p { blogg: lyanghsueh; }_

   

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Inner_City_Bike.zip (70 KB)

Design firm JRuiter Studio has designed this super minimalist “City Bike”. It was aim to live / worke in an inner city environment with minimal space.

Designers ended up rethinking what a “frame” meant, getting rid of basic key components, and creating a new type of bicycling that is more about fashion and culture than speed and performance.

This interesting video animation from Google UK captures some of the important milestones in Google’s 14 year old history. From Stanford to Mountain View and around the world, featuring many different products, starting with BackRub (Search) up to Google Wave, StreetView and Chrome. Hopefully it'll grow continuously.

by London Photographer, Iain Crawford.

Customized Version of Google by Infinise Design.

Simple and nice! I think Google should consider it!

How Should We Define “Design”? by Gardi Amit

1. Is there truly a “new design” phenomenon?
2. Is any idea, whether it’s an initiative for social progress or a clever way to market movies, enough to be declared a work of design?
3. Can a construct such as a “process,” “business plan” or a “system” be work of design?
4. Lastly, are these metaphysical constructs always design or is there a threshold of beauty, a rigorous process, or another quality standard that must be met for something to be considered a design? In other words, is a ‘business plan’ always a form of “new design” or does it have to involve some level of good, “old fashioned” design to be considered more than an ordinary business plan? And, if the latter, what are the requisite elements that would distinguish one from the other?

Design makes something more functional precisely because of its beautification. That also distinguishes design from say, engineering, where something is made better in ways that have nothing to do with its beauty.

To me, design is best defined with actions as opposed to words. I hope I never find the answer, and doubt I ever will.

This photo was taken of metropolitan New York City (and other parts of New York as well as New Jersey) the morning of September 11, 2001.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to all the people there, and everywhere else.

said Station Commander Frank Culbertson of Expedition 3, after the terrorists’ attacks.

Image credit: NASA

Everybody know, we can upload video clips to the Facebook site. But, Facebook doesn’t (officially) provide an embed code for their videos. When you found a very interesting video on Facebook but how you do share it with your blog readers since there’s no code to embed that video into your site. The other problem is you can watch video clips on Facebook only if you are logged into your Facebook account. But how do you share these video clips with people who aren’t members of Facebook?

Here’s a way that will let you embed any Facebook video into your web pages, a simple trick.

Every video uploaded on Facebook has a unique ID that you can find in the browser’s address bar (look for the value of parameter "v").

Copy that number(ID) and replace it with "xxx" in the code below.

<object width="400" height="224" >
  <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" />
  <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" />
  <param name="movie" value="http://www.facebook.com/v/xxx" />
  <embed src="http://www.facebook.com/v/xxx" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="224">
  </embed>
</object>

Now you can put that code on any web pages and the video will play just fine, and watch it here itself without having to become a Facebook member.

Thanks, Amit!

Update: OK, since December 5, 2008 Facebook has placed "Embed this Video" links on video pages of videos, with the same code, I'm really out.

                       

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Gallery_Wildfires_in_Southern_.zip (2216 KB)

Angeles National Forest, in the hills outside of Los Angeles currently has several wildfires tearing through it, the largest of which - named the Station Fire - has so far burned over 140,000 acres, destroyed nearly 100 structures, and claimed the lives of two firefighters whose vehicle fell from a road into a steep canyon. Evacuation orders are in place for thousands in communities around the city, and residents of Los Angeles itself are contending with thick smoke and ash hanging in the air, causing air quality to drop to unhealthful levels in many parts. Currently, the Station Fire is estimated to be 22% contained, and favorable weather appears to be aiding the efforts of the firefighters.

via Boston.com

- Accepts you as who you are.
- Believes in 'You'.
- Calls you just to say 'Hi'.
- Doesn't give up on you.
- Envisions the whole of you.
- Forgives your mistakes.
- Gives unconditionally.
- Helps you.
- Invites you over.
- Just 'Be' with you.
- Keeps you close at heart.
- Loves you for who you are.
- Makes a difference in your life.
- Never judges.
- Offers support.
- Picks you up.
- Quiets your fears.
- Raises your spirits.
- Says nice things about you.
- Tells you the truth when you need to hear it.
- Understands.
- Values you.
- Walks beside you.
- Xplain things you don't understand.
- Yells when you won't listen.
- Zaps you back to reality.

That's what a good friend is... :)