former designer for nike founded her own modern craft studio.
posted by ginni
30.1.11
New Toothbrush
This toothbrush was designed by a student whose assignment was to redesign the first thing she threw away after class. She threw away a tube of toothpaste which got her thinking and researching toothpaste and toothbrushes. Check it out.
posted by ginni
29.1.11
27.1.11
USB + usable outlet = win
The inclusion of new power supply standards in old technology is an intelligent trend. USBs require very little electricity to power so it seems like a waste of an outlet to dedicate it exclusively to charging a phone. Until it's normal to have a USB port directly wired into every outlet, we'll have to look to smart design ideas.
-Joe Costello
Focused Speakers
Here's a set of speakers that have a more focused beam of sound so you'd be able to adjust where the sound goes instead of passively listening in a room full of the sound. Great for you urban apartment dwellers.-Joe Costello
Microsoft Kinect motion capture used to control robot
Microsoft's motion capture device, Kinect, has been out for a few months and people are beginning to tinker with it. The implications and applications of this product could be profound and far-reaching. Think human-controlled robotic soldiers and quicker, more precise bomb-defusing robots to start.
-Joe Costello
24.1.11
It's transparent. Need I say more?
Post by Aaron Venturini
Really cool video that looks at the Volkswagen factory in Dresden, Germany. No walls, no power outlets, only glass, induction and robots.
Single Family House St Joseph by Wolfgang Tschapeller
http://www.dezeen.com/2011/01/25/single-family-house-st-joseph-by-wolfgang-tschapeller/
More photos in link ^
This concrete house on stilts is a family home in Austria by Vienna studio Wolfgang Tschapeller Architekt. Called Single Family House St Joseph, the exposed concrete structure features irregular-shaped windows and sits on four supporting legs. A shallow pit has been dug underneath the hovering building and can be utilised as a car port or storage space. Despite the flat planes of the exterior shell, the interior space features a series of faceted walls, forming oddly-shaped rooms and windows. The interior spaces are finished completely in white, with the exception of wooden flooring in some rooms and the treads of the staircase, which cantilever out of the wall.
-Aaron Venturini
Tinkering School
I've been really into watching Ted talks lately, this one I actually heard a while ago, and I thought I would have really liked this camp when I was a kid. It's a camp where kids can go to build stuff. Pretty fun.
Posted by Ginni
Posted by Ginni
New Ruler
No Ordinary Ruler
I have been reading message boards for people who suffer from visual impairments and one discussion topic I found was how difficult it is to use rulers. The problem, especially with centimetres and millimeters, is that while the numbers on a ruler can be made bigger, the unit of measurement is fixed, so reading millimeters if you have problems with your sight becomes difficult.
Check out the New Rule. The solution is to have bigger numbered, higher contrast measurement bars that a sliding pointer runs along, displaying the millimeter measurement as numbers on a wheel inside the sliders housing. An arm inside the slider rests against the track and clicks each time it passes over a tooth in the track giving tactile and audible feedback of each millimeter although the designer admits the track would need more teeth than the prototyped version shown here. The second innovation is one edge folds over on a hinge. This turns it into a calliper so that accurate measurements can be taken quickly and easily. This was intended to make it easier for someone with poor sight to measure marks on paper as well as objects.
Designer: Product Tank
I have been reading message boards for people who suffer from visual impairments and one discussion topic I found was how difficult it is to use rulers. The problem, especially with centimetres and millimeters, is that while the numbers on a ruler can be made bigger, the unit of measurement is fixed, so reading millimeters if you have problems with your sight becomes difficult.
Check out the New Rule. The solution is to have bigger numbered, higher contrast measurement bars that a sliding pointer runs along, displaying the millimeter measurement as numbers on a wheel inside the sliders housing. An arm inside the slider rests against the track and clicks each time it passes over a tooth in the track giving tactile and audible feedback of each millimeter although the designer admits the track would need more teeth than the prototyped version shown here. The second innovation is one edge folds over on a hinge. This turns it into a calliper so that accurate measurements can be taken quickly and easily. This was intended to make it easier for someone with poor sight to measure marks on paper as well as objects.
Designer: Product Tank
11.4.10
Envisioning Your Future in 2020
Envisioning Your Future in 2020
At the end of last year, Forbes magazine asked frog to help them envision the future in 2020. In December, we held a workshop in San Francisco that brought designers, futurists and journalists together to think about the current state of computing, how we might experience it 10 years from now and, perhaps most importantly, how we might make the transition into these possible futures.
The day-long event led to an extensive online feature: “Your Life in 2020,” a collection of illustrated concepts and videos that envision the future of ubiquitous computing. In that future, your computer is not only incorporated into every aspect of your life but is a part of you. With this in mind, we imagined how future technology would influence the key areas of Social, Travel, Commerce, Healthcare, and Media. Here's what we came up with.
Our Second Brain or "ThingBook"
In the future nearly every visible thing will be cataloged and indexed, ready to be instantly identified and described to us. Want to go shopping? In the future we won't need big retail stores with aisles of objects on display. We'll be able to shop out in the world (see image, above). Do you like that new car you saw drive by? Or those cool shoes on the woman sitting across the room? All you’ll have to do is look at it and your mobile handset or AR-equipped eyeglasses will identify the object and look up the best price and retailer.
Bodynet
Like Google for our bodies, future technologies will allow us to monitor our body's vital conditions and compute the outcome of our actions on-the-fly. So you'll know right away what it's going to take to work off that Burger and Coke.
Curious about the future of social networking? Whuffie is a conceptual social Metric based on what others think of you. In the future this Metric might actually be usable as real money. Why not? Celebrities are used to getting things for free based on their popularity. This is the same idea taken to its democratic extreme. Socializing will take on completely new dimensions when we can see everything public about a person right as we are talking with them. Think dating is difficult today? Imagine the hoops we'll have to jump through when everyone in the bar can see your complete dating history the minute you walk into the room.
Shape Shifting: Emily Guthrie
Electrorheological fluid
http://www.aip.org/tip/INPHFA/vol-9/iss-6/p14.html
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/32254/the-shape-shifting-future-materials
photorheological fluid
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070320130532.htm
Nitinol Wire
http://www.imagesco.com/articles/nitinol/01.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7jjqXh7bB4
8.4.10
philips design-Yanko Design
Cooking Up The Eco Greens
The Green Cuisine takes inspiration from the Japanese Teppanyaki steakhouse style of cooking and serving. Hosts and guest get comfy in the cooking area where preparation and consumption form the part of the eco-routine. Food is cooked in appliances like the Healthy Steamer, Smart Kettle & Cups, and Cooking Modules, that work together on an interactive Kitchen Table. The integrated performance indicator monitors and displays energy consumption, giving you a fair idea of how Green you have been!
The bottom line: with this futuristic kitchen you can reduce energy consumption and optimize waste management. Philips will dish out the details on questions like “How will this work?”, much later!
Designer: Philips Design
Green Cuisine – Kitchen & Appliances Concept by Philips Design
The Green Cuisine takes inspiration from the Japanese Teppanyaki steakhouse style of cooking and serving. Hosts and guest get comfy in the cooking area where preparation and consumption form the part of the eco-routine. Food is cooked in appliances like the Healthy Steamer, Smart Kettle & Cups, and Cooking Modules, that work together on an interactive Kitchen Table. The integrated performance indicator monitors and displays energy consumption, giving you a fair idea of how Green you have been!
The bottom line: with this futuristic kitchen you can reduce energy consumption and optimize waste management. Philips will dish out the details on questions like “How will this work?”, much later!
Designer: Philips Design
Green Cuisine – Kitchen & Appliances Concept by Philips Design
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