Posts filed under 'Design'
via Green Daily
On a sidenote… I just paused for a moment and wondered if there were any capilene thongs. A quick google confirms their existence. Rest assured humanity, if a garment can be made of it, someone has made a thong with it. This should be the first law of fibers.
Kudos to Patagonia for being such recycling badasses.
The only possible downside is that they seemed to put all their focus on underwear; I imagine that any capilene clothing item could be recycled in their program. I bet there are a lot more old and ratty capilene shirts and (liner) socks than capilene underwear. Of course, underwear is funnier than socks or shirts…
March 21st, 2008
I’m so used to seeing news crews interview people in airport security lines that I’m no longer surprised at all the bozos who are paving the way for a truly nasty Big Brother future with proclamations like “I don’t mind the lines, I’m for anything that makes us safer!”. Welcome to your nightly programming.
However, at least in the U.S., even those who accept flawed charades of “security measures” with open arms, facial recognition technology has been met with skepticism and reticence. People don’t like being watched *anonimously*. Even if you’re in love with safety and security, the chances are good that you prefer being monitored by uniformed police/security or by cameras monitored by police or security.
Once computers are involved with the decision making - people get a little uneasy.
However, the right propaganda can sell nearly anything to anyone. Even me. I’m constantly fighting the urge to irrationally switch to a Mac. And hell, Bush was elected twice!
If you read this sneaky little idea from Ironic Sans, you’ll see how facial recognition could gain enough traction to actually become a dangerous addition to a future police state.
Although, if it’s use could be limited to entertainment, wht a hell of a fun time people could have with it…
See how easy it is to get sold on this stuff? A very clever idea.
January 12th, 2007
[Update : 11/01/2006 9:15 AM] I’ve moved the video clip to the body because turning off the autoplay option makes the video invisible, and I’m sick of the sound. And Halloween is over. Click here for the video.
Continue Reading October 31st, 2006
Willamette Week Online | News | COVER STORY | MAGIC KINGDOM | Wednesday September 20th, 2006
If you live in Portland, maybe all you’ve heard for the last few years is “public transit” this, and “live where you work” that. You probably can’t even stop hearing the low and sweet chants of “bike commute” and “roasted/brewed locally”. This is awesome. It means that we live with a lot of people who care enough to do what they can for our environment and culture (or at least talk about it).
Click “Continue Reading” for more of my opinions and a chance to tell me why I’m disgustingly wrong! (I won’t mind, I promise!)
Continue Reading September 22nd, 2006
Welcome to the new Engadget!
Okay, the actual story is the launching of Engadget’s redesigned site. It’s cool. It’s got a bunch of new features ( a laundry list, really). I like them all. And that’s saying a lot.
One feature stands out. Dynamic page-widening. No, not like the page widening crap you used to find on Slashdot or K5 - instead it’s page widening only in the sense that it no longer discriminates against every sensible (and lucky) user in the world with a screen resoultion greater than 800×600. That’s right! Despite design-weenies everywhere talking about how now is the time to start moving from SVGA (800×600) designs to XGA (1024×768), Engadget has leapfrogged into the future, simply by not blinding me with a vast expanse of stark white or tiny tiled site logos as filler on either side of a narrow column of content. Now, Engadget may not be the first site to do this, but they’re the first that I’m aware of. I hope this trend catches on.
Yes, I know the irony of posting this on a personal blog that I haven’t even bothered to adjust for browsers at a decent resolution… But I don’t blog for a living, I blog in little chunks of time that I find throughout the day. In fact, I haven’t made any changes to this blog since it the first post, other than asking my benevolent admin to install a theme for me. Anyways, go Engadget!!
September 18th, 2006
Hybrio batteries bridge gap between disposables and rechargables - Engadget
Batteries. I use fewer disposable batteries than I ever have. My laptops, cellphone, ipod and cameras all use rechargeable LiIon batteries.
But… I use disposable batteries for wireless game controllers, a portable radio, flashlights, remote controls, miscellaneous handheld games/toys and other sundry stuffs.
I find that I need replacements often enough to justify buying them at costco in giant packs. The big packs of batteries will sit in the “battery drawer” and take up space until a few months pass and it’s time to buy more batteries.
Continue Reading September 8th, 2006
Joel on Software
Too many Ajax calendar attempts - no full featured calendars. Shipping (prematurely) early and often. Promotion before fully functional product… etc etc.
These are huge problems with so much of the current soft and hard tech out there. Companies are just hemmorraging products out the door, but nobody seems to be sitting back and doing it right. Hopefully, Google will, but we’ll see. Google seems to have a bad habit of designing simple and great interfaces but without any advanced features for those that want/need them. It’s a trend that’s becoming frighteningly common. Designing for style is good, and designing for use is good - coddle the neophytes, but don’t hamstring the people that want to tweak and adjust and customize. Of course, this design simplicity stuff is fodder for another rant on a different day.
I don’t always agree with Joel, but at least on Ajax calendars, he’s got it solid.
February 8th, 2006
Better living through design once again makes a fantastic showing of making me feel like like I’m living on pesos in a dollar world. I’m not broke by any means, but seriously - if design is your passion and art, why wouldn’t you want a beautiful creation to be accessible?
Sure, I understand that many designers artists creative people feel isolated among the swelling lowest-common-denominator driven mentality of the modern world, and exclusivity and elitism can be comfortable blankets with which to insulate yourself against the vastness of it. That’s not difficult to understand, really. But what I don’t understand is why, time and again, these creators and innovators consistently fail to take the next step and practice some of what ID Fuel sometimes preaches about why people design, creat and innovate. ID Fuel often pontificates on making the world better though design and innovation. That’s a lofty goal for sure, but one that is most definitely unattainable without affordability.
By the way, this sweet chair is only $2,695.
January 28th, 2006
Skulls are awesome.
Hoodies are great.
Therefore, skull hoodies are supremely delicious. And just in case you’re curious, I wear a size large.
via teh boing
December 5th, 2005
Ha! Dynamism, distributing purveyors of weird shit that I want, is selling a USB “thumb” drive that’s shaped like a thumb. Pretty fun. But if that’s a bit too thumb-in-cheek for you, check out the pictures of the other stuff that their methed-out Japanese designers have come up with.
Just to make sure you don’t miss it, do yourself a favor and scope out their awesome ghost-detecting usb stick. This bad boy is for entertainment only, but sports a wicked feature set including: “a bio-clock is built-in with criterion for time elements for repetitive paranormal activity such as the witching hour, new moon and full moon. When a ghost is detected, sounds will play plus patterns from a 16 light LED display will flash. There’s also an attachable protective amulet when for the magnetic field
sensor.”
For when that magnetic field sensor DOES WHAT? Jesus fuck, you can’t just leave people on the edge like that! I am almost absolutely convinced that a ghost snuck up on the copy editor over at Dynamism while he was writing the product profile instead of using the ghost detector to save his ass from some bad pipe-swingin’ ghosts.
–Update:
It just occurred to me that perhaps the ghost detector part is for real, and the *protective amulet* function is the “for entertainment only” bit - which explains the untimely demise of whoever was writing copy for the product. Always read the fine print, boys and girls. Always.
November 16th, 2005
Wow. I’m in love with a shelf that doesn’t happen to be an industrial wire shelf (metro shelving). This thing is beautiful, *and* the slide out chair and table is incredibly hot functionality. What an excellent way to make use of a funky (I hate saying that, but it’s true) shelving design. I could easily imagine having two of these lovely shelving units on the back wall of my living room, especially with the ability to slide two extras chairs out at a moment’s notice. A different way to store books adds a lot of character to a room that would likely instead be populated with traditional flat and linear shelving.
Unfortunately, most design like this is far too expensive for anyone of average means to acquire. Not to mention that production/pricing information seems to be perenially unavailable for these types of things. Too bad, because I’d really love a pair.
via mocoloco
October 10th, 2005