Designed by Inesa Malafej and Arunas Sukarevicius from Lithuania, the Dancepants converts kinetic energy from running or dancing into electricity for your MP3 player.

More info here.

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BLDGBLOG is featuring a series of images called Aqualta by Studio Lindfors that depict Tokyo and Manhattan after a catastrophic flood. From BLDGBLOG:

Similar in spirit to Squint Opera’s earlier look at a Flooded London, Aqualta is hard—if not impossible—to separate from the context of melting ice caps and global climate change. However, it deserves visual attention in its own right, even outside such politically charged discussions.

Far from stoking fear about a coming catastrophe, both of these projects—Studio Lindfors and…

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I would love to see a community library like this in Los Angeles!

“What began as an assemblage of 1,000 empty beer cartons pulled together by residents in East Germany has now evolved into an incredible open air public library. Designed by Karo Architekten in collaboration with local residents, the grassroots project revitalizes a post-industrial district in Magdeburg, Germany by creating a cultural center and pop-up library where books are free to take and leave 24…

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NuFormer’s 3D building projections have me questioning the nature of existence—but, like, in a sweet way.

http://www.vimeo.com/4238052

Thanks, Clay (via Zach).

Read & Discuss

NuFormer’s 3D building projections have me questioning the nature of existence—but, like, in a sweet way.

http://www.vimeo.com/4238052

Thanks, Clay (via Zach).

Read & Discuss

Check out this amazing recreation of the highways as a subway map. While there are no geographic features, it sure makes it easier to envision any number of trips and routes around the country. Click here for a larger size.

Via Coudal.

Read & Discuss

Check out this amazing recreation of the highways as a subway map. While there are no geographic features, it sure makes it easier to envision any number of trips and routes around the country. Click here for a larger size.

Via Coudal.

Read & Discuss

What the educational outpost on the site of the old Ambassador Hotel can teach Los Angeles about learning, public space, and community.

Schools in Los Angeles are getting lots of attention lately. You might have heard of Steve Barr, a sort of educational desperado, whose Green Dot Schools wrested away several poorly-performing schools from the Los Angeles Unified School District and transformed them into educational powerhouses. But what Barr did for these communities is far more than that.…

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“The EyeWriter project is an ongoing collaborative research effort to empower people, who are suffering from ALS, with creative technologies. It is a low-cost eye-tracking apparatus & custom software that allows graffiti writers and artists with paralysis resulting from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to draw using only their eyes.”

The Eyewriter from Evan Roth on Vimeo.

via swissmiss

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How often do you buy a new computer? After two years? Four? For such complex products, we go through them pretty quick, and that adds up to a lot of ultra harmful e-waste.

It’s something computer companies are already striving for, but designer Je Sung Park is taking the idea of a recyclable computer to its furthest limits. His Recyclable Paper Laptop is made from pulp and reprocessed materials, and would be broken down into the…

Read & Discuss

Designed by Inesa Malafej and Arunas Sukarevicius from Lithuania, the Dancepants converts kinetic energy from running or dancing into electricity for your MP3 player.

More info here.

Read & Discuss

BLDGBLOG is featuring a series of images called Aqualta by Studio Lindfors that depict Tokyo and Manhattan after a catastrophic flood. From BLDGBLOG:

Similar in spirit to Squint Opera’s earlier look at a Flooded London, Aqualta is hard—if not impossible—to separate from the context of melting ice caps and global climate change. However, it deserves visual attention in its own right, even outside such politically charged discussions.

Far from stoking fear about a coming catastrophe, both of these projects—Studio Lindfors and…

Read & Discuss

I would love to see a community library like this in Los Angeles!

“What began as an assemblage of 1,000 empty beer cartons pulled together by residents in East Germany has now evolved into an incredible open air public library. Designed by Karo Architekten in collaboration with local residents, the grassroots project revitalizes a post-industrial district in Magdeburg, Germany by creating a cultural center and pop-up library where books are free to take and leave 24…

Read & Discuss

NuFormer’s 3D building projections have me questioning the nature of existence—but, like, in a sweet way.

http://www.vimeo.com/4238052

Thanks, Clay (via Zach).

Read & Discuss

NuFormer’s 3D building projections have me questioning the nature of existence—but, like, in a sweet way.

http://www.vimeo.com/4238052

Thanks, Clay (via Zach).

Read & Discuss

Check out this amazing recreation of the highways as a subway map. While there are no geographic features, it sure makes it easier to envision any number of trips and routes around the country. Click here for a larger size.

Via Coudal.

Read & Discuss

Check out this amazing recreation of the highways as a subway map. While there are no geographic features, it sure makes it easier to envision any number of trips and routes around the country. Click here for a larger size.

Via Coudal.

Read & Discuss

What the educational outpost on the site of the old Ambassador Hotel can teach Los Angeles about learning, public space, and community.

Schools in Los Angeles are getting lots of attention lately. You might have heard of Steve Barr, a sort of educational desperado, whose Green Dot Schools wrested away several poorly-performing schools from the Los Angeles Unified School District and transformed them into educational powerhouses. But what Barr did for these communities is far more than that.…

Read & Discuss

“The EyeWriter project is an ongoing collaborative research effort to empower people, who are suffering from ALS, with creative technologies. It is a low-cost eye-tracking apparatus & custom software that allows graffiti writers and artists with paralysis resulting from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to draw using only their eyes.”

The Eyewriter from Evan Roth on Vimeo.

via swissmiss

Read & Discuss

How often do you buy a new computer? After two years? Four? For such complex products, we go through them pretty quick, and that adds up to a lot of ultra harmful e-waste.

It’s something computer companies are already striving for, but designer Je Sung Park is taking the idea of a recyclable computer to its furthest limits. His Recyclable Paper Laptop is made from pulp and reprocessed materials, and would be broken down into the…

Read & Discuss

The ongoing battle between medical marijuana advocates and law enforcement has begotten some tricky legality, which has lead to all sorts of uncertainty regarding growth and distribution, and, ultimately, prosecution (or non-prosecution) of distributors. Meanwhile, in places like Northern California’s Mendocino County, it’s currently harvest season for marijuana growers. Last year at this time, the photographer Mathieu Young ventured up north to document, with neither judgment nor agenda, a mid-fall marijuana harvest. “On the one hand it…

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At its most basic level, the map is a utilitarian device that clearly explains a given geography. At its most adventurous, the map embodies our innately human desire to know what is over the next hill, and the hill after that one, and it tells the stories of how we relate to each other. In that spirit, cartographers both amateur and professional have been embellishing the form over the years, creating all varieties of interesting, artistic,…

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In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it became obvious that America was frustratingly ill-prepared to house people displaced by a natural disaster. Michael McDaniel took this as a design challenge. His Exo housing system—inspired by the humble styrofoam cup—could be deployed quickly and cheaply to help us when we need it most.

…
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We Want to Ride Our Bicycles…

Bikes have been around for about a century and a half, and they’re still awesome.

Because we dig the calluses on the palms of our hands. Because we actually kind of like when our legs feel like Jell-O. Because we crave the brisk wind on our cheeks. Because we recall with fondness fastening Topps cards to chain stays. Because today we actually prefer the non-motor bike anyway. Because it’s the paragon…

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Tesla

As evidenced by the flashy concept renderings all over the internet, every established car company out there, from Ford to Rolls-Royce, has a plug-in vehicle “in development.” But the $109,000 Tesla Roadster is still the only highway-capable plug-in you can actually buy, fully assembled, in America. In July, Tesla accomplished something else car manufacturers should be jealous of: It turned a profit of $1 million.

The road’s been bumpy, though. There have been the nasty legal disputes…

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Situated in the northeast corner of Guatemala’s Zacapa province, near the rural town of Gualán is the Zacapa hospital, where volunteers with the NGO Hearts in Motion regularly travel to offer emergency care, fix cleft lips and palates, and perform orthopedic surgeries that are much in need and otherwise hard to come by. While documenting some of Hearts in Motion’s work, Chris Davis traveled to the Zacapa province to photograph the hospital and the people it serves in…

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Portland vs. San Francisco

Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco seem locked in an ongoing battle to become the left coast’s left-most city. To stoke the competition, the blog Gas2.0 has launched a website to track each city’s progress toward building an infrastructure for electric cars. We asked the mayors of both cities to explain what they’re doing to win:

Mayor Gavin Newsom on why the Bay Area will win:

Bay Area consumers have been the early adopters of green…

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A Conference Within Reach

In the words of one attendee, PINC is “like TED, without the politics.” The acronym stands for People, Ideas, Nature, Creativity, which are the themes of this annual under-the-radar conference. Held in the Netherlands, PINC brings together speakers from every imaginable discipline to share brilliant new ideas, stories, and visual presentations. They generally have little in common other than a passion for what they do, and an absolute faith in the power…

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The Grey Lady Lets Her Hair Down

Old-media companies are no longer the cultural gatekeepers they once were. Shrinking production costs and effortless distribution of new media have eroded their monopoly on great content. As feisty start-ups and armchair auteurs crowd the landscape, these publishing bulwarks are being forced to take more risks. Here are some of our favorite successful shots in the dark.

The New York Times

The otherwise-conservative editors at The New York Times send the illustrator and…

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Gun-damn

The city of Tokyo has embraced the spirit of cultural adventurousness. Their contribution: a 60-foot tall Gundam statue, based on the mechanized warrior from the eponymous anime series, which turned 30 this year. The giant toy is inexplicably, but awesomely, tied into a city-wide greening effort, and is part of a campaign to host the 2016 summer Olympics.

Photo by Tim Lindenschmidt

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In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it became obvious that America was frustratingly ill-prepared to house people displaced by a natural disaster. Michael McDaniel took this as a design challenge. His Exo housing system—inspired by the humble styrofoam cup—could be deployed quickly and cheaply to help us when we need it most.

…
Read & Discuss

As a cutting-edge video artist, Lincoln Schatz is familiar with the different ways in which we perceive the world.  It is no surprise, then, that for our Inventions series, Schatz should invent a device that allows us to see the world through someone else’s mind.  Behold, Brainsharing…

Animation by Chris Weller

Directed by Max Joseph

Produced by Eve Marson

Music by The Deadly Syndrome and Why?

…
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Our lives are becoming increasingly customizable. From Tivo to ring tones to virtual dashboards and RSS feeds, we can re-arrange and manipulate incoming data to our liking. So why not the skies as well? From the inventors of an architecture-themed ice cream sandwich truck comes a pair of spectacles that will give x-ray goggles a run for their money. Freya Estreller and Natasha Case imagine glasses that allow you to photoshop your reality.

…
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In the digital age we can send texts and pics to anyone, anywhere, instantly. But how might we share feelings? Through our feet, obviously. For our Inventions video series, Robert Fabricant, the Creative Director at frog design, imagines a new kind of shoe that can take you anywhere.

…
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Teaching adults to read is a difficult enough task in and of itself, but in rural Mali, teachers also face classrooms without electricity and books weathered by the punishing desert climate. Enter the Kinkajou Projector, a fusion of high and low technology that makes teaching night literacy classes as..
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As we head into the last year of the two thousand aughts, we take a look at some of the numbers that shaped our lives this past year.  Thanks for the memories, 2008..
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From cicadas who hibernate for 17 years to checkerboard-camouflaged cuttlefish, some animals have powers that border on the super. Artists Kenichi Okada and Chris Woebken have created three devices designed to give children a chance to experience heightened animal senses. For example, their Bird Device..
Read & Discuss

From cicadas who hibernate for 17 years to checkerboard-camouflaged cuttlefish, some animals have powers that border on the super. Artists Kenichi Okada and Chris Woebken have created three devices designed to give children a chance to experience heightened animal senses. For example, their Bird Device..
Read & Discuss

In rural Africa, women spend 26% of their time fetching water, often walking for miles with heavy buckets balanced on their heads. That’s time that could be spent going to school, working outside the home, or teaching their children. The Hippo Water Roller eases the burden by allowing women to transport five times as much water with much less physical effort. In our latest LOOK video, we examine the impact of the rollers on…

Read & Discuss

In rural Africa, women spend 26% of their time fetching water, often walking for miles with heavy buckets balanced on their heads. That’s time that could be spent going to school, working outside the home, or teaching their children. The Hippo Water Roller eases the burden by allowing women to transport five times as much water with much less physical effort. In our latest LOOK video, we examine the impact of the rollers on…

Read & Discuss