DIY Rapid Prototyping machine!

Those of you who know our older posts, will be familiar with the fact that we LOVE the idea of Rapid Prototyping, we previously blogged about a desktop prototyper which is available for around $5,000. But recently one of our favourite sources of inspiration, Make Magazine, started to produce their own machine, which in their own inimitable style you have to build from a kit.

Ladies and Gentlemen, what you see above is the Makerbot industries “Cupcake”, sure it looks a little like you would find it in an evil mastermind’s lair, but truly this is a breakthrough. See, whilst other machines are going to cost you thousands, this will cost you only $750 for the basic kit. That’s right, only $750!

This is a perfect example of what happens when industrious people get inspired and take it upon themselves to make a change. It could be seen as another example of what we call the everybody spirit.

Once you move into this realm the possibilities are pretty much endless. Make your own products to sell, unique art-pieces, odd shaped “things” that only you know what they are… open your mind.

Everybody says thank you Makerbot Industries, we really really appreciate the effort you put into inspiring us! Click the image above to be inspired yourself and start to think about how much you could make!

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Low resolution bar in Belgium, actually made of pixels

Well, not actually made of Pixels, but the wall is covered with them. The Pixel bar is a new wine and Tapas bar in Brussels, Belgium whose walls are completely covered in soundproofed foam cushions. Over 8,000 of them in total, each made from cubed foam pads in 27 different coloured covers.

When viewed from afar, the image is that of a pixelated countryside scene, close up it is a beautifully abstracted bunch of coloured blocks. As ever the simple ideas are the best, and when executed in such a perfect manner you get something as special as this.

Everybody says great work to the designer behind the bar, Charles Kaisin… Right, Brussels is about 2 hours from here, Friday afternoon drinks there? 6:30pm anyonne?

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Spiral radiator by Marco Dessi

Nothing ultra new in terms of recently designed stuff, especially if you follow the world of interiors and furniture design, but I still love it. I picked up some materials from my shelf this week and found the leaflet I have showing my second favourite radiator of all time. (Yes it is sad I have a favourite, radiator, and possibly even sadder I have a second favourite, but let’s face it, ordering and ranking is what we do every day to help ourselves with decisions… granted my more important decisions are not radiator based but you know what I mean.)

Anyway, this Radiator was shown at the Cologne fair in 2007 by Italian born designer Macro Dessi, as a concept. He designed it in 2006 and his own little bit of blurb about the product is as follows:

“The raw expression of functional industrial radiators was a source of inspiration for the radiator . While maintaining this raw strenght [sic.], the object was transformed for living spaces. The rotation of the individual element is reminiscent of the sheet metal spirals of old- fashioned radiators.”

I have to say that having just experienced one of the longest, and coldest winters in recent memory, I for one, would be more than happy to actually place a couple of these beauties in my house, and even, for that matter, next to my desk in the west wing of Everybody towers.

Everybody says… great work Marco, let us know when we can buy it!

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Zipshot: Self assembling tripodular standing device

There are up-sides and down-sides to every single product, the most successful ones being those with less downs. Usually. Not always anyway. But this is one of those products which I would have been very interested in when travelling recently, despite its obvious down-side. I use a really, really good Manfrotto which, granted, is a little large, but stays still in a howling gale, but I had to leave it at home on a recent trip to New York due to baggage limitations and stuff like that.

The product you see above is the new Zipshot from Tamrac. It’s a self assembling mechanism, it pops up from a small form factor in a second and allows (apparently) relatively good stability. It will handle a camera and lens combo of up to three pounds (which for you Continental types is around 1.25Kg.) not much, but it would certainly be great for holding video cameras steady for long shots of landscapes or to create time lapse videos.

It’s available now from many places for around $50-60 US it is certainly worth it for those people who hike or travel extensively.

Everybody says nice work Tamrac, it’s a great thing to have in our camera bag.

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Recycling should be heard not just seen!

OK, as most of you know, living in the Netherlands you have to recycle. No seriously, it’s, like, the law and stuff, paper, cardboard, plastic, old batteries, glass – your hair too if you want. Anyway, I’m kind of used to it now, but you have to take it seriously, it’s for the best in the long run, apparently.

A couple of friends had recently bought new iPod Nanos and Shuffles in the clear plastic boxes. Which are kind of cool (does anyone remember the original iPod packaging – that was awesome) but then you have an empty plastic box. What to do, what to do… Well this company has some great ideas for the use of them. Turn that empty box into a speaker for the iPod which came out of it, genius. All you need to do is switch the top from your box for the new one with the speaker mechanism on it to the clear plastic base. $40 US isn’t a bad price.

One question is, what do you do with the top you replaced? now you have one part of a cool box, but not the part you can put anything in… or am I being too damn practical again.? Hope it gives you ideas, it made me think about repurposing some of my old bits and pieces – being such a geek is useful at times, but being idle is the thing I have to get over.

Everybody says well done AudioCubes.com, great idea.

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The future of publishing

So. After years of speculation Apple have finally launched a tablet. A slate, or a pad. Whatever you want to call it, it is a quite interesting piece of gear. Whilst we at Everybody are all Apple users, I for one was not overly impressed with the iPad when Steve Jobs presented it. Sure it looked pretty, fitted the brand, but seemed like over kill for me as I use a MacBook pro and have an iPhone. So where is it going to change my life?

Last month I was talking to the other members of the office here, and we figured it was mainly going to allow more flexibility in digital publishing… then we stumbled upon this video on the Adobe website, which articulates perfectly exactly what we were discussing at that very minute.

So rather than set out a vision of how I think the Future will go, I am posting the link to the Video in which Wired (the technology magazine at the cutting edge of utilising tech in magazines) talk about how they see being able to use the technology behind the iPad (and doubtless all the other iPad-a-likes which will follow) to make the Magazine experience exciting again. Take five minutes to watch this, then think about the possibilities.

Everybody says it isn’t about what the iPad can do for you, it’s about how you can make the iPad anonymous. Sit back and enjoy.

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The Lady and the Reaper

Those of us who saw the Oscars (or at least know the results) can’t help but know the astonishing animated short that that won the academy was a movie based on Corporate Identity… Sort of anyway. Have a look for it, it is worth watching. As a Graphic and Branding designer I love that this particular movie won.

But one of the other nominees, which I personally felt was as good, was the Spanish short called “La Dama y La Muerte” (the lady and the reaper). It’s a stunning animation combining Sexy Nurses, Handsome Doctors, a loveable old dear and most strangely, a cute reaper.

The emotion that the first couple of minutes generates is great and this gives way to a pharsical series of events as the reaper tries to win over the hospital… the chase scene through the huge filing cabinets is pure Pixar, which is probably as high a compliment as you can give any animated movie. Nods towards other animated greats are evident too, such as Looney Tunes and the Tom and Jerry, so why not spend 10 minutes watching one of the best animated short movies in recent years.

The Writer/Director is a Spaniard by the name of Javier Reco Gracia obviously has a bright future ahead of him and with producers such as Antonio Banderas speaking up for him, Everybody can’t want to see what he comes up with next. Great work Javier, we hope to see more soon!

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Mixtape: the video

For those of you outside the UK, Virgin Media is the company behind Cable TV, Telephone and Internet services. Long story but a combination of a few companies involved in buy outs a few years ago. Anyway, they have a vested interest in film and to that end they have a strong support for the “short” genre, (Orange hold feature films tightly by the throat in the UK).

Their sponsorship has lead to quite high exposure and a strong bunch of films were entered for the last round. Various films which were entered were good, but the one which was chosen for the 2009 Grand Prize, was called “Mixtape”. It was produced by Luke Snellin and went on to be nominated for a BAFTA. Certainly good going.

The sweet little film is the story of a boy and the girl next door… and her Mom, a little bit, not so much about her though. It’s well made, well shot, and most of all well scored. Perfectly scored infact. You can read loads into the story, but if it doesn’t make you smile then, you pretty much have no soul.

Everybody says, well done Luke, you deserve all the plaudits you get for this.

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Synchronise watches to stunning

For ages I’ve been a fan of Tag Heuer watches. Don’t know, precisely, when that started, but I’ve always liked the way they look, feel and work. My personal favourite– and the object that I am saving up my hard earned pennies for at the moment, is a Tag Heuer Monaco, the beautiful square chronograph that has been prominent for 40 years now.

So, here is the most amazing version of the watch I’ve seen to date. This is the Monaco “24” concept. It’s only a concept, which demonstrates the amazing craftsmanship that Tag Heuer are capable of, but lord knows if it became available to buy right now I would be taking out a loan. The watch sports the iconic “Gulf Oil” livery that Steve McQueen wore in his 1970 film “Le Mans” and a 24 instead of the usual 12 that the watch has at the top of it’s face to reflect it’s heritage.

I love my current Tag Heuer watch, but I am seriously going to have to look at selling it to get a boost in my saving fund to get me somewhere nearer my goal… hopefully by then, this beautiful watch will be available to buy.

As ever, click the image to go to the Tag Heuer website and see the watch in more detail, including the videos from the company on how it was conceived and produced. Everybody says, simply stunning.

tracing a line in the sky

While we are talking about bugs (see previous post – here), here is a little something, something to make you see them in a different way too.

Photographer and videographer Charlie McCarthy produced a video which is simply stunning. By taking a series of long exposure photographs of fireflies flitting around a street light a very surreal video is made when he put them all together. Coupled with a perfect soundtrack, the video is only 43 seconds long but leaves you wanting much, much more.

If you click on the image you can see the video for yourself – posted on vimeo.com – and have click around on Charlie’s channel to see his other works.

Everybody says great work Charlie, it’s great to see how long exposure work can be given an original twist and make something new, good work fella!