Speaking of energy saving devices, the idea behind this Electric Bike by Yuji Fujimura is that a person while riding can charge their laptop or power up the display area on the bike.
Archive for February, 2010
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Electric Bike by Yuji Fujimura
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Life-size Dinghy Model Kit
Micheal Rylander points to this great art piece of a model boat made at life size from artist Michael Johansson.
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Font Aid IV: Coming Together
Font Aid IV: Coming Together is a contribution to the ongoing relief efforts in Haiti through Doctors Without Borders. For twenty dollars you can purchase the ampersand type set that “represents the idea of people coming together to help one another”. Impressive how almost 400 designers contributed on the project.
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Twitpics from Space
CNET has a great photo gallery from Japanese astronaut Souichi Noguchi Twitpics from Space. He’s been taking photos as he passes the earth and sending them down on Twitter. While we’ve all seen images taken with sophisticated cameras his images offer something fascinatingly new yet similar because he’s using a normal everyday camera.
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Leech Plug: Tell Your Electronics When to Stop Sucking
A small way to reduce energy is to unplug items when not in use. While that might seem easy enough there’s still the issue of those items that are being recharged like a mobile device or camera battery. In the post Leech Plug: Tell Your Electronics When to Stop Sucking No Smarties shows a practical design that pops the chord out of the socket once the charge is complete. That way no excess energy is spent.
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Text Trends
Martin John Callanan has created some static and animated comparisons of Text Trends worth taking a look at. He describes what’s going on by “using Google data it explores the vast search data of its users. The animation takes the content generated by search queries and reduces this process to its essential elements: search terms vs. frequency searched for over time, presented in the form of a line graph”.
Monday, February 15th, 2010
LAPTOP REFLECTIONS
Really cool idea about LAPTOP REFLECTIONS. A camera was set up to take a screen shot and image of the user at the exact same moment. As a rational, they talk about the screen: “The screen sees me the whole time while I am looking at it, I am not embarrassed by it, it is neutral, invisible even, I don’t register its existence, it is just a glowing surface. The screen is inextricably connected to my life. It is a door that I pull shut behind me, which gives me access to a space where I can disappear. It is my gateway to information, it is my space for communication, it is a space where I carry out my work and enjoy myself. I entered into this connection and I am addicted to it”.
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Speed, death and interactive graphics
Great post from Greg Speed, death and interactive graphics talking about how the NYT displayed the info of the the Olympic luge athlete that died, and how other display information could influence how news is shown and discussed.
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
78 Reasonable Questions to Ask about Any Design
Found via Dailogue Through Design, 78 Reasonable Questions to Ask about Any Design by Stephanie Mills suggests a lot of things a designer should think about.
Ecological
1. What are its effects on the health of the planet and of the person?
2. Does it preserve or destroy biodiversity?
3. Does it preserve or reduce ecosystem integrity?
4. What are its effects on the land?
5. What are its effects on wildlife?
6. How much and what kind of waste does it generate?
7. Does it incorporate the principles of ecological design?
8. Does it break the bond of renewal between humans and nature?
9. Does it preserve or reduce cultural biodiversity?
10. What is the totality of its effects – it’s “ecology”?
Social
11. Does it serve community?
12. Does it empower community members?
13. How does it affect our perception of our needs?
14. Is it consistent with the creation of a communal, human economy?
15. What are its effects on relationships?
16. Does it undermine conviviality?
17. Does it undermine traditional forms of community?
18. How does it affect our way of scene and experiencing the world?
19. Does it foster a diversity of forms of knowledge?
20. Does it build on, or contribute to, the renewal of traditional forms of knowledge?
21. Does it serve to commodify knowledge or relationships?
22. To what extent does it redefine reality?
23. Does it to raise a sense of time and history?
24. What is its potential to become addictive?
Moral
25. What values does its use foster?
26. What is gained by its use?
27. What are its effects beyond its ability to the individual?
28. What is lost in using it?
29. What are its effects on the least person in the society?
Aesthetic
30. Is it ugly?
31. Does cause ugliness?
32. What noise does it make?
33. What pace does it set?
34. How does it affect quality of life (as distinct from standard of living)?
Practical
35. What does it make?
36. Who does it benefit?
37. What is its purpose?
38. Where was produced?
39. Where is it used?
40. Where must go when it’s broken or obsolete?
41. How expensive is it?
42. Can it be repaired? By an ordinary person?
43. What is the entirety of its cost-the full cost accounting?
Ethical
44. How complicated is it?
45. What does it allow us to ignore?
46. To what extent does it distance agents from effect?
47. Can we assume personal, or communal, responsibility for its effects?
48. Can its effects be directly apprehended?
49. What ancillary technologies does it require?
50. What behavior might it make possible in the future?
51. What other technologies might it make possible?
52. Does it alter our sense of time and relationships in ways conducive to nihilism?
Vocational
53. What is its impact on craft?
54. Does it reduce, deaden, or enhance human creativity?
55. Is it the least imposing technology available for the task?
56. Does it replace, or does it aid, human hands and human beings?
57. Can it be responsive to organic circumstance?
58. Does it depress or enhance the quality of goods?
59. Does it depress or enhance the meaning of work?
Political
60. What is its mystique?
61. Does it concentrate or equalize power?
62. Does it require, or institute, a knowledge elite?
63. Is it totalitarian?
64. Does it require a bureaucracy for its perpetuation?
65. What legal empowerments does it require?
66. Does it undermine traditional moral authority?
67. Does it require military defense?
68. Does it enhance, or serve, military purposes?
69. How does it affect warfare?
70. Does it foster a mass thinking or behavior?
71. Is it consistent with the creation of global economy?
72. Does it empower transnational corporations?
73. What kind of capital does it require?
Metaphysical
74. What aspect of the inner self does it reflect?
75. Does it express love?
76. Does it express rage?
77. What aspect of our past does it reflect?
78. Does it reflect cynical or linear thinking?
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
How to Make It in America, the Mixtape
It would be hard not to keep an eye out to the online marketing of How to Make It in America from HBO. While the show hasn’t even been on tv yet it seems like they’ve been able to cut through a lot of the noise that comes with a new show. Of course it might not hurt that I’ve been bombarded with ads on Facebook or that I’ve seen the first episode on YouTube. The show feels a couple years late but compared to most stuff on tv these days it should do pretty well. Back to their marketing—their mixtape that is hosted on Facebook is pretty good and worth a listen. Even better is that you can download the tracks.
