30 April 2013

The First Pictures Taken With ‘Google Glass’





Google’s augmented-reality glasses is currently being tested by users, such as Robert Scoble, sci-fi novelist William Gibson, and Google employees Steve Lee, Sophia Yang and Sidney Yang.



As part of the test, the testers have also taken the first pictures with Google Glass and posted it onto Twitter with the hashtag #throughglass.



The Guardian has pulled some of their tweets of and pictures taken with Google Glass.



Though not as impressive as expected—nothing like professional photography, of course—but to document everyday life, it does a pretty decent job and gets the point across.



Check out some images taken with Google Glass below:









































[via The Guardian]

A Shirt That Can Be Worn For 100 Days Without Washing, Still Doesn’t Stink





New York-based start-up clothing company Wool & Prince has unveiled a line of men’s button-down shirt that won’t stink after being worn for 100 days in a row without washing, dry-cleaning or ironing.



Sounds too good to be true? One of its founders Mac Bishop did just that, to prove that it’s not as gross-smelling and gross-looking as you think.



According to Wool & Prince, its shirts are made from specially processed Australian sheep wool to make it super soft, wrinkle-resistant and odor-free—so they still look clean without washing for days.



If it’s really that effective, we think that Wool & Prince should expand into other garments in the future, so we save water from washing clothes.



Each shirt is priced at US$98 on Kickstarter.





























[via Kickstarter]

10 Photographers To Follow This Week

From all around the globe to travelling all over the globe—covering all sorts of angles in various lightings, sometimes with bokeh, sometimes with film, and some other times in black and white—there are those who capture what we see everyday from their own unique perspective, and add flavor to the ordinary.



In this visual feast, we present the ‘Photographers of the Week’, whom we recommend for you to follow on The Creative Finder.



If you’re not yet part of this great social network for creatives, why not sign up and immerse yourself in creative inspiration.





Juan Salvarredy





Simon McDermott-Johnson





Harry Giglio





Jason Dailey





James Wvinner





Anthony Friend





Tristin Godsey





Ed Fox





George Brooks





Steve Thornton

Give Us Your Best Caption: Yoga For Dudes

Today’s ‘Image of the Day’ belongs to Erin Althea. Congratulations!







To help you get off on the right foot every morning, DesignTAXI will be featuring an image everyday from its social network for creatives, The Creative Finder, to keep you inspired.



In this segment ‘Image of the Day’, you—our very lovely readers—are invited to submit captions to describe the selected image above: just simply tweet it with the page's URL and hashtag #tellapictale, or leave a comment at the bottom.



Winning captions would be featured the following day.



Yesterday's winning caption goes to Kip Arendt: "I just don't know what the criminal community is going to think of me, being out AND dating Batman..."



How To Always Get Paid As A Freelancer







I’ve had my fair share of screw-ups and betrayals.



Jeez, I make it sound like a Shakespeare play; but truth be told, people will always be hesitant to hand over their cash. And if they think they can get away without paying you, they’ll be sure to try it (unless they’re moral people).



When I first started copywriting, I offered my services for free. This is just one of the many options open to copywriters looking to make a name for themselves. I saw it as a great opportunity to get in with the bigger names in Internet Marketing and get myself on the radars of some of the top guys and girls in the business.



I worked my way up, starting with little-known Internet Marketers, with small-time info products. I got some great results. from 0 to 5% in a weekend; 10% conversion rates on sales letters in the real-estate niche, 42% and 70% converting sales letters and more. It was GOOD.



But it wasn’t all gravy. There were problems. The few times I made an agreement with some prospects about some form of reimbursement or reward for high-performance copy went unanswered.



I’ve been ignored, blocked, argued with, and more.



I even had one businesswoman ask me for some copy (on the recommendation from a close business friend of mine), with a small fee agreement of $100 (this was awhile ago now—I realize that’s a menial fee now). She paid me $50 up front (a 50% upfront fee), and after having received the copy from me, proceeded to run off into the sunset, without so much as a look of remorse or guilt. 50 bucks; I work my ass off for someone, and they run off for 50 dollars?



Wow.



It’s pretty unbelievable, I know. Granted, I’m younger than most copywriters. I was naive at the beginning, and you learn a lot from making mistakes. And boy, have I learned this lesson.



Now, you’re going to get screwed over at some point in your career—there's no two ways about that, no matter how many safeguards you use. I still get shafted from time to time, simply because I have too much faith in people. I’m a trusting guy, and I let people get away with murder.



But after having been screwed over again recently, I’ve decided to become a bit more ruthless with my client choice. And along with that, I’ve got some lessons for you from my experience:



Don’t work for someone unless they’re willing to pay you SOMETHING upfront.

It shows a commitment by the client if they’re willing to put some money on the line; if they don’t, they’re not sure they’re going to make money from the product (meaning you won’t get paid). If they’re willing to risk a bit of cash on a product, it shows a solid faith in their business and product(s).



Set up a clear agreement with the client.

Make sure both parties are clear on what the project is, and what's been agreed. The last thing you want is a client who suddenly needs another landing page doing (and expects you to work for no extra money). It protects you primarily, but it also protects your client.



If you can, fill out and sign a contract.

Bob Bly provides a great template in his book “Copywriter’s Toolkit” along with other materials. A contract enforces a legally-binding agreement between both parties. And if your client suddenly up and disappears with your work, you can use the contract to get paid what you deserve.



Note: You may need to have some finances for this, since it may cost you some money to go to court and such.



Keep possession of all property rights until the full payment has been made.

What this means is, everything you write is instantly your property. No one has rights to copy your work unless you have explicitly given them permission to do so.



Only hand over rights to your copy once you’ve been fully paid. You could include this in the contract if you decide to write one up to keep things simple. At the very least, you can threaten troublesome clients with a copyright notice and have them take down your copy until they pay you.



There are other safeguards, but these are my first port of call. Protect yourself, and bear in mind the risks of being a freelancer. Another obvious tip is to choose clients who seem like they'd be loyal and trustworthy clients. Sure, there’s still a risk of them being douchebags and ripping you off, but if you start with judging them by character, and then enforce the safeguards I’ve suggested, you’ll minimize the risk of you not getting your fee.



So go get paid.











If you want to get more interesting and useful tips and resources, head over to http://www.benpalmerwilson.com!





Top image from Imgembed.





This is a cross-post from Ezine Articles.








Ben R Palmer-Wilson is a copywriter from UK.


If ‘Super Mario’ Characters Were Hipsters…

Artist Sam Milham has taken several characters from the ‘Super Mario’ franchise and reimagined them as hipsters.



His artworks feature Mario, Luigi, Bowser, and Toad dressed in stereotypical ‘hipster’ wear—each of them even has his own ‘ironic’ quote.



















[via Sam Milham]

Make-Up Artist Creates Beautifully Intricate, Fantastical Lip Art





Spanish make-up artist and photographer Eva SenĂ­n Pernas uses lips as her canvas and have painted astoundingly intricate and creative artworks on them.



Inspired by diverse themes, which range from movies to fruits, the artist uses lipsticks, lip-liners, liquid eye-liner and color pigments to create her artworks on well-shaped lady pouts.



Surprisingly, considering how great her work already is, the former interior architecture student only recently started delving into make-up—“The last year I decided to make one of my dreams come true and I became a make up artist. I've always loved makeup and all that involves it. So this is now the main theme of my photography.”



Head over the artist’s DeviantArt page to view more of her fantastic eye and lip make-up art.











































[via Daily Mail]

Coca-Cola Sneakily Sells Tightly-Capped Bottles To Match-Make Couples

[Click here to view the video in this article]







To help ‘match-make’ couples, Coca-Cola sneakily filled a vending machine in the most romantic park in Shanghai, China, with bottles that have extremely-tightened caps.



As part of its ‘Coca-Cola Icebreaker’ campaign, the soft drink giant and ad agency Leo Burnett Shanghai knew that unsuspecting females would have trouble opening the soft drink bottle up by themselves.



The ladies would have to approach a guy for help, or a guy would offer his help seeing that she’s struggling.



This in turn helped men and women in Shanghai meet without the need for being formally match-made—and it all started with a Coke bottle.



Watch the video below:



























































































[via Vimeo]