for a while now hotels have provided the option to opt out of fresh towels – but tonight i got to tokyo’s grand prince takanawa hotel, which has gone one step further: you can opt out of room cleaning altogether and you get an incentive in the form of $10 a day you can use […]
Category Archives: environment
trashcam
nico van hoorn documents one piece of trash a day on his trashlog. the pieces of trash are carefully selected and shot, which makes them seem clean and pretty, and the website itself is compartmentalized and orderly, so nothing about it has the feel of trash. it would be nice if the items could accumulate […]
Also posted in blogogracy, upcycling, visualization
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all-natural electronics
noah vawter’s Synth From Nothin’ tries to answer the question ‘if i was stranded on a desert island, how could i make a synthesizer?’ at the same time the research project tries to discover whether it’s possible to make electronics without the semiconductor industry, and in turn whether electronics can be all-natural and sustainable. from […]
Also posted in art, energy, materials, product design
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renewable packaging
i just picked up this balinesian sea salt packaged in a coconut at whole foods because i couldn’t resist the packaging design (or lack thereof). never mind the idea of shipping salt, let alone from bali. the coconut packaging has three distinct advantages over the plastic, metal foil and paper that the other foods are […]
Also posted in energy, fabrication, livingbreathing, marketing, materials, open objects, product design, traceability, upcycling
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audio players of the future
looking at old consumer electronics can make you realize just how far we haven’t come – i just discovered transistor.org, sarah lowrey’s website dedicated to her transistor radio collection. flipping through these vintage audio players you can find a lot of the trends that seem so pervasive today, as well as design ideas we still […]
Also posted in customization, energy, fabrication, materials, product design
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material maps
wikipedia is a great resource for finding out about materials in detail, and one of the best reasons are these world maps showing world production based on the british geological survey’s 2005 world mineral production (available as a free pdf). at a glance you can see the major producers for almost any mineral. here are […]
Also posted in fabrication, materials
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sinister streetlight
i left out something about the solar and wind-powered streetlights at the panasonic center in tokyo: the company sells a modified version that contains a security camera, with the aim of tracking children on their way to and from school. the ‘Neighborhood Security Sensor Network System‘ detects children carrying an active RFID tag and takes […]
Also posted in children, energy, possessed products, product design, surveillance
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eco-corpse
jae rhim lee showed the infinity burial suit at the seamless fashion on wednesday: an outfit for an eco-conscious corpse, the suit contains mushroom spores that feed off nutrients created by the decomposing body.
Also posted in fabrication, fashion, livingbreathing, materials, possessed products, product design
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