experience

PoachPod

Posted by _tango! on August 12, 2007
Posted in: design, experience, food, fun, ideas, materials, style. Leave a Comment

PoachPod egg poacher
How smart and simple! I want one!

“Poaching is one of the healthiest ways to prepare eggs, since it doesn’t use butter or oil, but it surely isn’t the easiest—until now. The PoachPod suspends the egg like a lily in a lily pond. Simply crack egg into the PoachPod floating in boiling water. When done, simply pop out a perfectly poached, perfectly shaped egg! Silicone ensures quick, easy, clean release. ”

I’m sure you can find more than one use for this egg poacher 😉 (also, if you like boiled eggs, look into Eggo, or other various egg cookers)

Via bookofjoe
Buy at the KitchenOutlet, 2 for $9.99.

Brush&Rinse by Scott Amron

Posted by _tango! on August 10, 2007
Posted in: art, design, experience, fun, ideas, inspiration, thoughts. Leave a Comment

Brush and Rinse toothbrush fountain
Brush&Rinse is a ingenious fun idea by Scott Amron at Amron Experimental which adds a simple curve to a toothbrush that creates a redirection of water from the sink faucet for a fountain like spout to sip and rinse from.

His concept won an ID magazine award:

“The jurors loved the way a common-looking toothbrush, gently tweaked, could shape tap water into a fluid parabola as perfect as the St. Louis Arch. They talked about the wonderfulness of harnessing the appeal of water play to transform a universally unloved chore, repeating comments about the power of design to create moments when ingenuity boosts utility to an emotional “A-ha!” Their solidarity was too strong to rouse any pithy debate, however. “Will it entice kids to brush their teeth?” (Tobias) Wong wondered. No matter, said Jeremijenko: “It rescripts a daily activity into something fantastical.” …(It) reminded the jurors of the deepest and most primitive powers of design: to create wonder where it’s least expected; to make something out of nearly nothing; to reduce people to two words. Wow. Cool.

– Barbara Flanagan”

TED Africa Videos

Posted by _tango! on August 1, 2007
Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, experience, ideas, information, inspiration, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment

TED africa videos
Ooooo, TED Africa videos just started to get posted! If you missed out on the incredible TED Africa this past June in Tanzania, now you can enjoy a glimpse of this adventure online. If you prefer to read about it, I’d recommend reading 2 blog entries: Ethan Zukerman or LunchOVerIP by Bruno Giussani.

I’ll post the first 4 launched TED Africa videos after the jump.

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Start-Up Stories

Posted by _tango! on July 31, 2007
Posted in: brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, tech, thoughts. 2 comments

Here’s a great hour long panel discussion moderated by Guy Kawasaki (garage.com) talking to successful start-ups about how they started, how they made millions, how they survived, what not to do, where they came from, fun times, etc.

On the panel:
James Hong– HotOrNot.com
Max Levchin– Slide.com
Akash Garg– Hi5.com
Sean Suhl– SuicideGirls.com
Drew Curtis– Fark.com
Markus Frind– Plenty of Fish

CableYoYo

Posted by _tango! on July 29, 2007
Posted in: brand, design, experience, ideas, me, style, tech, thoughts. 2 comments

cableYoYo
I first spotted the CableYoYo at CES2005 and never really thought I’d need an extra piece of plastic to manage my small extra corded products such as my mouse, laptop, earphones, keyboard, etc, but I received one as a gift last year and latched it onto my favorite Mouse (red Logitech MX510).

Having to hop around with my laptop a bunch, the CableYoYo has saved me loads of time, frustration, and space. It seems rather un-needed at first, but shortening my mouse cable has freed me of tangling wires in the bag, a cluster of noodling wires next to my laptop, and a few saved seconds every time I pack. Why not just get a bluetooth mouse? Well, I find them a bit slow and jumpy nor do I care to change batteries every few months or bother with an extra USB dongle I can lose… and as far as a charger… I’m not packing another clunky charger with more wires since I already have many for all my other electronics. (I really wished power adapters could be universal like USB for everything)

“>Buy the Cable YoYo here. ($5)

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“)

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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