MCCANNY

So I’m researching PaperVision3D for a potential new project for an author and I stumble on this beautiful site by McCann Erickson. I think it’s gorgeous, Zeh thinks the navigation is clunky (he’s right, of course) and so I blast it to my friends and they all suggest I put it on [d]online. God, I really have to buckle down and learn this stuff.

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iFlash

screenshot03Finally! Adobe and Apple developers are working on a version of Flash for the iPhone.

Apparently, Steve Jobs had turned down Flash Lite due to how restrictive it was and Adobe requested Apple open up its iPhone architecture to allow Flash to run as a built-in program, rather than just as an app. Either way, Adobe is finally facing the challenge to have Flash running on mobile devices. Hopefully, they don’t start and end with the iPhone leaving Blackberry owners and mobile application developers disinterested in the outcome.

The entire story is below:

Adobe’s CEO, Shantanu Narayen, has suggested that his company is now working with Apple to develop a version of Flash that runs on the iPhone, according to an interview with Bloomberg. Narayen in March of 2008 explained the need to work closely with Apple for the project, as the software would necessitate a close relationship with Safari in addition to the iPhone SDK. Steve Jobs had considered Flash Lite as too limited in functionality, while the standard Flash player would not provide satisfactory performance using the limited resources of the mobile platform.

The software company had originally suggested it could develop Flash for the iPhone by using just the SDK. The statement was later retracted, however, due to the development kit restrictions that prevent third-party code from running in the devices’ built-in programs.

“It’s a hard technical challenge, and that’s part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating,” Narayen said. “The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver.”

NYC Subway Art Collages

Nearly all subway stations have inlays in the tiled walls for advertising. For over a century, these inlays have been plastered with wheat-paste and posters were rolled on top, only to be shredded off, re-plastered, re-rolled, and re-shredded, again and again. The resulting collage of color in this accidental artwork is often quite compelling.

Over the last decade, whenever I encountered one I really enjoyed, I snapped a photo. Mostly, I just put these on my Flickr “Textures” gallery, or temporarily use it as the wallpaper on my phone. But recently, I’ve been thinking of printing/framing some of them and hanging them in my apartment or giving them to friends as gifts. What do you think? Leave a comment below or drop me a line if you’re interested.

Other [d]online “Art Collage” Posts:
March 11, 2016 — NYC Subway Art Collages
November 5, 2018 — NYC Wall Art Collages

A Good Author Website Is…?

According to HarperStudio, who experiments with new publishing models to make books more effective, creative and sustainble, sites for authors and/or books, must accomplish the following five things:

  1. Is interactive and speaks to a distinct community
  2. Is inherently entertaining
  3. Engages someone who has never heard of the book or author
  4. Gives the reader a reason to come back
  5. Can be found easily on Google

And, happily listed at the top of their examples of sites that “got it right” is the official site for John Hodgman, AreasofMyExpertise.com, which we (ERA404) designed last year.

And while JH, himself, should take credit for the first four and WordPress deserves recognition for the last one, I’d proudly extend HarperStudio’s list by one, and take credit for it:

6. Creatively extend branding across new media

Go us!

NY Times Book Review
Just a follow-up to this article, take a look at the NY Times Book Review this week