Mar 24
The architects at London-based Buchanan Partnership have just built this tiny little flower stall for a shop in Ladbroke Grove, its CNC-milled exterior inspired by the rippling textures of electron scanning microscope images of plants.
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Mar 24
Many extreme roller coaster these days have vertical loops. Have you noticed that these loops are never circular? Why is this?
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Mar 24
NASA’s next spacesuit is currently up for public voting—and the weird new designs are unlike anything you’ve seen from NASA before. Drawing on ideas from bioluminescence, contemporary sportswear, and some speculation on the street fashions of tomorrow, whichever suit gets built will change our image of astronauts forever.
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Mar 24
Picture this: you’re on your way to work with your briefcase in one hand and a cup of coffee on the other. Suddenly, the skies go dark and it starts raining cats and dogs. You reach for your umbrella and then you realize you have to get rid of something because you aren’t exactly born with three hands. Sadly, it’s the coffee that ultimately has to go…
Solving this problem are Andrew Tan, Mike Elam, Jordan Schlipf and their Morella.
It’s essentially a cup holder that attaches to the handle of your umbrella. It’s got a gimbal mechanism to ensure that your cups always stay level and don’t spill. That way, you can carry your drink (and even an extra one!) while holding your umbrella with one hand and whatever else you need to carry in the other.
The cool part about it is that you can use it with umbrellas that are in use (as in the picture) or closed, so you can just stick your umbrella into the ground and transform it into a drink stand.
Morella is currently up for funding on Kickstarter, where a minimum pledge of £10 (~$16 USD) will get you both a single cup and a double cup Morella.
Remember: With Morella, you’ll be able to do more-ella with your umbrella! (Was it that bad? Sorry, I couldn’t resist!)
[via LikeCool]
Mar 24
For the short, or those with tall apartments, some steps are an essential household item. But why buy a stepladder when you can hide one in plain sight, as this wonderful looking chair?
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Mar 23
If your dream is to own at least a few hundred designer labels or so, then your search is over. And no, I’m not talking about some lottery where you’ll be able to afford all the brands that you want to own; rather, I’m talking about the Jeans Labels carpet.
As its name implies, the carpet is made entirely from recycled jeans’ labels. Each one is painstakingly sewn on top of another, and another, creating a carpet that looks like a patchwork of labels from brands you might recognize yourself.
Under the slogan “Recycle”, here renowned denim label were assembled in the patch-style to a beautifully finished carpet with high stability and durability. What was discarded in Western industrialized nations, awakened by the diversity of creativity back to life.
The Jeans Carpet is available in two sizes: 140x200cm and 160x240cm. They’re priced at £335 (~$560 USD) and £458 (~$760 USD) respectively.
[via LikeCool]
Mar 21
Guys, you guys! It’s finally spring! Or at least it is, technically speaking. You might still be sitting under a massive crap clump of snow, but there’s plenty to ease your mind. A walking city that looks like it came out of the movie Up? Sure. Massive mist cannons in the bowels of NYC keeping the air clean? That works too. Come check ’em out below:
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Mar 21
Tearing down old things to make room for new things is an American tradition. It makes sense in some ways. After all, better building materials mean better buildings, right? Not if you like beautiful old buildings. There is, however, a compromise.
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Mar 21
The Untold History of Ugliness
Posted in: Today's Chili
We’ve all had that moment while perusing a flea market or junk store when you stumble across an item and have to yelp, "Good lord, that is ugly!" So ugly, in fact, you have to marvel that it even got made in the first place.
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Mar 21
The Bluetooth speaker market is very crowded, so it’s quite difficult to decide what speaker to go with. Well, the portable speaker that has now jumped to the top of my list is the Grain PWS (Packable Wireless Speaker). This compact Bluetooth speaker measures just 7″(W) x 2 3/8″ (D) x 3 1/8″(H), but it packs a punch, and looks great doing it.
The first thing you’ll notice about the PWS is just how substantial it looks and feels. Its case is made from solid walnut, so right there it’s got a big advantage over other portable speakers. Wood is just a much better material for speaker enclosures than plastic. There’s a reason that high end audiophile speakers are made of the stuff. Grain is quick to point out that the wood will change color with time, which just adds to its design panache. In addition to the wood enclosure, the speaker has metal grilles with a soft rubberized bezel which just looks sharp.
Of course, a case does not a speaker make. Inside, you’ll find a pair of 2″ drivers and a passive radiator, backed by a stereo amp and Waves award-winning MaxxAudio sound processing. While the wattage of the amplification system isn’t specified, the speaker pushes out sufficient volume to fill my 15′ x 20′ living room. At full volume, distortion was inaudible to my reasonably well-trained ear, and at normal listening volumes, audio was well-rounded and warm, without the tinniness usually associated with small speakers.
Connecting your wireless device to the PWS is brilliantly simple too. Just press the power button for five seconds, and a voice will announce “pairing mode”. Then select the PWS with your mobile device’s Bluetooth settings and the voice will announce “pairing complete”. The Other than play/pause, the speaker forgoes any sort of remote track control feature like some Bluetooth speakers, but this is okay by me. I use the controls on my mobile gadgets to choose tracks and playlists anyhow, and I’m pretty sure that most of you do too.
Naturally, the PWS has a built-in rechargeable battery too, so you can take it wherever you go. Battery life for the PWS is rated at eight hours, and I had no problem achieving (and slightly exceeding) this in my testing at medium volume levels. A handy LED indicator inside the rubberized power switch changes color to indicate when the battery is at 25% remaining, and then again when it’s at 10%. When you plug it in to charge, a voice announcement says “charging” and then “charge complete” when it’s done. Charging an empty battery takes somewhere between two to three hours.
Not only does the Grain look and sound great, its packaging is top notch. Inside the box, you’ll find a soft carrying pouch, a matching dark grey Grain USB power adapter, a MicroUSB to USB cable and a 3.5mm stereo cable for directly connecting audio sources.
To sum up, I’m impressed with this little speaker, and it’s currently my favorite Bluetooth travel speaker. While other speakers may be more rugged or waterproof, or offer more bells and whistles, I’m giving the Grain PWS the win on sheer sound quality and aesthetics.
The Grain PWS is available for order now, and sells for $249(USD).
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