Image via WIRED
While everything is cuter in miniature proportions, everything is even better when it’s bigger. Especially toys. Here are three larger-than-life projects that take the classics and blow up the fun just a little bit–ok a lot bit.
Giant Rubik’s Cube
It’s more than 2 feet by 2 feet and the man who created it uses it as a coffee table. Considering that it’s fully functional, you might not want to set anything on top–until the puzzle is fully completed of course.
Giant Lego Car
This 1997 Volvo went from boring to dorktastic–in a good way–with just a little paint and a studded hood. Buy this Amsterdam-based car or recreate the look on your own ride.
Giant Chess Set
If you have a black-and-white tiled kitchen floor, you know it’s good for only one thing–giant chess. These slot-together pieces can be broken down for easy storage after playing. Checkmate.
Image courtesy of Mohzy
USB drives are awesome. They’re small, portable, and hold tons of data. The ubiquity of them make floppy disks seem like an ancient relic, we wonder how we ever got by with such limited storage capability (only 1.4 megabytes?). They are by far the most convenient devices in terms of physical storage products.
The downside to being so convenient, though, is that I seem to lose them all the time. Thankfully, Mohzy has designed USB loops that will prevent me from ever losing my data again and will also act as a stylish accessory. It’s bendable magnetic body allows me to clip it to virtually anything, and it can also act as a bracelet. In addition to its fashionable functionality and data storage capabilities, it also acts as a charging cable for Apple devices (excluding the iPad 2) and Micro USB devices. Get yours here, and your data will feel pretty inside and out.
Image Via GoSoapBox
Many educational experts argue that technologies such as smartphones and tablets are a distraction during school hours. With students able to constantly text each other, watch YouTube videos, or play Angry Birds, it’s no wonder schools are wary to allow technology into the classroom.
GoSoapBox hopes to change these attitudes with their web-based app. Used in classrooms, students can ask questions, participate in discussions, take quizzes, and let the teacher know if they are confused or comprehending the material. Most importantly, this is done in real time to ensure instant feedback.
This can be a viable way of increasing student participation and interest. Those who may be intimidated to ask a question publicly can easily do so by typing it. Communication styles are changing, and many Millennials are most comfortable expressing themselves digitally. GoSoapBox hopes to caters to this by providing a clearer channel of teacher-student interactivity.
Image via Moleskine
According to this classic advertising handbook, one of the best methods for generating ideas is to brainstorm on index cards, get all the facts out of your head, and then walk away and let your subconscious do the rest. But when your mind spontaneously generates a kickass idea, you need a place to put it before it evaporates. Sometimes typing it out on your tiny smartphone keyboard just doesn’t cut it—there’s no substitute for the utility of good old fashioned pen and paper.
If you’re going to keep a notebook in your bag, you might as well make it a good one. Do yourself a favor and pre-order one of these Lego Moleskines. They’re limited edition and come with Lego-themed labels. Plus, since it’s a pre-order, you’ll forget that you ordered it and it’ll just show up in the mail—a little surprise for you, from you.
Dieter Rams is for me what Joss Whedon is for sci-fi nerds or Michael Jordan is for sports fans, a larger than life character who basically changed the game. Rams almost literally designed the modern world. He worked for decades at Braun making coffee makers and shavers into works of functional art, and now he has a retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Check out this great interview on Dwell as he discusses his essentials of design. According to him, products should be “easy to understand” something designers like Apple have clearly taken to heart. Need more proof that this dude knows his stuff?
Check out his sweet wooden cane!
Image courtesy of TheWandCompanyLtd
While I love a good movie replica, a plastic prop is never fully satisfying. My lightsaber – no matter how many noises it makes – isn’t a true laser sword. From what I can remember, that proton pack of my childhood never really caught ghosts. And even though I can walk into Olivander’s at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, whichever wand I choose is not going to make magic.
But The Wand Company is changing that. This isn’t your average reproduction movie prop.
The Kymera Magic Wand is a universal remote control in disguise. Make your iPod play music, eject a DVD, crank the volume on your TV, or turn on a lamp all with a little flick, twist, push, or pull. It recognizes 13 gestures and any electronic device can be controlled as long as it has an infrared signal. Add this one to the “Toys that are meant for kids, but every adult wants one” list.
Video courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy
It’s like the Olympics, but for eco-nerds.
Washington, D.C. is currently filled with maker-minded collegiate folk as they take on the ultimate challenge: building a home. The catch? It has to be energy-efficient, affordable, and – oh yeah – good looking. It’s a brutal race to win the U.S. Department of Energy’s biannual Solar Decathlon.
The contestants have seven days to bring their vision to life before the solar village opens to the public on Friday. But once the global contests complete construction, the competition has only begun. Teams will be ranked on performance, education, and promotion in addition to design, architecture, and engineering.
Stop by West Potomac Park September 23 through October 2 to gather inspiration for making your own homes – and pockets – a little greener, and you might catch a free workshop as well. Find the complete schedule here.
Photo via WIRED
Did you enjoy this week’s high-profile firing? Poor Carol Bartz of Yahoo! never really had a chance. With Yahoo’s stock in the tank and the Dow Jones doing its schizophrenic freak-out routine this month, only Steve Jobs could’ve kept that job. But she went out just like she came in, with a short email displaying all the authenticity and candor she was known for. And if history’s any guide, Mrs. Bartz now has some terrific opportunities to look forward to.
Big-time tech executives tend to fire upwards, or at least sideways, thanks to their experience and good connections. Former HP CEO Mark Hurd was out of work for less than a month after his termination, jumping right over to Oracle as co-president. Carly Fiorina almost became a US Senator. Heck, even John Sculley, the guy Steve Jobs saved Apple from, now enjoys seats on the boards of several tech firms. Seems like CEO’s can also be too big to fail.
Image via http://useful-banana.blogspot.com/
Do bananas have a future in the US? The widely prevalent and downright dominant Cavendish variety of banana is at risk of extinction. Dan Koeppel, author of The Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World uncovers the possibility that a lethal fungus will irradicate the Cavendish and argues that this possibility is practically a certainty. In his interview with Ira Flatow for NPR’s Science Friday program, Mr. Koeppel explains the fascinating reason the Cavendish became the only banana variety widely sold in the US, and why it’s reign is coming to an end.
Dole and Chiquita are working ways to fight this fungus, however I think the best result of this story would be an introduction of new banana varieties to the US market. Red bananas anyone?
“Community is both Reddit’s strength as a site, and its greatest weakness as a form of citizen journalism.”
(via hyperorg.com)
An excellent read on Reddit as a new hope for journalism.
Jonathan Stark, the Starbucks Card guy, started the project Jonathan’s card on July 14th as a feel-good social experiment focused around “paying-it-forward.” The Starbucks card’s balance had since been upped over 500 times and withdrawn close to 900 times, receiving a total of $8700 in donations to be used by the public. Although the company was flattered that Stark chose Starbucks as the platform for his project, it ultimately had to be shutdown over fraud concerns. Stark sees the short success of this project has a starting off point for future means of donating fees for medication and other services beyond the urgency of getting of your morning coffee.
The new iPhone app Trimit analyzes text and extracts the important information, creating a shortened summary. The algorithm’s accuracy is passable but the language is laughable. For example, ‘message’ is abbreviated to ‘mezage’ and ‘tourist’ to ‘2urist,’ as a means of omitting unnecessary vowels.
The app is to be used for creating quick updates on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and SMS, while easily keeping the character count low.
Below: The Bed Intruder Song YouTube Description in 140 characters.
