Cyclone Yasi

We’ve got a sizeable Antipodean contingent, so the arrival of Cyclone Yasi on the coast of Queensland in Australia was a cause for concern. Charlie Ward shared this comparison of large cyclones published by ABC News, which goes some way to explaining the sheer scale of Yasi.

Comparing Yasi to other devastating hurricanes and cyclones

Let the music move you

Ever wondered what the New York subway would sound like if it was converted into a piece of music? Well you needn’t wonder any more, because it’s been done. Designer Andrew Minto let us know about a project that turns the NY Subway into an interactive string instrument, using data from the subway schedule and Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 diagram of the subway network to create a mesmerising piece of generative music.

Trains on the New York subway turned into music

The obvious question is, what would the Tube sound like? Probably pretty cacophonous given the recent troubles it’s been having.

Google Art Project

Dilraj Sachdev sent a link to the ambitious Google Art Project. This uses the same underlying technology as Streetview and Maps to bring some of the world’s great art treasures from galleries like New York’s MoMA and Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie to your desktop. As you zoom into a detail on one of the over 1,000 artworks, you’ll find yourself face to face with the cracks and strokes in the paintwork. You could always put your office’s resident art buff to the test by zooming into full detail on one of these pieces then challenging them to identify it.

It’s fair to say that Google Art Project gives you a unique opportunity to get personal with art. In fact, if you put your face this close to these pieces in real life you would probably get arrested.

Inside the minds of consumers

If you work in or close to the world of advertising there’ll be something very familiar about Things Real People Don’t Say About Advertising, a tumblr stream shared by Ed Stone. Captioned clip art shows people in various states of excitement about engagement strategies, consumer lifecycles, leveraged brands and value propositions – about things, in other words, that real people never actually discuss.

A new day has dawned

This example was submitted by http://brnkmnn.tumblr.com/ and there’s lots more to be found on the site.

Anyway, we hope you’ve enjoyed this roundup of the stuff we’ve been looking at this week. It’s time for us to get back to work now, but make sure you check back soon for some more highlights from around the web.