White Noise

Trash Update...recycling stats

Date  Metal  Paper 

Sep 1st           5.5     12.5

Sep  8th          6.5            12.5

YTD Total  238 lbs  497 lbs

Green, Functional and Sexy

I had to repost this from Re-Nest.  This is an incredible statement about what design can be and how it can be reached.

"The Aeron chair was designed to be ergonomic, functional but also "sparing of natural resources, durable and repairable, and constructed for ease of disassembly and recycling." The chair is up to 94% recyclable itself (36% aluminum, 31% steel, 31% plastic) and made from 62% recycled materials (41% post-consumer recycled content & 21% pre-consumer recycled content). "

A Piece of History

Earlier this year I was reading on SvN about some commemorative stamps coming out honoring Charles and Ray Eames. I have never been a stamp collector but when I saw the sample posted I knew I was interested in getting some. I have been a huge fan of the the couple since I can remember. They are such an influential pair in modern design I am surprised that it took more than 10 years to come out. If you are a collector get some. If you love good design get some.

  

Mobile Design

I have  always loved the shape and design of Airstream trailers, I am not sure why but they always just seemed really cool.  They were retro when they came out.  Recently they came out with a small very cool little trailer called the basecamp.  It is part trailer, part camper and part storage vehicle.

I think one of these would also make a great mobile office. Now I just need a reason own a mobile office.

Then and Now

Then: Mutts
Now: Designer dogs
Pug + Beagle = Puggle
Labrador + Poodle = Labradoodle

Impressive

This week Apple opened its latest store in New York on Fifth Avenue.  It is a 5 story glass cube that is surrounded by skyscrapers. The building is very reminicscent of I.M. Pei's Pyramide du Louvre.

The store is actually underground and going to be open 24 hours a day  7 days a week.

Just a very cool building !

Right Sizing

I apologize in advance for another post on recycling but here goes.  The other day I was preparing to do my taxes and made my way to Staples to get the latest edition of TurboTax.  When I was there I noticed 2 boxes.  Both looked exactly the same except one thing...size.  One was the standard software box size and the other was just a little bit larger than a CD/DVD.  Intuit took the box and reduced it to the size it needed to be.  The large box contains a CD and a rebate card and a tray of plastic to hold those two items from slipping around. The small box has the CD and a card in it.  The packaging design was identical.  No marketing messaging was lost.  Apple has also done the same thing with the iLife '06 and iWork '06 packages.  I think this is a great idea.  Software manufactures have not created bound paper manuals or user guides in years. This reduced their costs, but they continued to produce the same size packaging.  A reduction in packaging will be good for their bottom lines but it will also be good for the environment as well.

I look forward to seeing other software vendors do the same.

Environmental Loosers

I live in a community where we recycle.  We are not hardcore about it but we separate
paper/cardboard, cans/plastic, metal and yard waste.  It is amazing how much you can reduce your trash by doing this.  The problem comes with the odd items...propane tanks, appliances etc.  We are lucky that out local transfer station allows you to drop these items off. In some cases there may be an added expense but overall they are all very fair.  The other day I had some large rechargeable batteries that were dead.  I could ship them back to the manufacturer but with the weight it would have been about $25.00.  The manufacturer recommended a local Sears that accepts car batteries...they were rejected there. I went to the dump (transfer station) and asked if they recycled them and what the fee was....rejected there as well.  Though I could have thrown them in a Hefty bag and put them in with the household trash it just did not feel right .

Storing your Life

Recently my wife and I began parsing through items in the house trying to create more space and be more organized. Though our house is only 15 years old there is not a lot of closet space so what we have we need to use better.  I have been looking at all of the closet systems in an effort to buy and not have to build one of my own.  My sister let me know that The Container Store was having their annual big sale on their systems.  I checked out the sample systems and was impressed.  Then I saw the opportunity to create my own system online.  I registered and the web site walked me through a set of questions to gather information about the size and use for this closet (storage,clothes,supplies).  The survey is very thorough.  If you have asked for hanging storage it asks you how tall you are, if you have asked for shoe storage it asks how you prefer to store your shoes, in boxes or shelves.  When you are complete it asks how you would like to speak to the designer.  I opted for them to call me and it gave me a set of dates and times available.

Think Different - Be Different

One of my favorite ad campaigns of all time is the Think Different campaign Apple ran.  The use of the unique historical figures and the message about not following the masses was perfect to show the uniqueness of working with an Apple computer.

In the past two weeks I have found two references to people/services to allow you to modify your mac to be more personal and more unique. Modding macs has been around for a long time but these examples take it to a new level.

Etchamac is a company that will laser your design or pattern on to your power book or ipod for a price.
This takes personalization to a new level in my mind.  I have often thought about why PC makers do not inspire this type of external love for their products. Stickers on your PC are one thing but this takes it to a new level, and the detail that can be achieved here is amazing.

TUAW.com  pointed out an article on MAKEs website where Phillip Torrone put the Tarsier from the O'Reilly book on vi on his powerbook.  The image is incredible.  So along with Thinking Different now Mac enthusiast cab be different as well !