I really haven’t been delivering anything through my thought hole recently, after I have to live up to my tagline. I don’t want to promise anything that will only happen once, but hopefully I’ll be able to keep doing these At A Glance pieces.

Last night saw Apple unveil their new line of iPods and entertainment products. While iOS 4.1 isn’t out quite yet, one of the more immediate releases was iTunes 10.

I used to loathe iTunes and its iPod connectivity but since moving to OS/X and subsequently buying an iPod Touch, recently followed by an iPhone 4, using iTunes became an inevitability.

Two years on and I haven’t had to switch media players yet – a good testimonial to how good the program has become. I remember using Musicmatch, Sony Atrac3 software, Windows Movie Maker and Realplayer. Constantly switching back and forth.

Ping

There aren’t many more features you would want in a media player, except more codec support. Naturally, it was becoming a tough task of implementing worthwhile improvements and iTunes 10 doesn’t really make any notable ones. The only feature that would come close is Ping.

It’s hard to judge social networks on day one but as it stands Ping is absolutely awful. It’s poorly integrated between the platforms, hard to manage and completely useless as it stands.

The lack of Facebook and Twitter integration is irritating. So many new social platforms allow you to automatically cross-check your friend lists. Apple like to keep it a closed platform, thus Ping is already asking a lot from the start.

Also, I’ve got to question the motive of Ping. Something like Last.FM would be brilliant if integrated into iTunes, I’d probably stop using Last.FM if I was honest. However, like I said you’ve got to let Social Networks grow before they become enjoyable. Not that, that makes Ping recommending me U2 & Lady Gaga any better. That’s not to say I hate those artists, but what is it basing those recommendations on?

Minor Interface Tweaks

Meanwhile the interface as had some minor tweaks to it. The icons aren’t coloured any more but amidst a sea of complaints, I do like the subtler icons. They should probably be in colour when you’re in that section though.

The new artist list is much better. A far greater alternative to the overwhelming list of tracks we’ve had in the past. It’s a brilliant combination of list and grid views. Now, just get rid of that Coverflow view – who uses it?

Making use of more white space around text, makes the whole program easier on the eye. But, the whole program is still way too grey and apart from these minor tweaks there really isn’t any major overhaul of the UI.

That’s pretty much it, the icon change doesn’t really change much in terms of use. It’s nicer than the old one but I’m sure people will revert to the old one quickly in an attempt to hold onto physical media. I wonder if anyone has made a vinyl iTunes logo?

Anyway, that’s about it for now. I’m sure I’ll play around with the wireless streaming at a later date but for now that’s it.

I know a few followers of this blog get a bit fed up when I praise Video Game X, hate Video Game Y and don’t understand Video Game Z. Well, after the disbandment of Nidzumi, this became a temporary place to crap out thoughts about games. Well for those who don’t mind reading the results of those mindshits, I’ve set up Parley Up. For everything else there’s Blogizzle.

It’s where me and fellow Video Game Thoughtist, Daniel Lipscombe, can deposit our experiences onto the internet. You should visit it. Also I’m quite proud of the term ‘mindshit’

AKA “Medal of Honor: The Electronic Fun Game” or “How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Video Games”

I tried not to turn this into a diatribe on how derivative video games are. I kind of failed.

Ever since Nidzumi was sold I’ve had a lot more free time. While as much as I would like to convince myself that Football Manager is a worthy way to burn that time, it’s probably not. So, call it a summer project with long term ambitions but I’ve recently launched my next project.

You see, ever since Nidzumi was sold and subsequently closed (apparently) I’ve been listening to more music. It’s been great really. The only problem is, and I’m trying not to sound like one of those people, that not many people are aware of the cliché-free hip-hop I’ve been listening to. Now I’m going to stop there because we’re entering pretentious music listener territory, which is the opposite of what I wanted to achieve with the site. So instead of rambling on I’ll let you visit Lesson Six.

In a shocking turn of events, I’m back where I started. Three years ago I started writing, for the first time, for MSXBOX-World.com. Three years on, I’m back writing for them. Progress!

Anyway, here are some thoughts on Tiger Woods 11.

The second of two projects that I’m finishing at the end of my 2nd year. This project started off as packaging type but soon turned into more worthwhile ways of making people appreciate type more. The problem is that the only magazines that are about typography are very serious and a little pretentious. The result was The Character Journals, a selection of articles about typography that are aimed at everyone, alienating no one.

The front cover has a flap that you can flick over to see the entire contents of the magazine.

The welcome editorial summing up the magazine and what it stands for.

A feature called Why Did I Start A Type Foundry? on Commercial type.

Towards the back are profiles on typefaces written by the type designers themselves.

In the middle the pages get thicker for the reviews section.

The main article of the issue details the store of Johnston, the London Underground typeface

Since April, or selling Nidzumi, I’ve only penned two reviews. The second is for Split/Second on GamesAreEvil. It’s not a bad little site even if the front page needs a bit of a redesign. Anyway you should read it because I’m strangely proud of this one.

Oh and encase you were wondering the first review was about those men who kick footballs. Digital men though, they aren’t real.

So the first project of two is a campaign for Ikea and their new 2010 catalogue. That pretty open brief lead me stumbling upon a site called Ikea Hacker. It’s a pretty crazy blog that posts the weird and interesting concoctions that people devise from Ikea products. This could be simple things like turning a Billy bookcase into a pantry or the smart things like turning an Expedit into a hamster’s dream.

I created a mailer (seen above) that features five of the more ingenious hacks from the site.

Between every page is a sheet or two of red acetate. The acetate cleverly masks any of the yellow print, while leaving the black to shine through. The user is then allowed to reveal the hack between each page. For example…

…at first, with the red acetate on top, the page just showcase’s the original Ikea product…

…then as the reader turns the red page they start to reveal ‘sketches’ for the hack…

…the detail what the hacker has done to the product. The text on the left takes the story (from the blog post) and adds a bit more detail to the whole thing.

Here’s a great example of the red acetate at work, it’s quite effective.

These would be mailed out and allow people to return a strip of paper to Ikea in return for the full catalogue (otherwise known as ‘your canvas’). At a future date I’ll probably work a website into the campaign where people could submit their own designs straight to the Ikea site.

This is probably something I should have done a long time ago and for anyone left in the lurch, I apologise. I don’t know why it has taken me this long to do it but I guess it’s justified my choice in the first place. Let me explain.

I’ve spent the last two and a bit years of my life constantly updating a site called Nidzumi. Me and a couple of friends started it while in college but I still couldn’t tell you exactly why but I’ll do my best. I wrote a few articles for a site called MSXBOX-World and the more I got involved, the more I wanted to do. I kept pushing for new features and content but I was frequently rejected. Hindsight tells me that they weren’t just being tough for toughs sake, it’s actually difficult keeping the basics of a site running before you can run off doing podcasts and columns. I didn’t know that and left to start my own site

Admittedly none of us could write at that point – I still probably can’t now – but that didn’t matter so much, we had fun doing it. The truth is, we were just doing it for fun, at this point I had no idea about review copies or perks like that. I still remember my first review copy, Euro 2008. I was chuffed, like we had made it or something, I didn’t know that my 360 would keel over and destroy the disk but that didn’t really matter.

As the friends moved on, Nidzumi was solely left to me. Again, with hindsight I would have scoured the net for staff to keep the site constantly updated but I didn’t. I reviewed every game, wrote every article and edited everything as well.

Really, it wasn’t until late last year that I started to get some new talent on board. The problem is that by that point I was already burnt out, I just didn’t know it yet. I mean if you want to turn something you love into a chore, open a website about it and try to run it by yourself day after day. Chore is probably too strong of a word, if it was really a chore I wouldn’t have done it for two years but you get the idea.

At the risk of sounding like an awards speech, I would like to thank everyone who wrote for the site at one point or another. Daniel Lipscombe, Ewan Aiton, Jen Allen, Steven Wright, Matthew Maharaj, everyone who signed up originally, everyone who wrote features towards the end and anyone else I’m probably forgetting. Oh, and I’d like to thank god, I’m not religious or anything but I think it’s the law to mention him in your award speech.

I guess I should get onto what eventually happened to the place. Well after my last birthday I decided that focusing on my Graphic Design course would probably be more helpful. For those who don’t know I also study Graphic Design down in Falmouth. Now Graphic Design isn’t your normal type of do a bit of reading every now and then degree, you have to constantly be thinking and working on projects. I’m not saying that a Design degree is harder, but if you want to do well it’s constant work, and I want to do well.

So that’s why I sold Nidzumi.

I have no idea what’s happening with it now. I don’t know who would buy a site and then not use it, but that is what’s happened to it. I wanted to still write for it in some capacity but that’s looking less and less likely with every day the site is inactive. It’s a shame, but surprisingly I’m not so hung up on it.

The past few months have allowed me to make so much progress at Uni, have more free-time to cook recipes on BBC Good Food and for the first time in nearly three years, play a game for what it is. Not that I’ve been able to play a game like a normal person yet, I’m still doing the odd freelance job.

So that’s it really. Thanks for reading this long and overdue post that could have been summed up in one sentence; Nidzumi was a fun couple of years but I’ve sold it now.

Any questions?

*UPDATE* I’ve had a few e-mails asking where their articles have disappeared to. While I’m not sure how long I should have waited before restoring a mirror of the site, the four months and no response gives little indication of anything happening soon. So why not visit Nidzumi with all the spelling and grammar mistakes you remember at http://nidzumi.blogizzle.co.uk/

I haven’t done of these in a while and I’ve accumulated a motley crew of new artists to share, so lets waste no time. First up is emerging Canadian rapper, Shad. It’s not your typical hip hop but that’s probably why it’s so much better than the usual stuff I find. He’s just released a new album called TSOL, which is worth checking out although it isn’t on iTunes yet. In the meantime give The Old Prince a listen, it’s different but better for it.

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