a.beining.com

Rene Magritte on my Mac

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:16:00 +0000

I really love Rene Magritte, so what could then be better than to place him on my MacBook Pro? Etsy.com has some great dekals for $13. But which is best?

iPhone accessories: felt, rubber sleeves and backup batteries

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:12:00 +0000

I see that I slowly (?) become more and more an iPhone fan/geek. So wanting to have my new friend as long as possible (or just pimping it up?), I have scavaged the net for a small selection of my favourite sleeves. Me personal favourite is: Freiwild purple felt sleeve sold at PodCenter €15 (should arrive to my mailbox soon I hope! :)

Byrd and Bell grey felt sleeve $19

Red Maloo purple felt sleeve with orange band €29

Marware Sport Grip €15

Seidio Slim Rubberrized Hard Case $29.95

Griffin FlexGrip from $9 (3 colors)

E&B Company eNOVO W/ Clip for iPho ne $39.95 (corporate leather style)

InCase Slim Sleeve $24.95

Mobi Products Clip Pouch for iPhone - "workers"sleeve $9.95

One thing that sucks is the battery capacity. Apparently this is the best one:
Review: Just Mobile Gum Pro Power Pack

Review of Backup battery: InCase Power Slider and JuicePack Air

My "Best of 2009" music list

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:13:00 +0000

The end of 2009 is almost here, so its time to sum of the music year for my part and I have created a playlist on Spotify. The order is more or less chronologically from when I discovered them. Though some tracks might be older than 2009, but they are on the list as I haven't discovered them before this year. There are some odd ones, and they are on the list simply cause they were fun (and very catchy!) like Rybak and David Guetta. Not quite sure what mood you would be in if you listen to the whole list in one go, but they all got my approval! :)

Thunderheist "Jerk it"
Miss Harmonica "Friday Night"
Kid Cudi "Day n Nite"
Alexander Rybak "Fairytale"
Dizzee Rascal "Bonkers"
Peter Fox "Alles neu"
Lily Allen "Smile"
Maskinen "Alla som inta dansar"
Kings of Convenience "Boat Behind"
La Roux "In for the kill"
Lars Vaular "Solbriller på"
Veronica Maggio "Mandågsbarn"
Jay-Z "D.O.A."
Miike Snow "Animal"
Prodigy "Omen"
David Guetta "Sexy bitch"
The Bloody Beetroots "Awesome"
Kråkesølv "Privat regn"
Bjørn Hellfuck "Krabbeklo"
The Nextmen "Round of Applause"
Einar Stray "Arrows"
My Little Pony "A song for you on your 40th birthday"
Therese Aune "Chamelon"

Enjoy my "Best of 2009" music
So what was my favourite?! I think most listened to album were by Lily Allen and Miike Snow. So now you know.

Concerts

Girl Talk Live in Oslo
Last years Øya was fun. This concert was even better!
Prodigy were amazing! Didnt see that one coming from my old favourites.
Donkeyboy's "Ambitions" performed by Marie Alming at Radio Nova Simply cause I didnt expect any performances at the Christmas party and her song took me be surprise. Great surprise!

Free music

Alex Goose Blueprint 3 Outtakes I must say that the Outtakes are much better than the songs that got on Jay-Z's album
Kutiman's Youtube tracks This is what the web is all about, free mashups that would exist without the Internet.
Rockettothesky "Hee-ho and a Bottle of Rum" Have heard the song before on couple of her concerts, but great to get it on track

Video

By far Peter Fox with "Schwarz zu blau"

Thanks to
YesYesYall and Radio Nova's Bra Trommis for making me discover loads of great new music! Keep up the good work!

ps. Loads of Best of 2009 lists can be found at Platekompaniet's website

Javascript is getting better (than Flash..?)

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:27:00 +0000

Well, ok. So I really exaggerated to grab you attention. But codes like Scrollable
really does stuff that Flash did back in the days. (that would be 2001 or so for my part). Time flies. Check it out.

Improve the iPhone usabillity

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:19:00 +0000

The iPhone's interface is in many ways amazingly simple and intuitive, but it would be good to customise it. In lack of this option, I hope Apple reads my post and make my suggested improvements.

1. Phonebook: Favorites
Ther iPhone relies heavily on icons, though the "Favorites" tab under "Contacts" does not. It is a normal text list:

Using the Contacts photos would be much easier and allows for my contacts without scrolling. The application "My Phone Plus For Facebook" has done this already, displaying 9 contacts as opposed to the current 8:

However making the icons the same size as the rest of the iPhone's icons would give a total of 16 favorites (considering I have several hundred contacts, 16 is not that many..:)

2. Many applications installed gives loads of scrolling
If you are like me, then you have many apps installed. This means right scrolling and scrolling the screen to the right. Vertical scrolling has though not been used:

Small circles could indicate where one is:

3. Most of my contacts have birthdays noted in the phonebook.
Why isn't this info linked up to the calendar? Or at least one ought to have the option to get notifications of birthdays. (I use fbCal to have birthdays in another calendar on the iPhone, but I tend to forget to look at it. Hence the desire for birthday intergration.

4. Improve battery life A product can be as fantastic as it wants, but when such a basic feature isn't in place, then quite alot falls apart. I mean, if I make it through the day with one charing I am happy. Heavy usage makes it last maybe 7-8 hours. Sorry, MAC. Please improve.

Bring the love back in advertising

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Fantastic video made for Microsoft Advertising.

Credits:
Company: Openhere, BELGIUM, Antwerp
Creative Director/ Art Director: Stijn Gansemans
Copywriter/ Creative Director: Stef Selfslagh
Account Superviser: Mathias Delmote
Company: Caviar, BELGIUM, Antwerp
Producer: Lies Muys
D.O.P./ Lighting/ Cameraman: Bert Haemelinck
Company: Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, BELGIUM, Antwerp

: Peter Maxmin
Trade Marketing Manager: Geert Desager

Monitor your brand on social media

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:00:00 +0000

13 Ways to Monitor Your Brand on Social Media: Do You Know What Is Being Said About Your Company Online?

Microsofts LookingGlass is promising to help you out too. Read the blogpost on its latest updates

Simple IS better. And Luke Sullivan tells you why.

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:20:00 +0000

Luke Sullivan, the Author of "Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Advertising" was on Mediastash.tv on Vimeo, lecturing for the Miami Ad School.

In this talk he comes with some great points and quotes.
38 min: Luke Sullivan says "Simple is better. Simple is faster. Simple is more memorable."

Neil French:
"For everything you add, you take away the importance of everything else in that frame. It is competing for the readers 2 seconds of attention.

Everything you add, reduces the importance of what is in there.
Everything you take away raises the visibility and importance of what is in the ad."

Amen.

ps. Follow Luke Sullivan on Twitter

Reveal how a website is built

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:26:00 +0000

Wanna find out what servers, meta tags, webanalytics tools, etc a website uses? Use

Builtwith.com It "reveals" the inner secrets of a website. The image shows for example some of the info you get from my site Portada.no

Organ test twitter

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Elliptic shows off the touchless web

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Touchless wizzkids Elliptic Labs are on Engadget (again!) and this time they have teamed up with Opera Software. They have created a touchless photoalbum interface. Check out the video:

Ah, and if you happen to be really interrested in testing it (or just in Amsterdam), meet them at IBC 2009 and try their prototype at the Opera Software booth - 3.C11.

Nothing better than to see a client doing great.

Check your Google Pagerank

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:35:00 +0000

Wanna know your Pagerank fast? Use:

Check Page Rank of any web site pages instantly:

This free page rank checking tool is powered by Page Rank Checker service

And to see how your backlinks (sites linking to your site) is doing, use: PageRank Checker For Your Backlinks
Good way of finding out which site helps you getting higher Pagerank.

Want your photos to look like Polaroids?

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:29:00 +0000

Quite funny, I downloaded loads of Polaroid images some time back, so that in case I wanted to create Polaroidstyle photos with Photoshop I could. Then suddenly get an email from the lead developer at Rollip.com telling me about their website and web-application.

Its an easy 3 click manner to create images like the one you see on the left. Its free too!

One thing Im missing though, is the ability to choose the position and cropping of the photo I'm uploading to the Polaroid template. Hope to see that in their next release.

Get (more) social on your blog easily and free

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:22:00 +0000

Wibiya.com have created a brilliant application/plugin to be added on your blog. Works on Blogger, Wordpress, and many more. And Ive just added it to my blog as you can see.

What is it you may ask? Its a toolbar that shows your Twitter feed, Facebook page, translates your blog, gives you search ++ Its completely customizable, free and gives you statistics too. This video explains it fairly well:

ps. Its still in Beta, but only took me one day to get invite.

Crazy sanddune project to stop desertification

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:52:00 +0000

Went to Pecha Kucha in Oslo and Magnus Larsson presented his Dune project. He proposes to build a "green wall" longer than the great wall of China across whole Africa to stop desertification.

It looks great, its innovative, (apparently) evironmentally friendly and not too expensive.

Now theres thinking outside the box!

Great typography sites

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:28:00 +0000

Webdesignledger has made as great list of 10 Incredible Sites to Improve Your Typography Skills

Personal favourites include:
Helveticons.ch
Great websitedesign, great icons. All based on Helvetica Yummy.

Typesites.com
Proper reviews of website typography. Good stuff.

Most common web-banner formats in Norway (mest vanlig banner formater i Norge)

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:04:00 +0000

After some research, I (believe) I have found the most common webbanner formats in Norway.

Both the ad agency McCann Norge and webproduction company Jucicy agree that these are the 3 most common sizes: - Board: 468x400

- Topbanner: 768x150

- Skyscraper: 180x500 (can have different heights)

Microsoft Advertising Norge say they use mainly

- 300x250

- 234x60

But, they also have: 728x90, 160x600 and 180x150

This is the overview from VG banner formater
Format Pixler (bredde x høyde) Maks kB
Toppboard 768 piksler 150 piksler 50 kB
Nettboard 468 piksler 400 piksler 60 kB
Nettboard3 468 piksler 600 piksler 60 kB
Sideboard 180 piksler 500 piksler 40 kB
Sideboard 180 piksler 650 piksler 45 kB
Smalmidt 468 piksler 100 piksler 30 kB
Midiboard 360 piksler 308 piksler 30 kB
Smartboard 360 piksler 100 piksler 25 kB
Knapp 180 piksler 120 piksler 20 kB
Frimerke 180 piksler 150 piksler 25 kB

Any thougths on this?

(Bannersize image taken from Bannercreator)

Webchat on your website using Gtalk or Yahoo

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Olark, previoulsy known as Hab.la (which was a MUCH better name btw), offers easy and free webchat functionality to your website. When you are connected on Gtalk it will show on your website without revealing your username.

Really great if you have a webshop for example and want to chat with your customers.

Great work Olark!

Great sushi place in Berlin

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:47:00 +0000

Sushi Bar Ky its situated in Oderberger Straße 40, which is next to the design and fleamarket Mauerpark

View Larger Map

Download Youtube videos easily

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:46:00 +0000

Gazzump (previously known as Farkie) downloads and converts Youtube videos, MySpace playlists, movies, audio, images, and much more into several different formats such as mp3, avi, mov, etc. Its kind of slow at times, but still usefull if you want to for example check out a video offline or listen to a song as a mp3 that you cant find anywhere. (Example: The fantastic song "Bonkers" by Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden is not available on iTunes, nor have I found it in any shop, but its on Youtube...)

Only bad part about Gazzump is that you have to register.

Unreleased track by Rockettothesky found: "Hee-ho and a Bottle of Rum"

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:10:00 +0000

Well, actually someone did release the song "Hee-ho and a Bottle of Rum", but I haven´t found it before now. I´ve heard this song live before, but getting a free mp3 is all good! Rockettothesky played 29.03.2008 at the The Rhâââ Lovely Festival in Belgium. Together with The Silent Ballet they released the compilation "2008 Rhaaa Lovely Festival Compilation". It has several other bands such as Magyar Posse, Rien and The CJ Boyd Sexxxtet... Download the whole album for free now

More business card inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:02:00 +0000

Always fun to get inspired by seeing new and inventive business cards. Hongkiat.com (great site btw!) has done a great job gathering over 100: Business Card Design: 100+ Creative Examples, Useful Tutorials and Templates

Logo trends 2009

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:16:00 +0000

Creative Review has yet again analyzed logos for 2009 and these are the logo trends for 2009. To be honest, I find that they have so many "trends", 13 in total, that it hardly can be seen as a "trend". Also, some look very similar to last years trends, such as VariDot:

But its still an interresting read.

That song from the TV3 commercial...

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:09:00 +0000

Saw the TV3 commercial the other day and really enjoyed the song, it turned out to be Lisa Mitchell with "Neopolitan dreams".
Check out her
http://www.myspace.com/lisalisamitchell

YouTube is getting stricter with copyright: Sounds off

noreply@blogger.com (beining) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:56:00 +0000

Wanted to listen to The Bucketheads "The Bomb" on Youtube, found a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2THjmRLyp8

BUT, heres a new one: the sound is disabled! Under the video it says:

NOTICE
This video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by WMG. The audio has been disabled. More about copyright..

I understand that Google needs to earn money and copyright is important, and am not sure how they can do this with so much usergenerated content (and seems as they dont really know either..) But if they continue like this people will just go to other sites like Vimeo ..