We live in a culture obsessed with customization. A German creative collective, Urban Screen takes that idea to the next level by digitally painting buildings for their interactive installations and performance art. Using urban architecture and facades as their stage they draw big crowd with their lively and interactive art. [via Youtube]

Apparently they go to Google. Do you have questions that you are either too embarrassed or scared to ask anyone? It seems a lot of you do, and Google seems to be the place to go and ask them. The following are a few interesting metrics according to Google search: 303,000 are "extremely terrified of Chinese people"; 680,000 want to know why their poop is green; 32,600,000 would like to know how to get over someone; and 5,310,000 want to know how to get pregnant. This kind of revelation is kind of funny and a bit scary but mostly...just wow...really?! [via Gizmodo]

SRG released a study that reveals a growing trend amongst Canadians to watch TV online as broadcasters are making more of their content available. In fact, according to the study, 41% of online Canadians have said they have watched a TV show via the internet at some point, and half of those are regular online viewers. Interestingly but not suprisingly, 70% are viewing short video clips on a regular basis. 

They have no revenue model (yet). They turned down a half a billion dollar offer from Facebook,  and most of their employees work from home. Their attitude and work culture are reminiscent of the earlier dotcom startup era. However, the Twitter co-founders Biz Stone, Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams are much smarter, run slimmer, and are more concerned with changing the world then making money.

Looking for specific items on Craigslist? Rather than visiting daily or sitting on your lunch break hitting refresh over and over again, why not try using Google Alerts to find what you're looking for. [Apartment Therapy]

A new site has emerged amongst the doom and gloom of today's economy. The Recessionwire.com is hoping to bring positive news to victims of the economic crisis. Labelled as a "pop-up" site by it's founders Laura Rich and Sara Clemence, two former editors who were laid off from Conde Nast's Portfolio and author/freelance writer Lynn Parramore. The idea is that the site will only survive as long as the recession lasts, which we're all hoping is quickly! [via Wired Blog]

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, will be one of the 13 competitors on ABC's hit show Dancing With The Stars. The new season airs March 9th. [via BBC News]

Check out the list on the Wired blog.

"The customer is always right." This may always have been true but you wouldn't know it from the experience most have had before the days of social networking. Rest assure, that in this connected age we as consumers are much more empowered.

The trend of social shopping has been growing now for several years but the timing for this community is perfect. With smart phones gaining popularity, the masses are arming themselves with portable knowledge, equipped with several means of communication, high quality cameras, and social networking apps, retailers need to be aware that the consumer has evolved. Beware the multi-tasking consumer.

Here are a list of some social shopping sites:

Stylehive http://www.stylehive.com/

Jelly Fish http://www.jellyfish.com/

Crowdstorm http://www.crowdstorm.com/

This Next http://www.thisnext.com/

Wist http://wists.com/

Shop Wiki http://www.shopwiki.com/

Kaboodle http://www.kaboodle.com/

If you're looking for visuals for your next fungi inspired party, forget about Baraka or Koyaanisqatsi, order this DVD available in Blu-Ray from Itallian designer Piero Fornasetti. You will trip out to the hi-def visuals of what he calls ambient wall art animations. It's not a small purchase at $175, but if you remember this is original art with over 500 images, it's actually quite a steal. [via Design-Milk]

It's nice to see that mother nature intelligence is inspiring the world that we create around us. [Business Week]

Great article today in the Globe and Mail about a nine-year-old from Singapore who wrote his own iPhone app. Unlike the typical forth graders who doodles with crayons, Lim Ding Wen writes code that allows you to doodle on an iPhone. His creation is called Doodle Kids and you can download the free app on iTunes. [via Globe and Mail]

The trend towards "connected tv's" and devices is a sign that people more and more want to enjoy the convenience of being connected without being chained to a desk. Laptops are becoming the norm as prices fall, next-gen kids are growing up not even having used a desktop computer, and smartphones are becoming more accessible and user friendly. So what does all this mean? Well, I hope it means that we've reached the stage where technology is finally adapting to us and not only facilitating but simplifying our connected lifestyle.

ABI Research released a study which included over 1,000 households, and found that the younger consumers want to interact with their friends online and watch tv simultaneously. Yahoo! is on top of this movement with their tv widgets, and have partnered with some of the larger electronics company to stream flikr, news, and weather to your livingroom via the internet.  So can we expect channels/widgets for Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter in the near future? I don't know about you but I already use my TV for online content, listening to Last.fm and Twittering. So I welcome a more user friendly interface so I can continue to do these things but on the comfort of my couch and a remote control. [via cnet news]

A beer glass with an upside down beer bottle inside it. This is surely bound to cause some incidents after you've had a few. [via Gizmodo]

I usually don't write about celebrity but this bit was too good to pass on. The latest celebrity caught on tape being an a-hole is Christian Bale. Now I'm not a professional actor or work in film for that matter, but I have heard the stories of tirades, ego explosions, and tantrums from friends that do. As well, YouTube has some great documented cases of this first hand. So why do you ask does Bale go off on a set where there is no doubt plenty of witness' with cell phones, smart phones, audio recorders, cameras, etc...? How could you be so naive to think someone won't catch this in today's document-everything-society? I hope the kind of behaviour and abuse that people on set had to endure from these spoiled-rotten actors will end now that technology has enabled people to candidly exposed them. 

There is no doubt that modern day advances in computing has enabled hollywood to not only bring to life some amazing characters in the superhero, comic book, and sci-fi genre, but also cash in on them too. The blockbuster success of X-MEN, Batman and the Spiderman franchises have really opened the floodgates in this genre. Look out for huge budget, big action, mind blowing effects on the big screen in 2009.

Star Trek

There's a good article today in the Wall Street Journal called "Out of Office: Job Loss in the Age of Blogs and Twitter". There a lot of people these days that have been laid off, looking for work, or retiring. For some it can be quite a bleak and lonely road ahead. Thankfully, the internet has really become a source of all things, ranging from entertainment to social facilitator. The article points out that online gaming, social networking and movie rentals are on the rise as people are heading online to escape this doom and gloom economy.For the recently laid off or those looking for work in a downturn economy, the internet has been a great resource and support network. The days of veggin' on the couch flipping channels have been substituted by interacting online: searching job sites, participating in support forums, networking with friends, playing games, watching movies, and other time-wasters that are available online 24/7. 

If you haven't already visited Crackle.com then you're in for a nice surprise. Previously known as Grouper a user-generated video portal like YouTube that was purchased by Sony Picture Entertainment for a reported $65 million back in 2006. It failed to take on YouTube's rising star back in the day and was reincarnated as Crackle.com in 2007. SPE re-branded Crackle as it's ready-made network for distributing it's original digital content in short form as well as full length programming from it's vast library of content.

This streaming channel has some of the best shows you'll never see on TV...well at least not yet. The short form content is specifically created for your online pleasure with most of their series' running anywhere from 2-10 min episodes. Don't be mistaken here, web content doesn't necessarily mean basement productions, the content on Crackle has high production value on a budget. The writing/editting is tight, actors are recognizable, and most importantly it's bite size and entertaining.

Here's a list of my picks:

The Line: Two best friends, armed with one change of clothes and one simple mission: get tickets to the world premiere of Future Space. They march to the front spot on line and brace themselves for one of the toughest trials of their lives.

The Writersroom: is a black comedy about the trials and tribulations of writing for a Kevin Pollack-hosted late-night talk show. Neurotic scribes squabble and worry about jokes, food, and health care plans.

My Long Distance Relationship: Follow Sam and Samantha, college freshman and high school sweethearts, who with the help of modern technology struggle continue their relationship from Far West University in Oregon and South Southern East State in Florida: as far apart as two people can get.

Star-ving: "Married with Children's" Bud Bundy, David Faustino, is back and bare-assed! David & his whacked out side kick, Corin Nemec of "Parker Lewis Can't Lose", will do anything to get back on top.  Nobody ever said that being a short, broke, alcoholic, sex maniac, ex-child actor was easy.

We've definitely come along way from the days of the calculator watches and the gaming watches of the 80's. working unlocked mobile watch phone while scrubbing through YouTube for the latest in mobile phone watches. There seems to be a flood of products like this available online and in the works from many of the large electronic companies. LG showed off their watch phone at this years CES show, you can see the video demo here.

I've yet to see any watch phones being sold by local retailers in my hood, but if you're really eager to get one they seems they are readily available on EBay by sellers TradePlanet24 and Go2Gold.

Here are some good links to see the 2009 Super Bowl ads:

My pick for best place to watch the ads. The interface is easy to navigate and the ads are broken up by quarters making it easy to find a specific ad. Video quality is good and it offers fullscreen capability.

Best quality videos w/fullscreen, but usability isn't the greatest if you want to quickly go through all the ads without accidentally clicking on an unrelated one.
http://www.spike.com/superbowl

This is the official Super Bowl site has some commercials I didn't find on the other sites, although you have to endure an NFL commercial before previewing the commercials...oh and there is no fullscreen capability
http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/43/videos/commercials