New York City has seen more than its share of crazy street art through the decades.  This new series of computer error message-themed street art from prolific and mysterious artist Jilly Ballistic has a decidedly modern aesthetic.

Found mostly added to advertisements around NYC, the computer dialog boxes warn passers-by about low batteries or the impending deletion of certain images, or ask for acknowledgement of some other action.

Blending the familiar geeky aesthetic of computer error codes with the sleek and polished models on the outdoor advertisements makes for an arresting series of images.

Familiar as we are with both outdoor advertising and computer dialog boxes, it might be easy to walk past one of these advertisements without realizing that something is not quite right. But for those who take the time to stop and look, Jilly Ballistic always has something to say.

Alas poor mixtape, we knew you well… and you’re not forgotten! As a now-obsolete personal storehouse of the soundtracks of our lives, the ubiquitous custom recorded cassette tape has given it up to smartphones, iPods and MP3 players but it lives on in our hearts and minds: and in these 10 mixtape tributes.

Reclaimed Wood Mixtape Coffee Table

(images via: Freshome)

Cosmo Kramer gave us a coffee Table book that looks like a coffee table; now designer Jeff Skierka brings us one that looks like a mixtape… a vastly oversized one at that. What is that, like a C9000? But I digress: Skierka’s cassette coffee table is covered by clear lucite and rests upon a trio of lucite supports. You can even flip it from the A side to the B side, which seems a little self-indulgent. Next up, Skierka tackles the much-maligned 8-track tape cassette

Exorcising the “Ghost in the Machine”

(images via: Papky)

Erika Iris Simmons “Ghost in the Machine” series of artworks displays the spirit of the artists whose music was crystallized on countless mixtapes. Neil Young’s “Rust Never Sleeps” would be an appropriate choice, maybe it’s on Simmons’ list.

(image via: Iri5.com)

Simmons takes what for most of us was a disaster – a favorite tape spilling its guts – and turns it into a visually exciting invocation of musical expression. From Dylan to The Clash and more, Simmons’ metallicized ribbons turn one form of entertainment into another, very unexpected one.

Mixtape Cassette Tape Night Light Lamp

(images via: BreakTheRecord)

Where do old mixtapes go to die? BreakTheRecord, of course, but instead of going towards the light they actually become one. Each Mixtape Cassette Tape Night Light Lamp employs 8 upcycled audio cassette tapes, one CD and 20 soft white, cool-running LED lights. AS Jim Morrison once said, “When the music’s over, turn out the lights.”

Cassette Tape Tote Bag

(images via: ThisNext and Lushlee)

How many cassette tapes could a Cassette Tape Tote Bag tote if a Cassette Tape Tote Bag could tote cassette tapes? Get one and find out! The full-color printed tote may look retro but in today’s anti-plastic-bag environment it’s quite timely indeed. Bonus: the carrying straps look like unspooled tape ribbons.

Cassette Tape Business Card

(images via: Crate Kings)

Show potential business associates you’re a forward-thinking man/woman by whipping out Koji Sueyoshi’s cassette-shaped business cards in their accompanying cassette-styled case. Wait a sec, make that “innovative” and not “forward-thinking”, not that you’re “backward-thinking” or anything… ah, too late, they’re gone.

Mixtape Artist Notebook

(images via: BlackbirdandPeacock)

Back in the day, kids walked around with Moleskine Mixtape Artist Notebooks covered in real moleskine from real moles we caught with just a stick & a stone. Hah! Now, they’re lining up to put their money down on Hope von Stengel’s neat notebooks made without harming a single hair of a single mole. What’s up with kids these days?

Urban DJ’s Mixtape Portable DJ Mixer

(images via: Crate Kings and 2dayBlog)

Evoke the glory days of analog mixtape making on the fly with Urban DJ’s Mixtape Portable DJ Mixer! The gold-toned, cassette-styled mixer body features paired 3.5mm inputs, a single 3.5mm headphone socket and a mixer-style cross-fading control. Plug it in, turn it on, and go maximum mobile mixmaster blending tracks from two different portable music players.

(image via: Firebox.com)

All this on the power of just two AA batteries? Believe it, back-pocket mixer wannabes, and at just $30 apiece mixing up a storm on the road was never cheaper or easier.

Mixtape Bento Box

(image via: FrenchBento)

How many times did your car stereo eat a favorite mixtape? Well revenge is sweet, my friends… also spicy, salty and slightly bitter depending on Mom’s cooking skills. Of her artistic abilities there are no questions: the Mixtape Bento Box is just desserts or at least it calls for them.

USB Mixtape

(images via: ThinkGeek and Toxiferous)

Now here’s a practical demonstration of modern technology taking a leaf from yesterday’s tech trends: the USB Mixtape! Unlike other flash drives designed to look like cassette tapes, the USB Mixtape combines a relatively standard thumb drive with a modified cassette-styled case.

(image via: PressiePort.ie)

The USb Mixtape offers one other throwback delight to users – the case contains paper sleeves so you can list the music you’ve downloaded onto the USB drive. How mixtape-y of them! Now if only today’s tech-savvy generation knew what pens and paper are for. Doh!

Mixtape T-shirt & Jacket

(images via: Freshnessmag)

Japan’s APPLEBUM gives new meaning to the term “Tape Sleeve” with their mixtape-print hooded sweatshirts and t-shirts. Full-color images of a typical taper’s shelf are reproduced on fabric with just the right level of grunginess. Owning one (or both) of these will send any mixtape junkie into nirvana.

(image via: Lovely Living)

Is it so strange that an item of recording hardware made obsolete years ago remains culturally vibrant and instantly identifiable? Not at all, because the mixtape was more than the sum of its parts: it carried the music we loved, chosen by us and only us. It also carried a bit of our personalities inside its plastic case on magnetized particles fixed to loops of shining tape. Primitive? Maybe, from today’s POV. Evocative? Definitely… and only time will tell if its modern replacements have the same cultural staying power.

Most of us who love traveling also love taking pictures of our destinations. We whip out our cameras to record the architecture, street art, landmarks and interesting people we encounter one our travels. What would happen if cities started photographing tourists right back?

(all images via: My Modern Met)

Artists Jana and JS have spread their unique take on street art throughout several European cities. They paint portraits of themselves holding cameras, essentially making it look like their two-dimensional doppelgangers are taking pictures of the passing tourists.

Although the main focus of the pair’s art is photography, they integrate painting with this unusual project. They use stencils to put up their likenesses on city walls; stencils which are made from their own photography, of course.

According to the artists, this project is a sort of game with the city, a mirror trick that makes passers-by do a double take and perhaps smile to themselves.

Digging in the sand is a timeless and endlessly entertaining activity. Even after we reach adulthood, the possibility of uncovering hidden treasures in the sand is such an intriguing concept that we continue to poke into it with our toes, explore it with metal detectors and joyfully dig in with bright plastic shovels. This installation puts a new spin on the gleeful discovery of buried secrets by allowing participants to hide short audio messages beneath the tiny grains of sand.

“Sandbox,” an art installation by France-based designers JC Karich, Martin De Bie and Martin Le Tiec, is a playful look at data exchange and the use of natural materials for unconventional communication. Visitors to the installation dig into the sand to reveal light-sensitive sensor modules. When they uncover a module that has already been loaded with a message, the ambient light triggers that message to play. If the uncovered module is empty, the digger has the opportunity to record a message for the next visitor.

The sand in the sandbox installation is normal, run-of-the-mill sand – but the electronics beneath the sand make this project so memorable. An Arduino microprocessor is attached to multiple control points under the sand; each control point features an LED (to indicate to the user when he’s uncovered a module), a microphone and a photocell. Under the control points are small speakers that play back the collected messages.

The fantastic concept was born in the midst of a “hybrid materials” workshop. The unusual combination of a natural material above a hidden layer of electronics creates a wonderfully fun toy for onlookers. But even more attractive than the idea of an unconventional interface is the unbridled excitement that always seems to accompany finding something unexpected. No matter what type of secret or message one might stumble across in the sandbox, we can only imagine that the heart skips a quick beat when that little red light is exposed for the first time.

As far as internet memes go, there have been some pretty bizarre ones over the years. But the Nyan Cat has to be right up there with the most head-scratchingly weird of them. What started out as a cute little video on YouTube has now taken over the whole interwebs with its addictive yet intolerable music and hilariously cute 8-bit style. Who would have thought that a cat with a Pop-Tart body flying on a rainbow set to annoying music would be so attractive to so many people?

The latest incarnation of the odd Pop-Tart cat meme is NyanIt.com, a site that lets you plug in any URL and watch tiny Nyan Cats fly across the page. Let them go long enough and they’ll reproduce and grow bigger, eventually taking over your entire screen so that you can’t see anything else. Finding homework boring? Plug in the URL of the research material you’re studying, then challenge yourself to read a whole page before ridiculous rainbow-riding (or rainbow-farting, depending on who you ask) kitties fill up your monitor. You can try clicking them to make them go away, but they’ll only think you want to play and start growing even faster.

The meme was started way back in April of 2011 (ancient history in Internet time) by prguitarman, the guy behind LOL-COMICS. He drew a funny picture of a cat with a Pop-Tart body and a rainbow coming out of its bottom. YouTube user saraj00n set the cat to music and posted it for the world to share. Since then, it’s taken off in an insane way. In addition to the original and the screen-cluttering example above, there are tons of other bits of web silliness that take the eternally happy Nyan Cat to whole new heights.

If you happen to be in the mood for meme overload, try using NyanIt on the Nyan.Cat website…and then add in some Fale and some Bacon for good measure. The awesome combination is part breakfast food, part zippy music and part vaguely insulting comment. All together, the memes make for some interesting viewing – or at least an amusing way to waste a bit of time.

If the Hamster Dance and the crazy eHarmony Cat Lady had a baby (and then fed it nothing but Pop-Tarts and speed), it would look and sound like the Nyan Cat. In fact, the guys behind the Songify This app put the eHarmony Cat Lady’s kitty-centric rant to music and invited the lovable Nyan Cat to make a cameo in the video.

Of course, the citizens of the internet can never do things by halves – so there are endless variations on the Nyan Cat theme. There’s the real-life Nyan Cat, the Mexican Nyan Cat, SpeedyNyan, and the Americ-Nyan Cat, among countless other remixes, mashups and variations. Some of the most notable Nyan Cat videos are the ones that are looped over and over and over to run for hours. They aren’t for the faint of heart, however. Most humans will lose consciousness long before they can listen to that song for more than a few minutes at a time.

If you’re feeling brave, though, head on over to Nyan.cat to see how long you can nyan – then tweet your score to show off to your friends. Only the extra-brave will dare to add the additional layer of nyan with NyanIt.com.

Not everyone is a huge fan of the rainbow-riding kitty, as evidenced by the kids in this video. The majority of the reactions seem to be negative, but maybe the kids just aren’t giving Nyan Cat a fair shake. Give him long enough and he’ll burrow his way into your brain until you hear the “Nyan Nyan” song in your sleep. Maybe if they played the Nyan Cat: Lost in Space game they might develop some affection for the little cat.

(images via: Technabob, Nyan-Cat, Nyan-Cat, Geeks Are Sexy)

As with many internet memes, this one has made its way into the meatspace world as well. Nyan Cat cupcakes, scarves, toys, jewelry and art are plentiful, varied and full of awesome. Even though Nyan Cat seems to be everywhere these days, it’s entirely likely that you’ll find yourself missing the smiling cat face one day soon. When that happens, sneak over to your co-workers’ desks while they’re at lunch and use NyanIt to add some nyan to their home pages. They’ll thank you one day.