Just a quick update on the whole iPhone jailbreak thing. This is my current lockscreen on my phone. As you can see there’s weather, an agenda, and the number of new emails. You can also configure this to show number of missed calls and new SMS. The program is called Lockscreen Info and is available on Cydia. Winterboard is required to theme as you wish (including my minimal unlock swipe), and there are various programs that allow you to remove your clock (I’m using Clock Hide). Additionally, check out Popup Blocker, which can remove the redundant “missed calls” popup.

Hopefully this will at least help smooth over those who are gripped over no Android on Bell’s new network (Adam). Keeping things just that much more customizable.

You know what’s smart? Thermodynamics. What’s even smarter? Using it to your advantage. This device chills your wine in 90 seconds (or what’s claimed). I don’t see why it wouldn’t work, you get a piece of metal cold enough, with enough volume and surface area and it’s sure gonna cool your wine down fast, I’d be worried that ice could form on the device itself and there’s no telling what that’ll do to you wine.

Never-the-less great idea when you just can’t wait for that bottle to chill.

It’s no secret that Craigslist is one of the ugliest sites out there.  I understand the bare-bones approach; it’s a no frills website designed explicitly to connect buyers and sellers.  They don’t need to be eye pleasing.  But, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be.  Inspired by a Wired article, P41 Studios has proposed their own makeover of the ubiquitous online classifieds.  It’s elegant, crisp, and retains the classic Craigslist vibe without being a strain on the eyes.  I’m especially fond of the bold, blue, sans city title.

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I haven’t really gotten into the whole tumblr/tumblog thing yet, seems like an interesting way to blog easily/share with friends. I see it an am amped up version of twitter. One enterprising individual has managed to make his/her tumblog into some weird trip art blog. By taking 3 sequential frames from movies and making animated gifs out of them (which I can’t seem to recreate here, help?), Three Frames really adds dynamic to an otherwise boring image.

For another set of images check out Keggers of Yore, which documents keggers from what seems anytime before the mid-80s.

One of my favourite things about the internet is not only the scope, but the detail of what you can find.  Like Tapedeck and the Book Cover Archive before it, the Movie Title Stills Collection has compiled hundreds of title (and end!) blocks from movies over the last 90 years.  These sites are not only stimulating to look at, but they’re a great resource for designers looking to recreate the aesthetic of a certain period.  It’s by no means a complete collection, but it’s pretty awesome to be able to see everything from Kurasawa’s Yojimbo (pictured) to Back to the Future all in one place.

Right now, it’s a private project of designer Christian Annyas, but this could really take off if the internet at large could contribute.

Yeah, that’s right, over 1/20th of worldwide internet traffic is from google’s servers, according to this NYT article and 256 exabytes of data.

Read this. It’s a Discover magazine article about sensory substitution. I read it when it first came out and it led me to study psychology. It’s a good example of the level of detail present in Discover’s articles, which are short enough that you can get through the magazine in a few hours. The only downside of a healthy Discover habit is the urge to constantly spout science factoids, which, depending on the company you keep, will either make you a social pariah (me in high school) or, if you hang out with the writers of Convoke, normal.

If I could recommend one magazine, it would be Discover.

Did anyone know that people were doing this? Frameless glasses may correct one of your senses, but magnetic implants actually give you a new sense altogether. A little magnet is implanted into the tip of your finger so that you can sense EM fields and pick up small magnetic objects. It’s body modification, not medicine, and carries with it the risk of infection or rejection, but still… how cool would it be to have an extra sense?

We’ve already shared our love for everything Moleskine over here at CONVOKE, so here’s another product for our favorite journals. This folio really brings it home by being waterproof, protecting not only your Moleskine but your pens (specifically the G-Tec-C4, right?), money, business card, and whatever else you shove in there.

Check out this video for a full feature list.

I hope all you in the white north had an excellent Thanksgiving (I know I did). While everyone else was stuffing their faces in what can only be called splendor, geohot (George Hotz) was releasing blackra1n. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time coming.

My biggest gripe with the iPhone is the inability to set custom sms sounds. Not only is this possible on all but the cheapest phones, but due to the popularity of iPhones it only takes 8 people before 2 of you HAVE to have the same sound, quite confusing. My phone is now back and talking to me, just as my old one did.

Since the thing is now jailbroken, why not add a few more beneficial hacks to make the phone even greater? Here’s what I’m running:

5 Icon Dock: Allows for 5 icons on your dock, I have sms, phone, safari, mail and iPod.

QuickReply: Reply to sms messages without leaving your current app. Super convenient, you can also reply from your lock screen by double tapping the sms notification.

SBSettings: Quick access to your bluetooth, wifi, brightness, edge, 3g and running applications without leaving your current app. Also allows you to hide applications from the home screen. I never use stocks, compass, voice memos, stocks or iTunes, so it frees up quite a bit of real estate. You can still find these applications by searching with spotlight.

Installous: Might be unethical, but you can install hacked applications with this. Meaning the $100 tomtom app from the app store? Free. My phone is filled with stolen music already, so why not applications (and it’s still legal in Canada for now)?

statusnotifier: Allows for status of the phone to be placed in the top bar. Quick checks for email without unlocking the phone is now possible.