Clockwork Active Media Systems

Better Naming Through Technology

posted on 7/6/05 by Meghan Wilker

A client sent me a link to this baby name website today -- the Baby Name Wizard's Name Voyager. Even though I'm only 13 weeks along (27 weeks to go, yo!), I've already seen my fair share of baby name websites. This one is by far the best because it gives you a visual representation of a name's popularity over time. Like most people, I don't want my kid to have the same name as every other kid at preschool. I mean, come on -- didn't we all go to school with like 27 Jennifers? Continue Reading | Add a Comment

The World is Your Jeeves

posted on 7/6/05 by Andy Wright

Justcurio.us posts anonymous questions from around the world, inviting you to answer one of your choosing. If you answer a question, you may then post a one yourself. Recent deep probings include examples such as: "skip college?" "What's the difference between growing into love and falling in love?" and, my fave of the moment, "When is the McRib coming back?" Continue Reading | Add a Comment

Grow your music network

posted on 7/11/05 by Martin Grider

Audio Scrobbler is a website (and suite of plugins for various audio players) that keeps track of what music you listen to and makes suggestions based on that music. There are some social networking aspects, as you can keep a list of friends and neighbors. When you've listened to enough music, there are all kinds of interesting statistics to dig into. While I'm on the subject of social networking sites, here's a lazy web idea: What if there was some site and/or software to keep track of all your social networking accounts in one place? You could make a change to a single profile, and it would propagate to all your accounts all over the place. (Or better yet, allow you to choose which accounts to update selectively.) I'd use it. Continue Reading | Add a Comment

Norway and Open Source

posted on 7/12/05 by Michael Opperman

Norway's Minister for Modernization, Morton Andreas Meyer, pledged that "proprietary formats will no longer be acceptable in communication between citizens and government." For example, Norway will be reconsidering its use of the "spreadsheet almost everyone uses." Ahem, Microsoft, ahem. As seen on CNET. I can't decide whether I'm disappointed or relieved that the United States doesn't have a minister for modernization. Continue Reading | Add a Comment

Flickr Peep Show

posted on 7/12/05 by Andy Wright

Here's an interesting installation: a Flickr-enabled piece that prompts viewers to type and submit keywords from their mobile phones. Looking thru the peep holes will then reveal projected photos matching the keywords. I think the reason why things like this are so exciting to me, is that uses of SMS such as this allow web content to break free from tiny mobile/PDA screens. The canvas can be a screen in a museum, or a jumbotron billboard, so in a sense they behave like remote controllers for the internet. Continue Reading | 1 Comment

We're Not Afraid!

posted on 7/15/05 by Sara Gates

A picture is worth a 1,000 words, and in this case, a creative way to fight back. WereNotAfraid.com was created by Alfie Dennen, a London resident, who wanted to prove that he was fearless, even after the recent bombings. His site consists of photos that people from all over the world have submitted with the words, â€œWe are not afraid.â€ Sometimes it is the simplest idea that can have the most impact. By the way, this is my first blog. Ever. Iâ€™m not afraid! Continue Reading | 3 Comments

on global connectedness

posted on 7/25/05 by Sharyn Morrow

Recently I was given a Japanese children's book. The artwork is amazing, but naturally I can't read the text...and I had only a vague idea about its plot. Curiousity got the better of me, so I snapped off some photos and posted them to flickr:

Within 24 hours I had translations, graciously supplied by Kenji (aka Tokyo Knock). People learning from other people can be a grand thing, and in this instance we have technology to thank for it. Continue Reading | Add a Comment

Top 10 Web Fads

posted on 7/26/05 by Meghan Wilker

Just stumbled across this top 10 list on CNET. Ah, memories. I'm sure we can all think of a few they missed, but they did hit a lot of the biggies. Continue Reading | Add a Comment

The Wonderful World of Widgets

posted on 7/28/05 by Nancy Lyons

Yahoo announced this week that it was acquiring Pixoria, a developer that specializes in creating 'widgets' - tiny web applications that do not rely on the browser to access web-based content and deliver it to a desktop near you. Apple Computers and the 'Dashboard', included in the latest Mac operating system, has called serious attention to widgets. But the common misperception is that they are an 'Apple only' possibility. Clearly this acquisition indicates that widgets are about to be more prevalent across platforms. The good news is, we don't need to buy widgets to use them to deliver targeted content. We can build our own branded widgets to serve specific purposes for clients. Content outside of the browser opens up a whole new world of possibility in terms of accessibility and personalization. It's very exciting for developers for sure. Continue Reading | 1 Comment