Web

Brought to you by the same minds that created Skype, Joost touts itself as “a new way of watching TV on the Internet [...] including a high-quality full-screen picture, hundreds of full-length shows and easy channel-flipping.” It also includes a lot of social features like chat, instant messaging, and customizable widgets. The web community has been buzzing with talk of Joost since it was announced and it seems like everyone and their mother is clamoring for an invite. This thing is huge — people have even been running it on the recently-released Apple TV.

I’ve been a part of the Joost beta test for a month now and have really enjoyed using the program. As a result I have, in my possession, five invites to give away to five lucky Ekonoline readers. Want to know more? Read on.

How to Get a Joost Beta Invite

Leave a comment on this entry, with a valid e-mail address, in which you:

1. Provide a link to your favourite post on Ekonoline and briefly explain why you chose it.
2. Give one or two suggestions on how Ekonoline can improve in the future.

That’s it! It’s that easy. But, just like any good contest, there is a deadline. All comments must be made by 12:00pm EST on Friday, April 6th. I’ll read each and every comment and, on Friday, choose the best five to receive Joost invites.

Get crackin’!

NOTE: Bryan has posted a letter of his own on the site. He’s okay and working to bring Avalonstar back.

Just a quick note to wish Bryan Veloso, of Avalonstar, Nyxsis, and Revyver fame, a very happy 24th birthday — from myself, and all of his friends in 9rules. For those who don’t know, Bryan was recently forced to take Avalonstar down for reasons he’s been unable to disclose publicly. It’s a turn of events that has, understandably, caused him some stress and anxiety. His fiance, Jen, posted the following message:

Dear Avalonstar Readers,

Many of you may know my name from the times Bryan has mentioned me in his entries, podcasts, etc. I am Jen, Bryan’s fiancé. I know how important this site is to Bryan and all the people who have supported him over the years, so I wanted to make sure that you guys are not entirely in the dark even though I am limited in what I’m allowed to say.

Due to circumstances beyond his control, Bryan has been forced to take Avalonstar down indefinitely. He is needless to say a bit restless and emotional and he doesn’t seem to want to talk about it too much. He has, however, allowed me to write this message. We are trying to make any arrangements that are possible, but it’s proving… complicated. As of right now we are uncertain of what is going to happen and even the feasibility of bringing Avalonstar back. In the meantime, I ask that you all continue to support Bryan and Avalonstar as usual, and please wish for the best.

Like I said, nothing is certain at the moment but I will say one thing… this could change everything.

Sincerely,
Jen V.

In light of that, a bunch of us got together and, with a little magic from Kyle Neath, put together a small birthday card for Bryan. Check it out at Avalonstar Love. Happy birthday, Bryan, hope to see you back in full form soon.

A week ago, inspired by Nils’ contribution, I submitted one of my photographs to the We Are All Photographers Now project, hosted by the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland. Running until May 20, the goal is to document the changing face of amateur photography in the digital world. Each week, 100 of the submitted images are randomly selected, printed out, and stored in the museum’s permanent collection. It’s a great idea and one in which anyone can take part, simply by submitting their own photos.

I received an e-mail yesterday, informing me that my photo had appeared in the installation — along with an “installation view” to prove it. How cool is that? If you’d like a better look at the photo I submitted, you can find it in my Flickr account.

Dan Cederholm, a well-known designer from Salem, Massachusetts, stirred furious debate within the online design community yesterday after he accused LogoMaid, a less-than-reputable logo creation service, of stealing his work. He discovered an alleged ripoff of his SimpleBits logo being sold on the site for a paltry $199, grabbed a screen shot, and posted it to his Flickr account.

It’s not an exact copy, obviously, but enough elements are similar to warrant serious concern. The four brackets, surrounding a cube-like object split into sections — it’s all there. Aside from the colour palette, there isn’t very much original work in LogoMaid’s version. If you could even call that originality. A quick overlay of Cederholm’s logo with LogoMaid’s makes the supposed plagiarism all the more obvious:

In situations like these, one would expect the offending company to squash the matter as quickly as possible, right? Surely they have nothing to gain by furthering any bad publicity and angering an entire community in the process, right? Right? Well, somebody should have sent that particular memo to Paul Viluda, owner of LogoMaid. Adding his two cents to the Flickr comment thread, Viluda accused Cederholm of stealing their work and threatened him with a lawsuit. He then apparently created a number of fake users to defend his position.

Predictably, word of the situation has spread quickly. John Gruber, of Daring Fireball fame, posted a quick write-up on the matter and the story hit the front page of Digg about two hours ago. People have started jumping on the bandwagon, pointing out other examples of LogoMaid’s intellectual property theft, including an extremely obvious copy of the Apple logo.

Unfortunately, LogoMaid is not the only site out there suspected of peddling stolen designs and “borrowing” the work of talented, hard-working designers. It’s a problem that has plagued those in the creative arts since the beginning of time and it affects everyone. Writers, painters, photographers, designers, illustrators — no one is immune to the threat of less-talented people leeching off their work.

Fortunately, as Gruber points out in his post, the solution is an easy one — Shine the light on these vermin. The more people who speak up when these situations are discovered, the harder it will be for thieves to profit from the hard work of others.