Animals and humans come together in a beautiful way

These lovely manimal creations are from UK based illustrator Kevin Cornell. They are funky and whimsical with a tad bit of sarcasm added for good measure. Even though this series is varied, there is a commonality which runs through and grabs you head on.

You can see Cornell’s other works and purchase the prints above at BearSkinRug. I recommend following @BearSkinRug on Twitter as well. Good stuff!

Word clouds

Jonathan Feinberg is the mastermind behind Wordle.net – a fun way to weave word clouds. The cloud creation is quite simple. You can either add words via an online editor or you can add an RSS feed to automatically generate a word cloud. Just like any word cloud, prominance is given to the frequency the word appears.

The fun part is tweaking the clouds. At your disposal are different fonts as well as a myriad of layouts and color schemes. The final images can be printed out and placed in a frame.  Bam! instant artwork for typographically challenged.  The clouds can also be saved to a public gallery so others can enjoy your handwork.

The word cloud above was generated via Mashable.com’s RSS feed

Create your own word clouds at wordle.net.

Cool Facebook T-shirts

Despair, Inc., one of my favorite online shops, has two new Facebook themed t-shirts. Anybody familiar with Facebook will instantly identify with these shirts. Clever and slightly devilish at the same time.

1 RANDOM THING.
Because 25 random things is 25 too many.

From the Despair.com blog:

It’s become one of the fastest moving fads in the history of social networking. In one week’s time, over 5 million narcissists, braggarts, exhibitionists, and serial jabbermouths have posted notes to Facebook, disclosing “25 random things” about themselves to their online network of family, friends, friends-of-friends, and of course more than a few pseudo-friends who are just keeping up appearances because they lacked the guts to decline a “friend invite”. All the while, these very same people are exposing their dirty laundry, trivial observations, unsolicited fantasies, yawn-inducing confessions, white-washed biographical highlight reels and probably a hefty share of outright lies to an armada of sexual deviants, unstable stalkers, future blackmailers, potentially nefarious foreign and domestic intelligence agencies, and a legion of marketing bots- all of which are probably paying closer attention than those the list was intended for (for reasons best left unmentioned). Read more

Get “1 Random Thing” t-shirt

THE IGNORE TEE.
If you don’t get the joke, there may be a reason.

From the Despair.com blog:

Hey ladies, this one comes in a babydoll tee, too- because we KNOW you probably need it even more than the Men on this list do… (Not that we’re stalking your Facebook page or anything. I mean, that would be a violation of the sacred compact between a business and a customer. And the last thing we would ever do would be to use our access to your privileged information- like names and addresses- to research our customers online profiles, searching for that… Special lady who might… Complete us… Even though she just thinks of us at the moment as a friend… Or, at least, a friendly voice on the other end of this email… Even if she doesn’t yet know that we know her so very, very well. And her friends, her family, even 25 Random Things about her…) Read more

Get “Ignore” t-shirt here

Move over Billy Mays, Vince is back with Slap Chop!

“Stop having a boring tuna, stop having a boring life!”

America’s favorite new pitchman is back with “slap chop.” “You’re going to be in a great mood all day because you’ll be slapping your troubles away with Slap Chop” proclaims Vince. You know, Vince from Sham Wow. This time he’s pitching the the perfect kitchen chopper.

How is this chopper different from the bazillion other choppers out there you ask? Simple. Slap chop is easy to clean. One, two, and bingo, it pops open. The other choppers get bacteria in the food. Not Slap Chop! Face it, those other choppers are worthless because you can’t clean them.

Looks like there’s a new sheriff in town Billy Mays. And he’s gunning for you!

Extend your iPhone battery life with a Mophie Juice Pack

Finally an iPhone battery pack that fit’s all my criteria. The Mophie Juice Pack has a beautiful form-fitting design and it’s definitely one of the best I’ve seen. It is also lightweight and features a soft-touch coating. The pack also doubles as a case for added protection.

One of the features I really like is the fact that once the juice pack is attached, it’s intelligent power distribution tells the iPhone to always drain the pack first. This always leaves you with a fully charged iPhone ready to go. Simply adding the pack will more than double your iPhone battery life! There are also four LED status indicator s so you will always know exactly how much power is left in your juice pack. This feature alone is a competition killer.

Sure it’s a bit more expensive than alternative choices out there. However, few look as nice or are as full featured.

Get one at the Apple Store.

‘Tis the season to go viral?

There are a couple of holiday viral videos floating around this season. Let’s run down a few of them:

Elf Yourself
This is the one that OfficeMax turned into a powerhouse franchise, and is back once again with an expanded version with new features. This time around they partnered with JibJab. I’m fairly sure everybody had a glimpse when it went around last year. See the one I created here.
Elf Yourselfl

The Big Hint
Lexus rips off the OfficeMax “Elf Yourself” in a clever retread idea… Put your head on a person and dance with a Lexus! You can send the video around to give someone the big hint. See the one I created here.
thebighint.com

My Ginger Head
Virgin Mobile spins it a bit further with adding your head on a ginger bread man or woman. You get to customize your ginger avatar with some bling and icing.  Then it’ on to a holiday message complete with music. See the one I created here.
mygingerhead.com

Sit on Santa’s Lap
Digital frame maker Ceiva gives you a chance to sit on Santa’s lap … sort of. You can upload a photo of yourself and put it on a Ceiva digital frame. 
sitonsantaslap.com

Regifting

If you’ve received a gift over the holidays that you really dislike, you may consider regifting it. Regifting comes from the infamous Seinfeld episode “The Label Maker” which originally aired in January 1995. Hard to believe it’s been over ten years already. In this episode, Tim Whatley gives Jerry a label maker for Christmas which Elaine had previously given him. Thus Elaine dubs him the regifter. See a video clip here.

Here are a few rules of the road that I found on regiftable.com:

Is the gift regiftable?
Never regift handmade or one-of-a-kind items. Signed books and monogrammed items are off-limits. Do you have to be told not to regift free promotional items? Some gifts that are good candidates for regifting include good (unopened!) bottles of wine, new household items and inexpensive jewelry.

How is the condition?
Only new, unopened gifts in good condition should be considered for regifting. Never give partially used gift cards. Don’t give items that you have owned for a long time. A general rule of thumb: if you have to dust it off, it is not regiftable.

Is this going to work?
Successful regifters use common sense. If you are going to regift, be sure you know who gave you the item, so you don’t return something to the original giver. Only regift items to people who are not likely to see the original giver.

Do you have good intentions?
Don’t just give a gift to give a gift. Be sure that the recipient will appreciate the item. Remember, if you feel that an item is undesirable, the recipient probably will too. If you are regifting simply because you ran out of time, gift cards are simple to obtain and always well received.

How does it look?
When it comes to gift-giving, go for show! While gift bags in good condition can be reused, wrapping paper is a one-time thing. Always spring for a new card or gift tag.

Can you handle it?
If you don’t plan to announce the gift as a regift, ask yourself if you can keep the secret. Never feel guilty about regifting once you’ve done it.

Have you considered your options?
An unwanted gift could be a welcome donation to a charitable organization. It is also an option to suck it up and keep an unwanted gift—after all, it was a gift.

Multipot – Clutter Keeper for Gadgets

If you have an iPhone, iPod, PDA and are tired of the wire clutter, the Multipot is for you. Italian designers Dante Donegani and Giovanni Lauda have come up with an ingenious method for hiding those unsightly wires. The top lifts from the base and the cords are plugged in underneath. When you place the top back on the base, the cord is fed through a small hole on the top. Your rechargeable device plugs in and lays on top. In addition to being functional, it’s also a super stylish light. Well done.

*Note: Also come in a 110v US version.

Via questodesign

Cool DIY Green iPhone Stand

Sure there are a lot of cool iPhone / iPod Touch stands out there. This one is 100% green! Never tested on animals and completely recyclable.
[Hint, it will also work with a $1 bill]

via swissmiss