In it what is in it

Three cool apps for the iPhone and iPad (free!)

...And the winners are: Pocket Pond, Soundrop and Use Your Handwriting. All are available free from iTunes. I have picked them more for their design brilliance than their usefulness. I should add that they all reside on my iPhone, but I can see that they would be equally compelling, if not more so, on an iPad with the much larger screen. Pocket Pond by John Moffett is a pond with rippling water and colorful fish. You can touch the water and scare the fish. You can add lotus blossoms and buzzing dragonflies. Beautiful to look it, entirely realistic, with just the right relaxing sounds and motion. 

Ray Jones: mastery in wood

I first saw this Ray Jones box and was reminded of the gull-wing doors of the DeLorean. There is the same elegant defiance of gravity, the clean lines that surprise when first you see them. Exploring the Ray Jones Woodcrafts web site I discovered that this was just one of his "Very Special Boxes". The one you see here is Faithful Friend. There are more elaborate ones, like Inner Sanctum, a work in progress. There, three nested compartments swing open their doors at different angles like the unfolding of a musical movement in wood (go see it at his site -- click on those Very Special Boxes link on the left and scroll down).

Top 10 Super Bowl Ads

You have choices. There are the 10 funniest ads. The classics here include Macdonald's showdown between Larry Bird and Michael Jordan as well as three Budweiser favorites: rock, paper, scissors, the Clydesdale streaker and Will Ferrell.  Or, you could go for the 10 best technology ads.  Who can forget Apple's 1984 introduction of the Macintosh in a "1984" setting? Then we have EDS's 'cat herders' and Intel's Play That Funky Music.  Or, you can stop being picky and just go for the top 10 Super Bowl ads of all time. This fine list is selected by MSNBC.

Digg

Cool drop caps

ool drop caps, like the "C" that leads this paragraph, are available from Daily Drop Cap. This is a project by typographer Jessica Hische where she creates a hand-crafted initial letter each day. It's free to use (she supplies the HTML) as long as you don't modify it, use it commercially, and attribute the work to her.

If you are fascinated by fonts and typography as I am, I have two recommendations. See the documentary Helvetica about the revolutionary typeface that turned 50 in 2007. (In our word processors we have known it as Arial). It is a fascinating story about how the font 'created' modernity and pretty much took over the world of signage (and has yet to let go). The film is available on Netflix.  My other recommendation is Robin William's book, "The Non-Designer's Design and Type Books". This is actually a compilation of her two books, one on Design, which talks of page layout and the other on Type, which deals with fonts and typefaces and how and where to use them. There are fascinating lessons from Robin. Interestingly enough, she hates Helvetica!