Because Google loves you, and wants you to know that somethings really are free with no strings attached (*cough), this Holiday travel season you will be able to enjoy free WiFi at one of 47 participating airports. Additionally, through the holiday season (’til January 15, 2010) All Virgin flights will have free WiFi.

Tearing up at the generosity of Google? Well let them flow because Google is also making it possible for users enjoying free wifi to give back:

“travelers will have the option make a donation to Engineers Without Borders, the One Economy Corporation or the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Google will match the donations made across all the networks up to $250,000, and the airport network that generates the highest amount per passenger by January 1, 2010 will receive $15,000 to donate to the local nonprofit of their choice.”

For a list of all 47 participating airports (I checked, and Buffalo International Airport is on the list… WEEE) go to www.freeholidaywifi.com. The free gift starts Monday, November 15th.

Click through the jump to read the press release.

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Jay and I both bought Verizon Droids. I left the loving hands of T-Mobile
for a shinier, more retro Android device; the G1 served me well and now
retires to be a development phone that I don’t mind bricking. The only
problem is: who’s phone is who’s?

I miss cuddling with skylar in the mornings, since now I spend most nights
with Jay. I do try to come visit my furry feline pal as much as I can, and
he’s always there with as much love and kisses than ever… cats rule #snap.

courtesy of my favorite Indiana Blog Daddy Bil, here’s another look at Spike Jonze’s new film, this time with something a little scarier, and a littler dirtier… hipsters.

Sean! We really loved how you spend an alternative Halloween; I remember
going to those as a kid, we had something called "Judgement House," and
despite being a church thing, they went all out with props and effects, like
a real wrecked car and even a "school shootout" scene.

So Sean… your print is ready for you at Hero Design Studio. I know you
live in Buffalo, but if you absolutely can’t make it down to 93 Allen, we
can mail it. Check yer email too.

Thanks for participating ya’ll! Happy Halloween and have a great and groovy
Autumn! #snap

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vdvsx/ / CC BY 2.0

Android: Cupcake, Donut, Eclair. I still find it funny that all the major updates are named after deserts. I also find it awesome that a new foody statue is place on the Google Campus right before an update announcement. I do however, find it disturbing that the next update will probably be called “Flan.” Right now though, the desert on everyone’s lips is Eclair, also known as Android 2.0.

With the impending launch of the first Android 2.o device, the Motorola Droid, Google has let loose whats in the filling of Eclair. And boy is it rich.

Here are some of my favorite features:

• Upgraded contacts/email with Social skills - You can now add multiple email accounts and sync the contact lists together. A new API will allow developers to create add-ins for other networks (like Twitter and Facebook) that will sync to your main contact list (you can pick and choose who you want to merge, not an all or nothing feature like the Pre). A quick contact feature will provide easy access to all the communication methods of a contact by tapping the user’s picture. The Email app will fit all of your accounts’ email neatly into one inbox, a feature my boyfriend doesn’t like, but I do. He’s been betrayed by AT&T and the iPhone, it will take some time to convert him 100%.
• Supercharged camera app – The camera on my G1 is abysmal, but the camera app on 1.6 (Donut) made it a little better. Camera app  Eclair edition, adds support for hardware flash, color correction, white balance, scene mode, zoom control, and macro focus.
• Improved Virtual Keyboard – Another problem with Android is that the virtual keyboard sucks. For awhile I was using a keyboard replacement app called touchPal, which worked great, but it wasn’t native and hung up a lot. The reason the iPhone keyboard rules is that the screen is bigger, the keys are visually spaced better, and there is behind the scenes magic that makes the key press area bigger or smaller depending on what key it thinks you want to tap next. Eclair promises multi-touch support, better key press accuracy, and a better auto-learning dictionary. I’m already excited.
• A Better Browser – Included with a UI refresh are bookmarks with thumbnail views, double-tap zoom, and HTML5 with <video> tag support for fullscreen. That means when you come across an html 5 video element, you can tap on the element and it will play fullscreen just like any other video. Flash 10 is coming, so expect a full and rich browser experience on 2.0.
• Bluetooth Boost – Bluetooth is already enabled on Android, but there haven’t been any other profiles added besides Stereo headset support. Eclair adds OPP (Object Push Profile) letting you send files to and from, and P2p support, meaning you can play multiplayer games over a bluetooth connection. There is also phonebook access via bluetooth, good for those car sync apps that let you scroll through your contacts in the dashboard.
• Kick Ass Calendar – The calender app was always sweet before, but now it got even better with the ability to invite people to events, and to see the attending status of those invited.  It made no flippin sense why Android left that feature out so far, but I’m glad they had the sense to do it now.
• API’s API’s API’s - an API is a set of tools and functions developers use to add functionality. One of the notable additions to 2.0 is broad multitouch support, up to 3 fingers. That means that apps can include swipes, pinches, and rotations in their apps.

I’ve been playing with the Android 2.0 Emulator inside the SDK, and so far I really like the additions. While I haven’t had my hands on a Droid to give it a real work over (the SDK Emulator lacks some key Google apps like maps, Gmail, and the Market), Boy Genius and Engadget are pretty pleased with the turnout. Plus, the biggest thing to be announced today was Google’s own GPS turn-by-turn navigation app, which immediately caused stocks of Garmin and Tom Tom to plummet.

Verizon’s first Google android phone will drop November 6th, for $199 with a two year contract. check out the Verizon Droid Mini Site to get a good look at this sexy new phone.

The Yummy Breakfast Keychains were my first blindbox craze. I saw them at Hero Design (93 Allen St, Buffalo, NY) and started collecting them all. I had nearly every one of them, then suddenly… Hero sold out. I managed to cope, and the collection remained unfinished, on display at Angel’s store, Sai One (818 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo NY). People would come into Sai One and want to buy my collection, and Angel would send them to Hero to buy them. When Hero Design sold out, people kept going there looking for more until Beth asked me to kindly not send people to Hero with false hopes of the Yummy Breakfast series.

FALSE HOPES NO MOAR!

Hero Design is finally back in stock after over a year of  whining and begging from everyone all over. The supply is limited so get there now if you want to pick up the set. They are blindbox, but the duplicates will make excellent stocking stuffers this Christmas.

I noticed Beth was working on this new print last week. I almost stole one before she had put the final color on it, but I’m glad I waited… it looks so awesome! And since I felt bad about almost stealing one, I’m gonna penance and give one away to one of my readers.

Hero Design Studio on Etsy – Autumn is my favorite season of them all. I love all the colors, the brisk air and the smell of the drying leaves. Every year I find myself in the most wonderful mood come mid October!

This year I finally decided to capture that feeling in a print. This is a is limited edition 5 color 8″ x 10″ screen print, printed on Accent Opaque Smooth White 100# cover stock. Each print is signed by us.

I heard Beth is already working on the other three seasons, and maybe I’ll do a giveaway for those too. However, here’s how to win the Autumn print:

1. Contest starts from this post date, until Noon on Thursday, the 29th (of October, silly).
2. You have to comment with your FAVORITE  Fall activity in the town you where you live. I’ll ask Beth to help me pick the sweetest comment, since Fall is her favorite season ever.
3. The winner will receive a signed 8″x 10″ Autumn Print from HeroDesign, courtesy of your favorite snarky Buffalonian. If you live in the Buffalo, NY  area, you’ll have to stop by Hero Design Studio + Boutique (93 Allen St, Buffalo) to pick it up. If you live outside of Buffalo, or hate to leave your house (then how could you love Fall?), we’ll ship it to you.
4. Make sure you leave your real email address in the form (but not in the actual comment) or I can’t contact you if you win.

That’s it!

Time’s Up! Time to get with Beth to pick the winners, I’ll have a winner announced shortly!

I love Hip-Hop. I’m a white boy, but I know when a beat is fresh or not. When it comes to Mainstream, Jay-Z rules, and Lil Wayne can suck it (no-homo). However, Soulja Boy, T-Pain, Flo-Rida, and even 50-Cent have taken it upon themselves to suck the life out of hip-hop. It’s lifeless, nothing but whips, niggas this, bitches, drugs, liquor, killing folk, nigga that, no-homo’s, killing folks, chains, gold, bling… all wrapped into a hastily drawn beat meant to get people dancing.

WHO THE FUCK DANCES TO HIP HOP LIKE IT’S THE ELECTRIC SLIDE?

American Idiots. Shit, it’s not our fault… We’ve been fed the mainstream soup so much that we don’t know when the recipe changed. I agree, music should evolve, but not for sake of the rhyme.

All is not lost however, you just have to find your hip-hop elsewhere. Where? Get your headphones, and click through the jump, we are going to Europe.

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Walking into Target today with my rec group, I was greeted by  heavily branded Halloween signage pushing Skelanimals, a new Target exclusive deal. Immediately I was all “OMG, Simone Legno got another deal with Target to do the whole Halloween display! Way to go!” Something wasn’t right, however, as I took a deeper look at the displays and toys, and shirt, and all the other exhaustive merch with Skelanimals emblazed. These didn’t seem exactly Tokidoki, and so I thought that Simone was contracted to design a new line for Halloween, apart from his Tokidoki line. A little bit of research, and I found nothing to show Simone had any involvement with the Skelanimals brand.

It appears the Skelanimals brand, featuring playful skeletony characters in black, was the brainchild of Mitchell Bernal, not Simone Legno. Skelanimals was created in 2005, as was the Tokidoki brand, both in Los Angeles. I’m inclined to believe that Simone was the originator, as he has an arsenal of characters in his brand, and I believe his designs to be straight from his Asian culture loving fabulously gay mind.

Above is an example of Simone’s “Til Death do Us Part” line, featuring Adios, Ciao Ciao, Skelatrino, and Skelatrina. I own every fucking one of these in vinyl; they are so cute.

In the above image, we have a Skelanimals character on the left, and Tokidoki’s Skeletrino. Notice the black fill, white skull, and fangs. Lame.

Art thievery happens all the time, too often (Hot Topic is a major thief), but what irritates me the most is that a few months ago, the same cardboard mod, signage display, every placement of product from Skelanimals, was Simone Legno’s Tokidoki back to school line for Target. Why couldn’t Target give the Halloween contract to Simone? Did he want too much money? If so, did Target say “fuck you then” and went to a cheaper imitation? Simone is a valuable contributor to the vinyl/art/fashion scene, Skelanimals is a tweenage-cute-dead-thing line licensed by a company named Art Impressions Media Group Inc. A quick look at their site and their other brands appear to be conceptual imitations of several other design trends.

I’m pissed enough at the Skelanimals brand, but I’m more pissed at Target for tossing aside a designer, and adding on another line that blatantly borrows concepts from another line that Target carries. Maybe this is why a lot of artists are wary about going mainstream retail, they always get fucked over.

I really want to be wrong about this, I really want someone to tell me Simone has a part in this, that Target didn’t know (HA!) and that this is a big misunderstanding. I don’t think I’ll get that comment.