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I just got a spam promoting Apple’s Black Friday specials. I was surprised that the creative wasn’t Apple’s usual black-and-chrome motif; this one looks more like a target ad. Cool nonetheless:

Apple:

Target:

Ever want to download one of the mp3s that you listen to on MySpace? But when you click on “download” a message pops up saying, “Artist has not enabled downloads for this song”?

First of all, why even say “download” if it won’t let let you? Second of all, it is in the interest of the bands on MySpace to disseminate their music freely to gain popularity and sell concert tickets.

With File2HD, you simply input a MySpace URL and it will give you all the multimedia elements that you’d wish to download. In addition to mp3s it supplies you with a list all the images, css, etc.

It doesn’t work perfectly. Sometimes you have to open a new window after every download. I think it only works in Internet Explorer, too. But it’s definitely a big loophole that will undoubtedly be shut down one day.

I had my first success at Retail Me Not tonight. A website where consumers can share online promotional codes, deals, etc. It’s definitly a good website to check before you make any purchase online.

In my case, I was ordering more contacts from 1800Contacts.com. Lo and behold, there was a promotional code for $12 off any order of $75 or greater. I typed in the code and now I’m $12 richer.

I was recently interviewed and photographed for a Bloomberg article that was published today. It’s about how I use Facebook, now, more than Myspace.

After Web cam girls and spammers bombarded Sean Conaty with buddy requests on MySpace, he switched to Facebook to connect with his real-life friends.

“Facebook seems a lot cleaner and nicer,” said Conaty, 25, a Web designer at AdBrite Inc. in San Francisco. He cut back his social networking on MySpace to once a week and now logs onto Facebook daily to read comments and view photos posted by friends.

I don’t know where I came up with this idea, but I thought of making a trucker hat with the foam material in front, covered in little mirror tiles, like a disco ball. Although I already debuted the hat, I officially made it for a Vegas trip I’m making in October.

This picture was taken in my room, but believe me, it will look more P-I-M-P up in da club when all the lights is shining on it.

While waiting for the Yeah yeah yeahs to take the stage at the Fillmore last night, Verizon wireless had a screen projected on the side of the auditorium displaying text messages sent by people in the venue to a special address. “I love this band!!!!!!,” “I love their sound :),” “Hi mom!” and other inane, boring texts scrolled up the screen.

Rather pissed off by the blatant marketing scheme and curious to see if they did their QA, I decided to send the text, “Fuck Verizon,” to the number and see if it would make its way to the screen. The band came on, I forgot about the text, and never noticed if it showed or not.

This morning I got a text:

Congrats! You won for texting to the screen at the Fillmore, courtesy of Verizon Wireless. Contact Chris at 415-555-5555 to claim your prize!

I called Chris and he told me I won two tickets to any show of my choice at the Filmore. “You’re eating your words now,” he told me. But I wasn’t; I still have the same opinion of Verizon, despite the free tickets. Curious to see if he had the same opinion, I asked, “Did I win randomly or because of what I wrote?” It was random.

So I’m going to see Bebel Gilberto on September 9th courtesy of Verizon Wireless.

A curious reader has always been able to see any edits made to any Wikipedia page but the information has always been hidden under the history tab and behind a cryptic IP address.

The security researcher known as Virgil, has created a wikiscanner, that deciphers and organizes all IP addresses of people who edit pages, making it easier to see what pages any given organiztion has edited.

Some of the local SF corporations I tried:

• Salesforce (edits the Marina)
• Ernst & Young (edits KPMG)
• Gap Inc. (edits Gay Bar and Banana Republic)

I was at the Giant’s game last night when Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s 33 year old home run record. Below is footage from the section 130, where I was sitting. I’m the tall guy in the turquoise track jacket blocking everybody’s view.

Craigslist finally got over its minimalistic and idealistic design strategy and added some minor graphical UI elements to the famously no-frills site. Upon viewing listings in the San Francisco Bay Area, the user will notice that the sub-regions, once separated by pipes or “|” are now represented by tabs. This comes after, a week or so ago, a change where the layout for the flag links was shifted from horizontal to vertical.

I think the changes are an improvement but more so, they are significant simply because the craigslist interface changes only on rare occasions. There’s more room for improvement in other areas of the interface and I wonder if this marks a trend towards a better UI. Perhaps colors other than blue, purple, and grey?

I’ve always liked the homepage of craigslist and appreciated its quirky brand. It’s an example of a site where content is king and design takes a back seat.

Most people don’t know, but when I’m not working my day job, I’m a crimefighting badass. I should just go Hollywood then my day job and moonlighting job would be the same.