sunny thaper

11February2008

SXSW 2008

Posted by Sunny Thaper under: announcements.

Just an announcement that I will be at SXSW this year in Austin, Texas from March 7th - March 11th.  From what I gather, a huge portion of Refresh Phoenix will be there as well!

23January2008

Official Coachella Lineup 2008

Posted by Sunny Thaper under: music.

FRIDAY, APRIL 25: Jack Johnson, The Verve, Raconteurs, The Breeders, Fatboy Slim, Tegan and Sara, Madness, The Swell Season, The National, Animal Collective, Slightly Stoopid, Mum, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Stars, Battles, Aesop Rock, Midnight Juggernauts, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Minus the Bear, Spank Rock, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Diplo, Adam Freeland, Santo Gold, Jens Lekman, John Butler Trio, Vampire Weekend, Dan Deacon, Architecture in Helsinki, Sandra Collins, Busy P, Cut Copy, Black Lips, Datarock, Professor Murder, Reverend and the Makers, The Bees, Porter, Rogue Wave, Modeselektor, American Bang, Lucky I Am.

SATURDAY, APRIL 26: Portishead, Kraftwerk, Death Cab for Cutie, Cafe Tacuba, Sasha & Digweed, Rilo Kiley, Dwight Yoakam, M.I.A., Hot Chip, Cold War Kids, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, DeVotchKa, Flogging Molly, Mark Ronson, Turbonegro, Scars on Broadway, Islands, Enter Shikari, Calvin Harris, Boyz Noize, Junkie XL, Cinematic Orchestra, Jamie T, The Teenagers, VHS or Beta, Carbon/Silicon, Erol Alkan, Yo Majesty!, Little Brother, Bonde Do Role, St. Vincent, Akron Family, MGMT, Institubes DJs (Surkin, Para One and Orgasmic), James Zabiela, Sebastian, Kavinsky, Dredg, The Bird and the Bee, Grand Ole Party, New Young Pony Club, 120 Days, Yoav, Electric Touch, Uffie.

SUNDAY, APRIL 27: Roger Waters (”Dark Side of the Moon”), Love & Rockets, My Morning Jacket, Spiritualized, Justice, Gogol Bordello, Chromeo, The Streets, Metric, Danny Tenaglia, Simian Mobile Disco, Booka Shade, Murs, Dmitri from Paris, Autolux, The Field, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Les Savy Fav, The Cool Kids, Sons & Daughters, Sia, Holy Fuck, Black Kids, Black Mountain, The Annuals, Kid Sister w/A-Trak, Man Man, Duffy, I’m from Barcelona, Manchester Orchestra, Deadmau5, The Horrors, Austin TV, Shout Out Louds, Plastiscines, Brett Dennen.

(Via Stereogum)

6January2008

Driving in India

Posted by Sunny Thaper under: cool shiznit.

Although it may not seem like it, but India has a far superior record of driver safety. The accident count is substantially less than that of the United States. How can a system with very limited rules and regulations perform better than the one we have in the United States? Constraint inhibits progress.I first started realizing this concept at work. We have a pretty laid back philosophy when it comes to getting work done. We are allowed to come and go at our own times, pick what we want to work on for the most part, and best of all, we don’t have to clock in and out! Now you may think this is a recipe for disaster but it turns out quite the opposite effect is achieved. Though I’m allowed to come and go as I please, I find myself trying to get there early and often times leaving very late. Picking what I want to work on gives me an overall better mood about work, I’m not being assigned “crappy” work that I have to do instead I am doing work which I have chosen to do. I even find myself working on the weekends, something which I have NEVER done at any other job. And probably most amazingly of all, I have never seen work get completed so quickly! We tend to chug through projects in record time.

Nine to five worlds are for geezers, try something new and crazy. Make your employees feel like they are contributing to a company that is their own, not trying to get a paycheck. Drive dangerously and without laws for a while, you might discover that people perform better.

27December2007

Radiohead’s In Rainbows Dumb Business Move?

Posted by Sunny Thaper under: music.

Fortune Magazine claims that Radiohead’s latest album “In Rainbows” is the 58th dumbest moment in business. I’m sorry Fortune Magazine, but you are utterly wrong. First off, can you think of any other album ever that has been so publicly advertised? The band saved incredible amounts of money not advertising alone, mix that in with selling their product without a record label collecting their dues and you have instant success. According to Wired, Radiohead was able to raise $3 million dollars in their first month alone! $3 million dollars…. let me repeat that, $3 million dollars in one month… of which $0 went to a record label. And to back that up, they will still be releasing the record via cd come the new year. I know that I will be purchasing it… even though I spent $8 bucks on the digital download.

Anyone that actually pays good money to subscribe to Fortune magazine, I feel sorry for you.  And just to stick it to Fortune some more, Radiohead is even doing a free new years eve show!

19December2007

Think Small, In A Big Way!

Posted by Sunny Thaper under: books.

I’m currently enthralled with John Maeda’s book “The Laws of Simplicity.” “Simplicity requires a book” you say? As crazy as it sounds, simplicity is actually a very complicated subject. Think for a moment about the iPod. What makes the iPod so popular? If you compare the iPod to other media players available on the market you will actually find that the iPod is quite lacking in the features department. Players such as the Zune offer far more advanced functionality than the iPod does. What makes people buy a technically inferior product then? Simplicity. The beauty of the iPod comes from it’s easy of use, from the intuitive interface to the iTunes software, the iPod provides an experience that is strangely familiar.

Maeda’s book breaks down the idea of designing with simplicity in mind into 10 easy to remember laws, written within 100 pages exactly and reinforced with easy to remember acronyms, making even the act of reading and learning from the book an act of simplicity.

One of the ideas that really stuck with me was the law of reduction. One of the key objectives of reduction, Maeda explains, is the idea of shrinking.

When a small, unassuming object exceeds our expectations, we are not only surprised but pleased. Our usual reaction is something like, “That little thing did all that?” Simplicity is about the unexpected pleasure derived from what is likely to be insignificant and would otherwise go unnoticed. The smaller the object, the more forgiving we can be when it misbehaves.

A company that successfully employs this reduction principle is Google. When you visit their home page you are greeted with a search box and two buttons. Compare this to the other less popular search engines and you will notice a striking difference. Other search engines seem bloated and full of unnecessary elements. Google thrives off the fact that people visit search engines in order to search, not to be swamped with content and links that have no relevance to them.

Still think simplicity is a commonly known idea?  Learn more about simplicity by picking up a copy of Maeda’s book.

14December2007

BBC Beta: Now With Less Self Respect!

Posted by Sunny Thaper under: web design.

Apparently BBC is joining the bandwagon and completely selling out. The new BBC site, currently in beta (so beta it hurts), is full of gigantic fonts, ajax-fied widgets, and an extreme lack of content. Really BBC, what were you thinking?

The Bad

Anytime I see the word “beta” I cringe a little. Not only do I feel like they are calling me a moron that can’t tell a dev site from a live site, but I also feel like they are saying “Hi, I’m cool!” I don’t know about you guys but if anyone comes up to me and says that, my first reaction is “no… no you aren’t.”What the hell is this? Seriously, a major news provider is going to crunch possibly the biggest reason why people visit their site into this tiny box? That header and edit button area alone could have given me two more headlines! Now that I think about it, I really should have grouped this under “The Worst” section because this just shows a poor understanding of your audience, of design, and of common sense.Could they have made this any bigger (so big that I had to include the thumbnail with a link to the full image)? Now I’m not dissing the design, but the application of this to a news site… come on. I feel as if I’m being fed “cool” like I actually asked for it. I’d almost much rather prefer BBC to strip all design and whatnot and keep their site text only… I go there for content, not for gigantic fluffy space taking graphics.

The Worst

What the hell is this? Why the hell is this on the site? Why would I possibly want to click on this? It’s not even one of those curiously quirky ads that you just have to click on… it’s nothing short of completely annoying. Not only does the inclusion of this make no sense to me, but WHY the headings? Like the ad wasn’t big and crazy enough?Really? Really? I mean I get it, it’s a retro bring back of the old BBC clock they used to have… I feel as if this was a knife meant to stab me in the eyes. Do I really need a clock on my website?Please…

The Cool

The one cool thing out of all of this is I can add BBC news feeds to Google Reader and never ever have to visit their homepage again.

12December2007

Narwhal Co. - Tie Recycler!

Posted by Sunny Thaper under: cool shiznit.

Today Dan was awesome enough to get me a gift for Christmas. He got me this sweet iPhone case. The unique thing about this case was that it was handmade… out of a tie! If you know anything about me, you should know that I like to be unique and different. This present was exactly that, and because it was made out of a tie that isn’t mass produced, there is only one of my case in the world. I later checked out their website and was interested in some of their other products, especially the tie wallets. I would highly suggest checking out Narwhal’s store if you are looking for a truly unique gift for the artsy designer type of friend or family member.

Here is a picture of the one Dan got me.

9December2007

Well Hello There

Posted by Sunny Thaper under: announcements.

The Idea

After talking with a few friends from Refresh Phoenix, I realized people want to hear what I have to say. What this meant for me was I now had to find a medium where I could talk to them. My overall goal for this site is to be a place where I can post cool findings, code, news, personal announcements, neat stuff I’m working on, and anything related to my industry, myself, or my friends that I find applicable. Everyone has a blog in some shape or form these days and I want to join their bandwagon.

The Man

I realize most people reading this site (currently anyway) already know who I am. For those that don’t, my name is Sunny Thaper. I’m a web designer/developer (I need a new title) that works for Forty Media here in the sunny (PUN!) state of Arizona. I’m a nerd first and foremost but I do tend to be a socializer as well. You can find me at Facebook, Last.fm, Flickr, and Twitter.

The Site

Yes, I realize this site is disgustingly default but I hope to change that soonish. I’m hoping to have a few phases, the first being the lazy phase where I basically change it enough to look different but not enough to be cool. The second phase is where I make it cool and unique. The third is where I use this site to take over the world.

The End

Hardly, like I said.. I want this site to grow!