February 8, 2012 world of men's style / fashion / grooming RSS
“internet”
09/20/11
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Current Affairs

Online Poker Goes Underground

Word came down today that Full Tilt Poker, one of the largest poker sites on the internet, has been playing fast and loose with its bookkeeping. There’s $440 million missing, and more than a few people are likely headed to jail.

If you were waiting on a payout from them, it’s very bad news. If you were hoping to play an honest online game of hold’em at some point in the next decade, it’s just moderately bad news. But if you’ve ever had a nostalgic pang for the days of genuinely sketchy black-market games…it might actually be a good thing.

Allow us to explain…»
 

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01/12/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: the Snow-Day Radio Roll Call

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As connoisseurs of history, we sometimes find styles, trends and turns of phrase from the past that we wouldn’t mind bringing back to the present, Doc Brown-style. This time around, we’re dusting off the snow-day roll call.

If you were in grade school before the internet era, you might remember a certain pre-dawn ritual for days like this. We’re thinking of a radio and a seemingly unending list of snow-bound school districts…

Unless you heard your school on the list, you had a bus to catch. Unfortunately, the names were fast and if you missed your school, you’d have to wait another five minutes for the whole thing to repeat—making for one of the more dramatic radio broadcasts since Orson Welles.

It’s a custom we’d like to dust off»

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12/13/10
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Sound & Vision

Konichiwa, Internet

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The pop star/elf queen known as Robyn has given us a lot this year—in particular, a great album and an excuse for hipsters to listen to pop music—but apparently she’s got a few more plans. Also, she may have a future as an interactive ad guru…

To promote one of the underheralded singles of her latest full-length, “We Dance to the Beat,” the canny Swede has put together a self-remixing microsite that lets you tweak the song into your own version, or just scan through the grid of videos like an aleatoric DJ in search of the perfect combination. The result is a mind-boggling number of variations of the same basic rhythm, paired with leftfield videos for an aesthetic somewhere between Brian Eno and Zoo TV.

Of course, it helps that the original song is awesome, and unusually tinkerable…but we’re pretty sure this is what the internet is for.

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11/05/10
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Gadgetry

Supercharging Your Brain

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Productivity tools have become something of an arms race lately but staying focused doesn’t have to be complicated. We’d start with a pen, a pocket notebook and a habit of writing things down…

A web version of that combo named Workflowy is currently changing lives in Silicon Valley with the tagline “a better way to think.”

The result looks like what you see to the left: a ranked, ordered list of whatever’s on your mind at the time. It’s not much to look at, but the right structure can do wonders for your thought process, and the folks behind the scenes claim to have built it up according to the structure of modern thoughts.

Of course, hawking a product with the pitch “it’ll change the way you think” is bound to be a little unsettling…but in this case, we’re pretty sure it’s an upgrade.

Check out Workflowy’s video introduction»

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10/27/10
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LinkOut

Amber Anderson is Uncombed

amberanderson_crop.jpgvia Fashion Copious

The Internet is On Fire: As you may have heard, some pretty scary internet privacy stuff is happening right now, specifically surround a program called Firesheep. Here’s how to keep yourself protected. [Boing Boing]

Rabbit Redux: Roger Ebert, the wise grandfather of the internet, descends to mount an impassioned defense of Hugh Hefner. Good stuff. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Sharpee Art: David Shrigley is the coolest person ever. [World’s Best Ever]

Loom Porn: Another day, another throwback denim line. 14 ounces of glory, people. [The Bengal Stripe]

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10/26/10
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LinkOut

Isabeli Fontana is Not Making Breakfast

isabelifontana_crio.jpgvia Fashion Gone Rogue

The British Invasion: Our new favorite anorak, courtesy of Mr. Williams. [A Continuous Lean]

The First Step is Hiding Your Valuables: Explaining the internet to a Dickensian street urchin is more difficult than you might think. [Fast Company]

Late Period: Michael Stipe has a question mark tattooed on his hand, is endlessly fascinating. Also, doing art stuff with Levi’s. [Cool Hunting]

The Big Drop: Just because it’s Tuesday, here’s a 1200-pound pumpkin dropping onto an old Pontiac. [Gizmodo]

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10/13/10
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LinkOut

Daria Werbowy Has Really Let Herself Go

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Just Kidding: Zach Galifianakis brings his distinctive brand of crazy to the pages of Vanity Fair. [Vanity Fair]

Postcards from the Sideline: A sports agent comes clean on a career’s worth of crimes and misdemeanors. Jerry Maguire this ain’t. [Sports Illustrated]

We’ve Seen the Future: The most convincing prediction for the future of the internet we’ve heard so far. It involves lots and lots of sensors. [Mashable]

Nothing is More Attractive Than a Woman Menacingly Swinging a Baseball Bat: The video for Sleigh Bell’s “Infinity Guitars” is the coolest thing we’ve seen in quite some time. [Lost at E Minor]

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09/29/10
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LinkOut

Guinevere van Seenus Just Really Loves Cool Whip

Guineverevanseenus2_crop.jpgvia Fashion Gone Rogue

Yeezy Strikes Back: XXL’s new Kanye cover story is basically unedited excerpts from his diary. He’s officially broken the fourth wall of journalism. Awesome stuff. [XXL]

Shouldering Responsibility: A guide to the many varieties of shoulder on tailored suits. Advanced studies. [Men’s Flair]

Still the Man: Steve Albini on GQ: “I would like the fashion industry to collapse…. At least pornography has a function.” Running with this one took gumption. Our hats are off. [The Q]

The Internet Must Pay: Just because it’s Wednesday, here’s your chance to turn a helpless website into an Asteroids-style demolition derby, thanks to a clever new browser toy. Just leave us out of it, please. [Wired]

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09/20/10
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LinkOut

Has Anyone Heard of This Facebook Movie?

samuelbradley_crop.jpgvia LikeCool

The Longform Poke: Aaron Sorkin thinks Mark Zuckerberg isn’t really such a bad guy… [NYMag]

The Script-Quoting Blog Poke: …he’s just a product of his tech-saturated generation. [io9]

The Windy Blog Poke: Also, maybe he’s a “terror nerd,” which is internet for someone made creepy by computers. [TechCrunch]

The Soundtrack Poke: On the bright side, the soundtrack is pretty awesome. [Dealzon]

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07/15/10
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LinkOut

Julianne Moore Has Been Stealing from the Zoo

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How Your Noise Rock Sausage is Made: The Times peers into the tortured soul of Pitchfork Media and finds a reasonably fastidious, self-reflective media organization. Go figure. [NYTimes]

Your New Media Ad Guru Smells Like a 16-Year-Old: People sure are going crazy for those Old Spice spots. [TechCrunch]

First, Ditch the Water Bottle: A new app/website gives you live updates on the wait at airport security lines. [Lifehacker]

Heart of Darkness: Once again, the internet succeeds in finding the most depressing, nihilistic thing you’ve ever seen—this time, in a parking lot in Oakland, California. Your move, smoking baby. [Deadspin]

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04/14/10
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Good Idea

Career Opportunities

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The Webby nominations came out this morning, and while there are plenty of nits to pick, we prefer to appreciate the oddball feats of cracked-out web obscuro that somehow made it through unscathed. For instance, this site promoting one Lawson Clarke, Male Copywriter, nominated for best landing page and best portfolio site. We don’t want to spoil anything, but it’s every bit as awesome as the logo suggests. Someone hire this man.

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03/31/10
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LinkOut

Tanith Belbin is our Favorite Name So Far

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She’s a Figure Skater, Apparently: Seriously, just say it out loud. Tanith Belbin. Ta-nith…Bel-bin. [Esquire]

Soon, Facebook Will Poke People in the Eye: Unvarnished is the evil LinkedIn, which is impressive because we were already calling LinkedIn the evil Facebook. [Gawker]

Mighty, Mighty: Some wise soul has cast Agyness Deyn as Aphrodite in the upcoming Clash of the Titans. [Fashionologie]

It’s Evergreen: A reminder of how awesome a tailored navy suit can be. Our only objection: Can we swap out the black dot for a Magritte-style apple? [Put This On]

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02/19/10
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LinkOut

Guinevere Van Seenus is in Repose

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Contortionists: The girls in AnOther Magazine always look kind of uncomfortable. [Fashion Copious]

Fare Thee Well: The final Alexander McQueen men’s line. Chavvy stuff, but in a good way. [ViewonFashion]

The Terrifying Future: Much like the champagne room, there is no sex on the iPhone. [TechCrunch]

The Tumblr of the Week: It’s pretty much what it sounds like. [BabieswithLaserEyes]

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11/09/09
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Ad Rock

The Trench Coat Gets its Day in the Sun

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The trench coat is already one of the more iconic items in the menswear canon, so it hardly needs the ad treatment—but it couldn’t hurt.

Today, Burberry launched a site called Art of the Trench dedicated to classic outerwear piece in all its forms. You can see street style shots from all over—including this one from Mr. Schuman himself—which should give you some ideas on how to style yourself. We prefer a dark navy or black like the gentleman here, but dig around the site and you’ll find plenty of other ideas.

As for the timing, it might have done us a bit more good a few weeks back…but we’re not complaining.

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10/27/09
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Gadgetry

The Google Takeover

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We warned you before, and now it’s happening. Google is taking over your voicemail, and even though resistance isn’t exactly futile, we’re not sure why you’d bother.

As of Monday, you can import Google Voice to your current phone number, which means that, among other things, you’ll never have to listen through your voicemails again. Once you’re plugged into the Google Voice network, you can convert all your voicemails to text and sort through them like emails, which means you won’t have to skip through Aunt Gladys’s dictation of her travel arrangements before you hear from your Thursday night date. It’s simple, easy, and it’s the first step in a long road that most likely leads to the end of the phone bill.

But for now, let’s take it one step at a time.

See the quirky animated video explanation»

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10/08/09
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LinkOut

Anouck Lepere is Your New IT Staff

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She Means Business: And don’t give her any of this Linux crap. [Refinery29]

Hooverville: George Saunders takes a stroll through a modern tent city. [GQ]

Web Civics: Choire Sicha ponders the ethics of blogging. Sadly, it’s in the Times, so he can’t call anyone a douchebag. [NYTimes]

Victory!: After literally hours of pleading, Tracy Morgan has finally joined Twitter. [Twitter]

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09/18/09
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Gadgetry

Box Full of Letters

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The world of Flickr photography is massive, but it doesn’t take much browsing before one wishes for something a little more tangible. But that’s nothing the internet can’t solve…

The UK-based Biscuit Tin lets you interact with online snaps the way you would with developed stills: you can spread them on the floor, check inscriptions on the back, and generally get the kind of object-pleasure that’s so hard to come by in the virtual sphere. And since you’re drawing from your entire flickr feed, you’ll have a very big tin to sort through.

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09/16/09
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LinkOut

Trying to be Amber Heard

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Look Back in Amber: DETAILS makes the most of its time with Amber Heard. [DETAILS]

Great Scott: The Sartorialist gives GQ UK some style advice. One highlight: He recommends owning only one pair of jeans. [GQ UK]

Almost Blue: Complex counts down the ten best jeans under $100. Street or no, it’s hard to deny APC. [Complex]

The List: Counting down 50 things being killed by the internet. “Your spare time” didn’t make the list. [Telegraph]

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09/09/09
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LinkOut

Heidi Klum is Good at Branding

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Good Press: Page Six has an extremely persuasive photo editor. [Cover Awards]

The Anti-Trend: Trads make the trend page, despite not being a trend. Does this mean we can start wearing ascots again? [New York Observer]

Medieval Tech: South African internet is slower than a carrier pigeon. We think Mr. DeVaughn said it best… [Reuters]

You Can Never Have Too Many Ties: Seriously. You can’t. [Selectism]

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08/27/09
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Gadgetry

Word Life

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Good books get all the press but a good sentence is worth quite a bit on its own, especially if you’re trying to get through it on an elevator ride. And with tweets, status updates, and email signatures popping up just about everywhere, a perfect one can get surprisingly far.

That’s where Words Move Me comes in. Ostensibly a twitter clone, it’s devoted to those perfect turns of phrase that would be read aloud to the living room in simpler times. Nowadays, they’re posted on the internet and—once synergy catches up with things—auto-tweeted, transformed into Facebook quotes and generally set loose into the many-splendored world of social media. Even better, the site was set up by Sony to promote their new Kindle clone, which means you’ll be able to direct the whole affair from a handheld device about the size of…well, a book.

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08/25/09
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Gadgetry

A Hard Drive

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Unless you’re an unusually big fan of the radio, traffic information can be remarkably hard to come by. Luckily, anyone with a smartphone is about to get a new secret weapon.

Here’s a hint: Google is involved»

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08/19/09
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Good Idea

Just For Kicks

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Sneakerheads are a pretty obsessive bunch, so it makes sense that they’d take to the internet in force. And since counterfeits make eBay too sketchy to rely on, it was about time someone started up a marketplace just for them.

The site is SneakerListing (hat tip to Josh Spear), and it’s an online flea market for a whole world of obscure sneakers, with many of them on sale for free. A quick tour digs up purple Nike Dunks, Jordan XXIs, and a whole cohort of heavily worn hi-tops. As for the high-end, there’s a pair of gold Ice Cream Colettes on the block for five grand, but somehow we don’t see them selling any time soon. Sites like this are perfect for obscurists—and there are quite a few—but these kicks won’t take the place of a fresh pair. On the other hand, if you’re putting a museum together…

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08/10/09
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Art Threat

Us and Them

venndiagram_crop.jpgVia NotCot

Web-based culture criticism usually specializes in subculture mining or and oh-so-thinly veiled contempt, so it was only a matter of time before someone combined the two. This chart splits the art world’s nooks and crannies into two camps—stoner and douche—providing you with a handy excuse to snootily ignore just about anything. N.B.: By douche, we think they mean pretentious gallery-hoppers not clubrats…but we’re not sure which of the two is into Thomas Kinkade.

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08/04/09
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Good Idea

Simply the Best

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Yesterday’s Washington Post had an interesting tech trend piece on email closers—you know, that awkward dangling word before your name. The main takeaways were that “best” is on the rise, “fondly” is for geezers, and “sincerely” usually conveys a barely contained animosity. Apparently Emily Gould writes “xoxo” a lot, an innocuous fact which has probably already ignited several flame wars in the Post’s comment section.

In matters professional, we’ve always found “Thanks” to be a bit passive-aggressive (“Could you get right on that? Thanks…”), so we tend to go with “truly” or “always”—after all, you’re always you. More creative options include “Namaste,” “tata,” and our personal favorite, “one love.” If you’re worried about overstepping etiquette, it may be better not to play the game at all and just give yourself a hyphen and a first initial. As with so many things, it’s a question of style.

Brandom out.

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08/04/09
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Gadgetry

Wading through the Archive

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With Netflix, on-demand streaming and torrent sites on the march, the pool of movies you could watch tonight has grown to a truly bewildering size. Now you just need help finding the right one…

Luckily, as with the vast majority of your problems, the internet has this one covered.

A pair of movie-choosing sites»

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