The Hozuki Lantern is an LED camping lantern with “Candle Mode that allows the LED to respond to sound or wind with a flicker of light…”
Apple’s been guilty of using extra Skeuomorphism Sauce in it’s history of interfaces, and now we’re starting to see this ‘simulation thinking’ bleed into other industries.
Welcome to the Matrix.
via Co.Design
Patrick Lehoux created a tool that lets you cut soda, beer and wine bottles into glasses.
Given that I only buy wines these days based on their labels (and most of you wouldn’t know the difference in a blind tasting), I really need this tool.
This is how you do a business card:
Gorgeous.
via ShareSomeCandy
Rafe Colburn asks, why are Apple laptops becoming harder to take apart? (via Daring Fireball)
… and gives an answer:
I know a lot of people think that computers (and many other products) are becoming less maker-friendly because greedy companies want to get more money for parts and labor, or even better, shorten the upgrade cycle and sell more computers, or cars, or appliances, or whatever.
I doubt that is ever really the case. There are a lot of tradeoffs that go into product design. When it comes to laptops, there are capabilities (display resolution, processor speed, storage space, battery life, and so on), size and weight, cost, and upgradeability. Apple seems to have gotten the impression that upgradeability is the factor that people care about the least, and I suspect that they’re right.
I’m sure there’s people in the automotive world asking themselves the same thing. If you open the hood to a lot of cars these days all you see is a big cover over everything. Car makers don’t want you monkeying with shit the same way Apple doesn’t want you monkeying with shit. Even Mercedes uses a special vacuum to suck the oil out of your engine when you get an oil change. There’s not even a lug nut underneath the car if you wanted to do it yourself.
The same goes for car stereos. When I was a teenager, my friends and I used to swap out and install new stereo equipment all the time. This was long before dashboards were filled with GPS units and satellite radios. Things are much more complex now and the majority of people buying cars and computers don’t want to customize their things.
Isn’t the bottom of our computer prettier than the top of anyone else’s computer?
-Phil Schiller, WWDC Keynote 2012
I might have left New York City, but it doesn’t mean I can’t still enjoy it from the left coast.
From the Bureau of Common Goods in Brooklyn comes Made By Hand (via arainert):
A project from the Bureau of Common Goods, Made by Hand was created out of the belief that the things we collect, consume, use, and share are part of who we are as individuals. For example, the food that we eat says something about each of us, as do the tools we use and the chairs we rest on. Objects that surround the space we dwell in tell stories, and not just about us. Where did they come from? Who made them? How were they made?
Each film aims to promote that which is made locally, sustainably, and with a love for craft. Based in Brooklyn, the project takes its influence from the handmade movement here and elsewhere. We hope you find the spirit of it inspiring.
I just watched their film on writer turned knife maker, Joel Bukiewicz. Pretty awesome – both the film and the knives Joel makes by hand (obviously).
I’m seeing more and more examples of a return to the analogue in our digital, multi-touch world. It’s the resurgence in letterpress printing in the last 10 years. It’s the Edison light bulbs I see in boutiques and restaurants and homes. It’s services providing locally produced and chemical-free foods. I see it in everything on Etsy. I see it on Kickstarter. I see in the the wooden iPhone and iPad cases made by Karvt.
People are craving all things hand made more than ever.
The Internet continues both reinvent and dismantled entire industries, but there’s one thing it can’t do – make things by hand.
via Technabob
Exciting stuff.
Just received an email from Nicholas Felton giving word his 2010-11 Biennial Report is being pressed and printed.
Here’s a photo of a die strike via his Flickr feed:
Samsung announces a speaker dock with vacuum tubes.
So awesome and going right to my gadgets board on Pinterest (No, Pinterest is not just for moms).
From Ars Technica:
As part of iFixit’s ritualistic dismemberment of the third-generation iPad, the team discovered that, like its predecessor, the device is not only made up almost entirely of its battery: it’s also difficult to repair and to recycle. Though Apple’s engineering and design teams have created a thin and seamless device, their reliance on glue and difficult-to-separate components belies Apple’s goal of creating “green” products.
Apple is the big dog now. This can be hard for people to understand who have used Apple products for more than 5 years. I know it is for me. They walk the straight line of a paradox as both David and Goliath in my brain.
But now that they are #1, they’re going to be under the microscope. Every move they make will continue to be scrutinized, be it greenness of their products, or the conditions of the factories where their products are built.
It’s easy to point fingers at all their competitors and how much less they might doing to to be green or observe workers’ rights, but it’s more important to focus on holding Apple accountable for their decisions.
If they’ve shown us anything in the last 10+ years, it’s that they can achieve anything they set out to do. especially in the face of naysayers.
PayPal just announced Here, it’s answer to Square‘s device that let’s you accept credit card payments from your iPhone.
The little triangle piece dangling down in front is driving me fucking nuts.
I’m never above being proven wrong, and I would love to know what Yves Behar’s thinking was on that. Yves designed it with his team at fuseproject.
Update: OK, I think the limp triangle is explained over at Co.Design:
Additionally, the device had to tell you that you could swipe a credit-card through it, which Behar’s team accomplished by layering light and dark plastics atop each other, so you can tell that there’s a surface for sliding.
I still think there was a better way to convey the swipeability.
Pretty awesome 3-D dataviz posters by Pattern Matters (via Colossal)
Joao Paulo Lammoglia created a concept design for an electronics charger which converts your breath into electricity:
The one he has pictured I can only assume is the Storm Trooper edition. I want to know when the black, Vader edition comes out.
via PSFK