Here's a collection of DVDs for the new - the very new of us. Wee See is a series of animations designed to stimulate a newborn's vision, not to mention doing so with a visual taste lacking in most children's products. We're not convinced the best way to teach Baby is in front of the TV, but it's hard to deny the appeal of this monochromatic world. Here's the mesmerizing link.
And here's a taste of the animation here:
Summer's upon us, and that means it's time for more fluff in our lives. So here we go.
Who doesn't need more t-shirts? Our new friends - we don't actually know them, it just sounds nice - at RIPT Apparel think the entire world needs more t-shirts. They're so convinced in fact that everyday, they display a different t for sale - only one - and each day the price is $10. Did I mention that each shirt is an original design by a graphic artist? There's even a countdown clock on the left side of the page, displaying how much longer that day's t will be for sale before it's retired into the rafters. (Move over, Wayne Gretzky's 99.)
What better time to stock up, before you start slopping your ice cream and Slush Puppies on the t's you currently own?
How good looking is THIS? The craftsmen at UK furniture shop Kent and London present their Alphabet Drawers. The piece is handmade from solid oak, which means of course it weighs a tonne. And it's inspired by vintage printing blocks, which means it looks like THAT. Not much room for your underwear here, but your aprons, babushkas, col bateaux, dungarees and earrings will never be more accessible.
T's aside, nothing says summer like a cold can of Coke. The next time you pick one up though, you may notice something's changed about it. The 'Classic' part of 'Coca-Cola Classic' is finally being dropped.
After almost 25 years, Coca-Cola is finally (almost) finished apologizing for ever having introduced to the world, New Coke. On April 23, 1985 the company announced it was changing its famous recipe and to the dismay of many, 'New Coke' was released. You may remember that within a very short time, 'Coca-Cola Classic' was brought out as an apology to loyal fans of the original. The two brands remained on shelves beside each other for years, before New Coke became Coke II in 1992. It has since been pulled from shelves everywhere, except for U.S. Territory American Samoa and Yap, one of the four Federated States of Micronesia, where it still sells well. (I know - really?)
Just as Pepsi has undergone a makeover taking it closer to its graphic roots, cola wars are heating up, and it's almost as if it's 1985 all over again. Just no more Max Headroom please.
British artist James Yarker has a way of gathering everyone in the world in one place. He uses rice - 112 tonnes of it, and each grain represents one of the 6.7 billion of us on our planet.
He then divides up the piles of rice, er- of us, into different global statistical piles. One heap represents the population of India. Another pile represents all the children who will die this year of diseases for which there is a vaccine available. And another portrays the number of people who will visit a McDonald's restaurant today.
Throughout any installation of 'Of All the People in the World' docents clothed in brown atelier coats continually sweep all of us that have fallen out of our piles, back into them. If only life could be the same...
Here's a glimpse at an installation that'll make you look at life differently.
For those of us venturing into the world of e-books, either on the iPhone, or Amazon's Kindle, here's a little something so you don't feel like your library is becoming too virtual. Smell of Books claims it will make your e-reading experience smell like you're pawing your way through a paper bound classic. Scents include 'Classic Musty Smell' and 'Scent of Sensibility'.
Austrians are roaming the world, and they're looking really cool doing so in the Mehrzeller Inhalt. This new little trailer was designed to offer the world's travelers a design savvy alternative to the Jayco or Airstream you normally take across the country. What makes this little gem even more special is that (like everything else these days) you can customize the layout entirely to suit your own needs. Just be prepared for the commotion you'll cause at the KOA.
Housed at Arizona State University, the International Institute for Species Exploration (yes you read it right - cool, eh?) just released their annual list of top 10 new species. Among the proud recipients for 2008 are a 14" long insect (the world's longest), a species of coffee that is naturally decaffeinated, and a snail with a shell that pivots around four separate axes (pictured).
The list is compiled every year to highlight how incomplete our knowledge of our earth, really is. Since modern taxonomy and classification began in the 18th Century, an estimated total of 1.8 million species has been catalogued, which many scientists believe is a fraction of the number of living species on our planet; some estimate there may be as many as 100 million species alive today, of which of course, humbly we are but one.
And so this got us thinking. It would appear that when you think you've exhausted all avenues, and thought through every possible idea, there are still undiscovered ones that exist - you just don't know about them yet - and sometimes they're as elusive as a half-inch long seahorse.
Texting is so wonderful.
Read that one way, and I'm a sarcastic jerk. Read it another, and I'm an earnest techophile.
Mere typed words can't convey subtext, but Nokia is looking to change that. The Finnish communicator recently filed a patent for a system that will tell your friends how you were feeling as you were leaving a text, or voice message - and it'll be done through colour. As your friend is reading your words, an LED in their phone will glow accordingly to how you feel, (or at the very least what you told the computer you were feeling at the time).
This brings about a new level of digital communication of course, involving sarcasm, passive aggressiveness, even lust. The next stage is when the computer itself will read your mood and convey your emotion without your having to tell it how you feel.
It makes me a little nervous when we start conveying all of our emotions through our gadgets. (If only you could read what I was really thinking when I typed that sentence just now...)
As people become more and more virtually connected, (and duly, more and more isolated from actual contact with each other), the need for anti-social social experiences grows. Taking the sociophobic experience to a new level is London restaurant Inamo. A projection system above each table is worked by a little touchpad in front of each diner, and control of the entire dining experience lies in the virtual hands of each table. Patrons select the 'tabletop' design of their liking (60 to choose from) and it gets projected onto the surface in front of them. The same projection system displays the Pan-Asian menu in front of you, and as you scroll through the choices, an image of the dish you're considering is projected onto your place setting so you can see with your very own cynical eyes what your Berkshire Pork Neck, or Pomegranate Duck might actually look like.
While you and your date await the food runner to bring your choices, keep yourself busy by playing a projected game, scan the neighbourhood for an after dinner tipple, or order a taxi to pick you up if you feel you've been out in the world long enough - and do so all without the need to say a single word to a waiter.
Click here to learn more about this anti-social evening out.
