Seeing as how the Obama campaign embraced technology so much on the trail, it only makes sense the the team would do the same for his Presidency. Enter the White House blog, along with a fresh redesign of the White House website. The redesign launched almost at the exact time as the President's swearing in - and the blog posts are already rolling in. Check out the blog here.

This morning I came across a really fascinating article covering the debate over inexpensive online logo & "branding" companies by Doug Bartow (id29) via the Under Consideration design discussion blog Speak Up.

It highlights the ongoing debate of accessibility of design for all (income brackets) versus "...the devaluation of the design process altogether, particularly in brand development and identity design, which many consider the pinnacle of our field." – by cheapening the proverbial playing field.

In his field study of this issue, Doug commissions 4 different online companies to come up with logo options for a fictitious project and then analyzes and critiques the results. It is a good exploration of what you really get from these types of logo chop shops.

The Challenge: Hire four online logo design companies, give them the same visual identity problem to solve, then critique the results.

Take a look here.

According to a new Nielsen Online report (and reported here by Wired), Twitter users have shot up 343% since September 2007 - making it the fastest growing social network in the United States. In growth rates, behind Twitter came Tagged.com and Ning. While Facebook has experienced a 116% growth since last year, MySpace still rules with themost members (59.4 million in September, compared to 39 million for Facebook), despite it's measly 1% jump from last year. See more on the Nielson Online report here.

Google has just launched a new video feature to its Google Chat client - so now you can look your chat-mate in the face as you're talking (putting the client on par with Skype and MSN Messenger). Check out the write-up from Webmonkey here.

A wise man once said, "Wherever you go, there you are," and now with Geode, announced today from Mozilla Labs, your web browser will know where you are as well. Geode will be available in the upcoming beta releases of Firefox 3.1, and will allow users to fire up their computers from any location, direct their browser to their favorite review site (like Yelp, Citysearch, etc.), and have customized location-specific information surfaced. But the potential expands beyond just fun - imagine an RSS reader that knows the difference between Home and Work, or a news website that is truly local. Read more at the Mozilla Labs blog.

Last week the Altimeter Group and Wetpaint released a study that analyzed the 100 most valuable brands (according to BusinessWeek/Interbrand) and how they engage across 11 different online social-media venues. The result of the study was published as  "engagement database" that critiqued the brands on not only their breadth of engagement across these channels, but also their depth, such as whether they reply to comments made on blog posts. Each brand was given a numerical score. The top 10 ENGAGEMENTdb brands with their scores are:

1. Starbucks (127)
2. Dell (123)
3. eBay (115)
4. Google (105)
5. Microsoft (103)
6. Thomson Reuters (101)
7. Nike (100)
8. Amazon (88)
9. SAP (86)
10. Tie - Yahoo!/Intel (85)

The full report is available at http://bit.ly/KRGNt. Personally, it's questionable to assume that  a company's social engagement can be correlated with its financial performance.   But, in Steve Rubel's words "good use of social media could be seen as a proxy for an innovative culture, eagerness to engage with consumers and take risks, a net positive for any business." Much more interesting then this is however to take a look at what the social media strategy of those brands have in common: All top brands weren't afraid of innovation, did so early, often (also after set-backs) and incrementally:

• Starbucks and Dell were early to leverage their fans for corporate crowd-sourcing.
• With Nikeplus.com, Nike was early in the game to use an innovative technology in order to connect its worldwide fan base in early 2006.
• Quite a few of the top 10 brands embraced Twitter early and in innovative ways. Amazon started offering deals on Twitter back in 2007 and EBay started to live-tweet earnings in 2008.
• Microsoft encouraged their employees to blog as early as in the late 1990. Yahoo and Google started and actively promoted their corporate and product blogs in 2004
• Other top brands were building out communities to connect customers and employees early on. Microsoft, for example, launched its inventive Channel 9 platform for developers back in 2004

In honor of his trip to Berlin today, Obama's design team has created a campaign poster for the event that hearkens to that famous period in German design. This observation was pointed out in greater detail on the blog Meaningful Distraction.

Take a look at the comparison between Obama's elegant design and the current McCain poster. Yeeeeeeek.

Rumor has it there are people out there in Internetland that subscribe to several social networks/microblogging platforms. As a confirmed and (varyingly) active member of (ready for it?) Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Plurk, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Pownce, hi5, and Plaxo (phew!) myself, I've often been hit with the annoying inevitability of having to update my status up to 9 times over and simultaneously lead a life outside of the Internet! Sound familiar? Enter hellotxt. Super simple in concept, the site allows you to easily update your status (and check the status of your friends) on 24 different Social Networks and microblogging platforms. Being active and alive online just got that much easier. Check it out here.

OMG I love robots. Seriously. (About as much as I love David Bowie.)

That's why I have to go check out Wakamuru who is "interning" at the NYC Uniqlo flagship store. I found this all out through his blog. Man, even robots have blogs these days. Check it out here. Apparently he also has a Facebook page. And a twitter page is in the works. So social-networky those robots are. So cute!

Wakamaru is "The robot designed to live with humans." "(the) design concept was to create "an object that can approach its user." "Wakamaru" is designed in the shape of a human being so that it is not considered simply a "machine" or a "terminal," but rather an "independent personality." Its cute expression and form make it appear friendly to everyone from children to elderly people, and suggest a possibility of human growth and development. "

Among his technological accomplishments, he can recognize faces (up to 100 people), respond when spoken to, meet a person's gaze, and offer up subjects of conversation. As "wakamaru" freely moves about an area he can decide for himself when to recharge – requiring no human assistance. He can also check your email, read you the news (from various feeds), schedule things for you, and take pictures and video for you that you can check remotely.

Read more about Wakamuru here.

It might seem like a bit of an overkill with all of these Twitter clones, but Yammer seems to fall into a bit more of a niche. Creating a network solely for you and your coworkers (based on your email addresses), Yammer lets you microblog what you're working on, and check in with your colleagues as well. You can also post updates directly through an IM service. Seems like it could be handy in a company where lots of people work offsite. Check it out here.

Just in case you were wondering whether the Hadron Collider being tested right now at CERN has destroyed the world yet, you now have a handy website to go to check it out: http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

Pink may or may not be the new black, but [I'm hoping that] Plurk may, in fact, be the new Twitter. Taking Tweeting up a few notches, Plurk displays your Plurks (140-character messages), as well as the Plurks from your friends and those you follow, in a really great visual timeline, taking status/Twitter stalking up to a whole new level. It also allows you to formulate your message with a variety of qualifiers (allowing others to see what you need, like, say, wonder, feel, etc.) at any given time (don't worry, there's also the option for the freestyle Plurk for you more free spirited folks out there). With an overall better design and layout, and a little bit more of a fun factor, I'm hoping Plurk will catch on over Twitter. I'm definitely a convert. Now if only I can figure out a way to integrate this with my Tumblr...hm...

I'll admit it - I'm a complete internet radio junkie. I love it, listen to it constantly, and rely on it to introduce me to new stuff. Up until now, I've been a solid last.fm girl, but I recently stumbled upon blip.fm. Blip is an odd combination of Twitter and internet radio, that allows you to become a "DJ," to "blip" what you're listening to, and to listen to other DJs who have similar tastes to you. I'm still trying to get a feel for how it all works, but it seems pretty great. Check it out here - and add me as a DJ - my DJ name is "isureamheather."

Have you ever wondered what would happen if fonts were people? Probably not? Well... someone over at College Humor did.

Tee-hee. Enjoy.

Font Conference.

Twitter just launched a new architecture to help streamline some of their navigation, featuring a simplified top nav, and a tab-base right navigation for moving through tweets. Not sure how I feel about it yet, but check it out at Twitter!

Stressed out, fretting over the next impending deadline? Need a creativity break? Try Mr. Picassohead – an interactive distraction created by Ruder Finn Interactive. Allowing you to let out your inner Picasso.

Need to decompress a bit from sitting and staring at your computer for hours on end? Check out thisissand.com for a fun way to do it - reminiscent of those sand art crafts projects we all did as kids. Pick your colors and just click to create mountains of colored sand. Be careful though, this one is addicting...