SONAR AUDIO/VISUAL

AUDIO/VISUAL - This is a post that is hard to describe but incredibly easy to justify. Sonar, by Renaud Hallée, is an award winning short flash animation made up of nothing more than dots, dashes, bleeps and ripples – anything more and it would certainly be ruined. Think Pong meets 1960s sci-fi book covers.

We were impressed further to read that the animation is script free; made manually bleep by dot by bleep.

Disarmingly simple, Sonar is well worth the two and a half minutes of sanctuary from whatever you’re up to right now.

[J] ALLAN

UNPLUG: DISCONNECTED HOLIDAYS

DIGITAL - 'DisconnectedHolidays.com is the sweetest escape from the everyday life cycle. It is a service that helps you to disconnect from the things that stress you. You can send your mobile phone, laptop or calendar away for a certain period of time. By doing so, you disconnect from the rest of the world and concentrate on yourself and your loved ones.'

For a while now, we have been talking about 'The Big Disconnect', we live in a world of omnipresent Internet and highly networked lives. With devices buzzing and screens blinking for our attention, where does it stop? Our hunch is that in 2012 we will see the first big digital switch off to coincide with the final broadcast of an analog television signal [in the UK].

Just a few weeks ago we blogged about the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, we predict there will be a wave of new digital products to help you unplug and switch off. Perhaps our nAPP app wasn't such a bad idea...

joes[a]fiend

LEAVE YOUR SHOES AT THE DOOR

INTERIORS - I love this concept by Dominic Wilcox, the aim of the project was for Dominic to make his living room more welcoming. To make it even better there is a patch of carpet where the door mat should be.

Not sure if I'll be doing this in my flat.

joes[a]fiend

CAN YOU RESIST WALKERS CRISPS?

ADVERTISING - They don't make 'em like they used to. A little bit of inspiration for your weekend.

joes[a]fiend

A BLOGGER IN NEED, IS A BLOGGER INDEED

TECHNOLOGY – I’ve had my digital umbilical cord ripped out, phoneless, app less and uncontactable. So we reached out to Nokia who kindly gave us the new Nokia X6 to test, which I’m in the process of doing now.

First impressions are good; the unboxing of the device was a great experience, so good in fact after it was all unboxed I put everything back in and did it all over again.

Recently, I wrote an article entitled ‘Music 3.0’, it looked at the current state of the music industry and the future of the industry. One of the things I touched upon was the Nokia Comes With Music service, which is a blessing for a music fan like myself. The only thing I would say, is I was overwhelmed by the choice, it would be awesome if Nokia developed a plug-in for iTunes and help me find new music from artists I like and are available from Nokia Comes With Music.

The biggest difference from going to an iPhone to an X6 would have to be the camera, after a while I found myself not even bothering taking pictures on the iPhone. The X6 has a 5 megapixel camera which is a joy to use. The only thing that is lacking is a New York Times app, I used to read the NYT on my iPhone on the way to work. If this was available in the Ovi Store [Nokia’s app store] it would be a very complete package.

More to come soon…

joes[a]fiend

IT'S NICE THAT: ISSUE 3

PUBLISHING – The guys from It’s Nice That dropped us a line saying we could have a sneak peak at the forthcoming issue of the It’s Nice That publication. How could we say no? The spreads look fantastic and are a joes[a]fiend exclusive.

It’s Nice That Issue #3 has some big hitters in its beautifully designed pages who span the creative disciplines, included in the seven interviews are graphic design legend Milton Glaser, fashion designer Sir Paul Smith, furniture designer Tom Dixon, filmmaker Keith Schofield, illustrator Tom Gauld and artist Maisie Broadhead.

The team behind It’s Nice That have given free-rein to creatives to write about a subject that excites and interests them, with articles including Illustrator / designer Geoff McFetridge, writing about his frustrations with graphics in comparison to the written word.

If you want to get your hands on the publication do so NOW! All pre-orders received before midnight on March 31st will receive an exclusive, large-scale screen print from world-renowned illustrator Parra. The print is 980 x 550mm when unfolded and has been commissioned exclusively for everyone who orders the publication early. It is available nowhere else in the world.

www.itsnicethat.com/shop

joes[a]fiend

SOPHIE HULME A/W10

FASHION - Sophie Hulme has lived up to her reputation of being a young British designer to watch. Each season her contemporary women's wear range gets better and better. Above are a few images taken at her A/W10 presentation.

joes[a]fiend