The Eco Media Player Revolution is bit bulky and not-so-cool looking, but it's a big winner as far as practicality goes. The Revolution really earns it's name through one huge standout advantage: It's hand powered.
Using a slide out hand crank, with only 5 minutes of work you can generate enough power to rock out for 45 minutes. Basically, you'll never really need to plug this thing in. Storage capability is 4GB and can be extended up to 8GB.
But wait, there's more! It also has a plug to charge up your cell phone as well. Not a bad device to have around when all your other batteries are drained and there's no power outlet in sight. The Revolution costs $240.
Tuesday we wrote about the STRiDA bike, which we called "probably the smallest, most functional option out there" next to a skateboard for when you need to get around. Well, it only took a day for a tipster to fill us in about Freeline skates.
These highly portable rides are made out of aluminum and are sure to get plenty of attention wherever you break 'em out. They cost $150 a pair.
Sadly, the best use for these things gets but a couple frames in this video: Take these skates out to a club for instant recognition as a dancefloor hero!
Open House London is an annual event where private buildings and houses are opened up for the architecturally curious to explore. More than 700 different locations were available to tour this year. Sure, the traditional styles were represented, with names like Victorian, Bedfordshire and Elizabethan. But yawn!
If you wanted to see some really edgy dwelling design, the real action was with the soon-to-be classic: recycled tube carriages.
Village Underground is an office complex made up of four former London Underground Tube carriages that were lifted on top of a giant brick Victorian arch. The cars were gutted and re-fitted with clean looking modern office spaces, then completely covered in graffiti.
It's all part of a social enterprise project, funded by the local government. The offices are now rented out to various members of the creative community as a place to work and socialize.
If you're headed on an extended trip and the destination city has little in the way of public transportation, you may want to pack your own. Next to a skateboard, the MAS Special Signature folding bicycle is probably the smallest, most functional option out there.
For digital nomads in a perpetual state of travel, getting the most out of your gear is essential. Less is more is the motto when trying to cram all your necessities into one or two not so big bags.
So the Freecom Mobile Drive xxs should be a blessing for travelers who need to lug around large amounts of data, but don't have much extra space in their carry-on. Designed by Sylvain Willenz, the xxs is billed as the world's smallest external hard drive. At 2.5" wide, it's about the size of a deck of cards, but somehow manages to fit up to 320 gigabytes of data.
All components have been stripped down to the basics and miniaturized to keep the gadget footprint to a minimum. The xxs looks like a great piece of gear--and your bulging laptop bag will thank you.
We love it when the right things end up in the right place, like the excellent, soon-to-open (Sept. 27) new space for the Museum of Arts and Design. You can't miss the building: It's the sleek, tower originally done in 1964 by Edward Durell Stone on Columbus Circle.
With more than double the exhibition space of the current location (including, for the first time ever permanent gallery space), a restaurant on the ninth floor (with sweeping views of the park) and a Tiffany & Co. Foundation Jewelry Gallery on the second floor, it's definitely a step up for the museum.
There aren't many lot of street vendors in New York that we can really get excited about, as they're usually split down the middle between knockoff handbag peddlers and bootleg DVD sellers. Where's the design conscious person supposed to shop on the streets of New York?
Head across the East River to Williamsburg, and you'll find the fantastic Airstream Books. The sidewalk shop specializes in architecture, design, fashion books and, yes, vintage porn. The furniture selection is amazing as well. Good looking modern chairs, desks, couches and shelving are arranged in a sidewalk showroom--weather permitting of course.
The "store" is open weekends and evenings, and some furniture is also listed on Craigslist during the week. If you want to view the full collection of available furniture, the owner will also open up a 1,000-foot warehouse by appointment only.
Swisshorn Watches thought it would be a good idea to do some sort of over the top public relations stunt to help introduce their brand into the Asian market. So with the help of the Hang Fang Gold Technology Group, they built a massive palace entirely out of gold.
The Swisshorn Gold Palace in Hong Kong is 650 square meters of the stuff. Everything, including the desk, the bed, the couch, the carpet and, yes, even the toilet is gold. The project took five years to complete at the cost of $50 million. Other features include an entrance lobby, dining room, living space, bedroom and a bathroom.
The space is inspired by the legend of Emperor Han Wu, who promised his wife Ah-Jiao a palace of gold. That being said, for some reason it was designed with a "European architectural feel."
The palace is open daily, and admission is a mere $3. With about 2,500 visitors expected every day, they should recoup their costs in no time.
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by Dan Gould
