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All posts for the month March, 2009


The Big Thrill Clock flips and flaps 2 rolodex like card sorters to tell time .  As cool as it is already I was disappointed it did not have an alarm function that flipped both panels spontaneously fanning you awake! Awesome buy from Nextime! ($150)

If you want to stay digital, go get the sweet  Fliqlo Screensaver for your computer! If your craving a custom  Monster Clock, go right ahead here.


Kreol – play music by typing from Kreol Music on Vimeo.

My long time buddy Mike Block (cellist guru) sent his latest side project Kreol, which turns any laptop keyboard into a musical instrument. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen keyboard instruments, but there are a few unique elements that set him apart using the mouse and collaborative group jams. Check the Kreol video above.

In an ideal world, all materials would be recyclable and everybody would recycle. The harsh reality, though, is that over 75% of water bottles, perhaps the most readily recyclable product in the world, end up in oceans or landfills. So, while it’s critically important to design for recyclability, only in the best-case scenario are the products we design actually recycled.

Enter Planet Green Bottle, with their innovative plastic additive, Reverte. Combined with PET, Reverte offers a time-delayed biodegradability that breaks down plastic even in landfill conditions. By severing the bonds of a carbon chain into pieces that are small enough to be used as food for microbes, Reverte leaves nothing but CO2 and water behind. And, most impressively, the reaction can be delayed for anywhere from 2 or 5 years, so products can live a normal shelf life without fear of spoiling, leaking, dissolving, etc., and is still fully recyclable.

While recycling will always be the Cradle-to-Cradle ideal, Reverte factors in actual, albeit unfortunate, consumer behavior by offering biodegradabilty when recyclability fails. Makes it easier to design with a conscience, offering a good temporary fix until the system encourages 100% recyclability.

photo via flickr

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB&#038;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5&#038;showPlaylist=true&#038;from=shared" target="_new" title="Future Vision Montage">Video: Future Vision Montage</a>

Microsoft released a new video with their glimpse into the future. Most of the concepts seen are projects happening world wide and not just at Microsoft and really not that far out. Though most of the ideas are to promote the brand, it’s always good to get a refresh on the future and how technology might change our behaviors.


Oh my! I don’ think I’ll be buying packaged orange juice ever again! A must read! Shakes me up just as Supersize Me or FastFoodNation did.

Buy her book “Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice” here.

“IDEAS: What isn’t straightforward about orange juice?

HAMILTON: It’s a heavily processed product. It’s heavily engineered as well. In the process of pasteurizing, juice is heated and stripped of oxygen, a process called deaeration, so it doesn’t oxidize. Then it’s put in huge storage tanks where it can be kept for upwards of a year. It gets stripped of flavor-providing chemicals, which are volatile. When it’s ready for packaging, companies such as Tropicana hire flavor companies such as Firmenich to engineer flavor packs to make it taste fresh. People think not-from-concentrate is a fresher product, but it also sits in storage for quite a long time.”

Read the rest of the article at Boston.com or after the jump!
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