These are pictures of European semi-trucks whose trailers are decorated to look like the sides are missing. The products they are hauling are painted on the sides and back.

This one shows Pepsi cases stacked on the ceiling, while the bottom of the trailer is empty.

This one is of a giant bottle of beer that looks so real, like it is coming out of the side of the trailer.

This truck has a windshield facing the back and there has been a driver painted in the driver’s seat looking back over his shoulder to appear like he is driving backwards.

Here is one of a canvas tote bag.

Can you believe that the aquarium with fish swimming in it is not the real thing?

This one is of a bookshelf with giant books lined up in it and a post-it note with an advertisement on it, probably for the company that sells the books.

This one looks like it has no sides and top at all! But if the truck happens to move out of spot and it will have no effect at all.

This is the most innovative one for Pringles Hot & Spicy chips. The trailer appears as though the inside of it has been through a fire.

Via

Curse, another online company that offers social networking around multi-player online games, has received a $5 million in a first round of venture capital funding.

Curse offers gamers the standard social networking features around their games, from image and video uploading, to blogging, social bookmarking, wikis, databases, forums and guild website hosting.

The funding, which comes from France’s AGF Private Equity and other individual investors, follows more than $800,000 in angel money, the company said in a statement. It also comes as venture capitalists are pumping money into a other companies doing similar things, from Multiverse, which provides a way for developers to produce their own games, to Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning’s Rupture, a more direct competitor that also builds social networking around existing games.

Gaming remains hot. Silicon Valley angel investor Jeff Clavier recently told us he’d resumed investing in Internet companies again after a brief hiatus at the end of last year, in part because of the promise of online gaming.

Source: VentureBeat, Blogforward

Synthasite is a new web-based design tool that enables you and your team to collaboratively work on your website design. Synthasite is currently in limited beta.

With South Africa-based Synthasite, you can work with the tools available within its service, which easily arrange text, images, badges and buttons to create a professional-looking site. There are a few items available by default, such as a YouTube video or a Flickr photo search, which can be added into your design as well. The offerings are currently rather basic, and mimic the templates and design offerings of programs like Wordpress. The functionality is very easy to maneuver, though, and could prove helpful for those teams wanting to create templates and other items such as a welcome page or a blog.

While Synthasite is currently in beta and has some useful tools, it has plans to add more in the coming months. Up next for Synthasite is file management, publishing, deployment and hosting, collaborative site building, chat, SEO, graphic design, blogging, wikis, developer resources, site analytics, and a whole set of features designed to build a community around Synthasite features and users. In the direction Synthasite is looking to go, it will be in the same realm as services like WetPaint and SiteKreator, with more functionality and customization, in some ways.

Mashable!

In the U.S., the promise of the future in accessing mobile information via WAP or a rich client application casts a shadow on SMS, better known as text messaging or “texting”.

According to conventional wisdom, WAP and downloaded client applications are the holy grails of mobile, with their ability to deliver splashy, colorful landing pages, images and videos to consumers on their mobile phones. Companies like AOL are snapping up WAP advertising startups like Third Screen Media with the belief that, as devices and networks improve, increased consumer adoption will follow.

But SMS is no underdog. It has huge adoption now, is very versatile and useful and is going to persist, even if the handsets and networks catch up to the hype being created around WAP and clients. It’s not like the industry is slamming text messaging, most just ignore it for the razzle-dazzle of newer technology. But some are realizing where the real volume is. Maybe more importantly, SMS has the highest overall usage rates in the US (37%) compared to WAP (14%) or rich clients (6%).

Why are people going to keep using SMS?

1. My mother can use SMS

SMS is simple. My mom can text message, but she doesn’t have a clue how to go to a website on her cell phone or download a client application. As much as people think they want the cutting edge technology, when you want information right now, you’re going to go straight to the quick and easy feature that you know how to use, which is text. Answers come quick, efficiently, and on any device, not just the newest and hottest.

2. People (including my mother) are using it NOW

I think the market’s default assumption is that it will eventually be able to replicate the web or a desktop experience on a cell phone. That assumption overlooks the widespread adoption of what’s already in most people’s hands. Unlike the new, and more expensive technologies, text messaging works for almost everybody, right now. People don’t change when they have a tool that already works. Eighty-eight percent of US Internet users said they used text messaging; WAP and clients didn’t even make this list.

3. SMS is asynchronous

That’s fancy talk for being able to do the following (not possible with WAP or a client): You can send an SMS, then turn off or put away your phone and get the response later. You don’t need to keep your phone open to wait for a page to download. You can also store the information from an SMS permanently in your inbox

4. Check out Europe and Asia

Take a look at how SMS has taken off in Europe and Asia. In the UK, you can get local election results via SMS. You can order a pizza or a taxi via SMS. Despite access to faster networks and more advanced handsets, in Asia as much as 72% of mobile revenue comes from text messaging.

5. Pushing the Possibilities

The fact that SMS is the only true “push” mechanism for mobile information makes it quite powerful. Want sports updates or traffic information sent to you automatically? The only mobile medium for this type of service is SMS. Although users can visit WAP sites or receive email on their phones, SMS has both the simplicity and the immediacy to encourage ongoing usage and wide adoption. Also, anyone can receive a text message alert. They can set it up on the web and still get the value of staying in the know on the go. They don’t even have to know how to send a text message!

Today, SMS accounts for approximately 75 to 80 percent of non-voice service revenues worldwide. Despite all the noise around WAP and the latest technologies, most of the action is in SMS. Traditional media companies (online, print, TV) and advertisers are taking notice. I’m not saying that browsing the web on your phone isn’t going to become better and that new handsets won’t continue to offer great experiences. You absolutely need to be able to browse for some things. Just don’t overlook SMS: this technology isn’t going away.

Via blogforward money

1. Engadget: A tech blog with news on the latest gadgets, gizmos and tech news. Rather a lot going on, on the front page, with dozens of outgoing links to other blogs on the Weblogs Inc network. First impression: Cluttered.
2. Boing-Boing: A completely random blog/magazine with no apparent focus on any one thing (nothing wrong with that). Dozens of posts on the front page, hemmed in tightly by what I assume are ads. First impression: Fluid width design anyone?
3. Gizmodo: It calls itself the gadgets weblog, and appears to be just that. Nice clean design, good use of images,  sensible number of posts, uncluttered. First impression: I like it.
4. TechCrunch: A blog that concentrates on the latest  internet products and companies. A clear WordPress blog with only 6 posts on the front page (which encourages you to read further) and some interesting articles with news of a new WP plugin that I like the look of. You would think he’d keep his version of WordPress up to date though… First impression: Green! But I think I’ll subscribe.
5. The Huffington Post: Unsurprisingly laid out like a newspaper, the blog is tucked into a narrow column, although it does exist in it’s own right on another page. News and opinion on any topic you care to mention. First impression: I hate the homepage layout-it may work on paper, but not on my screen.
6. Lifehacker: Recommends the software, downloads etc. that help to make you more productive. A relief on the eyes after the Huffington Post, and an engagingly written, interesting blog. First impression: The blocks of ads overlaps the sidebar. First thing I noticed I’m afraid.
7. Ars Technica:Everything technology related, with articles on IT, gaming, internet and related law. A little cluttered, with few images and the right ’sidebar’ is way too intrusive for my tastes. First impression: Is this on Blogspot? (Sorry, it’s the template).
8. PostSecret: People write a secret of theirs onto a postcard and mail it to the blogger, who posts it up. The most drab template you can imagine, on Blogspot of all things and yet utterly compelling. Unequivocal proof that content is what counts, and a couple of blogs further up the list could learn from letting the content of the posts speak for itself. First impression: Wow.
9. Daily Kos: Hard to sum up in a few words, but comes across as very personal given the number of different contributors. A political blog very firmly centered on the US, it is nevertheless an interesting read. A clean simple layout, which allows you to concentrate on what’s been written. First impression: Simple, and straight to the point.
10. Michelle Malkin: Very little actual writing, just an awful lot of cutting and pasting. Probably appeals to the opposite camp to Daily Kos, I should imagine they lob dead woodchucks at each other over the Technorati fence. First impression: Blockquotes ahoy!

I suppose you’ll be wanting a point now? Discuss here

Yahoo Widgets 4 is live NOW! In Yahoo’s latest round of widgetry, there will be an improved widget dock that can be attached to any corner of your monitor, and offer a nice view of your widgets and offer easy access for more.

Most useful for the consumer is the Flickr desktop widget, where you are able to drag-and-drop images into the widget for automatic upload into your Flickr account. While other services such as Cellblock or Pickle offer desktop drag-and-drop applications that function in similar ways, none have offered such direct access to Yahoo’s own Flickr (although upcoming Apollo contender Dekoh may eventually do the trick).

Other anticipated features that will be useful for developers are better authoring tools, and less memory usage for widgets built on Yahoo’s platform. As widgets reign in 2007, these new tools will be key for the further deployment of widgets. Considering the current status of widgets and the power of Yahoo, it is only right to expect their widgets to be highly integrated with desktop functions, and minimize the need for a single browser application.

Widgets Lab wrote a good summary of the features ahead of launch.

VIA Mashable!