A decade from now word clouds may longer be popular. As we write, they are all the vogue.
Word clouds (also sometimes called tag clouds or weighted clouds) are visual representations text data that display frequently used words or phrases. The larger the word or phrase in a word cloud that word appears in the source.
Some websites use world clouds as a means to show what content they have. Some news outlets use world clouds to analyze a speech or political debate. And now you can make your own word cloud using this cool website: Wordle.
Continue →
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. London’s Tate and National Gallery. New York City’s MoMA and Frick Collection. The State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
To experience those art museums there is there is not—and Spot Cool Stuff believes will never be—a better alternative to traveling to each and visiting in person. But Google may have developed the second best way of experiencing the world’s greatest art museums: by touring them on your computer via the Google Art Project website.
Continue →
The U.S. dollar—official tender in the United States as well as Panama, Liberia, East Timor and a handful of other countries—is one of the world’s most widely used currencies. Its bills are also widely regarded as one of the world’s ugliest. To help spur a monetary makeover Richard Smith, a creative strategy consultant, launched a website to collect ideas for new notes: The Dollar ReDe$ign Project.
Of the various designs that have been submitted to the site, one of Spot Cool Stuff’s favorites most also happen to be the most controvertial.
Continue →
Spot Cool Stuff laments the general direction children’s toys have taken away from requiring imagination. Surely, part of the issue has been the proliferation of online gaming websites aimed at kids.
But if websites have been part of the problem maybe they can be part of the solution? That’s the idea behind the Israel-based start-up Shidonni.
Shidonni has a variety of fun, imagination-enhansing online games for children. Kids can draw animals, for example, upload the drawing to the Shindonni site, and then have their animal creation roam around the virtual Shindonni world for others users to see.
And here’s our favorite part: On Shidonni you can take a child’s drawing of an imaginary creature and then turn it into a real life stuffed animal!
Continue →
We absolutely love maps. We have since we were six years old when we traced out a giant map of the world and then painstakingly demarcated the territories that would be controlled by each of our stuffed animals.
In the hope that some of our readers enjoy maps as much as we do we present one of our favorite blogs: Strange Maps.
Continue →
see all the color palettes that include a particular shade of fuchsia, for example
If you are a graphic artist looking for the perfect pattern or color palette to use for your design then you’ll love Colour Lovers.
Continue →
Your mother always told you that homemade gifts were the most special. But she probably didn’t specify whose home they had to be made in. So if you aren’t handy, or are short on time, Etsy is the perfect place to purchase that special gift. Or, if you are handy and long on time, Etsy is the perfect place to sell that special gift.
Etsy is a bit like eBay in that it connects buyers and sellers. Except Etsy only deals in handmade crafts and vintage objects. And the goods for sale here have a lot more style than most of those on eBay. And the user interface is much more friendly. Even if you don’t want to buy anything it is worth checking Etsy out for an example of how good an online store can be. Search for artworks by color, through a time machine of items other Etsy shoppers have perused, find a home manufacturer by location, or request to have an item handmade especially for you!
As good as many of the crafts on Etsy are, the best part of this website might be its community spirit. Registered Etsy users can communicate through chats, forums and emails, team up on group projects, even take part in online workshops and classes. Many people have made friends—and more than a few have found a spouse—through this site. You might come to Etsy looking for that special gift but come away with a whole lot more.
GO TO THE SITE
Continue →
