I hope you enjoyed this little experiment. If you are with a vineyard or a winery please feel free to take this idea and crush it. Here is a PDF you can download and show your boss. I’m sure this can be applied to more products then just wine. Stickybits is a fun app and you should start playing with it immediately! Also, please leave a comment!

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Call it crowd-sourcing or user generated content (UGC), hashtags on twitter are amassing fragmented data that has yet to tapped for it’s full potential. I found out about a new band mixing hip-hop, dub, and nintendo style sounds, and decided to hype it on Twitter. I tweeted out Listening to Mux Mool – MERLINFIST! http://www.myspace.com/muxmool #nowplaying #musicmonday.

Immediately I checked out a hashtag search for #nowplaying to see that my tweet made it over there ok. What I saw when the search loaded though, was an entire playlist generated by random users around Twitter. People are just telling the world that they are currently listening to this song.It got me thinking that there should be a site that capitalizes on this content and broadcasts out #NowPlaying Radio. It could be an automated system that pulls each song from the latest #nowplaying tweet. Or it could be a weekly top 40 broadcast that plays the most tweeted #nowplaying songs.

And if we can do this kind of thing with #nowplaying. What can we do with #traveltuesday, where people tweet out recommended exotic locations. Or #followfriday, where people filter out the best tweeters from their follower-base.

Already companies like fflick.com are realizing the potential of the millions of seemingly meaningless tweets. fflick.com scours the twittershpere for instances of movie names, assigns a positive or negative rating to the tweet based on the words in the tweet, and comes up with a real-time list of the most popular movies.

Take a moment to think about what’s possible.

What could we do with the #traffic tag? What about #idea? Could a brand create a new hashtag, sponsor it on the trending list, and watch their business take off in the capable hands of millions of tweets? Could a business take control of a brand new hashtag? $%&*<> are all up for grabs.

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3. Most Beautiful Collaboration

While traveling back from D.C. last week, I sat on the plane trying to think up a perfect in-flight iPhone app. While in D.C. I spent a good share of time looking up bus schedules and waited for the Metro. I also spent time thinking up some app ideas for the city’s bus and subway system.

Delta if you are listening you can have these app ideas for one free ticket to D.C. or to fly home to Atlanta. WMATA if you are listening I would only like a smartrip card good for 2 months of travel. You can also freely take the ideas and run with them.

In-Flight App

• Purchase food, snacks, and alcoholic beverages
• Calls the flight attendant
• Stream today’s movie and music channels
• Change / book flights
• Live chat with airline agent
• Purchase items from Sky Mall
• Check out flight speed, location, ETA, etc.
• Facts about what we are flying over
• Live cam from bottom of plane
• Travel stories from previous passengers and write your own
• Information and history of plane model
• Electronic ticket for flight
• Play games, trivia with other passengers on board

Bus & Subway App

• Use your current location to give bus route options. Once you decide which route is best it will tell you when the next bus is scheduled to arrive, and where the closest stop is located.
• Pick a subway station and line, it will then tell you how much time until the train will be at that station.
• QR codes for smart pass (electronic ticket). You can put money on the pass from the phone, or have it directly tied to your bank account.
• Point A to Point B search will tell you the best bus / train route based on where you are, where you want to go, and how long it will take to get there.
• Subway maintenance blog that updates you with track closures.
• Complaint, question, and idea forms you can fill out and submit instantly.
• Uses GPS from other smartphones to calculate crowded buses, and stations, and accurately gather location data for the bus and subway.

Got some ideas to add? Post them in the comments section and I will totally give you one of my bags of peanuts!

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A new version of the popular news sharing site digg.com is on it’s way and they have given content publishers like me invite codes to give away to my readers.

Simply click this link to get access: http://new.digg.com/login/na9782df69407d756379598c9b146e4be

Edit: If the link isn’t working right now it’s because digg.com is currently switching over to the new version. Hold tight. If you leave a comment below I can let you know when it’s back up!

What is digg.com?

It is an social news site. Anyone can submit a story, link, picture, or YouTube video, and then people can digg your story if they like it. The more people that digg your story, the more popular it becomes, and it rises to the frontpage of the site where it gets millions of views.

The new version of digg.com gets further into social media with the My News tab. Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, equates this feature to the wall on Facebook. Instead of getting status updates from your friends social lives, the new digg.com acts like a wall for news stories your friends are reading.

I invite all my readers to give it a try if they have never used it before. It’s because of digg.com that I am aware of stories hours, and even days, before they hit the mainstream media, and know about all the new funny videos before my friends see them.

Are you already on digg.com? Let’s connect! My username is zubi.

Diggnation

I also want to take this opportunity to hype up DiggNation, one of the best podcasts out there today. Kevin Rose, and Alex Albrecht, both tech news veterans from the days of TechTV on cable, host the show.

The premise of the Diggnation is to cover some of the hottest user submitted stories from digg.com. But, just as Marshall McLuhan said, the medium is the message, and these guys deliver the latest news while drinking beers, sitting on a couch, and making jokes as if you were hanging out with them in their living room.

I subscribe to Diggnation on iTunes, and tune in every week. Check it out!

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The latest episode of Thinking and Driving had me pondering other possibilities for QR codes. For those who don’t know, a QR code is like a barcode that can be read by smart-phones and QR code scanners. The QR code can contain and initiate text, contact information, or most importantly, website URLs. Let’s dive in to some ideas.

I have included thought experiments into some of my ideas to help realize and further illustrate my point.

Business/Restaurant Check-Ins

Basically, you show up at a restaurant or business and on the door, menu, or bill there is a QR code that works with an API to check you in to that location. This is an idea I had but then while researching further, I learned that Foursquare and other companies are already starting something like this.

Thought Experiment: You just had a fabulous lunch at the new deli by your work. You notice a QR code on your bill that works with the yelp.com API to automatically check you in and let you write a review of your meal. It could even give you 5$ off your meal for a check-in. You type in, “Best french dip in Denver!!!!”

E-Ticket QR Codes

We see this starting already with plane tickets. Although on the flight I am waiting for right now out of D.C., I was unable to figure out how to actually get an e-ticket. This could easily be done with concerts, sporting events, and movies too.

Thought Experiment: During dinner with your girlfriend in Chinatown, you both decide to check out the movie Inception. You immediately open your phone, and using the Moviefone app you find the closest theater, and the best time. You are able to purchase 2 e-tickets and it gives you a QR code reciept. Now you simply walk right to the theater, skipping the ticket lines, and let the ticket greeter scan your QR code. “Auditorium 10, to your left, that movie’s crazy,” she says.

Tracking Product Origins

Companies like FedEx and Toyota use QR code variations and RFID tags to track packages and parts across the country and on assembly lines. It would be great to be able to tap into some of this information to see the origin of our products (food especially).

Thought Experiment: You are standing in front of the eggs at the grocery store trying to decide which brand to buy. You whip out your phone and start scanning the QR codes on each box. You are able to see that Farmer John’s eggs were made outside of Brevard, North Carolina a week ago, boarded a truck for a factory in Charlotte, and were then flown to Atlanta, Georgia, before boarding another truck to the grocery store. Farmer John’s eggs might not be the most sustainable choice.

Vehicle Health Monitor

QR codes were created by the Denso Corporation, a subsidiary of Toyota, to track car parts along the assembly line. It’s not a far reach to imagine we could use QR codes to track your vehicle’s health.

Thought Experiment: You are driving across the country when you realize that you are overdue for an oil change. You pull in to Joe’s Oil Express, he scans the QR code on your front windshield to see when your last oil change was, what tire pressure you need, and the age of your air filter. Once he finishes topping off your fluids he checks back in with your QR code, updating it with the latest information on your vehicle. You can always go online with the same QR code to see the complete history of your vehicle.

QR Code Integrated Photo Software

The biggest hurdle with QR codes right now is the multi-step process involved in accessing content. To cut out on some of the technical hurdles, every smart-phone needs to recognize QR codes, and every application (iPhoto, Flickr, Facebook, etc.) needs to acknowledge them as well.

Thought Experiment: You are taking a picture of your friend in Times Square. In the background of the frame is a billboard with a QR code. After snapping the photo you check to see if his eyes were closed. Your phone recognizes the QR code, points it out for you in the frame, and asks you if you would like to view it’s contents (which happens to be a petition for the oil spill). You click yes, and it takes you to the petition to learn more info. When you get home you upload the photo to Facebook, and when your friends click to see John in Times Square, Facebook recognizes the QR code, and makes it clickable to the same oil spill petition.

Band Posters

You no longer need to judge a band by it’s poster. Even though designers love the freedom and experimentation involved in creating band posters, music lovers don’t really get a sense of what the band sounds like form the poster alone.

Thought Experiment: You are waiting a while for a friend outside of the music venue, so you start to browse the posters plastered outside. One catches your eye because it has a picture of a three-headed lion sitting inside a prism, and in the background is a beautiful fractal made out of mountain ridges. This seems like a band you would want to check out, so you scan the QR code, which is tattooed on the lion’s bicep. Your phone takes you to the band’s MySpace page and instantly starts playing their music, or to YouTube which begins streaming the band’s latest homemade music video. The aural landscape hypnotizes you, while the african rhythm makes your head bop up and down. You make a note to download Elemental Harmonics on iTunes that night.

Crossword Puzzle

The QR code already looks like a crossword puzzle. It would be a great gimmick for the New York Times or Wired Magazine to encrypt the answers, or a secret message, into the crossword using a QR codes.

City & Mall Maps

Checking in doesn’t have to be just for businesses and restaurants. There are plenty of times where you would benefit from using your phone’s built in GPS. City maps and mall maps could have QR codes directing you to your location on a google map, or a proprietary map technology.

Trailhead Logs

Trailheads could be equipped with QR codes directing you to a site where you check-in how many people are in your party, where you plan on going, and for how long. It could then give you a topographic map of the area.

Wine Labels

This is my favorite idea other than the practical nature of the e-tickets, and the fun potential of the band posters. On the back of every wine label, or prominently displayed on the front, could reside a QR code. When you scan it, you could see detailed information about the wine, recipes, food pairings, or even videos of the sunset at the vineyard right there in the wine isle. I have so many ideas with this one, I am going to have to dedicate an entire blog post to it in the near future, and maybe pair it with a few design comps.

I hope you enjoyed imagining some of these ideas with me. If you have any thoughts on them, want to take one of them further, or something sparked a new QR code idea in your head, please leave a comment below!

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2. Introducing WINE.O
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In this episode of Thinking and Driving, I talk about QR code sightings at the 2010 Summer Outdoor Retailer show. But before I get too far into this post I will explain what a QR code is.

A QR code (or Quick Response code) is a square barcode that can be read by smartphones using the attached camera. The barcode can contain information like text, or a website’s URL. For my iPhone I am currently using a free app called Snappr.

The first QR code I saw at the Outdoor Retailer show was at the Mountain Hardwear booth. They had a sign that said Win A Pack with the QR code underneath. Scanning the code would either take you to a page that told you that you’ve won the pack, or it would take you to a page with reviews, videos, and specs about the pack. It was a fun experience and I actually won!

I made business cards that had only a QR code on it along with my website’s favicon. Scanning the code takes you to the about page of my website. My plan was to hand them out at a tweetup event during the conference, but I never found the perfect moment. I did pass them around at a family wedding recently and people loved the idea, and thought it was pretty clever.

It was tough sometimes when I would hype up the QR code and then it would have trouble scanning when trying to show it off. That is by far the biggest problem with QR codes. (Is this an app issue or a camera issue?) I play off the idea that it’s impossible to scan a code, with my idea for having one up on a billboard. Imagine if could win tickets to the local NASCAR event if you are quick enough to scan the QR code billboard on the interstate (as a passenger of coarse). I promise it would be a tough game, with multiple laps needed to get a scanner to read the code.

I also go into a few ideas for QR codes for the OR show in the future. Scanning codes at different partner booths could enter you in a contest, check off the OR show list that you have been to the booth, or plot GPS coordinates so that you could find the booth again in the future.

QR codes are the perfect medium for getting more information about a product. Imagine a QR code next to a pair of 5.10 climbing shoes on display. You scan the code and it takes you to a YouTube video of Steph Davis climbing in the shoes and explaining their strengths. This same idea could be used at museums to gain insight from the artist, or in book sleeves for author explanations or forwards.

Here are more QR code examples:
Giant QR Code Cut Into German Field For Google Earth
5 Unique Uses of QR Codes
QR Codes Used To Help Clean Up The Gulf

Stay tuned for more episodes of Thinking and Driving and future blog posts where I explore the possibilities of QR codes.

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1. Thinking and Driving: Episode 2 – Ideas For The NOLS Booth at Outdoor Retailer Show
2. Thinking and Driving: Episode 1 – Idea for iPhone App and #ORshow T-Shirt
3. Ideas for the Future of QR Codes

I filmed three of these segments while driving back from the 2010 Summer Outdoor Retailer Show. I had wanted to stagger their release but due to stomach issues this weekend I was unable to think up any content for the site.

In this episode of Thinking and Driving, I talk about getting a few “seasoned” NOLS instructors to walk the trade floor with me in full expedition gear. It’s an idea I had for NOLS Leadership Week, and I think the same thing could work on a college campus or city center for gaining some word-of-mouth. Here is Monty Python’s take on the same idea.

I also mention what NOLS likes to call “Teachable Moments.” You could call the idea of teaching someone how to use a conference map a little on the smartass side of things.. and I guess I agree, but there is something to be said for executing a perfect class right there at the booth.

I plan on putting a lot more brain power towards more effective, more realistic, and less expensive ideas before OR Winter. I will be sure to  post them once I get a good list going. Also, stay tuned for episode 3 where I talk about QR codes that I saw at the conference and future ideas for QR codes.

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3. Social Media Talk From Outdoor Retailer Conference

The Outdoor Retailer conference is over for me, ending a week-long, 3 hotel tour. I started off the day at an amazing panel discussion about video content, and while I was driving home a bunch of ideas were floating through my head that I was trying to remember.

So I whipped out my new iPhone and started recording. I have tried to make quick, one take videos in the past but have gotten hung up on words. This is the first blog style video I have actually finished!

In my inaugural episode of Thinking and Driving, I decompress from the Outdoor Retailer show with an idea for a photo cut-out iPhone app, and a personal branding gimmick involving the #orshow hashtag. Stay tuned for new episodes of Thinking and Driving. My next two are from the same drive, and involve QR Codes and booth ideas for OR Winter. And thank you for bearing with me during these first episodes.

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1. Thinking and Driving: Episode 2 – Ideas For The NOLS Booth at Outdoor Retailer Show
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3. Get me the heck outta Dodge…

Hello World. I am here today to pitch you my idea, and I am going to talk to you as a consumer. The thing I never thought that I would want to be… until I realized that I could have it the way I wanted. We can change the game.

Like you, I am sick of the irrelevant and senseless ads, the pop-ups, and the loud late night commercials. But instead of blocking these out of my life, I am going to change the game to meet my needs, and I am going to start by telling the world exactly what I like.

I wear Adidas soccer shorts, and Prana pants are exactly my style. My favorite salsa is Mrs Renfro’s medium corn salsa. The only eggs I eat are cage-free, with no added hormones. I play the guitar. I like jam, bluegrass, and electronic music. I don’t always drink beer but when I do.. It’s a micro-brew. For some reason Banana Republic button-down shirts and slacks fit best on me. Are you listening here? I’m telling you the brands and products I want to advertise to me.

Do you have the new line of world cup soccer apparel Adidas? Yes? Let me know about it. Want to give me 10$ off? Fantastic! Mrs Renfro’s do you want to give me a coupon for a few bucks off one of your new salsas? I will gladly accept that. Are you a brewery? Why should I like your micro-brew more than Broken Halo IPA?

Do you understand? We are not going to fight the marketers anymore. And, we aren’t going to accept the sneaking around that they do trying to learn from our search queries and status updates.

What I’m saying is that we need a place to help us represent the brands and the products that we love in this world. We need to make them come to us. We create a space on our terms where they are welcome to give us offers and incentives. And we will look at them too, because we are genuinely interested.

How To Implement This Idea

Phase 1 – Website with Consumer Profiles
This change could first come in the form of a website, new or part of an existing community. Facebook, Google, and Coupons.com are in a great position to create consumer profiles. Brands will then have the ability to claim their products with restricted access to messaging and marketing to the interested consumer. The website also uses the consumer profile database to advertise on the site using this pyramid model, creating revenue for the site.

Phase 2 – 3rd Party Sites Use Consumer Database
3rd party sites gain access to the consumer profile database through an API for ads displayed on their site. It would use the same pyramid model with revenue sharing.

Phase 3 – Google Ads Opt-In
The best case scenario would involve a check box in your Google profile opting in to the consumer profile database. Any site using Google Ads would then be tied to your consumer profile and display ads using the pyramid system shown above.

Conclusion

This is a win-win-win for everyone involved. The consumers are happy because the ads are more relevant and content, offers, and deals from their favorite brands are coming to them. The brands are happy because they are connecting with their target. And, ad sites are happy because their click-through rates improve dramatically.

It is time for the consumer to take charge in this social internet age, and this is exactly the way to do it. What do you think? Can you see this future?

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Starting a video contest can seem like a daunting task. There isn’t much information out there on the subject either. I recently researched and help launch a video contest with the National Outdoor Leadership School. Here are some of the things I learned.

Picking a Platform

YouTube – Gathering information on video contests through YouTube is very confusing. From what I gather you need to be in the Partners Program and then become a YouTube Sponsor. I have heard it costs $5,000+ to run a contest which includes a built-in contest gadget, and promotion through YouTube. You can find out more here. Good luck with that though, getting in touch with YouTube directly has proven unsuccessful for my mid-sized company.

Wildfire (Not Affiliated with my site, The Wildfire Companion, in any way.) – This is the most economical option for a small / midsized company to run a video contest. They have an online contest creation tool that you are able to preview along the way for free, you pay right before you decide to publish. They answered the phone too! I am currently running a video contest through Wildfire for the company I work for, NOLS. Check out the contest here (this link will die after 12/31/2010). We are using their premium plan to run a 4 month contest. The total cost was around $900. They integrate with Facebook nicely, and allow you to embed the contest via iframe on your own site as well. Their template is a little bulky, and for the plan we are using we have to allow their logo and promotion search bar to remain on our contest pages. You can also tweak the design of the contest template with CSS to an extent.

Votigo - This company’s plan was out of our budget, and it’s the one I know least about. Their plans start around $5,000, and it seems they build you a microsite for the contest with promotion tools.

Create Your Own – There are more involved ways to run a video contest that might be more successful, and cheaper too! But, you have to get creative. I have seen video contests run on YouTube simply tied to tagging the video with a specific contest tag. You can also create a YouTube group and ask participants to submit videos to the group as an entry. A dedicated blog / site could also be a viable option. By creating a submission form asking people to submit a link to their video, you could manually embed YouTube and Vimeo entries for viewing and use a widget for voting.

YouTube vs. Vimeo vs. Facebook Video

My thoughts on which video host to use are that YouTube is the most popular and user friendly, with the biggest community, and the easiest to share. Vimeo is a much smaller, but more professional group of video content creators. It could fit your demographic to run a contest through their community. Facebook’s video is clunky and awkward, I don’t watch many videos on Facebook. I don’t even know where to search for videos on Facebook.

Other Considerations

I am currently helping to run my first video contest. The biggest hurdles for my company were figuring out ways to run a worldwide contest open to people 13 years of age and older. If you run a contest worldwide you need to legally comply with contest rules for each country you receive submissions. We did not have the tools at our disposal to explore that option so we had to keep the contest within the United States.

To run a contest where people under 18 could enter, we had to figure out a legal and easy way to get parental consent. Working within templated platforms, this was a difficult task. With Wildfire App, we decided to have parents submit the video on behalf of the under-aged participants. Behind the scenes, the platform only allows people 18 or older to enter.

Have a question about running a video contest that weren’t answered in this article? Leave me a comment.

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Hats off to the creators of the Dodge Challenger Freedom and Google Chrome commercials. Both feel completely tailor-made for their audience. The Dodge commercial aired directly before the US vs England World Cup soccer match and once you watch it, you will understand why it’s so good. Just imagine yourself in a bar somewhere in the US getting ready to watch the game, and this commercial comes on. Good job Wieden + Kennedy on making this commercial.

These Google Chrome commercials, created by Glue in London and BBH* in New York, are the perfect mix of science and cool to please the nerd in all of us. Leave it to Google to create their ad out of a Rube Goldberg machine. Brilliant and fun.

P.S. I am going to have to figure out how to get on the creative concepting team for one of these companies.

We’ve heard by now that Radiohead made the most money from an album when they released In Rainbows with a pay-what-you-want system. Also recently, a few indie video game developers got together to offer a bundle of games using the same payment model with the Humble Indie Bundle. They made over one million dollars.

Last week, I was on a road trip listening to a podcast for This American Life. Ira Glass came on at the beginning of the podcast and gave an inspiring speech on the subject of the pay-what-you-want model for his program. Ira does a really amazing job with calls-to-action. He knows how to make you feel bad and feel good at the same time. Here is what he said:

“Why don’t we just charge for the podcast? The answer is: We don’t want to because fewer people would actually hear the podcast. We like it to be free and idealistically we like the idea that it should be possible to do ambitious stories and try things that nobody else is doing on radio or on podcast and pay for the whole thing by asking the people who listen to kick in a couple bucks each. I believe in that. I’ve thrown money at podcasts I like. It’s still really cheap entertainment. If thats going to be the future of media, I like that future. If you like that future too even a little bit go to our website and click the donate button at thisamericanlife.org.” – Ira Glass ep. #409 – Held Hostage – Chicago Public Radio

Would a system like this work for Hulu? How about a single show like Lost? What about a Newspaper?

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Off to the humid East. I cannot wait to hear crickets, and see forests, fire-flies, and thunderstorms. See you again soon floody, climbing season, green Lander, Wyoming. (Now here is my attempt at creating an ambiance to my post like Good Ol’ Cold Splinters does so well.)

Snow melt, warm weather, and recent rain in the area have caused a perfect storm scenario for the towns of Lander, Hudson, Riverton, Ft. Washakie, Ethete, and Arapahoe in Fremont County, Wyoming. Below is a collection of media related to the Fremont County flooding.

For the most up-to-date information people are recommended to visit the Fremont County Flood Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/FremontCountyFlood2010

Last Updated: June 9th, 2010 10:41am

Pictures

Lander, WY – 2010 Flooding on Flickr
CNN iReport Flooding in Lander, WY
High Water in Wyoming | Trib.com
Wild Iris Mtn Sports Facebook Album
Aerial Photos | Brian Hensien Facebook Album

News

Water drops near Hudson but flooding continues | June 9th, 2010
Lander Flooding Forces Evacuations | June 9th, 2010
Fremont County Disaster Declaration | June 8th, 2010
Fremont County fighting flood waters | June 8th, 2010

Video

Lander Sinks Canyon visitor center at flood stage June 7, 2010 | YouTube.com
Lander – Middle Fork of the Popo Agie at floodstage June 7 2010 | YouTube.com
Fremont Fights Flooding | Trib.com
Flood Update | The Wild Wyoming Bunch Blog
Lander Flood 2010 | YouTube.com

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1. Scribblenauts – A game that rewards creativity

There was this duck, and it would move items around. It was in a dungeon with a prize room… Nobody ever knew what I was talking about. I have been trying to remember a game from my childhood for so long that I started to think I was crazy. Maybe I was inventing a game in my dreams pieced together by my subconscious.

Well last night, I found it. I FOUND IT! Gertrude’s Secrets. Here is a description of the puzzle game that haunted my dreams:

“The puzzles are generally simple and quick to solve. The “array puzzles” involve arranging pieces in a grid according to shape along the rows and color along the columns. “Train puzzles” involve ordering the pieces according to whether they need to be once or twice different from the piece before them in the train. “Loop puzzles” involve guessing Gertrude’s hidden rule for what goes inside and outside the boxes and gets more complicated by having two nested loops where inside the joined area the pieces need to conform to two rules.” – abandonia.com

This lead me to remember all of my childhood games like Math Blaster, Reader Rabbit, Oregon Trail,  Loom, Gauntlet, Print Shop (not a game but I got teary-eyed after seeing the cover again..) While other kids were outside playing around at lunch, I was in the computer lab with a small group of friends trying to figure out Dr. Brain, Monkey Island, and Myst.

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Foundries/designers often promote themselves by releasing a free font. This drives traffic to their site and awareness to their brand/style. Below are examples of two quality typefaces I have come across recently, Lobster and Franchise Bold.

For more free fonts check out Font Squirrel. It seems that the fonts available have undergone a quality filter, which helps when you are used to searching through hundreds of crappy fonts at dafont.com.

Google just release the Google Font API and Google Font Directory to allow web designers a larger palette of typefaces to choose from when designing sites.

From the Google Code Blog: To enjoy the visual richness of diverse fonts, webmasters have resorted to workarounds such as baking text into images. Thanks to browser support for web fonts, this is rapidly changing. Web fonts, enabled by the CSS3 @font-face standard, are hosted in the cloud and sent to browsers as needed.

I am excited to play around with IM Fell for my headers and sub-headers. I will dedicate a separate blog post about the API once I get the time to test it out for myself.

Also worth checking out is Smashing Magazine’s comprehensive list of helpful typography tools and resources for designers.

Edit: I was asked on Google Buzz what was so bad about dafont.com. Here is my reply: There are too many fonts on dafont.com that don’t offer or consider proper kerning, or ligatures, or alternate characters like the ampersand, or dollar sign. The fonts on dafont.com are nice for certain circumstances but it takes a long time to sift through the bad ones when you need a quality, well thought-out, multiple weight font.

Do you know of any other quality free fonts or type resources? Please share them with me!

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elance.com + 99designs.com – I have been reading a lot about spec work recently. This post from Chris Brogan got me up to speed. Spec work is when an individual/company asks a community of designers for work, lets say a logo. 50 designers submit 50 logos and one gets picked as the best and gets paid. Designers are upset because it devalues the work that should go into building relationships, learning about the company, and getting paid for time spent on concepting and creating the work. On the other hand, people that are looking for cheap, quick, and quality (to them because they might not know the difference) designs say that these sites are great.

It’s actually kind of funny to see the design community up in arms about these cheap design factories. My take on the subject is that if the designers are really great thinkers and have great ideas, they should have no trouble finding work and getting paid adequately. After all, a little competition mixed with a lot of desperation should breed some amazing work!

builditwith.me - I came across this site that pairs app developers (web, iPhone, etc.) with idea creators. This kind of site excites me because I think one of my greatest strengths is the creative process. I would love to find more sites like this and I can’t wait to get my first app idea on the site! Currently, I have been posting my ideas on brazencareerist.com.

21 Rules for Social Media Engagement – I always find myself quickly skimming posts like this one making sure that I haven’t horribly missed something. Every once in a while I will see something that gives me an idea for a Facebook or Twitter post. “19. Un-campaign and create ongoing programs that keep you connected to day-to-day engagement.” Now I have an all new industry term to learn! (Here’s me googling un-campaign… Now here’s me wondering how to get around google thinking I’m talking about U.N. campaigns. Hmm.)

Web Design Trends 2010: Real-Life Metaphors and CSS3 Adaptation – I love geeking out on web design, especially while I am looking to build up my portfolio site. This article has a TON of great trend examples that are pretty obscure compared to most posts of the same topic. Kudos to Smashing Magazine for staying classy.. And for the great observations!

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Being in close proximity to professional and amateur videographers has it’s perks. I have recently found myself in starring roles on a wide range of video projects. Some of the videos have had regional fame, and it’s funny when I run into someone who has seen my video. Despite my recent “face time” I am not really the best at remembering lines, but with all this practice, I am starting to get better.

NOLS MythCrushers

Take – Reel Rock Tour Contest

Earth A.D. - Featured Climb for Intl’ Climbers Festival

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A few months ago I was having a conversation with my girlfriend’s brother-in-law about retail supply chains, we ended up coming up with a few ideas that I think would make my online shopping experience with amazon.com more sustainable and fun.

A Buy Local Option – When I am shopping for something, lets say film for my camera, I encounter a number of third-party sellers on amazon.com. What I would really love to see is an option that filters these sellers by location. If I can get the film from a store in my city or a neighboring state, I would feel a lot better about my carbon footprint, then blindly ordering something that ends up coming from across the country. I promise film for my camera is not worth the fuel carrying it to me. This would be a great way to support local businesses and it would be great ‘green’ PR for amazon.com. I envision an atlanta.amazon.com (á la craigslist) where I can shop from specific cities or states too.

A Brick & Mortar Store Where You Could Try Everything – Too much of what I buy online either doesn’t fit correctly or isn’t what I thought it was going to be. I need a store where I can try on things, and play around with the items. I understand that this pretty much exists in the form of all stores out there / is the exact opposite point of Amazon. I still think there is a niche for a mega-location that doesn’t sell a thing. It just stocks one of everything, sent by manufacturers as display items. I see lots of people going to hang out and just playing around with items. There are computer bays where you can purchase the items online. There is probably a cafe in the store too. I would call it The Himalayas. It’s the perfect compliment to Amazon.

What do you think?

I recently dusted off my old cameras and went out shooting again. It took me 6 months to fill up two rolls of film on my Holga and Honeywell Pentax, but I wound up the film and sent it away to get processed. While I was waiting to get my pictures back I found out about a few iPhone apps that replicate old cameras. The world works in mysterious ways. $2.99 and 20 minutes later I had a bunch of pictures that looked like they were taken with a Holga, Poloroid, or even the Diana. I was left wondering if I should just ditch my old cameras.

Two weeks of waiting at the mailbox and $50 later I finally got my photos back. When I saw my invoice for the processing, printing, and shipping I thought about the apps again. It wasn’t until I put the iPhone pics next to my photos that I was able to justify still using my antique cameras. The quality of film with the random vignetting and light leaks, and the depth-of-field just feel right. Though, I am going to have to figure out a more affordable way to continue to shoot film.

ShakeItPhoto ($0.99) and Hipstamatic ($1.99) are both great apps, and the pictures really stand out on Facebook. If I am out with friends just having fun, I will definately use the iPhone. If I am trying to take a serious picture, something profound or amazing, I will go for my real camera.

In the end it might not be fair to compare the two. Clearly these apps are not trying to replace the cameras they imitate. Even further, I don’t think the Universe would allow the Holga to be replaced with a Holga app. I just can’t imagine kids two generations from now taking digital photos with vignetting and fake light leaks.

I also can’t imagine photographers displaying smartphone pics at galleries and musuems (very Andy Warhol, right?). Although, there is certainly a case to be made for the first TwitPic of the plane that landed in the Hudson.

EDIT: I might end up with my foot in my mouth pretty soon. I just learned the term iPhoneography and found a website showcasing iPhoneographers.

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