by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2012-08-22 02:57:36 UTC
Computing guzzles a great deal of electricity and striving for greater energy efficiency both saves money and decreases greenhouse gas emissions. Although computers already come with energy-saving mechanisms, such as sleep mode and other power saving features set by users, there's always room for improvement. This is the idea behind Ecobeneficios’s Greencam. The Brazilian company has launched a PC app that automatically turns off the user’s monitor when he or she walks away from it... Continue Reading Energy-saving Greencam app is a real turn-off
Since it's never too early to start thinking about our Holiday wishlist, we're going to go ahead and pencil this one in: Democratech's "Sprout" (not to be confused with a Flotspotted concept) is a nice horticultural update to the classic wooden writing implement. The eco-minded cleverly incorporated a water-activated seed capsule into the non-business end of a Ticonderoga cedar pencil. "Sprout is a pencil with a seed inside. When it's too short to use, it can be planted at home, at the office, or in the classroom." Plant it, pour some water on it—the capsule is water-soluble—and tend it for a couple weeks, and voilà: your pencil stub has metamorphosed into a happy, healthy vegetable or herb.
Still, we assume that they're being facetious when they say that "Sprout doesn't have an eraser because we don't believe in making mistakes"... though we do agree that 'outboard' erasers tend are more versatile.
We want every part of using Sprout to be fun, so instead of sacrificing overall quality (and adding cost and complexity) by grafting on an eraser, we scrapped it entirely. Putting an eraser on it would have been a mistake. There's a lot of good "external" erasers out there, we're happy to make some recommendations. And who knows, we may be putting seeds in them too...
Speaking on behalf of Democratech, Mario Bollini dryly relates that they're "excited to see the project bear fruit" via Kickstarter, further noting "Sprout comes in a variety of flavors." He proceeds to invite the Kickstarter community to "[plant] the seeds of a healthy lifestyle."
The best part? Even a fiver will get you a useful and eventually delicious reward. Check it out on Kickstarter to get your hands (and mouth) on one come October.
Success after failure is always more interesting than success after success. Hearing that artist Matthew Shlian failed Algebra in high school is astonishing once you see his work, as it's clear the guy is a geometric genius.
Paper-folding is Shlian's forte, and if that sounds frivolous or like "merely" art, consider that he's also been commissioned by scientists and researchers at the University of Michigan. "We work on the nanoscale, translating paper structures to micro folds," Shlian explains. "Our investigations extend to visualizing cellular division and solar cell development. Researchers see paper engineering as a metaphor for scintific princiapls; I see their inquiry as basis for artistic inspiration."
On the commercial side, Shlian does work for companies as diverse as Apple, the United States Mint and Ghostly International, the latter of which commissioned this vid explaining what he does:
The Avant/Garde Diaries, an online interview magazine, recently posted a nice twofold profile of Make/BoingBoing's Mark Frauenfelder and his friend, artist Kevin Mack.
Frauenfelder first discovered Kevin Mack through his special effects work on the film Fight Club; however, it was Mack's strictly artistic work that really piqued Frauenfelder's interest. Mack's art takes the vast and still uncharted area of digital technology and brings it into the physical world. The results are images printed on canvas which vacillate between abstraction and photorealism, and virtual sculptures transformed into the tangible via three-dimensional printing technology.
The short, entitled "Between Order and Chaos," opens with a bit of background on the DIY/punk/zine aesthetic before Frauenfelder proceeds to introduce the visual effects supervisor and visual artist. Both Frauenfelder and Mack agree that we've only begun to grasp the fine art potential of 3D printing technology.
An array of shapes form complex relationships through selective random happenstance and deliberate design. The forms are entangled and weave inside and outside together in purposeful and irrational ways.The apparently organized structural system provides conflicting stimuli. Rules are established but not adhered to. Identity and function appear determinable, but are not. Many internal details remain hidden from view. The object's complete form is unknowable. It is a man made mystery.
The sculpture was created from constrained random implicit surfaces and procedurally derived structures. These were distorted with turbulent noise prior to extensive direct sculpting and manual manipulation.
Like a Rorschach ink blot, it is designed to make you see things from your own mind. What do you see?
As we saw yesterday, digital fabrication is increasingly a cost-effective, practical solution to many modern manufacturing quandaries. But just as the real-world applications of digital fabrication remains to be seen, so too does technology's artistic potential remain all but limitless.
Trinidadian architect Tara Keens Douglas presented a series of carnival costumes made from folded paper and twisted rope as part of her masters thesis. (more…)
by: Environmental Leader, 2012-08-20 12:52:29 UTC There was a palpable buzz at the recent Policy Exchange event on securing the value of nature. Anyone who stumbled into the packed room could be forgiven for thinking that a new iGizmo was about to be launched. Professor Dieter Helm, Chair of the UK Government’s Natural Capital Committee, said that biodiversity is where climate change [...]
The Mola bench by Andrija Večenaj was inspired by his experience growing up in the seaport city of Rijeka, Croatia, where he would spend time watching the saves, docking ships and multitude of personalities pass through. The shape is an abstract representation of waves and boat hulls, exaggerated by planked wood that references the deck of the ships. A hollow concrete base supports the adjustable surfaces and gives the structure a catamaran-like aesthetic that compliments the nautical feel.
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-08-13 11:05:11 UTC
OLEDs – how do they work?
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are semiconductors made of layers of thin organic materials only a few nanometers ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-08-10 15:28:26 UTC
After Walmart introduced the Packaging scorecard, to get its suppliers to reduce the use of packaging material, several of its suppliers realized a ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-08-10 06:57:59 UTC
Loop By the Yard is a reversible, textile-like material for a myriad of do-it-yourself projects. Available in 44 inch (112 cm) wide continuous yardage ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-08-09 10:06:06 UTC
Given their experience in packaging technology it is practically inevitable that at FLEX/ the INNOVATIONLAB® novel ideas arise daily that do nót necessarily ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-08-08 13:18:31 UTC
The world's first high pressure laminate free of formaldehyde and phenols.
These green-laminate boards have a formaldehyde emission of < 0.01 PPM ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-08-07 16:49:39 UTC
Lyocell is a fabric most know better by its brand name Tencel®. It has a soft finish, packs light and is made from cellulose (vegetable matter), or ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-08-06 07:42:51 UTC
This streamer is only 3" x 3" tall (10cm x 10cm). A great sample of minimization and integration as ecodesign strategies.
Barely larger than a ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-08-06 07:17:35 UTC
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the commonly accepted methodology to systematically assess the environmental impact of a product or material over the ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-08-03 13:23:01 UTC
The Delft University of Technology shares some of the courses via Open Course Ware. Among which Cradle to Cradle.
This module is the colloquium of ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-08-02 07:44:02 UTC
Condensed from Nike's sustainability chapter in their corporate responsibility report.
THE SUSTAINABILITY DRIVERS
* Competition for scarce natural ...
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