The quirky music video for the song Zeroes & Ones by California-based indie rock band Baby Seal Club is full of chickens pecking at beet-filled human figures in a tiny faux Apple store. The song (which I think is pretty great) is from their upcoming album titled Default World, due out in summer 2012. The video was conceived & produced by Fudo, Wizzbang, Olava & Uncle Stabby.

Wizz Bang, the band’s Chief-Chicken Wrangler, described the video’s shoot in detail at the Baby Seal Club website:

I have raised many birds from egg to adulthood and one thing I’ve discovered along the way is that the baby chicks really enjoy eating the shredded vegetable fiber that shoots out the back of our big juicer. Being a somewhat macabre chicken-wrangler and verified horror flick fan, I noticed that the beet fibers looked a lot like viscera and guts – the amazing reddish color, the stringy consistency, and the hard-to-identify-on-film quality of the stuff thus sparked an idea. I began feeding them the stuff everyday as a “treat,” so they would become good and hungry for it when it was time to be on the set.

An advance copy of the CD is available now:

John Hodgman and Justin Long (the PC and Mac guys from the Apple commercials) introduced Richard Dreyfuss last night at the 16th Annual Webby Awards, who paid tribute to Steve Jobs along with a special “thank you” video that included a message from President Obama.

Also check out Gary Sharma’s 16th Annual Webby Awards Highlights on Betabeat.

via Velvet Roper

photos by Scott Beale

Walking through Midtown Manhattan this afternoon I came a cross a tiny Steve Jobs dilegently hawking iPhones in the window of Cellular Express on 38th at 6th Ave. I could just barely make out him saying “insanely great”.

photo by Scott Beale

Etcher is an iPad app and case that converts the tablet into an Etch A Sketch toy (intro video & Etcher drawing time-lapse). Etcher creator Ari Krupnik is raising funds for the project on Kickstarter.

via designboom

In 1984 Apple produced “Blue Busters”, a video spoof of Ghostbusters that goes after IBM (which had the nickname “Big Blue”). The video was shown at Apple’s 1984 worldwide sales staff meeting in Hawaii and features cameos by both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The video is from the archives of former Apple employee Craig Elliott.

Previously Craig provided another Apple sales video from the same meeting, this one featured Steve Jobs as FDR.

via MacRumors

image via Eva Giselle

Graphic designer Eva Giselle and web developer Jesse Lupini recently discovered that a bottle of beer can be opened with an iPad adapter. Lifehacker reports that it can be done with most any Apple power adapter.

image via laptopbatteryinc.co.uk

via Lifehacker

The Vans Rubber Waffle iPhone 4 case was styled to take on the distinctive features of a Vans skate shoe. It was created as a promotional item for the company’s employees and later was available at Vans stores. It now looks like the item can only be found through an auction site like Ebay.

via Technabob, OTWS and Jay Mug.

images via OTWS and Technabob

Hollywood-based MysteryGuitarMan has made Video Puzzle, a music video for his cover of Fun.’s “We Are Young” that uses four well-choreographed and quick-moving iPhones. It took 238 takes to reach this final version. MysteryGuitarMan shares his creative process in the video’s behind-the-scenes footage on BAMMO.

via Viral Viral Videos

Etsy shop Atomic Attic makes adorable pet beds from used Apple computer bodies and vintage televisions. Each one comes with a cushion that features a washable slipcover.

via Earth Techling

Brydge is a combination keyboard and case for iPad that when attached, converts the tablet into a laptop (video). It is made of machined aluminum and attaches to the iPad with a special quick release hinge. Brydge is by Los Angeles-based designer Brad Leong, Sam, & Eddy. They are raising funds for the project on Kickstarter.

Actor Samuel L. Jackson recently starred in a commercial for iPhone 4S where he’s conversing with Siri as he’s making dinner. In response, Slacktory has created Samuel L. Jackson’s Real Siri Ad, a very funny video where Pulp Fiction‘s Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) talks to Siri in a much different manner.

Samuel L. Jackson’s iPhone ad was cool, but it didn’t have enough swearing, and it wasn’t realistic about Siri’s capabilities. We fixed that.

Here’s the original footage from Pulp Fiction for comparison:

On Saturday April 28, 2012, folks with iPads are asked to gather at The Forge in Los Angeles from 3 PM to 8 PM to create a Jumboltron, a crowd-sourced jumbotron made from iPads. This project is hosted by Nate Bolt, Ryan Schude, Lauren Lemon and Gabriela Herman.

…basically, come hang out at and help us build giant images out of iPads for no good reason. We’d like to gather many of you and your iPads for a few hours to assemble things like cars, people, living rooms, giant messages, and other craziness out of iPads.

photos by Nate Bolt

Amplifiear is a simple analog amplifier for the iPad’s external speaker (video). It snaps on to the iPad, bouncing sound from the rearward-facing speaker back toward the user. Amplifiear was designed by Evan Clabots of Brooklyn-based Nonlinear Studio. Clabots is raising funds for the project on Kickstarter.

The Knucklecase is an aluminum knuckleduster-shaped case for iPhones (4 & 4S). It even comes with a disclaimer:

This product is to be used only as a handle and protective accessory for an iPhone. Any other use of the product is considered a misuse, resulting in the forfeiture of any express or implied warranty of fitness for purpose. By purchasing this product, you agree to hold the Company harmless for any misuse of the product, which results in damage to yourself or third parties.

via Technabob

David Mitchell’s Soapbox is a series of 3 to 5-minute videos featuring monologues by the eruditely irritated British comedian David Mitchell who vents on such topics as phones, naming your child and signing boobs. The series, co-written by Mitchell and John Finnemore, has run for 64 episodes over 3 seasons; you can find it on YouTube and as a podcast.

If you like Stephen Fry but you wish he wouldn’t be so *nice* about being so *smart* (though you like the patterns of *em*-phasis in his well-mannered *rants*) then David Mitchell will be right up your street. Your street will be in England, and you will sneer down at it from an upper window with a comfortable certainty that it IS okay to feel a bit superior (as long as you are parenthetically a bit self-deprecating soon after). “Consensus“, you should know by the way, is a trap.

Actually Mitchell is the British John Hodgman. He’s the “PC” character in the UK version of the Apple “Get a Mac” campaign anyway, the role that Hodgman played in the U.S. ads. Here’s a collection of the ads that were unique to the British market (there were others that were based on the US originals).

Mac in the ads is played by Mitchell’s comedy partner Robert Webb. Mitchell and Webb have co-starred in a film and two TV series together: “That Mitchell and Webb Look” is a sketch show which grew out of their successful radio show and “Peep Show” is an award-winning sit-com whose 8th season starts later this year. Both shows are available on Netflix and Hulu at the moment. Here’s one of my favorite sketches from That Mitchell and Webb Look: Bronze Age Orientation Day.

Beyond his work with Webb, Mitchell stays quite busy appearing on and hosting various panel, quiz, and news satire shows including 10 O’Clock Live (which also features Charlie Brooker who we’ve covered before). Mitchell also writes a column for The Observer. He was interviewed by Jesse Thorn on The Sound of Young America (now “Bullseye“) in 2008.

image via Bullseye

Here’s one more from the Soapbox, David Mitchell’s honest opinion on “LOL”…

Cobook is a simple address book app for Mac that has an intuitive interface, integrates with your social networks, and syncs with mobile devices and Apple Address Book (video). Cobook was created by Latvian software engineer Kaspars Dancis.

via Paul Stamatiou

Rob Schmitz of Marketplace takes an inside look at how an iPad is made at the Foxconn factory in China.

via Geekosystem

Siri has some fun teaching Nick Douglas how to speak Spanish.

Variety is reporting that Ashton Kutcher will play Steve Jobs in an indie film directed by Joshua Michael Stern that “will chronicle Steve Jobs from wayward hippie to co-founder of Apple.” The biopic will be simply be titled Jobs.

image via Idolr

Paper is a free, simple sketchbook app for iPad (video). Paper users can sketch and take notes—by hand or with a stylus—and post their creations online. For more on the app, see this review by The Verge. Paper is by FiftyThree, a software studio based in New York City and Seattle.

Today Apple announced a new iPad with a high resolution “retina display,” optional 4G broadband wireless, and a 5 megapixel iSight camera. The new iPad will be released March 16.

Apple also announced that the iTunes store will now carry 1080p HD content, which will be supported by a new version of AppleTV.

To read about Apple’s other announcements at today’s media event, see The New York Times Bits blog coverage.

SuriTV is a parody video created by Tripp and Tyler that shows what might happen if the iPhone’s voice assistant Siri controlled our home televisions.

SuriTV – Almost ready to revolutionize television.

And yes, we’re aware of the spelling.

Omniscient Siri by SaGa Design is an iPhone case inspired by Apple’s Siri digital assistant. The case won the 3D design category in a competition to determine what Siri looks like, hosted by rapid manufacturing website Shapeways.

via Super Punch

Matt Binder updated the Apple iPhone “Rock God” commercial with a condescending version of Siri.

via Viral Viral Videos

Clear is a very simple to-do list iPhone app that has a clever gestural interface (video). The app is by Realmac Software.

via Fast Company