Bjork’s Biophilia

Bjork’s much anticipated new album Biophilia is out today.

Biophilia is going to be released as a regular music album, but also as an iPhone/iPad app. Biophilia, the free app, is a multimedia framework, created by Bjork in collaboration with other artists, scientists, programmers and designers, that will hold each song – sold separately. Each in-app song will explore the relationship between music and physical phenomena, from the atomic to the cosmic.

  

In the meanwhile you can preview, for free, the first two singles:

• Crystalline (via pitchfork)
• Cosmogony (via consequence of sound)

See also:

• Create stunning word cloud infographs
• Create your own record cover
• Help create a digital landscape

The desktop wallpaper project

The fantastic the fox is black design blog plays host to a great little project: the desktop wallpaper project.

They invite illustrators, graphic designers and artists to create unique desktop wallpapers.

Each wallpaper is available for various screen resolutions, including, of course, iPhone, iPad and PSP screens.

Love it!

See also:

• Illustrated cities
• Nothing is impossible
• Origami social icons

Read it elsewhere

Mostly things from the past in this selection of links:

• “I first had a version of this at a Japanese monastery during a silent retreat—don’t ask, it’s a long story” and other pretentious quotes from Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook – eater
• Truly interesting: what is newsgathering, what is curating, what is piracy? – boingboing
• Nostalgia: Commodore 64 is back on the market (same exterior, new processor) – New York Times
• In other retro news, 100 Atari games come to the iPhone and iPad – boingboing
• And in other iPad news, here is a gallery of the best iPad self-portraits – mashable
• 600 year old stone markers Japan offer tsunami advice, like: “Always be prepared for unexpected tsunamis. Choose life over your possessions and valuables.” – GOOD.is

The physical act of writing

Everybody, from thinkers and writers to newspapers and blogs, is talking about the future of writing in cyberspace. We have seen various examples of hypertext fiction and everybody, not just cultural studies and visual culture students, came across with terms such as hypertextuality, multivocality, non-linearity and understood their multiple meanings.

But what about the physicality of writing? The act of writing? Things have changed: we used to hold a a pen or a pencil, then type on a typewriter and, then, on the keyboard of a computer, and, most recently, we started interacting with a touch screen. Have all these changes altered our perception of writing? And more significantly our way of thinking? Is writing always intermediated by the medium?

Typewriter aficionados claim that writing on a typewriter gives you time to think and concentrate, since you cannot check at the same time your email or Twitter account. On the other hand, one could easily say that a touch screen brings us back to a more tactile experience of writing. And I keep wondering if new gadgets, such as this typewriter stand for the iPad, keep appearing as a sign of nostalgia for the past or as functional tools of the future.

These are just thoughts. I have no answer or any insight. We will have to wait and see, I suppose.

Photos of vintage typewriters, courtesy of the New York Times

See also:

• The Wire, the Victorian novel
• Scrabble words, scrabble fonts
• The thread of hypertextuality
• Beneath the (plastic) surface

Take a snapshot of your face everyday

Do you recognize this man?

He’s quite the internet celebrity, but for those of you who live under a stone here come the introductions. He’s Noah Kalina, a photographer who decided in 2000 to document his aging process by taking a snapshot of his face every single day. In his website you can see up-to-date photos and in the video above you see the oh-so-slight changes in his face from 200 to 2006.

Does that make you feel creative envy? Worry no more, now there’s an iPhone app for that too. Everyday reminds you to take your photo every single day. And the perks? A grid that aligns your face’s position, and, even cooler than that, a movie generator, that creates a stop animation compilation of all of your photos. Will your video reach Noah’s 18771987 views on YouTube? Probably not. It will still be cool, though!

via Kottke

See also:

• Naked in the city
• We float
• An artist revealed from mud

Read it elsewhere

The Beatles, Social Media and more Japan aid:

• For mixtape nostalgics: Stereolizer is the app that turns your iPad into an 80’s cassette player – wired
• Etsy users find themselves exposed to world as a result of the new privacy policy – boingboing
• Taking a stand on the McCartney – Lennon feud – Though Catalog
• In other Beatles news Apple files to trademark the old Beatles Apple Logo – patently apple
• Fear of missing out in the social media – caterina.net via swissmiss
• Isn’t that a surprise: poor countries have more digital piracy – boingboing
• Happy people stick together in Twitter (so do the miserable also) – mashable
• The history of web browser (infograph) – bit rebels
• More designers come to the aid of Japan – this is colosal & imprint

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Time put to words

QLOCKTWO is a clock without hands and without numbers. It just tells you the time in words.

Created by Biegert & Funk, it is available in English, German, Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish, Danish, Russian, Swedish and Arabic.