Telstar Logistics

3 days A Video Ode to a Revolving 76 Ball

Because it's Friday, and because it's been that kind of a week, what the world needs right about now is a goofy video of a gas station 76 ball spinning dreamily under a perfect blue sky. Fortunately, we happen to...…(more)

Old Boeing 747 Becomes New Hotel in Stockholm

Okay, so you may not own the big plot of land you'll need to buy an old Boeing 747 jumbo jet and convert it into your very own home sweet home. And you may not have the deep pockets required to enjoy all the comforts of home available in the first class cabin of an Emirates A380 superjumbo. But if you happen to find yourself in Stockholm, Sweden later this year, you can probably afford to spend a night at the Jumbo Hostel, a new hotel that's being construct…(more)

Two Videos of Avant Garde Musicians and Transportation

Like peanut butter and chocolate, or bacon and just about anything, avant garde music mixes quite nicely with the infrastructure of transportation. Not knowing much about music theory, we can't really explain why this is. But the reasons hardly matter. What matters is that when you combine machine-powered motion with atonal music, the synthesis can be very satisfying. Here are two videos that demonstrate the point. The first is a looped video produced by Telsta…(more)

Dive! Dive! Dive! Telstar Logistics Visits the Submarine USS Pampanito

As part of our recent exploration of the San Francisco waterfront with BoingBoing TV, Telstar Logistics fleet operations officer Todd Lappin visited the submarine USS Pampanito to learn all about the sub — and the remarkable technology that made her so effective against Japanese shipping in the Pacific during World War II. We could explain all this in text, but why bother when the moving pictures — and Zach Salin, our all-knowing USS Pampanito guide — te…(more)

Overheard Comments from United Airlines Employees

Okay, so maybe we got a liiiiiiiittle bit spoiled by our recent flight aboard an Emirates A380. But even before that, we'd grown fed up with the declining levels of passenger service among America's mainline air carriers: United, American, Continental, Delta, and the like. We've flown most of these airlines at least once during the last year or so, and the experiences are hard to differentiate: All were dismal. The aircraft are old, crowded, and uncomfortable, but most of all, …(more)

DIY Railroading: Exploring the Countryside in Vintage Railcars

More discoveries from this morning's New York Times. (OMG! Print newspapers! So random-access! So serendipitous! What an innovative technology!) We've been hearing tales about this unique little subculture for a while, but the Times has a wonderful piece today about the folks who purchase and restore old railcars — small vehicles that were once used for trackside maintenance — to take them on meandering journeys along little-used trackbed across…(more)

RIP Andrea Pininfarina, Maker of Beautiful Automobiles

Sad news from Italy: Andrea Pininfarina, CEO of Pininfarina S.p.A, the exclusive automotive design firm, was killed yesterday after he was struck by a motorist while riding his Vespa scooter. Pininfarina, of course, is the famous firm that designed many of the most sexy and sensual Ferraris of the last 50-odd years, and under Andrea's leadership the company produced designs ranging from the 2004 Maserati Quattroporte and the 2006 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano to the 2006 Volvo C70…(more)

We Tour A World War II Liberty Ship with BoingBoingTV

A few weeks ago our friends from BoingBoing invited Telstar Logistics fleet operations officer Todd Lappin to tour the World War II Liberty Ship SS Jeremiah O'Brien as part of a video segment for BBtv. Here's BoingBoing's summary of the episode:BBtv guest correspondent and blog pal Todd Lappin of Telstar Logistics takes us inside a steam-powered World War II "Liberty Ship," the SS Jeremiah O'Brien. We marvel (!) at the cool old retro-technology that kept this behemoth boat ru…(more)

Flight Report: Airborne in an Emirates A380 at SFO

It was the kind of offer Telstar Logistics cannot refuse: "Please join us for an exclusive opportunity to experience and fly on Emirates’ cutting-edge A380 aircraft during a two hour ‘demo flight’ and reception," they said. So we said, "Sure!...…(more)

Photos and Video of a Crashed B-2 Stealth Bomber

Somehow we missed this a few weeks back, but the Air Force recently released photos of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber that crashed shortly after takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on February 23, 2008. The pilot and co-pilot ejected safely from the $1.4 billion aircraft, which was not carrying any munitions at the time of the incident. The Air Force concluded its investigation in June, and Popular Mechanics summarizes what went wrong:Small errors, it now tur…(more)

Push. Click. Touch.

Pinball and bowling alleys and flow

Recently, I played pinball and went bowling in the same week. The two games will always be linked together for me because that’s where I first really experienced interaction design: the bowling alley. I enjoy saying that I grew up in a bowling alley. There’s tiny me camping under stinky shoes, scrounging stale nachos for dinner, and sniping smokes from the ‘dults. But in truth, from roughly the ages 7 to 13, my mom, aunt and uncle were all in bowling leagues, so I went once or…(more)

The Bird’s Nest moment

My mind is blown. Your mind is blown. Anybody who watched the Opening Ceremony at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics had their mind blown. Spectacular. Big. Incredible. Historical. No verbs can be found. I’d go as far to say that this was the most incredible experience ever designed. The scale, the coordination, the inventiveness, the low-key yet over-the-top use of technology. We’ve never seen anything like this before. The Bird’s Nest is the new iPhone. Every year or two, som…(more)

1887: Pushbuttons in the Times archives

The Times (London, not New York) has recently opened its entire archives from 1785-1985 to the public, an incredible trove of history. So naturally, I search for “push-button”, since “button” returns too many bits about clothing. The first mention of “push-button” in The Times is from March 9, 1887 on page 5. The title is “A New Telephone,” but upon reading it, what is this thing? A NEW TELEPHONEPARIS, March 8 I was invited to be present to-day at…(more)

Blow Hard: best control ever?

This may possibly be the most amazing control in the history of controls. Found by a friend on a hotel air conditioner. There are clearly only two options, blow hard or blow harder. Otherwise, just stop. Of course, the usual method for designing an air speed control is a range from Low to High, communicated either with words or a graphic spectrum, plus Off. Also, “more” is typically clockwise to the right and “less” is ccw to the left. But this control shows the danger w…(more)

Language of Interaction (from WebVisions 2008)

WebVisions wrapped up a week ago and I’m still feeling it. I love this event every year. One, because it’s in Portland so attending it is easy. But really, two, because it attracts great topics and people to spend time with, exactly what you want in a conference. I will always have a soft spot for WebVisions because its founder Brad Smith took a chance on my weird topic History of the Button two years ago, which kicked off the blog, etc. So Brad, thanks for letting me talk again. On …(more)

Language of Interaction (from Interaction08)

For my talk at Interaction08, I published a paper to accompany the talk, and then hosted it at a separate site. I’d like to bring it into here, continuing the theme of bringing everything under one roof. Inside are the video and slides of the talk. Enjoy! Abstract We are interaction designers during a time of rapid technological change, placing us in the incredible position of collectively creating and curating a new language, the language of interaction. The explosion of products with int…(more)

Announcing Push. Click. Touch.

Surprise! After a month of deliberating and a weekend of tweaking WordPress, I’ve changed History of the Button to a new blog name, “Push. Click. Touch.” New name, new server, new layout, expanded focus. It’s “fun” to tweak WordPress, but now it’s time to get back to writing. So why would I do this? What compelled me to change the name of a blog that people surprisingly paid attention to? After all, switching is a branding nightmare. The “History o…(more)

Interaction08: Wow, what a weekend

Interaction08 ended a few days ago and I’m still recovering from the firehose of information, inspiration, community and general yay, not to mention the excess of fried food and meats and the dearth of sleep. This was no question the best professional conference I have ever attended. Seriously. The conference committee just simply nailed it, in their very first conference. And why? Because they designed a conference. They paid attention. They didn’t hold it in a hotel. Instead they c…(more)

Interaction08: My presentation

You can find the slides of my Interaction08 presentation at my new side site, The Language of Interaction. When I get my hands on the audio, I’ll stitch them together for a slidecast. Also there is the text (and PDF) of the handout that I distributed with the talk. In all, it was an overwhelming experience. I had some serious nervous energy going right beforehand, but thanks to Chris Baum for small talking me beyond it. The previous presenter ran a little late, I had things to plug in and …(more)

Interaction08 is this weekend!

Finally, after months of waiting, Interaction08 begins tomorrow. The first conference focusing strictly on interaction design and put together by the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). The lineup looks great, a lot of friends are attending, and the weather looks beautiful. All set for a wonderful weekend. And I’m proud to be speaking on Saturday. If you’ll be at the event, please stop to say hello if you can. If you can’t attend, consider attending next year if you practice…(more)

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