Human Locator is a system designed by Feeset that uses cutting edge software to track full body movements in front of a screen in real-time. This allows the viewers to participate in the ad. This is definitely something to watch for in the future. The interactive mirror after the jump and the video found here are amazing; the system seems to turn what's usually a one-sided experience of an advertiser yelling in your face to a partnership where you get to participate in the ad. I can see this turning into puzzles and games where people on the street collectively solve problems while others watch, yell hints, get involved, etc.. Brilliant.
The Royal Magazine just launched their revamped site which includes flash accents, new PDF files for all past issues, and a soundtrack while you read. TheRoyal comes from the mind of media madman/genius/designer/brand-strategist David Gensler who also beget theKDU and SerumvsVenom.
Trulia is probably the best real estate search the we've found on the interwebs these days. The site seems like it compiles results from many different realtors and offers nice extras like school maps and a feature called a "heat map" that displays the price range of houses in a specific area. The site goes on to tell you the average price of homes in the area for sale, and the average price of similar properties, all while using a Google Maps interface. Very useful for becoming a slum lord.
"Hustle and Flow" is a full-season documentary about the a snowbaord team in the 2005-2006 season. It's a free download from Flow's websites, so go watch it.
Bill Shannon was born with a bi-lateral hip deformity called Legg Calve Perthes, and though he has to spend his life on crutches, it hasn't stopped him from skateboarding, breakdancing (yeah, he does flares), and performing. The kid is sick.
This is Jamie Pierre's 255 foot, world record setting cliff drop in Grand Targhee, WY. We don't usually like to post "whoa look at that guy" videos, but this isn't some 10 second clip of a jack-ass jumping a swimming pool, it's a 5 minute video that does a good job of discussing the attempt and what was going through Jamie's head while he fell.
iDiom, a luxury sub-label of Burton, is a collaboration between the snow mega-brand and Japanese streetwear designer Hiroshi Fujiwara. The new winter collectoin has some really nice pieces for the upcoming season that would probably serve you better in the streets than on the hill. Only available in limited quantities at select dealers, the jackets, boards, and bindings are better found on Ebay or theGlade and feature a hi-tech low-flash mentality.
The Ice Hotel is a seventeen year-old tradition in the village of Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. Carved from the frozen Torne River, the ice is shaved, stacked, cut, molded in to beautiful suites by architects and designers. The water on the Torne flows slowly and freezes slowly which makes for naturally clear ice. The hotel features an Absolute Vodka bar, a gourmet restaurant, and will cost you between $350 and $600 a night. Click on this link to explore the galleries form the past 2 years. Some of the rooms and art is incredible.
Meet the Samsung YP-K3. This is probably the first DAP (Digital Audio Player) that we've seen that could give the Nano some competition. Features are scarce right now, but it's believed to be 1.8inch OLED display and an FM tuner. Sexy.
Looks like crap right? So why'd we make a post about it. The F3 is the first in Motorola's line of SCPL (Scalpel) phones. It also runs the Linux operating system, uses an "electronic paper" display, and has usability features for the illiterate. Ok, so it's got some interesting features (how do you make a phone for the illiterate?), but on top of that, the phone is targeted at the low-end market where sales are growing faster than any other demographic--the phone was realeased in India before Korea, Japan, Europe or the US. How'd they do it? They designed a phone that's just a phone--no gimmicks, games, bells, whistles, etc. It makes calls and receives calls. Because of it's simplicity Moto is saying the F3 has "extended battery life", but it's really a nice way of saying "we got rid of all the crap that sucks battery life, and now our phone is expected to have a 2 week standby time and 9 hours of contiuous talk." The phone is made from inexpensive parts that allow it to have a predicted price of $50 in the US...that's without carrier subsidies. Be prepared to see a lot of these.Motofone F3
Freedom to Fasicm is a doc. film by Aaron Russo that originally started off with Aaron just trying to find the actual law that states that Americans have to pay an income tax. After searching, Aaron finds out that not only does no law exist but it has also been proven in courts many times that the govt. does not have the right to tax your wages. The politically unbiased film then goes through interviews with Congressmen, former IRS agents, tax attourney's and authors that slowly connects the IRS, the Federal Reserve, and the World Trade Organizazion. Freedom ends with a message concerning world banking, RFID tags, and a global government. The film is powerful and moving, discussing how the middle class is slowly becoming a debt ridden, propertyless entity enslaved by the banks who plan on moving the world towards one bank and one government. You could call it conspiracy, but Aaron has many valid points especially with the new "threat" of terrorism where the fear of an unknown, unseen, could-be-anywhere enemy inspires compliance. Above is the ful movie, but more info can be found at the site: Freedom to Fascism.
The Giugiaro Concept Mustang is definitely a stunner. The car has some nice color, full glass roof, and a unique interior with real horsehide accents. However, as nice as the car is, to imagine it as a reality is disturbing. The car itself looks good, but it's overdone and expensive. Dumb down the interior to an affordable(manufacturable/sellable) level, kill the scissor doors, rmove the glass roof, pull the rims off, and you start to see the older Pony car of the 90's with it's simple/boring lines. The concept is amazing, but the form feels too simple.Mustang Concept Giugiaro
This pavement tile from Bility uses a unique sense of whimsy by tying in with the Icelandic elves called "Huldofolk". The elves live around humans but choose to remain hidden until they decide to be seen. Placed in your garden or house, the tile has a miniature staircase that leads down to the Huldofolk domain.Huldofolk Paver
Deer are hot. Here's a wool scarf from Unfed with some embroidered bucks, a nice green color, and an orange pop. $88. Taxidermy is knocking.In the Headlights from Unfed
The RoboCoaster... I don't even know where to start with this one. It's basically a giant robot arm and claw with a seat that you strap yourself into and it...uh..simulates a roller coaster. The thing looks like the leftovers of a Transformer or a giant scaled version of that thing you played with in High School Technology class, and it'd would have no problem slamming your ass into the ground while taking out a few bystanders in the process. I'll wait until they have two arms that play catch with a football I have to buckle myself into.Robo Coaster
Pagebull is a visual search engine that displays a thumbnail of the result that you're looking for. A lot of times we search for pure information, but sometimes it helps to see the site ahead of time to make sure that it's a legit site and not. Jusge a book by it's cover? Hell yeah.Pagebull
Made in Italy from 100% Merino wool, these scarve convey a sense of nostalgia and whimsy for the nerds of yesteryear...yesteryear? Did I just write that? These are some sick scarves made of dope materials that use video game graphics from games such as Space Invaders and Pong.b2d4 Video Game Scarves
"Any Video Converter is a professional video converter which can convert video files from various formats with fast converting speed and excellent video quality . It can convert almost all video formats including DivX, XviD, MOV, rm, rmvb, MPEG, VOB, DVD, WMV, AVI to MPEG-4 movie format for iPod/PSP or other portable video device, MP4 player or smart phone." Nuf said.Any Video Converter
The new Nike Amp+ is an addition to their Nike+ line. The wrist watch-like device will sync with the Nike+iPod system to display information on an LED display that's "hidden" under a matte finish, and it's rumored to supply the Nike+ users with something they've been lacking--a heart monitor. More info as it develops. Image copyright: Men's HealthNike Amp+
Fredrikson Stallard was featured on MoCo LoCo recently and had some nice pieces devoted to bridging the past and the present. The Ming #2 vase above seemed to stand out the most with it's vibrant color and it's mix of the old-school vase with the photoshop "single pixel stretch" effect applied to it. The site's music/ambiance needs some work, but it has some really nice furniture and objects.Fredrikson Stallard
In case you doubted the potentially insane power that can be coaxed from a GT-R, here's a video of Kazuhiko Nagata driving a 1200BHP Skyline that can get you up to 200MPH in 24 seconds. Oh, and in the video....the chase car filming is going 90mph when the GT-R blows by.R33 Skyline GT-R
The new S+ark watch from Fossil features a hole in the middle, giving it a fresh look that likens itself to a bearing. Well, even if you don't like the doughnut hole or the way Stark uses a "+" sign instead of "t" (pretentious?), you still have to like the styling of the digital dial. We've had an older Stark watch for a while and really like the styling. It's simple and gets noticed, "whoa...is that a watch?". Men can't wear that much jewelry without looking too Mr. T, so a good watch is a must.New S+ark from Fossil
We posted on the on-line flash game Line Rider a while back, and it seems that people are perfecting it with jibs, grinds, flips, and scenery; so that little back-flip you just figured out is pure crap...give up...you've got nothing.... Josh Spear made a post on some very skilled Line Rider shredders; there's a taste of it in the above video. Thanks Josh.Line Rider Skills
In case you hadn't seen it. The new Shuffle Ad. Side note: Reportedly, the new Shuffle is selling so well that they're outstripping the supply.Shuffle Ad
Autoblog has a nice gallery of the Volkwagen GTI Edition 30 (also referred to as the Britich Model). The car features a 230hp engine, a sick plaid interior with leather accents, and a unique dimpled shifter.GTI Edition 30
Motorola released this site recently to taut the multitude of colors available on it's phones. The site uses a nice random art generator and makes some decent looking images as you click and drag on the screen. Moto Colors
Oh man...Google Maps now has a feature that will let you enter your phone number in a bubble like above, and then it will call your phone, call the business' phone and connect you. Not an earth shattering feature, but still cool because it's only a few clicks. However, there is no current way to keep people from entering other people's phone numbers as pranks. Have a strip club call your friend at 3am, for instance....Google Maps: Calling
LIfehacker made a post recently about Google TechTalks. Apparently, TechTalks are in-house presentations done by people that work at Google or by guest speakers. Watch the above video and have your mind blown. Essentially, Luis Von Ahn discusses how they created a game that people play for free to help Google tag all the images on the internet. And if people play the game as much as they play solitare, all the images on the internet will be labeled in six months....all the images....all of them....seriously. He gets into some much more complicated stuff like porn webmasters using computers to solve problems and then when the computer hits snag, it asks for human help....so Humans using computers that use humans to solve problems together. The whole thing discussed Human Computation, and I haven't finished the video yet, but the first 35mins were off the chain.Google TechTalks
Sector Seven's new portfolio site offers a stunning interface, great colors, and some nice work done with clients such as Microsoft and Subaru. Most of the site's interface ideas have been used before, but the way that Sector uses them is what makes the site good. The scrolling is tight and easy to use with the mouse; the opening book is nicely done with the "camera moving back for animation shots; and the pop-up bubbles give the site a playful feel among the very minimal, angular style.SectorSeven Inc.
Lago, and Italian furniture design company utilizing Daniele Lago and Massimo Bonnetti, has a playful and unique Tangram shelving system. The individual shapes can be rearranged to take the form of any tangram puzzle, the alphabet, or whatever you can think of. .Lago Tangram Shelves
Okay...this is tough for me, but I have to do it. What happened over at Coolhunting? As far as design/coolstuff/chic blogs go, 7dv tips its hat to Josh Rubin; his site helped define a genre and became the architype for the sites that follow, but what happened with the current site redesign? I'm not so much a fan-boy that I fear change; in fact, I love change. Change is great because it means that someone has thought up a better way of doing things. I don't know about this new site though... They took away the best part of a blog--mindless scrolling though many posts that would reveal cool shit every time I flicked the wheel. The new site has three main posts, and then nine mini posts at the bottom with pictures only 100x100px. While many other blogs are enlarging their photos (gizmodo, engadget, product dose), Coolhunting has gone the opposite direction. Gone is the long list of cool objects that I could explore during the day, and what remains feels slightly cluttered and short. Do I have the right to crit Josh...probably not, but I have an affinity towards Coolhunting because it was one of the first blogs I looked at, and I miss the old one. I'm not asking for a complete site redesign; just give me more of the big posts with the actual information rather than the pix.WTF happened to Coolhunting.com
Probably fake, but hilarious either way. Shoot the turkey with flovor pellets instead of actual shot. The pellets then dissolve in the oven. Even if it's fake, it's still an interesting idea.Season Shot
&design has some really nice lighting, watch, and accesories currently on their site. The one we're drawn to the most though are the "Pla-model" rings you see above (right). It's interesting that the pieces come attached to the sprue from the injection mold machine, calling back to the fun of getting a model kit and snapping off all the parts to make a whole.&Design
Want all your maps combined into one? Then this is for you. It's still not as useful as Google Maps or Yahoo Maps, but it's an easy way to look at the world from all the different satellite sources.Flash Earth
The VDub Nanospyder concept was an exercise in unlimited design opportunity with the theme of creating a vehicle that would make the most of California without harming the environment. It's a completely conceptual car--only on paper--that runs on solar power and a fuel cell that pushes power to motors mounted on the wheels. The name is derived from the organically skinned nanotechnology skeleton that frames the car and adjusts rigidity on the fly. The power aspect is interesting, but not half as interesting as the proposal that one day we'll actually be growing our vehicles rather than assembling them, and that the materials today will be replaced with a more cellular and almost living tissue. VW Nanospyder Concept
Just a quick post. This came out recently, but if you didn't know, the newest version of Firefox is out. Dope web browser with open source interface and tons of useful add-ons and scripts. .Firefox 2
Now that Apple has gotten around to shipping the new generation of iPod Shuffles, they're offering refurbished 512MB and 1Gb Gen 1's for $29 and $59 respecitvely. With the snow season creaping up, you could buy one or two (or ten) for the mountain this winter.$29 Shuffles
Nikeskateboarding.org posted some info on the samples of Nike Purple Dunk High made with premium leather with real white croc skin in the vamp and saddle area. The stars on the side seem kind of odd, but the nice blend of materials is dope. Oh yeah, and they're popped with purple...Nike Purple Dunk High
HypeBeast posted that Supreme just released some new product for Fall/Winter 2006. The clothes are nice, but the stand out factor is the use of purple. LIke it or not, the color of kings is going to be huge this year. Hold us to it .Supreme
The new Nike Lebron ad for the Lebron IV (drops 11.16) features multiple Lebrons--Wise Lebron, Kid Lebron, Business Lebron, and just Lebron. The site can be found here; it's not really that informative, but it has some nice hand drawn effects . The shoe features articulated Zoom technology with Dual Density PU, and fit strap. Witness.Nike Lebron Ad
H&M, beyond bringing fashionable pieces to the masses, has recently teamed up with Victor and Rolf to create an interesting collection. The clothing follows recent color trends of noir and blanc, but with the added pieces in soft reds and some ivory or dirty whites. H&M
New pics of the LG Chocolate 2 are out, and it looks like it's a better phone than the Choc 1. The phone now supports FM, has 256MB of memory, supports stereo Bluetooth, and has a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus.LG Chocolate 2
We know...we know....iTunes is the ultimate media interaction technology for you, but just take a minute to look at this oddly sexy thing from Microsoft. The Noir color is choice, the interface is stream-lined, and the search engine has been much improved. It also includes a unique "stacking" feature where the albums and songs that share the same characteristics are stacked visually--kind of a nice combination of the Pandora.com information with your music collection. We were wondering when that would happen. It's not really earth shattering, but it's a nice update for WMP, and it seems that Microsoft is taking a few cues from Apple--even the new site is Apple-esque.Windows Media Player 11
Nicola Vruwink is offering a Sterling Silver Lapel Pin for $142 and the necklace version for $152. The emerging deer and general taxedermy trend is pretty fierce--soon we'll all be rolling in animal heads. For real.Deer Lapel Pin
Autoblog recently had a post on the VW R GTI that appeared this year at SEMA in Vegas. The car has 375HP and is a one-off produces by Derek Jenkins and the VW Design Center Californis Crew. I won't put all the details here, you can read all that mess after the jump, but I'll tell you that it'll get you from 0-60 in 4.8 and the rear seats are actually molded carbon fiber to save weight. Dope.VW R GTI
Information Aesthetics recently made a post on an animation created for the Harvard Molecular and Cellular Biology program to help illustrate the mechanisms that allow a white blood cell to sense it's surroundings and respond. To see a higher resolution video (much better) click here. The video is outstanding. I don't really have any idea what most of the parts are or if they really function in the fashion depicted in the video--especially the walking thing that's pulling the big blue glob. Maybe some med school students could enlighten me.The Inner Life of a Cell
7dv will soon be offering laser-etched wood belt buckles on our main site (www.sevendv.com). They feature the 7dv logo with the Germanic lions and the ornate pattern in the background. These were a special run for the MODA show in ATL, and will only be offered in a limited quantity. More to come.
Sneaker Websites.com is a search engine powered by Google that lets you search 90 sneaker websites at once. A simple and great use of the Google Custom Search feature released last week.SneakerWebsites.com
Most people aren't familiar with the work of Eric Jordan and his associates, but you should be. 7dv has been watching Eric for about 8 years, and with every round of his company's website he amazes even further. He began as a freelance flasher, but became a tour de force because of his innovations and style. In fact, the 2advanced v3 site of 2001 titled "Expansions" won the "Most Influential Flash Site of the Decade" from Favorite Website Awards. The newest site "Attractor" has been out for a while, but we haven't posted on it until now. The style is still a little sci-fi and not as organic as most sites are currently, but it's still a very strong site with a nice atmosphere that conveys the company's branding very well. Here's a taste of some of 2a's work:Lost Planet game site, Lexus LS Microsite, and the T-Mobile myFaves site. Enjoy.2advanced
Front Design of Sweden developed a manner to realize thier sketches with 3d. They basically motion capture their own sketches in real space, then use that information to generate 3d models in a computer, and then print the via SLA or SLS. The whole process is pretty cool, though undeveloped. The forms seem to have their own style much in the same way that sketching with Painter or SketchbookPro seem to dictate the style. Maybe one day we'll all finally be able to produce the actual products that we sketch...no matter how uncomfortable they may be in the real world, they'll look good from one angle. Oh man, forced perspective 3d objects...crazy!Sketch Furniture by FRONT
This would be funny if it wasn't for real. The above ad was created by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association to confuse and scare people. The fact that they have a man lying on a bed while money floats down on him when they mention “Silicon Valley” is in poor taste. And the Google font used over the stupid looking man to spell “Mumbo Jumbo” is just disgusting. The ad runs like any political mud throwing ad. It over-simplifies issues, leads you to believe that the other guy is pulling one over on you, and then tells you what you think. Why would an association of cable television operators make this ad? Does is make sense that they would want to save you money? Rationally, the only reason that the cable companies would make an ad as blatantly reproachable as this would be if they were afraid--afraid of losing money. The ad is intended to swing your opinion in their favor by making you feel like someone is coming to get you. The truth is that you won’t “pay” as the ad suggests; the only thing that will happen if Net Neutrality stays in effect is that the major telecoms won’t make as much money.
For those of you uninformed about net neutrality, it's the belief that the bandwidth of the internet does not play favorites. You can look at google or you can look at slashdot and you will download the site to your computer at the same speed. The bill put forward in Congress to end net neutrality will allow the cable providers AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, etc. to determine which sites will download faster to your computer. The idea would work something like this (as put forward by Craig "craigslist" Newmark). Imagine that you tried to order a pizza and the phone company said, " AT&T's preferred pizza provider is Domino's. Press 1 to connect to Domino's now. If you'd like to order from another pizzeria, please hold for three minutes while Domino's guaranteed orders are placed." It breaks down to the higher paying client (Domino's) will get it's hits first and then the lower paying companies will get in slower. You are inconvenienced to the point of just accepting Dominos because it’s the easier thing to do. This seems kind of annoying with food, but now imagine it was information…
The entire idea of the bill to end Net Neutrality is so preposterous that it needs attention. You have a right as a citizen to get the information that you desire at the same speeds. To have other information pushed on you is like walking to a library and being unable to get the book you want for weeks, but they have 1000 copies of Rush Limbaugh’s Biography. Sure, that would be okay because you would just go to another library, but what if this was the only library in the world. To abolish net neutrality is to remove a freedom granted to every person on the planet…the freedom to access information. It can be argued that the bill won’t control the information just the speed that you download it or the opportunity for you to view it, but this is just as limiting. To allow the highest bidder to show you their information first is a violation of your right to reality. Take the news for instance. Fox News could pay all the other major telecoms to get their news up first. You would be slanted to their view because it would be shoved down your throat.
It makes me sad that for the first time, anyone, anywhere, has access to any amount of information that they want whether it’s porn or it’s professional, and now a group of corporations, already fat on money, wants to take it away. The internet should not be controlled. It was made by people for people. To protest the bill, please feel free to visit this link. Do not let the NCTA convince people that they should hand over their rights to information and reality.NCTA sucks
Bang & Olufsen is coming out with a clamshell cell phone developed with Samsung that costs...oh...about $1275. Are you kidding me? This thing that looks like an ID project from Sophomore year back in 1995. The interface is a complete nightmare with the screen on the bottom and the numeric pad in a dial shape rather than the commonly accepted grid format on top. The whole thing has freakish proportions that hurt my eyes just to look at, and the screen...wtf is up with that screen? I'm upset that someone got paid to do that, an entire marketing team requested it (probably shooting down a few good ideas along their way towards aesthetic catastrophe), and that someone will buy it....Serene
The Chaotic Circus is one of Kaoru Tsunoda's amazing installation pieces. The version show above consists of plastic cups, a motor, and polystyrene balls. The motor pulls aconveyor, and then the balls fall as they may down the mountain made of cups. The flow is random and the video allows you to watch the progression.Chaotic Circus
Post Secret is a blog where people anonymously send in their secrets on a homemade postcard. The site has become such a phenomenon that it's becoming a book that can be ordered here. The site's been around for a while, but we haven't made time to post on it yet. If you haven't seen it, you should; the secrets range from powerfully upsetting to humorous.Post Secret
