Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Designing an Italian icon, a mirrored hot air ballon, 3D-printed organs and plenty more inspiration and oddities

The Impending Death of the Password Thanks to companies like MobileIron, device passwords (believed to date back to the 1960s, thanks to an MIT time-shared computer) may be on their way out once and for all. Since most people use weak passwords for the majority of their logins and companies oftentimes offer flawed storage and security systems, the default security option isn’t the most intelligent …

Artist Doug Aitken’s Mirror-Surfaced Hot Air Balloon

Set to travel from Martha’s Vineyard to the Berkshires, a mirrored hot air balloon will reflect Massachusetts back upon itself this July. As part of Doug Aitken’s “New Horizon” public art installation, commissioned by the oldest land trust in the world (known as the Trustees), the nomadic sculpture will tether at site-specific, art-oriented celebrations. The flight path of the mylar-covered aircraft will also grant many of …

The History of the Iconic Moka Pot

The single-serve espresso machine first appeared in Italy in 1901. More than 30 years later, Alfonso Bialetti popularized an even more democratic coffee maker for home use: the Moka Express. This version (now patented) became an iconic symbol of Italian coffee culture—simple yet dignified. The historically significant eight-sided machine helped to make at-home coffee brewing possible at a much larger scale. Today, the Moka Express …