Are the White Stripes trying to weed out their intelligent fans from their vacuous ones, or are they just trying to create buzz for their new album Icky Thump (due out in June of this year)? At any rate, when you go to their website, you’ll find this word search-type puzzle– below the puzzle is a one line description of each track on Icky Thump. So far, we (the blogs) have been unable to decipher the code. What does it all mean? As Indie Blog Heaven postulates, “Maybe these are clues to some portal where 400 unreleased White Stripes tracks exist.” Or maybe once solved, the puzzle will reveal their stops for their upcoming tour which, despite having already been proclaimed by some in the media, haven’t really been decided and released yet. Can’t wait to find out which!

Gift shopping sites/catalogues always brag that they are an easy way to shop for that person you can’t seem to find the perfect thing for; a claim that turns out to be total crap when you find yourself walking up to said person with another plumeria scented candle (that is unique only in the sense that you paid $20 too much for it). However, I think that Violet, an online gifting site, is showing some signs of evolution in this tough category. By categorizing their offerings by occasion or recipient, and then by personality traits, the whole process does seem to be nicely simplified. Personally, I think the most effective helper for finding the perfect gift is the recipient’s best friend for a few months, but that is (understandably) unrealistic in the land of hostess/business/etc. gifting. So, if you do find yourself needing something special in a hurry, Violet can gently guide you to something that won’t go straight into a drawer or a guest bathroom.

After much encouragement, longtime friend and colleague Alan Graham finally launched a blog! It’s officially titled MedHed– and it’s really solid. MedHed (or Media Head) is a daily digest of great design for everyday usage. Alan not only writes about services and products he loves (we know that job well)– but he also write about ones he’s been using for more than just a few days. He’s after great design you’ll want in your life forever. Check out the reviews and fun tests with Bodum Glassware and Global Knives. Also be sure to signup for the MedHed list for a chance to win free products he reviews daily. Congratulations Alan, we’re all reading!

Josh and I are impressed by the online portfolio of Rob Brearley, a graphic designer/art director out of the U.K.. Brearley’s balanced, beautiful, and individualistic approach creates just the right amount of allure and simplicity in his identity and promotional work, but his real gift may lie in the incredible “touchability” of his design. His use of interesting textures and approachable typefaces is so attractive– I’m dying to feel up the Creamfields Bible, and could even take a closer look at his work for Electronics Yorkshire. I guess that’s the magic of Brearley; he makes a girl want to get her hands on an electronics manual. This packaging design he created for PS3’s fractal campaign uses over 35 creases and folds to keep the enclosed DVD safe from scratches– brilliant (unless you have to fold it back up like a map. God, I hate that.)

When Jamie and I were in Miami for what felt like an eternity covering all of the Art Basel events, we had a tough decision to make about where to stay– While we’re young and supposedly hip, we’re not big fans of the scene (nor the prices) on South Beach. We reached out to a handful of different hoteliers with our needs and surprisingly the Conrad Group was one of the few that didn’t turn up their nose. At first blush I was hesitant to stay at the Conrad– despite it being recognized as ‘Florida’s Leading Luxury Hotel’ in 2006 it was a little off the beaten path, downtown, and owned by the Hilton Group– and I’m much more of a boutique kind of guy. It turns out staying there for the week was a life-saver, although we spent a small fortune in cab rides to and from South Beach related events, every afternoon or evening we were able to get out of the mess to our own little safe haven. When we weren’t partying with Jose Parla or eating at Atrio, we spent a fair amount of time at the rooftop pool, enjoying the hot tub– an awesome surprise for those windy nights. As far as the room, we were showed to a residence– an awesome 2 bedroom apartment with a fully furnished kitchen, living room and decks with stellar views of the ocean. While I prefer to support independent hotels, staying here definitely exceeded my expectations. If they’re all this nice, welcoming and fairly priced, I’ll be keeping my eyes out for Conrad Hotel’s around the world.

I’m already a big fan of the iConcertCal that Josh wrote about a couple months ago– it allows users to see all of the relevant upcoming shows in their area with a mere keystroke in iTunes. Icelander Hjalti Jakobsson recently launched another iTunes-integrated application that has been resonating well with devout music (mp3) blog readers and music downloaders. Peel’s functionality is twofold. You can (1) subscribe to and browse your favorite music blogs within its iTunes-esque interface, and can (2) stream tracks or one-click download mp3’s from Peel into iTunes. Peel is currently in beta 2 and is available for free for Mac only. When Hjalti works all of the bugs out, he’s going to try to roll out a PC version as well, and will at that point begin to charge a nominal download fee. More on Peel here.

Our friends over the pond at FUSShop have released their new Saviour T-shirt designs for Summer 07, and amongst the new lineup is this, the famous U.K. graffiti artist Banksy in his infamous disguise. The close up shots of the T’s reveal their worn and comfy feel, and you have to love what they’ve done with an icon here– celebrating the guy who single handedly raised property values in London’s trendy Shoreditch area with his stencils and spray can. While everything in Banksy’s personal shop is free, this T is going to cost you a pretty penny once you convert 29.99 Pounds Sterling to U.S. D’s, but for you hard core Banksy fans out there, I’d say it’s well worth the cost. BTW– it also comes in kelly green.