Link About It: This Week’s Picks
Artificial retinas, a 3D-printing pen and #ifihadglass in our look at the web this week
1. #ifihadglass
Glass, Google’s augmented reality eyewear device, is nearly ready for prime time and we had a chance to demo it this week; The Verge is just as excited about it as we are. The next phase of rollout invites people from all walks of life to apply for early purchase by “using Google+ or Twitter, tell us what you would do if you had Glass, starting with the hashtag #ifihadglass.”
2. Scout Security System
The attractive, fully modern package offered by Scout just might be the Nest Learning Thermostat of home security. The intrusion-detection line allows you to customize responses and monitor status on computers and mobile devices.
3. Make
Renowned designer and stylist Faye Toogood tries her hand at cosmetics in a new line for We See Beauty, entitled Make. Partnering with makeup artist Ayami Nishimura, Toogood’s first collection, “New Medieval,” features a series of painterly blushes, lipsticks and eye shadows, and takes its color cues from nature.
4. Dover Bookshop
We were devastated to learn that the Covent Garden institution, Dover Bookshop, is set to close its doors at the end of March 2013. Founded in 1986, the bookshop is known for its Pictorial Archive, which includes everything from hard-to-find Victorian medical illustrations to Japanese border patterns.
5. Postal Service Fashion
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” The motto of the US Postal Service is now being applied to fashion as the courier launches a high-tech clothing line to make up for a woeful budget deficit.
6. Playstation 4
The first of the next generation of gaming consoles has been announced—sort of. We have no idea what it looks like, but specs, gameplay clips and the Dual Shock 4 controller for the Playstation 4 were released to much fanfare this week. Game on.
7. Signal’s Glass Snowboard
Always up for a challenge, Signal Snowboard’s founder Dave Lee
traveled from the snow-covered peaks of Colorado to a glass
factory in Italy to create a handmade glass snowboard. Yes, glass. And for
an idea that sounds absolutely trepidatious, the end result is nothing short of impressive fun.
8. 3DOODLER 3D Printing Pen
Flipping 3D printing on its head, the promise of 3DOODLER is to turn two-dimensional scribbles into real life sculptures. The design is essentially a gun that ejects melted ABS plastic onto flat surfaces, cooling on contact—no coding, no modeling, just doodles.
9. Experimental New Airplane Seat Plan
After looking at Alireza Yaghoubi’s new seating concept for air travel, you’ll wonder why it hasn’t been done before. Yaghoubi, a student at the University of Malaya, designed the seating arrangement to allow those in coach a seamless recline without disrupting their neighbors. Called AirGo, the prototype is made from sweat-proof nylon and features a suspended, adjustable screen so even when you’re lounging your in-flight movie will always be at the perfect angle.
10. Brooklyn’s Summer of ’74
Offering a glimpse of Brooklyn in the summer of 1974, this recently
found collection of color photographs show restless youth,
gritty streets and gorgeous brownstones. While the cars and clothes
have changed since photographer Danny Lyon’s stills were snapped, it’s interesting to note just how little the neighborhoods and buildings themselves have
changed.
11. Totemism: Memphis Meets Africa
As part of this year’s Design Indaba, the conference has tapped
trend forecasting pioneer Li Edelkoort to curate an exhibition of South African design. Titled
“Totemism: Memphis Meets Africa,” it will include
designers across all disciplines based on the stacking and layering of
colors, patterns and materials in a show that demonstrates where works by the Ettore Sottsass-led Memphis movement and contemporary South African design overlap.
12. Jedi Class
Thanks to a group of dedicated Star Wars fanatics, San Francisco is home to the first combat choreography class for Jedis-in-training. Incorporating light sabers and mixed martial arts, the classes are open to those from both the light and dark side of the force.
13. 360° Beck
Designed by famed filmmaker Chris Milk specifically to launch Lincoln’s “Hello Again” campaign,
the interactive site shows off Milk’s penchant for pumping life into a digital medium while centering on Beck’s recent rendition of David Bowie’s “Sound and Vision.” While the standard
show footage is interesting enough, for the real experience turn on
the facial tracking mode, which, by moving your eyes and head, allows your computer to control the comprehensive network of cameras shooting the 360-degree stage.
14. Food52’s Tournament of Cookbooks
April Bloomfield’s astonishing release “A Girl and Her Pig” is the winner of Food52’s recent cookbook tournament. As The New Yorker’s Tad Friend reports, other highlights from the tourney include commentary from the judges, such as Bryant Gumbel’s description of beets, which are as thin as “Ann Coulter’s intellect.”
15. Artificial Retinas
The FDA recently approved a new treatment that is designed to give limited vision to the blind. The treatment known as an artificial retina will enable patients with certain types of blindness to make out large objects, such as people approaching them and crosswalks on the street. Scientists are hopeful that this new leap is the first of many.
16. DIY Dildos
As one of the more racy design concepts we’ve seen lately, the
aptly named Dildomaker puts the power to create
in the palm of your hand. Working in much the same fashion as the
old-school pencil sharpener we all remember from our youth, the
hand-cranked device churns out DIY dildos, turning most anything you
can imagine—the designer suggests carrots, candles, cucumbers—into a
toy to improve the world’s oldest pastime.
