Google has started showing Adwords space on mobile search pages. They allow you to preview your sites design on a mobile web page to see if it displays properly. I think this would make a great tool for mobile web designers who want to get a quick look on how their site renders without actually accessing it from a mobile device. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they released it publicly. So, here it is straight from their servers to us. Not sure of the legality of the whole matter, but if I get any notices I’ll be sure to remove it and repost one I’ve made myself. (It’s not THAT difficult) Grab the source to customize the display box, you can modify screen sizes by adjusting the height & width values in the iframe.

I recently discovered misterclipping.com, a place that offers clipping path services. Talk about a target audience. I’m thinking about starting my own service for duplicating layers. If you need a Photoshop layer duplicated, I’m your guy. In all seriousness though, I might actually use this if I ever find an extremely complex image and I am in a lazy mood.

I like this commercial from LifeLock. The CEO claims the quality of his service is so good, that he shows his social security number to everyone as part of the campaign. This isn’t a new idea, the Hair Club for Men has been doing it forever. But, it got me thinking of other services or products and if their CEO’s have as much faith in them. So, I’d like to see the following CEO’s of:

• a parachute company that will jump out of a plane every day for an entire year using their own parachutes
• a Kevlar company getting shot in the chest wearing bullet-proof vests using their materials
• a company that makes tranquilizers going head to head with a charging elephant stopping him with darts using their chemical

There are a ton more I can picture, I doubt we’ll see it taken to this extreme though.

Every so often I come across a great series or clip for Japanese TV. I find them fascinating to watch, I’d view a lot more television if U.S. cable had this kind of programming. Here’s the most recent, enjoy.

I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s Small Is The New Big. In one entry, he talks about how he had a hard time coming up with his job title when he was asked, and determined that we are becoming a “multipation” culture. We no longer conform to the “I’m a firefighter” and that’s it. (I have a friend who is a firefighter/tile installer)

In the world of web design, I believe there are 3 “occupations” that shape your makeup. Visual Design, Information Architecture & Code Development (never mind the “sub-occupations’ within them) As time moves forward, the lines are becoming more blurred. Traditionally, a company would hire a separate web designer and programmer. I am seeing more and more job requests for great visual designers who know Actionscript, or Ruby on Rails developers with an eye for design. I’m not sure how I feel about this. There definitely needs to be a knowledge overlap between disciplines, but an entire redefinition of the roles is food for thought. I’ve had to learn my fair share of php and ,Net the past few years, but I wouldn’t consider myself anything close to a programmer. (Actionscript the exception) Oh well, time to go feed the chickens.

I’ve been locked out of my gmail account at least once a day for the past 7 days. Apparently, there were quite a few of us with the same problem, and Google’s tech support was of no help. So, this was solved by community. Thanks to this Google Group, I found that my SoThink swf extension is not playing nice with Firefox 2.0.0.6. Just making another space on the web for someone to find an answer to this frustrating problem.

Meet Bill Shannon. Bill was born with a condition that prevents him from being able to hold his body weight with his legs. The miracle is not some spontaneous healing, but that he has taken what he was given, and made something beautiful. Something that surpasses the norm and inspires others to overcome their own struggles. He performs all over the world. Watch the RJD2 video below.

I was able to witness the captivating experience they created first hand when my 4 year old daughter spent just over an hour on their web site and didn’t once ask me for help. Seeing as she can’t spell, I enter the url and she does the rest. It’s amazing that the human mind is naturally adept at identifying patterns and trends within an interactive system, as seen by a 4 year old with no previous computing experience. If your content is worth experiencing and finding, people will overlook design flaws and usability deficiencies. You see it all the time in sites like myspace, craigslist and pollypocket. I’m not trying to short the value of a design in your site, it’s just not the only factor to consider when it comes to success.

Looks like HP was the first to release a touch screen PC for the general population. I was surprised. Their demo is a bit cheesy, and doesn’t give you any insight into how the interface actually works (multi-touch, or simply a touch screen). It looks like it is not much more than an over sized PDA screen, I don’t think this is what the future has in store.

The touch screen interface will start shaping how we interact with PC’s when it does the following:

• Multi-location touch sensitivity (more than 2…multiple users working off the same display)
• Pressure sensitive display (pushing harder or softer on the display has different effects…Photoshop finger painting)
• Flexible display panels (work at/on any surface in any location…solves the shoulder cramp dilemma)
• Freezable portions of the display(Lock down specific sizable parts of the display so they are not accidentally manipulated)
• Time sensitive touch response (reactions based on amounts of time hands are placed in a single location on a display)

Jeff Han is on the forefront of this type of interface. For those that haven’t seen it, he and Perceptive Pixel are getting things going. He was also on TED.

That’s what some people are saying after the $200 price drop on the iPhone. (Smart move, now college kids can get them for Christmas). Thinking about the previous post on The Mobile Web, I thought I’d mention the move they made in that space. In lieu of the iPod Touch & iPhone built in Wi-Fi capability, Apple is enabling mobile access to iTunes for instant music to either device. The multi-touch interface is now figuring more prominently, and I think we’ll start seeing more (at least from Apple) exploring it’s use. A flat multi-touch keyboard maybe, you can rearrange the keys for efficiency in typing and not for a typewriter (did you know your current keyboard design is the way it is to prevent pairs of typebars from striking the platen [of a typewriter] at the same time and sticking together). It will be a while before the youth in America despise us enough for being tied to such an outdated trend, so don’t expect something too drastic too soon. BTW, if you did buy an iPhone before the price drop, don’t worry it’s not all bad news. You can score a $100 credit to any Apple Store.