'SWITCH HANGER' - Light Switch

OFF, the light switch hook, provides a hanging function when in the OFF position.  It is a fully functional light switch.  It was designed to persuade people to use less energy by providing a power saving incentive.  You can either hang something on it or turn a light ON - you can't do both.

2009 Graphis Gold Award Winner

Rinser Toothbrush with Power Fountain

Tap water into a fountain for rinsing after brushing.
No disposable cups. No glass to wash or take up counter space.  No changing hands to cup water.  And, no more putting your head in the sink.  Just aim the fountain where you want the water to be.

Uses GreenerStep Snap Replacement Heads

Pop out the old bristle section and pop in a new one so your Rinser Brush will last a long time and you won't have to buy a new toothbrush every three months.

Prototype Rinser
Our little hand held fountain jets high with beautifully slow laminar flow.

Eurostar Paris-London by Christopher Jenner

Born in Cape Town South Africa, still his own main daily inspiration, the British Christopher Jenner has imposed his presence in interior designers’ world, especially thanks to his unmistakable artisanal approach and the massive recourse to the microscopic detail applied to his work. As a matter of fact, the latest two years have been marked by a series of luxurious masterpieces that always stand out of mass products’ crowd: a basic but incredibly definite and precise approach to art, constant celebration of perfection through both the progressive use of technology and the replication of nature’s beauty, which is thought to be, according to Jenner’s words “the ultimate designer”.

Stanford University Offers Free Entrepreneurial Courses

Have you or your students ever wanted a deeper understanding of how their biomimetic designs might become reality? If so, you might want to take advantage of one of the free online courses being offered by Stanford University this fall. As reported in the September 7 issue of the Stanford Report, 16 online courses will be taught this fall.

Course topics range from creativity and technology entrepreneurship, to finance and algorithm design, to writing in the sciences. Anyone in the world with access to a computer is welcome to take the courses. Courses are hosted on a variety of platforms and utilize different combinations of video lectures, discussion forums, teamwork, problem sets, and peer assessment in highly interactive learning environments. The full course list is available online, with links to individual course and registration details.

Although students will not earn Stanford credit for courses, they will receive a statement of accomplishment for any courses they complete successfully.

A few of the courses have already begun, but most are scheduled to begin on or after September 

By Megan Schuknecht 

Hitachi invents quartz glass storage capable of preserving data for millions of years

Hitachi has managed to develop a long-term data storage solution it claims can preserve information for hundreds of millions of years. The technology, announced earlier this week in Tokyo, utilizes a high-precision laser to embed dots of binary code across a tiny piece of quartz glass. From there, an optical microscope (paired with a computer capable of deciphering the imprint) can be used to recover the original data. Hitachi's solution would be able to survive nearly any doomsday scenario you can imagine: the 2-centimeter square of quartz glass is essentially fireproof — the company heated one sample at 1,000 degrees Celsius for two hours and still managed to successfully recover the information etched inside.

That's not to say Hitachi doesn't have any hurdles to overcome. Storage capacity is one such problem, with the multi-layered quartz glass maxing out around 40MB per square inch. That puts in on par with your basic CD-R, but nowhere close to spacious (yet far less reliable) external hard drives. Still, the technology makes for a fascinating way to archive important historical and cultural data.

Ceramic Speakers

Simple materials

The Ceramic Speakers are made from porcelain, cork, and Baltic birch. Each material is minimally finished, left to add its natural beauty to the design. The included amplifier is made from stainless steel sheet metal, with a cast iron base and paulownia volume slider. Aside from the electronic components, plastic is completely avoided in the system’s construction.


Intense detail

Typical speakers are designed to play even the most compressed or poorly recorded track. They gloss over the details that give high-resolution music its depth. The Ceramic Speakers’ custom-made drivers, porcelain and cork enclosures, and Tripath amplifier reveal every nuance. They will show the difference between lossless and mp3 files, and will unlock vinyl’s richness.


Never proprietary

Binding posts, 1/8″ jacks, and banana plugs have been perfected through years of electronic design. It would be arrogant to replace these simple, effective standards with proprietary connectors. Due to their open design, the Ceramic Speakers work with nearly all high-quality components. The terminals also have a utilitarian beauty that the design emphasizes rather than hides.


System includes:

- One year warranty on all electronics and enclosures
- Two ceramic speakers
- Amplifier based on the Tripath 2024 T-Amp with gold-plated binding posts, 1/8″ input, cast iron base
- 16-gauge oxygen-free copper speaker cables with banana plug termination
- Interconnects for RCA and 1/8″ sources
- 120V-240V power supply and adapter (works with US, EU, and Australia/ Asia power mains)


Specifications:

Output: 15 W/ channel Sensitivity: 89 dB
Frequency Range: 70 Hz – 20 kHz
Impedance: 4 Ohm
Driver Materials: Paper diaphragm, aluminum phase plug, neodymium magnet, die-cast basket

Learn more from the Yanko Design review of the Ceramic Speakers by Joey Roth.

GreenDesignTV: BIOMIMICRY IS THE NEW REVOLUTION IN DESIGN-READ

GreenDesignTV: BIOMIMICRY IS THE NEW REVOLUTION IN DESIGN-READ: In the world envisioned by science author Janine Benyus, a locust's ability to avoid collision within a roiling cloud of its brethren ...

BIOMIMICRY IS THE NEW REVOLUTION IN DESIGN-READ

In the world envisioned by science author Janine Benyus, a locust's ability to avoid collision within a roiling cloud of its brethren informs the design of a crash-resistant car; a self-cleaning leaf inspires a new kind of paint, one that dries in a pattern that enables simple rainwater to wash away dirt; and organisms capable of living without water open the way for vaccines that maintain potency even without refrigeration -- a hurdle that can prevent life-saving drugs from reaching disease-torn communities. Most important, these cool tools from nature pull off their tricks while still managing to preserve the environment that sustains them, a life-or-death lesson that humankind is in need of learning.

As a champion of biomimicry, Benyus has become one of the most important voices in a new wave of designers and engineers inspired by nature. Her most recent project, AskNature, explores what happens if we think of nature by function and looks at what organisms can teach us about design.

www.ted.com 

Multi-Functional Lounge Chair Is Also A Table & Bookshelf

New York-based designer Niko Klansek created the LLSTOL with functionality and aesthetics in mind. The multi-purpose furniture piece can be easily and quickly transformed into a chair, a coffee table, and a bookshelf. The furniture piece comes with two L-shaped plywood pieces that can be locked together in different positions to serve different purposes.

Get your CV in order

The start of a new year often sees a flood of candidates seeking new jobs, be it because they recently received bonuses or are looking for a new start. If this applies to you, a strong CV is vital to success as it is the first thing managers will actually see about you.  Here are some tips on how to put together an attention-grabbing résumé.

Make sure your CV is specific

Your CV is essentially a marketing tool to assist you in getting an interview so you need to ‘sell’ yourself. Being specific and giving examples throughout is the most effective way of doing this. When employers look at your CV, they need to know exactly what you have achieved in your previous roles and how this is relevant for the job you are applying for. So, if you were responsible for driving growth or cutting costs in a business, say exactly how you did it and go into specifics on the results achieved.

It is also important to include exact dates you have held roles for, all the different positions you have held within the same company, exposure to different markets and who your internal and/or external stakeholders are. Detailing relevant projects or initiatives you have been involved in alongside your business-as-usual role will also add significant value to a CV. Throughout, you will need to implicitly explain how each point is relevant.

Concentrate on what makes you stand out

Throughout your CV, you also need to demonstrate what it is about you that makes you stand out. You will be competing for the top roles with other candidates from very similar work backgrounds. What have you done that shows initiative or flexibility? What projects have you been involved with? Describe the extra responsibility you had, what you have learned and what skills have been developed.

Make every word count

You don’t have much time to impress with your CV – employers tend to scan rather than read them. Consequently, it needs to be succinct and to-the-point – no one wants to read a novel. Crucially, it needs to show that you have what it takes to be successful in your chosen career. The best CVs are typically made up of education and work experience.

Avoid typos, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors

Although this may sound obvious, you would be surprised how many CVs contain spelling mistakes and other basic grammatical errors. Although this may not be the end of the world, they are avoidable and imply carelessness – not an impression anyone would want to give to a potential employer.

Make sure your CV is presented professionally

We have noticed an increasing tendency for candidates to ‘jazz’ up their CVs up by including various additional visual elements, such as photographs of themselves, fancy fonts and other colourful graphical representations. While some people may think this will make their CVs stand out, what it really does is imply style over substance. When employers look at your CV, they want to know about your past achievements and why you are appropriate for their role.

You can a sweet photograph of yourself at the upper left corner.

Article courtesy of  www.thesouthafrican.com

Designer Tackles Indoor Bike Storage With Multi-Use Shelving Idea

Swiss industrial designer Thomas Walde recently debuted Shoes, Books and a Bike, a multifunctional bike rack developed especially for people living in small spaces. Shoes, Books and a Bike is essentially a large open box made of pine which is divided into segments. The upper portion hold a bike using a simple wheel clamp. The bike rests on a horizontal coconut fibre padded shelf which doubles as a seating bench. Underneath is a series of three divided storage bays for shoes, books or bike gear.

Shoes, Books and a Bike can serve as a room divider in an open plan space or a studio apartment. One of the nice features over most of the existing bike racks is there is no need to drill holes in a wall or ceiling for hanging hardware. Shoes, Books and a Bike is self contained.

Walde wanted to allow bike owners the opportunity to display their bikes with pride in their homes and have it be a symbol of good health.

 Source:http://www.postfossil.ch/en/products/17/

UNLEASHED: OBJSark-1

Rekx Promos: I believe you are the first recognized footwear designer who does extreme stuff like this in Africa?

J'Re My(Ceo ObjClothing): You are right buddy.

Rekx Promos: So how did it all start?

J'Re My(Ceo ObjClothing): Oh, you know, design and art has become part of me for a long while now. So its like a talent that I developed and nurtured to how far it is now.

Rekx Promos: Good to know, now to a pertinent question. Did you design that Sarkodie Shoe?

J' Re My(Ceo ObjClothing): Yes I did design it, myself, like I said; design and art has been part of me, footwear design actually caught my attention since I was in Primary 4.

Rekx Promos: What prompted you to design the SARK 1.

J'Re My(Ceo ObjClothing): Well, coming from a city where you actually need to look out for opportunities and grab them, I realized a Sarkodie shoe would not be a bad idea.Besides the peak with which he is now, this is his time for such an idea to materialize, when there is delay and time elapses too much there would be difficulty in selling the shoe.

Rekx Promos: Nice. But I heard some amateur journalist saying you copied Chuck Tailors. 

J'Re My(Ceo ObjClothing): Oh you did hear? You would always have such characters around you. When you do, you should know its because you are on track. Because for a fact when you look at the sample we made, which is lieing in my house right now, waitin for our next meeting with Sarkodie and management, there is nothing chuck tailor about it.The unfortunate thing is that you often wonder why such hatefull comments come from a fellow Ghanaian who is even suposed to support such a course.

Rekx Promos: So during your first meeting what was sarkodie's impression? Did he love the idea?

J'Re My(Ceo ObjClothing): Oh yeah he did, he was like at first he thought somone wanted to make money of him, so he showed it to his lawyer.But then again, he said he said to himself that the guy behind this is a foreseeing guy.The person has foresight because this is the time for this sneaker. So I was with my manager then at the meeting, his name is David, Sammy Forson was there and other two guys in the management team. Yeah so Obidi 'craze' for the idea; the design and all.

Myself, J'Re My Sarkodie and Management Team

Myself J'Re My & Sarkodie 

Rekx Promos: Okay so why is the shoe not out if you guys have finished with the sample?

J'Re My(Ceo ObjClothing): Well I would love you to ask certain people and Sarkodie himself this question, we are waiting for our next meeting with them. Then we would see the way forward.

Rekx Promos:So where did you get the sample done? China?

 MY TEAM: MYSELF J' RE MY AND ATO (FOOTWEAR MAKER)

J'Re My(Ceo ObjClothing): Ghana! Aaah you think because most Ghanaians do not use the right side of their brain so thats all eh? Haahahaa,There are few of us here. It was made here, there are few of us right sided brain users here oooh.

                                     ADDING THE LABELS AND TAGS ON THE SHOE

Adding Labels

Adding Labels

Rekx Promos: Thank you for your time Boss; and yah; when is your clothing line restarting up full swing? 

J'Re My(Ceo ObjClothing): Next month,our line is ready, we would play on certain icons in Ghana and move on to African themes.You will see. 

Biomimicry Concept- Namibian Desert Beetle

Let’s hear it for the Namibian desert beetle. This beetle’s strategy for obtaining water out of the air is one of the most frequently mimicked strategies.

An Australian engineer, Edward Linacre, won the2011 James Dyson Award for creating a self-powered pump to be used for irrigation. Called the Airdrop, the pump takes inspiration from the beetle’s survival mechanism of condensing water from the air. The Airdrop pumps air through a network of underground pipes to cool it to the point at which the water condenses. The water is then distributed to plants.

We think what’s additionally exciting about this award is that Sir James Dyson, inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner line, is aware of the added value of having biomimicry in an innovator’s tool chest.

Read more about the invention and watch Linacre’s talk about his idea here.

Get Paid Whiles Walking-EVA Outsole That Generates Energy Whiles You Walk

People consume and waste heat and kinetic energy every day. Evacombines a micro electromagnetic generator with shoe insoles, so that when people walk or jog, kinetic energy is converted to electrical energy.

The electrical energy generated by Eva insoles is stored in a lithium polymer battery on the base of the insoles. The Eva system links with an ERS (energy recycle station) system to provide financial benefits to the user. ERSs are set up at the entrances to public spaces. Electrical energy is converted from Evaand stored in the ERS system via wireless inductive charging techniques. While converting, the value equivalent of the converted electrical energy is immediately displayed on the ERS screen.

After two months of absorbing and harvesting (or when a specific level is reached), the ERS system transfers the electrical energy to the Taiwan Power Company, and users are rewarded by a discount on their electrical bill. This is listed as an "Eva Discount" on the bill.

Paper-Bag Hanger

The Paper-Bag Hanger transforms paper shopping bags into clothes hangers for the garments that have just been purchased.

The Paper-Bag Hanger is a specially designed shopping bag. The folding base panels were redesigned to incorporate a hook shape. Transforming the bag into a hanger requires the user to unfold its base, align the built-in buttons, and snap them together. The bag’s dual usage averts wastage (as the shopping bags will not be discarded), avoids the need to buy new hangers, and prevents the wardrobe floor from becoming cluttered with bags.

Snug Chair

A comfortable indoor leisure chair, Snug was inspired by the shape and aesthetic of the beanbag. Snug is handcrafted from eco-friendly rattan. The design fuses traditional weaving methods and contemporary furniture design.

The idea behind the Snug Chair was to design an ‘organically’ shaped seat with a hollow, singular form. Designed as a leisure chair for the home, Snug provides a comfortable seating solution for relaxation in any setting.

Each Snug chair is meticulously handmade by weaving artisans using skills passed down through many generations. Round-core rattan is skilfully woven over a recyclable steel frame, creating a hollow ‘organic’ form and a unique sculptural aesthetic. Snug is eco-friendly, using self-sustaining natural materials that are sourced from sustainable plantations. Snug uses a small quantity of steel tubing, which can be easily recycled.

Traditional handcrafting methods make the production of Snug easy and environmentally sensitive. It does not rely on industrial mass-production processes. The chair uses few industrial materials. The majority of the production involves handwork with minimal machinery required. Snug celebrates the importance of craft-based skills and traditional artisans in modern furniture design.

Redesigning Thumbtacks-Biomimicry

It’s the oldest trick in the book, and one many teachers learned early to watch out for–the thumbtack on the chair. Then there’s the worry of stepping on one that you’ve dropped, or the desire to put a few in your pocket as you work on a bulletin board.

Photo by Alexander von Halem

Those days of thumbtack phobia may be over, thanks a recent bio-inspired redesign. Designer Toshi Fukaya was determined to make thumbtacks, also known as drawing pins, safer. He drew his inspiration from cats’ retractable claws. His design has the pin part covered by a hollow silicone sheath, so that the pin is not exposed until it’s pressed onto a hard surface like a board or a wall. For more photos of the design, see the article An Old Simple Gadget Made New By Biomimicry.

Minimalism at its Peak-Joey Ruiter Outdoes Himself with "Moto Undone"

Where the City Bike was stripped down in terms of functionality—by gutting the drivetrain and axing those pesky triangles for a more minimal frame—to arrive at a rather unconventional (and uncomfortable-looking) concept bicycle, the "Moto Undone" is more of an exercise in aesthetics, the result of "ignoring what makes motorcycles interesting."

At jruiter I.D., we want to re-set the definition of a motorbike, stripping away historical attributes that make them so great. It's hard to imagine a motorcycle without fancy paint, overpowered motors, exposed mechanical genius, and sweet exhaust tones.

But wait, there's more: all of the ride-related data, including speed and GPS, is displayed on the riders' smartphone through downloadable apps... putting the "pocket" back in "Pocket Rocket."

Source material www.core77.com

A Solar Powered Contemporary Tree Charger

Trees have been capturing energy from the sun for millions of years and have been the inspiration for the Electree bonsai sculpture. Electree is a contemporary tree-inspired solar charger utilizing photovoltaic panels as its leaves. This version is ment for indoor application only however there is a outdoor application highlighted below. The design allows you to attach clipper modules as you please enabling you to shape the tree as you wish as well as optimizing the branch placement for obtaining maximum sunlight.

Frustrated Russians get rid of potholes by stuffing them into politicians’ mouths

The writers for Russian blog URA.RU got fed up with unfixed potholes in the city of Yekaterinburg, so they decided to force-feed them to politicians. Or, anyway, giant cartoons of politicians’ heads. They enlisted ad agency Voskhod to draw cartoons of local pols around potholes and other road imperfections, in order to draw attention to the blight. And it worked.

More than 300 media outlets reported about the road cartoons, and lo and behold, officials were shamed into action. All the targeted potholes have now been fixed. Now, who do I talk to about getting Mitt Romney tattooed on a hungry child’s face?

AWESOME- Paper cut collages inside of toilet paper rolls.

At least these materials would not go waste. This given a little illumination could be used as decorations for your room.Awesome work.