Watch Steve Jobs pitch the Cupertino city council

Yesterday, Steve Jobs pitched the Cupertino city council on building a new Apple campus. Yes, it's multimedia. And it's fun to see how he reacts when the councilman gives him advice on how to make his presentation at 4:25.

He makes even a building sound like a magical feat: "We've come up with a design that puts 12,000 people in one building. When you think about that, that's rather odd." I wonder how unusual that number is? Via.

Image roundup

Bridge at night.




Four elements.




300.




The Skylon, Britain's new spaceplane.




From a gallery of worst Power Point slides. (Or maybe best?) Via these sites.




Puppy cuddles with his new chew toy.

Terrific TED talk about Antarctic Ice and the fearsome leopard seal (narwhals, too)

This presentation by Paul Nicklen is possibly the best TED talk I've watched - - funny, fascinating, well-delivered, and supported by tremendous photographs. Among the interesting factoids: The ice he regularly dove in was so cold that he typically vomited each time he hit the water. National Geographic's informal motto is "we publish photographs, not excuses." And unless I heard wrong, one of the whales pictured in the video is believed to be 250 years old.

But most of all, the leopard seal stars as a fearsome (as in, sometimes they eat people), but sometimes charming creature.

*Buy National Geographic back issues at eBay.

Link roundup

1. The Miami Police Department's website features a mural depicting five gang members. Two of the five are clearly Jay-Z. Via.

2. Great photograph of Giselle and Tom Brady.

3. He tails off after five minutes or so, but the opening of Hans Rosling's Ted speech is a clinic on grabbing the audience.

Rex Crowle likes to touch

Rex Crowle gave a speech at the Dana Centre about restoring tactility to an increasingly digital world. He posted the slides and text from the show here.

*Previously: Rex Crowle's Grip Wrench.

*Buy Game & Watches at eBay.

Video roundup

League of Extraordinary Dancers in action.






Jesse Schell talks about the present and future of video games. Via.




Dogs catching treats in slow motion.




Tilt-shift video of New York. Via these sites.






Heavy Rain video game playthrough (Mature content).

*Previously: Bioshock 2 video playthrough.

*Buy vintage cameras at eBay.

Kamen Rider Soda (link roundup)

Kamencider cans spotted here.

And a few more links:

1. McClatchy Baghdad bureau reporters evacuated the recently bombed Hamra hotel a few weeks ago. Troubling signs included the brothels that opened across the street and that workers had torn down the protective blast walls.

2. My daily commute gets recognized as the worst in the nation. (One hour to go 15 miles yesterday.)

3. Chris Anderson answers ten questions about the TED Conference, including listing his favorite speeches.

*Previously: Ultraman soda cans.

*Buy Kamen Rider toys at eBay.