Design posts

In many ways, infographics help to fulfill one of the important promises of the internet in general and social media in particular. When done right, they present a lot of useful and interesting data in a format that is visually stunning and easy to digest. They can be used to inform the world about things in ways that no other medium besides (arguably) video can accomplish. Rather than reading a long article or a numbered list of facts, infographics visualize important, interesting, or entertaining aspects of the world in an extremely sharable format. That was the promise, at least. The reality…

Last year, Audi started showing off its e-bike concept, a high-tech 50 MPH electric bike with carbon fiber and built in WiFi. The cool two-wheelers made its rounds through the blogosphere and tech shows and inspired many to think outside of the box with bicycle designs. Georgian designer Vladimer Kobakhidze was one of the inspired and designed a concept folding bike with the Audi logo proudly emblazoned on the frame. What Kobakhidze may or may not have done intentionally was to use the Mercedes Benz famous three-spoke logo as the wheels of the bike. It’s all harmless, but fun to point out nonetheless….

Those of us old enough to remember the somewhat-cool-but-mostly-annoying boomboxes that were carries on streets, across playgrounds, and on public transportation during the 80s can experience the portable music machines all over again in the form of the Boompack by givingshape. It’s a ghetto blaster for a new generation that has grown up more secluded (and polite) with their musical enjoyment through smaller devices with earbuds. Bigger is better with the Boompack as it boasts 8 speakers, 100 watt sound power, and 32Gb of internal memory, plenty to store as many Beastie Boys or Def Leopard…

Don’t be fooled. 14-year old Santiago Gonzalez may seem like your average mild-mannered young teen who is probably owning you on Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, but his skills go well beyond your standard American youth. He programs. He builds apps. Cool apps. Is thnkrtv correct in speculating that he might be the next Steve Jobs? Keep in mind, he’s fluent in a dozen program language, he is on pace to earn his master’s degree at the Colorado School of Mines before turning 18, and he dreams in code. At this rate, he’ll be taking over the world before he reaches legal drinking age. …

I think we can all agree that cell phone cases in general lack any luster. Most come in just black or bright pink and a few colors in between. Since we take our smartphones with us everywhere we go it would be nice to dress them up too and since it is 2013, isn’t it about time? …

Any Jedi knows that when killing a Wampa you must use all of its parts and what better use of a Wampa arm than to use it as a windshield scraper? Defeat the ice and snow this winter with a warm ice scraper you cover over your hand and forearm with the power of feeling like you defeated a Wampa of your very own. …

Our friendly felines love to have freedom to roam and the last thing we ever want to do is yell at kitty to get down from spots he or she is not supposed to jump up on, but kitty will be kitty and jumping they will do. Most of us have cats that own us and for the most part we surrender, however it is hard to explain to dinner guests why the turkey got eaten or finding time to constantly brush the couch (you know you swear by your schticky). Therefore a solution to keep both you and your cat happy has been created. …

Researchers are looking to make ground-breaking discoveries in learning child development during the early stages of life and to do so they have invented Diego-san, a robotic 1 year-old that learns how to control his body and communicate non-verbally with others. Its inventors, Javier Movellan, a research scientist, and his team at the Machine Perception Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego, have teamed up with Japanese robotics manufacturer Kokoro Company. …

The well-known company that provides helpful apps and tools for designers and web developers, ZURB has recently acquired Forrst, a community for designers and developers. A perfect match since the two targets each other’s demographic and both serve to help you enhance your craft. …

We all anxiously awaited our return to the Shire and into Middle Earth’s fantasy concocted by J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson and now that we have had another taste of precious magic, we surely cannot wait to watch it again when it comes out on Blu-Ray. But why wait? When you can have a Hobbit hole of your very own, whether it is as a shed, sauna, chicken coop or cottage, a Hobbit hole waits for you to take home. …