Classic Design And Web Design

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UK wants every home wind-powered by 2020

In an ambitious scheme than even industry proponents seem skeptical of, Britain has unveiled plans to power every home in the country via off-shore wind farms by the year 2020. Right now the UK produces approximately half a gigawatt through this method of power generation, enough to provide 2% of the country's electricity, but nowhere near the 33 gigawatts called for in business secretary John Hutton's proposal. According to the British Wind Association Trade Group, while more offshore farms are always welcome, it is far more reasonable to expect a 20 gigawatt output by 2020 -- the bottleneck, apparently, is in procuring an adequate number of turbines. Another issue is the economic cost of wind power, which continues to exceed that of fossil fuel-based alternatives; luckily for the Brits, favorable exchange rates should help them pick up some American-made turbines on the cheap.

On Having Potential

End of the busy-ness has consumed my mind. The situation has only been exacerbated through developing a hernia. There is no correlation between my body's happenstance versus my mental confusion of course. I read that there is a genetic predisposition which is validated by the constantly odd realization that everything my Dad and Mom have had body-wise, I eventually encounter in my own life. Perhaps it is a simple way of reminding me to observe filial piety.

The older I get, the more disconnected I seem to feel my mind and body have become. My mind seems to think it is completely weird that the body in which it lives is constantly in a state of decay; meanwhile, my body could care less what my mind thinks of course, because it can't think at all without the mind and thus really has no perspective on the matter. Aging is great because your mind gets so much more agile in the conceptual dimensions (memory does indeed degrade however) so it is a pity that the body doesn't follow along a similar growth curve. Or maybe that is the blessing -- as your body fades, your mind gets to spend more on its own development and doesn't have to manage the physical plant the way it used to in the younger years. I guess that makes sense.

A visitor recently told me a story told by a prominent young leader. It went something like this:

"When you're young you are told that you have so much potential to offer; when you're older, instead you're told how great you are for what you did in the past. The key is ... to always be told you have potential."

I hope you realize your true potential in the little remainder of this year of 2007.

S I M P L I C I T Y by John Maeda at the MIT Media Lab

FuelPod2 converts excess cooking oil into biodiesel

Engineering folks have long since been powering their automobiles with less than scrumptious liquids, but Green Fuels is hoping to make the usage of homegrown biodiesel entirely more common. The firm's FuelPod2 is aimed squarely at the domestic market and is capable of churning out 50-liters of fuel each day from waste cooking oil. Reportedly, the 140-centimeter high device utilizes external, thermostatically-controlled band heaters to pre-heat the oil, which ensures that the warming takes places prior to the addition of chemicals. Customers will also receive a "comprehensive operating manual" and can feel free to phone up a dedicated helpline in case of emergency, but truthfully, we'd expect nothing less from a system starting at £1,750 ($3,607).

[Via UberReview]

The Pac-Man Christmas tree

Finally, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde, and even old Pacster get some religious iconography happening for themselves. A creative group of X-mas-and-Pac-Man-loving cats and kittens in Madrid have created a truly festive monument to the holiday... and the video game. Check the video after the break for the whole, utility-burning display in action -- and commenters, feel free to translate.

[Via technabob]

Continue reading The Pac-Man Christmas tree

Puma-Inspired Hybrid Car Prowls Mexican University Campus

It's only fitting that the new multi-platform hybrid vehicle out of Mexico's National Autonomous University was inspired by the university's beloved mascot, the puma. We hope the hydrogen and fuel cell-powered vehicle will inspire the same fanaticism that the soccer-playing Pumas ignite. The car was developed by students in the industrial design graduate program, headed by Óscar Salinas. The car fits into Salinas's Ecovía project, launched in 2005 to develop ecological solutions to transportation problems. Ecovía says the vehicle will have an average speed of 70-80 km/h (about 50-55 mph) and will be able to run for 300 km (190 miles) before refueling. The most innovative...

via TreeHugger

Geek 2.0

Logic + Emotion

Conversation by Design

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What is Design?

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Web 2.0

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Why design?

Designer Philippe Starck -- with no pretty slides to show -- spends 18 minutes reaching for the very roots of the question "Why design?" Listen carefully for one perfect mantra for all of us, genius or not.

Dell Goes Hot In Design.

Dell is moving heavily into design to get away from its corporate commodity/low price business model and shift into a personal experience/higher price model. So I'm not totally surprised by this ad--a supermodel type selling Dell's new, stylish XPS PC. Well, maybe a little surprised, coming from Dell. Sony is selling its Vaio with a supermodel, so why not Dell?

Dell is unveiling the XPS at Armani/Casa in New York's Soho on Dec. 6. It's advertised as the perfect combination of "beauty, innovation and style." Sounds like a good consumer experience to me.

vía BusinessWeek Online - NussbaumOnDesign d

Official: Google's quest for 700MHz is so on

Filed under: Wireless

Hear that America? That's the sound of the hammer dropping on our beloved cartel of carriers. Google's bid for the 700MHz "C Block" is on. Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman and CEO, says the following:

"We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are. Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet."

The bidding begins on January 24th with a minimum of $4.6 billion required for the open-access C Block. Wake the kids, phone the neighbors, it's going to get ugly fast.