This Makes Me So Inexplicably Happy
The video features so many wonderful locations around DC that any local will recognize easily. I attempted to list all of the locations I recognized from the truck shots in the background. My list: * Metro Center * Chinatown * Union Station * National Portrait Gallery * The National Mall Also, pay attention to the folks in the background. Ari Shapiro plays the bells once at the old building and again at the new. Scott Simon is in the background of the elevator in the lobby in the old building wearing a coat. Carl Kassell is the older gentlemen who scowls at them at the new building that they go quiet for. Bob Boilen, at NPR Music writes:
The Tiny Desk has moved, and OK Go has helped make it so. Earlier this year, we needed to figure out the best possible way to move my Tiny Desk from NPR's old headquarters to our new facility just north of the U.S. Capitol. We wanted to go out with a bang and arrive at our new space in style, so our thoughts naturally turned to a catchy pop band we love: OK Go, whose unforgettable videos have been viewed tens of millions of times on YouTube. Bandleader Damian Kulash used to be an engineer at an NPR member station in Chicago, so we figured he'd be up for helping us execute a simple idea: Have OK Go start performing a Tiny Desk Concert at our old location, continue playing the same song while the furniture and shelving is loaded onto a truck, and finish the performance at our new home. In addition to cameos by many of our NPR colleagues — Ari Shapiro, Audie Cornish, David Greene, Guy Raz, Scott Simon, Alix Spiegel, Susan Stamberg and more — this required a few ingredients: * Number of video takes: 223 * Percent used in final version: 50 * Number of raw audio channels: 2,007 * Percent used in final version: 50 * Number of microphones: 5 * Number of hard-boiled eggs consumed: 8, mostly by bassist Tim Nordwind * Number of seconds Carl Kasell spent in the elevator with OK Go: 98 * Number of times Ari Shapiro played the tubular bells: 15 * Number of pounds the tubular bells weighed: 300 * Number of times the shelves were taken down and put back up: 6 * Number of days it took to shoot: 2 * Number of cameras: 1 OK Go played "All Is Not Lost" from Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, with words tweaked by the All Songs Considered team. And so begins a new era for the Tiny Desk, after 277 concerts (counting this one) in our old home.
Hypercritical T-Shirts 2.0
John Siracusa, at Hypercritical.co writes:
Let's try this again. Last month, inspired by Marco and bolstered by the drop-dead-simple Teespring web site, I put the first Hypercritical t-shirt up for sale. The response from fans was amazing, vastly exceeding my expectations. Unfortunately, that sale was aborted due to my unauthorized use of copyrighted artwork. All orders were refunded and no t-shirts were printed. Now the Hypercritical t-shirt is back, with a new design. At a glance, it may look exactly like the previous shirt, but this version features new artwork. (It's the same image that appears next to this site's title and as its favicon.) For any of you who were very disappointed that the first shirt was cancelled, well, it is now back. Go get one. Also, Marco has a more detailed explanation as to what happened with the first round of shirts. More copyright bullshit. As usual.
Save Extensions or Conf Call Passwords Along with Phone Numbers in iOS
A huge thanks to Jim Ray for sharing this tip. This is so useful to me that I felt compelled to share it. Someone, at iPhoneFAQ writes:
The iPhone will store and dial extensions to phone numbers in a couple of different ways, depending on how you decide to interact with the answering system on the other end. In short, you can have a number for a contact in your iPhone's address book to also store their extension or conference call ID/password/whatever. When you place the call, a new button is present on your phone's UI which will dial the stored code. Check out the guide to see exactly how to store these and how it works.