Hasta La Gadget!

There’s just something about getting actual mail versus email. With the former, you get to touch it, manipulate it, and pin it on your wall or stick it on your fridge for good measure. With the latter, all you can do is look at it on your computer or mobile device, and print it out, if you want an actual physical copy.

The thing is, not everyone has the time to go out and mail an actual postcard, or fire up Photoshop or Illustrator to customize their own. So for that, there’s the PhotoCard app by Bill Atkinson, who happens to have been one of the members of the original Apple Macintosh team, and developed the popular Mac applications, Hypercard and MacPaint.

The app features a neat and easy-to-use interface that lets users create and design their very own personalized postcards that will be printed out and sent via postal mail. Users can choose to upload their own images or use the ones in the app’s image library. They can then add their personal messages and “stickers” to the card and choose to have it printed and mailed (for a small fee, of course.) For those of you who prefer things digital, you can electronically send images for free.

PhotoCard can be downloaded for free from the iTunes App Store.

[via Laughing Squid]

We have accessed music in many different ways. It’s the 21st century after all. And now UK-based communications agency Uniform has devised a new way to access music. With their interactive Postcard Player.

These music playing postcard prototypes are printed with electronics using conductive inks. These allow users to interact with the flat printed circuit. The postcards can be docked into the Postcard Player to play music. You can control music by touching the paper postcards in the same way you would a touchscreen. Each card has tracks with printed buttons to pause and remix the music. Though it appears that the music itself is stored in the docking station, and the printed circuit only serves to identify which track to play and to control playback.

The Postcard Player is being shown off at Design Museum’s 2013 Designs of the Year show through July 7th, where it is showing everyone what you can do by printing electronic circuits onto unconventional surfaces. Pretty cool. Imagine getting a postcard, then docking it to hear a voice message and a song. Sure, it’s a novelty, but an interesting one.

[DigitalArts via TAXI via Damn Geeky]

I love getting mail. Not the electronic kind, but the old-fashioned postal and physical kind of mail. Sure, it might take longer to arrive, but compare the feeling you get when you receive an actual postcard in the mail versus an e-card in your inbox.

Go up one more level and you’ve got the Cardtorial. Instead of plain cardboard, you can now send messages of love, friendship, and encouragement with laser-cut designs on certified American wood. Aside from saying how you feel through the adorable designs on the cards, you can add your own message using a marker to make it even more special.

Its creator Yvonne Leung recently completed a successful campaign on Kickstarter to launch the cards and to fund crafting more Cardtorials for her Fall 2012 line. The campaign is closed (and all funded!) but you can still get the cards directly from her website for $10(USD) per card. For an extra $5 per card, you can also personalize them, but you’ll need to allow at least 10 extra business days for that service.