Haft2Know

For sure if James Bond's nemesis, Goldfinger owned an underwater escape vessel, this would be it. Innespace Marine Inc. has developed a series of submersible vehicles to resemble sharks (and a few dolphins) - the perfect underwater disguise. And between the mouth-shaped view ports and the fin-mounted camera, the only thing this sexy supervillain sub is missing is an underwater squid-ink smokescreen feature - well, that and a martini bar.

The link is here. On the site is the first instance I've ever seen of the word 'porpoising'. It fits.

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Curosity asks, "why?"
Playfulness asks, "what if?"

These are the first two lines of the brand values of Lego, who since 1932 has become the world's fifth largest toy manufacturer. Lego lives their values and earlier this year promoted a new level of playfulness in their retail stores by introducing a new kind of brand experience. With the technology of 'augmented reality', potential buyers of Lego products can now see an animated 3D model of what any Lego toy will look like when it's built, merely by holding the product box in front of a monitor. It's really quite amazing.

More videos of Lego customers can be found here.

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You've heard of white noise. Often broadcast to mask the common day-to-day sounds heard in offices, or public spaces, white noise lends an aural privacy to an environment because it distracts the ears with a din that's steady, yet unimposing.

Have you heard of pink noise however, or brown noise? The site SimplyNoise.com offers a free generator for these colours of noise, so on the nights when rain on your roof isn't lulling you to sleep, this application will. No word yet on when chartreuse noise will be developed.

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In the 1940s, the United States Navy commissioned from the Electric Machine and Equipment Company (Emeco) a chair that would be able to withstand the impact of torpedo blasts to the side of the battleship that carried it. The Emeco 1006 was born - the result of a 2-week, 77-step manufacturing process that gives the aluminum beauty a life expectancy of 150 years. After a few appearances on Sex and the City, as well as being featured inspiration for a line of Philippe Starck furniture, the 1006 has reestablished its footing as an ageless classic, which has led to its marriage to another American icon.

Emeco has teamed with Coca-Cola to create the 111 Navy Chair - a plastic reproduction of the original 1006, made from the plastic of 111 Coca-Cola bottles. Available for order online, Emeco and Coke expect the 111 Navy Chair project to keep an estimated 3 million plastic bottles out of landfills, which is the beginning of an ageless classic of its own.

And with colour names like Grass and Persimmon - and of course Coca-Cola Red - we couldn't ignore this beauty.

Click here before this link turns into a good looking chair.

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Having only been announced fairly recently as the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro is well under way in their preparation. This project, named Solar City Tower was designed by Swiss architectural firm RAFAA. It stands 105m above sea level and promises to be an environmental wonder. Solar power draws sea water up to the top and then the falling water will drive turbines that will produce even more energy for the city. With an amphitheatre, auditorium, cafeteria and shopping, the building seems a happy marriage of humanity and nature.

More pictures can be found at this link.

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Advances in food technology might lead to curing world hunger one day, but for now it brings us Esslack Gold and Silver edible spray paint. Developed by the same folks (or Volken - it's a German company) that brought us Espresso Vodka and Chocolate Glue, Esslack Food Finishes can be applied to everything from salad to spare ribs to sponge cake, and promise to make this year's holiday season - really, any season - especially blingy.

Here's the link. The English version of the page can be found in the top right of the page, but perhaps you don't need it, Fraulein.

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Something we've seen online recently is this little gadget that will "read" colour to its blind user. Pass the sensor over a garment or item and a specific sound assigned to that colour will play aloud. While it won't help convey what "blue" is to someone who's been blind since birth, it certainly forwards the work that will eventually give sight to those without it.

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Every year, the advertising world goes crazy for Superbowl commercials. In light of this past Sunday's game, as well as a nod to last week's hype surrounding Apple's new iPad, we couldn't resist (re)giving you a glimpse at the Superbowl ad that started the Apple revolution. It's from January of 1984.

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Not so long ago, my sisters and I used to take the Chiquita banana stickers off the peel and stick them to the underside of the kitchen cupboard, which over time became a sweet little mosaic.

Unfortunately though, along with polar bears and newspapers, produce stickers are dying out. A recently developed technology now allows produce companies to apply a low-energy carbon dioxide laser beam alternative. Less paper and garbage is always good, but it also means a little less colour in our world.

So relish them while you can, because soon they will be no longer, which is bad news for Colorado artist Barry Snyder.

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Happy New Year. In these early, dark months of the year, it's easy to feel light deprived, which can affect how you sleep, feel, think, or accept criticism. Philips thinks they've found a way to begin your day with the rising sun at your bedside. Starting a half-hour before your set alarm time, the Philips Wake-Up light gets brighter gradually, gently awakening your body with a pleasant glow, as opposed to the 'Evacuate the Reactor' siren you may currently experience. If desired, sounds of nature can be programmed to accompany your false dawn.

This link is gradually getting brighter.

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TrendWatching.com presents their annual list of top 10 consumer trends, for 2010. These are trends they feel will help shape global demand next year, and in turn, supply. Themes centre around the end of the recession, pragmatism of goods of services, and of course the environment.

The sociology of the city features high in the list. A hundred years ago, less than 5 percent of the world's population lived in cities. In 2008, that number crossed the 50 percent threshold for the first time in history. In the last two decades, urban population of the developing world has grown by an average of 3 million people per week. What does this all mean to those living in urban centres?

Another familiar one to us is known as 'Tracking & Alerting' - using wireless communication to notify potential customers of what's available, and where - at any given moment. A perfect example of this is this past Haft2Know, about a mobile truck that sells warm cookies and desserts and alerts its NYC customers to its whereabouts by its website, and its Tweets.

The trends are fascinating, and in depth. Check out all ten here.

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If someone 'Google'd you, what would they find? How accurate would it be? 'Personas' is a net experiment set up by a team at MIT. Type your name into the engine and the program will attempt to characterize you according to a predetermined set of categories, according to what the search engine can find online having to do with your name. The end result is a DNA like image dividing up the qualities of what your name brings up on the internet. What it really is, is a good reminder about the fallibility of the internet, and the information it digs up, not to mention the unspoken need so many have to classify classify classify.

Find out here how the Internet classifies you

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Designer Neville Mars presents 'Solar Forest', a series of man made structures designed to charge the electric cars that will plug into the provided outlets in the trunks. Not only will your new electric ride be parked in the shade, preserving your groceries for a few minutes longer while you run into one more store, your car will actually recharge entirely off the grid, thanks to the 'photovoltaic' foliage (great term, eh?) that will turn to face the sun throughout the day. More images here.

The project was created as part of the efforts of a design collective called burb.tv, which focuses on the urbanization of China. See more of their innovative work here.

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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.

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If you're not familiar with the word 'Lomography', you'll recognize what it is. The Lomo was Russia's answer to Kodak. The company invented the fish-eye lens, and Lomo cameras like the one shown, (designed in cahoots with sartor supreme Paul Smith), will create images with a definite nostalgic cast - perfect for your afternoon at Old Faithful, or your month of evenings in KOA campsites across the country.

There's even a whole online community devoted to Lomography, which by its very construction, insists on remaining in the world of 35mm film. Truly, if you are indeed going to stand over the Grand Canyon this summer, make sure you're capturing what you see with this.

Take a closer look at these very cool and nostalgic images.

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Dutch designer Jonas Samson wants to shed a little light on the world, and he strives to do it beautifully with this wallpaper that doubles as a light source. When turned off, your walls will appear to be covered with - well, wallpaper, but when turned on, they'll look like that. The inclusion of tiny LEDs in the paper will ensure your room inspires those within, which of course, turns us on.

http://www.jonassamson.com

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Welcome to Draw Ball. An online collaborative art project that invites users to draw digitally on a huge virtual canvas. Each user is able to e-etch a tiny amount per day, equal to approximately 1/10,000th of the surface of this thing. It began with aspirations of encouraging crafties to express themselves, but through time, has morphed into a spot for online communities and advertisers to plug certain brands. The short animation below demonstrates how over time, the South Korean flag morphed into the Pepsi logo. Over two years old, the project still receives new squiggles 24 hours a day.

http://www.drawball.com/playback.php

http://www.drawball.com

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UK Designer Mikael Metthey could potentially become God in the eyes of the world's children with 'Pox Teddy' - a concept toy that if successful, could eliminate the need for syringed vaccinations. (Needle Day was always the most dreaded at school.) This smart little bear exposes kids to a virus in order to foster their natural immunity against harmful diseases. The website below offers some more images, as well as one of Metthey's 'Vaccination Playground'. The future is upon us.

http://www.interaction.rca.ac.uk/people/alumni/05-07/mikael-metthey/projects/project6.html

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If it appears you won't be able to make the trip to Venice for this year's Future of Science World Conference (the fourth annual), here's a taste of what you'll be missing. A trio of entrepreneurs will be unveiling their plan for turning the Sahara Desert into a huge source for renewable food, water and energy. The Sahara Forest Project is a 20 hectare, 80 million euro undertaking that will ultimately produce a titanic bio-entity that could potentially produce enough energy for all of Africa and Europe combined. It'll turn sea water into fresh water, it'll produce steam energy through the use of thousands of little mirrors to reflect the sun's light, and on top of it all, it looks like that.

http://www.thefutureofscience.org

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Walgreen's recently announced they'll erect the world's largest LED sign in Times Square. It'll be 341 feet tall, weigh 250,000 pounds, comprise 12 million LEDs and will clad the company's new three-level drug emporium at the 1 Times Square Building. The site's been a bright spot for ads since O.J. Gude, the "Sign King of Times Square" became the first man to use an electric bulb on a billboard in 1917. Walgreen's expects brand recognition to be raised bigtime and foresees the site as a "focal point for (the company) nationally".

http://www.walgreens.com

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Introducing, the BMW GINA ("Geometry and functions in 'N' Adaptions"). It's the conceptual brainchild of the BMW design team and while it's said that it'll never see production, you can't help but love this thing. It's clad in a silver, seamless fabric and designed to change shape at the will of the driver, through the use of electric and hydraulic actuators. Head Designer Chris Bangle called it a challenge to "existing principles and conventional processes" and claims that GINA will, at the very least, influence future models of BMWs. Looking at this picture, I'm thinking GINA might influence what I'll be wearing out this weekend.

http://www.bmw-web.tv/en/channel/new

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As environmentally aware as we're becoming, the auto industry is still making things that look like this. And people are buying them. AutoData reports that in 2007, SUV sales in the United States increased 22.7% from the previous year. China's SUV stats for the same year actually increased by 49.1%. Early stats from this year seem to indicate high gas prices will prove to be a viable damper on SUV sales, in favour of their compact counterparts.

http://www.autodata.ltd.uk/default.asp

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Researchers are developing a sort of nervous system to be built into bridges, airplanes, buildings and ships. This "Structural Health Monitoring System" uses ultrasound waves that travel through minuscule fibers that are embedded into the structure's materials. The idea is that the individual components themselves will be able to detect defaults such as cracks or rust. The information would then be conveyed to a central computer system, informing engineers and repair teams of the need for attention. Now that's brainy.

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