middledigit.net | jonathan hopkins

05-04-09

Go Trek Yourself

Yes, we’ve had the original Simpsonize Me and countless other ones, but Trek Yourself passed the ‘Will it work with a cat wearing goggles?’ test. Nice work, if a little bit scary looking.

EDIT – I’ve removed the video as it auto-loaded and was getting on my you-know-whats.

04-30-09

Steve Eves, I Salute You – (World’s Largest Amateur Rocket)

Having made and launched a few (much smaller) rockets as a kid, I have total respect for this. And also for the name too . . .

A 1/10th-scale model of a NASA Saturn V rocket launched successfully on Saturday, becoming what is thought to be the largest amateur rocket ever to take off and be safely recovered. The feat could herald the arrival of the first amateur rockets to reach orbit.

The 11-metre-tall, 750-kilogram rocket took off on Saturday from a field outside of Price, Maryland, near the eastern shore. It flew for roughly 20 seconds to an altitude of more than 1300 metres before segmenting and falling back to Earth beneath multiple parachutes (see video).

The rocket, built by rocket hobbyist Steve Eves, replicates the look of the Saturn V rocket used to loft Apollo crew capsules into space. But its interior boasts newer electronics and significantly less fuel.

(via New Scientist)

04-19-09

OMG, etc. Check out these two great videos of some of the amazing creations from Festo, as blogged over at the always excellent Rubbishcorp. I spent a good hour this evening freely surfing the web, which I haven’t done in absolutely ages and just had to share.

04-15-09

Examples of ‘Human’

I’ve blogged before about being human, have been mentioning it a lot on Twitter, have a heap of bookmarks saved under ‘human’ on Delicous and use the (beta) strapline for what I do as ‘web participation for human brands and beings. You could say it was something very close to my heart.

So, on a similar vein to my previous post which seemed to go down pretty well, I’d like to share some examples of ‘human’ from over the past few weeks/months that have caught my attention. It’s all those things, big or small, mostly online, that brands (and people!) do that makes the web a more human place. Little reminders of who we are that help us to engage with each other. And make stuff better. More human. And just nicer to interact with. Oh and just plain funny too.

Elliot Kember > Lovely little disclaimer (and awesome twitter-app-disguised-as-a-spreadsheet idea too)

Hype Machine > Disclaimer and general site copy, including the thank-you section

Twitter > Sign telling people where the new office is (Obligatory Twitter mention in a blog post? Complete)

Field Notes > general web site copy, especially the contact us page

“Peace, Love, Unity, Respect” receipt > from somewhere in New York

Starbucks > Sara (no h)

Digg community > Bohemian Rhapsody, in Digg comments!

Forum banter > Forum members have fun with photoshop (not sure this really fits in with the theme but I reckon it’s very funny – click through for the whole thread)

Any more examples? Let me know in the comments or @me. And in the meantime, remember that behind those screens isn’t just a pair of eyeballs . . . we’re all human beings.

03-27-09

Digital meets analogue, online meets offline

As the offline/analogue and online/digital worlds start to blend even more, I thought I’d share some favourite stuff I’ve been tagging over the past few months. I love this stuff and am really excited about the web weaving its way into more and more stuff.

Google Earth meets a 60ft Phallus.

Blogging meets a blackboard and goes fully analogue.

FAIL gets turned into stickers and gets stuck everywhere.

Two years of someone’s tweets get turned into a book.

Hacking hits the car park.

Hashtags enter the real world.

Second Life inspired flying helicopter penis used by griefers to attack Gary Kasparov.

iPhone icons get turned into a coaster set.

DOS directories get turned into cushions.

Tweets get turned into bubbles.

01-27-09

50 people, one question

I’ve been busy again and as a result the blog has taken a back seat again, but I’m trying desperately not to worry about it and just do what comes naturally. Indeed, I’m spending most of my time on Twitter and feeding delicious – so am very much still active online, I just haven’t taken the time out to post. Like a lot of people recently I think.

Also – I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about stuff. What I want to be doing this year, where I’m taking my work, which of the growing number of personal projects I’m going to focus on and make happen. Who I’d like to be working with. What it’s going to be like being a dad. That sort of thing. And in the meantime, I’ve been cracking on with a number of great things.

Bobbie just shared this and it was enough of a motivator to share. It just struck a chord with me. All very human – a word and a theme that you’re going to here a lot about from me this year.

Fifty People, One Question: London from Crush + Lovely on Vimeo.

Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn from Crush + Lovely on Vimeo.

Fifty People, One Question: New York from Crush + Lovely on Vimeo.

01-06-09

It’s all about the data

Hello and Happy New Year. I am now back online after a nice refreshing break from the interwebz. Well almost, kind of in an iPhone kind of way. Anyway, like everyone else, I have a gazillion of things that I’d love to do this year, lots of thoughts on what might be in store for us netizens, loads of ideas about the future of the web and how it’s all about being human, lots of questions to ask and people to talk to.

But for the time being, whilst I play catch up and get my head back into everything after playing way too much Guitar Hero and spending too much money on geeky stuff, here’s a simply awesome data visualisation of a year’s worth of edits on OpenStreetMap.org.

OSM 2008: A Year of Edits from ItoWorld on Vimeo.

Data is the future. Of advertising, of the web, of everything. (Yes, I watched the Kevin Kelly 5000 days TED talk again recently!)

12-17-08

Man and (music) machine(s)

Music. Technology. Geeking out. Bring it on.

12-11-08

Snuggie – the blanket with sleeves!

I don’t know if it’s a bad thing that I’d actually quite like one of these and everyone that I show it to seems to feel the same way. I could then ‘use my laptop without being cold’. Maybe they should have been given out at Le Web?!

UPDATE – I’ve removed the video as it autostarts and I’m sick of it. Visit the site to check it out.

Jokes aside, I think Loic’s response was great today. A perfect demonstration of confronting a problem and saying it as it is, quickly, honestly and from the heart.

11-27-08

It’s a wonderful internet

I like this. Nice piece of social commentary. Well executed and a nice throwback to those pop-up books I read as a kid. Plus there’s some very strange bonus sounds if you poke around a bit. The internet is indeed a wonderful thing.

[via Tom (who needs to get a website/blog!)]

middledigit_

If technology doesn't seem like magic, it's probably obsolete . . .