Photograph by Charles O’Rear

Often controversial. Always visionary.

Steve Jobs didn’t invent devices at Apple; he fathered them. He lent his personal vision to a visionary environment, without which the products that create the world as we know it today would not exist. His impact on the way we live is incalculable. The man could not see anything without seeing how it could be made better, and more relevant, and more useful to the lives of everyone, all over the world.

Even if you don’t use any product with an Apple logo on it, consider this: You are reading this on a page on the World Wide Web. The Web was created, and the first web page served and displayed, on a NeXT computer.

Today we join the world in mourning the passing of a great man. Steve Jobs, we miss you already.

Each finger painting is unique and created through direct contact of an inked finger on tracing paper over an iPhone, as the artist, Evan Roth, opens, checks, and closes Twitter. There is one painting for each day of the month of September 2011.

[Multi-Touch Finger-paintings]

Who doesn’t like Deerhoof? And who doesn’t like FREE Deerhoof?

Go to their site now and download 99% Upset Feeling. It’s a free 11-track album — live performances of material spanning their career. Also, there’s a nifty slideshow at the site.

mBack’s roomy internal hard drive provides ample space to backup all of your personal masterpieces, photos, music and videos. With mBack you have peace-of-mind that your creations are backed up safe and sound. mBack is Time Machine compatible and securely mounts to the iMac or Thunderbolt Display stand.

[mBack by mLogic]

They’re huggable. They’re cuddly. They’re demonic.

They’re plush. Not in the sense of “richly luxurious and expensive,” being in the $10.99 to $12.99 range; but more along the lines of “plush” as in “having a soft nap.” Which may be a quality that you’ve never associated with the iconic rock and roll band.

These plushies are every bit as instantly-recognizable as their namesakes: The Demon; Starchild; Space Ace; and last (because he’s the drummer, natch) but not least, the Catman. Each doll is 7″ tall (thanks to their squeezably soft platform shoes), fully licensed, and ready to rock. Fire and blood not included.

KISS Plushies by Funko

Anatomically correct

Obol announces the end of soggy cereal. This patented bowl, made of food-safe, BPA-free polypropylene, features Swoop n Scoop technology that solves the problem of soggy cereal. A spiral slide design separates the crispy comestible from the liquid until you’re ready to take a bite. If quality time between you and your cereal is interrupted (ah, those pesky telemarketers!), you can set Obol aside, deal with the interruption, and come back to cereal as pristine as when you poured it out of the box. Or bag, because we know you buy in bulk. Obol’s textured, non-slip grip makes it easy to pick up — literally — where you left off. 6,000 years of civilization has finally paid off.

Obol, “The Original Crispy Bowl”

Everybody’s favorite notebook, Moleskine, has announced a new kind of social ecommerce platform that allows fans and consumers to purchase one-of-a-kind, customized notebooks, journals and planners directly from artists.

More than just another online store, the Moleskine Artist Marketplace is a centralized hub for sharing work, discovering new work, trading tips, and purchasing notebooks from favorite artists. Artistic techniques and mediums including embroidery, origami, oil paint, photography, even taxidermy are on display.

“[Moleskine notebooks] give me inspiration to create something new and unpredictable,” said Stella Sbilenca, an Italian illustrator who likes combining notebooks with cut and paste wizardry.

Brad Fisher is a mixed-media portrait artist who uses plain Moleskine notebooks to sketch his compositions. The new platform, he says, “provides an honest marriage between creativity and commerce.”

the artists at work, and their work

The Moleskine Artist Marketplace

You can never have too many posters, especially if they’re particularly cool. You’ll want this poster for quick reference. From Pop Chart Lab’s website:

From the pompadour to the moptop to the metal mane to whatever it is Lady Gaga has atop her head, here is a history of popular music as told through the notable haircuts on this signed, limited edition print.

Pop Chart Lab has identified a crying need and filled it. With an 18 x 24 inch (that’s 45.72 x 60.96 centimeter) poster, offset-litho’d on 100 lb archival paper stock, certified “recycled” by the Forest Stewardship Council. Each poster is signed by the artists (not by the popstars) and numbered from a limited edition of 500.

Pop Chart Lab wants to be comprehensive about it, too. If they use a suggestion you send them for a haircut they missed, they’ll send you a gift card.

Pop Chart Lab

a closeup of selected do's

The Great Wave off Kanagawa was created and published sometime between 1830 and 1833 by the Japanese artist known as Hokusai. The print is the most-recognized single item in Hokusai’s series, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, and possibly the most-recognized woodblock print in history. Now, this famous work of art is coming to Japan’s aid.

Pure Evil Gallery has published a darkly-relevant version of The Great Wave. All proceeds from the sale of this print go to the Japanese Red Cross, to be distributed directly among the earthquake- and tsunami-affected population of Japan.

[Hokusai Tsunami Print for Japan]

[Discodeine]