Archives for category: One For Fun

A Christmas Present for You, Ricochet Readers

December 15, 2010 //

I don’t know about you, but December’s been pretty crazy for me. Between trying to maintain a healthy work-life balance (yeah, right) and trying to learn new things, I was shocked to realize Christmas is next week.

Egad.

Nevertheless, I’ve a little treat for you: Do-it-yourself polka dotted Christmas wrap and digital wallpaper, made with Processing. A sample’s below.

Take your pick of default sizes: 960 x 600 pixels or 1280 x 800 pixels.

I learned a few things while making this project:

What they say about coding is true: You’re more apt to learn something if you’ve got a project in mind.
The initial bits of Processing are pretty easy to understand. But then there’s trying to grok random (not so bad) and shuffle (oy).
Coffee is good. Sleep is better.

To try Processing for yourself, copy my code from Github and paste it into the Processing.js Web IDE, or download Processing and tweak it locally.

The code is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Tags art, code, Processing

Categories Code & Development, One For Fun

Who’s Missing From This Food Map?

September 3, 2009 //

Ever wonder what the most popular links are within your circle of friends and trusted sources?

Web Trend Map, a new interactive site, let’s you do that. Created by designer Craig Mod and information architect iA Inc., the website maps selected Twitter users and displays the trending links among those users off to the side.

The site was sorely lacking in food-related maps, so in the spirit of my most recent post, I made one.

Are there any food bloggers/makers/photographers you love who are on Twitter? Let me know and I’ll consider them for inclusion.

Craig and iA write more about the thinking behing Web Trend Map on their site. And if the words “web trend map” sound familiar, it’s ’cause iA Inc. is the company behind the popular Web trends infographic, now available as a poster.

Tags Craig Mod, curation, food, fun, iA Inc., interactive site, Online social networking, Social information processing, Technology/Internet, trends, Triant Holdings Inc., twitter, Web 2.0

Categories General Journalism, One For Fun, Social Media

How Many News Organizations Can Say This?

August 18, 2009 //

The human side of work often gets lost in the race to be best, first and profitable.

A simple but compelling ad by Fairly Painless Advertising tells potential employees why design firm Herman Miller might be the right place for them to work.

Can the news outlet you work for say this?

Tags advertising, Communication design, Graphic design, Herman Miller Inc., Marketing

Categories One For Fun, Video

Show Off Your Enterprise Reporting, Enter the Ricochet Giveaway

December 17, 2008 //

The latest Ricochet news contest gives you the chance to show off enterprise reporting on a tight budget.

Tools of the Trade by Princess Valium on Flickr

Show a story borne of the pursuit of an original idea and crafted for the Web and you’ll be entered in this round’s random drawing. The prize? We’ll donate $40 to the community-funded reporting project Spot.Us in your name.

The Rules:

One entry per person.
The entry must have been posted online in 2008.
The entry be an story that no one else in your market had (we’re holding you to the honor system).
The entry must have a thoughtful Web component (interactive graphic, video, audio, slideshow, map).
Winners of previous contests held on Ricochet in 2008 are ineligible.
Deadline: Dec. 23 at 9 p.m. ET.

To Enter: Post the link to your entry in comments. Include your contact info. Again, one entry per person, please.

To Win: Winner will be chosen by random drawing and announced here and on Twitter on Dec. 23 at 10 p.m. ET. The drawing result is final, as is the prize.

Let other reporters and bloggers know about this contest — it’s an opportunity to show others your good work on the Web. Good luck to all entrants!

Photo: Princess Valium/Flickr

Tags contest, enterprise, reporting

Categories General Journalism, One For Fun