During my “Music of Quebec” workshop at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres in the Explore program, together with almost 100 students, we created this “lipdub” music video. Students from the Summer 2010 session of the workshop participated in the video singing along to the song “J’taime comme un fou” [I love you like a fool] by Robert Charlebois.
Flickr’s New Layout
When I heard about Flickr’s new layout changes, I was excited to see what improvements they were making. (For scale, the images below are 500px wide — that is the actual width of the photo in the old view.)
The old view:
The new view:
Things I dislike about the new Flickr preview.
- They removed the helpful url links when viewing “all sizes”.
They no longer have a “browse” link to take you to the flickr stream page where that photo appearsLooks like they fixed this, the photostream link now takes you to a specific page.- The map on the side is way to prominent. Seriously, is the map more important than the other photos?
- They removed speed options, viewing of descriptions, and ability to see what’s coming up in their new lightbox mode (instead of slideshow – I don’t love flash, but I liked the slideshow feature.).
- They turned the quick links above a photo into pull down menus. One more click to get what you want is never preferable.
- The spacing between photos on the photostream view is too wide. Just because some people have large monitors, doesn’t mean that the photos should look unbalanced to fill up the space.
- Titles need to go above photos, not below them.
- “Click here to add a title” no longer disappears, but sits there cluttering untitled images. (At least for my own photos when I’m logged in.)
- The column width for comments is now wider making comments harder to read.
- The commenter’s icon is smaller and doesn’t look as nice. Ironic considering they could have used the icon to fill up the space so that the text column wouldn’t need to be quite as wide.
Things I like:
- I like the new 640px default size, though things load a bit slower.
I admit, when viewing the small images above, I like the look of the new version because the bigger photo is nicer. However, all the other concerns make me feel like this one positive is not worth all the other negatives.
In my opinion, Flickr should hire the type of people that started the company: people passionate about photography and user interfaces.
My “pro” account is expiring next week. I am thinking about migrating my photos to Picasa before then. That doesn’t leave me much time.
Earth Day Photos
In honour of earth day, the Boston Globe has a great collection of photos well worth checking out: Earth Day 2010 Photos.
The most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth created to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer of our planet. Much of the information contained in this image came from a single remote-sensing device—NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS. Flying over 700 km above the Earth onboard the Terra satellite. (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)
OK Go – This Too Will Pass
OK Go’s new video, “This Too Will Pass” is centred around a rube goldberg machine and even if you’ve watched the entire 30 minute movie, “The Way Things Go” (wikipedia) and feel like you’re rube goldberged out, this is still totally worth watching.
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass – YouTube
Homemade digital clock
Yesterday I made a clock using an arduino kit that I purchased for my “Creative Electronics for Beginners” class. It only counts from 0 to 9 and then repeats, but I love the satisfaction I get when I see it working.
I made a clock! on Flickr.
I did happen to bump one of the LEDs just before I started taping, and discovered afterward that I had shorted one of the lights from the current. It just needed to be nudged slightly, but in the video it appears to be burnt out.
The code after the jump.
Continue reading “Homemade digital clock”
Photography in the Kootenays
My cousin Don has started a photography business on the side. He’s got a website up showing some of his work. If you’re looking for a photographer in the Kootenays BC, give him a shout.
Number of the Beast Compressed 666 Times
Cory Arcangel took the mp3 version of Iron’s Maiden’s The Number of the Beast and compressed it 666 times.
If you have ever wondered what Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast” would sound like compressed over and over as an mp3 666 times…here’s your chance..and if u r wondering, YES it does lose quality each time it is compressed.
Personally, I couldn’t get all the way through it.
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Lego Matrix Trinity Help
Lego Matrix Trinity Help is a fantastic stop motion video that’s been making the rounds lately.
From the creators at LegoMatrix.com:
After around 440 hours of work, and just in time for the 10th anniversary of the original movie release, we are pleased to present to you our Lego version of the famous Bullet Time dodge scene from The Matrix.
Enjoy:
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Jimmy Page in 1957
When asked by host Huw Wheldon what he wanted to do after schooling, Page says, “I want to do biological research [to find a cure for] cancer, if it isn’t discovered by then”.
Instead he went on to form one of the world’s greatest rock bands, Led Zeppelin.
Led Zeppelin in 1969. From left to right: John Bonham, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones.
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Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No by James Blagden
This made me laugh. It’s an animation about Dock Ellis’ “legendary LSD no hitter”.
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