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The Yoshida Brothers play Kodo. Rock on the traditional Shamisen. Awesome and powerful.

What People Don’t Know, They Imagine:

Knowing which way you flip a card is like knowing which shoe you put on first in the morning. You might think you remember, but chances are you don’t. And what you don’t know, you just imagine. I’m left-handed, so I tie my left shoe first. Right. The answers seem plausible, but it’s bad science. People can’t even tell you their height and weight without getting it wrong, let alone describe obscure, subconscious behaviors. So it’s best to ignore the survey responses and go straight to the observations.

Green messages…yada yada yada. “Use less soap, save the planet.” Now we’re really talking green. There is something about a “just-add-water” cleaning solution that appeals to my green-minded conscience. Although I remain a city girl at heart.

People Planet, a Canadian manufacturer of green cleaning products, has a winning formula for iQ, a household cleaner. The major ingredient of iQ is water. It comes in an abbreviated package; a spray bottle which you fill with tap water to dilute the cleaning product, a plant-based concentrate delivered in cartridges. After running out of detergent, just replace the cartridge and refill the original spray bottle with water.

Add a little bit of water to your all-purpose cleaner and voilá—the “keep things simplest” vibe is in effect.

As part of the New Simplicity Exhibition in London, ‘Climate Station‘ – designed by Denmark-based Thomas Wagner – is a product line composed of a minimalistic fan and radiator.

The interesting aspect about Climate Station is that it uses no wires. It plugs directly into a special extension cable, and can be stored alongside books when not in use. The designer, aware of the seasonal usage of fans and radiators, wanted to design objects that would be attractive anywhere, anytime.

Made of plastic and aluminum, the fan and radiator measure 297mm in height and 210mm in width. Unobtrusive and aesthetically pleasing, Climate Station serves to comfort the user while looking real fine.

Tomas Bartko - Icon and web design:

Some very nice desktop pictures here. (via Prettify)

How-To: Give Your Old iPhone New Life With Prepaid Data and Minutes:

Somewhat fiddley but interesting way to use last years model.

You may have heard already but, along with some new iMacs (Win), Mac Pros (Big Win), 27inch Cinema Display (Lickable), Apple released a brand new product – The Magic Trackpad.

Now, there are those who are trackpad people, those who can’t stand them, and a few in-betweeners who are comfortable with either. I’m one of the later. I even have a use case for one – My media center is an iMac and, due to its station on a shelf, there is just not enough travel room for a mouse. I currently have a Kensington Orbit Trackball attached to it and, while it does the job, it sure is not as sexy or, well, magic. But these details are not the story from my perspective.

Let’s do some theorizing on that magic for a bit. You may see a revolutionary mouse and trackpad. I see something far larger and more subversive…

Apple is rewiring our brains for touch.

Just like with the iPhone and iPad, Apple is steadfastly reinforcing the idea that touch is the way we interact with our computers. The Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad are just one more step in that direction. In fact, I would not be surprised if, before we ever see a touch based iMac, we see a keyboard without keys. A completely touch aware input experience in order to prepare the masses for the “next big thing”. That big thing is input devices as we have come to know them going away for good.

So, this begs the question, “Why not just make a giant desk sized iPad type iMac now?” Here is the answer: It is a minor adjustment to behavior and learning to make such moves with a brand new device, because the general public will see it as “new device, new input”. It is much more difficult to take something that has followed only one input method (keyboard and mouse) for twenty years and suddenly thrust something this new upon them. Revolutions generally start with a few new ideas that pick up steam and grow larger as they roll down the hill. The Magic Trackpad is the visual representation of the revolution to come.