Why not read a book?

The new hot gadget seems to be ebook reader and leading the way is the $359.00 Kindle by Amazon - now in sleek v2. I've no doubt this market sector will grow quickly despite the world economy being in a bit of trouble. Although its not officially out in the United Kingdom (I think) I checked it out today and it is a nice piece of industrial design, I'm really looking forward to seeing one in the flesh, especially the paper like screen. I just read on Wired that Fujitsu have brought out the Flepia which is the only colour screen reader available so far for a cool $1000! I'd have to literally read a mountain of books on something like that to make it a worthwhile purchase. You'd have to be insane to read a Flepia or Kindle on the beach on your holidays, and how am I supposed to lend books to friends (yes I actually do this) and what the hell am I supposed to put on my bookshelves! I'll stick to real books for now.

Sad day

Today saw the departure of Ben 'Vaughan' Wilkinson from AME. Its a sad day and I think it's fair to say we're missing him already. Keep in touch Big V.

P Hooks

I really like these colourful little plastic loops to pull magazines out of your bookcase and I guess you can hook it into a page you really want to remember too so its kind of a bookmark as well. The only problem is its a bit late. Magazines are like slow (and expensive) blogs, I keep wondering if they'll be obselete soon. Magazines are always going to be a month late breaking news and showcasing new products and they can't embed videos, they're going have to find new and clever ways to keep us buying. The last one I bought was Wired last year so I had something to read on a plane, there's no 3G in the sky yet. I find it much easier to read large chunks of text on paper instead of a screen but new products like the kindle look and read like real paper so I'm sure our desktops and laptops will follow soon. In the meantime I'll rely on my rss reader to deliver me the latest design news and browse the magazine stand in whsmith when I've got some time to kill.

(via NOTCOT)

Good Water

I like this water packaging from the imaginitively named Boxed Water Is Better. The packaging is from 90% renewable sources and the boxes are shipped to the filler flat so they take up far less space to ship compared to plastic bottles; seems like a very good idea. It reminded me of a graphic on the wall of the Howies store in London that I snapped with my phone - see below. Even stuff that claims to be slightly less bad for the environment is still bad compared to just drinking water out of a tap.

I survived

Political but great. I don't know if I'd be allowed to wear this because I'm not American but I'm sure the whole world is breathing a sigh of relief since old Bush retired to a suburb in Texas.
(via Changethethought)

s-weet

This new light bulb from Philips looks brilliant, function wise it seems perfect and aesthetically it's s-weet.

Functional lighting is no longer the exclusive territory of traditional light sources such as incandescent, halogen or compact fluorescent.Now, there is an alternative – Philips MASTER LED. Utilizing LUXEON® Rebel technology for outstanding performance in accent and general lighting, the plug-and-play MASTER LED range brings all the benefits of innovative LED technology to familiar functional lighting applications.

Here are all the facts and figures.

LOMO challenger

These are a bunch of cameras by Superheadz, I saw the 120 style Blackbird a while ago but all the others I think are new. They use 35mm film with the exception being the 'secret book' and the 'Demekin Fisheye' which use 110. They're all available at Urban Outfitters, and judging by the prices they look like they'll be serious competition to the LOMO family.

Lego Camcorder

Please let this be true. Wired says at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in February Lego unveiled a prototype Camcorder. Unfortunately it wasn't actually made from bricks but Lego are exploring the possibility that it will be when it hits the shelves. There's a woefully small amount of information about it out there but I look forward to seeing it soon, also how about an slr?

25 years

For those that aren't aware, last week saw the 25th anniversary of the start of the miners strikes. Considering the AME office is on what was Dinnington Colliery I thought it was rather relevent. The picture above was taken at Orgreave coking plant by a guy called John Harris. Here's an article covering his story and work, it's well worth a look. There's also some interesting articles on the BBC.

Hemeroscopium House

I'm loving this crazy place in Madrid called Hemeroscopium House built of massive structural members. It took Ensamble Studio a year to engineer and a week to build the structure. A long cantilevered swimming pool hangs over the garden and is counterweighted by a huge 20 ton block of granite at the other end. There are loads more pictures here on Archinect.

Pepsi Natural

I spotted this New Pepsi Natural on The Dieline today. I like it, it actually makes me want to try some just like when Red Bull Cola came out even though I don't really like Cola type drinks (although they are great at keeping me awake on long journeys). I'm not really fussed about the new Pepsi Logo I prefer the classic one. I think its really easy to screw up a rebrand these days, Tropicana's latest effort has been featured in a lot of blogs recently because it has been so universally hated by consumers.

New Math

New Math (via)

Simple is good

This isn't new at all, I saw it on Core 77 last summer but I think its a great bit of homemade design and simplicity, its a wallet made from a dollar, a magnet and a little piece of metal. Unfortunately here in the UK I wouldn't sacrifice a £5 note to make a wallet, maybe I should go to Zimbabwe...

Urban Camoflage

I like this series of photographs of urban camouflage. It looks like they had a lot of fun taking these pictures, I can't imagine ikea gave them permission to do this! (via swissmiss)

Bright Idea

Think this has been around a while now but I really like it, its a an LED light that has been housed in a traditional light bulb surrounding. Whilst only being a prototype the bulb can be used in any standard light fitting its more energy efficient and last much longer than your standard light bulb. Designed by Frog Design the bulb has won an IDEA award.

for real?

The Workstation looks like something you would find in the Skymall catalogue somewhere over the Atlantic ocean - you wouldn't expect to find it for sale on the Steelcase website. With our history of office related projects it's always of interest to see new trends emerging within the sector, but I still can't work out if this is for real or not.
Any ideas anyone?

New Hoodie = Safe Head

I saw this great idea for a hoodie on Changethethought, want to rest your head awhile? Just blow up your hood to make a pillow. Perfect for planes, trains, buses and sleeping rough. I want one!

The Future

Isn't the present strange? (via swissmiss) I've been totally sucked into Facebook but I'm still finding the concept of twitter alien. Why do I care about what strangers are doing in 140 characters, I have enough distractions to waste my time already.