Lawn Boy...

All my life I have been a sucker for anything well engineered with an interesting story behind it. A few days ago, I happened to pick up a mower from a neighbor. Now this isn't your typical stamped tin, plastic wheel, throwaway machine they sell by the thousands at Wal-Mart. Nope, this is a genuine 1970's Lawn Boy push mower.

What makes these so special? Well, for one these machines are built above and beyond the quality that most mowers you'll find out there. They're also quirky and weird looking not only visually, but mechanically. They are powered by 2 cycle engines that give them lots of power but a lot less weight. I can pick this thing up pretty easily. I'd say it weighs half of what my other mower does. The company has an interesting history too. It started in the marine engine business ( Evinrude) which was later sold to Briggs and Stratton before coming the Outboard Marine Corporation. When you look at these mowers, you can tell that a boat motor engineer had his hand in there somewhere. These old mowers last so long in many instances that they were passed down sometimes from father to son. You simply don't see that very often anymore in everyday pedestrian products.

What I like most about the mower is the styling. Sort off cross between a manta ray and a space ship. No reason other than just to look futuristic... for an item pushed around the yard by deal old dad in a straw hat. Put it in a museum and call it art. People would believe it. Perhaps I'm just a Krotchety old man in my young age, but I seem to seldom see this kind of attention to detail in the myriads of plasticy bubbly looking mowers on the market today.

MK12, Straight outta' Kansas City.

I stumbled across these guys a few days ago. They're a design agency out of Kansas City that make a wide variety of film and digital media related stuff for film and TV, their latest being " Stranger than Fiction". They have a very nice original design that blends a lot of kitchy, old-fashioned elements with modern ones. They're working on a project called " The History of America" that looks outright amazing.

As someone from the Southeast, I'm always glad to see design and film agencies succeed in their own way outside of the long-held strongholds of the industry: New York and California. I'm a somewhat firm believer in that people are affected in some ways by their surroundings and where they live. This seems pretty evident in MK12's work which has a very original style and character. In my opinion, a diversifying of America's advertising and film industry all over the country would lead to further innovation and more originality versus everything coming out of Los Angeles. Plus the sheer costs of doing business in California are almost prohibitive in the first place along with simply living there. So I would hope to see more companies like MK12 sprouting up everywhere to give California and New York firms a run for their money.

Take a look at their site. Amazing stuff. http://www.mk12.com

Is Flash for cellphones in the US going to be a sure thing?

I love flash. The more devices it can be incorporated into, the better. When I learned last year of the potential of Flashlite 2.0 to deliver rich flash content to a phone interface, it souned promising. Then Verizon announced that they would be the first US network to enable a large portion if their phones to play flash content seamlessly. They were able to do so using BREW technology, which enables the consumer to use flash content seamlessly.

So far so good right? We flash guys should be jumping all over this shouldn't we? Not exactly. My two year contract was up with Verizon, hence I was able to get a new phone. I chose the Motorola KRZR, which has the ability to play FL 2.1 content. As I awaited the shipment of this phone with excitement over the ability to create flash content for it, I only then saw what the real deal is.

Developing FL content for Verizon phones requires an agreement between you, Verizon, and Qualcomm, the owner of BREW technology. Ok... but that complicated system of licensing means you will need to fork over $400 for the privelage.

Adobe, Verizon, and Qualcomm are missing the point entirely here. By charging large fees just for the ability of developers to create and test content on their phones, they are essentially cutting off vital channels of creativity. Think about it. If we, who worked our way up the creative ladder would've had to pay $400 to test flash content on our PC's, then it is highly likely that many of us would have never made it that far. Less people who use a product with enthusiasm means less people who will ultimately buy your program, and subsequently contribute to the community that your company owes it's existence to.

This is just one small part of a bigger picture in which developers, graphic designers, and even consumers are nickled and dimed to death for anything that they happen to use or watch on their mobile devices. If the same approach was used for TV's, Radios, and so on, there would have not been the same level of success.

I can understand the seemingly irresistible urge for companies to want to 'cash in' on what could potentially become as lucrative as the web, which as we all saw created untold billions for some and entire industries for others. But those billions came from providing a environment where content, creation, marketing, and usage was entirely open and the costs for doing so incredibly cheap. The same iss not being done for wireless services and this is why the U.S. cellphone market is so far behind those in Europe and Asia. It will continue to be as such until a better approach is taken.

I for one will not be forking over $400 for a license to develop. I'm taking my money and buying a Nokia N series so I can test my content until a US network offers flash content testing capabilities free of charge.

WDVX: quite possibly the best radio station in the US.

As I sit here at my desk, headphones on, I hear the distinct sound of what I easily recognize as a Southern dialect; East Tennessee to be exact. It is the sound of a radio DJ from the WDVX studio in Knoxville, TN listing off the titles of a few songs just played.

Most of the time when we think of the word:" public radio", we think of stations with serious, dry voices, continuous news, and more than likely- a number of toccata's in E minor played through the afternoon with periodic demands for money. But not so with this one. WDVX is a radio station that doesn't come from the US government, a college, or anything else other than the listeners in the area and online throughout the world.

The music they play ranges from Americana, Bluegrass, Alt country, and blues.
They also play a daily show called the "Blue Plate Special"
where artists from far and wide come and play... sometimes 3 or 4 groups at a time. They play anyone from local bands all the way to bands from other countries. All's fair game and when the mic gets switched on at noon, TN time ( 8:00 Am for me o9ut in California,) The magic of live radio begins.

As many of you know, I am from the Knoxville area originally. When WDVX started way back in 1997, they began life as a tiny station crammed into a small camper. The radio station was an immediate success, bringing back the rich musical element that helped form the TN Valley into what it had become. Prior to this, your only choices was a typical mix of pop, country, classic rock, and alternative stations. There was a weekly 1 hour long show on the local, almost all-symphony public radio station on weekends devoted to regional music. But that was it. WDVX changed all that and in my opinion, brought music back to Knoxville and made it a destination for many. The station brought back an old tradition in Knoxville, long-gone since the farmer's market days of the 30's, 40's, and 50's, when the " Mid day merry-go-round" would feature such future stars like Chet Atkins.

In 2004, WDVX moved to One Vision Plaza on Gay Street in Knoxville, where visitors can stop in for lunch or coffee every weekday at noon to watch a live band. I actually did this last time I was in town to visit my folks, and it was inspiring.

Listening to WDVX makes me realize sometimes how unique Knoxville and TN is in many ways. I am proud to call WDVX my hometown station.

"Nusouth"

As many of my friends know, I'm slightly proud of my "suthern" heritage. I've had this name and design concept idea for awhile: Nusouth. The name signifies the renaissance of the Southern region as a modern economic powerhouse but still full of the things that make it such a great place. I've been fartin' around with logo ideas and this is an early sketch. It's ok, but the balance feels funny. You be the judge... or by the fact that nobody visits this blog, not at all.

nomadtoons.mobi designed... not loaded.

The nomadtoons.mobi site is now fully designed. The clinker is how to upload it to a server that will allow phones to access the flash. As it is now, most phones don't browse the same way as a PC. So I am going to try a method involving the index page redirecting to a 'home' swf. We'lls ee. For now, here is a sneak peak.