Image Compression Standards

This is a crop of a photo of Lena Söderberg, the centerfold of the November 1972 issue of Playboy. In 1973, engineers at the USC Signal and Image Processing Institute used it as a test image in their research. The data they collected from the image, specifically the red, green, blue color channel data, have become the standard benchmark for image compression quality ever since. That research also built the foundation for the image compression algorithms used in JPG and MP3s. It adds, I think, a nice resonance to know that the quality of much of what we listen to and see online is tuned to this fetching image. (two great geeky observations and articles on Lena here and here) (via shepelavy.com)

From the streets of Oslo

Check out this fashion site, The Streethearts, showing the well dressed people of Norway. Nice photos by Eirik Slyngstad and Andreas Schjønhaug.

Photo Hunt. (no, not THAT one)

While the rest of Philadelphia was preoccupied with drinking green beer and chanting out yellow bus (“Erin Express”) windows at passersby last Saturday, my friends and I set out to celebrate my Birthday (a day late) by going on a photo scavenger hunt.

(seems someone else had a reason to celebrate the day too! ITEM: Bridal Party)

I was dead set on having this hunt, but less sold on engineering the finer points to get it rolling. I’m new here, how would I know what to look for? I’m not going to lie, the majority of my experiences in Philly have been grossly food-centric. Not that the eats haven’t been amazing, but it was time to feed my curiosity rather than just my stomach. After collecting ideas from various friends, I resolved the list, including a taste of everything from puns to people to places.

Venturing out as a group with a common goal makes you feel like you’ve stepped into a real-life wiki composed of people and their experiences and intuitions. Trivial knowledge and pure luck combined with group dynamics to get us through the list. I didn’t know what we’d find, nor the circumstances, such as finding “coffee for under $1.25” in Suburban Station.

We saw the Liberty Bell, and also hung upside down from a tree in Rittenhouse Square. We high-fived a SEPTA employee, and found Comic Sans on a ShamWow that happened to be in our possession.

All in all, we found, we saw, we documented—all whilst having a blast and getting to know Philly on a different level. One friend commented that he had been working here for 6 months, yet learned more about Center City in one afternoon than he had in those previous months together. Not all items from the list were conquered, so I’m sure there will be a follow-up in the near future. After all, enlightenment is a lifelong endeavor.

The entire collection of photos can be viewed HERE.
The Items we succeeded at:

• Team in a tree, upside down.
• A Mosaic
• Fixed Gear Bike
• William Penn
• Coffee for under $1.25
• High-Fiving a SEPTA employee
• Letters larger than 3’ in height
• Mural with less than 5 people in it
• A Courtyard
• Wedding Party
• A Protest
• Coffee Shop with a coffee pun for name
• Time Traveler(s)
• Comic Sans
• The Liberty Bell

Blimey London Advertising

I’m just getting back from London and being in the advertising biz, I couldn’t help but notice how advertising driven the city of London is. It was pretty amazing to see and I thought I’d share my observations.

MORE

Spring Cleaning

Over the weekend I got the sudden urge to purge. No, not all the junk mail piling up around the home office. Nor the collection of Meatloaf and Ice-T CD’s (hey, sounds like dinner) gathering dust in a bin in the basement. It was my thick bristly mop of hair that needed removal to make room for things like bike helmets, baseball caps, and other warm weather accoutrements. So I got out the DIY clippers, put on attachment #1 and went to town. When I walked into the agency Monday morning a few ounces lighter, I was surprised to see I wasn’t the only one upon whom the Spring Equinox had worked its magic. There were many a thick beard tightly trimmed, or completely shaved off. It was as if somewhere in the deepest reaches of our human DNA, we had all responded to an evolutionary edict. Sunshine….gggrrr……warmth….grrrrrr……must..grrr…shed..grrr…hair.

How does the song go? We’re nothing but mammals, something something Discovery Chanel?

De’Longhi Artista Series

Throughout its 107-year history De’Longhi has brought great design to the masses. Long before there was Target, there was Treviso, the city in northern Italy where both Benetton and De’Longhi originated. It is here that a team of designers create products that express De’Longhi’s dedication to function, style and innovation.

Over the course of the last year we’ve been working in partnership with De’Longhi to reintroduce their brand to the U.S. market. High points have included the creation of a new Web site, a fourth quarter campaign in 08 targeting major metro areas and the creation of their first U.S. TV spot in nearly a decade.

Now, for the first time in the company’s history, we’ve invited designers from varying disciplines from around the globe to partner with De’Longhi. Their art has been laser-etched onto an extremely limited run of Perfecta espresso machines to create the first edition De’Longhi Artista Series.

Participating designers include: Nicole Miller, Mike Perry, Michele Toffalori, Maria Vittoria Benatti, Jonathan Calugi, Mario Hugo, Damien Correll and Kristina Collantes.

The rare machines will be auctioned to the public online, with proceeds benefiting Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization dedicated to the fight against poverty and social injustice.

More information on the De’Longhi Artista Series can be found here.