PicoCool

”Plushdepartment combines the power of computers with living, organic and beautiful materials. We create cases from ceramic and glass and concrete and wood. We add colour and style and pattern and line to what used to be a boring square box.” Designs range from shiny gold casings, sleek minimal black and white, to the PURE*ZENDER, an urban, street art-inspired computer and amplifier. The computers are Intel Core 2 Duo, 1000 GB hard drive, 2 x 2048MB highend Dual Channel RAM 800MHz memory, and comes with network gigabit LAN, USB, Firewire and more.  Currently available for purchase in the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey.

Network: blogs

Stencil Revolution, “collectively recontructing the urban canvas.”

Network: ffffound

"Drivers hustling to the city’s bustling North Beach neighborhood through the Broadway Tunnel Tuesday got a pleasant surprise—etched into the grimy walls lining the roadway was a tranquil urban forest. The unique mural was created by British-based artist Paul “Moose” Curtis using a technique called reverse graffiti or clean tagging. With the aid of San Francisco police and public works officials, Curtis spent the night blasting away at the years of grime with a high-powered water cannon.” You can see more photos here by Flickr user, dennis. [via jamesjyu 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

Along comes something that’s better than Zip Car, Flexicar, and all the other car share services that have cropped up. The Bike Dispenser comes to us from an innovative company in Amsterdam. Now cities and towns can install these bike dispensers in convenient locations where you could rent one for a reasonable fee, ride it around to your destination(s) and conveniently return it to another bike dispenser location.  If they were placed in residential and urban/work areas, these could become the commute method of choice - great exercise and zero emissions. You also don’t have to worry about your bike being stolen. [via Coolhunter]

Network: blogs