Airbnb's Global Growth Infographic
Beautiful work, great writing.
“Boho Chic in Prenzlauer Berg,” a “Sonia’s Travels” segment about the beyond-wonderful Berlin neighborhood Tamara and I lived in between fall 2010 and summer 2011. I’d be surprised if I ever have the chance to live in a cooler spot.
NYT's Interactive Look at the SOTU Speech
Interesting three-column approach, with individual video clips on the left, related transcript sections in the center, and “Fact Check” call-outs on the right. All synched up well. Impressive.
Gruber on the iBooks File Format
I’ve been following the iBooks Author discussions with a lot of interest, and I find myself among those (like David Sparks) whose reservations and questions aren’t strong enough to quash the enthusiasm for what we all might be making. As is often the case, a post from John Gruber — Friday’s ”On the Proprietary Nature of the iBooks Author File Format” — has tweaked my understanding of the Apple offering. From the piece:
The output of iBooks Author is no more intended to be an industry standard than are any other Apple-proprietary document formats — Pages, Numbers, Keynote, etc. This is Apple’s own e-book format, intended only to be displayed (played?) using Apple’s own software running on Apple’s own devices.
As with the end-user licensing kerfuffle, it’s worth noting that the app’s name is iBooks Author, not eBooks Author. Just because there’s demand for an open-standards-based e-book production and layout tool of the scope and caliber of iBooks Author, doesn’t mean Apple has any interest in making such a tool.
Later:
In some sense this is like a rehash of the App Store debate — iBooks Author is a developer tool for the iBooks platform.
Later:
[Daniel] Glazman looks at these new iBooks books and sees a nonstandard proprietary format. Apple looks at these new iBooks and sees layouts and design features that no other e-book platform offers today. One man’s nonstandard is another man’s competitive differentiation.
I plan to take iBooks Author for a spin in the coming months and will report back on my own experience.
"The Flip Side of a Big Audience"
Candid, interesting post from Gina Trapani.
Monocle — for the first time (to my knowledge) allowing embedding of its videos — previews the February 2012 issue.
"Moonrise Kingdom Trailer: A Visual Breakdown"
A slideshow at Slate of the movie’s Wes Andersonness.
One image — photograph by Jamie Salomon, styling by Kara Butterfield — from “Prefabulous: Vacation Homes from a Prefabricated Kit,” in this month’s Boston Magazine. The architect, of course, is Rocio Romero.
NYT: "Design Sets the Tone at Square"
The start-up already has a million customers and manages more than $2 billion a year in credit card transactions.
2011: The Year at Kickstarter
Some incredible stats at this year-in-review post:
- Launched Projects: 27,086
- Successful Projects: 11,836
- Dollars Pledged: $99,344,382
- Rewards Selected: 1,150,461
- Total Visitors: 30,590,342
- Project Success Rate: 46%
$99 million pledged! Remarkable. I’ll likely be submitting my Gass Interviews project in the next three months.
Peter Hessler: "All Due Respect"
Since this is behind The New Yorker’s paywall, I’m linking to it mainly so that any subscribers who skipped the piece promptly return and dig in. Hessler, a recent MacArthur Fellow, paints a vivid portrait of Jake Adelstein, an odd-duck reporter from rural Missouri who’s taken on organized crime in Japan. For those who’ve read it, you can listen to Hessler talk about the profile on the magazine’s “Out Loud” podcast.
Marge, meet Monet. One slide from the Complex article “The Complete History Of Art References In The Simpsons” (via Tamara)
The new Wes Anderson trailer had a ton of familiar moments and ticks from his other movies, but one that stuck out to me: someone up high talking to someone below. (The “Royal Tenenbaums” scene would likely not be as memorable if weren’t for these two awesome lines.)
The trailer for Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom.” At times it seems like a parody of his style. Can’t wait.
