This post is a break from the normal and will probably be of interest to almost no one. But, yours truly found a solution that doesn’t seem to be anywhere on the Internet — so I thought I’d post it here to help anyone searching for the same answer: How to Get Adobe CS3 to Run in Windows 7/Vista.

If you have installed Adobe CS3 within Windows 7/Vista and are experiencing the issue where the programs (Photoshop, Illustratror, Dreamweaver, what-have-you) are either not loading or only beginning to load then “not responding” (this happens with Photoshop), rest easy: there is a fix that just might work for you!

Strangely enough, you need to a licensing fix named Adobe Acrobat 8 licensing service update (Windows Vista only).

Even though it’s listed as being for Acrobat & Vista — it fixed my issues with Adobe CS3 & Windows 7.

Good luck!

Tonight! In San Francisco…

BarBot 2010: the third annual festival of Cocktail Robotics!

“BarBot is a celebration of cocktail culture and man-machine interface. Get a drink from an actual robot. Chat up a snarky electronic bartender. Listen to some graceful tunes being played by robotic music makers. And, after downing your sixth martini, you can finally admit that it’s the geeks who shall inherit the earth.“

A Brief History of Pretty Much Everything: a flipbook animation that covers the history of the universe… as related to our planet (and Western cultures in particular).

Cute Things Exploding takes popular, cute videos and makes the subjects of the video explode.

Example:

Here’s a perfectly innocent & cute video of a kitten making a ‘surprised’ gesture:

Here’s that same kitten with the “Cute Things Exploding” treatment:

Julia Child cooks up some primordial soup in this video for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum exhibit ‘Life in The Universe’:

The Swimming Cities are one of the most incredible art installations I’ve heard of in quite awhile: both in terms of the resulting works & the experiences of building, sailing & living on the floating constructions. Here’s a story about their production.

Here’s a short video about the project (and about Swoon, whose work is central to the project):

Selleck Waterfall Sandwich: a site that lives up to its name.

In case you need to see more of post-earthquake Haiti to prompt you into action, this 360° video takes you down the rubble-ridden streets and allows you to control the view of the camera. CNN has several more interactive videos available. Have a watch, then lend a hand: American Red Cross, UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders. {Thanks, Gymbeaux, for finding these videos.}

Nicholas Cage might just be the most overused and over-appreciated actor of our times. He might have been OK at one point, but now the choice to cast him spells doom for any film (in my completely solid & irrefutable opinion). As if to bring one of my worst nightmares to life, a website is now dedicated to replacing everyone with Nic Cage. It’s called Nic Cage as Everyone and it might be the most sickening site ever created. For example:

Just for Gymbeaux: what the maker’s have called “The Most Useless Machine Ever.” I find it endlessly entertaining, so not completely useless, then.

Watch the video, then follow the instructions to build your own.