Aug 02
If you are at all interested in design or art, enlighten yourself with one of the most important books on color ever written. It’s called The Interaction of Color, and now you can experience it on your iPad.
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Aug 02
Only a handful of individuals have succeeded in making the GIF into something artful. We can definitely add artist and designer Guillaume Kurkdjian to that list, because his collection of lovely, child-like animations are dioramas of whimsical delight.
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Aug 02
The Bank of America tower boasts all sorts of green details: An automatized system to dim lights in daylight. A grey water collection system. A foundation partially made from waste materials. Must be a pretty energy-efficient building, eh? According to one analyst, nope!
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Aug 02
Drawstring backpacks are often lightweight, so they’re not a pain to carry around. They’re also easy to put away when you’re done using them, since all you have to do is fold it up and tuck it in your closet.
The big annoyance with these bags, though, is how the shoulder loops eventually lose their symmetry, putting more weight on one shoulder compared to the other. People who use drawstring backpacks can relate. If they use lopsided packs often enough, they’ll eventually begin to feel the discomfort physically, too.
Good thing the guys at mochibags decided to rethink this basic bag. The redesign makes sure that the “shoulder loops stay even and balanced.” Its makers are so confident in their redesigned product, that they add the guarantee that this is for “forever.”
So what makes this drawstring backpack different from the typical one? Well, for starters, it has “channel anchored” drawstrings which stay put and stay balanced. The channels also make it easy to open and close the bag. It also sports thick cords and no visible knots to make it feel more comfortable on your shoulders.
The mochibag Drawstring Backpack is currently up for funding on Kickstarter, where a minimum pledge of $25(USD) will get you one of your very own.
Aug 02
The global human population is booming. Some studies predict that we’ll soon run out of resources (read: food) to feed everyone as this growth continues.
One of the proposed solutions? Breed insects and use them as an alternate protein source.
It might sound gross, but one day, that might be the unfortunate reality we’ll all find ourselves in.
Most people didn’t think that idea through further, but one who actually did is industrial designer Katharina Ungel. She came up with a concept called Farm 432 that’s basically a countertop breeder of insect larvae. That way, you can raise your own black soldier fly larvae (yes, she mentioned that species specifically because of its high protein content) without having to go to some farm or store to get them.
Ungel explains that the adult flies don’t need to be fed anything but bio-waste. Each batch of tasty bugs will be ready after 432 hours (hence, the name of the concept.)
Ungel writes: “Farm 432 enables people to turn against the dysfunctional system of current meat production by growing their own protein source at home.”
I’m not crazy of the idea now because I’d rather get my protein from beef, but if bugs are where we’re headed, then I think Katharina’s on to something.
[via C|NET]
Aug 01
The fabled Moto X has been detailed by Motorola
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Aug 01
Mostrap Reels Mosquitos in and Zaps Them Before They Get a Chance to Bite You
Posted in: Today's ChiliMosquitoes suck. They’re hard to kill (especially if you have bad hand-to-eye coordination) and they can infect us humans with potentially life-threatening diseases.
A project called Kite was launched recently on Indiegogo, which is essentially a patch that makes people “invisible” from mosquitoes. (It has surpassed its goal several times over, so that’s great news for all the people in Uganda who are going to get free patches, too!) But aside from warding the insects away, it would be best to get rid of them, especially if you’re constantly being bitten at home.
I’m aware that mosquito zappers – the ones that emit the bluish-violet light – are already in existence. I have one but it doesn’t really do its job well. A neat alternative is the Mostrap, and it would be neater if it actually existed and wasn’t just a concept.
The Mostrap is a mosquito-killing machine that circulates a mixture of yeast and carbon dioxide in its chamber. Apparently, mosquitoes find their way to humans because we exhale carbon dioxide. Once the mosquito flies into the Mostrap, they’re zapped into oblivion and lie dead in the bottom of the chamber.
Pretty cool, huh? The Mostrap was designed by Vishakan Shivasubramaniam.
[via Yanko Design]
Aug 01
Rejoice, humans of the Earth, for the ugly off-center 1 in Apple iOS 7’s Calendar app icon has been at last, FIXED! It took almost two entire years
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Aug 01
Customization — that’s the big story revolving around today’s Moto X reveal. When Motorola’s breezy, made-to-order Moto Maker site goes live later this summer, AT&T users will be able to sift through a bevy of color options to put their individual stamp on the device. But that’s just part one of the new Motorola’s trailblazing direction, the next is making that design social. At some unspecified future point, the company plans to launch a Facebook polling page littered with numerous colored and patterned variants (e.g., one of the options we saw, a gold brown hue, was labeled “The Dude”) that users can vote on via existing social means. While Motorola’s still working out the specifics of the polling process and potential launch window, it’s safe to assume users will be able to pin (via Pinterest), like, or even +1 design candidates. Not much more detail was given — again this is merely an indicator of the company’s revamped product portfolio approach. For sure, it has a built-in hook: user engagement. And what company doesn’t love a user base that’s paying very close attention?
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google, Facebook
Source: Motorola
Aug 01
One of the most incredible things about Brooklyn—and New York City in general—is the consistent commingling of the young and the old, the modern and the antiquated. And never have we seen anything that captures this quality quite like Thomas Rhiel’s visualization of Brooklyn, which maps every building based on the year it was constructed.
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