concept
idea concepts
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Books on Tape
Digging through some old collections of ideas I’ve had over the years, I found: Books on tape (books written on actual tape) Like most ideas I feature here on this site, I’m sure countless other people have had each of these ideas. Some probably went further with those ideas than I have. But should that…
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Yarn the Yak
In my post Eric Carle I’m Not, I discovered & refined the character of Yarn the Yak (they/them). This lovable yak with fur made of colorful yarn spoke to and I decided to run with it a little. First I created images of Yarn the Yak and their friends the armadillo, aardvark, and donkey using…
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Mistakes
At the bottom of the web interface for Gemini is the disclaimer “Gemini is AI and can make mistakes.” It’s a typical “cover your butt” statement – a warning that AI can mistakes. But how about trying to make Gemini make mistakes? Make a short childhood nursery rhyme but fill it will all sorts of…
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The Society of Postmodern Archaeologists & Mailcarriers
Ever have a word and you try to come up with it would mean if it was an acronym or initialism? I have found myself doing that quite a bit. One time I found myself wandering the city of Boston, entering random CVS stores and asking the people working there if they knew what the…
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Punk Entomology
While in college (1992-1996), I took a science class where our final project was a bug collection. We had to find, capture, and kill specimens of various types of bugs then mount them on pins. This macabre assignment dovetailed with the spikey, bleached hairstyle I had at that time. I had visions of creating a…
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Driving Directions HOV
So I took a roadtrip with my daughter from SF to Disneyland. We went down the coast on US101. When I hit a break in the Oxnard area I plugged into Google Maps on my iPhone the destination and looked for its sage advice on the quickest route given traffic, etc. It told me my…
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Video Billboards in Concert
Don’t know if it’s in any advertiser’s future plans yet, but it was in the dream I just awoke from – someone spent a lot of money to make a city-wide spectacle using those video billboards. Don’t ask me which ad agency snuck into my cerebral cortex last night or what the pitch was, but…
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Speed(ing) Dating
I was sitting in downtown SF watching the comings and goings of a much younger crowd. I was near a gym and there was this constant stream of people in and out. And in front, I saw this weird dance taking place. People would stand at the curb with their phones out and cars would…
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Airport Security
I was taking a class at Stanford’s d.school last week and the creative project we were working on had to do with airport security. We spent some time breaking down the entire process and discussing what were some of the feelings we might have of each. One of the things that struck me, is that…
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No Disclaimers
I work for a certain Financial Services firm and I see various legal and disclaimer text every day. It’s often (sadly) hilarious what requires disclaimers and how unlikely it is to release anything without it. And it makes me wonder whether disclaimer text has any unconscious effects on consumers. I am not sure that the…