howdy

Risaikuru.

I noticed this on the packaging for a USB cable just now. To my non-Japanese eye, it looks way cooler than our recycling symbol. I think I'll make a t-shirt out of it.

Mecca by Day, Mecca by Night.

South Beach Pier

Here are a few shots from tonight's walk along Embarcadero. When I first moved here, a friend mentioned how she thought the Bay Bridge was much prettier than the Golden Gate. I have to agree.

It Hasta Be Shasta.

17th and Potrero.

Hannspree.

Hannspree makes TVs shaped like toys. Cool, but I'm really surprised that they have a store at Union Square.

Call My Agent.

An inside joke that is now apparently high fashion.

Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.

Check out this photo of the BMW test mule, for designing wholly new cars. Beneath the mildly intolerant paddy-wagon shell is a set of continuously-adjustable modules, containing all major components of the car-to-be. In this way, BMW's engineers can work out the dynamics of the vehicle "live" on the track.

The mule above is apparently being used to sort out the rumored BMW 6-series SUV. I think it's an interesting coincidence how the process of refining this vehicle involves another one that bears striking resemblance to cars of old.

Avalanche.

This is the coolest Avalanche I've ever seen. Actually, it's the only cool Avalanche I've ever seen. The driver said he everything on the truck painted over, matte black. This is also the only good-looking GM product with plastic side-cladding that I've ever seen.

Matters of Style and Substance.

Okay, so we're test-launching something I've wanted to do for a while now: styles. If you're among 1000 of the Chosen, you'll see a new Edit Style tab on your profile (or a link to convert to your profile so you'll see all the tabs). This tab shows you a small library of 9 styles designed by yours truly and coded by the uncommonly patient and detail-oriented Pete Butler, with some help from Victor Barclay.

Pick a style and see how it fits your profile. (You're currently looking at Turbulence, which features some striking fluid dynamics imagery from the Catrakis lab at UC Irvine.)

Also, check out some of the new modules we've added to your Add Modules tab. If you are publishing a blog somewhere other than tribe, you can stream it into your profile as a module -- presto! More audience for your witty notions. The one I think will really be a hit is the Recent Activity module, which is a running list of the newest stuff you've created on tribe -- discussion posts, blog entries, whatever you want to share with your friends and, uh, stalkers. We've also added some basic modules, like one for making lists, and the often-requested Free Text module.

Anyway, check the Release Notes tribe for the full scoop. This release represents a lot of 1337 technology that we've been working on for a while, and I think it's pretty solid.

Oh yeah, and for those of you who have been wondering about the Profile Design Contest: we've decided to relaunch the thing and give people a template and some more time to work their magic. Hopefully the new style library will give people more ideas.

Unimog.

I passed by a Unimog yesterday on my way to the bus stop. It was all jacked up on stilts and had what looked to be a miniature oil drilling derrick in its bed.

A Unimog is one of the original all-terrain vehicles. It's not really an SUV, because it was originally designed for military use. (Oh, wait...) Oh yeah -- Mercedes makes it.