internet cool?!

Found this on the interwebs today. Not the best-written piece. But definitely makes you think. Well, it made me think. Whatcha think? :)

OK, bold headline. But holy shit balls this is awesome. Meet “A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter (2009) - Caleb Larsen”.

What is it you ask? A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter by Caleb Larsen is a physical sculpture that is perptually attempting to auction itself on eBay. Here is the ebay auction, the current bid is $4,250. Yep.

Every ten minutes the black box pings a server on the internet via the ethernet connection to check if it is for sale on the eBay. If its auction has ended or it has sold, it automatically creates a new auction of itself.

Rad, right? If a person buys it on eBay, the current owner is required to send it to the new owner. The new owner must then plug it into ethernet, and the cycle repeats itself.

I’m seriously going to be thinking about how awesome this is all day. And now you are too.

yer welcome.

(Be sure to let it load fully before you play!)

Is your kid more like more like Paul Teutul than Bob the Builder? Then peep this.

From Today and Tomorrow: The Japanese retail brand MUJI and LEGO teamed up to develop a set of 4 different boxes. Inside those boxes you’ll find the classic LEGO bricks but also a few sheets of paper. No big deal. But when you also have the right punch hole tool, you can combine both to create something new. I really like this concept. You can order a set here (when you speak sone Japanese).

Flippin’ sweet.

Heyho.  POKE is expanding its internship program. If you’re looking for a way in the door in 2010, this is the way to do it.  

Who is POKE?
POKE is this little thing down in TriBeCa that’s been keeping me busy for a few years now. But we’re a bit difficult to define. Maybe you should take a peek?

Difficult one to define…or at least we’re afraid to label ourselves! We’re a creative and technology company first - that’s for sure. If you ask my partners, they’ll tell you:

“POKE is a leading branding, digital strategy, content, marketing, and business development company that blends creativity and technology to deliver impact and results for brands/clients and partners in a wide variety of categories and industries.”

I have no idea what that means.

We’re one of those companies that doesn’t do exactly what we “do”. Some define us as an advertising agency - but we’re scared of the “agency” stigma. We’ve been called everything from “Social Media Strategists” to “Design Firm” to “Product Development Company”. We’re none of those. But we’re all of them just the same.

The truth is we’re more about the type of people that work with us than the type of things we imagine and create. Most of us are refugees from more traditional advertising, design, branding and technology roles. Most of us also have difficulty defining ourselves as individuals. And, most of us believe we’re actually going to change the world one day. 

Does any of this sound familiar? POKE might be the place for you, and PUSH is the way to find out.

What is PUSH?
The program is all about learning through hands on experience and instruction. Finding just the right people to join our table has proven to be a daunting task to say the least. PUSH intensely focuses on rapidly and accurately identifying people who understand our approach and share our mindset. 

We’ve decided to further expand the instruction element of our PUSH program and limit the number of interns that can enroll. Just four people can now attend our program. So if you want in, you better get our attention fast.  Good luck!

Well, the lights are up, the nog has been drunk (most of it), the hot toddies were a hit, and it’s time for me to hang up the wreath for the rest of the season. I’m signing off until January.

2009 was an interesting year. In some ways the hardest year, and in others, the most incredible on every personal and professional level imaginable.

I’m thankful for my kick ass bidnas partners, my amazing team, my silly pups and all our health. Most importantly, I’m so thankful for my wonderful family. I will be with them until 1/4, thanking them for everything they’ve done for me this year so that I can be here for you, too.

See you in January.  And, as always - Don’t Give Up.

/ Tom

I got a bit tired of my Apple TV last year and decided to hack the Boxee Beta onto it (among other things). The promise of a Boxee set-top box was amazing. I had played with the app on my computer for some time, and it worked fairly well when I installed it on my laptop. I figured the jump to Apple TV would be just as good an experience. Nope. Well, maybe that’s too harsh. It worked pretty well at first. But over time it became sluggish, unresponsive, and would crash more than actually do what it was supposed to. Par for the course for Beta stuff, I suppose.

All in all, though it was a great conversation piece in the home, and really demonstrated for me how close we really are to completely transitioning from clips on your ‘puter to clips wherever you want them. Then YESTERDAY I got fed up enough with it crashing, etc I decided to reset my Apple TV and updated it to the latest Apple firmware. I gotta say - I love it all over again. It’s not quite Boxee, but I seriously love my Apple TV. Good news!

better news

Holy shit balls, look at this little gift from our friends at Boxee. A clever, handsome, useful piece of hardware that promises to work just like the Boxee app (and then some).

Getting the awesome web-to-TV software, set up in your living room used to be a headache if not disfunctional. Not anymore thanks to the Boxee Box (around $200; Q1 2010). This angled wonder lets you consume all the free movies, TV shows and music from the internet, all from your couch — and hooks it up to your system with just a single HDMI cable. Like the standard Boxee software, it also sucks in your own videos, music and photos, playing just about any media format that still resides on your broken down laptop. I’m in. Santa, you listening?

This made me feel like I was in Kindergarten all over again. It’s simply incredible how a familiar sight, sound, or even smell can throw you back to a place you haven’t been for 30 years.

The infamous original PBS logo (circa October 1971 - June 1984) could be one of the scariest logo/bumpers in the history of television. This was one of the major symbols of my childhood. I remember its startlingly primitive animation and frightening moog synthesizer tones slightly unnerving me whenever I saw it. I can recall wanting to “hang on” and force myslef to last all of 5-10 seconds longer because something great like 3-2-1 Contact / “The Bloodhound Gang” or “The Great Space Coaster” was just around the corner. Even now I still have a visceral reaction to it. Those sounds stimulate brain cells that have been dormant for many years. Amazing.

(For those of you guys who ran to the closet whenever this logo came on as a child, please watch at your own risk.) Enjoi. :D

Fifty People, One Question: New Orleans from Benjamin Reece on Vimeo.

Touching. Creative. Inspiring. Real.  

Enjoi.