I have a tendency to be pretty modern in terms of my design choices around the house, so traditional chandeliers aren’t really my cup of tea. However, I might make an exception if I could have a chandelier that looked like an octopus.
These eyepopping chandeliers by artist Adam Wallacavage replace their candle-holding arms with twisty tentacles.
Each of these cephalopod chandeliers is made from various bits and bobs including lamp parts, epoxy clay and spray paint, among other things. While his designs may be based on some of the more unusual and creepy looking creatures on the planet, Adam manages to infuse a bit of whimsy and elegance into his designs, primarily through his choices of colors and finishing touches.
You can out more of Adam’s slithery octopus chandeliers over on his website.
Ironically, Adam is allergic to shellfish, as well as octopus.
At first, you might think what you’re looking at is just a cool illuminated wall sculpture. Well it is that, but it’s actually more. It’s actually a weather forecaster with a tangible user interface.
This interactive LED art was assembled by Instructables contributor and Parsons design student Adiel Fernandez. He built the wall unit using a set of three sconces found at CB2, rigged with a digitally-addressable LED scrip, cut into pieces that he placed into the sconces. His original concept was to simply rig the sconce with flickering LEDs to make them look like candles without the inconvenience of actual candles and flame, but ultimately ended up with a much more interactive pieces.
The wall sculpture is controlled by a small acrylic cube with icons on each side. Inside the cube is a gyroscope, accelerometer, XBee radio and lithium-polymer battery. Rotating the cube to face an icon upwards will switch the LEDs between 6 modes, described in the words of its creator as follows:
Power: “The cube is normally off to save power and will not recognize any commands or orientation. By having the power icon facing up and shaking the cube, the cube is now awake, will pulse the inner light that shines through the icons, and will recognize which side is facing up to allow other modes to be accessed. By spinning the cube while its on and the power side is up, a fun rainbow display is turned on and off.”
Flame: “When the cube is on and the flame side is facing up, the lights in the sconces will glow and flicker like real candle flames (a little difficult to see in the video). By rotating the cube clockwise, the number of candles lit are incremented and likewise, rotating it counter clockwise decreases the number of lights lit.”
High Temperature: “Having this side face up while the cube is on will display the high temperature of the day in red light. The lights will display the first digit of the temperature on the left side by lighting up the number of lights equivalent to that digit. The lights then pause then display the second digit of the temperature on the right side. For example, if the temp. is 47 degrees (like in the video), the lights will show 4 lights on the left, pause, then display 7 lights on the right.”
Low Temperature: “Similar to the low temp side, this side will show the low temperature of the day in a cool cyan hue.”
Precipitation (snow/rain): “This will display the percent chance of precipitation similar to how the other temperatures are displayed in blue. Its a little difficult to tell the difference between the cyan and blue in the video but easier in person.”
Travel (plane around the world): “For a bit of whimsy, I decided to make the bottom of the cube display the temperature of some fantasy destination set by the user in green light. In this case it’s set to Honolulu, Hawaii, hopefully making it easier to bare the cold winter with hopes of a future vacation.”
Here’s a look at the controller cube in action:
And here’s a brief demo of the wall as it lights up:
At this point, the temperature data is hard-coded into the system, but Adiel plans to get it wired up to an internet data source soon. There aren’t too many more details on the build available, but you can see what there is over on Instructables.
Ivan Zhang and Jeho Yoon have designed what could be the ultimate relaxation tool: an air mattress that can transform into a boat. Thanks to an internal structure of ropes and carabiners, the Nest is a comfy air mattress perfect for lounging about in a pool. But when you disconnect all of the carabiners inside, the mattress changes shape into a boat that’s ideal for a lazy paddle across a lake. More »
Extra tables and chairs are great for when you have company over, but what do you do with that stuff during the other 364 days of the year? Not everyone has limitless storage space. The Oneness modular furniture system, designed by Kyuhyung Cho and Hironori Tsukue, tackles this issue with a multitalented furniture set that can be whatever you want it to be, whenever you need it. More »
You know the Nike FuelBand as a sleek black band that’s a half-step removed from a Livestrong bracelet. That wasn’t always the case, though. Some looked totally different from the finished product, like this early mockup that basically got the FuelBand off the ground. More »
The problem with graphical glitches is that they generally show up when you’re trying to look at something else. Something not glitched. But if you’re just looking at them on their own, they can be be pretty fascinating, and even beautiful. That seems to be the idea behind Phillip Stearn’s Glitch Textiles, a set of very purposeful errors. More »
“When you talk to end users about ports, they’ll tell you how much they need them. They’ll talk about the vast number of USB devices that they have. It’s easy to hear that and determine that you need five or more ports based on what these people report. When you watch these people work, however, and you’re more overt in your methods — you rarely see that happening.
Sometimes, there’s a conflict between what someone reports they need and what they require.”
So begins the backstory of the latest ThinkPad overhaul as told by Corinna Proctor, the senior research manager at Lenovo’s User Research Center. Clearly versed in the art of separating whimsical wishes from bona fide requirements, she spoke to me in a phone interview alongside two of her colleagues in the run-up to today’s unveiling of the redesigned ThinkPad T431s Ultrabook. The machine itself is still very much a ThinkPad — it’s black, it’s understated and it’s tough as nails — but those who appreciate the evolution of technology will no doubt recognize some changes. Changes that began as mere notions some 18 months ago.
I’ve seen some cool playground slides in my day, but this one has got to be the neatest. It is attached to a jetliner. How much fun would that be to use? In fact this would be a cool way to exit a plane at any time. I dont know about you, but I would spend all day playing on this thing.
This twisty slide is mounted to a Tupolev Tu-124 located in the Ukraine, where all of the kids grow up awesome and not fearing heights at all. Cool as this thing is though, I don’t know if I would trust those supports to hold the airplane up. They don’t look all that sturdy. Then again, it makes it more of a fun danger game. Slide, then run.
Every time you make it out safely you win… Until you don’t.
The ThinkPad T series isn’t traditionally the prettiest out there, and it’s certainly not one you’d usually see highlighted. But Lenovo went and made them pretty. It’s got a new thinner body (20.6mm), a thin bezel, and a carbon fiber top with a magnesium exterior. It doesn’t look quite as great as the X1 Carbon, but it’s nice just the same. More »
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