here comes 18 webzine

After 17 is a webzine which is committed to express and explore the real life style of feminie. She had its debut in June, 2005 with a collection of 11 issues covering contributors including photographers, illustrators, designers, musicians and homemaking advocates from all over the world. After 17 group, with its all female writers and editors, exists to take the raw creativity of feminie purposely promoting a natural, healthy life attitude of females.

Since March, 2008, After 17 webzine changes her name to Here Comes 18 and requires herself beyond inner-self, beyond childishness but with a more intelligent, independent high quality and mature attitude to perceive this world.


link
www.herecomes18.com

Who killed the electric car?

It's an awesome documentary of electric vehicles!!

link
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5871495968130273402&hl=en

BBC - Horizon - How to make better decisions

Click image to watch or
www.bbc.co.uk

The Paradox of Choice at frog design mind

click image to read full article or link to www.frogdesign.com

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The Affective Sustainability of Objects by Kristina Borjesson

How objects retain their significance over time and in a changing human context. Is the affective an important but missing link in the ongoing efforts towards improved sustainability of objects? Although being it, is affective sustainability subjective and therefore difficult to consider by design?

"My vision is to help designers look for the obvious when designing. It might be immediately hidden, but when it is found, it shows the way to simplification." - Kristina Borjesson

It's one of the most exciting workshop I attended this term.

link
www.borjesson-mk.se
The Found Object

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Paper or Plastic

click picture to read.

link
www.washingtonpost.com

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Right brain vs Left brain

Test here

My result

Left Brain
45%
Right Brain
55%

You are more right-brained than left-brained. The right side of your brain controls the left side of your body. In addition to being known as right-brained, you are also known as a creative thinker who uses feeling and intuition to gather information. You retain this information through the use of images and patterns. You are able to visualize the "whole" picture first, and then work backwards to put the pieces together to create the "whole" picture. Your thought process can appear quite illogical and meandering. The problem-solving techniques that you use involve free association, which is often very innovative and creative. The routes taken to arrive at your conclusions are completely opposite to what a left-brained person would be accustomed. You probably find it easy to express yourself using art, dance, or music. Some occupations usually held by a right-brained person are forest ranger, athlete, beautician, actor/actress, craftsman, and artist.

Your complete evaluation follows below:

Your left brain/right brain percentage was calculated by combining the individual scores of each half's sub-categories. They are as follows:

Your Left Brain Percentages
48% Linear (Your most dominant characteristic)
40% Reality-based
22% Sequential
21% Logical
14% Verbal
0% Symbolic (Your least dominant characteristic)

Your Right Brain Percentages
34% Random (Your most dominant characteristic)
34% Intuitive
32% Nonverbal
29% Fantasy-oriented
28% Concrete
24% Holistic (Your least dominant characteristic)

The Story of Stuff

www.storyofstuff.com


Ch.1: Introduction


Ch.2: Extraction


Ch.3: Production


Ch.4: Distribution


Ch.5: Consumption


Ch.6: Disposal


Ch.7: Another Way

Exactitudes by Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek

They call their series Exactitudes: a contraction of exact and attitude. By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code, Versluis and Uyttenbroek provide an almost scientific, anthropological record of people's attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity. The apparent contradiction between individuality and uniformity is, however, taken to such extremes in their arresting objective-looking photographic viewpoint and stylistic analysis that the artistic aspect clearly dominates the purely documentary element.

Marcel Wanders is in the photo..

link
www.exactitudes.com
www.joshspear.com

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David Report 6 - Future Luxury

1 - Timeless Quality
2 - Security and safety
3 - Emotional branding
4 - Good Karma
5 - Seize the Day
6 - Supreme Regionalism
7 - Food and health
8 - Individual editions

link
www.davidreport.com


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Innovation Predictions 2008

It's All About Me

"Identity" replaces "experience" as the next big concept in design and media thinking. People create their own identities interacting with products and services. The notion of a consumer experience is a more passive way of thinking. It's so 20th century. Identity gets the buzz in '08.

Hang On to the Good Stuff

"Longevity" replaces "sustainability" as a core concept for the green thing. Just hanging on to that expensive, fancy car does more to help the planet than recycling stuff again and again. Or so the marketing argument will go.

link
Slide show
www.businessweek.com


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Handmade 2.0

The declaration from something called the Handmade Consortium materialized on a Web site called buyhandmade.org in late October. “I pledge to buy handmade this holiday season, and request that others do the same for me,” it said, and you could type in your name to “sign” on; within a few weeks, more than 6,500 people had done so. “Buying handmade is better for people,” a statement on the site read in part, and “better for the environment,” because mass production is a “major cause” of global warming, among other things. There were links to an anti-sweatshop site and a Wal-Mart watchdog site.

Read more www.nytimes.com


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Gartner: 20% of Retailers in Virtual Worlds by 2010

In Gartner's predictions for what changes 2008 will bring for consumers and retail, the research group also looked a little further. It predicts that by 2010 20% of Tier I retailers will have a marketing presence in virtual worlds. It also predicts that through 2012 the number of consumers using mobile phones to shop will increase at an average of 25% per year. Put together the two could make for an interesting combination, but Gartner doesn't make any recommendations for mobile worlds. It does recommend that retailers begin to include virtual worlds as customer touchpoints, begin to test and measure virtual world initiatives before moving in, keep an eye on the space with a focus on the young demographic, and pick the right environment for the right demographic.

Read more www.virtualworldsnews.com


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Engaging User Creativity: The Playful Experience

“Satisfying the desire to play can be integral in determining the success or failure of a digital product or service.”

The Elements of Playful
-Branding
-Playful Engagement
-Social Interaction
-Sharing
-Customization

Measuring Playability
-lots of small rewards and positive feedback for taking action
-no negative consequences for experimentation
-the ability to take someone else’s work and build on it
-frivolous interaction

Read more www.uxmatters.com


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Identity Mirror by Hugo Liu

identity mirror (2005)
identity performance - see who you are, not what you look like.

Identity mirror reifies its metaphors in the workings of an ordinary mirror. When the viewer is distant from the object, a question mark is the only keyword painted over his face. As he approaches to a medium distance, larger font sized identity keywords such as "fitness buffs", "fashionistas", and "book lovers" identify him. Approaching further, his favorite book, film, and music genres are seen. Closer yet, his favorite authors, musicians, and auteurs are known, and finally, standing up close, the songs, movies, and book titles become visible.

[Thanks Jenny]

link
larifari.org

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It's the brand new body craze - and it hurts

photo from www.fakir.org

Forget tattoos or piercings. The latest trend for body decoration enthusiasts is to have their skin branded in the style of a Texan prize steer.

A historical symbol becomes a fashion icon. How sarcastic!

link
www.timesonline.co.uk

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Decision-makers Seek Internal Balance, Not Balanced Alternatives

"This is a state of dynamic equilibrium, much like controlling body temperature," said Paulus. "How humans select a particular course of action may be in response to raising or lowering that 'set point' back to their individual comfort zone. In people with psychiatric disorders or addictions, the thermostat may be broken."

link
www.sciencedaily.com

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Want some bedroom action on your first date? Better meet a Kelly

TOP 10 'EASY' GIRLS
1. Kelly 2. Tanya 3. Debs 4. Becky 5. Steph 6. Michelle 7. Tina 8. Lisa 9. Carly 10. Nicky

TOP TEN BOYS TO AVOID
1. Lee 2. Dave 3. Andy 4. Steve 5. Kevin 6. Gary 7. Paul 8. Darren 9. Jason 10. Ben

[via www.dailymail.co.uk]

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Six in ten women in UK have had an affair with a colleague

"Work is far more pressurised than it used to be and flirting has become a natural way to make the job more enjoyable. It's also much easier to get away with flirting behind your colleagues' backs thanks to email." - Lisa Smosarski, More Magazine editor.

Overall, 70 per cent think "flirting makes the workplace more interesting" and three out of ten working women have gone the whole way and had sex at work.

[read full article at www.dailymail.co.uk]

more link
www.lifestyleextra.com

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Science and Design: The Next Wave

And I always thought visualization was what designers did. [read all at www.designobserver.com]

其實講的一點都沒說服力....

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How Women Choose Men

“It shows our human brains don't simply build prototypes of the ideal face based on those we see around us, rather they build them based on those to whom we have a strongly positive relationship.”
[via Women Prefer Men Who Look Like Dad]

Men with square jaws and well-defined brow ridges are seen as good short-term partners, while those with more feminine traits such as a rounder face and fuller lips are perceived as better long-term mates.
[via How Women Pick Mates vs. Flings]

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10 Businesses Facing Extinction in 10 Years

Record stores
Odds of survival in 10 years: Great, if you consider Wal-Mart a record store.

Camera film manufacturing
Odds of survival in 10 years: Some entrepreneurs who specialize in making camera film for amateur photographers could possibly make a living.

Crop dusters
Odds of survival in 10 years: The type of crop dusting plane that chased after Cary Grant in North by Northwest will have almost certainly gone south. Farmers say that they'll always need crop dusters, even though new technologies have made them less important than in the past. But commercial airlines are increasingly taking business away from the small, independent crop dusters.

Gay bars
Odds of survival in 10 years: As with many industries, the very best of them will endure; the rest won't.

Newspapers
Odds of survival in 10 years: They won't disappear; they'll be on the internet. We don't recommend startups investing a lot of money into a printing press plant.

Pay phones
Odds of survival in 10 years: They'll be around, but won't be anything to call home about.

Used bookstores
Odds of survival in 10 years: Some of them will still be eking out an existence, but the handwriting is on the wall.

Piggy banks
Odds of survival in 10 years: Sure, they'll probably still be a few around--in antique shops.

Telemarketing
Odds of survival in 10 years: They'll be here. Humbled, more impotent, but probably still here.

Coin-operated arcades
Odds of survival in 10 years: Game over.


[via www.entrepreneur.com]

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Moving eyes and moving thought

"we’re going to see if we can force people to think differently and, without conscious awareness, move their eyes in different ways and influence their thought patterns," Lleras said.
[via sciencedaily]

Mind-wandering

Michael Kane, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, sampled the thoughts of students at eight random times a day for a week. He found that on average, they were not thinking about what they were doing 30 percent of the time.

For some students it was between 80 and 90 percent of the time. Out of the 126 participants, only one denied any mind-wandering at the sampled moments.

Prior work has also turned up average rates of 30 percent to 40 percent in everyday life.

more link
www.nctimes.com
theapp.appstate.edu

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How Do We Work with the Machines?

Now that nearly every household object employs complex electrical inner workings concealed by a decorative skin, the importance of simplified interfaces is paramount. This new age of consumer electronics can be readily understood as one of the first moments in history in which invention and design were truly married, aligning function with experience.

full article at www.goodmagazine.com

Arts graduates have same lifetime earning power as a A-Level leavers

Graduates with degrees in accountancy will earn almost double in their lifetime than their counterparts with an arts degree, research suggests.

Despite spending thousands on their higher education, some arts graduates are no better off than if they had only taken A-levels, a study by the Institute of Education reveals.

read full article

Such a dissappointed report from London Lite.
Design is not listed in and I hope it is better than 0%.

more links
London Lite

If you want an insight into somebody's true personality, then try to catch a glimpse of the way they sleep.

To see the six positions studied by Professor Idzikowski

· The Foetus: Those who curl up in the foetus position are described as tough on the outside but sensitive at heart. They may be shy when they first meet somebody, but soon relax.

This is the most common sleeping position, adopted by 41% of the 1,000 people who took part in the survey. More than twice as many women as men tend to adopt this position.

· Log (15%): Lying on your side with both arms down by your side. These sleepers are easy going, social people who like being part of the in-crowd, and who are trusting of strangers. However, they may be gullible.

· The yearner (13%): People who sleep on their side with both arms out in front are said to have an open nature, but can be suspicious, cynical. They are slow to make up their minds, but once they have taken a decision, they are unlikely ever to change it.

· Soldier (8%): Lying on your back with both arms pinned to your sides. People who sleep in this position are generally quiet and reserved. They don't like a fuss, but set themselves and others high standards.

· Freefall (7%): Lying on your front with your hands around the pillow, and your head turned to one side. Often gregarious and brash people, but can be nervy and thin-skinned underneath, and don't like criticism, or extreme situations.

· Starfish (5%): Lying on your back with both arms up around the pillow. These sleepers make good friends because they are always ready to listen to others, and offer help when needed. They generally don't like to be the centre of attention.

The remainder of those in the poll said the position they fell asleep varied or did not know.

The research also found that most people are unlikely to change their sleeping position. Just 5% said they sleep in a different position every night.

Professor Idzikowski also found that one arm or leg sticking out of the duvet is Britain's most common position, followed by both feet poking out the end.

One in ten people like to cover themselves entirely with the duvet.

[via www.scribd.com]

9 WORDS WOMEN USE

1. Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2. Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3. Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4. Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don’t Do It!

5. Loud Sigh: This is not actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6. That’s Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7. Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you’re welcome.

8. Whatever: Is a woman’s way of saying F@!K YOU!

9. Don’t worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking “What’s wrong?” For the woman’s response, refer to #3.
[via www.zoliad.com]

It always makes me think when I read this kind of articles. These differences between men and women can cause lots of unnecessary arguments and miss understanding. Even though we are the same kind, the way we think and act is so much different. That's why studying human behaviours is difficult and interesting.

What makes us fat?

Too much choice
Although a varied diet is likely to be rich in nutrients, US scientists found that the availability of lots of different foods can also encourage overeating. Hollie Raynor and Dr Leonard Epstein from the University of Buffalo said that variety decreased the feeling of satisfaction, making people more vulnerable to obesity. "Both people and animals will eat more food when a meal or diet contains a greater variety of food, which can eventually cause weight gain," they said. The research showed that meals composed of foods of a similar shape, taste and colour may curb overeating.


It's really interesting, how many people aware that too many choices actually affect our health?
There are more reasons here,
The Independent / What makes us fat?

Cyberslacking

Studies worldwide suggest employees spend about a fifth of their work shifts engaging in personal activities. Their favorite time waster? The Internet.

Patricia Wallace, author of the 2004 book "The Internet in the Workplace: How New Technology Is Transforming Work", said employees have always found ways to avoid working too hard.[via reuter]

我覺得那句寫的很妙
"避免自己工作太賣力"所以要找一些其他事做
我自己花很多時間在INTERNET上
but for me, INTERNET=WORK,
I spend lots of time to get new things, I don't know it is good or bad, useful or not. However, I enjoy internet surfing. You never know what you will find.

It's not because "Internet" so people work less hard.
It's they don't want to work hard.

You only love me cause I am fat?

A new UK study provides additional evidence that heavy people are more likely to choose other overweight individuals as mates.

This phenomenon is known as "assortative mating" - when men and women tend to select partners according to nonrandom attributes such as height, religion, age and smoking habits. [via yahoo news]

"物以類聚"
胖者恆胖 瘦者恆瘦?
科學家擔心降漸漸改變下一代的基因
過胖的情形會越來越嚴重

我不算胖
可是如果我喜歡胖子
那某些層面是不是我也是胖子?

[Thx Jenny]