PSFK mentioned that Skull Phone hijacked/hacked/pirated ten digital outdoor boards in the LA Metro area. I find this to be totally amazing. I grew up watching the movies like Hackers and thinking that hacking looked like fun, but in the back of my mind knowing it was dangerous/illegal. With skull phone hacking Clear Chanel’s outdoor boards it leads me to ponder several things. Is this the digital future that we were promised? What happened to the flying cars and power laces we saw in Back to the Future Part 2? If all we get is people hacking digital outdoor boards (which is pretty funny) I think we got ripped off.

However I do wonder if this Skull Phone guy has a death wish, Clear Channel is a huge company and will spare no expense in making an example of him; is this hacker a foreigner with no sense of fear of American legal system or someone who just doesn’t give a damn. This also makes me wonder how secure wireless networks (I am assuming that Clear Channel manages their outdoor boards with wireless networks) of Clear Channel and other digital outdoor companies are. It could be charming to see a how to “hack outdoor boards” in the near future similar to the hack the iphone that surfaced last June. Whatever the case may be, this was a brilliant subversive act and maybe Clear Channel will wise up. Maybe this won’t be the last stunt we see like this.

Apparently the story does not end here! Clear channel has announced that skull phone paid for the placement of his skullphones. The further dispelling of the rumors can be found here. I  guess this is good news, this means that the future is not here yet, and that a few of us who cannot tie our shoes can still hope for power laces.

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Legendary SF ad man Hal Riney died Monday of cancer at the age of 75. No fewer than 28 agencies were founded by people who had worked at Hal Riney and Partners, including Goodby, Silverstein and AKQA. Read his obituary in the SF Chronicle here.

Should’ve posted this yesterday, but here’s one of Riney’s classic Bartles and Jaymes commercials…

Forty-four awards in Reno, another 44 in Vegas. I’m not much on cipherin’ but I think that adds up to 88 total Addys for The Glenn Group this year.

For the unabridged list of winners, read more…

Not that I care much about Italian fashion or designer hand bags, but when it comes to music and cultural phenomenons, I am all ears. The fine folks over at PSFK pointed out that Amy Winehouse though she may reside in a drug induced stupor most the time is taking the fashion world by storm. With her breakthrough album Back to Black catpulting the (haggard?) Soul Singer to the top of the charts with the single “Rehab” Winehouse has made her (look e.g. eyeliner, bee-hive hairdo and a healthy cocaine addiction) self into an international icon, practically over-night (or 8 months, but who is counting?). Winehouse was the muse of Fashion Week Paris 2008 performing for the Louis Vuitton 2008 collection opening (a modest $980,000 gig), becoming the muse of Fendi, Chanel and Commes Des Garconnes lines and with a line of cosmetics and hair products in the works (seriously? hairspray and lip stick? look out kids if you are scared of clowns) and already a loyal following of (coc-d out, dressed up wannabe) fans, what is the next logical step for pop icon Amy Winehouse, a summer blockbuster movie with McDonalds cross promotion and happy meal toys?

You can see a lovely bit of journalism produced by the International Herald Tribune here.

authors note: personally I am not a fan of Amy Winehouse, but people sure do seem to like her.