Cool Hunting

Game Gardens
From the folks who brought you that adorable mmog Puzzle Pirates, Three Rings have created Game Gardens: a place of 'experimental online game development.' So if you know how to program in Java, you can use their tool kit to create you own games and upload them to the site for others to play. They also provide a forum in which to ask questions...

Name Voyager
The Name Voyager, from Baby Name Wizard, is a fascinating visualization of the US Social Security Administration's historical database of names. Enter part or all of any name and this little Java application will dynamically plot how many babies were given that name during each decade, instantly giving you a sense of when (if ever) that name was popular. I already knew Josh was...

Ffffound
by Sara Huston An invitation-based online service, Ffffound allows members to post and share their favorite images—from '70s album covers to contemporary art and outer space nebula— from the web. Like Amazon and Netflix, the site dials up similar images for perusal according each user's tastes and interests. Members save their favorite images, creating an ever-expanding grownup version of a picture book on the...

Modhaus
Whenever I need to buy furniture—and it's been a few times over the past few months (yes, bookcases are useful things)—I check out Modhaus, an online store and "gallery of modernist furnishings, decorative arts and cultural artifacts of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s." Our apartment is rapidly becoming a shrine to the buying tastes of the Modhaus owners. How much wood can one possibly...

Reminder: Popdeck x Cool Hunting Skateboard Design Contest
We're about halfway through the Popdeck x Cool Hunting Skateboard Design Contest and we've already seem some fit designs. I've got a few decks in mind that I'd like to roll around on, but I'll keep that to myself for now. A $200 cash prize along with a free deck is up for grabs so head on over to Popdeck to submit your design...

Design Police: Visual Enforcement Kit
Like those little stickies that say "Sign Here," the witty Visual Enforcement Kit points out (with excruciating detail) what needs attention, in this case in the world of 2D design. For anyone who's faced more than their share of design that needs help, the downloadable pdfs provide handy pre-printed critiques like, "Severe lack of creativity" and "Kern this!" We particularly like "Hire a copywriter"...