position: absolute - Design resources and inspiration.

Hot off the presses: Ecocho is a new search engine that delivers Yahoo! and Google search results with a twist: for every 1000 searches, they plant two trees through government verified programs. So you’re getting the same service as before, and you’re helping the environment with zero effort. The project is funded by the advertising that comes along with Google’s and Yahoo’s custom search solutions. I think the idea is brilliant (and so simple I wish I had thought of it), and I’ve already made it my default Firefox search plugin.

Ecocho needs our help

Unfortunately, only a few days after the launch, Google decided to block Ecocho from access to their results.

Google chose today – Earth Day, of all days – to pull their feed from Ecocho. They claim that Ecocho has broken the adsense rules, but Ecocho has never directed users to click on ads (as Google suggests) and Ecocho has not only always respected the adsense rules but also believes strongly in them for Ecocho to succeed. We need genuine Ecocho users to make the project work!

They ask that people head over to their blog for the full scope, maybe leave a comment, and if you’re feeling really social, email Google from the email address on those pages (there are petition letters on the page also) to voice your concerns. Please tell your family and friends also if you think they would care about the Ecocho cause.

Æstheticrew.com notifies us about a very insightful and entertaining speech by 37Signals partner and founder of Ruby on Rails, David Heinemeier Hansson.

Hansson talks about founding a profitable online start-up without falling for the multi-million VC-funding hype that web2.0 companies like MySpace and Facebook have spurred. Recorded at Paul Graham’s Startup School 08. Definitely worth a watch!

I don’t even know if there is a name for this concept of perspective, but “the other kind of 3D” is what I can come up with right now. The new game FEZ is a 2D-Jump ‘n Run game with a twist: a third dimension can be used to alter the 2D plane. But really, it’s hard to put into words so check out this amazing video demonstration:

Fez was a finalist at the 10th Annual Independent Games Festival, along with the wonderful Crayon Physics Deluxe that I can’t believe I’ve never presented here.