We like cool pop-up books here. Awesome scale pop-up cardboard office? Yes please. Designers Liddy Scheffknecht and Armin B. Wagner, I want your babies. Your cardboard babies. Sadly, the pop-up cardboard office doesn’t include a pretty sofa for siestas. [Likecool]

If I’m going to be honest, I kind of expected more from this contest: There aren’t many truly impressive drawings submitted as of now, and the current leader in votes is a virulent anti-Obama nutball creation that looks more like the bumper of an Alabama ute than an iPhone case. A drawing of Obama as Heath Ledger’s Joker? What does that even mean? You can’t be an anarchist and a socialist at the same time, they’re completely conflicting ideologies. Take a political theory class, Cardboard iPhone Case Drawing Man!

Anyway, I think there are enough badass illustrators among the Giz readership that could really bust out some impressive entries. I’d love to see what you guys can do — this contest is ripe for a Giz onslaught. Go forth, readers! [Case-Mate via CNET]

I don’t know who that Brittany Lane is, nor have I heard of Meeting of Important People before. What got my attention is that everything in this music video, from the scenery to the instruments, is made out of cardboard.

They may be a barely known band (anyone actually heard of them before?) and not really seem to care about grammar, but Meeting of Important People made a music video that’s practically a tribute to DIY papercraft. It’s quite a leap from just using a cardboard iPhone case. [YouTube via Meeting of Important People]

The thing is, it’s actually neither a bad-looking nor impractical case—most thin iPhone skins only provide marginal protection and cardboard certainly wouldn’t be worse. Sure, your gorgeous phone will look like it’s been living on the streets, but it’s customisable (with a Sharpie, not included), it’s cheap ($US1 each or 10 for $US8) and it’s sort of clever. Of course, you may look like you’re talking into a small cardboard box, but if you don’t like it you can just toss it back in the recycling bin from whence it came. [Case-Mate via OhGizmo!]

Behold the TrashCade, the arcade game cabinet made of cardboard and tape! But don’t hold it too much, or it may fall apart in a clusterfrak of trash and wrap. [Techeblog]

A murder case that’s been cold for two years. Do you: Throw more detectives on it? Go on Japan’s Most Wanted? Or create life-size, talking cardboard cutouts of the killer? I think we have a winner!

To catch the man who’s suspected of killing a young British woman in March 2007 and hasn’t been spotted in 19 months, Tokyo police’s latest ploy is a life-sized cardboard cutout of Tatsuya Ichihashi.

The Japanese twist you’re looking for is that pressing a button on the cutout plays an audio clip of Ichihashi talking. Oh, and they’ve only made five of them. And two of them will chill out in the police station, meaning only three will be scattered around the city. And this is all after disseminating thousands of posters showing what Ichihashi would look like in drag.

Man, I feel utterly horrible for this poor girl’s family. [Times Online via Crave Image: AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno]

Instead of using traditional materials, the powers-that-be commissioned local designers Alrik Koudenburg and Joost van Bleiswijk to build them an office made entirely out of cardboard. As you can see, the results are pretty spectacular. To make things even more interesting, visitors are encouraged to decorate the cardboard with anything they choose. So, presumably, Nothing’s walls will soon be riddled with penises and “for a good time call” phone numbers. [Nothing via CR Blog via Fast Company]

He pulled away three layers of soiled cotton from the 70s before he pulled out a cardboard box—the Recompute cardboard PC, which Brendan Macaluso insists isn’t a box because he’s a designer “and designers don’t make boxes.”

He didn’t have anything to plug it into, but he assures it and the other model in existence totally work. Inside is a micro-ATX motherboard packed with a Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM and a 2.5-inch notebook hard drive.

The point of the cardboard case—which he says it just an extreme example of his definition of implementing sustainability in design—is to make it easier to dismantle, for “controlled disposal.” It’s made up of 12 different patterns laid out in a CAD program, with all of the layer sandwiched together with plain white glue—the layers give it strength and a degree of durability.

So the hard-to-recycle plastic case is dealt with, but, uh, what about the guts? He said there’s a company in Florida that properly disposes of circuit boards, grinding them into dust and magnetically separating out the usable elements, but the point of Recompute is that it’s a framework for building ideas. It’s easy to mass produce, and he’s open to working with people to do that.

It’s obviously not the prettiest PC in the room, but it’s better than an ugly planet.

Using paper also allows the Matrix’s models to be fashioned with a blade, rather than a laser, which also keeps costs down. After the models come out, they can be sanded, painted and finished just like they were made of wood.

The Matrix has been in prototype form for a while, but Mcor has recently fought through the vapourware stage that keeps many 3D printer concepts down, claiming availability in Europe, with the rest of the world to follow next year. [Mcor Matrix via Gadget Lab via Hack-a-Day]