You may have noticed that we've done a little redecorating recently. Up there, over my right shoulder where we keep the categories, "Design" has been replaced with "Creativity."

This section is still the place to go for all our blog posts and features for graphic designers, including Deke McClelland's every-other-weekly, fully fab-tastic dekePod. But we've also added a new set of posts just starting up that we're tagging as "The Creative Beat." This section will focus on a wide swath of issues related to our creative lives, and in particular, the way tech is changing things up — changing how we express ourselves, how we share our art with others, and especially how we motivate ourselves to get off the stick and, dare I say, make something.

Portland-based toonlet.com is dedicated to making cartoon-creation easy. Launched in December 2007, 10,000 toons have been created so far, with just shy of 2 million comic views around the world. As a test of toonlet’s system, I logged on recently to make a quick sample. In all of 10 minutes, I had created an account and busted out my first toon. Easy, peasy. Back in July I got a chance to sit down with toonlet co-founder and CEO Craig Schwartz to chat about where the idea behind toonlet came from and what he’s learned from the experience.

We all love our technology, and certainly it enables us to do amazing things with music, with pictures, with ideas. But sometimes I think it becomes a bit of a burden. We feel a responsibility to all that technology, all those possibilities. It's important to remember who is working for whom. A good role model in this area is Brian Eno, renowned producer, recording artist, and creative strategist. To spur creative thinking or break artistic logjams, he developed the "Oblique Strategies," a set of cards designed with the artist Peter Schmidt.

Last night, Joss Whedon of Firefly and Buffy the Vampire fame began releasing Dr. Horrible. Independently produced on a budget in the low 6 figures, with a recognizable cast that includes Neil "Doogie" Patrick Harris and Firefly's Nathan Fillion, this show has the feel of a tipping point. Certainly, they've done so much right here, in terms of Internet entertainment...

Hi, My name's Dan and I'm the publisher for the Digital Media division here at O'Reilly. I'll be dropping by to join the conversation here and there, particularly on items related to that interesting point where creativity and technology meet and do a dance. Lately I've been thinking of the ways old and new media can work together. In Pixar's...