9/11 Memorial

This Saturday, I finally got the chance to visit the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center construction site. The week of the attacks, all my friends and family expressed a desire to help with the rescue effort at Ground Zero. Because I lived in NYC at the time, I was lucky enough to be able to do something.   Read more

Kids in the 1940s

The Library of Congress continues to post striking color images from its archives of the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Office of War Information (OWI), whose photographers created a compelling document of America between 1939 and 1944. For more on the Library’s collection visit loc.gov.

What really caught my eye about these beautiful photos isn’t necessarily the composition, but rather the ephemera and war propaganda that covers the walls in the rural school in San Augustine County, Texas. The photos were taken around the time that my parents were born and it’s curious to read the messages on the posters that say things like: “Schools At War: We Are Ready – What About You?” and “Buy War Bonds“.  Read more

Humanæ

Humanæ  is a chromatic inventory, a project that reflects on the colors beyond the borders of our codes by referencing the PANTONE® color scheme.

The project development is based on a series of portraits whose background is dyed with the exact Pantone® tone extracted from a sample of 11×11 pixels of the portrayed’s face. The project’s objective is to record and catalog all possible human skin tones.

(via Katherine)

Free, Online, Too

Every once in a while, I receive an email like the above, which reminds me that there are honorable companies out there that strive for their positive initiatives and ethical practices to help sell their products (Notice that Dropbox doubled our storage capacity ‘as a thank you for being a Dropbox Pro customer’ and uses ‘an extra thanks’ to help promote their paid services to our friends, colleagues and/or family members.)

In light of my post about online companies promoting free products and gradually stripping them away (Free, Online), as well as the recent rant, Don’t Upgrade Quickbooks, I decided to compile two lists of  online businesses:

1. Bad Practices: Those that have been guilty of luring customers in and paring down their offerings (or steepening their prices)
2. Good Practices: Those that have withstood the trend by doing the complete opposite, providing additional free services.

I’d love your help with these lists, citing company names and examples of how they’ve fallen into one of these two categories. Send me an email or comment on this post to be added to the list.

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