“Mad Men” Furniture: Don Draper’s Office : A very detailed review of the show’s mid-century style from none other than The Mid-Century Modernist. I’ve not seen a single episode of “Mad Men”, but I’ve read/seen/digested enough tweets or posts to have seen at least two seasons worth. At least. … Read the rest here

“Web design is not merely building. It’s not just designing. It’s not only the rest of the myriad disciplines and titles we all align ourselves with, but the culmination of all these things.” - Jason Santa Maria, A Real Web Design Application … Read the rest here

Bobby McKenna : One of the most consistent and admired illustrators on Dribbble , Mr. McKenna just graduated from Notre Dame and is apparently looking for a job . Something tells me finding one won’t be a problem. … Read the rest here

Laurent Nivalle Photography: Le Mans Classic 2010 : These fabulous photos look like they were taken 40 years ago. (They were taken just 3 weeks ago.) … Read the rest here

TwelveSouth Compass Stand for iPad : So practical, so beautiful. Same price as BookArc ($40), but way more utility. … Read the rest here

I’m probably way behind the curve on this one, but I recently realized the following: All browsers that support the CSS text-shadow and box-shadow properties also support the new CSS3 RGBa syntax. Which means you can safely combine them today. That’s handy, because it means no worrying about matching a precise hex colour shadow to a specific hex colour background. Instead just let the browser blend. An example: p { text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0 1px 0; } That will produce a paragraph with a 20% opacity black drop shadow that will blend into any background colour below it. … Read the rest here

There is much hand-wringing in the media about the impending death of journalism, usually blamed on the rise of the web or more specifically bloggers. I’m sympathetic to their plight, but sometimes journalists are their own worst enemy, especially when they publish badly-researched articles that fuel moral panic with little regard for facts (if you’ve ever been in a newspaper article yourself, you’ll know that you’re lucky if they manage to spell your name right). Exhibit A: an article published in The Guardian called How I became a Foursquare cyberstalker . Actually, the article isn’t nearly as bad as the comments, which take ignorance and narrow-mindedness to a new level. Fortunately Ben is on hand to set the record straight. … Read the rest here

A Real Web Design Application : This is a very thorough overview by Jason Santa Maria of the current tools available to web designers, their shortcomings, and the friction and waste created by transferring work from tool to browser. Jason’s argument toward the end of his article will certainly continue a debate that’s already raging: A web designer jumping into the browser before tackling the creative and messaging problems is akin to an architect hammering pieces of wood together and then measuring afterwards. The imaginative process is cut short by the tools at hand; and it’s that imagination—or spark—at the beginning of a design that lays the path for everything that follows. Without it, you’re at best able to make a website that looks like a website—rather than a design that tells a story in the form of a website. To read only the above quote on its own would be to take Jason’s remarks out of context. The paragraphs that follow demonstrate he favors designing in the browser if the tools to do so can be improved. … Read the rest here

HTML5 Live with John Allsopp : Just purchased my subscription. Though I’m familiar with a lot of this, I still have plenty to learn. I suspect it’ll be a good interactive complement to Jeremy Keith’s HTML5 for Web Designers . … Read the rest here

Kiva High School : A new effort by Kiva that enables high school students to organize themselves in microfinance clubs with the intent of educating others. I’m a big believer in microfinance, and since March 2008, Authentic Jobs has funded 222 loans by donating 1% of its total monthly revenue. … Read the rest here