“Design is a big part of the sustainability problems in the world. Design has been focused on creating meaningless (often), disposable (though not responsibly so), trend-laden fashion items—all design. Graphic design is particularly bad, though paper materials, at least, have a huge potential to fix this problem.”
Presentation given at IDSA Connection Congress, San Francisco 2007
Very interesting! Check out the PDF presentation and watch out for his upcoming book “Design is the Problem“.
“A very simple modification to a standard electrical coverplate changes its function from one of consumption into conservation. A standard junction box behind the face plate catches your coins and saves them.”
Neat! I’d probably need a cash or credit card slot, but I like the concept. I wonder if there are any electrical metering attachments, somewhat like the iSave water meter concept. This almost makes me want to make a piggy bank for the green, sustainability, aids, foundations etc…take all that pocket change that pile high monthly and donate it. A Donation Piggy bank.
via oboiler
Clemson Clay Nest , 2005
Very cool! I’ve always been a fan of art/architecture created using natural resources in their raw format. Reminds me of one of my all time favorite artist Andy Goldsworthy (books/Wiki) who makes some incredible art using natural resources.
Buy the book “Natural Architecture” here (Due out November 2007)
(DesignBoom has more page excerpts)
Airtight Interactive bring to us Tilt Viewer, a new way to browse Flickr photos in a 3D space (instructions here). Also check out their other product SimpleViewer which I use for my photos (has not been updated lately).
I’m all for cool interfaces, but sometimes fun interfaces overwhelm the users experience being too complex and taking too much time hence not getting the user adoption needed. The thing I really like about Airtight Interactive is that they put just enough freshness into their products without over doing. Keep it rocking!
Woa, bang, boom, yikes, aha! That about sums up my experience at Gadgetoff 2007. What a mind torching adventure with a surplus of surprises, ear wrenching explosions, curious minds, and a safari into a wonderful world of gadgets we all love to geek about! Everything from flame throwing bbq’s, rocket bikes, robotics on wheels, and hybrid cars roamed every corner while gaming devices, weird toys, numbing food items, interactive screens, musical instruments, and hot air balloons filled up the rest of this landscape of greatness with people from all ages and disciplines.
Gadgetoff’s spontaneous flow of events kept you on your feet, jumping from boats, to buildings, into a rustic railroad house, and a cool science museum while somehow getting us all to sit calmly in an auditorium for several intellectually stimulating lectures. We were a geek fest storming the town in fashion with electronics in every pocket, Segways leading the crowd, and individuals rifling with excitement on anything cool and usually out of the ordinary.
I’ll post a few pictures on my adventure after the jump with notes, otherwise, hit up Gadgetoff.com, their blog, or a bunch of their YouTube Videos thanks to Michael (co-founder)
“Two weeks ago, TED.com hit a milestone: posting our 150th TEDTalk. To help you keep track of all the TEDTalks you’ve watched and want to watch, here’s a simple, low-tech tool: a list of all the TEDTalks posted to TED.com so far, in the order they were posted.”
Nice, a master list! via TED
Other inspirational conference video sources:
– GEL videos
– POP!TECH PopCasts
– GadgetOff
– All Things DigitalÂ
I’m off to the mind-numbing idea-gathering Pop!Tech Conference focusing on “The Human Impact” this week in beautiful Camden Maine October 17-20. If your not one of the lucky ones to attend, be sure to tune into their interactive LIVE STREAMS . Yes, I said Live and free! Otherwise, if you want some catching up to do, go through their Pop!Casts videos from previous years, go through their blog, or check out my post from lasts years fun trip
As usual, I’ll be back with goodies to post about.
It’s been a busy few weeks on my side… apologizes for the lack in postings, but keep sending me goodies. Besides my trips to NC, NYC, MI, RI, and ME this week, it should be back to normal by months end. Enjoy these links.
– Insane Base Jumping video: Jumping closer is better.
– Are you Left or Right Brained: A quick visual test. I saw both.
– Cool convertible jacket to bag: seems ninja like. I want!
– Aptera Hybrid Car on pre-order: Jetsons like Hybrid car.
– Table Frisbee: The new underground home sport.
– A Giant Pink Bunny Doll
– iPod Cassette Tape hack: Making your ipod retro cool!
– Blobbing: catapult your friends off a blob of air.
– USB 3, finally!
– A “Simpson’s” Scene to Reference guide.
A few weeks back I was invited by GM to fly out to their Proving Grounds in (Milford) Detroit to test drive their new 2008 cars, take a “Drivers Skill Enhancement Course” (stunt school), interview some VP’s in Design and Energy, and have some fun. I’ve grown up driving Japanese cars but took this opportunity to dive into GM’s world with an open designers mind and to scope out all of their brands; Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, Cadillac, Saturn, Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC.
I’d like to thank GM for funding this gathering and would welcome this adventure again though I’d suggest a few changes which I’ll address throughout.
If ya don’t like to read, check out the video I composed from hundreds of pictures taken during the journey above.The entire journey and story after the jump.
Art Lebedev Studio brings to us the Pultius Remote Control, an ingenious simple remote control with over 100 buttons allowing users to have 1 touch access to the first 100 channels and easy access to all 300. Some might find this design bizarre and odd, but I love it even though you can probably use it to press the buttons on the actually TV from your couch.
Sometimes it takes complexity to make things simple and the color gradient I find delightful and reminds me of candied dots. Access any channel instantly… no more channel surfing or button pressing guessing.
I think this Pultius Remote is just a concept, but put me first in line when it’s available… or go buy their overpriced but uber cool Optimus OLED keyboard that took too long to come out. Also, the whimsical “folderix” folder icon usb stick.
More images after the jump.
It’s that sweet time of year again when RISD takes over Providence with their 3 day RISD by Design Weekend festival hosting a variety of events including the very popular Alumni Sale with Live Music, good food, good times, arts&crafts, the Waterfire, and frantic dizzy freshmen RISD students wondering “What did I get myself into” while rubbing their dusty rusty charcoal mustaches off and stressing over their chess set projects, 200 self-portraits, gouche projects, Chuck Close paintings, and more while prancing through the alumni sale after an all nighter or three seeking the Balls(Basketball), Nads(hockey), or Sacs(Soccer) games!(RISD sports) RISD Rocks!
I’ll be there, rock’n out the sale, digging the fire, partying in the museum, and meeting a ton of friends for our 2002 five year reunion!!! If you’ve been planning to visit RISD, this is the weekend to do so!
RISD by Design 2007 Webpage and PDF Brochure!
“What happens when you bring four submarines, a helicopter, a hot air balloon, more than 200 of the nation’s top inventors, autonomous vehicles, robots, ferry boats, fire boats, police boats, ultra-high-bandwidth snail chariots, rocket cars, rocket racers, hackers and lock picks to an off-limits island?”
You get GadgetOff, bringing the smart and useless together! I’ve been invited to this years event, Sept 28th, which kicks off in the sweet IAC building, by architect Frank Gehry, then cruises over to the Liberty State Park for the rest of the events chaos. I’m not sure what to expect, but from what I’ve heard, it’ll be a ball busting fun gathering of the bizarre, intellectual, and trouble making individuals. I’ll post about my experience at the event, so watch out for some cool updates in the next week or so after my GM ninja driving trip.
update: the Gadgetoff 2007 Recap here.