (plus switching to Vista Aero Basic mode), it really is not that bad.

The single-panel scrolling program file list was awkward at first, but now that I have used it for a while, I find it to be quite usable. Production level jump, and I'm no longer sticking five million icons into my quick launch bar anymore.

To paraphrase Zuzana Licko, "people read best what they read most" (Source: AIGA), I believe that "people use best what they use most".

Recommended reading
+ Arstechnica: Windows Vista: more than just a pretty face

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Flickr Maps

2008-06-10T21:36:00.001-04:00

Flickr kept on pumping out new features, like this map view, but I don't know how to get to it on their UI unless I type it into the URL:

www.flickr.com/photos/seeminglee/map

One thing I do like about this UI is that it only shows the related places relevant to the currently displayed photostrip, and only photos that are geo-tagged are displayed here.

The default view looks at the most recent photos only, with the option to sort by interestingness.

Other recently launched features include the ability the explore the world and places, allowing the user to either find out about popular cities, or little known destination — which is a great way to learn about the diversity of culture and humanity.

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Beatport = Excellent source of electronica

2008-05-08T21:42:00.005-04:00

I never really got into buying songs online. When iTunes Store first opened, I bought a few albums from it because I own an iPod, but very quickly I was deterred by the fact that I can't even play my iTunes purchases on my Squeezebox because of the DRM-protection.

Annoyed by the situation, I subscribe to Rhapsody Unlimited, which let me cue up pretty much anything I want for a low monthly subsription fee of $12.99. When I find something I really want to own, I just go buy the CD and rip it to MP3 so I can play it anywhere.

Then Amazon introduced Amazon MP3 Downloads, and it changed everything. Really, what's not to love about being able to purchase DRM-free MP3s encoded at 256k? I thought that the 1-click and ship to feature was evil in getting many books that I probably do not need then.. that's until I discover the even more instantly gratifying 1-click and download MP3 :)

Just when I thought that there can't be anything better than 256k DRM-free MP3 downloads, I discovered Beatport yesterday. Beatport offers 320k DRM-free MP3! To top it off, it even offer WAV (16-bit 44 kHz) and 192kbps M4A!

Little did I know, the site was actually launched in 2004, and the latest version as seen above was released in August 2006. Beatport focuses on electronic music specifically, with an eye squarely focusing on DJs and electronica lovers. In other words, it's made for me.

The content is top-notch, and I am able to get to a lot of remix tracks that I would not otherwise been able to get my hands onto if I were to browse on mainstream music sites (such as those described above).

Highly recommended!

Related SML Universe
+ SML Music
+ SML Remix Music
+ Symphonic Electronica

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

UT LOOP! / 2008 / Uniqlo

2008-04-30T14:26:00.001-04:00

Yet another fantastic play toy from Uniqlo:

Play the full thing at http://www.uniqlo.com/utloop

via IconSpam by RSNJ

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe

Ten Thousand Cents

2008-04-28T22:57:00.006-04:00

Screenshot: http://www.tenthousandcents.com

Ten Thousand Cents is a digital artwork that creates a representation of a $100 bill. Using a custom drawing tool, thousands of individuals working in isolation from one another painted a tiny part of the bill without knowledge of the overall task. Workers were paid one cent each via Amazon's Mechanical Turk distributed labor tool. The total labor cost to create the bill, the artwork being created, and the reproductions available for purchase are all $100.

The project was a collaboration between Aaron Koblin and Takashi Kawashima.

Here's a video documentation:

Ten Thousand Cents from Ten Thousand Cents on Vimeo.

©2008 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe