Category: Design

Culture Design

New York Public Library now lets you use 20,000 historical maps for free

By admin | by admin

As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS Ever wanted to see what New York City’s maps looked like before skyscrapers took over… or before Americans took over, for that matter? It’s now easy as pie. The New York Public Library has published more than 20,000 of its historical maps under aCreative Commons public domain license. You can freely download, manipulate and publish cartography created between 1660 and 1922, a large chunk of which explores New York City’s neighborhoods in…

Continue reading

Apple Design

Apple’s Jony Ive: ‘We’re surrounded by anonymous, poorly made objects’

By admin | by admin

As reported on Engadget. BY MAT SMITH In a rare interview, Apple’s VP of Design offers at least a little insight into both his thinking and how Apple makes its products. Apparently, it all starts with Jonathan Iveimagining what a new kind of product should be and what it should do. After that, the process moves on to what it should look like. Inspiration here apparently comes from, well, everywhere, from candy manufacturers to metalworkers in Northern Japan. It’s…

Continue reading

Art Design Education

Watch this: Bill Nye debates evolution with the founder of the Creation Museum

By admin | by admin

As reported on The Verge. By Casey Newton Bill Nye debated the founder of the Creation Museum tonight in a move that he hopes will promote scientific literacy in the United States. The popular science enthusiast and television host agreed to argue the origin of species with Ken Ham in an event livestreamed on YouTube and CNN.com. Naturally, Nye will be taking the side of evolution. Nye faced criticism over his decision to participate in the debate, with some scientists…

Continue reading

Art Culture Design Entertainment

Architect Bradley Rothenberg Does 3D-Printed Fashion At The Annual Victoria’s Secret Show

By admin | by admin

As reported on TechCrunch. by Eliza Brooke The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is about so much more than lingerie. Over the years the annual event, which took place in Manhattan in mid-November and airs December 10, has grown into a mega-beast of elaborate outfits, wings, glitter, and musical performances. Of course, all the images of this year’s show have leaked. One that caught our eye was of a delicate, snowflake-inspired, 3D-printed bustier. I caught up with…

Continue reading

Art Culture Design

Weird Nanophotonic Materials Bend and Trap Light to Make Crazy Colors

By admin | by admin

As reported on Wired. BY NADIA DRAKE Normally, the colors we perceive are determined by the wavelengths of light reflected by objects in the world around us. But not all surfaces reflect light the same way. Picture an iridescent butterfly, for example. It might look drab from one direction, but explode into bright yellows or purples from another. That’s because of microscopic structures that alter the way light bounces off the butterfly’s wings.At the NanoPhotonics Centre at the…

Continue reading

Apple Art Design

This Is Apple’s New Mothership Of An HQ

By admin | by admin

As reported on TechCrunch. by Jordan Crook The most realistic and detailed images yet of Apple’s new spaceship headquarters have just been published in an awesome piece on Wired. The latest images of the 2.8 million square-foot campus show an expansive cafeteria, an underground parking garage, and a subterranean auditorium where forthcoming Apple products will be unveiled to the media. The office will sit on a 176-acre plot of land, most of which will be dedicated to…

Continue reading

Culture Design Engineering Entertainment

Software physics: how Digital Domain created the world of ‘Ender’s Game’

By admin | by admin

As reported on The Verge. By Bryan Bishop A conversation with visual effects supervisor Matthew Butler Translating the sci-fi classic Ender’s Game to the big screen required tackling iconic locations and sequences in a way that honored fan expectations while still playing to audiences that were new to the material. To accomplish that goal, writer-director Gavin Hood joined forces with Digital Domain, the visual-effects powerhouse originally founded by James Cameron and Stan Winston.     In the years…

Continue reading

Business Culture Design Hardware Dev

HoneyBee3D printing store opens in Oakland with rapid prototyping service

By admin | by admin

As reported on Engadget. By Timothy J. Seppala We’re still a ways off from having a 3D print shop on every corner, but one Oakland neighborhood is getting a taste of that future. The city’s Montclair district got a little craftier this weekend when HoneyBee3D opened its doors to offer rapid prototyping, printer tools and Type A Machines 3D printers for sale. Given how costly the tech can be, this is a boon for folks who’d love to dip into…

Continue reading

Apple Culture Design Mobile OS

iOS: A visual history

By admin | by admin

As reported on The Verge. By Verge Staff In what is widely regarded as his greatest presentation ever, Apple’s Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world on January 9th, 2007. In the five-plus years since then, the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch have literally redefined the entire world of mobile computing. That world is moving so quickly that iOS is already amongst the older mobile operating systems in active development today. That certainly doesn’t mean…

Continue reading

Culture Design Tech

Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch hands-on.

By admin | by admin

As reported on Engadget. By Zach Honig Wrist watches, smart or otherwise, are simply not for everyone — there are more smartphone users in the world, many times over, than there will ever be smartwatch owners. Despite the limited market for such a device, however, Samsung’s decided it’s time to join in on the fun. The Galaxy Gear, as we’ve known it to be called for a few weeks now, was hardly guarded with a level of secrecy that’s…

Continue reading