Dim the lights. Pass round the popcorn. And treat your friends to a slideshow of all your finest filter-tastic snaps.
Projecteo is a mini projector created just for Instagram pictures. It was created last year, and thanks to $87,000 of Kickstarter funding, has just launched to the public. (Cheers, Keely.)
After uploading nine of your best pictures (hint: no one wants to see every posh meal you’ve had in the last six months), your images are ‘melted’ onto a single frame of 35mm film. You can then use the matchbox-sized projector to display your snaps up to 2.5 feet wide.
But how can you possibly only choose nine? Don’t worry – there are no limits to the number of ‘photo wheels’ you can order. There just might be a limit to your friends’ levels of interest.
Get yours for $34.99.
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RqmmDV1wvkM
Via. http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/29/4375576/projecteo-instagram-film-projector-now-available
When it comes to phone cases, everyone has a choice. Go big, chunky and – generally – ugly, but know your phone will stay safe. Or choose a blinging number that looks good, but which will disintegrate long before your phone does.
Now, protective phone case maker Pong and product design firm IDEO have teamed up to make a case that’s both safe and sexy. (Nice one, Alex.)
Gold Reveal is the latest in Pong’s range of radiation-deflecting phone and tablet cases. With a sleek frame and a choice of rich colours, the cases also have a latticed panel that showcases their gold antenna on the inside. This antenna works with your phone’s antenna to form a mini electromagnetic field, redirecting the power to the back and sides of the phone (away from your brain cells).
Gold Reveal works just as well as Pong’s original designs at protecting you from electromagnetic radiation. But this time, the safety features have become a talking point, not a sore point.
Via. http://www.wired.com/design/2013/06/an-iphone-case-that-makes-being-safe-sexy/?cid=co8627904#slideid-150792
Just because walls are flat doesn’t mean billboards have to be. IBM and Ogilvy France have launched a series of outdoor ads, each with a different shape and purpose. (Good spot, Jamie.) There’s one you can sit on. Another you can shelter under when it rains. And another that makes dragging your bag up steps that little bit easier.
The ads are part of IBM’s People For Smarter Cities project, which encourages ‘smarter thinking’ when it comes to city planning and design. But they’re not the only ones with the big ideas – while you use the ads to sit/shelter/roll, you’re also encouraged to go online and share your own ideas for the city. Clever.
See Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/67570047
Via. http://www.psfk.com/2013/06/ibm-bench-poster.html
It’s always a nerve-wracking moment getting your new watch wet. Does waterproof really, really mean waterproof?
To prove to discerning customers that their diving watches do what they say on the pack, Festina is selling their timepieces in clear bags filled with distilled water. (Cool spot, Jamie C.)
Built to survive years of deep-sea diving, the Festina Profundo range proves its worth to discerning customers before they leave the shop. (And long before they accidentally keep it on when they get into the bath.)
Via. http://www.psfk.com/2013/05/diving-watch-water-packaging.html
Everyone knows about the ridiculous mark-up on certain food and drink (popcorn, anyone?). But it’s much trickier to know what you’re paying for when it comes to fashion.
To try and change this, new Californian fashion retailer Everlane has made all its pricing completely transparent. So instead of just showing the price, infographics outline the cost of materials, construction and transport, as well as the mark-up and where it was made.
For example, Everlane’s Weekender bag sells for $95. But before parting with your cash, you’d see that the true cost is only $38. That might seem like a big difference, but their mark-up of 2.5 is apparently much less than that of other brands, which would sell a similar bag for around $300.
That’s not to say Everlane uses cheaper materials or lower quality processes. The brand uses the same materials as luxury brands – including cashmere from a top-end mill in Scotland. But by only selling online, they ‘eliminate bricks and mortar expenses’ and pass on savings to savvy shoppers.
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/60979345
Via. https://www.lsnglobal.com/innovate/view/7611?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=retail-+May&utm_content=retail-+May+CID_682b307e11e149944d31892b9cbe414e&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Everlane
Today, trainers. Tomorrow, track.
Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe programme takes old athletic shoes and turns them into Nike Grind, a high-quality sports surface used in courts, turf fields and tracks.
It’s all part of their vision to make ‘closed-loop’ products – things that use the fewest materials possible and can be taken apart and recycled into something new.
Since 1990, Reuse-A-Shoe has transformed 28 million pairs of shoes and 36,000 tons of scrap material into Nike Grind, which is used in 450,000 locations around the world. Time to dig your old trainers out from under the bed and give them a new lease of life.
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/67394349
Via. https://www.prote.in/en/feed/2013/06/reuse-a-shoe
Dip into Little Women. Borrow the Little Prince. Follow Gulliver through Lilliput. All from the teeny weeniest library you’ve ever seen. (Good spot, Lyndal.)
Designed by Stereotank, the ‘Little Free Library’ is a project by The Architectural League of New York and Pen World Voices Festival. There are ten of the yellow pods in New York, each stocked with tomes donated by the local community.
The libraries are made from upside down plastic tanks and wooden frames, creating ‘inhabitable’ spaces where people can immerse themselves and take time to browse, borrow and exchange. When you take a book, you’re also encouraged to leave one behind, meaning the selection will be different every time you pop your head in.
Best of all – there’s not a strict librarian in sight.
Via. http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2013/05/worlds-tiniest-library-pops-new-york-city/5742/
What will your dog do for food? Roll over? Shake hands? Bark a tune?
To show the lengths dogs will go to for a bite to eat, pet care brand Bakers set up the world’s first vending machine for dogs in a London park. (What a good boy, Jamie C!)
After tugging on a toy bone, the machine launched a tennis ball from its roof. When dogs returned the ball, the machine dispensed a free pack of dog food into a doggy bowl.
Now someone just has to teach them how to open it…
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xJwX08wTTfk
Via. http://designtaxi.com/news/357193/World-s-First-Vending-Machine-For-Dogs/
What comes to mind when you think of Absolut? Dark bars? House parties? Ads with clever wordplay? Chances are, the brand’s Swedish heritage isn’t top of the list.
But to get back to its artistically-inclined, sustainably-minded roots, Absolut has introduced a new premier vodka made with traditional Swedish techniques: Absolut Elyx.
Painstakingly handcrafted in tiny volumes, the concoction is distilled in a vintage rectification still, with copper columns, pumps and hand-forged pipes, and extra copper packets for even further purification. It’s made from only the finest Råbelöf-sourced wheat and blended with water from Absolut’s own natural underground springs.
The result? According to Absolut, all this hard work and meticulous attention to detail leads to an ‘outstanding vodka’ with ‘silky textures’ and a ‘clean, slightly fruity taste’. Perhaps best not to mix it with Coke.
Via. http://uncrate.com/stuff/absolut-elyx/
No more scrambling to switch off your phone before meetings. No more interrupted meals. And no more panicking about the Marimba blasting out during your child’s school play.
Blokket is a slim pouch made of a silver and nylon material that blocks cellular signals while your phone is inside. Designed to help people – literally – switch off from technology, it also protects against identity theft, as chipped ID cards and passports inside the pouch can’t be accessed by unauthorised RFID readers.
Blokket comes with either a pink or yellow band, and the choice of two little messages: ‘My phone is off for you’ or ‘Goodbye phone, hello world!’ Get yours from the MoMa Store for $38 and prepare for a bleep, ring and vibration-free day.
Via. http://www.psfk.com/2013/05/case-blocks-phone-signal.html
