MOG

MOG is a fairly new website I have discovered that allows you to stream unlimited amounts of music to your mobile device for only $10 a month. The user can select individual songs, explore prewritten playlists, or just listen to a radio with no restrictions. The radio plays non-stop and can be completely on-demand where the listener chooses each individual or MOG can pick out songs that go with the type of music you are listening to. You can explore playlists of other listeners as well as ones made by the artists themselves. The viewer can also explore album art, discographies and news concerning the band they are listening to. Also the site contains a customizable profile and the ability to share songs with your friends even if they don't have an account. The only problem I had with the site is that they never directly state what MOG means.

Free Wifi

This year holiday travel will be much more enjoyable for people that can not bare the though of separating with their computers. Google Chrome is sponsoring free Wifi to major airlines such as AirTran Airways, Delta, and Virgin America. The Wifi will be in effect from November 20, 2010 until Jan 2, 2011. The only catch is that in order to use the internet, Google requests the user's email address so they can send them promotional material. The nice part about this is that the user still has the option of letting Google send them any unsolicited emails by merely checking or not checking a box when they create their account.

Social Media Thanksgiving

I thought this was a hilarious little blurb about how the characteristics and trends of Social Media can be compared with the mannerisms of Thanksgiving. Number 5. "Every year we see a flock of them", is dead on as humans moved from myspace to twitter and now facebook. I often wonder if this much Social Networking is good the the American Population or not. I feel like there should be more purpose driven Social Networking sites instead of ones like Facebook and Twitter where we can spy on other humans. Don't get me wrong i have a facebook account but sometimes I feel like spending a lot of time on it is counterproductive.

This is a chart from May 2010 that shows the top 10 Social Networking Websites and Forums. As you can see Facebook easily holds the number 1 position. Youtube, Myspace and Twitter's totals combined doesn't even add up to the amount of people who are on Facebook. The question on might ask is why Facebook is so far ahead? I was surprised to see that Youtube was so far behind facebook because I know for me personally those two sites are an even tie. While Youtube is a social networking site, users must be getting a lot more out of what facebook has to offer such as a News Feed and the closeness of a web community. Youtube doesn't seem to be as personable of a web site and that is why I feel it can not keep up with Facebook.

Repurposing Social Content

This was an interesting video by Lee Odden about Repurposing Social Content and what the goals of Social Media should be. These days many companies put a great emphasis on numbers and the quantity of people affected by their content. Some major questions they should be asking themselves are, "Did the video or other type of social media influence anyone?" and also, "Did this media further other messages or was it a sole tactic?" These days it seems major companies aren't as worried about making something meaningful as they are making something that sells. I can agree with Lee when he says this needs to be changed.

VANDAL SQUAD

I stumbled on this site while checking out graffiti. Although it isn't the best designed site I was highly impressed by it's content. There are artists featured from all over the world on walls, trains, trucks and anything else that can be painted on.

Design Milk

Design-Milk.com is an interesting website with original design ideas for everyday products. One product I thought was interesting was this wood ipad dock. It is simple and would be incredibly easy to make and also easy to store and transport. It may seem simple but the cut in the wood is engineered perfectly to keep the ipad from falling and optimize viewing. This site contains other unique inventions such as another ipas stand that is merely two small pieces that attach to the corners of the pad and keep it standing.

iphone vs android

"Despite the new and improved Android Market, Apple's iphone still reigns supreme in the land of smart phones." That is the conclusion I came to after reading this article comparing the iphone to the android. While Google has been trying to improve the accessibility of their apps, it seems they are really only trying to play catch up to apple. Apple's limit for iOS app downloads is 40 times larger, Apple can accommodate large software sizes because iOS apps don't exclusively rely upon over the air installation as Android Market apps do, and Apple allows users to get big apps from iTunes directly via WiFi or by syncing with iTunes.

ASTUTEO

Astuteo is a web design firm based in Wisconsin. One of my favorite pieces in their portfolio of work is the University Audio Website. They do a nice job of giving University Audio a professional look that relates the viewer to the content.

5 things i love and hate

Digital Mash is an incredible website for designers. The article I am blogging about is called "Designing for the web: 5 things I love and hate. The article is very informative and a good read for print designers wanting to be more involved in web. She brings up valid concerns like the fact that your design can be frankensteined as the site grows but she also has many positive things to say such as the fact that a website is never concrete and can always be updated.

sillypinkbunnies.com

Jeremy Fish is an amazing illustrator whose work has been featured in magazines like juxtapoz and even in Asop Rock's music video Non Shall Pass. He has a unique style that usually combines animals and human objects to create some mind-blowing compositions. I highly suggest checking his stuff out as he is getting into more and more interactive design. I have never seen a style like Jeremy's before and his website is nicely done.

Vandelay Design

Vandelay was a website I stumbled upon when searching for well designed non-profit websites. They specialize in church websites but their portfolio is diverse. One of the main things that stands out to me in all their work is the way they organize their content and make it extremely easy for the viewer to navigate the entire page. Their pages have nice usage of whitespace and engage the figure and ground in the different pages.

The Comedy Network was a website that I drew a lot of inspiration off of for my comedy website. The site is very easy to navigate, the one thing I do question is the amount of information they try to fit in the drop down menus. It seems to me that they could just have the button on the global navigation to be a link to a page that listed off all the shows they carry. There is an extremely evident grid structure involved in this site and their content is always up to date.

DaveSteckel.com

This is a portfolio site of a friend of mine that goes to Kent State for Visual Communication Design. In my opinion his strongest work are his illustrations. This Rathskeller bar article shows his command over a paintbrush. I like the rough uncompleted style of these illustrations and the use of color overall.

Skateboarding.com

Skateboarding.com is one of my favorite websites of all time. Their content is always fresh and full of life. The underlying structure is clean and the hierarchy pulls the viewer right in. I usually reference the structure of this site whenever I am working on websites. They have various flash animations on the home page and logos all over the place. The site has come a long way.