Toys: I got a new cell-phone today. Sweet. Key feature: EvDO.

That Dylan Stableford is one funny guy: Sorry, inside custom publishing and Ali G joke.

zefrank knows him some ugly: Has some beautiful things to say about ugly on “the show” today.

Quote:

“Regardless of what you might think, the actions you take to make your MySpace page ugly are pretty sophisticated. Over time, as consumer-created media engulfs the ‘other kind’ it’s possible that completely new norms will develop around the norms of talent and artistic ability.”

Thanks, zefrank, for thinking about ugly so I don’t have to.

Technorati Tags: myspace, zefre

Media attention deficit reorder: From Rob Hof and Heather Green, there’s a story in the current issue of BusinessWeek about how some big brand marketers are trying to cope with we “consumers” out here no longer being just a herd ofmass-mediaized sheep.

Quote:

“It’s not just that media is splintering, as it has been for decades. The difference now is that the Internet is thrusting that trend into overdrive. With every quick click, millions of people…are slicing and dicing media into ever-tinier little bits, just the nuggets they want and nothing more. And by the millions, they’re reassembling them into personalized digital channels of their own choosing — all too often, minus the advertisements that sustain nearly all media today. The result: a serious case of attention deficit for every business that depends on traditional mass media to reach customers.”

Technorati Tags: media

Aunt B is making me blush: I’m thinking that the first sentence of this incredibly kind post by Nashville blogger Aunt B should be my epitaph one day — or at least on a T-Shirt: “I read Rex Hammock’s blog pretty damn faithfully and aspire to someday know what the f**k he’s talking about.” Me too.

Technorati Tags: blogging, nashville

Sam Decker on Dell’s corporate blog: Until January, Sam Decker worked at Dell. He’s been blogging since 2003 (but not about Dell). He has some observations and constructive advice for the new corporate blog at his former employer.

Technorati Tags: businessblogging, dell

Flattery, or Ripoff? Khoi Vinh is a wonderful and influential web designer. One of the best. He’s definitely created a unique look, feel and structure that can be defined by such terms as “signature.” He used to get publicly enraged when people would blatantly ripoff his website’s design. Then, he mellowed on that topic.

However, today he wonders-aloud how he should respond when the Auburn University School of Architecture basically clones his design. I think he has reason to be screaming. Isn’t plagarism something that should be discouraged by universities?

Update: It is
worth following the comments on Khoi’s
post to see how this has played out. First, it appears the
website’s developers misinterpreted Khoi’s Creative Commons license. On
the Auburn site, Khoi’s website was cited and attribution was given in the
credits. Upon learning of the controversy this morning — and learning of their apparent misinterpretation of the license
– the Auburn folks returned the website to its previous design and apologized.
Perhaps this matter could have been better handled with some e-mail
between the parties beforehand. However, if it had
been, we would have missed this great learning experience. Also, for
the record: While I did not attend the school, my sweet 91-year-old
mother was one of Auburn’s earlier women graduates — she attended when there were around 200 female students.

Technorati Tags: web design