Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Design
PLoP! Collapsible, Recyclable Bookshelves Perfect For Students, Greens
11:45PM Gizmodo US Edition | In between beers, my student days were spent shuttling between at least 10 different homes, and my poor battered library would definitely have benefited from PLoP! This concept from designer Joyce Hong is simply a rigid cardboard bookshelf that collapses up when you need to move it around. It weighs just 4 pounds, and can be extended from two segments up to as big as you like and still remain collapsible. And when you’re done with it, you can just PLoP! it in the recycling for eco-friendliness. Simple. [Yanko Designs] More »
Random Stuff
McCain Says He’ll Choose Vice-President Via Google
11:15PM Gizmodo US Edition | Hi, John McCain here. You might know me, I’m the Republican candidate for this year’s presidential race. However, I’m not yet in possession of a Number Two to ride that ticket alongside me. Earlier this week, I told people at a luncheon party in Virginia that I was using the power of the Google in order to find myself a vice-president. Trouble is, I just don’t know who to pick. More »
Home
One Wash, One Cup of Water: Nearly Waterless Washing Machine Invented
9:28PM Gizmodo US Edition | British inventors have designed a washing machine that takes eco-friendliness to a new level: it uses just a single cup of water to wash a load of clothes. Instead of water the Xeros machine uses thousands of special plastic chips (about 44 pounds’ worth) in each wash, and when that single cup of water is heated, these chips absorb the dirt—including tricky stuff like coffee and lipstick. The chips are removed when the wash ends, and can be reused up to 100 times. Though it’s still in prototyping, the inventors are intending to commercialise their machine, and it may even hit the shops next year for a price similar to conventional machines. [Daily Mail] More »
Design
Cubic Meter by Arik Levy Gives You Just That Amount of Storage Space
9:10PM Gizmodo US Edition | As one familiar with the term “one cubic meter of storage space” (and as someone with 28 cubic meters’ worth of boxes currently sitting in her parents’ attic) Arik Levy’s storage system is made up of seven different modules that you can stack together in all sorts of different ways. Available in aluminium, blackened oak and clear oak, there are only 17 of these in existence—five in the metal finish, the remainder in wood. The price is probably astronomical, so I’m going to call Harrison Ford and see if he’d like to knock one up in his shed for me. [Dezeen] More »
Phones
“iPhone 3G” FCC Application Hints at Potential Apple “Smartphone”
9:10PM Gizmodo US Edition | Washington D.C. (Agencies) – Confidential FCC documents unearthed today by internet blog Intomobile point out at the possibility of Apple releasing a new secret device which some experts think could be a “smartphone.” The new gadget—which was submitted for FCC approval in June 1, 2008—apparently has a big “touch” screen, as well as the ability to play music and communicate to other people using your own voice. According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, this “iPhone 3G” machine can also access web portals at what he referred to as “really high speeds.” More »
Home
Multigym-in-a-Closet Keeps Your Fitness Under Wraps
8:45PM Gizmodo US Edition | Gym bunnies amongst you might be interested in the Murphy Gym, a shallow cupboard full of the kind of equipment you need to look like a condom stuffed with walnuts—marbled walnuts if you are either a hunk of Kobe beef, or if you like popping S.T.E.Roids as if they were M&Ms. I’m also guessing that this little gym-in-a-closet might be appealing to pervy modders out there, who could swap the chest expander for something even more black and rubbery. And for those of you who like a nice bit of bedroom farce, this could be the cupboard that the really thin lover, clad in black polo neck and jeans, hides in when his lady friend’s husband returns home from work early. [Apartment Therapy] More »
Home
Torn Disguised Lighting Looks Like Slits into Parallel LED Universe
8:18PM Gizmodo US Edition | Designer Billy May has come up with his Torn Lighting concept as a discreet way of adding some light to your apartment. The installations conceal LED lights, and look like you’ve got some kind of weird space-time holes torn into your walls and leaking light into your room. Pretty neat, and a nice way of getting mood light from LEDs without the risk of you being dazzled by their exposed faces. Now if only there was a way to animate the walls to get a proper rippling effect… [Yanko Designs] More »
Phones
AT&T Memo to Retail Managers Shows iPhone 3G Policy
8:15PM Gizmodo US Edition | We knew it wouldn’t be long before someone from AT&T leaked a policy memo vis-a-vis the iPhone 3G’s July 11 launch. As well as all the mobile provider’s pricing details from yesterday, the document contains a bit more info, such as how many iPhones each customer can walk out with (that’ll be three, then, so if anyone at Gawker HQ is feeling generous, only Frooch, Matt Buchanan and I are still sans jesusPhone), and what to do with all existing 2G phone promotional literature. More »
Gadgets
Passive Aggressive Anger Release Machine, or Goodbye Kitty
7:35PM Gizmodo US Edition | Laydeez an’ gennulmen, I bring you the passive-agressive anger-release machine, an interactive sculpture by Yarisal and Kublitz. It’s pretty self-explanatory—a vending machine that smashes smashables for you, although I’m not sure it gives you the same satisfaction that you get from chucking china at the floor. I dedicate this one to those people who were hoping for a 32GB iPhone at yesterday’s WWDC, anyone who believes that Hello Kitty is the Jim Jones of the 21st century, my director, Ang Lee, producer Harvey Weinstein, and my voice coach, Bart Simpson. Oh, hang on, haven’t I forgotten someone? More »
Gadgets
