The Human Touch line of massage chairs are more than a bit graphic in their design. One can only hope this brand doesn't manufacture a series of beanbag chairs.

Similar to the Skipped Over Sunday series of posts, "Links from last week" aims to give some love to the slightly less stale stories from the previous week.

• Sticky stuff: Velcro lamp shades and space dividers


• Robotic RFID recliner tags along for when you get tired


• Vibrating mascara sadly lacks bluedildonics technology [via]

Text mining for large bodies of literature, Tim Walter created Textour, an interactive tool that visualizes text in radial patterns.

"...it is possible to discover certain rules which show that every text is a system of words where length, position and frequency do not appear at random."

For fairly complex blocks of text, the process involves an intricate system based around sentences, words, and letters. Filters also help aid the process by providing text restrictions, lengths, and frequency.

"Every time a letter, word or sentence is entered into the program, the visualisation integrates the new item and the elements appear on the right point of intersection of line through the center and the circles and re-arranges the rest of the elements in a clockwise manner."

Walter's site includes the detailed documentation for Textour in German.

Russian geek dolls.

[via]

With an uber-geeky name like Export to World, you know their products have to be virtually awesome and useless at the same time. The concept coverts virtual Second Life objects into tangible elements with the use of paper. Like IKEA, all the objects can be constructed with simple scissors and glue. A Flickr album helps give some added context to the conversion.

Conceptual in form and function, a hard drive proposed by Degroenebanaan would visualize your data storage in an artsy way. Called the IVY, the gizmo focuses on manipulability and customization. Depending on the amount of data stored, the OLED screen can change from being completely blank to saturated with a Mondrian-like design

Concepting a cute hub for the holidays, designer Sang-Hoon Lee created the Chocolate Portable HDD. Unlike other gadgets named Chocolate, this design would allow users to actively "break off" USB pieces of memory similar to a candy bar. Complete with a touchscreen interface, this design is best suited for those who have a sweet tooth for storage.

[A weekly link post of skipped over (and slightly stale) sights and stories]

• Getting dressed inside-out: Mobius dress

• More cringe-worthy than white after Labor Day: MySpace users recruited to help fashion marketers

• An entire book dedicated to s'mores with marshmallow-y food porn goodness

• Chopsticks + spoon = choon?

• Carpet alarm clock makes you get out of bed

Leave it to "dumb phone" consumers to be dirty minded. A few recent models of Motorola phones featured a 3D image of a clock face that some users selectively saw an image of a penis in. Embarrassed, Motorola quickly responded:

“The image that you see is actually the result of shading applied to the clock background graphic to give it more of a three-dimensional appearance, in line with the theme of the phone. The graphic is actually built as concentric circles stacked on top of each other, with a lighting filter applied to give it depth."

A sofa explores the concept of "dirty" in a social format. Users can make marks on the sofa that build on each other or easily be ironed out of existence. The "graffiti sofa" was created by Teruhiro Yanagihara to show scratch marks. The concept may be more revealing than intended depending on what your usual activities are on sofas. However, given the intentionally "dirty" design, it may be a more effective way of leaving a message for a lover than a steamy mirror.

We've seen our share of unusual condom usage over time, so the DIY condom "decor" should come as no surprise. Bored and perhaps a bit "frustrated", someone created an instructables-esque way to make a colorful flower vase. By rolling colored condoms over an appropriately-sized vase and cutting off the tip, you're left with a beautiful place to put flowers and weird out house guests all in one. Let's hope that the spermicide smell doesn't over-power the petunias.

Conversational clock.

Clothesline Display, a project that recently popped up in Austria, uses both a delightful and yet delicate technique to create large lines of text. With 250 boxer shorts used to "type" out the text, it's not surprising that it felt a bit breezy between some legs. The wind reportedly over-pixelated the underpants more at times, but was an overall success. The brains behind the boxers showcased the sight between two buildings at Ars Electronica. Shake Well Before Use was not in attendance to Ars Electronica, however, did just buy tickets for the follow-up conference, called Arse Elektronika (if the spelling didn't tip you off, it's about sex and technology) in San Francisco.

Save energy when you're between the sheets with the Hourglass Nightlight. Like most partners in bed, the illuminated electricity saver stays turned on until you fall asleep. The nightlight becomes active when you turn it over and syncs up with a stream of sand. The battery and plug -less lamp powers purely from the internal energy generated by the sand, so when the sand ends, the light turns off. Created by Sun-Young Lee, the Hourglass Nightlight will hopefully have you resting easier knowing you're going green.

Google is great for getting off, but what if you could bring your search engine between the sheets? The Google News Cushion is a nice addition to the bedroom, listing the top news stories for specific years. At up to $250 per pillow, Google appears to be attempting to claim some extra cash it didn't earn last quarter. With call-outs to Britney, Janet Jackson, Paris and Podcasting(!?), we could only wish Google would spit out a "Top Searches" pillow list for every year instead of swallowing it into "SafeSearch On" mode.

[via]

Using solar power to make effective advertising, WWF is once again heating things up. A fairly simple setup, a billboard with an awning casts a shadow during the day that corresponds with the marketing message. Previously, WWF created an ad that also held a very shocking visual of the tangible amount of carbon monoxide we create in one day's worth of driving. Trendhunter points to further explanation of the billboard:

"It’s perpendicular to the equator, with an unobstructed exposure to the west. The “waves” start at about 12:00. The challenge was not azimuth (the daily path of the sun), but altitude, which due to the Earth’s tilt, required the scalloped awning’s shape to be distorted to compensate for 43N latitude, during the life of the posting (about 8 weeks)."

Seductively surprising, a new brand of condoms is playful with its packaging. The Danish brand, Hanky Panky, has designed its product to specifically spice up "doing the deed". Seemingly inspired by childhood memories of the "Toy Surprise Inside!" Cracker Jacks, the box contains two compartments: one for the condoms, and one for a "surprise". Apparently, the surprise can be anything from massage oil and "manuals" to masks. You'll need the surprises, as the three condoms that come with only satiate most for one day's duration. Regardless, the concept seems perfect for those in need of a mid-day "snack" and surprise.

Srsly postcards pwn wishyouwerehere.

As if straight out of some Bug's Life movie, the Rideable Vacuum Cleaner looks like a CG snail. The snail sucker is intended to encourage children to help out with carpet-cleaning chores, by inviting them to ride the vacuum. While a cute idea, adults would have far more fun with this. The concept doesn't specify any weight limits, but given some sturdy standards, the prospect of riding out your vacuum vibrations may 1up sitting on your washing machine.

Not getting any action? You can always play pretend. A flirty and fashionable new set of pillows and couches can help give the illusion of and left out lingerie and messy spills. Created by the Sid Lee Collection, the set is titled Sit! by Sid. Heavy on both graphics and typographics, it's sure to give your home some much needed excitement, as everyone knows you certainly aren't getting any.

[via]

Apparently still not jaded by years of gadget babes, Gizmodo gets giddy over the latest gearhead girl. Perhaps it was the pigtails, or the pink bustier, but seemingly any picture of a babe with a gadget backdrop is worth one thousand words (or less). Tagged the Smart Eleanor (you know, that other object in the photo), the machine is a mod cross between a smart car and a Eleanor Mustang. The Smart Eleanor is not yet in production, but there's at least a limited production of pink-pantied-and-pigtailed girls globally to keep you satiated while you wait.

[Thanks, David!]

In wake of the recent Olympic logo chaos, a friend of a coworker of mine made this lovely logo. While less creative than imagining Lisa Simpson giving head, it's still to be one of the many user-generated-content to come.

[A weekly link post of skipped over (and slightly stale) sights and stories]

Wall hooks are hung. [Thanks, Greer!]

JetBlue employees look for suga mommas in leftover credit cards.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners create an interactive mural for the launch of Adobe CS3.

"The All-Sounds Catch Cubic Pillow is a sound-absorbing headrest that diverts all ambient sound directly to your ear, in case you're too lazy to undertake the strenuous effort of pushing the "Volume-up" arrow on the remote control."

Richard Branson pushes more puns with Flick Off, a campaign about conservation.

Black is back and just in time for spring/summer. It might not be the latest fashion trend, but it's the most recent response to an energy saving tip from earlier this year. It was reported that an all white web page uses about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59 watts. Over the course of a year on Google, this could spare 750 megawatt-hours and $75,000. It's said that good design isn't just about how it looks, but how it works. Unfortunately, Blackle, Google's darkie cousin, may still have a mountain to climb by those standards, as white text on a black background is horrible for reading and at the time of this post, the website is giving a 503 white-backgrounded service error.

A new form of panties pitches more than just tents. Underglam’s “Fanny Lifter” claims to boost up the shape of your booty with a combination of Rayon and Lycra. The pink-laced panties also come with a matching low-cut camisole that provide similar lift to areas in need. To no surprise, the flattering lingerie comes out of France, but the lingerie weblog Knickers has been kind enough to type out instructions for how to order from the French.

There's no end to incorporating interweb humor into your daily intake, and breakfast is no exception. Bringing a new meaning to "finger food", the typewriter iron features minimal modification for morning waffles. The appliance was created by Chris Dimino for a School of Visual Arts exhibit. While many of us computer addicts claim we could eat off of our collected keyboard crumbs, this one may be more filling. So butter up that (key)board and satisfy yourself with some syrup spillage, as this is the only one that won't have a sticky shift key the next day.

As if embarking on a journey in adolescence, pixels may be sprouting hair in unusual places. Philips recently filed a patent for a screen panel of "furry pixels". Not referring to the unusual animal avatars you come across in virtual communities, these "furries" involve an intricate design of fabric that responds to electrostatic charges. The interaction allows for perceived changes in color across the fabricated pixels.

With visions of sugarplums and sex fantasies dancing in their heads, there was something quite abnormal positioned around their beds. Bloody and bizarre, the Blood Puddle Pillow is the perfect companion for a sleepover or late April Fools. While lacking in slumber party pillow-fight fantasy feathers, the crimson counterpart definitely makes up for it in photo-fun. Currently the pillows seem unavailable for purchase, but somehow the DIY task shouldn't be too daunting.

A photo exploration in hand rubbing.

[via]

Kids love their mashups [ Nike: The Second Coming - via]

Experimenting with analog [ Roy Block - via ]

Tell kids to stick their heads in it [ Plastic Bag Chandelier - via ]

Sure you can take it, but can you dish it out? [ Dishmaker - via ]

[Sidenote: A guest blogger may be on the way for the remainder of this week, so stay tuned]

Launched earlier this year, New York's subway-branded condoms were handed out to over 150,000 people in five boroughs to help promote safe sex. Despite the safety claims, New York is yet again under attack for not providing enough protection, or in this case, sensitivity. Gawker points to a blogger with a bone to itch about the New York subway condoms.

"Sure, they may have subway maps on them, but I think a real marketing opportunity was missed. My boy Travis first pointed this out when he told me that they were all the same. I thought the deal was that there would be different sorts of condoms branded by subway line. That way, all situations would be covered and you could squeeze the marketing opportunities dry."

Somehow I doubt there's a subway line that's "sensitive for her pleasure", but there are certainly lines for getting shafted and fucked. While a cute idea, the letter/number, ribbed/un-ribbed memorization process seems a bit too hard for anyone with a hard on.

Pleasured with pillows, conceptual sofas are reshaping comfort. Designed to conform to the emotional state of your body, the Anima Causa Feel Seating System consists of 120 fuzzy balls that can wrap around you. While you can now be surrounded by as many blue balls as Amanda Congdon, the cost of entry remains unknown. The molecular-inspired design allows you to position as you please without the risk of being swollen the next day, so feel free to embed yourself in the sea of sofa cleavage.

Television today is no longer the elephant in the room. Similar to global warming, it has increasingly been gaining momentum and awareness as well as technological contribution. However, while content is king, the overall experience is moving in to claim checkmate. How we interact and interpret television currently is on a static plane of directional geography: surfing channels up, down, left, and right. Helping break the tangible and virtual norms, David Merkoski (Frog Design) narrated the audience through an up and coming product yet to hit the markets.

Appropriately titled Mondrian, the product set to go public next year, is a TV navigation and recommendation Zoomable User Interface (ZUI) that attempts to rethink TV user interaction. A few major differences with Mondrian is that a user no longer needs to be stuck within nested menus while navigating and it has an active anticipation engine that takes in the content, time, and environment you watch in to build a profile and recommendations. It goes without saying that Mondrian becomes an easy target for Big Brother contextual advertisers. While there have already been proposals for all-advertising channels within the ZUI grids, Merkoski remained unclear on any efforts to save the product from advertising overload.

Going more in depth with intuitive interaction, Merkoski gave an insightful overview of remote controls and interfaces. The up, down, left, right navigation is in touch with a geographical grid, while a ZUI typically tries to orient the user in a way similar to how a camera would. The up, down, left, right is not only for the living room screens, but also small screens like mobile phones as well. The original idea for this came from what some might think of as a hyper-interaction culture: gaming. Moving away from the standard, Merkoski used this to account for why people are so amazed with the Nintendo Wii and iPhone. Merkoski ended with a call to inter-action, "There won't be a choice if we don't design it."

Kathy Sierra talks about how most companies are never in the mood, leaving you to finish yourself off in the shower. She references the secret to any good marriage is to not change, stating that passionate, sex-craving and caring person shouldn't become the bored, bothered, and overly-serious.

"I don't understand this in personal relationships, and I don't understand it in business-to-customer relationships. Shouldn't you treat the people you're in a relationship with better than you treat anyone else? Shouldn't you treat your existing customers better than the ones who've given you nothing?"

Kathy points to examples, including the amount of effort that is put into making great designs for brochures and the lack of care put into product manuals. While information design is certainly not the same as designing a poster, the gap does not need to be as big of a leap as it currently is. Companies need to come join us in the shower. It'll be a delightful surprise that both parties will be sure to appreciate, as we can offer to scrub off those old skin cells and shame.

Candy bar concepts.

[via]

Brussels Airlines has been forced to change their logo due to paranoid passengers counting 13 "unlucky" dots that make up the mark.

[via]

Sidenote: A temporarily failed hard drive is to blame for the lack of posts today. In the process of getting it back up and running!

While Engadget reports that these audio audacities are not related to the up and coming Transformer movie, they're just as geek-chic. With blurry photos, Asian characters, and gradient backgrounds these beauts are bringing it old school, just the way wii we like. At $37 a pop, the makers should at least be in talks with the likes of BK/McD's since the only thing they've been starving kids of lately are some decent like-the-80's-used-to-make kid's meal toys. While some may claim that the Frenzy & Rumble Earphones demise the would-be geek-glamor buzzing around the Transformers movie, there's plenty transforming pitched-tents that disagree.

Continuing the interweb snickering for those in-the-know, Sean Hubbard adds to the existing 'web' of common experiences. As seen last month in various image-stricken pockets of New York, the broken-image icon is now making a debut on stamps, or at least that's the hope. Inspired by the urbanscaping, Hubbard went DIY, creating stickers for the icon and eventually moving them to his mail. It's a shame that this comes after Valentine's Day, as I'm sure this could've generated a few VDay 2.0 e-cards between fellow interwebers.

[via]

Needing a cigarette after it yet again won't leave the bedroom without one more go around, Motorola insists on hearing our delight. After the short-lived hard-on went flacid with the RAZR a few years ago, Moto has been on a quest to regain it's Mojo. Not to be mistaken with a pack of birth control, the Motorola T815 is a smartphone-based gps/navigation system. Dubbed MotoNav, the device talks dirty to you with turn-by-turn directions to help get you going. Hoping to be your everything, MotoNav also features bluetooth, local search, a car and phone charger, and is of course USB-compatible. Set to launch in Q2 of 2007, Motorola hopes to build your anticipation.

Oh sure, it's geeky and cute, and will probably have the same fate as those 'pretty' candles your mother refuses to actually light. But the Art Lebedev eraser intends to leave Mac users in it's rubber dust. A capital D on the delete? Please, we Powerbook professionals are far too busy to have uppercase letters on our keys. A far more humorous choice would be the Apple-only mute symbol.

Guilty pleasures and passions take out teases and live for lust. Mixing business with pleasure, a Parisian fashion designer by the name of Gaspard Yurkievich created the death-by-design 'Cream Passionel'.

"...a fifteen-euro affair that features dark chocolate mousse on chocolate cherry-flavored dough with ginger raspberry coulis, and topped with the gold-dusted initial of creator Gaspard Yurkievich."

The designer describes his creation as fetishistic, feminine, and frivolous; all 'délicieusement désuet' descriptions. While his name is not quite something that rolls off the tongue in a sexy, seductive way, he aims for your oral pleasure in alternative manners.

While Cool Hunting warns of disasterous downfalls that can come with precariously placing your laptop in the kitchen, we don't look nearly as geek-chic without it. Thankfully, a student at the University of Applied Sciences identified the dilemma. Offering up a new shiny gadget to replace the old dulling titanium, the 'coo.boo' is a digital cookbook that's too kool for k's. Still in prototype stages, the spatula design syncs up with your computer to deliver recipes with optional audio/visual assistance. Like your other 'precarious devices', the coo.boo aims to be dishwasher safe.

Design Within Reach, often colloquially referred to Design Out of Reach to the financially-challenged, holds a Champagne Chair Award contest each year. The challenge is to create the most design-savvy miniature chair out of the contents of discarded champagne elements, such as the cork, foil, etc. (essentially anything but the bottle itself). While it's too late to prove your craftiness for this year, voting is currently up for the finalists (as Josh Spear notes, voting ends Friday at 5pm and you can only vote once). You can also view the few others who didn't make the cut. The winner will receive $500 towards the purchase of a napkin holder from DWR as well as a feature in their studio tour (sans robotic Todd-Oldham-like hosts).

Minimalism , while held up as a 'purity' in design, also raises many criticisms. One could assume with such high standards, minimalism is in fact harder to be successful in than any other pre-derterminded style standard. A teacher of mine once said that the closer you get to perfection, the more things you find wrong. An example being making a sphere out of any material - if it's completely lopsided, it's easy to critique and move on, however, if it's almost completed, you're able to point out every imperfection in depth and presentation.

Gridskipper points to a recent work in minimalism that begs for criticism. The LIM Hair Clinic in Tokyo consists of the "bleakest aesthetic horizon line", containing a chair, an unmounted mirror, and 4 walls of white paint. Wonder if they used eggshell or lamb's wool white?

Besides station wagons and 6am surprises, wood is determined as ever to improve your quality of life. From side paneling to backyards, Gadget Lab points to the Gizmodo gallery of wood. With USB sticks (literally) and iPod docking speakers, there's a port for everyone's wood to be inside. Other notables include the wooden digital clock that boasts deception with its well hidden controls and illuminated time display, as well as the wooden iPod, though it may be difficult to upgrade it from its current non-geek-chic 3rd generation stature.

While television and kids seem to hit it off as a match made in heaven, the process of learning how to flip past shows like Laguna Beach and American Idol, aren't. Thankfully, Hayeon Yoo developed the Origami TV Remote Control Interface, to help educate children on the wonders of changing the channel.

"The Origami TV Remote Control enables children to learn only the essential functions such as “Channel Selection” and “Volume Control” through a paper playing method. The prototype was developed from 1-week Electronics and 1-week Software workshop and a wireless sensor board and Max/MSP are used as main tools."

Structured similar to a "cootie catcher", you can now find out which cute boys at school like you in addition to channel surfing for Saturday morning cartoons.

Bruised and battered, alarm clocks now equip themselves for morning intolerance. Clocky, the mobilized noisy friend, isn't able to dial 9-1-1 when you go on your 6am tirades, but he is at least able to run away like a handicrapped Honda Asimo. Specifically programmed to run and hide when you don't awake from your beauty sleep or Monday-night-hangover, Clocky will increasingly "misbehave" before you decide to down another bottle of NyQuil. Currently available for the cost of $49 and your cheeriness.

[via]

You know who you are. Luckily, SoftBank Mobile is letting you confess your sins. The new line of 3G mobile phones allows users to choose from 20 different pantone hues out of the 812SH Pantone series. No telling how much these spot colors and metallic pantones go for, but one can only hope they're not as shocking as your recent bill from the printer. Don't #FFFF00 your pants yet, though. Currently this line is only available in Japan. Makes you want to throw your bottle halftone dots at somebody, doesn't it?

Shaved and squeaky clean, this ad was recently captured on a street in Paris. Though not trying to sell us the latest version of the precarious 'Down Under' Nads, the ad is reminiscent of the good ol' days in infomercials, overly dramaticizing nicks and cuts from shaving. It's a wonder any of us made it through becoming a woman without slicing our legs in half or waxing our skin off. It may be winter, and you may be single, but Valentine's Day soon approaches - shave for hope, ladies.

Unwilling to hire a hooker in a cake for gallery openings, art snobs take artistic liscensing over the would-be showstopper. The Convertible Skirt/Table by fashion designer Hussein Chalayan is part of a current exhibit at the MOCA in Los Angeles. Exploring fashion, architecture, and interior design, the exhibit aims to literally and figuratively overlap the inspirations for each. For those going just for the free liquor, dare your friends to drink you under the table.

As if straight out of Martha Stewart Living, soccer moms get into the game. Following their very own home recipes, you too can learn how to frag, pwn, and hax0r.

Gamer goodies (left to right): Ms. Pacman bento box, bits2die4 scarf, and Zelda's Link cupcake pixel art.

Replacing fashion chic with fashion geek, Angel Chang showcases her line up for Spring 2007. The Fashion Tech show was hosted earlier in New York to display the latest in integrating technology with fashion. Aiming to not be just another cliche', Chang opts to create stylish and realistic applications of wearable technology.

"Fashion designer Angel Chang collaborated with technologists and artists to create the next step in fashion, what we've all been waiting for -- the exploration with technology. From special inks that change color or appear/dissappear with heat or sunlight to stylized iPod jackets, Angel's collection wasn't about gimmicky technology, it was beautiful fashion with function and new twists."

Pictured: The charmeuse borders of this 5-layer skirt contain a series of hidden 3-D images. A series of single image random dot stereograms (SIRDs) showing shapes of American weapons we see everyday on the news.

Everything You Thought We'd Forgotten is a series of installations exploring the sometimes violent application of words. The experimentation in language opens up space for digital graffiti, allowing users to interact with letterforms without the otherwise messy residue. Another piece of the installation, titled the Intralocutor, maps language out visually based on audible fluctuations. The "visual materiality" changes based on how users speak to one another in conversation.

Other pieces border creepiness, as they directly interact with the deepest and sometimes darkest secrets you have entrusted your computer with. I Know What You're Thinking claims to be a stream of consciousness that reanimates and splices the bored and restless texts residing on your hard drive from years ago. Obviously eerie, it's probably best to not leave this one up and running at work or around a current loved one. Clearing out your browser history is hard enough.

[via]

When advertising is at a premium, desperate and unique solutions arise. "Hacking" into art snobbery seems to be the latest trend for a couple partners in contemporary crime.

"I wanted to share a snapshot of a NY urban joke me and my wife just hacked last night. We're neighbors of MoMA and while they're setting up these new video projectons for the Doug Aitken show, we decided to promote the latest art institution advertising media buy...This projection was done just once in traditional guerrilla fashion and will not be running during the show."

A humble suggestion to optimize the "joke" to improve reach among true snobs? "You're video here".

Like their garter belts, the classic charm and allure of pin-up girls holds up through today. Equally classic, sexy serifs outline every tempting curve of these pin-up beauties. Created in simple black and white, with red you wish you were all over.

"Miss Serifa - Always one to unbracket her square serifs, Serifa has a fuller figure and strong features so you can fax her or lay her on a photocopier and get a very satisfying result.
Miss Gill - Small in x-height and perfectly formed, she is a sans quite unlike any other and typographers find her up and downstrokes immensely satisfying.
Miss Optima - Outrageous Optima swings both ways with her kinky combination of serif and sans seric features. You'll also see a lot of her outdoors although we think many type designers would prefer to have her indoors, pinned against the wall of a studio."

[via]

A London police poster seeming "ripped straight from the set of 'Brazil', watches over the metro. With eyes of the Underground, the poster is intimidating to say the least. According to a NYT Magazine article, watchful eyes guilt-trip people into honesty. A psychological experiment claimed that even the visual representation of eyes affects human behavior. While unsure of the designer for this poster, the city's approval of 1984-esque typography and illustration for a security campaign is intriguing.

Bricks Are Heavy is a current exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art in Australia. The exhibition explores weighty issues in identity politics (hence the name). Most notably, the debate between Gay vs. Queer.

"Queer is a ‘post-identity’ idea. Queers tried to get rid of the straight/Gay polarity and adopt a third way. Queers almost thought they were doing a public service by saying you don’t have to subscribe to dominant values ... Queer was very utopian. It was a great idea."

Gridskipper comments, "the exhibit also features homages to Keanu Reeves and this photograph of a clown appearing to have butt sex with a punk entitled, Clown Fuck Punk. What is even more unbearably exciting that in fact, what you are seeing isn't merely a photograph but a video capture. I'm not sure what the narrative arc of the film will be but I think the themes of a clown having butt sex with a punk will be explored more, ahem, deeply."

The exhibition continues to show through February 3.

Better than breakfast in bed, being woken up by a vibrating pod possibly keeps you looking younger and feeling better. MetroNaps, pods aimed to provide designated powernap locations for professionals, are ergonomically designed, focusing on the science of sleep. Gentle vibrations and lights awake the user from the spherical cocoon.

"[Naps] help you live longer, stay more active, and look younger. The benefits result in greater alertness, improved memory retention and creative insight. Napping can make you a faster typist, better dancer or anything else requiring complex and coordinated motor skills. Also, a nap's effects on mental health include improved mood, lowered stress, and greater psychological balance."

[via]

A recent project among digital media students at the Berlin University of the Arts asked to develop an analog extention of a laptop that considers its physical properties as well as computational power.

"... devices, together with their software, are nevertheless often designed without much consideration of the physicality of the laptop and its usage situation. The computer is an abstract source of energy, computation and screenspace to many such devices. The challege of this short project was to rethink the laptop as a physical object with extended functionality, and cherish these qualities in a novel and refreshing way."

A few notably refreshing ways:

i-sleep: An inflatable pillow rests above the laptop, connected to the computer fan for warming. Music begins playing automatically when you close the laptop and an adjustable "waking tone" can be set for when you'd like to wake up.

Finger Trap: Literally a finger trap created for unwanted trackpad trespassers.

The Digital Marionette: "The idea was to extend the laptop with a pair of strings to use it as a digital marionette. The application i wrote reads out the Powerbook´s motion sensor´s position data and then uses it, to move the marionette. If you tilt the notebook to the left, the marionette on the screen reacts to gravity and also swings in this direction."

via: wmmna

Contagious magazine lists their most contagious items for 2006. With the year in review, categories included gadgets, design, gaming, mobile, and viral to name a few. Highlights include Second Life, Wii, Lonelygirl15, ZeFrank, Skype, Smirnoff Raw Tea Partay, adidas adicolor (seen the Jenna Jameson one?), and Banksy. With all the 2006 contagious celebs, what unworthy soul wasn't on the list? Zune.

Download the Most Contagious 2006 pdf here.

"Hydropolis is not a project; it’s a passion." - That's what they all say when they want to penetrate the deep, wet... ocean. Hydropolis is a current development in Dubai, or in fact, 20 meters below Dubai, with 220 suites and an estimated cost of 300 million pounds. The project is supposed to open in late 2007. Joachim Hauser, the designer of the underwater hotel, seems to be modest about his package, claiming the architecture is based off of the nervous and cardiovascular systems. Sure, Joachim, just make sure the structure is hard before putting it in 20m deep.

via: Neatorama

"Touch", is an urban interactive installation, controlled by a sci-fi-like touch screen dashboard. Currently live and active in Brussels, the Belgian Laboratory for Architecture and Urbanism (LAb[au]) created the 145 meter high RGB-LED bar display.

"Instead of considering this infrastructure as a flat screen (surface) displaying pre-rendered video loops, the project is working on the architectural characteristics of the tower and its urban context. The characteristics of the building; orientation, volume, scale... are used as parameters to set up a spatial, temporal and luminous concept, which moreover allows people to directly interact with the tower. On Place Rogier, at the bottom of the tower, a station is mounted where people can interact either individually or collectively with the visual and luminous display (= the tower) through a multi touch screen. "

You can currently view the project live via streaming video until January 15.

via: information aesthetics

Running amuck, guerilla projections lurked over buildings in Miami. Equipped with custom action script, animation, and a projector, Ivan Martinez, a graphic designer for MTV Latin America, painted the town red with fear.

"This custom animation and action script allows me to frantically run through the streets typing out my fears for all to know in real time. If needed my character could stop running to converse with someone on the street, but when fear strikes, its off and running again."

Photo reads "WOW! How much did this cost? Looks nice, can me and a couple hundred of my homeless friends live in it?" This video captures the midnight run (7 minutes, but I assume you have the stamina).

Wooster claims, "He continued to do them until one night he and his friends were pulled over by the Miami police with their guns pointed inches from their head through the driver and passenger side windows. After two hours of being called anarchists and that what they were doing was "not art" and just "fucking around" he decided to stop doing the projections to work on other projects."

Pixelated walflowers and interactive post-it notes.

"A wallpaper consisting of four layers of varying grey tones on a bright primary backing. Each layer is perforated in a grid format and backed with a tacky adhesive similar to 'post-it' notes. Pixelnotes is inspired by the way we work within a space. The walls become functional, an integrated noticeboard that documents our activity within the room."

via: core77

Wii-inspired art.

Skull and Crossmotes by Huzzah Goods. Tii Shirt by See Colon Slash. Real men Wii standing up by Kottke. Also, Wii death caught on film here.

via: NOTCOT and Joystiq

Apparently released yesterday, a sneak peak at Adobe's icons leaves a bit to be desired. Pleasing creatives is no easy task, but it seems that Adobe may have not been up for the challenge:

"As Adobe's products have grown deeper and broader in their capabilities, the effort to visually represent what they can do in a literal icon has become increasingly difficult. ... Taken in isolation, the individual icons are in no way spectacular - that was never their role," writes Ryan Hicks, Sr. Experience Designer at Adobe. "Their elegance comes from how the entire desktop brand system works as a whole. The more Adobe apps you have, the better the system works. Adobe's icons stand out instantly in the visually-dense world of user desktops because of their simplicity; complexity ≠ information."

Overall, it just comes off as lazy. Identity systems are certainly smart for any brand, however, this one has too many holes in it. Not every icon matches the system, and the abbreviation system is all over the place. Not exactly sure how these are meant to stand out in the visually-dense world when Microsoft has already been using typographic desktop identity for Office. It seems as though a designer was too hell-bent on sticking to the original 'cool' idea of the Periodic Table of Elements when someone realized that the system wasn't completely thought through. This is also apparent in the rest of Hicks' explanation, as he already feels the need to defend the icons against that concept.

With fishnets, feathers, and a dash of pasties, Nike promoted their new store in Paris with a mixture of fashionable addrenaline and attitude. The store interior takes a tangent from its ad with bold yet sexy typographic details. The interior was designed by none other than the visual scientists at Why Not Associates. Having the pleasure of visiting their office a couple years ago in London, the team explained their background and true love of experimentation with both photography and typography. While the ad pictured was produced by DDB Paris, all the elements of the Nike Paris launch are in sync in expression.

Just in time for the holidays, the No! Shopping Bag Bra makes shopping for dates ever easier. Proving that design really does make our lives better, this hybrid design may just encourage men to enjoy shopping. Converting from a bra to a shopping bag, the No! Shopping Bag Bra by aims to reduce the use of plastic bags.

"The bra — available in red, blue, green, yellow and pink — is made from the Teijin Group’s ECOPET brand of polyester fiber, which has been recycled from plastic bottles through the company’s patented EcoCircle recycling system.

Triumph International Japan has a long history of developing eco-themed bras, with such creations as the Recycle PET Bra (1997), Eco-globe Bra (2004) and Warm Biz Bra (2005)."

Going comando never seemed so environmentally friendly.

(via: Treehugger / Pink Tentacle)

Beta-tank enjoys popping pixels with their latest interactive interior. Bubble Screen is an organic display system using air bubbles for pixels. The pixel bubbles are then able to produce imagery and typographic visuals. While not as robust as the wet typography water-curtain, the thinking behind it is still impressive.

"Beta-tank used a highly viscous liquid similar to shampoo in order to obtain a workable refresh rate. To solve other Fluid Dynamics issues Imperial College London was drafted in to create computer analysis for each bubble it travels in space."

via: wmmna

Business cards that "grow on you".

While the use of graffiti in advertising usually backfires, this campaign aims at a less exploitive approach.

Unlike Iran, Avon commercializes cover ups. Avon's 2005 Defend Yourself! campaign for breast cancer prevention leverages outdoor media placements for unique designs. Credits out to Mark/BBDO.

"Even though you may feel tired and drowsy your loved one can see how you feel." - James McAdam, 2002.

How about "Freshly Fucked"?


(I've been awake for 35 hours, my pillows have 'my name' embroidered on them).

"Don't make me out to be an artist. I am an engineer."

Harold Edgerton has always been a photographer I looked up to while meandering through high school photo classes and art school critiques. I still remember my art teacher's jaw dropping when I told her that I didn't consider myself an artist when she had asked where I saw myself going as one.

Despite the friction of art school, it did teach me to consider all surroundings when creating anything. Jeff Zimmerman's Soft Explosion, inspired by Harold Edgerton's 'Milk Drop Coronet', kept that in mind when creating this limited edition glass sculpture.

"The german Claus Winter, a friend of mine, developed a new technique for an installation-artist, making whatever word you type into the computer visible by a "water-curtain". You can type in the text from all over the world via the web."

View the san serif water in motion.

via: Wooster Collective

Le Chef Chez Vous Chocolate - The Sex Replacer

Art direction and Illustration: Geísa Borrelli
Copywriter: Daniel Coelho

Man loses 6 years of his life, puts dramatic backdrop to losing 6 minutes of yours (via Transbuddha).





Gridskipper makes faces and talks typefaces.









Paris faces off with record sales (via AdRants).






Statistics show that kids enjoy moldy veggies (via BoingBoing).






Don't make faces at the lunch lady, mystery meat makes faces back (via core77).

Underground clubs interpretively predicted the death of vinyl. One day I will need to come to terms with the fact that I may only need one turntable instead of two, and a couple crates instead of a few. Somehow that still feels like it'll be a lonely day, but perhaps I'll take an alternative route to satisfying my illegal online music fix:

"Apparently, during the 50s underground clubs in Eastern Europe & the USSR would play pirated music from the West, but the only material they had to record onto were old x-ray films. Which produced some rather lovely looking results."

Via: Protein Feed

Mr. Hall over at Adrants forwarded me a tip he received about some ads created for a high end women's athletic boutique in LA. Overall, I'm unimpressed to say the least. If this ad was in a magazine, I'd flip right past it after having a long, soothing mental rant about typography.

Mmm... typography rants. The creative, in its entirety, should never have seen the light of day. The concept, the typography, the red border, the photography, and the layout are awful and it looks like there wasn't much thought put into any of it. The typography was raped and beaten by the designer to the point that it was to be forever scarred. Take note, blossoming typographers, those little serif fonts can't hold a damn weight against the photography and reading-wise, it's best to avoid white type unless it's a bold short headline. I think they probably paid next-to-nothing for all of the creative and that's what they got – plus a throw back to the 90's.

There really is too much design in sex these days. People are always asking to find my spot color or to uncoat my pantone. Some days a short skirt, a wink, and a downtempo beat seem to suffice. But MK12 couldn't leave this music video alone. Sometimes sex is so design-laced, it makes me sick to work in this business. Shame on all of you - design is the devil's work!