+ Links from February 20th

Fresh Links

• Universal Everything's Forever Video Installation Is Enchanting | Design & Innovation | Fast Company
  Beautiful public video installation.
• Apple to Rate Your Karaoke Singing on Your iPhone? - Mac Rumors
  Soon I'll be able o practice "Wanted Dead or Alive" on the subway ride to work? Yes PLEASE.
• iPhone App UX Review: NY Times vs. USA Today
  Nice walkthrough both iPhone sites.
• Location, Location, Location | mobiForge
  Great post illustrating how to pull location data into the browser. This will be big soon (via @flytip)
• 6 Gorgeous Twitter Visualizations
  Exactly what it says. I'll never get sick of Twistori, btw.
• Portland invites visitors to ask questions on Twitter - USATODAY.com
  I thought this would be a nice companion link to the story about NYC opening up its data. Excited to see more of this stuff.
• At PdF, Bloomberg Announces 'Big Apps' Contest, Says He'll Dine With Winner | NYFI
  Public data feeds in NYC opening to developers = exciting! Check out the initial contest. Win a dinner with Bloomie himself.
• A Closer Look at Facebook's New Privacy Options
  Great piece that does a good job demystifying Facebook's new privacy changes. I still think the whole thing remains pretty confusing but this starts to brush aside some of the cobwebs.
• Flickr Photo Download: The Spectrum of User Experience: Preparing the next blog entry
  Great comprehensive UX visual. There's a lot of infor here so beware.
• 20 Visualizations to Understand Crime | FlowingData
  Good stuff.
• Facebook Live Stream Box: Create Your Own CNN Obama Inauguration-Like Chat
  I'm guessing we're going to start to see a lot of these. How about integrating it into live sports streaming please?
• iPhone share of U.S. smartphone traffic hits 69% - Apple 2.0
  The way these numbers are trending, Apple's about to go Pac Man on the Smartphone Traffic Share.
• Viddler.com - HTC Hero - First Look - Uploaded by engadget
  Great look at the new Android SenseUI that'll run on the upcoming Hero.
• Customize your Sigg Water Bottle with your personal style - CafePress Sigg Designer
  Nice customization engine from Cafe Press and Sigg.
• Flip Flop Fly Ball
  Baseball + Infoviz = OMG
• 5 Reasons Android Is Changing The Smartphone Game - The Channel Wire - IT Channel News And Views by CRN and VARBusiness
  Great list of reasons to still be excited for Android despite the lack of devices.
• 10 UI Design Patterns You Should Be Paying Attention To | How-To | Smashing Magazine
  Some nice patterns to be familiar with.
• Will the iPhone 3GS Kill the Cheap Pocket Camera? | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
  I can't wait to try mine out. If only it weren't trapped in China!?
• YouTube - Zugara's Augmented Reality & Motion Capture Shopping App
  At home evolution of social retailing concept. Looks interesting but still seems like it might feel a bit kludgy.
• The Evolution of Cell Phone Design Between 1983-2009 | Webdesigner Depot
  Great compilation of cell phone imagery. Pro tip: bookmark this link to grab images you might want to use in a presentation.
• iPhone owners getting control of digital signage
  This space is very exciting to me.
• Twitter Plans to Offer Shopping Advice and Easy Purchasing - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
  Good piece on how Twitter can become far more useful in the retail (and mobile retail) setting.
• Elgan: Why the iPhone doesn't matter ( - Telecommunication - Hardware Systems - Networking - Consumer Electronics )
  Smart piece on why it's the software, not the hardware, that really matters.
• Matt Dorfman’s News + Sketches + Accidents » Married.
  Amazing wedding invitation.
• Paint giant Benjamin Moore courts iPhone users - Mobile Marketer - Content
  I remember pitching this very idea to Valspar almost 2 years ago. We called it Everyday Inspiration.
• Did HBO's 'True Blood' Campaign Achieve Immortality or Just Plain Suck? | Designerati | Fast Company
  I, for one, think these are awesome (even if I couldn't make it through one episode of the show).
• 50 Great Examples of Data Visualization | Webdesigner Depot
  Yum.
• 3.0 Hidden Features (100+ and still growing) - Mac Forums
  Great (and still growing) list of hidden iPhone 3.0 features.
• Will @Trivia Be the Biggest Twitter Game Yet?
  Brilliant, simple Twitter game.
• Fitbit - Automatically Track Your Fitness and Sleep
  Fitbit finally has a shipping date. My hope that it'll make me more motivated to run will likely remain unfulfilled.
• iPhone OS 3.0 Just Launched. Here are 20 Things To Check Out.
  I had missed some of these: send a link, better calendar syncing, shake to undo (sweet!).
• Amazing mobile app lets you see the world ‘through online eyes’ – The Next Web
  I literally cannot wait to see how this space evolves once the 3Gs start getting into developers’ hands.
• iPhone 3G Price Cut To $99 Will Kneecap The Industry | mocoNews
  Interest speculative piece on the industry ramifications of iPhone's $99 pricing.
• Peter Belanger | Blog | WWDC video
  Awesome real-time app-buying visualization from the Apple Developer's Conference.
• Oxo Redesigns the Common Syringe | Design & Innovation | Fast Company
  Love this stuff. Reading pieces like this always make me want to turn back the clock and study industrial design during my formative years.
• UNITiD | Interaction Design & Usability » Prototyping for the iPhone using Fireworks CS3
  Interesting workaround to building interactive prototypes for iPhones appa. (via Nick Finck)
• 75 Great Mobile Twitterers (#FollowFriday) | Socialize Mobilize
  Some great ones on this list.
• Sorry, There's No Way To Save The TV Business
  Great piece on the future of the TV business. It's so amazing to see how little these giant companies (industries, even) fail to learn from history. They deserve their fate.
• Gap runs contest for iPhone app developers - Mobile Marketer - Software and technology
  Gap takes an interesting approach to getting an iPhone app built. The answer? Have others build it!
• The Google Wave Highlight Reel | Smarterware
  Finally, a place to get a more concrete sense of what Google Wave actually is.
• Nick’s User Experience Tools | Blog | Nick Finck | UX/IA Pro, Speaker, and Community Cultivator.
  Great list of tools for any UX designer. I really want to give Silverback a try.
• iPhone Augmented Reality | Open The Future | Fast Company
  Nice primer on some of the things made possible by the new compass in the iPhone 3Gs.
• YouTube - Samsung WB1000 Unboxing
  Clever Samsung viral video promoting their new digicam. Shame that it peters out at the end and there isn't a clear call to action letting you know where to find out the details of the device.
• Gizmodo - The iPhone User Interface Stencil Kit - Iphone stencil kit
  This was too beautiful to pass up. I had to order one.
• The 30 Most Important Books for Product Designers | Design & Innovation | Fast Company
  An amazing list that you all should bookmark, read through and add a few to your Amazon cart.
• Boone Oakley: The Agency That Lives on YouTube - mediabistro.com: AgencySpy
  By now everyone has seen this but in case you haven't, here you go. While lots of companies will pratter on about how much they get it, this is what it looks like when you "walking the walk."
• INSPIRE - A publication from the Adobe Experience Design team
  Excellent post about how Mobile beats the Desktop as a tool for social networking. Hits on all the big points.
• Kicker Studio's Jennifer Bove on how to design enjoyment | Creativity Online
  Great post on how integrate a little fun into your interfaces can create truly memorable experiences.
• iCopycats: Apple Does Not Equal Good Design | Design Matters | Fast Company
  Great piece on how doing something "like Apple" isn't enough. Amazing how many people are still under this spell.
• YouTube - BooneOakley.com - Home Page
  Awesome website for BooneOakley.
• For Online Recommendations, One Size Doesn’t Fit All
  Nice piece on the complexities of designing recommendation systems.
• Enjoymentland » News! I’m leaving the Robot Co-op, starting Enjoymentland
  Great post from my friend Buster on his plan to leave his job and go solo designing and building apps that make life more enjoyable.
• Gizmodo - HTC's Android Interface Makes Us Temporarily Forget All About Palm Pre - android donut
  Nice to see someone finally doing something nice with a custom Android build. That being said, this UI isn't blowing my mind the way it seems to for this post author.
• NightTline: Twitter and ABC Launch a Tweetable News Show
  Exciting to see this stuff start happening on the heels of what we saw during the election.
• Just Landed: Visualizing the Tweets of People that have "Just Landed" - information aesthetics
  Beautiful and awesome.
• Gizmodo - The Watchmen Blu-ray Will Sync with Facebook - Watchmen clu-ray
  Interesting way to bring social into the living room. Need to see how the setup and interaction is actually executed. I guess I may just have to see the Watchmen after all...
• URBAN ART GUIDE
  Cool looking street art app from adidas.