PicoCool

I love it when street style and tech come together as does with this KRINK laptop sleeve by Arkitip, a project of Incase “aimed at rtistically embellished Apple products to users who have an appreciation for the creative arts and technology.” Krink pens were developed by graffiti writer and artist, Craig “KR” Costello out of a variety of homemade inks and markers for use in both street and studio environments. “KR’s products gained notoriety by their association with his work in the street, the studio, and by his dripping ink aesthetics.” Available at $79.95 for MacBook and MacBook Pro 15 In.

Network: blogs

"Softbank’s coming out with a new line of handsets in April that will double as robot friends. These handsets have arms and legs that fold out, and screens that will make faces according to their moods.” (via toykomango)

Network: blogs

"An unprecedented combination of computer history and striking images, Core Memory, A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers reveals modern technology’s evolution through the world’s most renowned computer collection, the Computer History Museum in the Silicon Valley.” Visit photographer Mark Richard’s website to learn more and to buy the book. (via laughingsquid)

Network: blogs

Chetan Sorab’s Modular Mp3 player is playful and practical. “The central console of Bloc forms the core unit of the mp3 player with the interface and display. When it runs out of its built in 50 GB memory you can add another 50 GB or more as a modular storage on any one side as an additional block. You can share songs, data by removing one of the blocks and giving it to your friend or close ones to listen or download them. Bloc also helps you to customize the colors according to your liking as they would be available in vibrant colors.”

Network: blogs

From my friends at Carsonified comes Hugs, “a one-off, limited edition range of MacBook Pro sleeves and iPhone cosies to help protect your most treasured technology bits and pieces.” And, they’re handmade by Ryan, Gill, Mel, Lisa, Elliot and Jo from their lovely studio in Bath, England. The idea is just as personal: “each Hug will arrive delicately wrapped in tissue paper and encased in its very own custom box. Also tucked inside you’ll find a Certificate of Origin, which records the name of your Hug and who created it, and finally a Moleskine journal. The journal that is included with your Hug is very important. After one month of using your Hug, we would love it if you could pass it on to another deserving person. Before you do, use the journal to record a little about yourself, what you do, where you live, what you love… then pass it on.”

Network: twitter

Let’s not forget this. Slide by Kevin Kelly. Photo by Thomas Marban.

Network: flickr

Happy birthday to Jack Dorsey. Thanks for the miracle of Twitter. Have a look at Jack’s original notepad sketch of Twitter. (via @bs on Twitter)

Network: twitter

"The City Car is envisioned as a stackable car that would be available at convenient spots around the city such as subway stations, as well as places where the subway tentacles do not reach. Drivers would swipe a credit card to rent out a vehicle and to insure against damage or theft.” The car is still in the prototyping stage and many models are being considered. This reminds me of the British “clever car” prototype that I had written about last year on artcodes. (via Reubstock’s twitter and CNET)

Network: twitter

The smart geeks at ThinkGeek are now selling a Wi-Fi Detector t-shirt that dynamically displays the current surrounding Wi-Fi signal strength with a glowing animation. You’ll need three AAA batteries to make the magic happen. The decal is removable so you can wash your shirt and not be a stinky geek. (via LaughingSquid)

Network: blogs

Like a good Apple fan, Twitterverse is all a buzz with the release of Apple’s Leopard OS.

Network: twitterverse

The T-Phone is a concept phone by designer Jeong-Kyun Nam. It features “a standard numeric keypad and one large call button underneath. You get a bunch of RFID tagged badges to program someone’s number and even insert their picture. When grammy wants to call someone, all she has to do is place the badge on the call button and press it. The phone reads the RFID information in the badge and dials the number.” The phone would be helpful to seniors who don’t want to remember nine digits, but I can see it working well with children too, and for those experiencing memory loss from our growing dependence on digital devices.

Network: blogs

The USB Ecostrip has been popular in Europe since 2005 and is about to come out for U.S. consumers as well. It works like a normal power strip and surge protector but the USB feature means that once your computer turns off or goes to sleep, power is also shut down to peripherals, saving unused electricity.  The strip is expected to cost $34.95 plus shipping with discounts for volume sales. Let’s hope major corporations and organizations switch to these power strips in their offices. Imagine the savings and conservation benefits if each Ecostrip is estimated to save $70 on average for peripherals on stand-by time.  (via EverythingUSB)

Network: blogs

Enertia aims to be the world’s first production, zero-emissions and battery powered plug-in electric motorcycle when it launches in 2008.  It will cost $14,995, go up to 50 mph and recharges to 100% in 3 hours. See how it compares to Prius in terms of carbon emissions. From the website:  “Deceptively simple...the Enertia benefits from an ultra light, ultra stiff carbon fiber monocoque chassis that doubles as the motorcycle’s battery “carriage” and an elegantly simple electric drivetrain that keeps maintenance at an absolute minimum.” Thanks to dopechiq for bookmarking it to Stylehive.

Network: stylehive

ViewAt.org has captured the dream of seeing full-screen panoramas easily through a web browser.  No more slow QTVR movies. People can upload their own panorama photographs and select a Google map location. See for yourself at ViewAt.org. Thanks to Bloggersblog’s tweet for the tip.

Network: twitter

If you’re tired of big bloated expensive software running on your computer, take a look at TinyApps where “small is beautiful.” The site’s been around for a few years and offers numerous resources for software for internet, text, graphics, files, Palm, OSX and Windows.  What’s a tiny app?  “As defined by this website, a tiny app (application) is software weighing 1.44mb or less.” Almost all the programs listed on the site are free. Miles Wolbe, an I.T. consultant in Maui, is the creator. We love that he has a Green Award for software which “doesn’t require installation, doesn’t write to the registry, and does not create or modify files outside of its own directory.” Not just that, but he’s also environmentally-conscious in real life.  His answer to “what is the single most helpful thing I can do for myself, my fellow beings, and the planet?” Go vegan.

Network: blogs

Photo by Steve Jurvetson, Creative Commons 2.0

I never know what’s going to turn up in my Flickr stream given the range of people I follow. Tonight it was this photograph of a XPRS rocket launching in the Black Rock desert taken and made by Steve Jurvetson, an engineer and Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. The rockets have computers onboard that deploy the parachutes and record data (and a host of other functions I assume). Images are captured from various angles using remote tripods. There’s one in the foreground of the photo above. Be sure to check out this page and watch the videos as the rocket shoots up and returns back to the ground. For more rocket goodness, see his entire set which include some incredible night photos too.

Network: flickr