Web Design Cool

The more businesses, and therefore logos, there are out there, the more challenging it is to make a fresh, unique, and creative one from scratch. For such a small graphic, a logo can take a whole lot of research, discussion and brainstorming! In case you get stuck on creating a logo design yourself, we’ve collected 55 of the freshest and latest logo designs to get your creative gears running. Choose your favorite, or cite other fresh and cool logos you know in the comments!  Read more... (196 words, 59 images, estimated 47 secs reading time)

Word came down today, first in a post from Gizmodo and later in an official statement from Microsoft, that the brand-new Kin line of phones is now discontinued.  Read more... (349 words, 2 images, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Online retailer Woot has built up a huge and passionate fanbase like few other retailers ever could. The site started out by selling one item per day at a steep discount, often some sort of electronic gadget. (Today’s Woot item is a current-gen 8GB iPod Nano, the one with the video camera, for $100.) The company later expanded to a few other sites, including Shirt.Woot (which sells $10 American Apparel shirts with user-submitted designs), Wine.Woot (which sells fancypants wine), Kids.Woot (kids’ stuff), and Sellout.Woot (sort of a forum of many different deals on other sites).  Read more... (486 words, 2 images, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Infographic by PPC Blog

Google is pretty secretive about all this–understandably, as it’s the company’s bread and butter and there are viable alternatives out there, like Microsoft Bing and Yahoo–so this infographic is based on the little information and clues Google has given. Even for someone who deals with SEO (search engine optimization) all day (alternate headline for this post: “Google Apple Babies Steve Jobs Boobs iPhone Obama Scandal!”), there’s some stuff in here I didn’t know.  Read more... (201 words, 2 images, estimated 48 secs reading time)

Behold Cubebot, the world’s most tasteful robot.  Read more... (207 words, 6 images, estimated 50 secs reading time)

The oil spill is killing me. My suitcase is killing me. But mostly it’s Robyn’s interactive twideo that’s killing Twitter users. The firm behind it is Blip Boutique, an LA-based collective led by James Frost–the guy behind Radiohead’s House of Cards video and Mary Fagot, ex creative director of Capitol Records.  Read more... (955 words, 2 images, estimated 3:49 mins reading time)

Product recalls aren’t hugely common but are always an embarrassing PR event … and as recalls go, Sony’s one announced today is a pretty big deal. Over half a million Vaio laptops are at risk, it seems, of running hot enough to melt. 

The actual issue is in the computer’s temperature control circuitry, according to Sony–there’s some design flaw in the system that prevents it effectively cooling the CPU (and other hot-running parts) down enough. At some critical thermal moment, the temperature inside the computer rises high enough that the heat can actually soften the laptop’s plastic bodies. Distortion and thus erroneous performance, and a slight risk of skin-contact burns could then result. Sony’s quick to point out that no cases of injury have been reported, but it must be this serious risk (and attached lawsuit danger) that’s forcing the recall. 

The product recall covers 259,000 laptops sold into the U.S. since January 2010, 103,000 in Europe, 120,000 in Asia and 52,000 in Japan. As well as revealing interesting stats on who around the world is actually buying Sony gear, this totals to 535,000 laptops that Sony has to arrange get back from consumers, and either repair or replace. This is going to be a big logistical affair, although the company thinks it shouldn’t hurt its bottom line for this fiscal quarter. 

While that’s good luck for Sony’s bank balance, it’s a big black mark PR-wise. Or is it? Because Apple’s iPhone 4 is also reportedly suffering from a big design flaw (or maybe it isn’t–some owners simply can’t reproduce the problem) that affects how well it possibly can receive calls, which is pretty damning for a phone. But the apparent effect hasn’t been found serious enough for Apple to issue a recall. And yet parts of the media are literally baying for Apple’s blood over the matter … while Sony’s news, about a product that can physically wound buyers, is slipping under the radar, more or less.  Read more... (342 words, 2 images, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)

Security issues have forced the Chinese military authorities to clamp down on their troops’ Internet use. As well as a moratorium on blogging, the 2.3 million military personnel are forbidden from using online dating sites, personal websites and even visiting real-world Internet cafes. As opposed to those in Second Life, presumably.  Read more... (685 words, 2 images, estimated 2:44 mins reading time)

Bob Smith, Honeywell’s CTO, talks with FastCompany.com about the technology that will soon control the skies overhead.  Read more... (784 words, 2 images, estimated 3:08 mins reading time)

The Palatometer projects tongue movements onto a computer screen, providing a clear visual of how you thpeak — sorry, speak.  Read more... (349 words, 5 images, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)