HT DESIGNS_ BE INSPIRED

Book.Ish

Although I haven't jumped into the world of ebooks 100%, I couldn't pass up this clever and well-rounded branding by A Friend of Mine. The Melbourne-based design studio created the branding for Book.Ish, a web-based application for selling and reading ebooks. They designed the business cards, website and phone application for reading. The overall feel of the design is absolutely "bookish." I really appreciate the subtlety of the letter "B" as the eyeglasses and the bright and inviting colors. The goal is to make reading ebooks "fun and approachable." By straying away from a technical look and giving homage to classic literary production techniques, I believe that they have accomplished their goal. I might just read more ebooks because of this branding!

"Inventive Labs designed the online environment with illustrations by Lachlan Conn and Ben Sanders."

I find these bookmarks as their promotional piece to be brilliant and appropriate.

Sunglasses for your PC......

This is something new I stumbled onto today.

Around the office everyone always grumbles about there eyes being "shot" after staring at their screens for 12 hours a day. So when I was reading about GUNNAR OPTIK I thought this may be something interesting to try around the office.

Seems that they have come up with a lens that promises to reduce strain caused by staring at a screen all day. I'm not that bright so the tech behind it is way beyond me.

I think the boss wants to try a pair out here just to see what they are like.

I'll do an update when we get a pair here to play with, but don't expect me to ditch my Prada's for them just yet!

Shuttle - cool server maybe......?

I came across this the other day when surfing my usual tech toys sites.

A mini computer with a built in 7inch LCD screen.

It appears that it may not even be released here in Canada, but the Shuttle D10 looks like a cool little piece.

Not really a gaming PC or for someone that needs heavy programming or things of that nature, but for a file server that takes up no space would be very cool........

PR machine at apple at it again....

Is everyone ready again??

Apple is up to no good again and creating mad panic by calling another large press gathering to announce "SOMETHING BIG".

This time with the 3G phone already out, and promises of an all new iphone like Nano, no one is really sure what else that it can be. New iBook? iMac with new touch screen? Free Mac's for everyone?

PR from apple is saying be ready for big things....so time will tell.

What else can it be??????????

Sneak Peek??????

To compete with all the high priced smart phones out there, a new company called Peek has taken a totally new approach.

They have created a small portable device about the size of a normal Black Berry that JUST DOES EMAIL.

This is a perfect thing for someone who doesn't need all the "toys" all the new smart phones have.

This is currently only available on T-Mobile in the states and for $20USD a month you have unlimited emails anywhere in the world.

I've read the unit costs around $100US and will be available in target stores in the next week.

If I wasnt hooked on my iphone iI would definitely take a look at one of these to stay in contact.

The mouse is so last decade...

In College, I remember a class where we were gathered in front of a projection screen and introduced to the world of a mouse-less computer. A computer which was capable of doing everything you could ever imagine and more with your hands. The first appearance of this technology came in Apple's iPhone, but HP is the first to sell a touch screen computer (mouse is not included, but does include a keyboard)

I remember my first impressions on this - Can you imagine how this will change how we work, how it opens and expands boundaries we couldn't reach before? Especially as a graphic designer.

I think it's pretty cool.

power of public outcry....

Well....it seems that public outcry can in fact change big business.

All that read here, and the rest of the internet world, know that the Apple iPhone is about to launch in just 2 more sleeps. Yes I'm excited and will be grabbing one the first day.

Rogers however dropped the ball on what could have been an amazing marketing strategy with its launch, but instead in their greedy minds they desided to completely gouge the market and create plans that priced the product out of the market.

Rogers, or ROBBERS as they are affectionately known online, have a monopoly on both GSM technology and the iPhone in Canada.  I guess they thought that the public would want the phone so bad that we would pay anything.....they thought wrong.

Less then 15 minutes after the plan pricing was announced there was a mass public outcry. The internet blogging sites and iphone forums were discussing the huge plans and started several online petitions to go again and boycott the phone.

The biggest petiton www.ruinediPhone.com got over 50,000 signatures.

With all the press online, mainstream media picked up on the story and several news outlets all across the countrry ran stories of the bad busniess practice.

We all assumed that was it, but with rumors of Apple stepping in and laying threats, Robbers/Rogers has just announced that they are redoing their plans 48 hours away from launch.

They are offering a great data plan that you can attach to any voice plan.

This goes to show you........that no matter how badly you think you have a "winner", DONT GET GREEDY!

Rogers will be dealing with this screw up for years - A PR nightmare could have been avoided if they just put out the product with a SLIGHT mark-up.

Live and learn....but this one is costly.

CD......or DVD coffee table?

Finally a piece of furniture that my wife MAY let me have!

I always like tech toys and this one seems to blend interior design and tech toys in one.

This is a functioning CD/DVD player with a trick control panel integrated right into the frame and a disc storage carousel located in the base of the table.

Also a pretty cool way to store all your 80's dance cd's out in the open.

iRing / Sony Apple Remote

the iRing by Victor Soto allows you to control the playback on your iPhone/iPod

Sony's Apple Remote Control

Its not out yet, but this new remote allows a viewer to change the volume of their tv with a simple motion.

iPhone 3G RELEASE date!!!!!

Well......I know this is a design blog, and I promised to keep my tech toys out of it, but I can't resist.

Apple is about to announce the release of their next generation iPhone on June 9th. The 3G promises to be all the flash of the original with several new features.

This is the first phone that is actually making me change my tune about my love for blackberry's. I have had a BB smart phone for 3 years now, and I can say that a few weeks after this launches I will be one of the guys rushing to the apple store in buffalo to pick one up.

I'll let everyone know what I think when I grab it and molest it for a few days straight.