Twitter - Twittermeter

"Twitter meter let's you query an index of all the words that have been sent to Twitter's public timeline (since 11/6/2007) and plot the number of times that word was used over time".

You can search for one word, or many at once.
Each day is represented on the graph by a dot which displays the date and the number of times the word(s) you searched for was mentioned.

I find it to be a very interesting tool that can be used to compare brands/products/topics' popularity on Twitter (for example, Wikia VS Mahalo or Nike VS Adidas).

I wish there were an option to export the results as a high-res Jpeg or an excel sheet, for research/documentation purposes. Hopefully this feature will be available someday - Mr developer, can you please add it to your todo list? :)

Have a look at Twittermeter here.

Via @DrBaher

Mobile - Nokia Conversations

The Social Communications team at Nokia launched a YouTube channel devoted to "personal" communication with its users, in an attempt to bridge the gap between the corporate and the consumers.

The purpose? As described by the team: "We'll be posting as many videos on Nokia stories, products, services, and people as we can get our hands on or produce ourselves".

So far, hands-on video clips explaining the finer points of the Nokia 6210 Navigator and 6220 Classic have been uploaded - with more to follow.

Stay tuned here.

Via Pocket picks.

Twitter - 404!

This is possibly the best/cutest/sexiest Error page I've seen on the net. I love the graphics, they're just great.

Then again, Twitter is great, so I wouldn't expect anything less than that from them.

Web - The sheep market

The sheep market is a collection of 10000 sheep created by workers on Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Each worker was paid $.02 to draw a sheep facing left.

For 20$, you can buy a selection of hand drawn sheep - (a block of stamps that comes with a certificate of authenticity in a collectable package).

*Hilarious*
Own a sheep here.

Web - Amazon Mechanical Turk

I am still not getting over the fact that it is only today that I "discovered" Amazon Mechanical Turk. Totally unacceptable!

As described on the website:
"Amazon Mechanical Turk provides a web services API for computers to integrate "artificial artificial intelligence" directly into their processing by making requests of humans. Developers use the Amazon Mechanical Turk web service to submit tasks to the Amazon Mechanical Turk web site, approve completed tasks, and incorporate the answers into their software applications.

For software developers, the Amazon Mechanical Turk web service solves the problem of building applications that until now have not worked well because they lack human intelligence. Humans are much more effective than computers at solving some types of problems, like finding specific objects in pictures, evaluating beauty, or translating text. The Amazon Mechanical Turk web service gives developers a programmable interface to a network of humans to solve these kinds of problems and incorporate this human intelligence into their applications."

In a nutshell, developers and businesses can submit requests for tasks (referred as HITs - Human Intelligence Tasks) to be completed by a pool of skilled/talented people who are paid for completing the required tasks.

I find it to be a very interesting concept.
Read more about it here.

Information Design - NYTE

NYTE (New York Talk Exchange) "illustrates the global exchange of information in real time by visualizing volumes of long distance telephone and IP (Internet Protocol) data flowing between New York and cities around the world".

The work featured consists of three different data interpretations:


Globe encounters visualizes in real time the volumes of Internet data flowing between New York & other cities around the world. The size of the glow on a particular city location corresponds to the relative amount of IP traffic.


Pulse of the planet illustrates the volume of international calls between New York City & 255 countries over the 24 hours in a day. Areas of the world receiving & making fewer phone calls shrink while areas experiencing a greater amount of voice call activity expand.


The world inside NY shows how different neighborhoods reach out to the rest of the world via the AT&T telephone network. The widths of the color bars represent the proportion of world regions in contact with each neighborhood.

The projects (accomplished with the support of the now extinct Yahoo Design Innovation Team) will be exhibited at the MOMA *sigh*, starting the 24th of February until the 12th of May.

The site is well worth a visit (for more details) - it's a brilliant idea.

SL - Catching up

I downloaded the updated version of Windlight a couple of days back and went for a chilled spin on SL - The quality of the graphics/rendering is much better; I felt a clear improvement in the overall experience.

I hung out with Jade (my RL friend who got himself a brand new *super-slick* avatar) for a little while, checked out the villa he rented and caught up with his stories on the patio.

I should probably get one of these funky places myself.

Note: He promised that next time I visit, there will be a Diet Coke dispenser in the kitchen.

Design - Nostalgia

I came across this chart showing the evolution of the Nintendo characters on Ffffound and had to share it.

I have a feeling all the web designers out there will look at it with a smile and remember the days when pixel icons/graphics were THE big thing - until the slick Aqua renderings became trendy.

The only detail missing is the inclusion of some kind of a timeline/dates - just for reference.

Buzz - Peek-a-boo!

With all the hype built around the new A380, it's worth having a sneak preview of the cockpit, in a 360 degree view rendering - Exciting!

Have a look here at the latest flying technology - in all its glory.

Mobile - Ikea kiosk

The Ikea store in Seattle installed an interactive kiosk that allows customers to access coupons and information on their weekly specials through text messages or by scanning barcodes with their mobile phone.

Brilliant idea and great 1-2-1 initiative - Customers will receive regular updates on the latest news and sales when they leave the store.

Via Ohgizmo

Web 2.0 - Blog post Life cycle

I came across this great article on Wired sometime back, but never had the chance to share it - I was reminded of its existence while browsing on Suffian's *very* neat blog.

Everything you always wanted to know about the life cycle of a blog post is explained in a crisp interactive presentation :)
Have a closer look here.

I wish there were a printable version of it, I wouldn't mind having it as an A3 poster. Enjoy!

Random - Vday, Lowe style

The agency's valentine message - that was sent to our clients and friends :)
Cute, don't you think?

Other variations - for fun:
Peace & Lowe
Lowe is in the air
Lowe is all around

Google - Valentine's logo

Happy be-lated Valentine's day everyone!

Web - Simplify your work

McCann SF & Firstborn launched a site to promote the new version of Microsoft Office for Mac.
Simple, straight to the point, with very nice animations and illustrations.
Check it out here.

Random - Magic number #20

2000 visitors on my blog might not seem like a big number compared to others, but I find it very exciting.

And what is much more exciting than the number itself, is the fact that the visitor #2000 is someone from ... Twitter! - I'm happy.