Write the Future - Nike World Cup ad (full version)

I'm not sure what I liked more, Rooney with the crazy beard or looking like James Bond while handling Federer at ping pong?

Use Tagxedo to create cool word clouds

Here's my new word cloud for SWATE courtesy of Tagxedo:

She & Him - In The Sun

I'm really digging this new song by She & Him, and the video is pretty cool too. Zooey Deschanel is a legit double threat (and, let's face it, a total cutie. Trillian forever!)

Not exactly Tupac vs. Biggie

East vs. West in the Big Smoke for ultimate downtown bragging rights? NOW Magazine says let's get ready to rumble.... Anyway, a decent read, and Toronto Life gets a chance to make fun of NOW for the feature. And, apparently, EYE is weighing in at the same time with a North vs. South cage match? [note:  East vs. West I get, but North vs. South in Toronto... not so much?].

Give the gift of green energy

Looking for that hard to find gift for that special person… or client, friend, whatever? Here’s something you might want to take a look at:

Platypus, a Canadian non-profit organization, is a new and easy way to help the planet. Buy 100% renewable energy as a gift for the homes of friends, family, clients or yourself, and notify them with a personalized, animated e-card. In addition to greening their power, the money goes to local green energy projects like wind farms and hydro plants, and also helps bring new renewable energy projects online. You can give the gift of green energy for as little as $10 for one month.

If you’re interested, go to www.greenplatypus.com to learn more about how it all works.

I don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to fall asleep....

More indie rock gold available from these guys on their YouTube channel.

World's largest spherical panorama

Somebody once said to me, "Prague is a winter city." Well, here today, on the first official day of winter (although let's face it, winter has been here for a while already), let me take you to Prague.... This is pretty amazing.

From Wired:

360 Cities, a Dutch company, has created a stunning panoramic photo of Prague in the Czech Republic. “The creation of this image represents my previous five years’ obsession with all things panoramic,” says Jeffrey Martin, founder and CEO of 360 Cities. “If you’re stuck at home over Christmas, feeling humbuggy and don’t feel like hanging out with your family, you can explore Prague instead.”

What makes this panoramic photo interesting to viewers is that you can zoom in and out, move up or down or change your view–much like with Google Street View maps.

The photo has been assembled from 600 shots clicked by a 21-megapixel Canon 5D Mark II camera and a 70-200mm lens, set to 200mm. The camera was mounted on a special robotic device that turned it tiny increments every few hours. The resulting data from the camera was about 40-gigabytes.

The photo measures 192,000 x 96,000 pixels, or 18.4 billion pixels altogether.

A city in the clouds

Cool / eerie photos of fog shutting down the city of Wuhan. I can only assume the mayor of this town is Lando Calrissian.

Seth Godin's free ebook of big ideas

Seth Godin has compiled a new, FREE(!) ebook called What Matters Now. Here's some information about it and a link to where you can download it. A worthy read for some 2010 inspiration while you roast chestnuts by the open fire this holiday season.

Now, more than ever, we need to shake things up.

Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around. I hope a new ebook I've organized will get you started on that path. It took months, but I think you'll find it worth it the effort. (Download here).

Here are more than seventy big thinkers, each sharing an idea for you to think about as we head into the new year. From bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert to brilliant tech thinker Kevin Kelly, from publisher Tim O'Reilly to radio host Dave Ramsey, there are some important people riffing about important ideas here. The ebook includes Tom Peters, Jackie Huba and Jason Fried, along with Gina Trapani, Bill Taylor and Alan Webber.

More drinking with your iPhone - never go thirsty again!

Have you ever said to yourself, 'self, I need a Guinness and I need one now.' You lie, of course you have. Okay, let’s say you’re out and about and you have a thirst for some Vitamin G. Now there’s an iPhone app that helps you “locate a pint.” The app also shows you how to pouring a perfect pint and provides an alcohol FAQ. 

I got to get me one of them iPhone things.

And here's an added bonus for your viewing pleasure. (I add value because I care.) There are three stages to the perfect pour: 

1. You craft the pint
2. You revere it
3. You savor it

Good god I'm thirsty.

A whole new level of insanity

Did you have Hot Wheels cars when you were a kid? If you did then you'll remember the loop the loop. Ever thought about trying it in a real car? Crazy, non? Well the guys at Fifth Gear TV have replicated the classic Hot Wheels set, and will attempt to perform a full 360 degree loop in a full size car.

Mercedes, iPhone and James Bond

What do these three things have in common? Well, Mercedes has created an iPhone app that lets you control your Benz. What will the app let you do? Apparently....

• Navigation
• Remote door locking
• Vehicle finding
• Dealer connect
• Stolen vehicle location
• Automatic alarm notification
• Roadside assistance calling
• Automatic collision notification
• If that's not enough, there are premium extras that give you location-based weather and traffic info, and a concierge service that lets you book hotels, find stores, make restaurant reservations and so on.

Other than letting you steer your car through a parking garage while slumped down in the backseat it doesn't get much more James Bond than this.

Can't wait to see what the guys at Pimp My Ride can come up with.

Click here for the article in Fast Company.

Toronto stuff from the web

A bunch of random Toronto stuff found on the web this week:

The Sorauren Park Pumpkin Parade was the biggest ever this year, with organizers counting an amazing 1,620 Jack-O-Lanterns. Read more and see the pictures here.

Tourism Toronto Getting its Butt Kicked by the Canadian Tourism Commission on YouTube. The Canadian Tourism Commission has done a great job putting together what I think are rather honest and compelling depictions of some of the finer aspects of life in Toronto. Two dozen high quality YouTube videos of decent production value and great content are a lot more than Tourism Toronto can say they've done in this realm (they have zero videos to share on their YouTube channel). [Note: The Canadian  Tourism Commission's You Tube channel is definitely worth checking out, and I love that they feature Mercury Espresso Bar in the Leslieville segment. Best coffee shop in town.]

The Samovar Room - a Russian-themed bar - takes over the beautiful space in the Winchester Hotel that was formerly the Laurentian Room. The place looks really cool. What is it with Russian-themed bars when you go east of Yonge?

Bored with wine tasting? Try coffee tasting at Te Aro.

See Toronto Fall colours captured in all their glory at blogTO.

Trick out your iPod Nano

I might have to buy a Nano just so I can buy one of these cases.

Weezer rules!

Check out Weezer covering MGMT's "Kids" and Lady Gaga's "Pokerface".

But where's River's 'stache??

Today's something or other #26

The world's most unique buildings.

Today's something or other #25

You know you want one. From Design Boom.

Very cool super slo-mo surfing video

Today's something or other #20

Looking to kick it old skool when talking on your mobile? Then check out this genius product from Yubz.

This is a new level of awesome.

More Wikipedia Names Your Band

On February 23rd I wrote about the genius idea someone came up with about how to use Wikipedia and Flickr to come up with your band name, album title and album cover. (I read about it originally Buzzfeed as Wikipedia Names Your Band, and it has become one of their all-time most popular submissions).

My results are included in the February 23rd post. I'm pleased to be able to share a submission from one of you good people. Unfortunately he wasn't able to figure out how to add text to the picture so, Coxy, hopefully you won't mind my creative license.

Coxy's contribution: