Apple has just announced the MacBook Wheel, an innovative new laptop with a touch-sensitive click wheel instead of a traditional keyboard. The 40GB model is only $9,960!

“The Breakfast Cereal Club” by Ironic Sans

illustration by Ironic Sans

They guys who organized last year’s amazing meme exploration conference ROFLCon in Cambridge and the follow-up event ROFLThing in San Francisco, are now doing ROFLThing NYC on January 24th at Santos Party House in Manhattan.

ROFLThing features talks by Charlie Todd (Improv Everywhere), Troy Hitch & Matt Bledsoe (the creators of You Suck At Photoshop), Jason Scott, Bre Pettis, Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Jim Louderback (CEO of Revision3), Vincent Connare (creator of the Comic Sans font) and many more. Registration is now open.

I’ll be attending the event along wiht Lori and Laughing Squid is one of the sponsors of the event. While we are in town, we’ll be doing a Laughing Squid NYC Drinkup sometime that week before the event.

See Previously:

- ROFLCon 2008 Photos

- ROFLThing, Exploring Internet Memes in San Francisco

image via ROFLCon

London design consultant Tom Ballhatchet has created a prototype for a Hamster Powered Paper Shredder. 45 minutes of hamster wheel running will shred a piece of paper which then becomes bedding for the hamster.

via Neatorama

image via Tom Ballhatchet

EDW Lynch warns us that a Solstice Killer, known to authorities as “Lumber Jack”, has been murdering Christmas trees in San Francisco and then dumping their remains on sidewalks around the city. This sick individual first “decorates” his victims before killing them with a saw or asphyxiation by spray-on snow.

Detectives and forensics experts scoured the Mission Saturday in search of the notorious Solstice Killer, the only documented Serial Tree Murderer. He strikes San Francisco shortly after Christmas each year and leaves a trail of dead trees on the sidewalks of sleepy residential streets. Photos of the ongoing investigation have just been released. WARNING: The photos are graphic and depict dead conifers in various states of decomposition.

Authorities are hunting down the Solstice Killer aka “Lumber Jack”, the serial tree murderer who strikes after Dec 25 of each year. Motive is unknown though the killer tends to “decorate” his victims shortly before their death. Preferred method of death is by saw or asphyxiation by spray-on snow. Tree remains are dumped all over the city with special emphasis on residential neighborhoods.

photos by Furtographer

“Dracul: Prince of Fire”, the 10th Anniversary Fire Ballet fundraiser for The Crucible takes place January 7th-10th and January 14th-17th, with a Grand Gala Finale on January 17th. All proceeds from the event help support The Crucible’s youth and adult programs.

Join us for The Crucible’s Tenth Anniversary when we present another stunning Fire Ballet Fundraiser; Dracul: Prince of Fire, conceived and directed by Crucible founder, Michael Sturtz, with choreography by Viktor Kabaniaev, and stage direction by Mark Streshinsky.

In an original twist on the tale of Dracul, the father of Dracula, the story reveals the beginning of the vampire legend in a way only The Crucible could imagine. Set during the age of industry, it’s a dark tale of passion, fire and blood.

This Saturday, January 10th No Pants Subway Rides are being organized around the world. The event was started 8 years ago in NYC by Improv Everywhere.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION

1) Willing to take pants off on subway
2) Able to keep a straight face about it

Here’s more information on the San Francisco No Pants Subway Ride.

See Previously: 7th Annual No Pants! Subway Ride by Improv Everywhere

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is having their 18th Birthday Party this Wednesday, January 7th at DNA Lounge in San Francisco. The event features special guest DJ Spooky, as well as music by Bootie DJ’s Adrian and Mysterious D (A plus D), Kid Kameleon from Surya Dub, and EFF’s resident DJ’s Tones and Qubitsu.

The event is a fundraiser for EFF and they are asking for a $25 donation at the door. You can pre-pay for the party in advance using EFF’s Happy Birthday donation page, which includes an option for a discounted EFF membership.

image via EFF

MAKE magazine, Twin Cities Public Television and American Public Television have just launched the wonderful new weekly series Make: Television featuring half hour HD episodes profiling “Makers”. Make: Television can be viewed on public television (broadcast and cable), online (YouTube & Vimeo) or downloaded DRM-free.

Make: is the DIY series for a new generation! It celebrates “Makers” - the inventors, artists, geeks and just plain everyday folks who mix new and old technology to create new-fangled marvels. The series encourages everyone to invent, revent, recycle, upcycle, and act up. Based on the popular Make magazine, each half-hour episode inspires millions to think, create, and, well, make.

The debut episode of Make: Television features a really great segment on Cyclecide Bike Rodeo, including a profile of Paul (”Paul da Plumber”) Cesewski.

JPG Magazine, an innovative photography publication and community, along with it’s parent company 8020 Media have announced that they are shutting down as of Monday, January 5th. Brad Stone covers the closure in the New York Times.

On the JPG blog they mention that there is a small chance that they will be acquired before they close, but they don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. 15×100 has launched a Save JPG website to help prevent the JPG community from going away.

8020 has had a troubled history, in May 2007 JPG Magazine founders Derek Powazek and Heather Powazek Champ both left the company due to a “fundamental disagreement”.

See Previously:

- JPG Magazine Founders Leave 8020 Publishing

- JPG Magazine, An New Publication & Community For Photography

JPG Magazine submission photo by Scott Beale

A limited run of t-shirts are being made with a really cool exploded iPhone graphic.

Thanks to Dion for the tip!

image via Exploded Phone

guest post by mikl-em

It’s hard to tell from the front page of their website, but DIESEL is a high-end Italian clothing company with fancy stores and hundreds of flavors of denim jeans. They are actually the ones who started the whole thing of jeans that are pre-washed/worn/with-holes-in-them and let’s not forget high-priced.

I don’t actually care if Diesel is able to sell more jeans because of the weird videos they put up on their site. I am never, ever, going to buy any of their pants. But the videos are delightfully odd and entertaining and I don’t want them to stop.

Ostentatious marketing and promotion is definitely a hallmark of the company This year saw the company’s 30-year anniversary and they had a sale on new jeans for 30 quid. And in 2005 they published a 300-page 7.3-pound book called Fifty to celebrate the 50th birthday of the company’s founder Renzo Rosso.

But in the digital realm they are reaching new heights, their web video gallery is weird, wild and provocative. Some highlights below.

Hair Bath is exactly what it sounds like. A bath of hair, brought to you by Diesel. What? The young lady likes hair, would like you to send her yours, and in exchange will squirm around in it cooing like that chick from the old Pearl Drops toothpaste commercial. What!?!?

There have been 3 videos in the Hair Bath series so far, plus a short appeal which simply asks for you to cut and send more hair to keep bath-time going.

Then there’s Pete the Meat Puppet. No, he’s not a former member of that old SST band. Think of Pete as a Howdy Doody of ham, a Kermit the Frog of flesh, a Pinocchio of pork, a Madam of mutton, a Lambchop of lamb, and even a Charlie McCarthy charcuterie, if you will. In short, he’s a puppet of meat.

Makes more sense now? If not there are two more Pete-related videos to help inquiring and hungry minds digest the possibilities.

Another video called Flag Ceremony features an underage marching band in the that seems like a glimpse of the next generation of Extra Action Marching Band members, who will could be funded by residuals from an early age.

Rarely throughout does the Diesel brand name or any of their products appear noticeably in the frame. An exception is in their Dance Party series where contestants wear little more than Diesel undergarments. Overall it’s definitely a different take than the myriad dance competition shows that currently dominate the air waves.

Episodes 1 to 3 of Dance Party are up, but I guess we’ll have to wait til #4 to find out who won and what, if anything, they get. Diesel also deserves a tip of the hat for keeping Roman Numerals relevant in fashion. Also sacks over the head with Roman Numerals on them.

In addition to these video series the site also shows numerous shorts that tread a weird kitschy line between infomercials, late night evangelists and test patterns. For instance, if you need a little primer on Success, Diesel has that covered. And meet a woman whose life has changed for the better. Then there’s the wealth guru with very bad handwriting.

Sometimes a toll-free phone number pops up in these shorts: 888-559-5759. When I called it (why not it’s free!) I got a recording saying that eventually real people will answer this line. But in the meantime you can leave a message which they have the right to broadcast or use in any way they want. So if you want to shout into the Diesel phone hole….

Oh, and on the other end of the subtle & arty video creations above, here’s DIESEL’s 2008 Christmas ad, which is decidedly more commercial. In fact cynically and obsessively commercial. Also very very funny.

Lest you think their print campaigns are particularly less odd, note an example below starring model Jon Kortajarena for their 2009 men’s line, with a decidedly foot fetishist overtone…

Also, someone in that apartment can bowl, huh?

images via Diesel

Last night Violet Blue had some friends over to her Blogger Bungalow to celebrate New Year’s Eve 2009. Violet really knows how to throw a party, she hired a special co-hostess for the evening, fetish model KumiMonster and gave out gift bags from Good Vibrations.

Like last year, she encouraged guests to live blog the party. This year she had a camera with an Eye-Fi card so people could run around shooting photos of the party that were instantly uploaded to Flickr and she had a 12seconds channel where people could record short videos of their New Year’s resolutions. Here’s my photos from the party.

Photo Gallery: NYE 2009 @ The Blogger Bungalow

See Previously: New Year’s Eve 2008 at Violet Blue’s Blogger Bungalow

photos by Scott Beale

“Evolution of Technology”, is a fantastic ad created by Scholz&Friends Group for the German electronics store Saturn that shows an evolutionary process from dinosaur robots to modern androids.

via AdFreak

There’s a really great Flickr group that features photo reenactments of “The Far Side”, the hilariously bizarre single panel comic series by Gary Larson.

via Drawn!

photo by Cayusa

Here’s our annual roundup of some of the events planned in the San Francisco Bay Area for New Year’s Eve 2008-2009. We will add more as it gets closer to NYE.

- Sea of Dreams 2009 at San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center

- New Years Speak Easy At the Boiler Bar

- Ask Dr. Hal’s Notable 9th at Chez Poulet

- Bootie New Year’s Eve Pirate Party at DNA Lounge

- New Year’s Comedy on the Square With Will Franken at Actors Theatre of San Francisco

- Bondage a Go Go & New Wave City Present The Black & Blue Ball at Glas Kat Supper Club

- Laughter Against The Machine: Guerilla Comedy For New Year’s Eve at The Phoenix Theatre

- Up All Nite! The New Year’s Eve Pajama Party at The Stud Bar

- Subterra: NYE 2009 at SomArts Cultural Center

- Marga Gomez New Year’s Eve Spectacular at Theatre Rhinoceros

- 30’s Era Costumed New Year’s Eve Carnival in Point Reyes Station at King’s Point Playland

Here are some more San Francisco Bay Area NYE listings:

- The Squid List

- SF Station

- Going SF

photo by John Curley

guest post by Jason Schupp

Warning: glimpses of nudity here and there, and it’s a bit brutal.

Although the Christmas season is over for this year, I think there’s room for one more Santa origin tale. From Finnish production company Woodpecker Films comes this short film on where Santas come from: “Rare Exports”, who have been delivering real Finnish Father Christmases since 1739. Warning: not for the easily squeamish. I’m never going to look at Santa the same way again.

Two years later, following a particularly bad incident, they had to shoot this reproachful safety film on the handling and care of the Father Christmas during shipping:

Hat tip to my friend Su, who pointed me towards these.

Our friends at Cockeyed have just released their Modern Hobo Code that can be used mark warnings and points of interest in your town like the hobos used to do.

The legendary “hobo code”was a set of covert markings used to warn other hobos about danger or to clue them into good situations. As times have changed, a new set of code symbols have emerged to alert other hobos to circumstances in modern America. Perhaps you have seen them on your own city streets.

In October Cockeyed released their helpful series of Kids Halloween Candy Code.

image via Cockeyed

Macworld 2009 takes place next week, Monday, January 5th though Friday, January 9th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The Expo opens on Tuesday after the keynote, which will not be giving by Steve Jobs this year, but instead delivered by Apple VP Philip Schiller. This is also the last year that Apple will be involved with Macworld.

For more Macworld coverage, check out Adam Jackson’s blog Macworld Bound.

Here are my photos from the Macworld 2008 Expo floor.

photos by Scott Beale

guest post by Jason Schupp

Shortly after Prop 8 passed in California, a conversation on the Heather Gold Show about its passing prompted Heather and guest Tara Hunt of Citizen Space to gather several others and start organizing EqualityCamp. A one-day event to discuss new ways of gaining support for same-sex marriage, EqualityCamp is using the BarCamp unconference format, with event planning and proposed panels being orchestrated on the BarCamp wiki.

It happens Saturday, January 3rd in San Francisco from 10am-6pm, at Citizen Space, located at 425 2nd Street @ Harrison, 3rd floor. Tickets are $21 ($20 + $.99 processing fee) and limited in number, and are available through Eventbrite. There’s a student/unemployed rate of $6 (including processing fee) as well. An explanation on where that money goes is on the site, which mentions that any funds left over will be donated to an organization decided upon by the attendees.

For more info, the organizers made the video FAQ above about the event.