The Cute Knut Music Video

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If you haven't already seen this is little cub in the news, he is the first polar bear to be born in Berlin Zoo after 30 years. The fate of the nearly 19-pound bear attracted international attention when an animal activist insisted that the cub would have been better off dead than raised by humans. It made me think - what kind of activist would want a member of this endangered species (at risk of becoming extinct) dead!? Luckily, the zoo flatly rejected the idea.


This is the cutest thing I've ever seen. He is even cuter than the Real life Pikachu!

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What Do You Think? Review Contest

First off, thank you all for taking the time to review my blog. Each post means so much to me because unlike messages left on MyBlogLog community, these posts really give us an idea of what is good, bad or needs improvement. Although I was planning on considering to write an entry for every 10 reviews, awarding one favicon and one re-design per batch, I decided to list only 5 at a time to avoid having some overlooked.

Jennifer's The Life of a School Bus Driver

Vikas' Technacular

T4TD - Thought 4 the Day

Peter's Necessary Skills

Mephala's Strange Machine

Yes! I've been generous and designed all 5 icons to these bloggers who were quick in writing a review for The Thinking Blog. Make sure you visit the sites and leave a comment on the reviews because I will be tracking them. If you wrote a review and you are not in the list above, don't worry - they will be published in the next entry of "What Do You Think?" However, I realized that some of these sites are still using a standard Blogger template which is not a good idea when there are lots of free templates available on the web. I have hand-picked a few sites that display some of the really nice templates out there so make sure you check them out in the Guide to Blogging (more links to free templates in the comments sections). Also don't forget to track comments of that post because I keep adding more as I find well designed templates.

Now, for the winner of the re-design is... *drumroll*

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Congratulations Ray Dotson, your review won a free blog re-design and a matching favicon! Now Ray hasn't fully installed the whole design yet but he was so kind to mention my name in the footer of his template. The reason I picked Freshblogger's review is because not only he followed the rules of linking to at least two posts on this blog, but he shared his personal experience on how they made him "think" and better yet how the posts were useful to him. Overall, I think it was a very professional review and showed me that we need more "How To" posts on this blog.

Honorable mentions. I would like to acknowledge a couple of bloggers who reviewed my blog but didn't want to enter the contest because they just wanted to provide some feedback or introduce my blog to their readers. Special thanks to Mark Khoo and Bryan's Rants.

Why you should review my blog. For all the others who didn't review The Thinking Blog yet, it's never too late! The contest is going on until I run out of creative juice to design (won't happen in the next 2000 years) or until you run out of creative juice to critique my blog. As I mentioned before, every outgoing link from my blog counts as 2 links according to Technorati (one from my old address plus one from the new domain name) giving your blog a huge boost in ranking not to mention traffic that will flow over to your blog from the exposure. Let me recap the deal. In exchange for a review you will get:

• Two linkbacks from highly ranked URLs (priceless I tell you)
• Best review gets a free full blog re-design (worth $2000)
• Second best review gets a free favicon design (worth $20)

If you want to review this blog, link to the blog’s home page with the anchor text “graphic design” and link to this post showing the rules. Here is a bad example but you get the idea of what I want:

The Thinking Blog has a great graphic design and by reviewing it you can enter the contest to win a free re-design for your blog!

You could also mention any other posts as part of your review. Don't forget to email me when the post goes live. While you're at it, please do me a favor - join our community and favorite this blog.

Graphics design at its best. You have seen the re-design I made for Freshblogger. Have you seen what my blog looked like before I re-designed it? Here it is:

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I also offered a free re-design to John Chow's make money online blog but he ignores me because I'm not an A-list blogger. This is what he doesn't take up for FREE:

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Maybe he doesn't take this nice offer because then he needs to write post about it. Long ago I made him a free favicon and he implemented it without a single mention. I guess when people are paying you $300 to write a post, you kind of become spoilt and give your sponsors the priority.

Available for freelancing. Speaking of money, you can also hire me to do freelance graphic design works. For those of you who are not technically inclined, I can design a fabulous icon (compliant with multiple browsers) for just 20 bucks. I can work from the look and feel of your blog, or any images you provide. Let me know by email if you are interested. For example, very recently Google Tutor contacted me for a favicon design and he is 100% satisfied. Ask him if you don't believe me.

I'm all ears. If you have any tips, suggestions or criticism but don't want to post a review on your blog - feel free to drop me a line in my inbox as well. I'm always open to feedback. Finally, one last thing. Don't be disappointed if you didn't win a free re-design this time. You can write a better review for consideration in the next batch. If all else fails, you know where to find me for affordable graphic design.

Have fun and good luck!

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Pictures Worth A Thousand Words - Post 3

My First Cell Phone [Via: Ugotrade]

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Cult of Apple - Part 2

Steve Jobs is god? According to Apple fans, he is. Hilary Rosen from The Huffington Post once said "I know Steve Jobs is a god. Look, I bowed at his feet when the iPod and iTunes was created."1 I would like to note once again that this is not a post against Apple products or the people who use them. This is about the evangelist marketing technique I mentioned in part 1 of the Cult of Apple series and whether it is similar to how cults work.

[Video: 2]

Now, not all the characteristics mentioned in this video applies to Apple's campaigns lead by CEO Steve Jobs. Let's break it down:

• Followers: also known as fanboys or fangirls. The dictionary states that fan is short for fanatic and is defined as "A person marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm, as for a cause."3 The encyclopedia gives a broader view of who they are:

"individual fans may become so obsessed with the objects of their infatuation that they become fanboys/fangirls. These fans engage in behaviors that are considered extreme or abnormal. This includes idolatry or other forms of worship, such as creating a personal shrine dedicated to the idol at one's home, and can sometimes extend to the point of the fans become stalkers."4

"utterly devoted to a single fannish subject, or to a single point of view within that subject, often to the point where it is considered an obsession. Fanboys remain loyal to their particular obsession, disregarding any factors that differ from their point of view. Fanboys are also typically aggressive and hateful towards the opposing brand or competition of their obsession regardless of its merits or achievements."5

• Deception. Apple doesn't make the best consumer electronics products in the World. The "best" is an interpretation and could also be treated as a subjective point of view. Dictionary says it is "a misleading falsehood."6 Encyclopedia says it is:

"the covert manipulation of perception to alter thoughts, feeling, or beliefs. Deception involves concepts like marketing, propaganda, distraction and concealment. Fiction, while sometimes manipulative, is not a deception unless it is portrayed as the whole truth; not to be confused with half-truths. In many cases it is difficult to distinguish deception from providing unintentionally wrong information. One of the reasons for this is that a person or an entire organization may be self-deceived."7

What's more, you need pay a hefty price to have the latest stuff. High price doesn't always means high quality and offering more features. "Specifically, manufacturers can use high prices to signal high quality to uninformed consumers."8 There is a physiological placebo effect when a person is exposed to the brand image displaying "heightened activation in the hippocampus, midbrain, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex."9 The truth is the company is selling expensive products despite their low cost of production.

• Peer Pressure. The moment you buy an Apple product you become a member of a club who love and support each other. The "cool kids" club. This is usually disguised as a social clique where people share common interests. However, there is more than that here. If you have an Apple product, you almost always recommend it to a friend and invite them to join the "elite" group. This is called "social pressure by members of one's peer group to take a certain action, adopt certain values, or otherwise conform in order to be accepted."10 Wikipedia defines this as:

"the obligation felt by people who are (or who want to be) part of a social group, to adopt certain behavior patterns or attitudes in order to avoid social conflict with that group. There are a number of reasons why they may wish to avoid this conflict: it may be important to them to become socially accepted as a member of the group (especially if the group is one that they will be forced by circumstance to spend time with, such as a group of work colleagues or a school class), or they may fear repercussions from the group if they do not fit in." 11

This is all part of Evangelism marketing where "evangelist customers spread their recommendations and recruit new customers out of pure belief, not for the receipt of goods or money. Rather, the goal of the customer evangelist is simply to provide benefit to other individuals. As they act independently, evangelist customers often become key influencers. The fact that evangelists are not paid or associated with any company make their beliefs perceived by others as credible and trustworthy. Evangelism literally comes from the three words of 'bringing good news' and the marketing term justly draws from the religious sense, as consumers are literally driven by their beliefs in a product or service, which they preach in an attempt to convert others."12 Not only does it develop an "us" versus "them" mentality, but also causes "fans" on each side to flame at each other.

• Dependency. Dictionary definition is the "lack of independence or self-sufficiency."13 If you have Mac OS then you need to buy the new version every year to stay up-to-date. Moreover, most of the applications are closed source. If you have an iPod, you need to go buy a new one just because the battery is dead. Steve says "you have to buy a new iPod at least once a year." And another one for no valid reason. This encourages dependency and conformity while discouraging autonomy and individuality. How are you supposed to "think different" when all your friends are using a white box with an apple figure on it? You are not supposed to (but if you seriously need help ignoring your peers then check this guide). Oh, did I mention Apple makes supernormal profits from the products it's marketing?

• Repetition. Part of the process is brainwashing. "The application of a concentrated means of persuasion, such as an advertising campaign or repeated suggestion, in order to develop a specific belief or motivation. Any method of controlled systematic indoctrination, especially one based on repetition or confusion such as brainwashing by TV commercials."14 I'm sure most you have seen the "Get a Mac" adverts.15 Let's see how Steve Jobs himself does it in his keynotes:

One final note in regards to deception. A Mac is a personal computer (PC) as well. Get A PC! =)

To be continued.. keep tuned.

Coming up: The 3rd part of the Cult of Apple series is about the marketing of iPhone.

Any constructive comments welcome.

[Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]

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Thinking is Not Easy

[Via: AngryMedic]

Busy Day. Not much time to "think" so here are some quick updates:

- Technorati won't transfer the links from my old address to the new one because they only cater the Top 100. *sigh* Please fave my blog by clicking the image above and help me get there! Also feel free to email me your blog's fave link so I can return the favor.

- Did I mention, because of the above, every outgoing link from my blog counts as two links? Yeah, it does. So if you already haven't written a critique of my blog, consider doing one now to get two linkbacks and a chance to win a killer favicon and blog re-design! Not to mention traffic that will flow over to your blog from the exposure.

- Still trying to implement some hacks on my blog before I can write the post about all the hacks / widgets / tools I use along with where to get the 3d buttons, icons, and other graphics. It will also be sort of part 2 for Guide to Blogging but that one was for beginners. Though, check out the comments section (and even track the comments for new updates) for some stunning templates I hand pick from the web.

- The posts I mentioned waiting in drafts are still waiting in drafts due to time constraints. Also don't hesitate to leave comments on my old posts because I read them all via email and repond to all the questions.

- Meanwhile, I've also been experimenting with other social networks apart from MyBlogLog. You can now add me as a friend on Digg, StumbleUpon, Flickr and 9rules (total n00b there). I will also add you back.

- Sponsors: The Thinking Blog now accepts text links for the sidebar on top of the icons, buttons, and banners mentioned before. Moreover, I haven't set fix prices yet (doing some market research) so I will consider your offers if you hurry!

[ This post is brought to you by Hillary Clinton T-shirts ]

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Eureka: Futuristic Eyewear Displays

A dream come true. No, seriously. I remember drawing a concept like this when I was 15 years old (back in 2000) hoping one day it would become a reality. The technology of Lumus Ltd. has just received the Red Herring 100 Europe Award, a recognition given to the 100 "most promising" companies driving the future of technology. No larger than standard eyeglasses, the PD-20 Series offers a “natural look”, a convenient viewing experience and high image quality.

The eyewear displays are based on a technology called Light-guide Optical Element (LOE) that delivers a virtual image to the eye, used to enlarge images from digital gadgets like iPods and cell phones. The actual element is a sliver of flat glass or plastic that incorporates a set of embedded reflective facets. When embedded into standard eyeglasses, the miniature micro-display transmits the image into the special Lumus optical element where the eye is then able to view the image. The current version creates a virtual screen on your Field-of-View (FOV) with a maximum resolution of 640x480 (VGA).

Here is how the company explains the workings of its wearable display:

The Lumus PD-20 Professional Series Displays offer full see-through, full color and high brightness. The frameless, top-down design, enables unobstructed peripheral vision, and is particularly suitable for mounting on professional head-gear. The superior performance of the Lumus PD-10 makes it the optical wearable display solution for mixed and augmented reality (MR & AR) applications.

Pinch me, is it for real? To be mass produced or just a prototype - judge for yourself, but take a look at the following pictures. It looks like real to me! Pricing and availability to be announced. Keep tuned.


[Via: TopBlogPosts]

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De-Activate the Bomb in 15 Minutes

Stop the terrorists! Here is another game to stimulate your brain. This time, however, there are no clues. All we know is that on a calm and peaceful day you receive an unknown package with a note stuck on it. Suddenly you realize that you have unknowingly activated this package bomb! Your phone lines have been cut and if your attempt to flee the bomb will be detonated remotely. Your only chance of survival is by deactivating the bomb.

The timer has started to count down and you've got only fifteen minutes to solve the various puzzles and defuse the bomb. Be patient and hold your nerves to figure out the solution to each puzzle and save your life! Good luck.

Please share any tips and clues in the comments because I've spent the whole Saturday evening trying to figure it out and it seems like Sunday will be no different!

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Superman in Hollywood, Bollywood and ..

Spot the differences. It's been a while since I posted fun stuff so here are some videos to "think" about while rolling on the floor! To be fair, I didn't include the recent big-budget Hollywood version of Superman (2006) along side the relatively old ones of Bollywood and Yesilcam (Greenwood?). Yesilcam refers to the Turkish cinema industry in the same way that Hollywood refers to American cinema, and Bollywood refers to Indian cinema.

• Hollywood (1978)

• Bollywood (1987)

• Greenwood (1979)

For those who are not Turkish and haven't seen the other Turkish versions of Hollywood movies like Star Wars, Exorcist, Wizard of Oz, Star Trek and E.T. - take a look at this list gathered by FanTent.

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Graphic Hyperlinks for Camera Phones

Making offline material interactive. Semacodes are like barcodes that can convert URLs into a visual form. You 'scan' them with your mobile phone camera and get digital data in return. With most mobile phones actually typing out a URL is a hassle and anything that saves people some time and trouble is good. It is so easy to use, even your grandma can do it. I'm just amazed how we don't see them everywhere already!

Easier than the clickable world. Create a semacode now by using this Java applet called Web Tagger and download the software for your phone (assuming it has a built-in camera). When you shoot a semacode with it, the software acts like a barcode reader translating the code into URL and then loads it into your phone's web browser. Moreover, semacodes are not alone. There are other similar 'tags' derived from the same concept. Here is a list of the various kinds of tags in a technical entry made by Network Research.

Get the phone. Take a picture. Go online. Imagine how useful these things could be on business cards that link to constantly updated contact information. Another example could be, say you saw an advertisement and you are in interested to know more about a product and find out where to buy it etc. Thinking of a less commercial activity, you can print some of these for your friends and quickly swap blog URLs with each other. How about printing them on stickers? These are just a few that comes to my mind instantly.

What other applications can you think of?

[Via: Jemmille]

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Pictures Worth A Thousand Words - Post 2

HIV Positive [Via Meditation Photography]

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How To Get Your Blog Recognized

Content is King! In this article I will discuss several methods that will help your blog get some recognition. The first and most important is obviously your blog's content. I advocate quality entries and share some great blogs from time to time. If your content is good enough to make us think then send me the links to your top posts via email. However, the blogger I will feature today also utilizes other strategies to get recognized apart from pure quality content.

Definition of Quality. This is the kind of bloggers that not only make you think, but they make you blog. It makes you want to tell someone about what you just read. Somehow, you can’t help it! However, the content of this blog is so good, cramming those hidden posts in the archives here would not do them justice. A different entry must be made just for those posts. All this would have gone unnoticed, hadn't I received an email from Broc Copeland.

Introducing Existential Ventures. Broc is a college dropout with a quest to make big money online. I'm not assuming that, but I know it from his own words when he says "I dropped out of college to become an Internet entrepreneur." He blogs about "one website/video/plugin/whatever else [he] think deserves to be featured daily that [he] think is worth giving some recognition." The about page goes on to give a more detailed explanation. I simply love the fact that he decided to not write about tech news like every other tech blog. There is nothing more annoying than seeing the same story being duplicated on several sites. Unless you are adding your own views along, don't post something that is already covered.

Captivating All Eyes. The blogosphere is growing steadily with a rate of one blog every half second. Like all new things, you need to promote your blog in order to get recognized. Otherwise, the quality content you write will not find its way to potential readers. Broc is using a number of strategies to build readership. First, he started a giveaway where you can enter to win the prize of a Canon Photo Printer (Pixma iP1700). Then, he mass emailed a lot of other popular bloggers to tell about it. Although this second tactic is usually frowned upon, I found his email polite and him giving back quality content for us to read was a fair move. Finally, he launched the One Million Dollar Race website encouraging bloggers "become more successful at making money online and network together to help each others cause." Currently the participants are Broc Copeland, Garry Conn and Nenad Ristic but I'm expecting this list to grow really soon.

I think it is an interesting campaign and I'm looking forward to see the results. Stay tuned.

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Tornado Destroys Town, Grandma Survives

There are a lot of bad news associated with tornadoes. However, this is a good news story of a 81-year-old woman who survived the tornado to tell the story. "Suddenly it was really cloudy," Hacile Teyze tells us, remembering how dark the sky got before the tornado hit. "I thought doomsday arrived, smashing through our house and ripping down the barn like wooooooooooooooooooooo. It all happened so quickly" says Hacile in this video interview:

Here is a footage of the tornado incident at the town of Sinop (Turkey) captured from a phone camera. Definitely something you would not like to see approaching from your living room window.

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Success, Fame and Making Money Online

The Thinking Blog has a posse; Watch out Blogosphere, here comes the thinkers! Now I never thought of blogging the statistics for this blog but things have gone mental ever since I wrote the Support Topless Women post. It is the most popular post followed by Nature Calendar 2007 and Microsoft Substitutes. What's more, not only it was comprehensively discussed here with 100 comments, but also on Reddit with 139 comments and Digg with 318 comments.

Lasting effects of success. The number of RSS readers quadrupled from 125 to about 500 and since has been fluctuating plus/minus 10 according to Feedburner:

Traffic to my blog showed a huge jump when the article started creating a buzz and is still looking good according to Google Analytics:

Some more interesting statistics about the visitors of this blog such as operating system, browser version, screen resolution and connection speed:




The only thing that wasn't affected is The Thinking Blog's community in MyBlogLog. The number of members showed a steady increase ever since I opened an account. Of course, replacing the logo avatar with this one had a little bit of effect too. Thus, making the 5th largest community hot hot hot:

Monetizing without disturbing. I also never thought of making money with this blog but by not doing it I realized I'm leaving a good amount of pocket money on the table. However, I don't want this blog to turn into an Adsense blog and make the content difficult to read. I think the best way to do it is by taking sponsors (no adult/gambling sites) to the sidebar somewhere. These are some options I have in mind:

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Favicons (16x16) ..... Avatars (48x48) ..... Buttons (120x60) ..... Banners (125x125)

I'm a total noob when it comes to making money with a blog. I have no idea how much to charge, how long to display an ad or even which type of ads to go for! Please take the poll below and guide newbies towards the right direction.



If these options are totally off in your view, please share your experience/knowledge via comments. Your help is much appreciated!

SPONSORS: Don't hesitate to contact me for more information, potential offers or even just a chat!

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Blog Alert: David Airey's Creative Design

Some blogs deserve more recognition. This is the beginning of a new series of posts at The Thinking Blog where I will introduce blogs that make me think. Here is a designer who improved his blog over time based on reader feedback. His "pages allow the chance to display what [he] think is worthy of discussion or showcasing. Included are ideas or topics relating to creative design throughout the world."

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Doesn't the blog look much better now when added a bit of color? The posts are also more appealing to the eye with bits of images here and there. I think it's easier to communicate an idea rather than with just plain text but overall it is a good facelift. In any case, content is still the king of blogs. If you are interested in design related articles, check out David Airey's blog and let him know who sent you!

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Biggest Thumbs Up Ever

Click the image to proceed

Then read Author's comment.

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Worst Case Scenario - Frostbite

Global warming could, paradoxically, lead to global freezing. Don't panic! It's just a theory. Though, it's always useful to be well prepared for the worst case scenario. Below -15° C (5° F) blood vessels close to the skin start to narrow to help preserve the core body temperature. In extreme cold or when exposed to cold for long periods, this protective strategy can reduce blood flow in some areas of the body to dangerously low levels.

Frozen tissue is dead tissue. The combination of extremely cold temperature and poor blood flow leads to Frostbite (or Congelatio in medical terminology). If the nerves and blood vessels have been severely damaged, gangrene may follow, and amputation may eventually be required. If left untreated, frostbitten skin gradually darkens after a few hours. Skin destroyed by frostbite is completely black and looks loose and flayed, as if burnt. Put it simply, intense pain!

Handle with care. To treat frostbite,

• Move the victim to a warm area immediately.
• If hypothermia has occurred, treat the hypothermia first.
• If medical attention is easily reachable, wrap the affected areas with fresh clothing, keep warm and wait.
• Remove wet clothing and any jewelery.
  
• Do not rub or massage affected areas.
  
• Do not break any blisters.
• Do not try to thaw unless in warm place. A second round of freezing can cause permanent damage.
• Place the affected areas in warm (not hot) water, until the areas are soft and sensation has returned.
• Put clean cotton balls between frostbitten fingers and toes after they've been rewarmed.
• Loosely wrap the areas in sterile bandages and reach medical help.
• Take something to reduce the pain such as aspirin or ibuprofen.

Think prevention. Well I'm not sure how to prevent global warming since I'm not an expert but you could take some precautionary steps when you are out in the cold for a long time (e.g. skiing) by wearing loose-fitting, layered, warm clothes, well insulated boots with thick socks and mittens instead of gloves.

Note that this is for educational purposes only. For more information, see eMedicine. For specific medical advice, diagnosis, and treatment please consult your doctor.

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Can Good Navigation Exist Without Clicks?

Just say no to mouse buttons. I stumbled across this interesting experiment that urges you not to click anywhere in the site yet wants you to navigate through it. It explores the clicking habit of computer users and aims to help understand why is it so hard not to click. The user interface (UI) is extremely intuitive. Keep this blog open. Go visit the website (Heavy in Flash). See if you get the urge to click before sharing your experience here.

Clicking is lame. Users have been trained to "point and click" since the Mac in 1984, if not earlier, so it's in our nature to impulsively click when we want to take action. The point of this study is to explain that clicking doesn't necessarily have to be a requirement. Certainly an amazing proof of concept and with the advent of touch screens, this type of navigation could be very useful. Perfect for a gesture-based interface and it would save a lot of people from repetitive stress injuries.

Health is not interesting. Think about playing with it on a Wii. Given the right "medium", there are many places where this innovative idea could take off. Speaking of games, this experiment reminded me of Don't shoot the puppy game, where you learn to use your mouse - the sad way!



A new UI standard? The only disadvantage is that it would be difficult to implement it using Flash (imagine the time spent on building that site) but what happens when a comparatively new tool like AJAX is brought to the scene? Then again, it will be rare to see such sites. How about a Firefox extension?

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Videos of the Future From the Past

That is, now! Prophecy in a broad sense, is the prediction of future events. Here is a series of TV spots all the way back from 1990s predicting the technologies we take for granted today. "You Will" was the name of an AT&T marketing campaign, each ad presenting a futuristic scenario narrated by Tom Selleck. While some of the innovations promised by the ads have materialized, ironically few of them were actually influenced by AT&T.

They all begin with "Have you ever..." and end with "You will. And the company that will bring it to you is AT&T." The proposed innovations included:

• Telemedicine
• Grocery self checkout machines that would process an entire cart at a time without the groceries needing to be removed, presumably via RFID or something similar ("Have you ever checked out at the supermarket, a whole cart at a time?")
• Software agent ("Have you ever had an assistant who lived in your computer?")
• Teleconferencing ("Have you ever shown up for a meeting in your bare feet?")
• GPS navigation system ("Have you ever crossed the country without stopping to ask directions?")
• Wifi/WAN ("Have you ever sent a fax from the beach?")
• Wristwatch cell phones ("Have you ever received a call, on your watch?")
• ID consolidation ("Have you ever renewed your drivers license at an ATM?")
• Real-time online collaboration, envisioned as two students teaching each other their native languages over videophone ("Have you ever studied with a classmate thousands of miles away?") and, in a separate ad, as a father reading a bed-time story to his child remotely, while they both view the same page of the story on their individual laptops.

An interesting view of today from the past. What is your view of the future?

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