likeyoulike - Mark Johnson

Fuck off Jimmy

mark — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:14:46 +0000

I hate James Bond films.
I’ve never looked forward to them and have always groaned inwardly whenever I’ve had to watch any one of the dire movies, no matter who was playing 007, and today I read a quote, from David Mitchell, that just about sums it up for me.

“The main thing about James Bond is that he doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks. He’s a bit of a dick, really - not someone you’d want to end up next to at a dinner party - but he keeps saving the world, so, you know, fair enough.”

See what I mean.

The not so long tail

mark — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:59:30 +0000

Ooops. New evidence suggests that the Long Tail effect may not have panned out as first thought. In fact, the word used is ‘debunked’. Read it here.

Little Big Planet

mark — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:48:28 +0000

This is my obligatory Little Big Planet post.

If you haven’t come across LBP then you must have been hiding out in a cave hoping that the CIA don’t come round for tea. For those of you that aren’t on the run from the forces of international justice then you’ll undoubtedly know that it’s an amazing looking game that sort of lets you construct your own levels, environments, interactions and various other treats.

Made by Media Molecule who have also posted up a pretty good flickr album. Nice.

An engineer’s guide to cats

mark — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:22:31 +0000

Ok, it’s about cats…sorry. While reasonably geeky it’s still fairly funny. Sample quote “Ginger’s compact size means she can fit easily into tight parking spaces”. Enjoy it animal lovers.

Mildly world changing events No. 1

mark — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:18:57 +0000

First up in a probably very occasional series is The Bloke Who Invented The Cash Machine.

He could have really cleaned up if he’d also invented a hole in the wall for people to pee into while taking cash out. None the less, thousands of inn-keepers and kebab shop owners owe a debt of gratitude here.

I’ll do ya…

mark — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:04:56 +0000

The DO Lectures - fantastic, wholly insightful and completely inspirational…and I haven’t even gone through all the talks yet. Whatever you do, don’t miss the talk from Matt Jones and Russell Davies. Oh yeah.

Everyblock

mark — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:57:41 +0000

Everyblock is a very local news and info aggregator that tells you exactly what’s going on in your neighbourhood. USA only for now and no feedback mechanism for social/oral news and histories but I reckon this could be massive. Have a look at it here.

20 iPhone apps every designer should know

mark — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:45:20 +0000

Title says it all really, but a nice little article for designers who use their phone for more than just calling (which is what they said to be honest) - post is over here…

State of Independence

mark — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:27:02 +0000

Some lovely work over at Independent Studio - check out the SAMA Festival in particular

Seeing things differently

mark — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:43:36 +0000

I’ve been looking at a lot of augmented reality stuff lately and am fascinated by the possibilities for live gaming involving mobiles and crowds. There’s been some great work done with augmented reality but it’s few and far between and I think the technology might be a bit limited right now, but I just know that an idea we pitched to the BBC a few months ago would be perfect for it…so more on that when the idea is bit more fully formed.

In the meantime, I’m going to buy some infra-red cameras this week and see if there’s anything in the thoughts I’ve been having about the effect of crowds and how they influence environments…a bit like digg-labs but with real LIVE people. Yup.