Gizmogs

The Russian company «Electronic Alkotel» reported that its DECT phone texet Colombo has received prestigious international awards iF product design awards 2009.

iF awards - one of the major international awards for outstanding design. Its status is recognized not only the professional world of design, but also the general public. More than 20 world-renowned jury, consisting of designers and entrepreneurs engaged in heated debate to select the best products from more than 3000 nominees from 35 countries.

The mini-notebook Eee PC 901, communicator ASUS P552w and Desktop PC series ASUS Essentio CS received an award for outstanding and innovative design. In the framework of Good Design Awards 2008, also known as the G-Mark Awards, three product ASUS won the prestigious award in the category of «communication devices / communication devices for personal use». Award Good Design Award - is the only one in Japan Prize for achievements in the field of design. The evaluation system was developed by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan. Since the inception of the prize was handed over 30000 awards G-Mark Awards.

Material Beliefs is a group of designers based in London. They might create pieces of furniture and accessories but they are not your usual tables and cups. The result of a close collaboration with scientists and engineers, social scientists but also members of the public, their projects take emerging biomedical and cybernetic technology out of labs and into public space. The members of Material Beliefs use design as a tool for public engagement, a mean to stimulate discussion about the value and impact of new technologies which blur the boundaries between our bodies and materials.

LABoral, the art center we have come to associated with new media art, has recently opened an exhibition dedicated to new, audacious and thought-provoking forms of design. Curated by Roberto Feo and Rosario Hurtado (El Último Grito), Nowhere/Now/Here aims to challenge the perception of design by questioning our relationship with the environment. Taking the viewpoint that our environment has become part of us rather than us being part of it, as its point of departure, Nowhere/Now/ Here encourages us to see design as an integral component of the world-shaping process.

As you have probably noticed, sustainable designs are very important to me, and finding a functional green design gets me excited. The Barnacle Chair by designer Ania Wagner is made from sustainable wood and lined with a cultivated industrial felt. This chair allows the user to sit in it, similar to bucket seating or flip it over and multiple users can lean against it while seated on the floor. Measuring 30×40x23”, the Barnacle Chair is a modern, green and functional design.

Designer: Ania Wagner

The Asus Vento TA-F Series chassis incorporates space-saving design, user-friendliness and maximized airflow system catered for daily computing. The foldable chassis is easy to carry and transport, providing both experienced users and beginners of the DIY scene with a tools-free design for quick and easy installation. The Asus TA-F Series chassis offers two options for users to choose from, with the TA-F11 in sophisticated black and the TA-F21 in stylish silver.

While most of you are busy recovering from sugar highs (did you get good candy?) we were busy at 100% Design Tokyo. This year drew an even larger crowd, both exhibitors and installations had some amazing eye candy. Some ideas were oldies but goodies, some were improvements on things we’ve seen before, and some were just plain out of this world. Hit the jump for the huge gallery of pictures!

Exhibition: 100% Design Tokyo 2008

A designer called Jonathan Findlay (you can check his site here) has come up with a DVB-H concept phone called the “Graphite”. Apparently it has/could have a 4-way slider, and runs on Series60. On toppa that, there’s a 3.6 inch AMOLED touchscreen, and also a keypad hidden in there somewhere.

The Arsenale section of the Venice Biennale of Architecture has many characteristics that makes it stand out from other architecture exhibitions. One of them is that you won't get to see cardboard models and plans. In fact, you can even walk around and inside the 1:1 scale replica of an apartment building with sharing spaces.

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" is not only the title of a 1966 song by the The Beach Boys, but also the title of an exhibition about wishful thinking in art and design at London's Somerset House. Before its stop in the UK, the show was on at the Centre d'Art Contemporain in Geneva and at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zürich.

When Brian Wilson wrote the song he was imagining "what you can't have, what you really want" so, almost in reply, the show proposes a "modest form of utopianism, a whistle of optimism for how things could be, set against a bass note of misgiving".

Wow, check out what you can do with recycled plastic bags, make an artistic chair like this!

via make, Design Page

Brought to you by: Zedomax.com

Eco-Design - DIY Recycled Plastic Bag Chair!

Often in a society of excess, (or depression, as it were,) the tendency is to provide as much precise detail in look and control as possible. Brian Garret Schuur has created a television remote that’s just the opposite. Schuur has reduced the channel, volume, pause, play, record, and power into one control button with his frankly titled “Single Button Remote.”

Gsmarena have posted their review of the Nokia N96. Here are the key features, main disadvantages and final impression.

Key features:
•2.8" 16M-color TFT LCD display of QVGA resolution
•5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and AF assist light
•Built-in DVB-H TV tuner
•Symbian OS 9.3 with S60 3.2 UI

's been a long Summer and i spent it with the usual heap of magazines. Here's some of the best that fell into my hands:

I received the latest edition of Volume over the Summer but it took me a couple of months to go through it. The 16th issue bears the suggestive title Engineering Society and gosh, is it good.

Self Replicating Machine, by Dr Adrian Bowyer and Ed Sells in lab

Good old Turin is currently hosting the third edition of C.STEM. The theme this year is Breeding Objects - Computational Design: from Digital Fabrication to Mass-Customization and while the spotlight is still on generative systems, it is, in many respects, very different from the first edition. This time, the main protagonists are designers, not artists.