About the author

I didn’t realize until recently how small the field of data visualization and information graphics actually is. I have been following the blogs of most people in this list. And even after searching around, I found only a few more.

I have been fortunate to know, work with and learn from many from this list. I hope that one day, I will get to meet with the rest.

If you know of anybody who is not on this list, please let me know.

Updated Jan 5, 2009 – Many thanks to Zachary Forest Johnson from indiemaps.com and Tom Carden from Stamen design.

Click on image to see full size.

I remember watching the Apple’s ad and thinking it was funny. Most of us are somewhat tired of the “I am a Mac, I am a PC” ads, but from time to time, Apple makes one that’s worth watching.

One of Microsoft’s “I am a PC” ads made it to the list. These ads remind me how old school and traditional Microsoft is. I am still not sure if it is a good thing or not.

via Nielsen Wire

Vladimir Loginov and Maksim Loginov from www.handmadefont.com designed a beautiful and unique set of fonts. Here are a few of my favorites. There are a lot more here if you want to check them out.

Toaster

Handwritten

Concrete and rock

If you have not read this book yet, then you need to order it now. I was skeptical about the book because I thought it tries to cover too many topics, thus not going in depth about any of them. I was wrong.

Far from being a boring theoretical book on web development, this book contains a vast amount of useful information with easy-to-understand examples. The book covers the algorithms behind search rankings, online matchmaking, product recommendations and social bookmarking. The author walks you through the theory behind each algorithm and provides examples of how you can write one yourself. You don’t have to be an experienced programmer to understand this book.

The examples in the book are written in Python programming language. You don’t need to know Python before reading this book because the author will teach you. Python is a beautiful and easy-to-learn language. In fact after reading this book, I decided to dump PHP and learn Python instead.

This is part of the full list from Toxel.com. Most of the designs in the original list are interesting, but I think only the ones below are actually useful.

On/Off Mug

Eva Solo smiley bowl

Drink Selector Mug

Thanks, Evann :)

Click on image to see other Time’s cartoons

There are a lot of interesting cartoons published in the Cartoons of the Week section of the Time magazine. I chose three from this week that I really like. If you want to see more, please visit Cartoons of the Week.

The title said it all.

via msnbc.com

Click on image to see full size

Michelle Devereaux created this family tree for Wired magazine in 2005. I know that it is old, but being a Star Wars geek, I have an obligation to propagate it :). Although the design is a bit busy, this graphics contains a huge amount of information.

[ via Randy Krum ]