I mean who in the world would have been thought about this to happened like that? Google is not just a company that was hacked, it's The Company. If you pass Google' security it's like you've got the secrets of the entire world, not just one government with its secret service.
I have to admit I was pretty frightened when I found out, not just because I have lots of garbage in my gmail but because I became such a big fan of Google by seeing in it one of the few human software companies in this world. It's actually a company that's so powerfull that they could do whatever they'll want with us. Instead of this, it helps me organize my life better and it keeps track of every movement I do, which in my case helps me a lot because I am a person that forgets lots of things.
Hacking Google it's like signing your death sentence, as the guys from Gizmodo nicely wrote it "If you hack Google, they will hack your ass right back" (http://gizmodo.com/5449037/google-hacked-the-chinese-hackers-right-back). So whoever did it expect to have lots of white nights and try to build fast your own OS. And look also at the bright side, they might hire you, since you've broke into the most important search engine on this planet.
Vive La République Populaire de Chine (of whatever).
MONTREAL — Singer Lhasa de Sela, 37, died late Friday in her Montreal home of breast cancer, an official statement on her website confirmed Sunday. Known simply as Lhasa, the Mexican-American singer/songwriter was born in Big Indian, in upstate New York, but divided her adult life between Canada and France. Lhasa won a Quebec Felix Award in 1997, and a Canadian Juno Award for Best Global Artist in 1998. Her three albums, including 1998's La Llorona, 2003's The Living Road and 2009's Lhasa, were recorded in Spanish, French and English. On Monday January 1, "just before midnight," Lhasa de Sela died at the age of 37 in her Montreal home following a 21-month struggle with breast cancer. Her health issues became widely known. Her discography cand be found on her official website here.
Positive, Creative Advertising
Positive, Creative Advertising ...Without the Negative Connotation (by RAAS)
This article is an example of what we also think is the way of expressing advertising for the 21st century. This text is better than ours and we’ve decided to give you the RAAS entire script. Enjoy!
Positive, up-lifting and creative advertising is a great way to reach the target audience; make them laugh, make them sing, make them smile. A happy consumer is always going to be the best consumer... so why not start and continue the relationship between advertiser and consumer, on the positive? While other advertisers are using valuable ad space for negative connotations directed at competitor businesses, products or directly at the consumer; a positive advertising campaign will not only create the awareness that you are seeking it will be appreciated and remembered by all who view it. A refreshing approach to advertising is a creative approach. Be unique in design, style and message. The advertisement should cause thought, feeling, desire, need, inspiration, motivation, encouragement, questions and provide incentive and/or reward. Advertising is a necessary means to reach your target audience; it allows businesses to reach consumers. Unfortunately, because of unwanted spam, telemarketing, guerilla marketing, intrusive/less targeted ads that cover every blank space and less informational communications that create more negative views ...poor advertising practices have caused consumers to be turned off. Negative connotations like: "If you don't take Advantage of this offer... you will be sorry" ...are not what the consumer wants to read or hear. Consumers are tired of being dis-respected and mislead; and many consider the shopping experience to be less enjoyable when there is pressure to buy. Consumer resistance can only be changed through positive/creative marketing and advertising practices. Advertisers should approach advertising as a source of competitive advantage (with a focus on consumer benefits) instead of merely a way to communicate a message and/or a brand. Marketing campaigns (ex: Advertisements) & marketing avenues (ex: Publications) that hold the advertising to these and other high standards are helping to rebuild rapport and respect with the consumer. Consumers are happy to receive creative, targeted mailings from local, resourceful & respected publications and businesses that they have opted to receive communications from; as long as they continue to use positive promotional methods. Consumers are tired of receiving negative, meaningless, non-creative clutter and saturation; it has no value! Advertising is a positive and will be viewed as such if care and consideration are used when creating the ad. The consumer does not need to be shocked, or driven to fear to make a purchase... these types of marketing campaigns often have a negative effect and a very poor ROI (Return of Investment). Consumers have needs, wants & wishes. Advertisers want the consumers to know about the products and/or services they offer; and that they are open for business. Marketing and/or Advertising, believe it or not is the answer in one way or another for both sides (the Consumer and the Advertiser). The consumer wants to know what's out there and available, what time it opens and closes; and where it is located. The Advertiser wants the consumer to know who they are, where they are, what they have, what they do and when they do it. Perfect matches are formed... yes through advertising relationships are created... once the consumer finds a good source they will frequent it and tell others about it (this is called word of mouth advertising) ...which is the best kind of advertising a business can have if its positive! In rare cases word of mouth can pay the bills but for most businesses, word of mouth is a bonus and used as a testimonial. Make no mistake the marketing and advertising of a company is what will drive business to it; and the more positive the marketing and the marketing avenue's used - the more positive the response will most likely be. When creating your ad campaigns... be smart, stay positive and advertise your business using reliable, respected, positive, productive, creative & informative vehicles of value; to both the advertiser and the consumer.
ADVERTISE HERE | ADVERTISE HERE | ADVERTISE HERE | ADVERTISE HERE
June 20th, 2009, on a Saturday night it was an awesome party sponsored by J&B in Busteni (Romania). The party was held in the Cantacuzinilor Castle, a great place as you could see in the photo below. There were around two hundred people in the train station in Bucharest when they left for that Saturday morning. Few custom train cars were ready for fire. The train was a party, nice and crazy and its name was “Start The Party Train”. Inside you could have heard lots of music, have seen people dancing, and tasted amazingly J&B cocktails, as many as you could possibly drink. In the evening there were tons of lasers, masked people, custom rooms, each one of them with a different theme, presents, and finally Glass Candy and Gus Gus. It was an electro-ambient-pop-dance-middle aged environment kind of speaking ☺ We’ve never expected something like that and the surprise was total. At around 4AM the next morning everybody slowly moved to the basement where they continued the party till the sunrise. There were very interesting people at the right place which made the event an extraordinary one. On the way back to Bucharest, the train was packed as expected with people and it was like a dream in which everyone lived. This is by far the best advertising I’ve ever heard of and all the thanks go to J&B and the people that attended that night. See you next time and keep up the good work.
The most active fashion designer in Romania so far is certainly Lena Criveanu. Her shows are full of energy and fullfil a large specter of clothing design from avantgarde to cruise collections. It's been a pleasure to talk to Lena and to see her work in her studio and on various fashion events. Try her 2009 Spring-Summer show http://www.lenacriveanu.ro/2009_SS_video/index.html to get an idea about what's going on in Bucharest early 2009. On June 3rd, 2009 Lena Criveanu has come out with another idea of having a few of her clients as models for the Cruise Collection show that was held on a really nice spot at the Gaia Club in Bucharest (Romania).
The show can be seen here http://www.lenacriveanu.ro/2009_2010_FW_vid3/index.html and this is the new website that Project 2211 and Urban Friends Republik have build for Lena. We’ve thought of a full screen video website concept because there is an obvious majority of materials that are on video media and photography that could show her work better. After all, we are living in the 21st century and the Internet is so permissive these days. Why not a full screen video on your monitor so you could enjoy the show as it could have been seen on TV.
Project 2211 is happy to announce that Urban Friends Republik has opened the doors for us this Summer 2009 and we are enchanted to work in the same team. Their studios are in Montreal (Canada) and Bucharest (Romania) and have worked mostly on projects for televisions and lately concepts for fashion shows.
The bigger team the better, so we’re going to became as one this Fall 2009. We have been seeking for more designers for the past one and a half years and we finally found UFR, the exact fit for us and for our future projects. Likely our brainstorming meetings are going to become even more "sparklyngy" this year and for sure this is “the beginning of a beautifull friendship”.
Internet is the gate to a parallel world that we are living in today. It’s also a gate that we could use to work worldwide. At the same time it’s a great tool to get in contact with designers everywhere, to see different portfolios and to interact in group projects. It’s not used yet at 100% of its capability but it’s a matter of time. Our work is what matters and the cities/countrys that we live in become secondary.
What I like about this kind of new life is the way we could get feedback about our work. Using forums for instance, we could interact with different people professionals or not and get an answer of our question fast and with no emotional implications which is what we are looking for when we want an honest answer. Friends are good but when it comes to work they tend to give us positive feedback only and this is dangerous especially for new designers that are seeking better ways to improve their work in a short period of time.
Secondly, I think Internet has become another green way to present things without cutting the trees and polluting the atmosphere with chemicals for inks and metal plates for presses. I know we can not replace a delicate touch of a Yupo paper or a StoraEnso, Paper Mill, Wausau to name just a few brands. At the same time it’s amazing how fast a toy like Apple iPhone could handle so many applications in one single device that makes our lives easier.
At the end I’ve attached a few useful online tools for designers that could make a big difference in their research:
For those of you who are left (neither Mac or PC users), what I have found in my research is that neither side has a lock on good value. If you start with Apple's relatively short list of SKUs (three or four model variations for each of its lines, such as MacBook Pro, MacBook and iMac) and then look for comparable Windows machines, you'll find that Apple bests the competition in some ways and not in others, but the pricing overall is surprisingly on par. Only a few years ago, it seemed like a no-brainer that Windows hardware was much cheaper. But if you're talking name-brand hardware, that's just no longer the case. On the other hand, if you search the Windows side first, you'll quickly discover machines that -- in features and price -- fit in between the Mac SKUs. And in those niches, they represent very good values. So there's one answer to the question of whether Macs or Windows represent a better value: If one of those "in between" PCs suits your needs best, you'd be paying an unnecessary premium to get a Mac instead.
Popular Mechanics has published a very interesting comparison of Apple desktop and laptop performance compared to equivalent PC equipment. In almost all cases the Mac outperformed its PC partner and scored higher ratings in user tests as well. The review is interesting because it compares similar hardware (easier now Macs run on Intel chips) performing similar tasks. Leopard scored higher than Vista in usability and performance. Running Vista on Macs also scored higher in performance in almost all cases (than running Vista on PCs). It's worth reading all four pages of the review and looking in detail at the specs - and the prices, which gives lie to the long-standing myth that Macs are more expensive. The laptops, whilst slightly different specs, are the same price and the Mac desktop is $300 cheaper than the similar Gateway used in the test.
Sure, Windows and OS X have different interfaces and (used to) run on different hardware. But the two operating systems are nothing but variations on a single theme: each is built on the same business model and more or less offers the same set of proprietary applications. Whichever operating system they use, consumers who subscribe to the Mac vs. PC myth are still going to buy Office, Photoshop and the like, because they don’t realize that there’s an alternative.
Desktop Linux makes alternatives to proprietary software abundantly clear, which is what really worries Microsoft. Ubuntu and other user-friendly distributions undermine the proprietary business model in a way to which neither Microsoft nor Apple can effectively respond in the long term. When consumers discover that there is a third choice in the desktop-computer market, the Mac vs. PC construct falls apart.
I recommend, if you can of course, that you become a member of MediaBistro.com because they have a few video conferenses that are extremely interesting. This preview that I've chosen from YouTube represents a dialogue about The Future of Design and I know that I was captivated for about an hour and a half because I was there, at NYU on September 5th, 2007.
This is its Synopsis, as you could find it on MediaBistro's website: Design is no longer an afterthought, something businesses slap on finished products to make them look pretty as they send them out the door. Design has infiltrated the production process, informing decisions large and small. This panel discusses the challenges and opportunities of these expanding markets. Using examples from their own work, panelists discuss the challenges their firms are facing, and the new tools, techniques, and resources they are using to meet them.
Project 2211 doesn’t support "HaHa Search for Graphix" anymore as of this Spring 2009 due to marketing issues. It was a time when we thought this will have a future but after a while we’ve seen a tremendous lack of traffic and have decided to close this subdomain. Time has changed from 10 years ago and there’s no need for custom search engines since Google has this application for each one of us.
We thank everyone who have had contributed for the past 4 years with materials or moral support.
I mean who in the world would have been thought about this to happened like that? Google is not just a company that was hacked, it's The Company. If you pass Google' security it's like you've got the secrets of the entire world, not just one government with its secret service. 
MONTREAL — Singer Lhasa de Sela, 37, died late Friday in her Montreal home of breast cancer, an official statement on her website confirmed Sunday. Known simply as Lhasa, the Mexican-American singer/songwriter was born in Big Indian, in upstate New York, but divided her adult life between Canada and France. Lhasa won a Quebec Felix Award in 1997, and a Canadian Juno Award for Best Global Artist in 1998. Her three albums, including 1998's La Llorona, 2003's The Living Road and 2009's Lhasa, were recorded in Spanish, French and English. On Monday January 1, "just before midnight," Lhasa de Sela died at the age of 37 in her Montreal home following a 21-month struggle with breast cancer. Her health issues became widely known. Her discography cand be found on her official website here.
