Odds and ends from Der Cuz

(Editor’s note: My friend and cousin, Charles Lewis, is a frequent contributor of ideas to this blog. Over the last week or so I have been busier than usual and a series of his whimsies have piled up. Here are some recent musings of thus former New Yawka turned Floridian — and tech lover.)

tn_mac.jpg Mac-loving designer says: words can mislead. Der Cuz found a curious snippet in which graphic designer Susan Kirkland discusses how practitioners of her craft see language. She writes:

“Most designers consider words a second method of communication, relying on pictures, color and composition before ever resorting to verbiage.”

Read the rest of her blog entry — or think about the implications of that last assertion. As the audio-visual Web assumes a greater role in information and entertainment, we empower a cadre of creative types whose primary appeal is to emotion, using imagery as a tool. Why am I not thrilled?

tn_martin-stones.jpg Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger. See a trailer of “Shine a Light,” the back-stage video shot by the noted film maker during the 2006 Rolling Stones tour — and tell me if senior citizens don’t look silly when they rock out.

tn_usb-guitar.jpg USB guitar. Why build a USB port into an electric guitar? By putting a small USB port and audio codec in a guitar, you’re adding an extra sound board. So when you record, your guitar is digitized locally and the signal is transmitted to your computer over a USB cable. The guitar retains all its standard analog capabilities but outputs to USB as well. Now you can rock steady until your hard drive is full. This PC Magazine article will show you to do this, step-by-step.

tn_macbook-air.jpg Steve Jobs shows off Mac Book Air. Even if you can’t afford it you can drool over the in-depth review by AppleInsider.com. Deep Cuz says, “it oozes cool factor!”