2Modern Design Talk - Modern Furniture & Design Blog

Etre Touchy gloves!

Unless you're fortunate enough to live in a mild climate year-round, it's inevitable that over the course of the next several months, you'll find yourself confronted with the cold weather tech device dilemma in which you struggle to use your gadget without exposing your digits to the frigid air, often resulting in frustration, missed calls, and the worst fate of all, death by pavement.

But this year, instead of risking gadget and digit, pull on some Etre Touchy gloves. Etre Touchy gloves are cleverly designed to expose only the tip of the thumb and index finger, while keeping all other digits toasty warm inside a woolen glove. They come in a variety of sizes and colors, including brown with mint stripes and charcoal with rose trim (fashionable!), and for $33 they'd make a great gift for all your tech-happy pals.

Evolution of the mobile phone.

Kyle Bean is truly a master of 3D form and model making. Check out this awesome project he created showing the evolution of the mobile phone (from Zach Morris style to the iPhone!) in the style of Russian Dolls.

Pretty friggin' awesome, right?

Make sure to check out the rest of his portoflio at KyleBean.co.uk

via

--sdotg--

Digital Art and the Mysteries of Science

Global Wave by George Steuer
 

Digital Technology has created powerful tools for imaging the invisible world beyond our senses:  from the very large things- such as a galaxy to the very small things- such as an electron.  But the nature of this digital imaging technology influences both the way scientists think, as it allows them to visualize levels of complexity that were unthinkable using analog tools.

The same digital technology is also employed by artists who also investigate the same invisible worlds of complexity, but from a purely aesthetic perspective.  

This is the premise for the new exhibition Digital '09:  Mysteries in Science  at the New York Hall of Science from October 3 2009 until January 31st of 2010. Artists present computer generated images (including the authors) that were inspired by science as large prints in the exhibit hall and digital images on-line.  The exhibition was organized by the group Art and Science Collaborations (ASCI) which works to foster projects where art and science intersect.  If the collision of art and science interests you then dig into the organizations web site for links to specific artists, projects, and institutions.  

   

Sonic Refraction by Frederik de Wilde 

 

i-phone art

 

 

Through out history artist have been drawn to emerging technology as a medium for artistic expression.  So it should come as no surprise that artists are now turning their attention to the i-phone.  

The software artist known as Lia, has curated an on-line collection of i-phone apps created by software artists who explore the possibilities of hand-held interactivity at iphoneart.org.

Though some of these apps may feel like video games, they challenge our expectations by engaging us aesthetically under the Trojan horse of interactive fun.   

Hi.

We all humanize our computers and operating systems on a daily basis, even as we speak I'm trying to coax my little laptop into working a little faster for me. The folks at Multitouch Barcelona created an awesome video showing "the little man in the box" with Hi: a real Human Interface. Pretty awesome stuff... make sure to watch it to the end.

Hi from Multitouch Barcelona on Vimeo.

I found this over at Polaine.com. I took a class that Andy Polaine taught back in my post-grad days at COFA and he is a bad-ass when it comes to interactive design. I still look to his site to stay on top of the cool things happening in the field.

--sdotg--

Bathtub IV

I've just spent 4 days in NYC to get a little relaxation and inspiration time... and it worked! I was introduced to the AMAZING  and SUPER inspirational work of Keith Loutit.

Keith is a Sydney based photographer that creates short films using stop-motion and time-lapse footage. The coolest part about the imagery is that he uses a tilt-shift lens that makes everything seem like its a miniature model...but it's not! These images are of life size thing at real places with real people. Such an amazing idea and executed so well.. I can't stop watching his videos!

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Make sure to check out the HD version of this here.

Learn more about Keith and see his other videos here.
Also, thanks to JVH from WhichDateWorks on showing me this and for facilitating my NYC inspiration search!

--sdotg--

The Multi-Color Search Lab

Here is a visual search engine transformed into an automated color field generator:  the Multicolor Search Lab by Idee Inc.  You pick up to ten colors and the web site uses visual similarity software to find images on the web containing those colors.  By clicking the same color multiple times you can increase it's predominance in the photo grid.  Clicking multiple colors, multiple times, shifts the over all values and tones, giving you the power to 'paint' with photographic imagery.   The Multicolor Search Lab is your collaborator in a work of interactive art.

Sierra Club launches Green Home website

Outdoor enthusiasts hang on to your gear, our beloved Sierra Club has just gone domestic!  And that's a good thing because there's quite a bit of greenwashing going around, so when something comes out via a reputable source I take notice. Green Home is the Sierra Club's newly launched website, created to help take the mystery out of residential greening. Log-on for a personalized CO2 calculator, a healthy home quiz, a guide to going solar and lots of great ideas for saving dollars and the environment at the same time.

Designer Toast

Designer Sung Bae Chang invented a toaster that can burn pretty much anything onto your morning slice.

The Scan Toaster connects to a PC over USB and downloads everything from local weather conditions and the current time to the morning’s news headlines.

Inside the toaster is a network of toasting “modules”, each heated by a hot wire. Each module can move by 30° and, once the user selects what they want on their toast - excluding a topping, of course - the modules align themselves and burn the appropriate content onto the bread.

The appliance is a finalist in design competition run by manufacturer Electrolux  and designer Sung Bae Chang said he got the idea whilst - you guessed it - making some toast.

Individual modules (left) are heated and moved about (center) to create the on-toast image

via Registar Hardware

Greener Gadgets 09

Greener Gadgets, now in its second year, is a one-day conference scheduled for February 27, 2009 and features key representatives from some of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world, innovators from academic thinktanks, members of startups focused on renewable energy, and some of the leading minds in the word of sustainable design and business.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Fastronaut toy concept, modeled after the pedometer. Powered by play, each figure has a rechargeable battery, and each vehicle has a dynamo.  Each Fastronaut has a power indicator that can be pressed to make the Fastronaut talk. Children get instant feedback as they create energy, and that is strong motivation to be active.

Move Your Energy- Move Your Energy is a rocking shell chair with an LED lamp specially designed for reading. The armchair is power independent - a dynamo provides the electric energy for the lamp which is connected to a special kinematic mechanism. This mechanism is very similar to the one that is characteristic in steam engines. It works together with a lever that runs a fly-weel disk when you rock.

The Power Hog-  designed to capture the interest of parents and kids alike and serve the wider environmental cause. Power-Hog visually and symbolically associates power conservation with savings by using the iconic piggy bank as a visual reference. Kids can use their allowance to turn on the TV or video game by feeding the Power-Hog with loose change. The Power-Hog meters consumption and blinks red when time is running out. It also helps parents meter the amount of time spent watching the tube.

You can see more of these gadgets and vote on them here.