Update 3: The redesign has started . . .

Update 2: It’s 2010 and this hasn’t happened yet. It will do – I’m just super busy on lots of other stuff (OK, mainly Twitter)

Update: It’s October and I still haven’t done this. Eeeeek. But, looks like I might be doing it this week. Yay!
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Wow. That went pretty quick. I can’t believe just how long it’s been since I last blogged. Sure . . . I’ve had a few wobbles before but this time it’s been ages. And it seems like I’m not the only one. These days like a lot of people most of my online time gets spent on Twitter where I share loads of stuff and do all the stuff I used to do on the blog, but in micro format. The other place that gets a hammering is delicious, where I’m up to a silly number of bookmarks.

Anyway, just in case anybody is still listening – I wanted to let you know that over the next couple of weeks I;m going to be revamping my online presence and as part of that this blog is going to be upgraded and re-skinned. Hopefully all that spring cleaning and me feeling all nice about the blog again will give me that little bit of added motivation to get blogging in long form again. In the meantime though . . . . see you on Twitter.

Yes, we’ve had the original Simpsonize Me and countless other ones, but Trek Yourself passed the ‘Will it work with a cat wearing goggles?’ test. Nice work, if a little bit scary looking.

EDIT – I’ve removed the video as it auto-loaded and was getting on my you-know-whats.

Having made and launched a few (much smaller) rockets as a kid, I have total respect for this. And also for the name too . . .

A 1/10th-scale model of a NASA Saturn V rocket launched successfully on Saturday, becoming what is thought to be the largest amateur rocket ever to take off and be safely recovered. The feat could herald the arrival of the first amateur rockets to reach orbit.

The 11-metre-tall, 750-kilogram rocket took off on Saturday from a field outside of Price, Maryland, near the eastern shore. It flew for roughly 20 seconds to an altitude of more than 1300 metres before segmenting and falling back to Earth beneath multiple parachutes (see video).

The rocket, built by rocket hobbyist Steve Eves, replicates the look of the Saturn V rocket used to loft Apollo crew capsules into space. But its interior boasts newer electronics and significantly less fuel.

(via New Scientist)

People just want to be recognised online – using any means necessary to get links, followers, respect, love, admiration, fame etc.

Brands just want to sell people stuff online – using any means necessary to get people talking about their stuff and selling more of it.

People and brands do a merry jig with each other working out how they can use each other to get what they want.

People exchange a little bit of their soul in exchange for the opportunity to get a little bit more of whatever they are looking for to make them feel all nice inside.

So brands just need to work out the best exchange rate.

I think I should go to bed now . . .

PS – I’m not saying this applies to everything, is fact and should be taken as any kind of I believe this to be 100% true statement. It’s just a thought.

OMG, etc. Check out these two great videos of some of the amazing creations from Festo, as blogged over at the always excellent Rubbishcorp. I spent a good hour this evening freely surfing the web, which I haven’t done in absolutely ages and just had to share.

I’ve blogged before about being human, have been mentioning it a lot on Twitter, have a heap of bookmarks saved under ‘human’ on Delicous and use the (beta) strapline for what I do as ‘web participation for human brands and beings. You could say it was something very close to my heart.

So, on a similar vein to my previous post which seemed to go down pretty well, I’d like to share some examples of ‘human’ from over the past few weeks/months that have caught my attention. It’s all those things, big or small, mostly online, that brands (and people!) do that makes the web a more human place. Little reminders of who we are that help us to engage with each other. And make stuff better. More human. And just nicer to interact with. Oh and just plain funny too.

Elliot Kember > Lovely little disclaimer (and awesome twitter-app-disguised-as-a-spreadsheet idea too)

Hype Machine > Disclaimer and general site copy, including the thank-you section

Twitter > Sign telling people where the new office is (Obligatory Twitter mention in a blog post? Complete)

Field Notes > general web site copy, especially the contact us page

“Peace, Love, Unity, Respect” receipt > from somewhere in New York

Starbucks > Sara (no h)

Digg community > Bohemian Rhapsody, in Digg comments!

Forum banter > Forum members have fun with photoshop (not sure this really fits in with the theme but I reckon it’s very funny – click through for the whole thread)

Any more examples? Let me know in the comments or @me. And in the meantime, remember that behind those screens isn’t just a pair of eyeballs . . . we’re all human beings.

As the offline/analogue and online/digital worlds start to blend even more, I thought I’d share some favourite stuff I’ve been tagging over the past few months. I love this stuff and am really excited about the web weaving its way into more and more stuff.

Google Earth meets a 60ft Phallus.

Blogging meets a blackboard and goes fully analogue.

FAIL gets turned into stickers and gets stuck everywhere.

Two years of someone’s tweets get turned into a book.

Hacking hits the car park.

Hashtags enter the real world.

Second Life inspired flying helicopter penis used by griefers to attack Gary Kasparov.

iPhone icons get turned into a coaster set.

DOS directories get turned into cushions.

Tweets get turned into bubbles.

Think of people you like. What characteristics to they have? I bet they are kind, considerate, funny, sharing, trustworthy, respectful, appreciative, honest, caring, genuine, warm, friendly, approachable etc. They listen to you. They speak to you when you speak to them. They respond to feedback. They don’t shout at you. They respect your time. They aren’t pushy. They arrive on time. They say nice things about you. They are honest with you. You get the idea.

Now think about the people you don’t like. What characteristics do they have. I bet they are stingy, thoughtless, boring, untrustworthy, ungrateful, dishonest, fake, cold, unapproachable etc. They don’t listen to you. They talk over you or interrupt you. They have their own agenda. They don’t always respond to you. They shout at you. They ram things down your throat. They are late for stuff. They say nasty things about you behind your back. They don’t always tell you the truth. Again you get the idea.

So, what I’m trying to say is that this whole social media thing is simple. Just be human. Brands need to behave exactly the same way as real human beings. In fact, what are brands anyway? They are things created by human beings. Companies are collections of human beings. The walls of companies are being pulled down by social media. Quite literally, people are emerging from the shadows of companies and creating our perception of companies and brands, rather than their marketing.

To me, Rax is Splendid. James is Spinvox. JP is O2. Mike is Techcrunch. Will is NixonMcinnes. Wadds is Rainier. Steve is 3W. Iain is Poke. Again, you get the idea.

So, be a decent human being. Be all the things that people like about the people they like. And if you look deep into yourself (as a brand, a company or as a person) and don’t like what you see, then change it. Social media is an amplifier. All the bad stuff gets worse. All the good stuff gets better.

James is onto this. As are other people. It’s not something new. It’s not something that clever, or complicated. The hard part is when you do look inwards and find some of those nasty characteristics are a lot closer to home than they should be.

And that’s it – my thought for today. Just be human. And if you can’t be a decent one, you need to change – as in a world where technology adoption is growing at an ever-increasing rate, it’s becoming even more important.

Photo from a great collection of slides from Will Lion

Top image from Jared Donovan

Update – some people (quite rightly so) have likened this to Jimbob’s “Be Nice” post. One that I most definitely read at the time and agreed with – I even left ‘be human’ in the comments. So, as a nice person would, I just wanted to make sure that you guys know that and in honour of that have amended the title. Jimbob is a top bloke, a genuinely nice human being!

As is Faris, who also thinks we should be nice. And admits too to probably stealing the idea off Jimbob . . . .

I’ve been busy again and as a result the blog has taken a back seat again, but I’m trying desperately not to worry about it and just do what comes naturally. Indeed, I’m spending most of my time on Twitter and feeding delicious – so am very much still active online, I just haven’t taken the time out to post. Like a lot of people recently I think.

Also – I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about stuff. What I want to be doing this year, where I’m taking my work, which of the growing number of personal projects I’m going to focus on and make happen. Who I’d like to be working with. What it’s going to be like being a dad. That sort of thing. And in the meantime, I’ve been cracking on with a number of great things.

Bobbie just shared this and it was enough of a motivator to share. It just struck a chord with me. All very human – a word and a theme that you’re going to here a lot about from me this year.

Fifty People, One Question: London from Crush + Lovely on Vimeo.

Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn from Crush + Lovely on Vimeo.

Fifty People, One Question: New York from Crush + Lovely on Vimeo.

Hello and Happy New Year. I am now back online after a nice refreshing break from the interwebz. Well almost, kind of in an iPhone kind of way. Anyway, like everyone else, I have a gazillion of things that I’d love to do this year, lots of thoughts on what might be in store for us netizens, loads of ideas about the future of the web and how it’s all about being human, lots of questions to ask and people to talk to.

But for the time being, whilst I play catch up and get my head back into everything after playing way too much Guitar Hero and spending too much money on geeky stuff, here’s a simply awesome data visualisation of a year’s worth of edits on OpenStreetMap.org.

OSM 2008: A Year of Edits from ItoWorld on Vimeo.

Data is the future. Of advertising, of the web, of everything. (Yes, I watched the Kevin Kelly 5000 days TED talk again recently!)