Trevor Filter

Video

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:20:45 -0500

Tree branch falls on power lines The sudden silence after the...

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:31:00 -0500

Tree branch falls on power lines

The sudden silence after the explosion at the end is incredible. (via Luda)

Check out those pants. This is the Norwegian curling team at...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:30:33 -0500

Check out those pants. This is the Norwegian curling team at Vancouver 2010. The Big Picture blog has tons more great Olympics pictures, but man, those pants.

Charting the Beatles Hot. Michael Deal is creating a series of...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:48:51 -0500

Charting the Beatles

Hot. Michael Deal is creating a series of infographics studying the music of the Beatles. Khoi Vinh at Subtraction has this to say: “Some of the work is quite beautiful and, like an increasingly large portion of information graphics these days, quite useless, too.”

Good Blog: Sight Unseen From two of the former editors of...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:38:00 -0500

Good Blog: Sight Unseen

From two of the former editors of now-defunct I.D. Magazine, Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer, comes this great-looking blog on the stories of design, photography, food, magazines, and artists. The above is their article on Less and more, an 808-page catalog of essays and artifacts that came out of the Dieter Rams exhibit at Suntory Museum in Japan. Older posts go back to Halloween, but I just stumbled on this now, thanks to the always-on-top fellows over at It’s Nice That.

NBC's broken Olympic coverage

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:43:00 -0500

NBC's broken Olympic coverage:

Linda Holmes, of NPR’s Monkey See Blog, hits the nail on the head: “The basic problem with NBC’s coverage is that they haven’t improved the fundamentals of the coverage in spite of massive changes in the way people take in content.”

NBC’s delivery of the Olympics this year has been completely underwhelming (and not simply because I’ve usually been catching it between midnight and 4 a.m.). The problem is, I don’t know whether to blame NBC for failing to deliver, or the International Olympic Committee for failing to recognize consumer demands for content. For the most part, the Vancouver 2010 website is absolutely stellar, with impressive interactive features and automatic updating so good it sometimes beats the broadcast results. But where’s the on-demand video and photo galleries? Where’s the daily recap slideshow that takes me through the events of the day in a few clicks?

When Lindsey Vonn won the Alpine Skiing Ladies’ Downhill on Wednesday, I searched high and low for a video of the event, only to come up fruitless. It probably doesn’t help that the IOC is so inanely restrictive of what can and can’t be published regarding the Olympics [case in point: Uvex’s not-a-press-release “Blonde we like wins Downhill (Last name rhymes with Bonn)”], but they should be trying harder and doing better. In the meantime, Google is doing decently with tailoring search results, but because the content is so inaccessible, there’s nothing for them to leverage into.

As for these games, it’s mostly a wash. But for the 2012 Summer Olympics, I hope that London’s interactive team is able to bring some real clout to the table concerning broadcast rights in the internet space. It may sound righteous, but I’ll be incredibly disappointed if we don’t have on-demand Olympics video via iPad come 2012.

Just spent an hour and a half on Chatroulette

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:25:00 -0500

(Whoops.)

Actually, Chatroulette is just so mind-numbingly addictive that we were able to pull away only after my laptop’s battery had died. But, in that ninety-minute span, Justin and I met people from Paris, France; Munich, Germany; Kent, UK; and even Norway (twice)! Notably, we didn’t have a single worthwhile conversation with another American. On the other hand, it did seem like everyone we talked to was online at around 9 or 10 p.m. in their local time zone, so maybe the “friendly” demographic changes around the clock.

That said, I’m now completely convinced that there are so many potential cultural studies just begging to be leveraged from within Chatroulette. Make no mistake: this is a Very Big Thing; the sort of Big Thing that only comes around every couple internet years. The parade of choked chickens aside, I do believe that there’s a legitimate premise in video conferencing with random strangers around the world.

By far the most interesting aspect of Chatroulette is that every conversation is truncated. Because clicking “Next” to advance to another chat partner is so forcibly ingrained in the user’s behavior, there’s no opportunity to have any sort of meaningful exchange of words or ideas. In other words, by the time you get past “Where are you from?” and “What time is it there?” and finally, “What’s your name?,” one of you is usually already saying “Nice talking!” or “Take care” and hovering over the Next button. As soon as you reach the point in a typical conversation where any substance would normally be introduced, the conversation is over. Near-instantaneously.

The direct implication is that eventually every conversation is perceived as meaningless from the outset, and instead, each encounter becomes a study in attention. For me, this is a fascinating example of how the attention-deficit disorder we are beginning to associate with the internet could be transcribed onto a face-to-face encounter with another human being. Historically, web cams have been used to facilitate meaningful communication between close friends and family members where distance is prohibitive. Now—with Chatroulette—web cams are being used to facilitate surface conversations between complete strangers, in an un-patrolled realm of the internet where anything goes.

I’m really excited to see Chatroulette evolve: what academics are able to discover, what lawsuits are filed, what governments get involved, and what people end up taking away from it. It’s a fascinating place with lots of possibilities.

All that said, I still haven’t gathered the nerve to go on alone.

Great new advertisement for VISA and the upcoming World Cup from...

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:52:49 -0500

Great new advertisement for VISA and the upcoming World Cup from Saatchi & Saatchi. “Run, Forrest, Run!” (via It’s Nice That)

"I am not even sure what Chatroulette is now. Everyone finds his own way of using the site. Some..."

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:43:00 -0500

“I am not even sure what Chatroulette is now. Everyone finds his own way of using the site. Some think it is a game, others think it is a whole unknown world, others think it is a dating service.”

- Andrey Ternovskiy, the 17-year-old creator of Chatroulette, on how quickly his “fun” project for friends has turned into a multi-server operation out of Germany with network throughput of seven gigabits/second. His interview with the NYTimes has more.

CUT-UP MX is photographs of fascinatingly obfuscated Mexican...

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 08:36:53 -0500

CUT-UP MX is photographs of fascinatingly obfuscated Mexican billboards: “Chopped up, partly exchanged and randomly assembled they often become exciting commercial collages. Rumors say that once a company’s advertising time is over and a new hirer is still to be found, the pieces are mixed up to disguise the sales message.”

Google Buzz is the straw that broke my back

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:09:00 -0500

Wow, too much social media today.

My initial impressions: Buzz is pretty cool. It’s far more personal than Twitter and even more accessible. Maybe it even collects all my media together (which should ideally help dearly in a situation like this); but seriously, unread badges are the worst interaction design element ever*, and I think I have finally reached the point where I have too many of them.

So, I’m checking out for a while. I’ll be back soon.

* Unread badges are simply bad design.
I’m going to explain this now, because I know I’ll get crap for it: the problem with unread badges is that they are all designed to draw attention and denote importance (after all, most are bright fucking red), but the number scale that each one uses is completely wrong, because it focuses on quantity and not quality. Three (3) important email messages from friends/coworkers are much more critical to me than fifteen (15) mailing list emails, and yet an unread badge count implies 5x the opposite.

"If people are psyched on it, it’s going to get out there, because there is a demand for it…...."

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:57:00 -0500

“If people are psyched on it, it’s going to get out there, because there is a demand for it…. Obviously you want people to buy your record, mostly because that’s the way you make a living. But also the packaging is important to me. I like putting work into that side of it and having it become these fickle ones and zeros floating around cyber space—it’s not very romantic.”

- Chris Keating on how Odd Blood leaked almost two months in advance of its Feb. 9 release date (via BOMB; thanks Nate)

“Madder Red,” by Yeasayer Chris Keating: “I wanted [Odd Blood]...

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:51:00 -0500

“Madder Red,” by Yeasayer

Chris Keating: “I wanted [Odd Blood] to sound like something made by aliens who came down from the future and evaluated culture by listening to different club music from different countries.” I’ve held off posting audio from this album, but it comes out tomorrow, so enjoy.

The real Timothy McSweeney has passed

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:03:00 -0500

The real Timothy McSweeney has passed:

From McSweeney’s Internet Tendency:

After a long struggle with illness, Timothy McSweeney passed away on January 24. He was 67 years old. As a young man, Timothy was an artist of tremendous talent. The canvases he leaves behind are filled with haunting and beautiful imagery. They are also filled with a palpable desire—to be heard, to connect, to be understood better by others and himself. The letters that inspired this journal’s name were a continuation of that same lifelong effort to more intimately know the world and his place within it.

Wow, this first aid station is great. Emergency supplies should...

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:30:30 -0500

Wow, this first aid station is great. Emergency supplies should have one primary design function, and that’s immediate access; this box is the first I’ve ever seen that’s noticeable, memorable, and accessible enough to perform said function splendidly. Insta-buy.

Um, yes, that’s me, in the “Unsung Heroes”...

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:04:00 -0500

Um, yes, that’s me, in the “Unsung Heroes” sidebar on THEONION.COM… WHAT UP.

Photo

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:47:00 -0500

"i don’t know, let’s drink"

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:23:57 -0500

“i don’t know, let’s drink”

- Subject line of Class of 2010 email advertising tonight’s back-to-school pub night. BEST CLASS EMAIL EVER.

Suspense. Also: meta.

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:15:52 -0500

Suspense. Also: meta.

On the iPad and ubiquitous media

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:39:00 -0500

Naturally, many geeks are writing up their thoughts on Apple’s new tablet tonight. Without being overwhelmingly detailed, here are mine.

I’m not unimpressed

In fact, I think the iPad is actually a big step toward the future we’ve been talking about for quite a while now. I also think that the major reason everyone’s so disappointed is that they were looking for a gimmick—like a camera, or wireless headphones, or a proximity sensitive display. But we’re just not there yet. This version’s a starting point.

For starters, look at how cheap it is: if the iPad were bleeding edge (like the iPhone was), it would be a lot more expensive. This time around, Apple’s more interested in satisfying demand than serving early adopters (which is also probably why they’ve brought more and more of the manufacturing and hardware design in-house).

No; instead, this is the interface that no one knows they want yet—for checking email and browsing the internet; for weeknights after work or for weekend couch-lounging. Moreover, I think that the next iteration of the iPhone OS (4.0) is going to unlock a lot of the *really* interesting features (e.g., a better lock screen, multi-tasking, “one more thing”). Right now I’m imagining something along the lines of the 3Com Audrey, but wireless, well executed, and with better timing and targeting (to yuppie millennials instead of families).

Ubiquitous data access

What really gets me excited, however, is the 3G data connection. Apple realizes that omnipresent Wi-Fi is a pipe dream and isn’t coming fast enough, and that 3G is the only means toward ubiquitous data access (in fact, I wouldn’t be too surprised if the 3G chip was also 4G-compatible). From here, it’s a small step (i.e. software upgrades) to leverage other devices like the Apple TV and desktop Macs for the purposes of accessing and controlling their content remotely. I think Apple’s recent acquisition of Lala points in this direction.

Consider this for a second: what if all of your music, movies, documents, pictures, etc. could exist in the cloud? If you’re like me, there’s a good chance that your email, calendar and contacts are already there. But, if all of my media were also in the cloud, I wouldn’t need my terabyte backup drive for anything but… backups (which, in turn, I wouldn’t need for anything but my own peace of mind). Now, think about how much closer the iPad actually takes us to making that cloud dream a reality.

That’s the significant part of today’s announcement.

That’s what got Steve Jobs so giddy and excited.

On the whole

Even though I’m somewhat underwhelmed by the design of this new device, what with its thick and toylike display margin (I guess the thumbs have to go somewhere), and goofy-looking home screen whitespace; I’m incredibly compelled by the potential of the platform. For most of my life, I’ve been wondering what interfaces and media consumption will look like in twenty years, but seeing that clip of Star Trek on the iPad was the first time I’ve ever thought we were getting close.