Folding Cutting Board - It's about time!

Sculptured Trees for Restaurant or Home Interiors

Frozen Grand Central - amazing video

Most Popular Video Ever Posted on Youtube: Evolution of Dance by Judson Laipply

Repackaging Bar Codes

Japanese Design Barcode turns standard barcodes into appealing and engaging brand elements.

Following laundry services, supermarkets and coffins in our recurring 'everything can be reinvented' theme, come the humble stripes and digits that shape the ubiquitous barcode, as reinvented by Design Barcode.

Fifteen companies are currently using the agency's novel barcodes as part of their packaging design. (A video showing examples can be viewed here.) The designs are clever and whimsical, from bars being picked up by chopsticks for a ramen noodles package, to a zebra carrying the black and white stripes on its back.

Luxury Loos on Location

Tired of our Everything Can be Upgraded theme yet? We're not. Not as long as there are new business ideas like Igloo’s Luxury Portable Loos. Offering the ‘ultimate luxury portable toilets for the corporate and private events industry within the UK and across Europe’, the company has beautified (and sanitized) events like the Brit Awards, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the Stella Artois Tennis Tournament, the G-8 Summit and the Volvo Golf Masters in Andalusia. Think luxury travelling loo trailers for outdoor events, vacuum loo systems for placement inside structures and bespoke systems.
All of this is of course a no-brainer: in our surprise-economy, events are the new (albeit temporary) real estate , while mass prosperity is upping the standards for everything. Buy a standard portable loo company, upgrade the inventory, and you should be ready to go ;-)
Website: www.igloos.co.ukContact: harriet@igloos.co.uk

Pocket Sized Printer

More than half a century ago, the Polaroid camera produced the world’s first instant printed images, spitting out photos just a minute after they were taken. And while today’s cell phones and digital cameras take snap shots that can be transmitted to other phones or computers instantly, people still have an old-fashioned desire to hold printed copies of their snapshots in their hands.

Infrared Paper Towel Holder

Sometimes I wonder if I'm a filthy pig or if other people are just germophobes. This infrared towel holder makes me think I'm the one normal person in a paranoid world. Wave your hand in front of the sensor and the device dispenses a preprogrammed number of half or full sheets. I'm still alive after abiding by the 5-second rule all my life. I suppose time will tell whether my despicable ways have bolstered my immune system or if I'm hopelessly contaminated by all that is unclean.

Fire Safe Waterproof Hard Drive

We all know how important it is to protect our important data (read: legally/illegally procured mp3's) by storing them on external hard-drives, but why not take it one step further? The FireSafe Waterproof Hard Drive from Sentry does just what the name suggests...protects your valuable files with a fire and waterproof casing. Available in 80GB and 160GB. MSRP $259.99 and $319.99.

ipod Hoodie

Just like people dress up their lapdogs to match themselves, your ipod deserves the same anthropomorphic treatment. These hoodies are my favorite ipod accessories I've seen. You can order them for each size ipod and even have some graphics options. It's getting a little chilly out there, keep your little buddy warm.

Bright Blind

Hello, everybody. Hope everyone who celebrates it had a great Thanksgiving. Hope the rest of you had a great regular week of normalcy. Sad that my Thanksgiving week is over but glad to be back posting again. I did almost absolutely nothing. Spent a great portion of my week away just lying around reading and not doing anything electronic. Oddly, my worldview for the holiday was very much like these electroluminescent blinds. I spent countless hours contemplating my navel and watching the sun filter through my blinds. Now that I'm back in the office, I already miss those dusty bars of sunlight serried on my new rug. This concept from Makato Hirahara gives the illusion of a sundrenched window behind the blinds. Turn the plastic rod and you can raise or lower the brightness level. A terrific idea for those who work in basements or whose space doesn't allow views of the outside.

Crazy Horse Free Form Bed

Symmetry and order were two elements completely forgotten in the formation of this bed. Made of aspen logs, the bed seeks to emulate the rustic feel of resting your head beneath the boughs of a moonlit tree. The name, however, reminds me of a popular club in Las Vegas. Definitely not a place to rest your head.

Rocker

Maybe the greatest invention EVER. This universal attachment from OOOMS converts any four-legged chair into a rocker, saving you the time and expense of buying a rocker as well as space that would be taken by that rocker. I’ve waxed lyrical before about rocking chairs, but I’ve never gone into my socio-political theory of how chairs drove the evolution of society. Humankind began with everyone sitting on the ground as equals. Then one person decided they’d like to sit on a treestump while the rest of the tribe sat on the ground, creating a hierarchy and also driving each person to outdo the other in who could get the best seat in the house which culminated in the king sitting on his throne. Hence was born the stratification of human society across all cultures. The rocking chair is the ultimate stage of social evolution. Because there's nothing beyond a throne in which one rocks!

Natural Wave

Whenever I see old-fashioned radiators I remember the old Spider-Man comics where good ole Peter Parker is broke and has to live in a NYC apartment that is so decrepit that his radiator provides no heat. It's odd how some memories embed themselves in our minds. Just thought I'd share that with you. At least now I don't have to live with it by myself anymore. The Natural Wave is a ceramic plate that fits atop your radiator and serves as a warmer for snacks and beverages. Useful and energy efficient.

Paperclip Hanger

I absolutely hate when I try to hang my suit-pants up and the stupid things keep sliding off the hanger. This takes the brilliance of the paperclip and transfers it to the closet. Now, for those with a little bit of a clothes hang-up, you can match your favorite shirts with your favorite pants so that your morning wardrobe selections will be a snap. It's always better to obsess about your pairings the night before rather than the morning of

Thumb Thing

I own thousands of books and visit the bookstore at least twice a week and I've never seen this this little doohickey. It's brilliant. Everyone who reads has suffered the rigor mortis-ed claw of trying to hold a book open with one hand. The Thumb Thing simply and effectively keeps your pages butterflied so you can enjoy your book in one hand and a nice cold beverage in the other.

Slipper Genie

These are the slippers I've been waiting for my whole life, a pair that cleans while I procrastinate. The brilliance of this idea is mind-boggling. It allows me to clean while I avoid cleaning. Just stroll around the apartment like I always do when I'm avoiding the task at hand and, voila, spic and span floors!

Black Toilet Paper

There's a perception that Americans are overly concerned with hygiene and whether there's truth to that or not I don't know. Most internationals I've met seem clean enough and don't smell any worse than my squeaky-clean American friends. For those who can't even stand the sight of their own smears, these black toilet paper rolls are the answer to any aversions to natural bodily processes. Until the day they develop a drug to make your poo smell like flowers this will be as close as we'll get to pretending none of us are full of crap. $18.95 gets you three rolls.

Driving Emoticon

The Driving LED Emoticon is a battery powered, wirelessly controlled message sign that attaches to the rear window of your car. With a remote you control whichever of five messages - smiling face, frowning face, "Thanks", "Back Off" and "Idiot". And after conveying your message to fellow drivers so pointedly, be prepared to floor it because your oh so clever LED message has made your vehicle a target for road rage that can be spotted for miles.

Drink Selector Mug

Your peon makes your life a little bit easier so have a little tenderness in your heart and make his life a little bit easier with this mug. Goodness knows he's got enough on his mind fulfilling your every need and whim without having to remember exactly how you like your coffee. The mug has selector rings that allows you to indicate your preference of how you take your coffee. Just be careful you don't be too much of a taskmaster or you might just take your coffee scalding and to the face.

Tiki Tissue Box

OK, now this would not be a good Valentine's Day gift. I honestly don't know who you would gift this to, maybe just keep it for yourself as a gag around the office. You know you've always wanted to be the guy people laugh politely with but guffaw at once you're out of sight and hearing. Fits over a standard-size box of tissue. Ok, ok, I've caught a cold and this seems all of a sudden attractive to me.

Olivia Folding/Hanging Chair

This hanging chair is the acme of space-saving design that also combines multiple uses. The product is self-explanatory, but the additional function is using it as a coathanger. And, unlike other product mash-ups, it doesn't look like total crap so that when you use it as a chair guests won't be wondering which end to sit upon (the chair, not their rear ends).

Pluviae

Pythagoras came up with the notion of the Golden Ratio, the principle of perfect proportion (he also refused to eat beans and wouldn't step over a crossbar. Yeah, he was an odd bird.). It was an idea that fascinated great thinkers across multiple disciplines, from mathematicians to artists to architects. This integrated shower head and rail from architects Matteo Thun & Partners is satisfyingly close to that ancient Greek concept. The line curves smoothly into the showerhead and not a bit is superfluous.

Green Turf Rooftop

I have dreamed of such rooftops since I was a kid. I’ve always fantasized about being able to ride my bike from the street onto the roof and back down. This is the School of Art building of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. It’s grassy roof isn’t just a design element, it provides the many benefits of earth as an insulating material, helping to lower the roof temperature. This is one of the best incorporations of green roofing in a building I’ve seen.

Electronic Contact Lenses

I don't want to live forever, I just want to live long enough. Long enough for technology like these contact lenses to become commonplace. Engineers at the University of Washington have for the first time used manufacturing techniques at microscopic scales to combine a biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights. Researchers built the circuits from layers of metal only a few nanometers thick and constructed light-emitting diodes one third of a millimeter across. There are many possible uses for virtual displays. Drivers or pilots could see a vehicle's speed projected onto the windshield. Video-game companies could use the contact lenses to completely immerse players in a virtual world without restricting their range of motion. And for communications, people on the go could surf the Internet on a midair virtual display screen that only they would be able to see. I'm ready to toss out my Accuvue lenses for a pair of these

Din-Ink

Sometimes there are good ideas that when actualized turn out not to be so great - like Communism. These Din-Ink utensils, heat resistant and biodegradable, sound like the greatest pairing since peanut butter and chocolate until further reflection reveals that I don't want to write anything while I'm eating. My eating time is one of the rare moments in the day when my mind is allowed to roam free. Having a pen or pencil with me while eating is verboten for 2008 because, inevitably, I'll try and do a little bit more work. This is the year I appreciate the little moments.

Puma Glow Rider Bike

How come no one's thought of this before is beyond me. Puma's third in their bike series features a glow in the dark bike. It's not only very cool looking but has the added bike-safety benefit of higher visibility when riding at night. The bike uses a paint that absorbs light during the day and at night the glow can be seen by all admirers. The frame is single-gear and can be folded for portability and space-saving storage. And for any would-be thieves who are covetous of your prize, the bike features an integrated wire lock system, which means if it's stolen and rode without the wire, the bike will auto-destruct. I don't know if that includes lots of flames and explosions but I like it.

Frozen Smiles

I brush my teeth twice a day and floss every night in the hopes of avoiding having to wear dentures when I'm a decrepit old man. But if I do, I'll be sure to pull the time-honored trick that every denture wearer has done of placing my false teeth in a glass of soda for a guest. As disgusting as that sounds, it was done to me by a family friend. There's few things more startling than to see another person's teeth at the bottom of your soda. Even without dentures I can simulate the trick with these teeth shaped ice bits. Let the hilarity ensue.

Lucky Ruler

For the triskaidekaphobic empiricists, this ruler eliminates the anxiety of confronting the number 13 by skipping from 12 to 14. Though, for the truly unlucky, whatever they're measuring would ironically fall on that blank spot.

Glass Radiator

Made of safety glass for your, well, safety, these 13mm glass radiators are a visual upgrade solution for heating your living space. The maximum heat output is 1000 W/m2, which I imagine is hot enough for you not to press your face against the glass. I think it's a terrific design but I'd be worried about children and pets walking into it. Heck, I'd be worried about me walking into it. I collide with clearly visible walls on a regular basis. There are options for etching designs in the glass to offset this problem.

Three-Legged Chopstick

As a regular user of chopsticks I’m trying to figure out the advantage of have a three-legged chopstick. But I suppose since I grew up using them it doesn’t occur to me that for many people using chopsticks is a masochistic endeavor. You see the food, you want the food, you just can’t get the food into your mouth. Having extra “tines” on the sticks would make them more like forks and save everyone the embarrassment of watching you chase a noodle around the plate when we’re all ready for dessert.

Laser Guided Scissors - Laser guides you through cutting out your desired shape

Using a pair of scissors to cut out your desired shape on paper or cloth is somehow no easy task. Yeah, I mean it. For those who seldom use scissors to cut things will mostly have problem driving it on a piece of cloth or paper to cut out your required shape. But, no worry, today’s technology can help! Here comes a pair of laser guided scissors, which uses laser to guide you through your cutting.

The laser guided scissors have a push button on the right side, which a press will beam the laser along the blades. You’ve gotta adjust the laser by turning the two screws till it’s properly lined up with the upper blade. Then you’ll have to make a mark on the opposite side of the paper or fabric being cut. Reset bottom blade of scissors on surface and align laser with the mark, then start your cutting… Sounds complicated?
Buy online, Brando, $11

Lavatory Navigator lights up your toilet in dark

Lavatory Navigator or LavNav in short is the little gadget that you can attach to the cover of your toilet bowl to make it glow or light up when you approach it in dark. You know, when you get up in the middle of night to have your late night pee, and you wouldn’t wanna disturb your significant other, so you’d choose not to turn on the light of the room. But, this will surely cause urine stains all around if you’re peeing in the dark, which would most probably piss your significant other off the next morning!

Rolling Bench - rolls the other side up for dry seat!

Somehow it’s kind of hard to maintain the cleanliness or dryness of the bench which has cushion that sucks up wetness. Especially bench left in an open space will get spoiled after a rainy day or by some wet butts. The rolling bench here is definitely a neat idea. Once it gets wet, you just need to roll its handle at the side to rotate and expose the dry side of the seat.

It’d be a plus, if the bench could come equipped with some blowers or dryers attached to its two legs to dry up the wet side that has been rotated downward.

Solar Charge ECO - a cell phone charm that sucks sunlight for charging your phone!

The Solar Charge eco has an embedded solar panel that collects sunshine all day and stores the energy into its built-in battery. Having it exposed to to six hours of sunshine allows you to have about thirty minutes of use. This should be sufficient to use your cellphone during emergency, such as while you’ve lost your way, and you’re dependent on your cell’s GPS system, the thirty minutes shall be able to let you use it to guide your direction home. The idea is neat, but it’s only workable for Japanese phones!

Buy online (Pre-order), $19, StrapYaWorld