Hoover’s VP of Business Development Heidi Tucker gave a presentation titled “Hoover’s - API Strategy - Open Access to Business Intelligence” at Mashery’s recent Business of APIs Conference in San Francisco, CA. Heidi highlighted several current implementations of the Hoover’s API:

• CRM application with “company look up and list build” and “data enrichment upsell”
• Address verification: Shipping department checks address info against Hoover’s to reduce bad address non-deliverables
• Outbound telemarketing: Hoover’s info populates predictive dialer contact info
• Web analytics publisher: Users see traffic and corresponding basic business information

Interestingly Heidi outlined some of the risks involved in opening up this valuable data via an API

• Keys to the Kingdom
• Search Results Relevancy
• Scalability
• Cannibalization
• Brand Compliance
• Reputational Risk
• Pricing

Technically, the Hoover’s API is SOAP-based with data returned in XML. There is a free testing API key; production API keys are available for a fee. Pricing of the API can be done as: per user per month; per API call; or flat content license fee.

The API is well-documented. The WSDL is available for review, and the development team provides sample code for .NET, Java, and PHP developers. The Hoover’s API Developer Blog and Hoover’s API Forums are available.

As more and more of this class of valuable business data becomes available via open APIs we should expect to see new interesting enterprise mashups appearing soon.

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Minimalism, in the context of design, refers to simple, unadorned designs that embody only the most basic and fundamental needs. In art, it is a movement that has its roots in the post-World War II era, started by highly regarded minimalist artists such as Donald Judd, Carl Andre, and Robert Morris. Minimalism today refers to a certain style (or even a certain attitude or way of life) that transcends different fields, such as architecture, philosophy, law and, of course, Web design.

In this article, we explore the meaning of minimalism in the context of Web design. First, we’ll look at some features of a minimalist Web design in the hope of learning by way of deconstruction. Then, we’ll see a showcase of minimalist designs. Finally, you’ll find some useful resources on the topic of minimalism in Web design.

Showcase of clean and minimalist designs

Though there are different ways to achieve a minimalist Web design, and designers have varying definitions and interpretations of what minimalist Web design truly is, there are certainly some commonalities among what we can consider minimalist designs.

In the review below we’ll consider some common features and attribues of a minimalist Web design. However, let’s first take a look at some truly outstanding examples of excellent minimalist and clean web design.

Jan Reichle

HUGE

Markenpersonal.de

Rodrigo Galindez

BrynnShepherd.com

SpiekermannPartners

MaximNew

Muller

FLOWmarket

Rbg6.se

80/20

Minus.dk

Cubic

Vitor Lourenco

Deep.co.uk

fellswoop

3rings

AIGA New York

Kalle Gustafsson

Clagnut

BetterInteractive.com

Concentric-Studio.com

Clandrei.de

Ab-c.com.au

Forgetfoo

MAYØ

Berit Sømme

Poccuo

SMeltery

kraaft

Hermes.com

Sitening

bora aksu

hillmancurtis

BuuHouse Interactive

Theme

Marek Levák

Mark Wieman

Rogier Bikker

Razvan Stavila

Lovecreative.com

1. Design is focused on the content

In minimalist designs the focus lies not on the visual presentation, but on the content — the information presented in a “naked”, clean and intuitive way. The property of being minimal refers to the structure of the layout; but it is the main task of every simple design to keep its functionality and communicate the information it is supposed to present.

The content is the focal point of the Web page, whether that content is a showcase of photography, Web designs, or writing. The design provides little to no distraction.

Autumn Whitehurst Illustration
In this Web design, the use of a plain white background and de-emphasized text makes your eyes gravitate towards the artwork.

Frieze Magazine
When viewing this design, note where your eyes look first. Probably, you would have looked at either the large image or the “frieze” logo first.

2. Whitespace is the king…

To make it easy for readers to scan and read the content, minimal designs usually need a lot of whitespace to breathe. In some cases whitespace dominates in the design, taking 60-70% of the whole layout space. In such designs whitespace, while remaining passive, strongly bundles user’s attention on very few site elements and thus effectively influences users’ perception of the overall design.

Rule of thumbs: the fewer elements you have and the more whitespace you have, the more attention will each element in your design get.

Cameron.io uses whitespace as the primary element. Notice how little space is used by content and how strongly your attention is focused on the navigation menu and the blog posts. Please also notice that very calm, neutral and subtle colors are used.

3. Typography is the queen

Typography is used to convey messages to the user. Larger, bold text draws the user’s attention to the intended area. Careful use of color, size and style of text is used in the design phase to underscore important elements and make others less prominent.

i love typography
Notice how the large bold, centered logo on the page manages to grab your attention.

Astheria
This design directs the user’s focus straight to the “featured” content (in this case, the most recent article of the author). Notice how your focus bypasses the logo, even though it appears before the “featured” content; completely the opposite of i love typography’s design, which directs you to the logo/website name.

Corporate Risk Watch

4. Color palette consists of solid colors

The in-your-face, flashy, loud color schemes associated with Web 2.0 and vintage/retro design trends are avoided. Usually, designers pick one vibrant color and use it effectively to communicate the most important information presented on the site. Such elements are usually clickable; the number of these elements rarely exceeds 5-7.

Behance

Alltop

5. Plain, solid white/gray or solid dark backgrounds are common

Solid backgrounds are effective especially when the content is vibrant and colorful (such as in design showcases). Plain colors doesn’t fight for users attention; instead, they support the readers and make it easy to actually scan the page when looking for the content. “Minimal” designg almost never have vibrant background images — patterns, textures and vivid colors are used very rarely.

kind company
The thumbnail project images really stand out from the solid white background.

The Consult™
The same concept applies to dark backgrounds.

6. A minimal number of colors

Many minimalist Web designs use only one to three colors, and page elements outside the content are often monochromatic. This again reduces distraction from the Web page content.

Rikcat Industries
This design showcases a monochromatic color palette in the foreground.

Cameron Moll
In this design, page elements such as the logo, navigation bar and sidebar use different hues of gray.

7. Text-based logos instead of illustrative, iconic logos

Again, to uphold the concept of minimalism whereby you strip down the design to the bare, unadorned minimum, the logos of minimalist websites are plain and simple.

The Idiot Behind the Iron Mask

8. Clean right angles and lines in use

Very often clean right angles and lines are used instead of rounded and uneven edges. Rounded graphic elements, the main clichée of Web 2.0, and the uneven edges seen in grunge style are avoided in minimalist Web designs.

Monty Lounge

Builtbybuffalo.com

Antonio Carusone

SIGMA6

9. Minimal ≠ white, gray and black colors

White/black (or dark gray) is the typical color scheme of minimalist Web designs, but others use different colors to achieve the same goals.

Soulellis Studio

Emigre

10. Use of vibrant, colorful images

The use of colorful, bold images can enrich the visual impact of the design by providing a stark contrast to the muted, solid colors of the minimalist design elements.

Coptix

11. Use of grid-based designs

Many minimalist designs use a grid-based layout to reflect the structured, right-angled, rigid nature of minimalism.

Jamie Gregory

Resources

• New Minimalist in Web Design
  A discussion of the “new minimalist” trend in Web design.
• Minimalist in Fashion Web Design
  A discussion of minimalist Web designs in the fashion industry and possible reasons for choosing this style of design.
• Design 2.0: Minimalism, Transparency, and You
  Learn the reasoning behind a design company’s choice of minimalism for its designs.
• The Anatomy of a Minimalistic Web Design
  Steven Snell breaks down the different parts of a minimalist Web design.
• Is Minimalistic Design More Effective?
  A showcase of minimalist designs by Adelle L. Charles.
• Administrative Debris
  Ryan Tomayko talks about his journey into a minimalist design.
• Minimal Sites
  A showcase of minimalistic web designs.

About the Author

Jacob Gube is a Web developer/designer and author of Six Revisions, a blog on Web development and design. If you want to connect with the author, you can follow him on Twitter.

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To add good miniature effect to your photographs, shoot subjects from a high angle (especially from the air). It creates the illusion of looking down at a miniature model. A camera equipped with a tilt-shift lens, which simulates a shallow depth of field, is essentially all you need to start.

You may also want to take a look at the following related posts:

• Beautiful Examples Of High-Speed Photography
• 35 Fantastic HDR Pictures
• 45 Beautiful Motion Blur Photos

50 Amazing Examples of Tilt-Shift Photography

Vincent Laforet

Baldheretic

www.tiltshiftphotography.net

Christopher Chan
Sydney Apple Store Miniature; Fake tilt shift effect applied to a 3xp HDR.

Vesuviano - Nicola De Pisapia
Model of a model of reality. Vietri sul mare (SA) Italy.

Pattagon

Hanna María & Arnar

Sir Hsu

Tiltshiftphotography.net

Lachlan Sear

Automatt

B Tal

Dutchb0y

Eric Lafforgue

Tilt-Shift Photography: It’s A Small World After All

Timmy Toucan

Therealjasonruff

Hamish Grant

darktiger

roevin

Ender079

FoxyMcSlick

patrix

wumpiewoo

marin g

tHE PypEr

Andrew James

Gérard Pétremand

Wmandra

B Tal

Angusleonard

www.cityshrinker.com

Jeangenie

Tarkka

Shawn S. Ide

Kurtis Perry

Vladimir.d

Envios

MCMLXXV

oseillo
On the photo: Barcelona, Spain.

Toshio

Timothy Schenck

unknown

Tilt-Shift Videos

Beached from Keith Loutit
Time-Lapse video of Tamarama Beach, Sydney.

Bathtub III from Keith Loutit
Time-Lapse video of Sydney Harbor with tilt-Shift.

Bathtub II from Keith Loutit
Time-Lapse video at Sydney with tilt-Shift.

From Julien Vignali
Time Lapse video with Tilt-Shift.

Harrowdown Hill from Beggars

From Mrjerz

Multnomah Falls in Miniature from Andrew Curtis
Time-Lapse video at Multnomah Falls.

Monde liliputien (illusion d’optique) Uploaded by kronsilds

You can find further videos in a Metafilter round-up of tiltshift videos.

How To Make Fake Miniature Tilt-Shift Photos?

To add good miniature effect to your photographs, shoot subjects from a high angle (especially from the air). It creates the illusion of looking down at a miniature model. A camera equipped with a tilt-shift lens, which simulates a shallow depth of field, is essentially all you need to start.

Resources:

• Do-It-Yourself Tutorial: Tilt-Shift Lens
  Create a tilt-shift lens yourself if you can’t afford to buy one.
• Focusing the Tilt-Shift Lens
• Using Tilt-Shift Lenses to Control Depth of Field
• Using Tilt-Shift Lenses to Control Perspective
• Why does tiltshift photography make things look tiny?
• Tilt/Shift Photography Links

And if you don’t have specialized equipment, you can make use of Adobe Photoshop or any other image-editing software. Manipulate the focus in such a way that it gives the image the effect of having been shot with a macro lens. Secondly, increase the saturation and contrast in a way that the color looks like bright paint on a miniature model.

Resources:

• Tilt-Shift Photography Photoshop Tutorial
  This tutorial shows you how to make photos of real life-sized subjects look like photos of miniature models.
• Tilt-Shift Photoshop Tutorial
• Photoshop Tilt-Shift
• Fake Model Photography
  With a very little effort, you can take existing photographs of everyday scenes and make it look like they’re actually of miniature models.

Sources and Resources

Here you’ll find links to further articles and related Area for further articles and related resources:

• 10 Tiny Tokyo Photos
• Flickr Pool: Tilt-shift miniature fakes
  Consists of tilt-shift photos created using Adobe Photoshop.
• Flickr Pool: Tilt-Shift HDR

Related posts

Please also consider our previous posts:

• Beautiful Examples Of High-Speed Photography
• 35 Fantastic HDR Pictures
• 45 Beautiful Motion Blur Photos

About the author

Vailancio Rodrigues maintains a blog of his own, Technology Tips, which provides reviews, tips and tricks for various gadgets.

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Imagine if three minutes of video could save your career. That’s what happened to OK Go when the group produced its own film clip after its label threatened to let them go. Gone are the days of multi-million dollar music videos; today they are all produced with love on small budgets by a committed group of creative people.

Below are 60+ original music videos to inspire you and get you excited about the medium again. Some old, some new, but I guarantee you haven’t seen all of them before. Note: these are presented in random order. Just something to relax on a rainy sunday. Please be patient: the page may need some time to load.

You may also want to take a look at the following related post:

• 29 Brillian Music Videos

The Music Videos

1: TISM: Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me

2: Mansun: Taxloss

3: Queens of the Stone Age: Go With the Flow

4: Aphex Twin: Windowlicker (NSFW)

5: Aphex Twin: Come to Daddy

6: Lenny Kravitz: Are You Gonna Go My Way

7: Prodigy: Smack My Bitch Up (NSFW)

Watch in high quality on YouTube

8: A-ha: Take On Me

9: Beck: Girl

Get Quicktimes here

10: Pharcycle: Drop

11: Blur: Coffee & TV

12: Junior Senior: Move Your Feet

13: Royksopp: Remind Me

14: Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer

15: White Strips: Fell In Love With a Girl

Watch in high quality on YouTube

16: Daft Punk: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (fan made)

17: Daft Punk: Around the World

18: Daft Punk: Interstellar 555 Clips

19: Tenacious D: Fuck Her Gently (NSFW)

Watch original Flash animation here
More info here

20: Michael Jackson: Thriller

21: Lemon Jelly: The Shouty Track

22: Justice: D.A.N.C.E.

23: Justice: Stress

24: Justice vs. Simian: We Are Your Friends

25: Justice: DVNO

26: Beastie Boys: Sabotage

27: Radiohead: House of Cards

Get The Code and more info on Google Code

28: Coldcut: Timber

29: Eels: Novocain for the Soul

30: Gorillaz: Clint Eastwood, and Dirty Harry

31: Chemical Brothers: Star Guitar

32: Chemical Brothers, featuring K-OS: Get Yourself High

33: Weezer: Buddy Holly

Full version here.

34: Weezer: Pork and Beans
Pork and Beans - Weezer

35: Coldplay: The Hardest Part

36: Bjork: Wanderlust

Official website for the video here

37: Gotye: Hearts a Mess

38: Funstorung: Sleeping Beauty

39: OK Go: Here It Goes Again

40: Metallica: One

41: Verve: Bittersweet Symphony

42: Supergrass: Pumping on Your Stereo

43: Santogold, Julian Casablancas, N.E.R.D: My Drive Thru for Converse

44: Bjork: All is Full of Love

45: Alex Gopher: The Child

46: Paula Abdul: Opposites Attract

C’mon, this was a classic when it came out! Don’t judge me.

47: Unkle: Rabbit in your Headlights

48: DJ Format: We Know Something You Don’t Know

49: Telemetry Orchestra: Suburban Harmony

50: The Bumblebeez: Dr. Love

Directed by my favorite director, Tom Kuntz. A true genius.

51: Jamiroquai: Virtual Insanity

52: Tool: Stinkfist

53: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Give It Away

54: Weird Al Yankovic: Bedrock Anthem

55: The Avalanches: Frontier Psychiatrist

Also directed by Tom Kuntz

56: Basement Jaxx: Where’s Your Head At

57: Wu-Tang Clan: Triumph

Directed by Brett Ratner!

58: Battles: Tonto

59: Sia: Buttons

60: Fatboy Slim: Praise You, and Weapon of Choice

61: Architecture in Helsinki: Do the Whirlwind

62: Softlightes: Heart Made Of Sound

63: Fujiya & Miyagi: Ankle Injuries

64: Yuki: Sentimental Journey

Last Click

Here are three music videos that will get stuck in your head.

Related Posts

You may also want to take a look at the following related post:

• 29 Brillian Music Videos

(al)

Guid0 is a GUID library for Javascript. Okay, it doesn't yet do official, bona fide, 128-bit, GUIDs yet, mainly for API design reasons. But this is a library you might find useful if you want to generate a unique ID in your Ajax app.

PLAIN TEXT

JAVASCRIPT:

1.  
2. // simple
3. guid = new Guid();
4. var newguid = guid.generate();
5.  
6. // options
7. guid = new Guid(
8.   {
9.         chars: Guid.constants.base85,  // or you could say "abc" if you only wanted those chars to appear
10.         epoch: "June 1, 2003",
11.         counterSequenceLength: 2, // a counter field appended to the end
12.         randomSequenceLength: 2 // a random field appended to the end
13.   }
14. );
15.  

He is working on 128-bit support.

Maybe we can finally believe the hype. Jim Jannard is formally announcing his customizable digital video and still camera RED system today that aims to take on DSLRs and further push the boundaries of video quality.

But the hypemaster couldn't help himself with only one announcement. Oh no. He had to go out and give us a prototype of a RED 3D camera (see pic below), giving the 3D movement another boost of juice (albeit a vaporware-ish one) that suggests that technology will be legitimate and mainstream within a few years.

After taking a quick look at the specs of RED's DSMC, we can say that the system is, above all, ridiculously ambitious. You have to build up the camera from the 'brain' of the system (named 'Scarlet' and the super high-end 'EPIC'), built with camera sensors that range from 2/3 of an inch to a huge 6x17-cm. That sensor’s bigger than my apartment.

But probably the most interesting idea about this system is its easily customizable design. If a bigger sensor is released in the future (or if the prices come down), you don’t need to trash your video camera -- you just upgrade it with a new sensor. That’s not a bad way to sell a system that could set as many records for its price as for its number of pixels in a sensor.

The Scarlet will come with several lens mount options and will be able to shoot 3K @120fps (with still pictures at 4.9 megapixels) all the way up to 6K @30fps (at 9.4 megapixels). They'll be priced as low as $2,500 but most likely will go over ten big ones for the better rigs.

The EPIC sensors will shoot from 5K @100fps (with still pictures at 13.8 megapixels) to 9K @50fps (at 65 megapixels), and the price range will range from $28,000 to over $45,000 when they are released in the Spring next year.

Jannard is also promising an unfathomable 261-megapixel sensor for the rig within two years. We'll believe that one until we see it, or until Guillermo Del Toro comes out of his cave and says he'll use that camera to shoot The Hobbit.

RED isn't the only company to integrate HD video and digital pictures into one rig. One of the true innovations of the year so far came up when the Canon 5D Mark II built-in the ability to shoot 1080p HD video. Other companies are obviously looking into integrating video into their DSLRs to not fall behind and to take advantage of the improved optics.

So far, the early word on all RED cameras has been that they are slightly unstable and quite a bit unfinished. But the video quality is really the key, and most early examples have been special and (almost) worthy of that hype.

See also:

• New Chips Poised to Revolutionize Photography, Film
• Analog Meets Its Match in Red Digital Cinema's Ultrahigh-Res Camera
• The RED DSLR: A Wish List
• Immersive Media's Geodesic-shaped Camera Rides the Wave, Captures 360-degree Action Video

The core of the new line is made up of the new 'Mysterium' brains, pictured in the gallery above and detailed in the gallery below. These boxy sensors can be built up into 5D-esque DSLRs, compact prosumer camcoders, full-fledged professional video cameras or even a 3D unit with a new line of lenses, flash storage, frames, mounts and other add-ons, outlined with the new sensors below. In addition to their own lenses, the new cameras mercifully support gear built for Nikon and Canon standards with mount adapters, so you don't have to re-buy all of your optics. In spring, when the first of the new units are intended to ship, RED One users won't be left out in the cold — they'll get purchase credit towards new cameras, or if they'd just like to throw one of the new sensors into their existing rig, credit towards that. I guess this is what Jannard meant when he said RED had a 'new vision'.

For the full release, click here. Warning — comically giant JPEG. [RED]

But by far the coolest part of the service is the sculpture area. They’ll create up to a life size head sculpture for you with a 3D printer, for the exceptionally reasonable price of $2,000 (smaller sizes are much cheaper).

This is, of course, the perfect gift for the man or woman who has everything, and a stalker’s dream come true (assuming they can get two pictures of whoever they’re stalking). It’s also perfect for TechCrunch readers, which is why we begged until they agreed to let us give one of these away for free.

Tell us why you must have this in the comments (use your real email), and whoever gives the most entertaining reason wins (you also have to agree that it’s ok for us to post a picture of the final product). You get the $299 version, which is a life-sized face mask shown in the pictures and the video below (skip to the end, and turn the sound down, trust me):

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.