31 January 2013

Infographic: The Psychology Of An Internet Troll

Best Psychology Schools Online has created an infographic that provides some insights on the infamous Internet troll.



Called ‘The Psychology of an Intern Troll’, it provides a deeper look at what makes a person want to become an Internet troll.



Click to view enlarged version



Click to view enlarged version



[via Best Psychology Schools Online]

‘Oflow’ App Keeps Creativity Flowing On-The-Go

[Click here to view the video in this article]







Creativity is innate, they say. Nevertheless, we have to admit that sometimes it needs some serious teasing-out.



The Oflow App is designed just for that purpose.



Providing us with access to more than 100 proven methods to usher in ideas, creator Tanner Christensen tells us that the app is a chance for all of us to be creative no matter where we are.



Whether you’re at that traffic light that takes forever to switch to ‘Walk’/turn green, or waiting for a friend—launching Oflow may be just the app for you to discover priceless ideas that might pass you by.



With its sleek design, the fuss-free app helps answer “creative blocks” you might encounter as it presents you with random ideas upon launching.



Oflow is available at the iTunes App Store and costs $0.99. Currently only available for iOS devices.



Watch the video belowto find out if Oflow is for you:















[via Oflow]

Yoko Ono Creates ‘Magic’ Plant, Reveals The Word ‘LOVE’ When Grown





Yoko Ono has created a ‘Magic Bean’, that when grown, bears the word ‘LOVE’.



Called ‘Grow Love With Me’, the limited edition organic art piece—created for Serpentine Gallery—consists of a recyclable aluminium can that holds the seed nestled in a growing medium.



For the magic seed to reveal the word ‘LOVE’ when nurtured, the seed was laser-etched via a patented process.



The word first appears on the outer seed coat, which covers the inner cotyledon—after a day or two, the seed coat would fall away to reveal the word on the inner cotyledon.



The inner cotyledon would at first be yellow, but with sunlight exposure, it would turn green, and the seed would start to splay open, shooting a leaf upward, bearing the world ‘LOVE’.



After becoming more mature, the plant may be transferred into a large pot or into the ground—the LOVE bean plant would continue to grow for several years in a warm climate, or if kept indoors in cooler climates.



Grow Love With Me retails at £26 at Serpentine Gallery













[via Serpentine Gallery]

Samsung Teams Up With Alexander Wang, Creates Limited Edition Bag





Fashion designer Alexander Wang is teaming up with Samsung to design a limited edition bag.



The bag’s design will be inspired by sketches and photos by a group of stylists and photographers selected by Wang himself.



The group would be using the Samsung Galaxy Note II to produce the images, which would serve as a base for Wang to create a final print for the bag.



“I am most inspired from my everyday life and the people that surround me, so the idea of a co-creation with the people that I admire and respect the most is very exciting,” Wang said in a statement.



As the latest creative figure to partner the technology company, Wang says that this collaboration represents “a new way that technology and style can come together”.



The bag will be available at select Alexander Wang boutiques and the brand’s website this summer, with proceeds donated to ArtStart—an NYC charity that aims to nurture creative talents of at-risk children and youths.



“And, through a concerted effort, I am happy to be a part of supporting such a great charity as ArtStart that embraces creativity and art in a way that can change lives,” he added.





[via WWD.com, image via PRNewswire.com]

Google Debuts Street View Of The Grand Canyon

[Click here to view the video in this article]







Google has officially added the Grand Canyon to its lists of Street View-supported locations.



The interactive online map now lets you go on a ‘virtual hike’ through several famous locations of the canyon—such as the Bright Angel Trail, South Kaibab Trail, the Meteor Crater and the Colorado River.



According to Google, the Street View of the Grand Canyon covers “more than 75 miles of trails and surrounding roads”—making their map of the area “more comprehensive, accurate and easy to use than ever before”.



To capture the Grand Canyon on Street View, the Google Maps team took 9,500 panoramas with the Android-operated 40-pound ‘Trekker’ backpacks—a 15-lens camera system.



Click here to start exploring the Grand Canyon



Click to watch the video below:

































[via Google Maps]

Infographic: 2013 Is Looking Good For Photographers

Photography website developer PhotoShelter conducted a survey with over 5,000 international photographers to gain insight into their outlook for 2013.



The findings are condensed into the below infographic—from the most effective marketing tools to upcoming challenges, it shows that in general, photographers are optimistic about their prospects in the new year.



If you are a photographer, do you agree with these sentiments?





Click on image to enlarge



[via Photoshelter]

Homeless People Present Weather Forecast Across Europe

[Click here to view the video in this article]







Creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi Berlin has made a campaign that raises the awareness of homelessness across Europe.



Called ‘Days Of Hope’, homeless people have been recruited to present the weather forecast on European television stations.



These homeless participants would discuss the weather from their perspective—directly conveying the effects of cold and rain in their lives.



The segment is then concluded with the guest anchor asking for donations for ‘Days Of Hope’.



The campaign has already been launched in Romania and Russia, it is set to launch in Germany, Switzerland and Poland within the next few weeks.



Click to watch the video below:





























[via Saatchi]

Facebook Launches Offline, Physical Gift Cards





Facebook has launched The Facebook Card, an initiative that will bring the social media giant’s Gifts platform offline.



The Facebook Card is supposed to be an enhanced gift card that will allow you to gift money to multiple stores on a single card—all balances can be managed on Facebook’s mobile app.



Available on facebook.com like other regular Facebook Gifts, this new card is currently only valid at Jamba Juice, Olive Garden, Sephora and Target.



Once you have a card, friends and family can refill it at any time—read more about The Facebook Card over here.











[via Facebook Newsroom]

Singer Alicia Keys Becomes BlackBerry's New Global Creative Director

[Click here to view the video in this article]







The BlackBerry 10 launch announced two important developments for the company: the unveiling of BlackBerry’s latest mobile devices—BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Z10—and the launch of singer-songwriter Alicia Keys' alternative career as the company’s Global Creative Director.



While Keys describes her relationship with BlackBerry as ‘long-term’, she admitted to CEO Thorsten Heins that she has used other phones over the last couple of years.



“I always missed the way you organized my life and the way you were there for me at my job. So I started to have two phones, I was playing the field. But then you called and you said you were working it out. And now, we are exclusively dating again.”



Will having Alicia Keys as its Creative Director drastically change how things are going for BlackBerry?



Guess we'll just have to wait and see.



















[via ABC News, images via Forbes]

Singer Alicia Keys Becomes Blackberry's New Global Creative Director

[Click here to view the video in this article]







The BlackBerry 10 launch announced two important developments for the company: the unveiling of BlackBerry’s latest mobile devices—BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Z10—and the launch of singer-songwriter Alicia Keys' alternative career as the company’s Global Creative Director.



While Keys describes her relationship with BlackBerry as ‘long-term’, she admitted to CEO Thorsten Heins that she has used other phones over the last couple of years.



“I always missed the way you organized my life and the way you were there for me at my job. So I started to have two phones, I was playing the field. But then you called and you said you were working it out. And now, we are exclusively dating again.”



Will having Alicia Keys as its Creative Director drastically change how things are going for BlackBerry?



Guess we'll just have to wait and see.



















[via ABC News, images via Forbes]

Fascinating Long Exposure Pictures Reveal Movements Of Sleeping Lovers





Vienna-based photographer Paul Schneggenburger has created a fascinating series of long exposure pictures that reveals the movements of sleeping lovers throughout the night.



Entitled “The Sleep of the Beloved”, these photographs are shot in the photographer’s spare bedroom against a backdrop of black sheets lit by Christmas lights.



Curious about how people behave when they are asleep, Schneggenburger set up a six-hour exposure camera—that works from midnight to 6am—to record the “nocturnal lovers’ dance”.



The results of the projects are surrealistic images that can be interpreted in many ways—for instance, are couples who blend into a tangle of limbs during the night necessarily more loving than those who remain quite separate?











































[via CNN]

France Bans The Word ‘Hashtag’ Across Social Media Networks





Au revoir ‘hashtag’ and bonjour ‘mot-dièse’.



French officials have officially banned citizens from using the word ‘Hashtag’ online and have suggested a Gallic replacement, ‘mot-dièse’—which translates to ‘sharp word’ in English—as an alternative.



According to Time, the ban is part of the French government’s ongoing effort to “encourage the presence of the French language on social media networks”—this is despite the fact that English is already commonly used across the country.



Was it wise for French officials to ban the 2012 ‘word of the year’?



[via Time]

Word Graph: Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables





Victor Hugo’s renowned novel (turned into both a timeless musical and major motion picture) Les Misérables has been interpreted into a word graph.



The word graph is a visual representation of both how frequent a word occurs in the text and their intricate connections with other words.



The inner area represents key words that occur throughout Hugo’s work; the outer ring of words have weak connections to the other words featured in the graph.



To view this word graph in its entirety, simply click on the preview image below:



Click to view entire image



Click to view entire image



[via Neoformix.com]

Creative Intensity Or Madness?





Body

“If a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the Muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman.”—Socrates





Many creative individuals have experienced sudden surges, flooded with creative intensity as if an arrow laced with their muse struck them. The cycle accelerates productivity with their art lasting for days, even weeks at a time. Engrossed in the moment saturated with ideas, some will work viciously, with little sleep or food. It’s as if creative energy is what fuels them during this interlude producing a temporary state of immortality. Commonly following such a ride is a retreat back into their cave, often in seclusion, as if to recover and hibernate. However, during this down time the creative process is not completely dormant. Instead the artist is regrouping, reorganizing and ideas are incubating for the next eruption.



Artists have been notoriously criticized for their shifting bouts of creativity, often misinterpreted as erratic moods swings. Throughout history many artists, unable to manage the power of their own muse were sucked under by the undertow, hence why the words “madness” and “artist” went hand in hand.



In the mental health spectrum such cycles are diagnosis as Bipolar Disorder. Although, many creative individuals do suffer from Manic-Depression and require medication to manage the disorder, how about those who don’t fit the criteria? Those who are able to keep one foot anchored during the ebb and flow of their own creative intensity with little disruption to their lives.



Not all artists lose sense of reality, but are very aware of their own artistic temperament. They are able to prepare and brace themselves for the storm ahead. They ride it out while utilizing its energy to fuel their art. Artists look forward to such cycles, which gave birth to some of their most innovative ideas and embrace the journey.



When the artist is able to know him or her self well enough to accept these cycles without judgment and learn the skills to create a healthy environment that will tame what is tempestuous, it becomes an ally in the creative process. The artist transforms what was once perceived as madness and into a powerful force that can help them reach levels in their creativity they never predicted.





“Men have called me mad but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence—whether much that is glorious—whether all that is profound–does not spring from disease of thought–from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.”—Edgar Allan Poe











top image from The Creative Finder.



This is a cross-post from The Art of Mind.






Lisa A Riley, MA, LMFT is a Creativity Coach and has spent more than nine years working with creative individuals such as artists, actors, designers, musicians, writers, and actors. She “helps to empower clients to take steps towards enhancing their creativity and move closer to becoming the artist they envisioned themselves to be”. See her multiple ‘Products for Your Creative Success’ on her site The Art of Mind.