Rode the Mariachi Bullitt to CC for breakfast. A little cooler today, a lovely morning.
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A great talk David Byrne gave at TED in February, about music and architecture, has been released this week. I mentioned this talk in March, after Byrne wrote about it on his own website. The talk is entitled How architecture helped music evolve, but should be called How Music Adapted to Architecture.

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Dezeen » Blog Archive » The Golden Rules by Olivia Lee
Called The Golden Rules, the pad allows users to sketch guided by proportions believed to represent an aesthetic ideal.
(Via Dezeen)

Not sure how useful that really is. Looks like something a hobbit or wizard would use, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

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Your Brain on Computers – Attached to Technology and Paying a Price – NYTimes.com
His wife, Brenda, complains, “It seems like he can no longer be fully in the moment.”

This is your brain on computers.

Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information. These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate opportunities and threats. The stimulation provokes excitement — a dopamine squirt — that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored.

The resulting distractions can have deadly consequences, as when cellphone-wielding drivers and train engineers cause wrecks. And for millions of people like Mr. Campbell, these urges can inflict nicks and cuts on creativity and deep thought, interrupting work and family life.

While many people say multitasking makes them more productive, research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress.
(Via swissmiss)

I had a hard time reading longish news articles on my computer. I thought maybe it was the screen, but then I started reading books on the iPhone and iPad and found that it was easy for me – I have read dozens of books that way in the past year.

Then I found out about Instapaper, which is a brilliant tool to save web pages for later reading – to read on the computer, phone or iPad. Since many ads are Flash, Instapaper strips them out and what is left is just the article. I have no problem reading longish articles now and came to the conclusion that I didn’t have a problem with reading from a screen… I have a problem with an extremely cluttered screen. And it’s not just still ads, mostly in black and white, as you would find in a “real” newspaper, no they are in color and many of them move and if you have the sound up they might get your attention that way also…

So, if you haven’t heard of Instapaper, go check it out. A basic account is free. I think it’s the most useful and necessary app I have on my phone.

This also makes me think that when the right format comes along I will be happy to subscribe to certain magazines in a virtual form – as long as they keep their ads in check. I won’t purchase the Wired Mag/App again for that reason – too many ads, and the ads are made to look like articles in most cases which makes it worse.
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Great photographs from Africa by Nick Lill. I particularly like that reflection.

So hot right now: 2m apply for 60k iTunes Festival tickets | Media | guardian.co.uk
The annual iTunes Festival has turned into something of a beast since its modest launch with a small but powerful line-up at the ICA in 2007.

This year’s festival at London’s Roundhouse is giving away 60,000 tickets for gigs scattered throughout July – but an astonishing two million people have applied for them.

The iTunes Festival isn’t a big money spinner in Apple terms; it’s free, for starters. But this is a powerful marketing exercise for Apple, putting the virtual iTunes brand into the real world and reinforcing it with live artists. We also know how powerful live music and events are for driving music sales. I asked Apple for any figures on how influential the iTunes Festival is in that respect, but they couldn’t comment.

That looks like a cool festival. Why is it UK only?
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I love this: The Crib | chickencribs.com
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Plastic Bag
Plastic Bag by Ramin Bahraniis is one of the most beautiful short films I’ve seen in ages…. But if you read the by-line before seeing the film you would probably go “huh??” so trust me, just watch it! Its 18 minutes long, voiced by Werner Herzog with a beautiful score by Kjartan Sveinsson and a lovely, gentle soundtrack
(Via the music of sound)

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And what did I read just now:

Design for Readability First | Webmonkey | Wired.com
Safari 5’s seemingly innocuous new Reader feature, which isolates the text on a webpage making it easier to read, has sparked a surprising amount of outrage from web publishers who think Apple is trying to squash online advertisements and attack their livelihood.

But there’s been an equally distinctive and vocal reaction from readers, one that can be summed up quite simply: “Thank you.”

Similar tools have been around for eons, starting with the “Print this page” link of the last century, all the way up to tools like Readability, whose code Apple borrowed for its browser. But the advent of Safari Reader seems to have galvanized a point of view that’s been brewing for a while: Webpages are too cluttered and difficult to read.

I added the emphasis.

Check out this reader for the Guardian.