Archive for December 2005

Opening recently in Soho is Agatha Ruiz De La Prada’s first US showroom. Sporting a simple yet impactful interior, the shop does a lot to distance itself from the common white box approach of many other Soho fashion retailers. IF stopped in for a little chroma-therapy and had a look around.

Read the review and see the photo’s here on IF!. <subscription required.>

Our friends over at top Canadian design firm Industrial Brand have put together a list of their favorite design blogs over on IF! Some you may already read and a few surprises!

IF! <available to all>

Why do some Fortune 500 companies blog and others don’t? Chris Anderson and Doc Searles have asked why companies such as Microsoft, Sun and GM blog whilst others, such as Apple, Intel and Toyota don’t. They hypothosised that the companies that blogged were often those that had less coherent and successful corporate messaging that those that didn’t.

In order to test this theory Chris Anderson and Ross Mayfield have created a Wiki of Fortune 500 companies that blog and those that do not in order to see if blogging corporations have performed more poorly than non blogging corporations.

So far the Wiki shows that 19 members (4%) of the Fortune 500 blog and that on a 12 month  performance their share price has risen 2% whilst those without a blog have grown by 19%.

It will be very interesting to see how these statistics look a year from now. Will 2006 be the year of the corporate blogger?

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced their next generation of broadband
internet-based software, Windows Live.  Live
is a free, ad-supported AJAX virtual desktop that is going to completely rebrand several of Microsoft’s core
offerings. It’s an Extreme MakeOver of sorts.

If you don’t already know Hotmail
and MSN Messenger will be no more.

The face lift will usher in Microsoft Live
Mail and Microsoft Live Messenger. The new WL Messenger
client comes with the feature of PC-to-land line/mobile calling, like Skype.
Looks like Microsoft beat Google (Gtalk) to it. The line up also
includes Windows Live Favorites (bookmarking
software), Windows Live Safety Center (PC tune ups),
Windows Live Search (for mobiles) and much more…. it’s a complete web 2.0
MakeOVer for the sleeping giant.

Interestingly enough, invitations for the private beta release of Windows
Live Messenger are already popping up on eBay.

This should be the time to wear extra padding when walking down Broadway in SoHo to withstand the crowds. This should be the time we get bruises on our arms from the elbows of over-anxious girlfriends on the hunt for that gift for ‘maybe-he’s-mister-right’; this should be the time middle-aged men wonder why they left it to the last minute, again; this should be the time that we decide that, despite the lack of personal touch, online shopping is better than standing an hour in line.

But it’s not that time in New York City. Earlier this week, the three day transit strike made it positively a joy to walk and shop Prince and Spring streets. We thought that we were so lucky - a window before the crowds returned post strike.

But the crowds didn’t return. The strike ended yesterday (Thursday) and, of course, we forgot somebody so this morning we dashed back into SoHo to get that last gift. Nervous. But we found the streets were like a street on a Tuesday in April. Yes, there were people out there, but not many. It was very pedestrian - and the stores were positively empty.

The strike seems to have made everyone decide to leave town. We went to the Apple Store on Prince where we finally found a queue for the register. But this was the Apple Store in New York two days before Christmas!!! Shouldn’t the line wrap around the block or something?! As you can see in the photo, even the laptops weren’t being used! Something you never see at an Apple Store.

I think the analysis of the impact on New Yorker’s opinion about their approach to Holiday shopping will be very interesting. Oh, and also: expect huge post holiday sales next week!

Our friends at Industrial Brand Creative point to a video that was played during the animated band’s ‘live’ gig in Manchester recently. It’s like a video of the whole album - if you get the Video iPod for Xmas, burn this film to it!! -

(The first must have movie for the Video iPod??)

Gorillaz Live

As some of you know, we started selling some T Shirts on the side last week. We asked some friends to design some shirts. Here’s one by Ryan Vanderbilt. He told us about the design:

"The graphic part is very simple, it’s an interpretation of the logo for the psfk blog. It was created knowing that it was going to need to be something people would want to wear. The interesting part in my mind is how blogs straddle a really thin line when it comes to creating their own products. I sense that when they become too much like a ‘traditional’ brand with rules and guidelines they will lose a bit of credibility. For that reason I didn’t want to use the same logo that you would find on the site or a business card. I created a new logo that felt a bit more relevant for something like a t-shirt. The willingness to allow people to change your logo embraces the ‘blogging spirit,’ rather than giving people a logo and saying ‘use this.’ This hopefully allows people to wear a shirt they like and not one that feels like a promotional product."

Buy This T Or Others Here

We’re sure there are far more whizz-bang RSS readers out there but for some reason Gawker’s Kinja has become one of our favorites. It’s very easy to understand; it’s web-based and therefore can be used anywhere from anymachine; and being news-freaks, we love the fact that all posts from all your favorite blogs and sites are listed in a chronological order rather than blog by blog.

Now Nick Denton and his team have launched a more advanced version, that included photos (at last!), tagging, sharing and you can even RSS you RSS list. Try it.

Kinja

Autoblog looks at the impact aging boomers are having on the auto industry:

To the rapidly aging Baby Boomer population, a plunging windowline and promises of 120hp/liter
aren’t what matters…. Among the ideas
already gaining traction are:

• Easier-to-read gauges
• Larger handles attached to sturdier
  doors
• Advanced snow and ice removal systems
• Window films to reduce glare
• Larger
  control knobs
• Lane-deviation and blind-spot warning systems
• Wider, heated
  seats

Autoblog