360 DEGREES Weblog

Hot Wheels has been able to capture the simplistic brilliance of how kids see the world.
These ads capture something very real and very true. Bravo!

I’ve been spending much time with ad agencies and focus groups lately and can only conclude that–with some exceptions–they are mostly clueless. Three years ago they had a traditional knowledge about consumers but didn’t know much about social networking and web 2.0 technology. Today, most of them don’t know about consumers and don’t know much about social networking and web 2.0 technology either. Mainstream ad agencies have one refrain–one message to their corporate clients–do social networking, do social networking, do social networking. (BUSINESSWEEK)

Read the article

Ah, now I can almost fulfill my secret long life wish to become Maxwell Smart. The Secure IronKey Flash drive was designed to meet excruciating protection standards. It uses military-grade AES hardware-based encryption and something called an IronKey Cryptochip.

The encryption keys are stored inside the drive and your password (personal or assigned, I wonder) in conjunction with the keys are required to access them. After ten consecutive failed password attempts, the IronKey self-destructs (no, not literally) and destroys everything on the drive. The data is completely unrecoverable.

Also included is the ability to log on to the company website and access a program which turns Firefox into a secure stealth surfing application. And the inside of the key is filled with what appears to be black goo, waterproofing and preventing hardware crypto-analysis.

$79 for 1GB, 2GB for $109 or a 4GB drive for $149.

Normally a kiss as a sign of affection is a good thing, but when it happens in an art gallery on a $2.7 million dollar painting it’s not only not a good thing — it’s a crime. It happened last Thursday in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Avignon, France. The woman, 30 year old Sam Rindy, had apparently been admiring a 9′x6′ bone white painting by Cy Twombly valued at over £1 million and was suddenly overcome and just had to kiss it. She’s quoted as saying “The artist left this white for me.”

Yeah, well it’s not white anymore since there’s a lipstick imprint left behind. Ms Rindy is awaiting trial on August 16th for “damage to a work of art.”

Damien Hirst is lending his talents jeans giants Levis.The whacky British artist is collaborating with the denim legends on the spring 2008 collection of the company’s Warhol Factory X Levi’s label.The collection will be launched during New York Fashion Week in September under the name Warhol Factory X Levi’s X Damien Hirst.
The Warhol Factory X Levi’s were first launched in 2006 and paid tribute the Andy Warhol’s famous pop-culture art.
The collection is only available at hogh-end retailers such as Barney’s New York and priced between $190-$250 for jeans and $80-$300 for tops.

Oryx is an innovative time trial bike with a one-sided fork and chain-stay. Due to its Y-frame shape, it’s comfortably shock-proof without loosing ground contact.

Each bike is custom-made which guaranties the perfect fit for every rider and simplifies manufacturing; handle bars, stem and fork are made from one piece. The ergonomically shaped seat post and saddle are integrated into the frame with a hole to cool your bum even!

Each year, farmers in the town of Inakadate in Aomori prefecture create works of crop art by growing a little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed tsugaru-roman variety. This year’s creation — a pair of grassy reproductions of famous woodblock prints from Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mount Fuji — has begun to appear (above). It will be visible until the rice is harvested in September.

While it may look like an optical illusion from the outside, this housing block in Izola on the Slovenian coast offers bona fide affordable options for many young families. The team of Ofis Arhitekti won a national design competition for their design of two apartment buildings each containing 30 units of varying size ranging from studios to three-bedrooms.

Internal spaces may be small, however the unique trapezoidal-shaped balconies accentuate external perspectives and views directly to the sea. Structural elements are located externally as well thereby allowing more spacious living areas while taking advantage of the limited area of each unit and helping to keep the square meter cost low.

Crocs — you either love ‘em or you really, really hate ‘em. We’ve never considered wearing any before, but this highly-rated, all-terrain version seems like just the thing for an outdoor adventure or two. The Crocs Off Road Clogs ($39) sport a rugged tread design, removable Turbo Strap, slip-resistant sole and footbed, and a protective toe cap. And, yes maybe this is what our friend Bush should wear when he goes on his next visit to Iraq. (see our previous entry under Fashion)