from the nice people at potion factory... Tangerine is a utility that looks at your iTunes Library and lets you easily create playlists of upbeat music, or playlists for relaxing. It works by analyzing the BPM and the beat intensity of your music. Spend your time listening to music, not making playlists. Read More...

Curbly.com just launched! What's a curbly you ask?

Curbly is a community for the house-obsessed. If your idea of a fun weekend is checking off a few of those home-improvement projects on your list, then Curbly is a community for you.

Here are some examples of what you can find on Curbly:
- Tutorials: how to make simple home repairs and improvements.
- Inspiration: see the great things people like you have done with their homes.
- Self-expression: share the unique, creative touches that make your living space so special.

So DIY-ers go check it out! Read More...

Stickers for your ipod or laptop available from Schtickers. They need access to better (and more) designs... also, where are the glitter stickers? good idea though. Read More...

amazing zen sink by a company called duravit... they have lots of cool designer bathroom fixtures... click the sink for more! Read More...

excellent line of cool tiles from Mosaic Tile Market... click the pic for more Read More...

lots of great lighting ideas and inspiration here... click the pic for more Read More...

nice collection of wall art, stickers and graffiti from all over the world. Read More...

a project by D.A.R.E. design + architecture in New York, VersaDome looks promising as a modular building system with various applications. Read More...

I like sites that aggregate consumer opinions to solve problems... in this case, what are some of the "best of" products recommended by other women. Not a huge site, but it has potential. Read More...

clever bent plywood sofa shelf... IKEA should get on this ASAP. Read More...

Chairs.ws has come up with an exclusive range of lighting options that are very much different from the usual run on the mill stuff. The designs are strange and unique.

Ango Lamps is the name given to the line. The lamps from the collection find their inspiration from natural wonders like the silk cocoons, sar bark, nest and like. click the pic of "nest" to see more Read More...

Papote Lamp is a perfect example of fine skills directed towards making an intricate yet exclusive design. The exquisite lamp is made by using something as trivial as straw, yes; thousands of plastic straws have been used in making the beautiful honeycomb design.

The beauty of the lamp becomes all the more alluring when you see light seeping out of the centre of each straw and creating a unique tactile luminance. Read More...

The inflate concept seems to be going places, earlier it was that inflatable living places and now this innovative umbrella called the Bumprella.

You just have to use that bicycle pump to inflate this transparent umbrella and turning the handle backward can deflate it.
The basic aim of RKSDesigns, behind designing this kind of an umbrella is to avoid that irritating situation on a rainy day when all the umbrellas keep poking into each other, making it tough to walk.

However, with the Bumprella at hand, first and foremost you’ll avoid any kinda clashes, since it is transparent and secondly, even if you do, it would be just a bump and not poking. Read More...

The human body needs warmth and the areas in which we feel the cold first are naturally enough those which are at the extremities – hands and feet. The feet are particularly vulnerable in arctic climates as they are continually in contact with very cold surfaces. Accordingly, the advanced nanotech underfoot insulation offered by ToastyFeet insole liners from Polar Wrap. Most insulation requires loft but when you step on it, it gets compressed and loses its loft and therefore its insulating power. Aerogel doesn't require loft as it contains nanometer-sized pockets of air that can maintain thermal protection and shape even when you step on it. In partnership with NASA, this same flexible aerogel technology is being developed for next generation space suits but you can get it now and keep your feet toasty warm. Click the pic to visit the site. Read More...

Philips clothing prototypes light up to reflect the ‘emotions’ of the wearer. click the pic for more info on the R&D Read More...

A coat that glows when it rains has been created by a US-based designer.

Elise Co, of design and technology firm Aeolab in Los Angeles, will be discussing the latest version of her Puddlejumper coat at a textiles show in France this month.

Puddlejumper is a luminescent, nylon raincoat that turns the prospect of walking in the rain into an opportunity for play and performance, says Co, a former professor of new media. It’s coated with PVC and has water sensors on its back and left sleeve. The sensors are wired via interior electronics to electroluminescent panels on the front of the jacket.

When water hits one of the sensors, the corresponding lamp lights up on the front, creating a flickering pattern of illumination that mirrors the rhythm of rainfall, says Co. “You get a pattern of lights that really looks like water falling,” she says. Co says the electroluminescent panels are of the same kind of material used as backlighting for phones.

The material is usually purchased pre-manufactured as plastic sheets that are cut up and wired together. But Co mixed up the chemicals that make the panels and silk-screened them onto the jacket by hand, and hand printed the water sensors onto the jacket.

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Earlier this month, Hussein Chalayan wowed the audience at his Paris runway show with five dresses that automatically transformed in shape and style (video + interview). Zippers closed, cloth gathered, and hemlines rose–all without human assistance. Beneath each model’s skirt was a computer system designed by the London-based engineering and concept-creation firm 2D3D. click the pic to see the video at youtube Read More...

FiveFingers, footwear that offer the exhilarating feeling of going barefoot with the protection and grip of a Vibram sole. Read More...

You send in your fingerprint, and Piaget will trace out your unique whorls in diamonds on a pendant or watch. Read More...

the first issue of Craft: magazine, makers of MAKE magazine, is really excellent. There is, not only a feature story on Diana Eng, but also an extensive article on how to make your own programmable LED array shirt, with surface mount LEDs! Surface mount LEDs are really hard to work with because of their size. However, Janet Hansen obviously proves it’s not impossible because that’s what she mainly uses. Anyway, back to the Craft: zine article…

It is written by Leah Buechley, a PhD student in computer science and member of the Craft Technology Group at the U of Colorado at Boulder. The article has some great tips on sewing with surface mount LEDs and electronics in mind. It uses the AVR, which is a great microcontroller but not easy to learn for electronics newbies.

However, the AVR is part of Arduino, a new electronics platform cheaper than the Basic Stamp and easier to use than the PIC. What more can you ask for? You can program with processing to hook up your wearable project to graphics on the computer. Its own scripting language is very much like processing and very easy to learn. It’s about time someone came out with an open source electronics platform! Read More...

yes, most of the designs and slogans are ripped off from other sources... but they also print a funny mixture of topical and offensive originals. Read More...

yes, there is a lot of this kind of thing out there... I love that Heather (the designer) takes the time to make great straps for her bags. Lots of great designs... click the pic for more. Read More...

I love the bag on the right by ArtGhost.Lots of interesting handmade stuff here... including stuff that doesn't "look" handmade.
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Sends individual signals for all 6 strings, meaning separate effects for each one, - the possible combinations are limitless. Gibson's HD Les Paul guitar Read More...

I love a round building. Read More...

Designed by Harvard Graduate School of Design professor Michael Meredith, Ivy is a coat rack for people who hate coat racks and wall art for people who hate coats. Read More...

U frame bi-level dishrack from Simple Human - I love how it makes use of vertical space, and you can hang wine glasses Read More...

The heel press, a student-fueled creative community, has just launched a site redesign to showcase all types of creative pursuits - art, writing, and everything else. Read More...

winter is here. Boulder designer Phoenix Zoellick is whipping up interesting and lovely snowboard designs. click the pic to viait the site. Read More...

Aluminum bottles for special promotions by beer and beverage companies seem to offer better marketing opportunities than glass. Also, they are lighter, have higher-definition graphics, cool faster and feel colder when handled. Read More...

Belu - Sustainable British Water. Yes you read that right... in fact the bottle is made of corn (no, not the cap though) click the pic for more info Read More...

Excellent resource of vintage reproduction fabrics, vintage look buttons, ribbons, patches and sewing supplies... nice stuff! click the pic to visit their store. Read More...

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The eye-catching swimming pool and saunas anchored off the banks of the river in East Berlin are a project conceived by local artist, Susanne Lorenz, to enliven city life along the river neglected river.

Created from a converted cargo ship, the year-old Badeschiff first opened in the summer of 2004 as a multidisciplinary art project organized by the Stadtkustprojekte (City Art Project Society) of Berlin. The sunken hull of the transformed vessel now offers a pristine 8 x 32 meter pool. Resting almost level with the Spree's surface the design gives one the sensation of swimming in the river itself with the city skyline as a dramatic backdrop.

An open-air recreational complex in the warm months, the curving translucent shelter and saunas were added just last December, under the direction of architect Gil Wilk, making the Badeschiff suitable for winter use. Its open until 12 midnight everyday and an adjoining bar, boasting a sandy floor, completes the winter oasis.

click the picture to visit the site for more pictures.
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Insect Lab is an artist operated studio that customizes real insects with antique watch parts and electronic components. Offering a variety of specimens that come in many shapes, sizes and colors; each specimen is individually designed and hand- assembled, each is one of a kind and unique.

Borrowing from both science fiction and science fact, Insect Lab's customized insects are a celebration of natural and manmade function. Specimens are presented in either custom made black shadow boxes or glass bell jars, allowing for display anywhere. Read More...

Alastair France's new book is Five Myths of Consumer Behavior: Create Technology Products Consumers Will Love.

Something every marketing student and product designer or engineer should pick up.

At only 147 big-print pages it's a rather quick read but it packs a big punch and does a fine job at outlining core yet often overlooked consumer behaviour principles. In particular, Smethers articulately explains (in plain English) the various phases and stalling points of new product adoption, the barriers to initial use and proper usability, the different types of users and how to approach them, the many costs to the consumer and why it's so important to highlight a product's true value. Here are the five myths:

Myth 1: Consumers behave the same in all markets
Reality: Consumers behave differently in new markets than in established markets

Myth 2: The more consumers see it, the more successful it will be
Reality: If the offspring isn't attractive, there is no sense getting more users to see it

Myth 3: If I’ll use it, my users will
Reality: Consumers don't have your knowledge or your motivation when they try your product

Myth 4: Consumers will find a product’s value
Reality: The value must find the user

Myth 5: Consumers want more features
Reality: Consumers only want a few key features, and they want them to work well Read More...

A chorus of performers between 73 and 92 years old who do covers of Rolling Stones, Clash, Roxy Music, Sonic Youth and other songs. click the pic to see them cover Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia" Read More...

Halfshag’s pixelArt tool. Isometric pixel graphics might be oh-so-2002, but this tool gets big kudos for its cool architectural styling, more futuristic Modernist than retro Atari.

PixelArt is developed in Flash, by halfshag aka Richard Simpkins, a London-based Actionscript developer & designer. The tool itself is easy to use. Blocks are selected from a pre-existing library, and can then be dragged around the grid and placed on top of each other. No particular isometric skills are required, the tool does it all for you.

There are also community functions that allow you to save your and reload your creations once you’ve registered as a user. Saved pieces will be displayed in the pixelGallery, as well as in a downloadable screensaver. The screensaver retrieves creations from the web site, and shows them locally in high resolution. It’s almost better than TV.

click the pic for more

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For a different take and a different scripting language, go read theverymany, Marc Fornes’ blog on his experiments in computational architecture. 98% of his blog so far is Rhinoscript code for creating generative structures, accompanied by intriguing illustrations. It makes you want to work with Rhino just to be able to see it run.

For those who don’t know it, Rhinoscript is a VBScript language used to control Rhino, a high-end 3D package used for anything from CAD/CAM and visualization to computer animation. Rhino is popular with coding architects, sculptors and CGI heads alike. It’s not as old skool as AutoCAD and AutoLISP, which has been used for computational architecture since 1986. But it’s likely a lot more useful.

theverymany is refreshingly focused on sketches and code, but there is documentation of one interesting recent project: “From DIN to DIM”, a “series of experimentations looking at transitions between the German Standard of design to self-similar objects controled by declared variables…”. Done with Vincent Nowak and Claudia Corcilius, it consists of generative formal studies, using nested loops to generate structure.

As with much computational architecture, the results are visually very compelling. The techno-organic tower structures recall fashions in blobby architecture, while simultaneously reminding one of 70s sci-fi book covers. The translation of simple code structures into complex and appealing form seems effortless, it would certainly be interesting to see the slides shown in higher detail. Read More...

The Polaroid image transfer process relies on the ability of dyes in the Polaroid emulsion to migrate to an alternative receiver surface during the development process. The "normal" Polaroid process is interrupted and the "negative" is placed on another material (usually paper). The dyes that will form the image are encouraged to transfer by the use of heat and pressure. According to legend, this process was accidentally discovered when a Polaroid negative was left sitting on a lab counter.

There is a great downloadable PDF book by Holly F. DuPree at her site that explains the process. click the pic to visit her site. Read More...

do you have a printer and some patience? pick any JPEG, (high contrast images tend to work better) and upload it to the site. The Rasterbator allows you to pick how you want your image enlarged onto sheets of paper and dumps a multi-page PDF back to you.

The result prints in sequence... so after you do a little edge trimming, start at the upper left hand corner and lay out your prints. Shown here is a printed untrimmed 3x3 grid.

click the pic to view the site and be sure to check out the gallery.


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Eiwa Industry Co., a Japanese metal processing firm, has begun marketing silver pendants that contain the DNA of loved ones. The company sees demand for the new service from people who want to have a memento of the dearly departed.

A researcher at the medical faculty of Nagoya University extracts the DNA from hair or other body parts provided by customers, attaches it to a 1mm bead and then encases it in a plastic capsule before putting it in a pendant.

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MacTheRipper is a free DVD ripper (extractor) for Mac OS X. It can extract commercial DVD movies to your hard drive, minus all the copy protections and region controls put in place by DVD publishers. You can then use various tools to burn the movie back to DVD-R for use in DVD players, or convert the movie to different formats for playback with a variety of devices. MacTheRipper is intended to backup DVDs you have legally purchased for personal use. Any copyright-infringing activity you choose to perpetrate using this application is illegal, immoral, and beyond our control. Read More...

With her Tattoo-me boots, Emily Jane Atkinson has developed a way of tattooing oneself without the use of inks and needles. The boots have changeable linings. Each of them have a different pattern on and when worn they leave an imprint on the legs, thus creating a temporary tattoo. Each lining depicts a rite of passage, the cherry symbolises losing your virginity, and it can also be used to allow your partner to know that you are ready for a sexual relationship. The butterfly symbolises coming of age and the doves symbolise new beginning. Read More...

designed by SF based fuseproject... don't know if it's in production or not Read More...

annoyed that you have to "join" the New York Times to read an article? bypass the process by using bugmenot!

click the pic for more. Read More...

Nice round-up from 52 reviews about free education resources online, including the OpenCourseWare from MIT and Stanford on iTunes. good stuff. Read More...

The interactive installation is a spatially adaptable pneumatic environment at an urban scale. The installation consists of large air-bags or "bubbles" that inflate and deflate in reaction to visitors pushing or bumping the lower inflated volume of each pair. As visitors enter and move through the installation, they must navigate through the lightweight 8’ diameter spheres that fill the space. When the bubbles are bumped, sensors initiate a chaotic exchange of air between the spheres. When no visitors are present, the system returns to its stand-by state: the lower bubble in the pair refillls with air and awaits another interaction.

The installation aims at bringing an adaptive volumetric sense of architecture to the M&A that is continuously changing and compelling as it responds to visitors. The adaptability of the bubbles emulates at a super-human scale the organic thigmotropism of plant life.

The structure of this installation tackles volume over surface and interaction with space over static geometry while pushing the scale of interactive architecture. The designers have selected permeable rip-stop nylon to form the bubbles. At the center of each bubble is a hard "seed" made of CNC'd white HDPE plastic and strengthened with monofilament. The seed serves two functions: it contains a micro-flourescent lighting element to create a glow within each bubble, and it houses the mechanical switch used to trigger the reversible fan that deflates one bubble while inflating another.

click the pic for more

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Dubberly Design Office (DDO) have just posted a small sample of concept maps they’ve designed within the last 7 years. Each map takes a difficult—almost mystical—subject and attempts to rigorously map out its many complexities and relationships. There are six maps, each answering one of the following questions:

1. What is Java technology and its community?
2. How does the Domain Name System (DNS) work?
3. What is a brand?
4. How do organizations track customers to retain them longer—and acquire more?
5. What is Internet search?
6. What happens during a heart attack?

The maps apply concept mapping principles introduced in Learning How to Learn by Novak, Gowin, and Kahle. DDO uses those principles in combination with a graphic design sensibility to create an utterly mesmerizing series of maps. Here’s how DDO describes the role of concept mapping in design activities.

click the pic to get the maps Read More...

This is something I just can't make my brain remember. Now I don't have to. Click the pic for more. Read More...

Want the fastest way to put your Mac right into a deep, hibernation-like sleep (no whirling fan, no dialogs, no sound — nuthin’ — just fast, glorious sleep). Just press Command-Option and then hold the Eject button for about 2 seconds and Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. It doesn’t get much faster than that. Read More...

Somebody unfortunately named Grog has put together a great site with knot tying animations. Far superior to looking at a drawing. Good job Grog! click the pic for more. Read More...

You want to sign up for something on the net but don't want the spam associated with signing up? Use 2prong... you instantly get an anonymous email address to a 48 hour domain. brilliant! Read More...

A great resource with lots of practical advice and experimental layouts to play with. Read More...

The Two Second Tent from Quechua is a dream come true. Now you will probably see people camping more often and anywhere. Great idea ! Read More...

The inflatable home theater screen is also made of PVC frame and it includes two 120-watt amplified speakers to provide the surround sound experience. The 12-foot model comes for a price of $1299.99 and the 8-foot model sells for $899.99. Both models comes inclusive with UL-listed air inflator/deflator with hose and 30′ L-R RCA audio cables. So, now watch your favorite movie or sports by pool-side! Read More...

Sony has already released the "e-ink" device, but Phillips is working on a smaller format that does the same thing. I read a lot of ebooks, and hope they get the tech right on this. Read More...

Imagine wearing a t-shirt where you’d be able to display light animation. Well, with Philips new technology called Lumalive, it’s now possible. Fully integrated into fabrics, the LEDs doesn’t compromise the softness or flexibility of the cloth. Read More...

This ambient lighting system allows you to control the mood of your room with a colour-coded remote - slide your finger around the spectrum to get just the right shade. click the pic for a one minute review from shiny shiny. Read More...

This is an awesome, custom-built mechanical tiger created by a local artist and taken out for a ride, in Brugge, Belgium.

Morenfo if you click this pic. Read More...

The Treadmill Bike was just released in Japan for about $2000USD. “Have you ever wished you could get a quality treadmill workout without paying expensive gym prices? Look no further than the Treadmill Bike by the Bicycle Forest. The Treadmill Bike offers the same fat burning benefits of a conventional treadmill without the membership fees!” Read More...

Philips showed off its latest free-thinking ideas at its annual concepts show, called "Simplicity" at the ExCel Centre in London.

The "Drag and Draw" drawing with light exhibit allows you to draw on any surface - so you can scribble on the bedroom wall without doing any damage!

The Drag and Draw concept uses NextWindow's 2900 touch screen technology.

click the pic to see some video Read More...

The Wovel works on the principle of leverage. “Give me but one firm spot in which to stand,” Archimedes declared 2,200 years ago,” and I will move the earth.” The Wovel gives you the power of leverage to safely move more snow in less time with greater ease. Read More...

The idea of a nanotech-based matter compiler began in the U.S., and we do some relevant computer modeling studies, but the U.K is pulling ahead toward actually building one. Twenty to thirty lucky researchers will gather on January 8-12, 2007, to brainstorm how to do this, after which the U.K. government will spend about US$ 3 million on the best of the ideas discussed. Click thepic tpo go to the application. Read More...

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have taken the first steps towards such wireless energy transfer by conceptualizing a way to transmit electricity over room-size distances. One day, they say, the technology could power whole households or even motor vehicles wirelessly. Read More...

cool!

Developed by associate engineering professor Tayhas Palmore and former postdoctoral research associate Hyun-Kon Song, the batteries are based on a plastic compound called polypyrrole that bears similar conductive properties to metals. Polypyrrole got media attention in 2000 after winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for its three inventors.

Polypyrrole batteries can be charged and discharged quickly like a capacitor, but can also deliver its charge over an extended period of time, like a battery. In tests the Polypyrrole batteries outdid both capacitors and batteries, demonstrating double the storage of an electric double-layer capacitor, and more than 100 times the power of a standard alkaline battery. Unlike standard batteries, however, the new plastic batteries are about as thick as a piece of paper, giving the new technology a great deal of flexibility for future implementations. Read More...

The classic Greek philosophers had a word for the process of self-actualizing and striving to reach your highest potential. They called it 'Areté.' (pronounced ar-uh-tay) Read More...

From madcropper.com, an easy tutorial on making your own customized photo soap Read More...

An oral history project that covers the Roma people of Kosovo

The name Roma is used in place of Gypsy - a word with its origins in the misplaced assumption, by Europeans, that the Roma in their midst originated in Egypt. Europe was recently emerging from the dark ages when Roma first appeared there; no one had seen Egyptians in a long time, and things got a bit confused.

While the word Gypsy has romantic connotations in North America, it is considered a racist term, as are its many equivalents in the European languages: Zigeuner (German), Cigan (Serbian/ Croatian), Maxhup (Albanian), Athingani (Greek- do not touch), Kipti (Turkish), Gitano (Spanish) and Gitan (French).

This project exclusively uses the word Roma. It encompasses all sub-groupings. Sometimes, Roma in this project are sub-identified by their particular clan, be it Gurbeti, Muhadjeri, Arlija, Bugurdjije, Ashkalija, or Egyptian (although Egyptian is more a hopeful non- Roma classification than a clan).

click the pic for more. Read More...

With a simple and painless cheek swab you can sample your own DNA and submit it to the lab. We run ONE test per participation kit. We will test either your mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down each generation from mother to child and reveals your direct maternal ancestry; or your Y chromosome (males only), which is passed down from father to son and reveals your direct paternal ancestry. You choose which test you would like administered.

What to Expect
Your results will reveal your deep ancestry along a single line of direct descent (paternal or maternal) and show the migration paths they followed thousands of years ago. Your results will also place you on a particular branch of the human family tree. Some anthropological stories are more detailed than others, depending upon the lineage you belong to. For example, if you are of African descent, your results will show the initial movements of your ancestors on the African continent, but will not reflect most of the migrations that have occurred within the past 10,000 years. Your individual results may confirm your expectations of what you believe your deep ancestry to be, or you may be surprised to learn a new story about your genetic background.

The Genographic Project is a real time effort to map how humankind populated the earth. It is a five-year research partnership between National Geographic and IBM with support from the Waitt Family Foundation, and public participation through Family Tree DNA. Read More...