Sometimes you realize that the shorts you put on don’t actually have pockets or that the pockets on your jacket are really inaccessible. And then your day is ruined. If you had a t-shirt with a clear plastic gadget pocket this would never have been an issue. Obviously.
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Google Maps offers a lot of tools for developers (or anyone!) to work with, visualize and customize the existing service. And a lot of cool maps, infographics and tools come out of the APIs. But sometimes it’s nice to take something like the topographical data and move it in a totally different direction. Like maybe art?
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Back in January, we heard about the mobile variant of the Ubuntu operating system and Canonical’s plan to launch phones that double as Ubuntu desktop PCs when docked. Now the company is launching the most ambitious crowdfunding campaign yet. It hopes to raise $32 million to release the high-end Ubuntu Edge smartphone.
Aside from the mind-boggling target amount, Canonical’s crowdfunding campaign is also unique in that the Ubuntu Edge will be given only to the backers; it won’t be sold to anyone else or released commercially. The Edge is meant to be a testbed for cutting edge technology, and I suppose to convince other smartphone makers that there is a legitimate demand for Ubuntu phones. To that end, Canonical aims to pack the best hardware it can on the Edge. It will have a multi-core CPU, 4GB RAM, 128GB of storage and two LTE antennas (one for US and one for Europe, so you can take advantage of LTE in more countries).
As we found out in January, Ubuntu smartphones will also run Android. This makes it very enticing for Android phone owners to try out the new OS: you still have access to all your apps and media, but you can also peek into the future. And that future comes in the form of a hardware dock and the desktop Ubuntu operating system. Dock the Ubuntu Edge into any monitor with an HDMI port and voila, you’re running Ubuntu. All you need is a keyboard and mouse. You can keep using Android or Ubuntu mobile on the phone while you’re using the Ubuntu desktop OS.
Pledge at least $775 (USD) on Indiegogo to get an Ubuntu Edge smartphone as a reward, and get a chance to see for yourself how far the penguin has come.
[via Acquire]
If you liked Benjamin Berg’s glitch art throw pillows, check out Phillip Stearn’s Glitch Textiles. With the help of professional knitters and weavers, Stearns turns patterns generated from broken digital cameras and binary files into blankets and tapestries.
According to Fast Co. Design, Stearns makes the patterns by rewiring digital cameras and by “custom-made data visualization software, which translates raw binary data into images.”
This must be extremely embarrassing for computers. You can buy knitted and woven blankets and tapestries from Glitch Textiles for $250-$350 (USD). And when the robot uprising commences, you will be one of the first to go.
[via Fast Co. Design]
From an abandoned asylum that the Department of Homeland Security is moving into, to beer labels turned into animated GIFs, we posted all kinds of lustworthy things this week. So before you head off into weekend, check out the wonders of design, art, and architecture we’ve got for you.
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3D printing just keeps getting better and better, and while the printers themselves seem to be gradually overcoming their resolution and speed limitations, materials continue to be the bigger challenge. Now, there is yet another way to enhance 3D printing, and it is awesome.
What you’re looking at here wasn’t actually printed on a 3D printer though – these gold-plated brass pieces are cast from 3D-printed models. The guys at Shapeways are now offering this material for outputting your digital models, and it’s quite spectacular.
The process involves printing a wax model with a hi-res 3D printer. Then the wax is placed into plaster to form a mold, after which the wax is melted out. This plaster mold is then used for casting the 3D model out of molten brass. Once cooled, the piece is polished, and then electroplated with nickel and then 24K gold. So while the latter stages are traditional jewelry-making processes, it’s the first step that creates truly innovative forms.
Sure, it would be cool if you could 3D print directly with precious metals, but we’re not there yet. For now, this process results in impressively detailed and shiny models which would be nearly impossible to envision being hand-sculpted in wax, resulting in unique works of art and jewelry.
Shapeways’ gold-plated brass material sells for $35(USD) per cubic centimeter, and can currently produce objects measuring up to 100mm x 100mm x 30mm.
[via SolidSmack]
What does it take to build a habitable structure at the bottom of the world? Quite a bit of technology, for starters. The climate of the extreme south and north poles is unlike any other. Unstable ice, immense snowfall and incredibly low temperatures can—literally, in at least one case—chew up and spit out entire buildings. Not these, though.
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I remember my family’s first Logitech product well. It was a mouse, roughly the size of a small football and shaped like a half eaten apple and the color of dirty bones. It rolled and it clicked and did everything it was supposed to. It was not an artifact of fine design.
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Did you know that the US government’s third-largest agency is ramping up a 20-year, $4.5 billion construction project that will turn the grounds of a former mental hospital into an "elaborate" headquarters for its sprawling network of agencies? It’s already a decade behind schedule and $1 billion over budget.
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This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
