design

Weekend links!

Posted by _tango! on July 28, 2007
Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, misc, style, tech, wacky, weekendlinks. Leave a Comment

– Proof Aquafina and Dasani water is just local tap water!
– Super high res image of downtown boston via neatorama.
– IDSA Okala EcoDesign Guide.
– Naoto Fukasawa’s project on how materials make a huge difference.
– Dippy Egg set.. makes ya want eggs and toast!

– Tech guru GigaOm launches The GigaOm Show! The first episode was a great interview with co-founder James Hong of HotorNot, and CEO Bill Watkins of Seagate.
– SoundBall! Pretty cool! Reminds me of Mario Brother in Reality! Watch the video!
– Double sided toothbrushes (brush your gums while brushing your teeth)(The Colgate 360 or the Reach Fresh & Clean) I think i saw this as a student project many years ago…great design!
– Underwater Pool Installation! Fun fun! via Hemmey.

Merlin Mann presents “Inbox Zero”

Posted by _tango! on July 26, 2007
Posted in: brand, design, entertainment, experience, ideas, information, inspiration, me, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment

Do you have 500+ e-mails sitting in your inbox? If so, shame on you! Get your digital communications gear in tune and get that email mess count down to ZERO every single day! Trust me, it’s worth it! How you might ask; two options: 1) take an hour listen to Merlin Mann (43 Folders) lecture about “Inbox Zero” while at Google (his slides here), or 2) give Mark Hurst book “Bit Literacy” a read. (Marks run CreativeGood in nyc and also runs the incredible inspirational GEL Conference yearly which I’ve attended many times)

I’ve been using a hybrid of these systems for many years now, and I’m not sure where I’d be without it. Many ask me how I manage so many different email accounts, clients, web accounts, etc… and the simple answer is… I keep my inbox down to zero! In the most simple cliff-notes version on how to achieve this system:
– Answer emails asap.
– Do not let emails be your address book/calendar/to do lists.
– Trash the ones you don’t need to read.
– Answer and move emails to folders (this is a step Merlin says not to do, but archive it all).
– Make it a habit to get to zero daily.

You know how right before you leave for a vacation or something, you sit down and hammer out tons of overdue emails, activities, projects, etc…. we’ll basically be that productive every day… with an inbox of zero, your less stressed, can find things much faster, and you feel much cleaner!!!

via Lifehacker (via 43 folders)

Seagate FreeAgent: User Experience

Posted by _tango! on July 25, 2007
Posted in: brand, design, experience, fun, information, inspiration, me, style, tech, thoughts. 2 comments
seagate freeagent user experience

A few weeks back, I was in need of an external hard drive, and like most geeks I cruised the internet for reviews, asked opinions from friends, and ventured off to store shelves to see what was hot. After pacing around for more than needed, I finally bought the FreeAgent by Seagate because it seemed clean, was understandable, and it just felt better.

I’ve been incredibly happy with the product and ran into this great post describing someones great experience in the packaging design, which I’ll admit made me buy over the other options because the packaging was so human and sweet. I’d say “simple”, but I don’t like using that word because everyone thinks it means reduction when it actually just means intuition.

Look through the pictures at the post here. (note: the re-wording of the packaging rocks… no mumbo jumbo tech terms… just things us humans ask.)(Also reminds me how Jetblue said “buh bye Red-Eye, Hello to shut-eye“)

Toothpaste Damages Teeth

Posted by _tango! on July 22, 2007
Posted in: design, information, materials, thoughts. Leave a Comment

toothpaste damageDid you know that toothpaste can damage your teeth? According to the following article, I can see why… Otherwise, I’m sticking to my tasty paste for now.

“CBS2Chicago is reporting about a growing concern among some dentists that excessive brushing with toothpaste is not good for one’s teeth. Dentists increasingly see patients destroying tooth enamel and soft tissues, and scientific evidence seems to implicate the toothpaste.”

It reminds me that in design or any other field, sometimes when you create solutions you also create new problems down the road . We feed ourselves problems through solutions if not pass it onto other fields … what a paradox. 😉

Read the rest of the article via MedGadget
Source: CBS article/video

Draggable Routes

Posted by _tango! on July 20, 2007
Posted in: brand, design, experience, fun, ideas, information, me, tech. Leave a Comment
google maps draggable routes map

I knew about this sometime ago but I finally had the opportunity to use Google Maps Draggable Routes (This is what I call it, not Google). If ya don’t like the route Google maps gives ya… no problem… just drag the route to another road and watch the route magically change! Here’s a over-dragged route from NYC to Boston which I plan to use today… drag it around a bit more if you want.  Type in a route, drag it around, have some fun!

Weekend Bites

Posted by _tango! on July 15, 2007
Posted in: art, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, me, misc, style, tech, wacky, weekendlinks. Leave a Comment
newport rock cliff walk

I had a wonderful weekend venturing over to FooFest, Newport Cliff Rocks, Waterfire, and a few other activities while dining at Pizzico in Providence! Next weekends the Blackship Festival!

Here are some random cool links for the weekend:

– Eureka Skydeck: An elevator that goes sideways, and pushes you out 300 meters above ground.(article)
– How to get free internet at Hotels.
– Headhoods: Face prints on hoodies!
– Amazing landscape images from China.
– Wifi Blocking Paint!!!
– How to make a baby quiet by sipping water sommelier style.
– Womens dreamhome 84 sq ft space.

Seattle: Boeing visit

Posted by _tango! on July 14, 2007
Posted in: brand, design, experience, information, inspiration, materials, me, tech, thoughts. 2 comments
seattle boeing 787 wings

The highly anticipated carbon fiber Boeing 787 Dreamliner was unveiled while I was in Seattle, so I ventured over to Boeings headquarters to check it out. Besides the galley tour and an awesome visit to their 98+ acre hanger, I had VIP (accidental trespassing) access with one of the 787’s up close and personal! Man, these aircrafts are gigantic. Some interesting facts:

– Boeing has reserved parking near the hangers for employees that have been around for 25+ years… I’m not sure what newbies feel, but man, thats a long time to wait for that benefit.

– Under the hanger is a long 1/3 mile hallway that houses all the plumbing. When it’s raining outside, employees often run up and down this hallway for exercise if not ride their bikes.

– If you want to buy one of these 787’s it’ll cost you some $230 million just for the plane, not including interior… and the waiting list goes as far as 2015 currently for delivery.(3 payment system: to start the build, to paint it, and to fly it away)

– The new Boeing 787 is some 40,000 pounds lighter than similar airplanes, making it %20 more fuel efficient, and produces %20 fewer emissions.

– People were not allowed to bring anything into the gallery tour, even my freaking sketchbook was taken away. The reason: too many people in the past dropped things down the hanger.

Pictures after the jump w/video about the interior design team (Teague) 😉

787 interactive page
787 Premier footage (pretty long video, but informative)
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Seattle: Library by Koolhaas

Posted by _tango! on July 13, 2007
Posted in: art, design, experience, information, inspiration, materials, me, style, tech, thoughts. 2 comments
seattle central library rem koolhaas building

During my trip in Seattle I went to the new cascading Central Library designed by architect, and GSD professor, Rem Koolhaas.  I missed out on the guided tours, but had a good hour walking up and down the spacious, colorful, and vibrant new construction. I don’t have much to say about the design, but the details were very nice… including the many sustainable elements within the design… and from what I know about Rem, the ideas are probably very theoretical though compelling. If you really want to read more about the design, dive over to Arcspace.

tons of pics after the jump.

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Weekend Bites

Posted by _tango! on July 8, 2007
Posted in: art, design, entertainment, fun, information, inspiration, me, misc, style, tech. 1 comment

I’ve had little time to post anything this past week since my sisters Seattle wedding took up all of my time (whoohooo, she’s married!) but here are a few things that have been sitting in my bookmarks:

– Kick butt crazy Jet Kayak w/video!
– Awesome Train Coaster commercial.
– “Flip” your words around. (yet another fun useless web app)( ddɐ qǝʍ unÉŸ ssǝlǝsn ɹǝɥʇouɐ ʇǝʎ )
– Wine Ratchet Magnum!via notcot
– GotVoice.com (free service to convert voice mail messages to email)(I’m using, and it works)
– 22 Confessions of a former Dell Sales manager (good stuff via consumerist.com)
– Why I hate cops that abuse their power…
– Sweet collection of fake branded products.(There’s a reason the fakes are better)
– Hilarious Japanese Treadmill Challenge.
– Insane Human Billboard dance!(must watch)
– Very Strange fashion show by John Galiano via hemmy

Type the Sky

Posted by _tango! on July 3, 2007
Posted in: art, design, experience, ideas, information, inspiration, style, thoughts. 7 comments

type the sky book photography

I’ve seen tons of books mimicking our alphabet using our environment, but it’s great to see this refreshing book and set of photographs using a medium we all have access to; the sky and surrounding buildings. I have no clue where to buy this book, but have a glance at this German website or babelfish the webpage to get a somewhat english translation of the page. If any of ya’ll can find out where to buy this book, please send a link by commenting. I’ll be looking up towards the sky more often now 😉

Pictures after the jump.
via slanted.de

update: This is the work of  Lisa Rienermann at lisarienermann.com. Continue Reading