December 26, 2009

Believe it or not, Sled shorts!


They come in adult sizes too! Just pull them up over your trousers and slide down! If only it was snowing here in Jordan!

December 21, 2009

December 18, 2009

December 9, 2009

Coming to a store near you - some day!

Designers: Kitae Pak & Inyong Jung

It’s a shopping trolley re-designed to be fitted with wheels that store the kinetic energy, generated from using the trolley and walking around the store. The sourced up energy is deposited to the main power storage unit, when the cart docks into it. Just line them up, one behind the other to form a power chain! The designers suggest that the sourced energy can be used to completely sustain the store for the month. A month seems to be too far fetched don't you think?

November 28, 2009

November 26, 2009

What's that smell??

iphone chemical sniffing app and device

NASA isn’t just good for bringing you awesome space pictures; they can now help you figure out, via your iPhone, if that really is gas you’re smelling. Their chemical-sniffing device is about the size of a postage stamp and plugs into the iPhone to collect and transmit data from its sensor. It uses a “sample jet” to detect chemicals like ammonia, chlorine gas, and methane, even in low concentration. The device’s multiple-channel silicon-based sensing chip consists of 64 nanosensors; after analyzing a sample it can send data via a telephone network or Wi-Fi.

I now pronounce you husband and virtual (videogame) wife

November 21, 2009

Alternative uses for your laptop


Shutdown Day is a concept started in 2007 by a group of friends in Montreal who noticed they were spending far too much time on their computers. They pledged to shut down their computers for a whole 24 hours and spend that time reconnecting with family and friends, getting out and doing physical activities, and just enjoying the computer-free day. To get people behind the idea of going without their beloved computers for a whole day, the crazy geniuses behind the idea made this video showing some of the alternative uses for your unused laptop! 

Now there are even  more ways to abuse your poor laptop on its one day off per year – or anytime you feel like getting some revenge. Uncovering.org bring  you an entire photo series detailing just what you can do with that expensive piece of technology while you’re not using it to compute.

alternative uses for laptop

I think I'll just leave mine to rest peacefully on the table... but hey, I'm a bit boring sometimes!

November 17, 2009

Humans might not have to walk ever again!


It looks remarkably uncomfortable, and with a top speed of 4 miles per hour it wouldn’t be hard to walk faster than this thing can take you. But at 22 pounds, it’s light enough to load into the trunk of your car so that you can avoid any actual walking at all. As pointed out by Britain’s Daily Mail, this smacks of Wall-E-esque future laziness. Do we really need yet another device that allows us to be lazy? According to Honda, the unicycles are meant to be used by the elderly, who may have mobility problems. However, a unicycle steered by body weight distribution may not be the best solution for seniors who aren’t able to walk steadily. In fact, it seems almost intentionally dangerous.

But the technology is pretty cool though!

Put a smile on your face!


That's got to hurt! But atleast UCLA grad student Lauren McCarthy has come up with an ingenious, if painful, way to make the world a happier place: drive a metal spike into the head of those who dare to stop smiling. Her hilarious Happiness Hat is the first part of a planned series of tools for improved social interaction.

Secret knock door unlocker!


yes it actually does work! Steve Hoefer went and cobbled together a few odd bits and pieces from his lab to make this simple but fully functional secret knock-detecting door lock. Absolutely brilliant!

November 2, 2009

Japan's most talented hands

Modern Fossils

Technology-wise, the past ten or twenty years has been a Level 5 Hurricane. The Internet, iPods, Alt-fuel cars, viable wind power, portable GPS navigators, social networking and all the rest of it has reshaped almost every aspect of our daily lives. Recording the recent past in a most unusual way, these are the Modern Fossils from artist Christopher Locke’s Heartless Machine




There is a message in Locke’s madness. Apart from a cool, humorous nostalgia, Locke asserts that many of the once hi-tech “species” went extinct thanks to “runaway consumerism and wastefulness at the high end of the food chain.” 

October 30, 2009

October 22, 2009

LED technology on the streets

 sweatshoppe has taken LED technology to the streets on a different level. The collective made up of video artist bruno levy and blake shaw who are also multimedia performers, use video mapping techniques as a means of video painting onto walls through the use of a paint roller. The only catch is, the paint roller doesn't actually paint anything onto the wall. Instead it is made from green LEDs which work in conjunction with a camera next to a projector which is programmed with software that tracks its movements. the software then outputs the X-Y position of the roller projecting a textured video image of the strokes the duo are drawing on a wall. this interactive technology allows them to explore the relationship between video, mark making and architecture.

October 20, 2009

Its about using the road as a canvas

Spectators have always chalked messages of support along the Tour de France route - how about using the web to bring the roads of Franceto everyone and spread messages of hope in the fight against cancer?

A unique project to support Nike's Livestrong campaign which saw messages of hope in the fight against cancer chalked along the Tour de France route was done by Wieden+Kennedy Portland and development partners DeepLocal and Standard Robot, Nike created a giant robotic writing tool.

Over the course of the 15-day event Chalkbot (chalk writing machine) picked up more than 4,000 followers on Twitter and received more than 36,000 texts and twitter messages!





October 18, 2009

Didn't see this coming!

just when I started thinking of getting rid of my iphone, they come 
up with this! I wouldn't dare now!

October 17, 2009

The biggest name in vacuums... now makes FANS!


Dyson has aimed to reinvent the table top fan, introducing The Dyson Air Multiplier Fan which is a bladeless design that pumps up 119 gallons of air per second in a smooth, steady flow. This is how it works... watch the video!



October 16, 2009

How colourful can it be?

this could work as the best RayBan commercial ever made


Survey

Please fill out this survey for me! Its for my Final year project that has to do with design for sustainable behaviour. The survey will show me statistics on how 'energy efficient' people are in their household.

September 29, 2009

Design for ethical purposes

In 2008 the average American consumed 95,834 kilowatt hours of energy, most of which would have come from the burning of fossil fuels. But if our energy use had a more direct impact on our bodies, would we think more about what we consume?
The Blood Lamp, made by Netherlands-based designer Mike Thompson, poses just such a question.

The lamp is a single-use light bulb, filled with Luminol, a chemical used at crime scenes to reveal bloodstains.

Luminol is usually clear, but adding human blood produces a bright blue light as the liquid reacts with the oxygen-carrying pigment haemoglobin.

Mike says the single-use design, and inherent cost to the individual, means the user must "consider when light is needed the most, forcing them to rethink how wasteful they are with energy, and how precious it is."

Now this is a new concept for me, but I think its fantastic
and it really got to me. (yay I think I finally found another theme for my final year project)
(source)

September 28, 2009

Ferrari F1 car made from Puma clothing



currently at the Puma store in Carnaby Street in London is the ferrari formula one car made using puma motorsport clothing. Brilliant!

September 27, 2009

World of Paper


Advertising Agency: BBDO, México
Producer Company: Lemon Films, Cru Ladies


One would think that with an ad so impressive, their notebooks would be visually more pleasing!

September 25, 2009

Found Cuttlery

By found they mean you can make cuttlery out of plastic bottles you already have at home, a way of recycling your plastic bottles and making more cuttlery for that dinner you have tomorrow. Spanish designer Oscar Diaz worked on a series called “Found” where he produced a range of super-light flatware cut straight from the bottle. The fork, knife and spoon takes the bottles’ angles and curves and comes with an already designed grip that makes them easy to pick up and eat from.   
  



the Ink Calendar I blogged about in September is also part of his work

September 24, 2009

an update on the LEGO house

The lego house built for the TV presenter James May has now been demolished after a deal to sell it fell through. Apparently the house did not have planning permision to be built on that particular site, and they were hoping to find a buyer to transport the house elsewhere. LEGOland was one of the interested buyers but the 3.3 million LEGO house was too expensive to transport. What a waste of time I believe! But atleast they're donating all the LEGO pieces to charity! (I'm sure the kids will be happy)  

Fashion design meets technology

Imagine this, now your clothes can alert you when its a bad air day! this concept is new to me, and i still dont get how it exactly works, but designer Stephanie Sandstrom's EPA dress responds to pollution and crumples up on days where the quality of the air is bad! This is due to sensors incorporated in the dress that read air quality. So if your dress is cleverly wrinkled then beware!!! there are lurking health hazards around you! So take out that mask of yours and cover up!

September 22, 2009

Origami Tea

The concept is based on the principles of origami. The bird is formed and spreads its wings gradually while the tea is being infused. Green Berry Tea concept has been designed and developed by artist Nathalia Ponomareva. However the project has not been marketed yet.

September 21, 2009

You are my sunshine

Go green... use an energy efficient bulb

September 20, 2009

shave the doll

The creepiest concept for a baby doll I have ever seen! Who in his right mind would want to shave a baby??

September 19, 2009

Unfortunately placed ads




who would have thought? 
There are even more!

sofa dress

 Design Studio MAEZM with the two young Korean designers Cho Eun Whan and Shin Tai Ho, present the “sofa-dress”. Wanted to share this simple idea of theirs with you since this “sofa-dress” is a fusion of space and furniture design. The chair itself wears the clothes of the sofa, transforming an existing object to an interesting –and definitely more cushiony- piece of furniture.
 



September 18, 2009

Lords of Logistics

my friend sent me this email earlier today, you might have seen it before, but some pictures just cracked me up! and I wanted to share them with you!






HOW do they do it??

September 17, 2009

Learn a new language...

matchbook sign language! 
JK Keller,  created these sign-language hands from matchbooks he found on the street, not sure if the one below is actually part of the sign-language gestures, but it would be worth having in your pocket just in case you need to use it (it happens...). My only disappointment is that he managed to ignore a simple "I love you".

September 16, 2009

Don't panic just yet!

Designers Dohyun Ryu, Junghyun Joo, Kyungyoung Lee & Taehong Park came up with this concept of a handle (the ones used in the underground trains) that are also emergency light torches that come off at the push of a button. The flashlight handles will light up when the lights go out in the train. Before people get panicky when the lights blank out, these flashlights will reassure the commuters a lot more confidence to deal with the situation.



September 15, 2009

Design for Life, Philippe Starck's new reality TV show

The catch... if you win it you get a 6 month placement at his HQ in Paris! (Nice!) in the program starck sets the young participating designers creative tasks, and each week he eliminates the weakest! The show first started on the 14th of September and is going to be screening on BBC2 in the coming weeks! There are 12 young eager designers (6 boys and 5 girls) that are part of the show, they where chosen from the portfolios that Philippe Starck received! 


for more about the program click here