Portable Scanner

I'm working on a plan to spend more time at the library, and this portable scanner looks like my new best friend for books I can't bring home:


I think this thing might also come in handy for scanning vintage textiles when I'm on the road. I read that one of the competing brands can even scan computer screens. Woah. THE FUTURE IS NOW.

Square

Square is a plug in device that allows you to complete credit card transactions on iPhones, iPads and other smartphones. WOAH. After dealing with two clunky web-based merchants, I am totally dazzled with this new option. Not that I currently have an iPad or a business that sells things, but I'm keeping this one in the files anyways.

The interface looks really clean and simple, and it helps you keep all of your transactions in one place. Check out the video... don't be too alarmed by the guy's creepy tone. SQUARE WILL BE EVERYWHERE but it's an okay thing.

Stop Motion Videos

I can't get enough of this stuff - stop motion is so simple and yet, with a little ingenuity and some time you can make amazing videos. My recent favorites:

Wolf and Pig / A Wolf Loves Pork (via designboner)




Shapemaker (via Tas-ka)

TED Talks: Jonathon Harris

I've been watching the TED Talks videos, a series of fascinating speeches by a variety of professionals in the areas of Technology, Entertainment, and Design. The TED Talks have been going on since the early 1980s, but now they're available to everyone on the web. I like what their website says:

"Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy. There are no breakout groups. Everyone shares the same experience. It shouldn't work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected. Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole."

Jonathon Harris' lecture on his work was particularly interesting: check out his projects, which include WE FEEL FINE and UNIVERSE.

His graphic sense is so engaging, and the recurring themes he points out - feelings of love, special moments among family and friends, milestones in one's life - help to connect the sometimes isolated world of blogs and filesharing sites.

Writing Machines

I saw this typewriter on the classic typewriter page. I liked seeing the whole collection in the "typewriter spotlights" section - it gives you an idea of how different people approach a similar goal.