Forgotten Bookmarks – The anonymous person behind this unique and engaging blog explains what Forgotten Bookmarks is about: “I work at a rare and used bookstore, and I buy books from people everyday. These are the personal, funny, heartbreaking and weird things I find in those books.”
Here is but one example of the oddities found in books people used to own. In this case it’s an old Palmolive Soap ad found in The Bounty Trilogy by Charles Nordhoff and James Normal Hall. Published by Little, Brown, 1962.
As Good As Gold – You are co-starring in this action packed movie trailer, right next to Benicio Del Toro and the lovely Caroline Correa, directed by Bryan Singer. What is the movie about? Oh, just Magnum Gold ice cream…
Upload a photo of yourself or use your webcam to make the experience complete, and see yourself in this cute trailer alongside Hollywood’s hottest stars. Enjoy.
20 Things I Learned About Browsers & The Web – Google sure knows how to pack each of their projects with creativity, interest and a taste for more. This project, published by the Google Chrome Team, cleverly makes the user feel as though he or she is reading a cute and engaging book, telling the story (in simple terms) of the Web, how it works, and explaining relevant key terms (such as cloud computing, web apps, HTML5 and more).
The beautiful illustrations you’ll find as you read along are simple yet super adorable, and they add to the overall look and feel of the 20 Things I Learned project (illustrations by Christoph Neimann).Reading the book from start to finish will take you less than an hour, and it will give you a solid idea of what and where the Web is today.
GeoEye – Here’s how GeoEye describe themselves: “GeoEye, Inc. is a premier provider of superior satellite and aerial imagery, location information products and image processing services. Our products and services enable timely, accurate and accessible location intelligence that translates into timely and vital insights for our customers, anywhere and at any time.”
Although this sounds very corporate-y, it’s super cool to know the GeoEye uses an actual satellite to take these amazing pictures. I’d just skip right to the website’s gallery section (over 100 amazing images!) and then you’ll understand why GeoEye is so great at what it does. I’ve included two images that blew me away: Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Africa, and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. I highly recommend reading the annotation accompanying each image. Click the images and you’ll get their respective page plus annotation.
ShelterPop – Another great blog from AOL Lifestyle, ShelterPop is here to make your home and everything within it, as wonderful as possible. The blog offers ideas, inspirations and how-to’s in numerous categories, including per-room suggestions, famous homes, design & architecture, storage & cleaning, gardening, fun stuff (crafts, parties, etc.), experts and video.
Like all Aol’s other blogs, it’s really fun to explore the various content offered on ShelterPop. Each section is armed with the right amount of images and commentary to persuade you to do something at home. My favorite post on ShelterPop is 8 Easy Bathroom Updates on a Budget.
M Thru F – This hilarious blog was a Weekly Blog winner and thus scored the Weekly Fave spot last week. Prepare yourself for prolonged enjoyment as you explore the posts in this funny as hell work fail blog by Cheezburger. Turns out some of life’s funniest moments happen at the office, as you can see below.
I Can’t Find My Phone – This one action only website treats a most common problem most mobile device owners face at some point in their life. Lost your phone? No prob. Go to this site (it’s a one page website), type in your cell phone number and hit “HELLO?” Yes, the system will call your mobile phone, and hopefully you’ll hear it ringing under the pillow of your sofa. If you hear nothing, try to remember what you did in the past 24 hours. For your sake I hope you were not flying in from another country or state…
Boutiques.com – Visual power has penetrated the fashion realm and now online apparel shopping is more accurate and individualized than ever. Take Boutiques.com for example, brought to us by Google, which “lets you find and discover fashion goods through a collection of boutiques curated by taste-makers — celebrities, stylists, designers, and fashion bloggers.” This ‘make-it-your-own’ apparel store uses visual technology that ‘learns’ your taste and style, and offers specific items that you, the users, will likely appreciate and hopefully purchase.
How does Boutiques learn what your style is, and what items to offer you accordingly? Click the Create Your Boutique button on the upper right corner, and start selecting your best outfits out of the ones the system offers you (actual celebrities’ styles). I did this for about 5 minutes, and Boutiques.com informed me my style is ‘casual chic.’
To finish off your own Boutique and have ‘it’s all you’ item recommendations, you will need to go through five more steps, but these are filled with fun and glamor you will enjoy every second of it. These include choosing your favorite (and least favorite) silhouettes, colors and patterns for a variety of clothing categories, and when you’re done, you go to your ‘Storefront’ and check out a huge catalog of clothing and accessories all suiting your personal style. Plus, you can follow other users who have created their storefront, and others can follow you for some added inspiration. I totally understand why Google bought this company. They KNOW style!
Can you draw the Internet? – Who do you think has a greater chance of creatively showing what the Internet represents – a talented graphic designer or a 10 year-old kid who has never known a world without computers and the Internet? This intriguing project by Saint (London) brought out some amazing creative metaphors children have in their mind about what the Internet means for them.
The result? It will blow you away. Here’s a screen shot of the project’s homepage. Explore the unexpected and mind-blowing interpretations, and vote for your favorites!
Damn You, Auto Correct – This Weekly Blog winner is one of those funny cases where technology is developed to make our lives easier, but instead, it makes it more complicated. Damn You, Auto Correct puts the iPhone’s text auto-correct feature in the giggles spotlight and ridicules honest messages gone bad as a result. This is hilarious, surprising and addictive. There, I warned you. Below are a couple of especially funny examples.
Late Night – Experience music videos like never before with this exciting Late Night gem by Doritos. Although Rihanna is the most prominent star here, her video is not the only one worth exploring. Be sure to watch the others offered here, of bands from London, Sao Paulo, Brazil and other locations – you won’t be disappointed. The first screen shot is of the Late Night home screen, the second of the lovely 360 degree video by a cute Brazilian band. Simply play the video, click your mouse on any point on the screen and drag it to any direction. This way you will grasp the concept of an all-angle music video.
FaveOne – This website is ridiculously simple, but also a whole lot of fun and interesting. The entire concept of this site is about offering you two options for a given hypothetical situation and you choose the one you favor. Once you’re done you are presented with the number of votes each of the two options has received thus far, and then another ‘this one or that one’ scenario comes up. Simple enough, isn’t it?
Although it is so simple it hurts, FaveOne is beautifully designed and has a solid call-to-action that is all but intrusive. Great site, great concept and great feeling of choice! Today’s choice is between flying on a plane and driving a car. I picked the latter.