Scattered Atoms

Simplicity is powerful

2011-01-10T08:04:00.003-05:00

The designers at the blog site "A2591" remind us that letting your product speak out for itself can be very powerful. Take a moment to think how this impacts the way you design your PowerPoint presentation or your analytics dashboard. Let your product speak for itself (you in the case of a presentation, your data in the case of a dashboard). If you find you need to rely on embellishments (text,

Thoughtful Innovation

2010-12-08T06:52:00.005-05:00

Despite the sophistication of western technology there are too many people who are unable to enjoy these breakthroughs through dispair, poverty or medical condition.Design That Matters is a non-profit that takes a pragmatic approach to lending a helping hand in the most unexpected ways. Over 4 million babies die within one month of birth, mostly in 3rd world countries. Despite generous aid from

The best of the web

2010-10-15T13:26:00.006-04:00

Thanks to my friend, Christian Alicea, I can share with you a presentation that is rich with examples of viral videos, creative use of the online medium and just plain fun stuff!https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=df7rw7vz_338cz6ngnd6

Music Visualization

2010-10-14T17:48:00.003-04:00

I have taken a stab at an organic pattern for music visualization. I am using Trapcode Particular and Trapcode KeyNote. Let me know what you think - its an early version and I will be building on it some more.Music Visualization Mock-Up from Tiran Dagan on Vimeo.

Lying with Facts

2010-10-12T16:59:00.005-04:00

When was the last time you were presented with data that led to incorrect conclusions?In our digital world companies are amassing data: about our personal preferences, what sites we visits, where we purchase, what we buy, where we travel.Case at hand: Any time you visit a site that has a "like" button you are transmitting data to facebook about having visited that page. Assuming you checked the "

Adobe After Effects: special effect

2010-10-07T13:39:00.006-04:00

I created the following title treatment using Adobe After effects, trapcode particular and some nifty text vector tricks. If I get anyone to ask for the instructions how I did this, I will create a walk-through. Enjoy!

HD-cams in sapce

2010-10-05T03:18:00.005-04:00

I came across two fascinating videos taken by HD cams fitted to weather baloons. They both reached the upper atmosphere - over 100,000 feel above earth - before bursting. See images of earth like you never saw before!Luke GeissbuhlerCamera: Go Pro Hero HDUsed a cell phone with GPS & Instamapper to report drop locationBear-4 HD Camera FlightCamera: Canon Vixia HF20 HDFlight time: 2Hrs 45min

Get your kids addicted!

2010-09-26T08:35:00.014-04:00

Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata are a motion animation duo known as Tiny Inventions. They have created an incredibly addictive animation titled "Electric Car". If you have young kids at home beware! This video is very highly addictive and will get everyone singing and clapping along, including you:The "making-of" video uncovers the artistic talent they put into creating the movie's sets from scratch

The making of Heroes: Completing the Scene

2010-09-19T10:25:00.004-04:00

Another interesting video comes from Stargate - the Vfx studio that works on 24, Heroes, Monk and many other well known TV brands.This is about the CGI work that goes into video effects for Heroes:

VFX in Alice in Wonderland

2010-09-19T09:34:00.002-04:00

This is a cool breakdown of the video effects from Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp. Most of the film was shot in front of a green screen, an odd experience for actors who needed references to what would appear in the final shot. Notice the frog placeholders in the middle of this video.

One thing the iPad is NOT good for

2010-09-13T13:15:00.005-04:00

Newsday is running a funny ad in which they demonstrate one thing the iPad is NOT good for:

Excel to PowerPoint

2010-07-23T06:47:00.003-04:00

I developed a VBA application in Excel that creates a powerpoint presentation of nicely formatted slides from the rows in a spreadsheet and released it into public domain. Using powerpoint you can design the layout of each of the pages that will represent a single record adding lines, textboxes, graphics or any other element you can possibly incorporate in PowerPoint. The link to your data is

Free Game: Leetuhl Bear

2010-07-22T07:17:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend I took it upon myself to learn how to develop for the BlackBerry platform. The most basic arcade game of asteroids seemed to be a good start. Since my tow year old (Finn) was with me, I gave it a little twist and had his face shoot little bears instead of spaceships and instead of missiles he shoots hearts.If you want to download a free copy of the game to your blackberry, point

Functional Design

2010-05-29T00:24:00.003-04:00

That cool looking thing on the wall? Its a functioning heat radiator (Runtal Splash) by italian design firm Runtal. Fancy that!

NY Video Meetup

2010-05-13T12:55:00.006-04:00

Check out the video from the May 2010 NY Video Meetup. I was a member of the judging panel. There were 6 cool products/technologies introduces. The panel included folks in venture capital and we went for the company that presented the most mature business model: Sunday Sky - which produces data drive rich video demos for websites. Imagine B&H running a video that is customized to every single

Best Timelapse Photography

2010-04-07T07:44:00.002-04:00

I am compiling a list of examples of timelapse. I will start with one, what's your favorite? Drop a note and I will add it to the list!Stomacher - Untitled/Dark Divider from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.Here's one with HDR photography:Ultra Wideangle HDR Timelapse from MILapse on Vimeo.

The woman who thinks liks a cow

2010-04-05T07:41:00.013-04:00

Early in childhood, Dr. Temple Grandin's was diagnosed with severe Autism. Dr. Her daily routine mainly consisted of constant panic attacks, a direct result of the daily struggle to contend with a barrage of sensory stimuli that her autistic mind could not sort out.When she was born, in 1947, doctors didn't even have a name for her condition. Through constant introspection she grew to learn what

2010-04-05T07:27:00.002-04:00

Feedme Design is a broadcast/CI design firm from Germany. I came across their video post "Lautlos" and thought it was a fascinated video to share.Feedmee Design on Vimeo.

Have a good SWOT!

2010-02-18T08:18:00.007-05:00

If you are involved in strategic analysis for your company you certainly are familiar with SWOT analysis, where you lay out your company's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Strengths. Today I will cover the comprehensive use of SWOT analysis beyond filling out the table and addresses the actual use of the information to formulate actionable strategy.How to SWOT?The fundemental elements of

Editing Changes Everything: Editors Gone Wild!

2009-12-19T08:29:00.005-05:00

What happens when an editor is turned loose on film material without the boundaries the Director sets for the film? Hilarity! Let's start a list of your favorite examples of films that were re-edited to completely change the nature of the original. Here are a few starters (thank you Jeff Piotrowski for your contribution):Top Gun, as a romantic gay comedyMrs. Doubtfire, as a thrillerBig Lebowski

NY Times Ad: Apple Switcher Cams

2009-11-10T08:47:00.004-05:00

With the launch of Windows 7 apple has just gained an unlimited supply of ammunition for their never ending microsoft-bashing campaign. The latest is a great example of a site takeover in which the full video ad is split to two parts: the apple/mac guys talking and interaction with another video panel on the top of the page. Here is the link:http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/

"The Shining": A masterful comedy

2009-10-29T07:05:00.003-04:00

As advertising models are shattered and advertisers pursue the audience in bold new ways, lets not forget the power of the image. Here is a video I came across that demonstrates how editing can radically change the tone of a film. I present to you "The Shining" (a cult Stanley Kubric horror film from 1980 starring Jack Nicholson) recut as a romantic comedy. This video clip was created by Robert

Innovation as a Process

2009-10-28T20:24:00.004-04:00

I would like to thank my friend, Gary Swanson, of Universal Parks for point me in the direction of a great online speach by author and Carnegie Mellon alum Scott Berkun. Scott was a project manager at Microsoft where he was expected to "deliver" creativity as part of his job.Over time he studies the success of leading innovators such as Newton, Edison and Van Goghand crytsalized his thought about

Visualizations for Music Discovery

2009-10-25T18:57:00.009-04:00

Using Visualizations for Music DiscoveryView more documents from Paul Lamere.p>As you probably know, I am very keen on visualization and information design. I recently came across a fabulous presentation on visualizing the history of music. The presentation you see in embedded here was shared by the author, Paul Lamere. You will find in it a brief history of visualization, leaning strong on Ed

Augmented Reality

2009-10-23T11:54:00.007-04:00

Augmented Reality (also known as total immersive augmented reality) is a term that has been around nearly a decade but recent technology innovation puts the power of AR in the hands of any cell phone user. So what is AR?AR is the convergence between the physical world and the world of information. It is a class of applications that marry contextual information with location based data so the