ideas

PBS Everyday Edisons Season 2: I’m on TV!

Posted by _tango! on June 19, 2008

Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, me, style, tech, wacky. 26 comments

Hey all! I’ve got a little secret to spill that I’ve been keeping hush for almost a year! I’m in a TV show and it premieres on PBS today!!!!

The shows called “Everyday Edisons“:
“Everybody has a great idea that could change the way we work, the way we live or the way we play. Everyday Edisons documents the development process of 14 inventions and the parallel stories of the people who invented them. Selected from thousands, the 14 Everyday Edisons learn how their extraordinary ideas are taken from a sketch on a napkin to a store shelf.”

Check out the EverydayEdisons.com page or the PBS page. Find out your local PBS air dates and times here. (I’m in the 2nd half of the season but will appear at the beginning I think)

It’s a thrill to be one of the dozen inventors hand picked from thousands to be on the show. This adventure continues a project I invented while at RISD back in 1999 which made the blogsphere rounds in 2004-5.

I’m not sure what to expect nor how the show ends (good or bad) but that’s all part of the fun. It might not be as entertaining as reality TV, but you’ll get to see my goofy serious self!! And no, it’s not like the “other” reality show I’ve been on… this one is much more professional. There is no competition, the US patent office sponsors the show, and they actually spend over a year developing each inventors idea!

I’ll post a few articles that have been published about the show and myself after the jump (fun pictures)! Please watch and let me know how it goes, cause I don’t receive the channels it’s being broadcast on (booo).

update: episodes posted after jump
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Weekend Links

Posted by _tango! on June 8, 2008

Posted in: brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, inspiration, style, tech, wacky, weekendlinks. Leave a Comment

Here are some semi super hero links…. I saw Iron Man finally which was awesome. Later on Indiana Jones, Incredible Hulk, Batman, Hancock, Kung Fu Panda, Get Smart, Love Guru, Hellboy II, and filming for Transformers 2 just started! What a Super Hero summer this is going to be!

– Japaneses Talking watch!($20)
– Finger Blasters or Finger Missiles! (Makes anyone a kid again)
– Explore the Universe through World Telescope!
– Skin Footwear!
– Crazy Fun Slip n Slide!(video)
– A poorly designed Batman squirt gun… haha

Nick Demarco: Reuse, Garbage Chair

Posted by _tango! on May 29, 2008

Posted in: art, design, green, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, style, wacky. 1 comment

Call it what you want, but I think this is a great idea by student Nick Demarco! Buy this plastic bag/mesh shaped chair, stuff it with dry items you’d be throwing away anyways or what you have too much of, and you have a comfy chair. Take those old shirts, magazines, bottles, stuffed bears, newspapers, etc.

This is a great “Reuse” project. I’ve got a huge pile of old shirts and magazines that would work great for making a snazzy couch! Reminds me a bit of the very expensive yet cool Campana teddy chairs!

via treehugger!
video interview

Erik Nordenankar: Biggest Drawing in the World

Posted by _tango! on May 27, 2008

Posted in: art, entertainment, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, tech, wacky. 1 comment

Erik Nordenankar biggest drawing in the world dhl

Artist Erik Nordenankar has created the “Biggest Drawing in the World” according to his webpage.

In short, he had a grand vision to draw a huge self-portrait. He sent away a briefcase containing a GPS device around the world through DHL which plotted it’s journey in 55 days. The end result, a pretty sweet self-portrait. The GPS container became his pen and the world became his canvas.

However true or fictional this may be, it’s a pretty cool idea. He has a good documentation of it online, and a youtube videos here.

via hackaday

CouchSurfing.com

Posted by _tango! on May 18, 2008

Posted in: brand, experience, fun, green, ideas, information, wacky. 1 comment

I was at a party last night and stumbled upon a few passionate “CouchSurfing” ladies into Boston for the night from Australia. So what is Couch surfing? Watch the video above, or in my take, it’s the new hotel! It’s free, you meet new locals who can probably give you the best tour of the city skipping all the BS, you become friends, learn a ton about the local culture, perhaps get a homemade cultural meal, and in the end, become an official “CouchSurfer!” What an experience!

I’ve always couch crashed at friends around the world and love it over hotels, but meeting newbies from cities I don’t know might just be the next best thing! I’ve met some of my best friends in the most random situations and this couch surfing idea sounds great! Meet new people, get a free place to crash, and get a heads on dive into the local culture wherever your adventures take you. Sure, it may seem a bit sketchy to stay over at a strangers… but treat it like a friend of a friends! Where there is trust comes new opportunities! They also have global gatherings for CouchSurfers… checkout some Flickr pics.

www.couchsurfing.com
A bunch of Couchsurfing Youtube videos

Bert Simons: Paper Portraits

Posted by _tango! on April 29, 2008

Posted in: art, fun, ideas, inspiration, style, wacky. 5 comments

First comes the whole pixelation craze then comes Bert Simons with his paper craft portraits which appear as fractal faceted faces in a somewhat eerie way….maybe it’s just how he hangs them like deer heads. Anyhow, very cool visual…Not sure how to do this on my own, but I just might have to upload my face via some 3D program (maybe Blender as he did..it’s free) then print out a cutout mixing it up with the cool illusion of the Gardner Dragon! (that would rock if I could mix these two)

I’ll copy a few of the over here after the jump!
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Cozy Seat: Diagonal Seats for heads to rest!

Posted by _tango! on April 29, 2008

Posted in: brand, design, experience, ideas, thoughts. Leave a Comment

Cozy Seats: Diagonal seats allowing individuals to finally rest their bobbing sleepy heads somewhere on airplanes!It’s about time an airline tried these out, though a sliding wall would have done the trick. I’m not too sold on this idea for spacial reasons, but it’ll be interesting to see even though meeting cool strangers sitting next to you will be tricky. Laptop peepers, yeah..I’ll be asking for aisles seats. Delta planes to install theses in some economy class seats by 2010.

Some pics after the jump via newlaunches.
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Weekend Links

Posted by _tango! on April 19, 2008

Posted in: art, entertainment, fun, ideas, inspiration, misc, style, tech, thoughts, weekendlinks. 4 comments

– an awesome Wii Guitar Hero shirt above.
– DIY sawed off USB stick..seriously nerdy awesome!
– A great intellectual interview(mp3) to Bruce Schneier on Security and Beyond Fear.
– Paparazzi for the rest of us: the service in getting photographed secretly!
– Visualization of our current space debris!
– Hilarious iphone review! (video).

Japanese Automated Bicycle Park

Posted by _tango! on April 19, 2008

Posted in: design, entertainment, experience, ideas, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment

In a period where bikes are just as congesting as cars comes the invention field in storage. Watch the above video for an automated bicycle parking facility in Japan which is pretty cool! It reminds me of the VW car storage system.

Either way, very cool, though for the biking system, I’d prefer it to be a tower like the VW rather than a big tunnel underground. I’m also not sure what would prevent someone from sitting on their bike while the robo machine jolted ya down to the lower levels…love the camera work in the video!

via gizmodo

Twitter in English

Posted by _tango! on April 12, 2008

Posted in: design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, me, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment

Twitter in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

I’ve been using Twitter for over a year now and must admit it rocks! This micro-blogging craze feeds and broadcast mini moments in your fun life via IM, web, or txt messaging …and best yet it updates lots of other things, like your facebook status, and my now twitter feed I’ve added to the side of Designverb. Basically, you send a shout-out to Twitter and it broadcasts out to all of your friends in digestible messages 140 letters or less. Sometimes you just want to share something, that doesn’t need to be discussed but makes for a good conversation later on.

Some may think it’s just another social network, which it is to some extent, but what it actually does is enhance your already existing communications. I signed up for Twitter, and almost never go back to the Twitter site since I use IM and txt messaging to do the rest.

Anyhow, instead of rambling on and on for hours about Twitter, I just found this awesome video above to explain it all in animation format!!! So, sign up for Twitter, and follow me if you want to hear my random daily shoutouts, trips, complaints, adventures, etc.. or here, for a feed of this blog (it’ll message you whenever I post something new and some random messages/links)

Also, lots of great Twitter 3rd party application like TwitterVision! ( a live mp of random messages being yelled out across the world) Also for you iphone lovers, Twinkle.

Weekend Links

Posted by _tango! on April 6, 2008

Posted in: brand, design, entertainment, food, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, me, misc, thoughts, weekendlinks. Leave a Comment

It’s been an awfully busy month with projects, some ping-pong action, lots of lectures, and a few great conferences coming up (GEL, Art Center). Sorry for the lack in posting, but please keep sending in goods.

Thought of the week: You never know what your good at unless you try doing it.
– What the world eats by culture.
– Is Wholefoods becoming the Hybrid SUV, and victims in their own success?
– Very eerie…virtual face follows your cursor.
– A hilarious Blog on photoshop disasters!
– Pop-up alphabet book!
– Solar Film reaches 19.9% efficiency/transfer! Awesome!
– www.ffffound.com , a visual dig of creative images.
– Ping Pong flopping skill madness!
– A pretty nifty label made to remember what wine you liked!

DIY Magazine Stool

Posted by _tango! on April 3, 2008

Posted in: art, design, experience, fun, ideas, inspiration, materials, me, style. Leave a Comment

Sweet goodness! A simple DIY stool by Arik Levy, utilizing those many magazines ya’ll have to make pretty sweet looking solid stools. Stools are made from wood, as are magazines, so why not make a stool from magazines! Even rip middle portions of the inside pages to make it a bit more comfy… I dunno, I’ll have to try!

I really want to make an adjustable functional shelf stool from this idea. A stool and magazine rack all in one. Grab your pens, start sketching!

via Dwell