Design posts

This first paragraph was going to be a joke about how nobody uses or knows about MySpace anymore – you know, like, “this ancient thing called MySpace lolol”. But honestly, I think you’ve heard that joke enough. So instead, this paragraph is about that joke, which I’m not going to tell. Yeah. But seriously, though. It’s beating a dead horse to say that MySpace hasn’t exactly been the belle of the social networking ball in the last few years. And until now, it seemed the ailing …er, ‘giant’ was content to do more or less nothing about it. So let’s fastforward to the aforementioned now and take a peek at…

I don’t own a printer because, frankly, I don’t want to deal with the cost of ink. Ink is hella expensive, and besides, if and when I need to print, a pro will generally do a better job than the streaky bullfart a home inkjet produces. Imagine my chagrin at these Epson employees, who have taken it upon themselves to print a 1:1 scale model of an Acura NSX Super GT racecar. The ‘car’ is, of course, sponsored by Epson, and when built, actually looks pretty bitchin’. But I can only imagine the printing cost wasn’t much less than the actual car. More pictures after the jump! Personally, I’ll continue to limit…

Hey, eyes on the road, hero, do you want to get us killed? Sadly, current navigation technology leaves us little choice but to devote considerable time to a separate screen if we want visuals to accompany the sexy female computervoice (or Snoop Dogg, or Mr. T, or Gary Busey, or whatever you have installed… Gary Busey is frankly still pretty soothing). But lo! Check this out. Combining two geek staples – that is, glasses and LEDs – engineers at the University of Electro-Communication  in Japan (swear to Odin that’s a real place) have developed a system that… well, by all rights, feels like it…

Today is a great day for tech and design coming together. This one’s a bit of advertising. You’re already looking at it, so I may as well just ask outright: is this not the most clever packaging for a pair of earphones you’ve ever seen? If you answer no, you are clearly a soulless husk of a person, content with your suffocating silence. You’re horrible. Get out. Just, get out. Anyway, the design is by ad agency Scholz & Friends in Germany, and their goal was to ‘attract new target groups’ for Panasonic’s music tech products. Imagine seeing these on a wall of headphones at Best Buy. I’d say Scholz and…

You know what’s too cool? This is. In an exploration of digital content delivery, record label Ghostly International is debuting a new label format: the Totem. Looking more like an otherworldly obelisk, this monolithic object serves as much more than a simple sculptural keepsake. Each Totem is embossed with its own three-character code that grants the listener access to a unique, private page where they can stream or download the album. Check out what Ghostly has to say about the debut Totem, for Matthew Dear’s Black City: The MDBC Totem is both a sculptural representation of the themes explored…

If you’re on the ball, you already saw this this morning. If not, welcome to the internet! Let me be the first to introduce you to the Apple Magic Trackpad. Look familiar? If you use a Macbook at all, you’ll note that this is its trackpad, blown up to match the scale and angle of a wireless Mac keyboard. The device connects via Bluetooth and allows for a gestured-up multitouch experience. And the best part is, quite possibly, that it retails for only $69. But hang on a minute. Look, Apple, you guys are the kings of interaction design, so I don’t mean to get on your case, and I’m going to reserve final judgment…

Maybe you’ve heard of Harrison Krix. But you probably haven’t, so let me give it to you straight: this man is awesome. A prop designer based in Atlanta, Krix’s work speaks for itself. And frankly, no one will ever be able to say he isn’t one of the biggest Daft Punk fans currently among the human population of Earth. Taking 17 months out of his life to develop the ultimate homage, Krix has built an Arduino-powered working replica of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo’s trademark blinky-shiny LED helmet. If you’d like to know how to make your own, simply watch the video and, as Krix himself advises, “don’t…

To say that the media world – particularly print media – is in a bit of a state right now would be a gross understatement. The arrival of the web and its impact on advertising, reading habits and people’s expectations happened so fast and so suddenly that people are still reeling from it. Though there are many issues at play, two of the biggest are: 1) How do you create content designed for screens rather than paper? 2) How do you include the new social elements of the web into a new media product? Well, it seems an answer has arrived in the form of Flipboard, a new iPad app that is being called revolutionary…

I’ve always hated iPod stereos – always these fruity little white folding egg-shaped dealies with questionable sound quality. I mean, I enjoy what they’re trying to go for, emulating the design sensibilities of Apple itself, but guys, it’s not working. Case in point. I like minimal, sexy things, but I demand performance. I demand big, square woofers. I demand a man’s stereo. It would seem that JVC has heard my cries (seriously, guys, I stand on my balcony and shout about this in despair. All the time.) and, in JVC fashion, has decided not to piss around in forging a big, sweaty man-device to throw…

Look at that iPad you’re holding. All compact, and… portable n’ junk. Crap on that. Portable is for chumps. Behold the Interactive Mirror by Lit Studios. One part gigantic iPad, one part standard mirror, and three parts awesome, the Interactive Mirror is the brainchild of Alpay Kasal, and while he’s been working on it for quite some time, the explosion of touch computing has given this project some recent attention. Say thank you to Apple, Kasal. This mirror is a dangerous prospect , really – some people spend enough time in the bathroom in front of a mirror as it is. Imagine this thing being installed….